Eugene Bullard poses for pictures during his 102nd birthday party at Hermitage Retirement Center on Sept. 18.

Eugene Bullard poses for pictures during his 102nd birthday party at Hermitage Retirement Center on Sept. 18.

<p>Eugene Bullard is greeted by family members during his 102nd birthday party at Hermitage Retirement Center on Sept. 18.</p>

Eugene Bullard is greeted by family members during his 102nd birthday party at Hermitage Retirement Center on Sept. 18.

ROCKINGHAM — Tracy Bradley will always remember the harrowing stories his grandfather, Eugene Bullard, used to tell from his time serving in the U.S. Army fighting the Japanese in the Philippines during World War II.

In one such story, Bullard, who was a master sergeant in the 189th Ordnance Battalion, had a pack of napalm strapped to his back which would shoot out a “gooey fire,” almost like a flamethrower. Napalm is the same substance the army would use to cluster bomb the mountains and the coast line to flush out Japanese soldiers.

“It’s a terrible thing, to have to imagine a man having to do that to another man, but that’s war,” Bradley said. “It’s either kill or be killed.”

Debbie Blake, one of Bullard’s step-daughters, remembers a story he shared with her about a time he was in a foxhole surrounded by Japanese soldiers.

“It came down to either him or them, and he made it out,” Blake said. “I think he had to take a few of them out to make it out. He would tell about little odds and ends — and all kind of stuff.”

Bradley said he was proud that his grandfather chose to serve his country during such a pivotal time in world history.

“He was willing to do something that was asked of him by our country,” Bradley said. “He felt like it was the right thing to do. I know it was after Pearl Harbor was attacked and President Roosevelt declared war on the Japanese. He came to the front of the stack and said, ‘I’ll do it.’”

Blake said Bullard received three medals for his service, including the Good Conduct Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Medal and the WWII Victory Medal.

After the war, Bullard, who turned 102 in October with a party at the Hermitage Retirement Center, continued to serve in the U.S. Army Reserve for 33 years until he retired in July 1978. That meant Bullard had to go to boot camp every summer for two weeks.

“I remember that as a child growing up – him going to that camp every summer,” Bradley said.

Bullard’s primary job after leaving the army, however, was working at Shepard Auto Parts in downtown Rockingham, which was a repair shop near where the new Richmond County Judicial Center is now.

He worked there for about 45 years, all the way up until he retired around 1985, according to Blake.

When he wasn’t working, Bradley said Bullard liked to tend to his gardens, one at his summer home off U.S. Route 220 and the other at his home on Garrett Street in West Rockingham.

“Most of (what he grew) he’d give away,” Bradley said. “He would give it away to people that were less fortunate – that couldn’t grow it or weren’t able to.

Blake added that Bullard and her mom, Rachel Blake — Bullard’s second wife, also loved to fish, especially on family vacations to Holden Beach.

Bullard was also a man of devout man of faith. He’s currently the oldest living member of West Rockingham United Methodist Church. As a Sunday School teacher, he used to invite kids and their families from his class to swim and fish at the lake by his summer home, according to Bradley.

When he was growing up alongside his eight brothers and three sisters, Blake said a young Bullard would help his mother cook for the family, which is something she said continued when he was serving in the U.S. Army. He would help do a lot of the cooking for fellow service members.

“He was just always doing something for somebody,” Blake said. “He was just thankful for everything, especially having to go through the times that he went through in the military so long ago when things were so bad and they had to eat K-rations and stuff.”

Even now, at 102, so many years after his service in World War II, Bullard’s military background still shines through. Blake said when it’s time for him to go eat in the nursing home, a lot of times he still calls it the mess hall — “almost time to go eat at the mess hall” — she said he would say.

“He was a good man, and he did a lot of good things for the community,” Bradley said. “There are a lot of people that still remember my granddaddy. He was a real good, Christian, church-going man, and he’s led a real good life.”

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Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2671 ext. 2751 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.