CR 103 to be Named After Fallen WW II Soldier

County Road 103 will be renamed in honor of John W. Shaw, a World War II soldier who grew up in Lafayette County and died while fighting at the Battle of the Bulge.

At 18 years old, Shaw was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in World War II while still attending University High School in Oxford.

After basic training, he was allowed to return to his home on CR 103. He married Mickey Haley before heading off to France.

On Jan. 27, 1945, he was killed by enemy gunfire. He was 19 years old.

The request to rename the road came Monday during the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors meeting by Linda Sallis, who is Shaw’s niece. Shaw was the son of Ernest and Louise Shaw of College Hill.

“I never knew him,” she said Monday. “But I live in the same house he grew up in.”

Shaw was buried in the U.S. Military Cemetery in Epinal, France.

“There were so many who didn’t come home,” she said. “He’s not the only one by any means. But he’s my family.”

Sallis said many of Shaw’s family members, other than herself, still live on CR 103.

The Board of Supervisors approved renaming the road to the John W. Shaw Memorial Highway.

“I don’t take renaming roads lightly,” said Supervisor David Rikard. “But I think if we’re going to rename them, renaming them after men or women who didn’t come home – service members who died for this country, is definitely someone to rename a road after.”