John Richard McCoy

Birth name

John Richard McCoy
Place of Birth

Fort McClellan, Benton County, Alabama, USA

Personal History

This is my life story… so far (Draft)

When I was born on June 3, 1955, in Benton County, Alabama, my father, John, was 28. Dad was stationed at Fort McLellan Alabama and was getting out of the army. My mother had completed Nursing college in North Carolina.

My mother, Norma, was 25. Mom and Dad were married on August 27 1954. Both mom and dad were born on the same day and they got married on their birthdays.

I came along on June 3 1955. As I recall, mom told me dad was away when I was born. Mom and Dad wanted to name me Gary Wayne McCoy, but my cousin was born a few months before and he got that name. Dad did not want me to be John H. McCoy the third, so I was named John Richard after King Richard the Lion hearted of England. At least that is what they told me.

There was some time between my dad leaving the Army and getting his job at Red Stone Arsenal. He got a job working for the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command where they taught US and other armies how to fire the Hawk missile system. They kept the school and test equipment up and running.

Mom and Dad had left to return to Virginia and were part way there when they got word about the job, so they had to turn around mid trip and return to Alabama. We then moved into a trailer for awhile. I think we were there for about a year.

My earliest memories that I have are living in the house on Holiday Drive. I don’t know when we moved there, but I remember being there and playing in the back yard. Mom and dad had two more children there. My brother Bruce and my sister Holly.

James Whedbee and Jakey Kain at our first house.

My brother Bruce and I would pin towels around our necks and fly around the backyard playing Superman and Batman. One memory I have, while playing in the backyard, I noticed a fire burning out of the back of the home two or three houses down from us. I ran and told dad and he looked and saw it. He told me to say in the yard and he ran down to see what he could do. It turned out that one of the kids there had spilt gas near the hot water heater and set the house on fire. We were all excited when about 3 or 4 fire engines showed up and tried to save the home. No one was hurt, but the utility room of the burning house was badly damaged. Bruce and I played fireman for the rest of the day.

When I turned about 5 mom and dad had some friends that build a home in the north side of Huntsville. It was farther from work for Dad but the area was very nice and new, so they bought a new home in North Huntsville in a pecan orchard. There were five huge Pecan trees in the yard so we always had plenty of pecans to snack on. The area was known as Pecan Grove and we lived on 3902 Vogel Drive. Our front yard adjoined our friends, the Staplers, and we played football constantly growing up.

This is where I would spend my childhood and was there until I turned 18 and joined the Navy.

While living here, I grew up, went through grade school. I was transferred to a private school in the early part of 6th grade where I met my best friend, Bobby Stanley. From 6th grade on, we did everything together. He was an only child, so he got a lot of cool stuff including a swimming pool where we both spent most of our summers.