HALIFAX — Most people have heard tales of families who lost multiple loved ones in World War II. The movie “Saving Private Ryan” is based on this premise, with the Army Chief of Staff sending soldiers to look for one man so his mother didn’t lose all of her sons in battle.

Roger Bell | The Daily Herald Davis family friend Eddie Francis stands beside Myra Mae Davis, seven of whose brothers were drafted into service during World War II. All of them came home. Advertisement

But locally we have two families — the Davis family and the Francis family — who lived the “Saving Private Ryan” story in reverse. A combined 12 sons from both families served during World War II, and all of them came home.

Myra Mae Davis saw seven of her nine brothers — Verna, Herman, Matthew, Montera, Othello, Calvin, and Jordan — drafted into service during the conflict. Six served in the Army, Othello Davis served in the Navy.

Despite so many children being involved, father Columbus Davis didn’t feel anxious about it, according to Myra Mae Davis, sister of the seven Davis brothers. “My daddy said he didn’t even think about losing his sons,” Davis recalls. “He knew they were coming back.”

And come back they did. Only Montera suffered wounds in service; the others returned unscathed. 

All seven of the brothers were drafted in 1942. Myra Mae Davis remembers few letters coming home and of course the brothers didn’t serve together.

The war didn’t change her brothers, Davis recalls, but she also says none of them discussed their war experiences with her other than in general terms.

“It was terrible, especially for Montera and Verna. Othello went overseas but he didn’t fight. All of them went through a lot except for Othello and Calvin.”

Davis recalls being very happy to have all seven of the brothers back when the war ended. “We were a close-knit family,” Davis says. “My daddy had a reunion for them. He cooked a pig. He always cooked a pig.”

As tough as it was for the family to have seven siblings serving, it could have been worse. Beniver was also drafted, but Davis remembers her father arguing to keep Beniver there to help run the family farm. “How many of them do you need?” Davis recalls her father saying at the time.

Unfortunately, all seven of the brothers eventually died from cancer-related illness and are no longer with us. Davis has fond memories of them. “All those boys and we girls, we didn’t argue. We were taught to love people.”

“All of them were congenial,” says family friend Eddie Francis. “They could talk to almost anybody.”

For their part, the Francis family also put many of their sons at risk as well — five during World War II. Brothers Robert, Jessie, Wilbert, Louis and James G. all served the flag in the conflict.

Today, only Jessie and Robert remain. Robert now lives in Halifax County, not far from where he and his brothers were raised. He was drafted in 1944 at the age of 20 and sent to Fort Linwood for training for six months before being shipped to the Philippines for the conflict’s duration.

“I was there when they got peace,” Francis recalls.  “Boy was I happy.” His joy at the conflict’s conclusion differed greatly from his induction day. Some led him to believe he might be deferred, but once he arrived at his induction center, Francis recalls “they gave me all my orders.”

When asked if he saw combat, Francis’ expression deepened. “I saw enough. There was a lot of shooting around us. I got about as close as I wanted to be.”

Francis’ brother Jessie also served in the Philippines, but was stationed in different locales.

The two barely saw each other until the war ended; he didn’t see his other brothers at all during the war.

Francis, despite the intensity of the fighting, never felt anything personal about it. “I didn’t have anything against them (the Japanese) then,” he says. “I don’t have anything against them now.”

Still, he’s happy to have the experience behind him and to have been reunited with his family, Francis said, adding, “It came out fine.”