On This Day In Alabama History: War Hero Was Born  

By Alabama NewsCenter Staff

May 10, 1912

Laurie Calvin Battle was born in Wilsonville on May 10, 1912. In 1930, he entered Birmingham-Southern College, where he played basketball and football on the way to earning a bachelor’s degree. He was in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1946, winning a Bronze Star for his combat service in the Pacific theater of World War II while achieving the rank of major. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1946, but retired in 1955 to seek election to the U.S. Senate. Battle challenged Sen. John Sparkman but lost, became a delegate to the 1956 Democratic National Convention, then lost in 1958 running for governor of Alabama. He moved to Virginia, where he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House in 1968. He died May 2, 2000.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.

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