Bev McCormick lied about his age to enlist in the first draft call held in Schleicher County for WWI. He was the only Schleicher County resident to die during that war.
This simple grey granite monument was erected by the local American Legion Post, which carries his name.
The monument text reads as foolows:
"HONOR
Erected by the citizens of Schleicher County in memory of
BEV MCCORMICK
June 29, 2896
Nov. 2, 1918"
Bev McCormick is buried at the Eldorado Cemetery, located west of town on the US 190. The local American Legion Post is named in his honor.
More on Bev McCormick from the San Angelo Times newspaper: (
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"Doughboys From the Concho Valley During World War I
SAN ANGELO--This July marks the 1st century since the opening of hostilities in the conflict first known as The Great War, now commonly called World War I.
In 1914, when the powers of Europe declared war on one another, life in the Concho Valley could still be considered “Frontier Life” and the population consisted primarily of farmers, ranchers and the merchants who handled their business. The automobile was still new, and listings for livery stables still could be found in local directories.
The news was the exclusive business of the newspapers, and their pages would come to carry increasingly-alarming reports of ships being attacked by German U-boats.
The sinking of RMS Lusitania, carrying 128 Americans, in May of 1915 angered the nation, which had declared neutrality when war broke out, but after seven American ships were torpedoed two-years later, Congress authorized a Declaration of War in April of 1917.
Congress passed The Selective Service Act the following month in order to draft 2.8 million men into an expeditionary force that would be sent to Europe.
According to draft registration records, at least 3,420 men from Tom Green County registered for the draft when war broke out. That number does not include those signed up in surrounding counties like Runnels, Schleicher, Sterling, Coke and Concho.
By June of 1918, America was sending 10,000 men per day on ships bound for Europe with submarine escorts. America went on suffer heavy casualties in the final months of the War, and estimates put losses at 116,515 killed and 204,002 wounded.
. . .
Bev McCormick June 29, 1896-Nov. 2, 1918
Bev McCormick, the son of Phillip H. and Sally McCormick, was one of 10 Schleicher County boys who answered the first draft call. According to the Eldorado Success, “Bev was…the only Schleicher County boy to pay the supreme sacrifice. Bev was under draft age and it was his purely patriotic spirit that caused him to enlist.” The Nov. 8, 1918 edition of the Success said that McCormick was the baby of a family of six, including four older brothers.
The body of McCormick was laid to rest in Eldorado three years after he was killed in the Argonne Forest fighting for the Second Division. His mother had requested the body be returned from its first resting place but she died before his body was returned. “The military services were the first of the kind ever seen by many people here and people from Christoval, Mertzon and Sonora were here to witness and partake in the service,” the Success stated at the time. There is a monument in Eldorado to McCormick’s sacrifice."