It was on the third day of June in the year of 1938 in the state of Oklahoma. Elton Leroy Etheredge was born to Maggie and Leroy Etheredge. It was a day not to forget. Elton was the oldest of six children. Elton, Treva, Jonnie, Raymond, Mary and Joyce. As a boy, Elton was always very kind and helpful to his family. It showed in his everyday life, as he had grown into a very hard worker on the farm where he had lived as a boy. Up everyday before the crack of dawn to work he went with his brothers. Chores, there were many to do on that farm. Feeding and milking of the cows. Feeding and gathering eggs from the chickens. Slopping of the hogs. None of it was easy. Then back to the house, a change of clothes. Just in time for breakfast and off to school he went. It was a long walk into town to school from his home in the country, on the farm. After Elton graduated from high school he joined the army.