Joseph Winford Hatchel Jr. was born on September 4, 1923, in De Kalb, Bowie County, Texas. He was the son of Joseph Winford Hatchel Sr. and Zula Marie Welch Hatchel. He was married to Cora Lydia Hague Hatchel. He graduated from DeKalb High School and was named to Who's Who in Texas High Schools. At age 16, he enrolled at Texas A&M College, majoring in Civil Engineering. During his time there, he was active in college activities, spending two years in the Singing Cadets and two years working as a waiter at Duncan Mess Hall. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 and served in Company B, 740th Tank Battalion at Fort Knox, Kentucky; Pine Camp (now Fort Drum), New York; the Desert Training Center in Arizona and California; and later overseas. He served in the United States Army with the 740th Tank Battalion in World War II. Known as the “Daredevil Tankers”, the 740th was a separate battalion that fought from Utah Beach all the way to the Baltic Sea in support of various divisions of the US war effort.

During the war, he received the surrender of German soldiers and their equipment, who preferred surrendering to American forces rather than being captured by the Russians. After the war, his occupation activities included participating in a “Soldiers Show” in Heidelberg, Germany, and helping establish a club in Rüdesheim, Germany, for the YWCA, Queens University, Belfast, Ireland.

Joseph's civilian career was in construction management and engineering. He died on June 10, 2000, and is now buried in the Robinson Cemetery, Robinson, McLennan County, Texas, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com