Remembering the vet who made the armies march

Willie Lee Duckworth was born 100 years ago and raised by his grandparents in a sharecropper’s house east of Sandersville.

He was working in a sawmill when he was drafted into the Army during World War II and sent to a provisional training center in Fort Slocum, New York, in the spring of 1944.

It was the first time he had ever been more than 100 miles from home.

His story is now known all over the world, though.

In 2002, I interviewed Duckworth and his wife, Edna, in the living room of their small, blue house on Highway 242, not far from where he grew up in kaolin country. 

Two years later, he passed away at the age of 80. Like so many of the Greatest Generation, he was gone. He was laid to rest in an African-American cemetery at Green Grove Church along a dirt road off Highway 27.

That was more than 20 years ago, so Duckworth never had a chance to “Google” his name. (Or if he was even aware there was such a thing.)

If he had, he would have seen the words “musical composer” next to Willie Lee Duckworth.

Imagine that.

There were days when the rural mail carrier would show up at their mailbox with royalty checks. 

“It made me famous for a while,’’ Duckworth told me. “And it put some money in my pocket.’’

It helped him put food on his table and buy a sawmill. 

I described him as “an unsuspecting buck private from Georgia who authored one of the most popular marching cadences in military history.’’

He was the veteran who made the armies march. 

A non-commissioned officer at Fort Slocum asked Duckworth to improvise a drill for the nine black soldiers in his unit. Duckworth admitted to having no qualifications, except for “calling hogs back home.’’

But he came up with a rhythmic cadence used to keep his fellow soldiers in marching formation.

Originally known as the “Duckworth Chant,” it later gained popularity as “Sound Off’’ and became the standard for helping to keep soldiers in step and their spirits high.

Ain’t no use in goin’ home. Jody’s got your gal and gone. 

Ain’t no use in feelin’ blue. Jody’s got your sister, too. Sound off!

One, two.

Sound off!

Three, four. …

(“Jody’’ was military slang for “Joe D” – someone who cheats with another soldier’s wife, girlfriend or sister while they are deployed.)

With the assistance of base commander Col. Bernard Lentz and others, the cadences went through several revisions over the years, and the War Department distributed copies to U.S. military posts around the world.

The composition was recognized by the American Society of Composers and it became the title of a song performed by vocalist and big band leader Vaughn Monroe, a television and film actor in the 1940s and ‘50s. 

“Sound Off” was featured in a 1949 movie “Battleground,” starring Van Johnson, and a 1952 movie by the same name, starring Mickey Rooney. It was directed by Richard Quine with the screenplay by the late Blake Edwards, husband of actress Julie Andrews.

Over the years, writers, military historians and media outlets such as NPR have contacted me for more information about the story of Duckworth’s serendipitous fame.  

In 2010, the Georgia General Assembly passed House Resolution 1513, designating the portion of State Road 242 in Washington County from State Road 15 to the Jefferson County Line as the “Willie Lee Duckworth Highway.’’

Part of the resolution stated: “WHEREAS, ‘Sound Off’ is still making noise with the blessings of the young soldier who dreamed it up, and it is only fitting and proper that this marching maestro be honored by the people of Georgia.’’

Later, a memorial marker was placed at the Washington County Courthouse Veterans Memorials at the intersection of West Haynes Street and Stacer Avenue in Sandersville.

The bottom of the marker includes the lyrics to “Sound Off” followed by the inscription: “With those words, Willie Lee Duckworth made the journey from foot soldier to footnote in military history.’’

I am familiar with that last
sentence.

I wrote it.

A century after he was born, the story of the marching soldier still has legs.

Ed Grisamore has been a newspaper columnist in Middle Georgia for more than 45 years. He is the author of nine books and received the 2024 John Holliman Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the
University of Georgia.