TEXAS ARMORED COL. VISOR W/ RESEARCH

Colonel’s dress visor belonging to Lt. Colonel Shotts. Byron Awalt Shotts was born in Austin, Texas on September 1st, 1901. Some years later, he moved up to the Texas Panhandle in Paducah, Texas, located in Cottle County. Shotts remained in this town for decades as a mayor and a Texan hero. He was absolutely beloved both in Texas and France; his hometown had nothing but amazing things to say about him, publishing that they knew him as “a man who is sold on his home town, always has something good to say about it, and is always striving to make it a better place to live.” He was a figurehead, the town’s rock, and a Texan, an American, and a hero. “Col. Shotts believes in Paducah and Paducah believes in Col. Shotts.”  Shotts started his army career with the 13th Armored Division, working specifically in the Ordnance Department of the attached 22nd Maintenance Battalion. Noted below, Shotts was very well acquainted with motorworks and automobiles; he spent over 12 years as the manager of the local motor company before the outbreak of war. For this reason, he was commissioned as a captain, performing maintenance on tanks of the 13th Armored “Black Cats” Division. He spent time at Fort Knox and Camp Perry prior to traveling to the ETO. Shotts noted that the battalion was composed of “a thousand enthusiastic men recruited from Texas and Oklahoma.” The men of the battalion were recruited by Shotts himself. He would later assist in training these recruits for war at Camp Perry, Ohio.  

Prior to the Pearl Harbor Attack on Dec. 7, 1941, Byron A. Shotts has no available military service records. However, he was always a supporter of the veterans, even proclaiming the town’s own “Poppy Day” on May 30th, decades before Memorial Day was recognized as a legal holiday in the United States. Shotts “[urged his] fellow citizens to co-operate in this worthy cause.” He was often observed to serve as a pallbearer in the funerals of local citizens and veterans. He was even appointed as “Master of Ceremonies” by the local American Legion on Armistice Day, still decades before its official recognition as Veteran’s Day. Shotts was selected as a representative of the Cottle County Executive Committee, working to enlist new servicemen into the “Greenbelt Reserve Officer Ass’n” and as guardsmen for the state. Shotts also spent time volunteering with the local Red Cross for numerous donation campaigns as the Cottle-King Chapter’s Disaster Officer. Finishing his tenure as mayor of Paducah, Shotts went into the service. Following his wartime service, Shotts still continued to work with servicemen of significant rank; he was considered a “close friend” to Colonel Walter F. Partin of the 166th Ordnance Battalion. Partin was promoted to colonel by Eisenhower personally for “exemplary service” after relocating burning rail cars of ammunition following a Naz! artillery strike. He was noted to have spent 16 months overseas in close quarters with Shotts. Additionally–after the war–there was a local American Legion campaign for all Cottle County veterans, of WWI and WWII alike, to submit their wartime service for a compilatory book of all local servicemen. Though I do not have one of these books in person, there are some copies floating around online for sale. I have also found photographs of certain sections and can personally confirm that Shotts is registered in this book.  

While in France, Shotts spent a significant amount of time bonding with the local community. The city of Soissons, France, which had been decimated in the First World War, was home to an intelligence depot which Shotts reported to, as well as a POW camp housing captured Germans. Shotts, then a Major, was in command of the POW camp, known as the 171st Labor Supervision Center. POWs were used to help rebuild Soissons from the destruction it suffered after yet another World War. During his tenure here, the Soissons residents became so well acquainted and beloved of Shotts, much like his own community of Paducah, that they felt obligated to send him gifts. Traveling with the “French Merci Train” and “Texas Gratitude Car,” the mayor of Soissons, Dr. Louis Roy, personally traveled from war-torn Europe to the isolated community of Paducah. In 1949, a Soissons woman, Mrs. J. L. Davee (daughter of a former Soissons mayor) also came to deliver these books, and is in the attached photos and clippings. Being a beloved American by the French community, Shotts was gifted a painted portrait of the Abbey of Saint Jean des Vignes (St. John of the Vineyards), a “base and stature made of Soissons stone, and a letter of gratitude. The statue was made to be an exact replica of a 16th century statue, previously in Soissons, which had been destroyed in the Great War after years of bombardment. The statue depicted Saint John the Baptist, and was chiseled by a Frenchman named “Mr. Labal.” These gifts were put on public display upon their arrival in Paducah. Liberating Soissons from the Germans, Shotts and his men were operating out of the city during the Battle of the Bulge during the bone chilling winter of ‘44. Shotts was posted here as the executive officer and intelligence officer for Depot 609, Shotts was instrumental in rebuilding the local hospital. It had been shelled heavily during a German bombardment while they were housing American troops. Shotts was also beloved by the children of the community; he endorsed the first community Christmas tree for the town–a soft sight for weary eyes after 5 years of neglectful German occupation. For many children, it was their first Christmas tree. A recording was made of the ceremony and broadcast as a part of the “Voices of America Program” to the residents of Soissons, who missed their beloved friend. 

