The Post-War Reckoning

Col. John Jackson Ledbetter Jr. came home from the war permanently incapacitated. A medical board had found him unfit for active duty. He was forty-four years old.¹

The Ulcer

The stomach trouble returned with force in 1948. Continuous acid, gnawing pain, vomiting, loss of appetite. JJL spent days in bed through May. In December, at the NSPE Annual Meeting in Chicago, he vomited blood and acid. The year ended miserably: “In bed severe ulcer trouble — bad cold & sinus trouble.”²

Almost every entry in 1949 records illness. A fluoroscopic exam on August 1 confirmed the worst: “Holty said I had active duodenal ulcer crater.”³ Massive gaps appeared in the diary — no entries from January 22 through April 27, or from April 30 through June 12. This was the bleakest year.

Eighty to Ninety Percent

X-rays in January 1951 showed both active gastric ulcer and active duodenal ulcer. JJL entered Brooke Army Hospital at Fort Sam Houston on January 30. On March 5:⁴

About 80 to 90% of my stomach removed this morning by Col Shaeffer, Col. Collins, Maj. Fisher & Maj. Stroud.

Recovery was brutal. Vomiting continued nearly daily through April. X-rays showed stomach obstruction. He was readmitted on April 25, weighing 147 pounds.

The Divorce

By 1957, the diary began to fracture. JJL was living between the Austin Hotel (Room 711), the Commodore Perry Hotel, a rented office at 626 Lamar, and the family house at 2007 Hopi Trail.⁵

On March 7, 1957: “According to LL Coleman Gay filed her suit for divorce today.” JJL signed a waiver on March 16. The marriage that began on September 5, 1925, was ending.

On November 6, 1958, the decree was granted:⁵

Divorce decree LLL — vs. JJL granted today. Took LLL to Aus CC this evening. Music by Guy Lombardo.

JJL signed over the deed to 2007 Hopi Trail and the title to the 1955 Buick to his ex-wife’s attorney. Thirty-three years of marriage ended with a dance.

Neva

Neva Clifton Moore appeared in the diary through lunches and phone calls in early 1959. On April 1:⁶

About noon today John Jackson Ledbetter was married to Neva Clifton Moore in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

The marriage was troubled. JJL entered Brackenridge Hospital in March 1959. In 1960, multiple hospitalizations followed — tremors in February, prostate surgery in April, a hernia operation in May. By September, Neva had moved out to the Commodore Perry Hotel.⁷

AA

On March 30, 1960:⁷

This evening attended 1st meeting of AA. Met with & joined Group 12 — SA Tex.

JJL was admitted to Austin State Hospital in September. Released ten days later, he resumed the diary with characteristic brevity.

The Last Diary

The 1961 diary is the final surviving volume. Sobriety and AA dominated the year. On January 15, JJL wrote: “In 2nd St ofc. Took last drink today.” He tracked his sobriety as he once tracked feeding schedules: “16 days” on January 31, “65 days” on March 21, “5 months” on June 15. He and Neva attended AA meetings almost every night.⁸

On March 21, he chaired the program at the downtown group at sixty-five days sober. But on August 19, at a cabin near Angleton: “1 beer at Glenda Moore Cabin near Angleton. First alcohol since Jan 15, 61.” The count reset. Drinking resumed in November and December — beer and highballs, tracked daily. Then: “No Alch Bvg today” on December 20.⁸

The diary records other threads: Bill accepted for a Ford Foundation PhD scholarship. Japanese classes at the University of Texas. A granddaughter born in November. But the diary’s center of gravity had shifted. The man who once tracked infant feedings and bank balances was now counting days.⁸

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Col. John Jackson Ledbetter Jr. died on July 19, 1963, at the age of sixty-one. He is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas, Section PE, Grave 421C.