Henry Stuckey and the Military

Did Henry Stuckey Really Learn the Blues From Two French Soldiers?

We all know the story of Henry Stuckey, the man who taught Skip James the Bentonia style of blues.  More of his story can be found here, but here is the general story:

Henry Stuckey started off as a self-taught guitar player.  He was accomplished enough by age 11 to play guitar in some juke joints in Bentonia. He stayed local, playing there until 1917, when he joined the U.S. Army and went to France as an aide/nurse in a military hospital.

As the story goes, while working in a hospital overseas Stuckey came in contact with two wounded French soldiers.  From these two soldiers, Stuckey learned a new tuning style for guitar, and history was made.  Stuckey, in an  interview with Gayle Dean Wardlow, said the two soldier/guitarists were  French, one a West Indian and one a Gypsy, who played with an open D minor chord tuning (Other reports say these men were Bohemian).

Upon returning home in 1919, he incorporated the tuning into his playing, eventually teaching it to a younger guitar player, Skip James, around 1924.

But the fact remains – is this story true?  Did Henry Stuckey actually learn this style in France, as he has stated?  Or is there more to it than that?  To help answer some questions, lets take a look at his Military Records, sent to me by Jeff Giambrone.

Henry Stuckey Draft Card

We can learn a lot from this draft card.  For one, we can certainly verify that he is from Bentonia, MS.  However, most reports have him being born in 1897.  This draft card however, has him born in 1896.  This is very interesting, as that date would have been given by Stuckey himself.  He has also been reported to have been born on April 11, but the date here clearly says the 12th, and looks more like December.  This clears a few things up about his birth date.

We also see he lists his occupation as a farmer, employed by Dug (probably “Doug”) Wharton in Bentonia.  This is interesting, as he would have been playing music somewhat professionally for 10 years at this point.   He is listed as having no children, and being unmarried.  He also signed the card with a “X”, thus making his mark.  This most likely mean that Stuckey could neither read nor write, which may account for his name missing the “e” in the spelling.

Let’s take a look at another one of his records, Stuckey’s Service Card.

Henry Stuckey Service Card

Click for larger view

This document also explains a lot.  You can notice that on the top of the card his name has been corrected in pencil to add the “e” to the spelling of his last name.  You can also see the corrected the Nazoo to Yazoo, which makes sense.  We even see the date of his induction, March 5th, 1918.

The birth date is interesting as well.  It shows Stuckey as being 21 and 2/12 yrs old as of the date of induction.  This further goes to show he was not born in 1897, as previously reported, nor in April.  Actually, if you do the math, the date of  December 11 1986 hold up.  He would have been 21 and ALMOST 3/12 yrs old.  But not quite.

The rest of the document is where things get tricky.  As you can see, it lists the various units he served with.  These are:
Company A – 311 Labor Battalion  from 3/5 – 7/18.
Company D – 404 Reserve Labor Battalion from 7/18 – 10/18.
Company B – 328 Labor Battalion from 10/18 – 3/16.
Of these battalions, I can only find evidence that the 404 ever was deployed overseas; In fact, most labor battalions made up of African-Americans stayed in the states, and worked loading ships, trains, and more.   However, the 404 Reserve Labor Battalion did indeed go overseas and made emergency provisions for emergency treatment at any time during the day or night, providing treatment for officers, enlisted men, the families and dependents of those men, as well as any civilians stationed at the port.

According to Stuckey’s story, he learned the open D minor tuning for the Bentonia style from two wounded French soldiers.  This seems to line up with his service card.  The battalion he served in was indeed a medical battalion, and the 404 did treat both officers and enlisted men.  This seems entirely possible, and seems to jive.  Except for one thing.

Under his listed battalions on his service card, it clearly states he achieved the rank on Private, sustained no wounds, and NEVER SERVED OVERSEAS.  This brings up an interesting point.  If his military record shows him as never serving overseas, then how did he learn anything from two French soldiers?  I consulted a military expert, and according to him, it is highly unlikely that this record is wrong.  Although on the record you can see that the name was corrected, as was one spelling of Yazoo.  So obviously, mistakes were made – but would the military get it wrong that he served overseas?  According to my expert, if this is a mistake, it is a very uncommon one.  Further proof can be found at the bottom of the form in the left hand corner.  The form itself was revised Nov. 22, 1919.  This is AFTER Stuckey was discharged.  This means the military back filled this form – would they have gotten the fact that he served overseas wrong?

In an attempt to answer some of these questions, i have been searching records to see if his company in the 404 was deployed overseas during the dates he was in the battalion.  So far, no luck.   I have been assured that Jeff Giambrone is currently in the process or requesting Stuckey’s full jacket/record, which would definitely indicate correctly whether or not he did go overseas.  How?  Simple.  Every troop deployed overseas is given a ribbon for the deployment.  One can simply check to see if he was ever issued a ribbon for his time in the military.  He was only in that battalion for 3 short months.  Is it possible he was never deployed?

One possible theory is that Stuckey never went overseas at all.  It is possible that he learned the style from another American soldier who had indeed been deployed with the 404.  This would also add some truth to his tale – perhaps another American soldier did learn the style from two French soldiers, and taught the style to Stuckey when Stuckey got transferred into that battalion.  Stuckey could have quite simply adopted the French soldier story as his own, and the rest is history.   This would make sense, in a weird way – because then both his story is true (somewhat) and the military record is correct.  But why would Stuckey lie about where he learned the style?

The truth is, until we can get more documentation proving he did not serve overseas, you have to take Stuckey’s word for it.  So for now, we will have to go with the military record being incorrect.  Hopefully soon, though, this question will be answered.

Enjoy!