351st Harbor Craft Company

Earnest Nelson Potts, was a member of the 351st Harbor Craft Company.He was born on 6 August 1912 in Bedford County and died on 7 June 1984 in Knoxville at Saint Mary’s Hospital. He attended Forrest Elementary and Forrest High School in Chapel Hill and later attended Vanderbilt University for two years in engineering. Earnest is listed as a sophomore from Chapel Hill, Tennessee, in Engineering, at Vanderbilt in 1933.This chapter was cut short due to The Depression and the subsequent shortage of funds. Barbara said his dad ran out of money to send Earnest. Earnest married Sarah Emma Morris on either 14 or 24 November 1938 in Shelbyville, Tennessee He worked for the Stewart Potts Ford dealership in Shelbyville, Tennessee as a parts manager and later worked for the Spires Motor Company in Knoxville before going into the military. He served from 27 November 1943 to 30 July 1946 and was honorably discharged from the Army, having served in Europe during WWII with the 351st Harbor Craft Company as a harbor craft operator (Serial #34920012) Earnest enlisted at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia and he had completed two years of college and worked as a salesman at the time in Knoxville. His marital status at the time said, “Separated-with dependents.” He was stationed at Camp Gordon Johnston. He went to England from Camp Kilmer in August 1944 on board the Queen Elizabeth, which had been converted to a Troop Carrier. While in England Earnest was stationed at Southampton, and at one point traveled to the airfield of the 100th Bomb Group (Bloody 100th) at Thorpe Abbotts, England to visit his brother Charles Wesley Potts, who was a Radio/Gunner aboard their B-17 “Baby Sweet.” Earnest traveled to Paris and Manila before being discharged on 20 June 1946; perhaps from Camp Patrick Henry where he was Supply Officer. Uncle Charley Potts said that the Army was in charge of the placement of large ships in the harbor and that Ernest piloted one of the harbor crafts, like a tugboat. He retired as a manager of the Office of Unemployment Security in Knoxville.