Shotts left Europe and arrived in New York on April 11th of ‘46. He was not discharged until July. His “pink and greens” boasted ETO, ATO, and WWII Victory Ribbons (which he adorned with an unauthorized campaign star). However, he was most proud of his Soissons medal. It was gifted to him the night before he departed the town. This one-of-a-kind medal was awarded to him for the familial bond he had established with the city’s residents, even in a time of war. He regarded it with much pride, stating that “it will be one of [his] priceless possessions as long as [he would] live.” In his typical modest fashion, Shotts was looking forward to getting out of his uniform and serving his beloved hometown once again. Writing home before his arrival, he told Paducahians that “just a pair of coveralls will be all right for [him].” Shotts spent a total of 45 months in the service, 16 of which were spent overseas.   Shotts’ dedication to his community was absolutely unmatched. 

Shotts brought paved roads to Cottle County, serving as the Chairman of the Cottle County Goods Roads Amendment Campaign Committee. Prior to his election and advocation for such, the small town of Paducah remained largely behind the rest of the modernized United States. Additionally, Shotts was renowned and respected as a veteran roper. He was the President of the Cottle County Livestock Association. To the local cattle, and the German’s halfway across the globe, Shotts was absolutely a force to be reckoned with–not only with a lasso. He was also invited to play in tournaments hosted by the Paducah Golf Association. Shotts was the president of the local Lions Club, serving the local youth; he was also the founder of a boy’s club, teaching orphaned and impoverished children life skills, while also offering recreational activities so that their parents, if alive, could work. He was president of the Paducah Athletic Association. Shotts was the manager of the Paducah Motor Company, supplying the community with affordable automobiles. In one instance, he even demanded price reductions, as they were unaffordable to the average resident in the rural community of Texas’ panhandle. It was not until 1949 that Shotts succeeded in acquiring “good water” for the town of Paducah. He was a vocal advocate for wells drilled west of town, as the prior water sources could not guarantee cleanliness. Shotts was also successful in demanding telephone lines for the residents of Cottle and King Counties. In these rural and sparsely populated areas, clean water and telephones were still not guaranteed in 1948, despite the residents having the money to pay for these services. Deeply concerned with the health of his beloved townspeople, Shotts fought for years to minimize the spread of polio. He personally issued multiple mayoral proclamations and orders to curb the spread in the community, stressing “all-out” sanitization in our to keep Paducahians safe. Unfortunately, the techniques presumed to be effective were incorrect as there was a misunderstanding of how polio was spread; DDT pesticides were spread around the community, now notorious for causing birth defects and infertility amongst those exposed to it. His years of efforts were in vain, as polio was later determined to be spread not through mosquitoes, but through dirty water. Luckily, Shotts was already on the case in getting clean water to Paducah for the first time ever! 

Shotts, like the majority of Americans at the time, was a devout Christian. He was elected as a delegate to attend conferences to discuss his Methodist faith. He served as the chairman for the building committee of the First United Methodist Church, building a new church for the community. As soon as Shotts returned to Paducah, in June of ‘46, he was immediately returned to his prior position, which “of course as everybody knows…was returned to the office of Mayor…a position he held prior to entering the service.” In addition to the officer’s dress visor, a match book has been included (less the matches themselves). Following the war, Shotts followed his old pattern of behavior, looking to serve the community in another way; Shotts founded the Byron A. Shotts Agency, offering numerous forms of insurance (from automobiles to glass breakage and even farming insurance) to Paducahians at an affordable rate. A matchbook from this exact agency has survived and will be included with the visor.   After 30 years serving the town of Paducah, Shotts moved to Lubbock, Texas. It was here that he lived until his death. Colonel Shotts passed away on Friday, April 27, 1977, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Lubbock, at a ripe age of 76 years old. He was survived by his wife, Vera May, who passed away in Texas in 1993. They left behind no children nor heirs, but his legacy remains unmatched as a father, a mayor, a patriot,  and above all, a man who loved his community, both in Texas and in France.