Eddie Bell Sr.:Local veteran, advocate remembered

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press 

Copperas Cove resident and Army veteran Ret. 1st Sgt. Eddie Lee Bell Sr. was laid to rest last Wednesday at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen following a service at Bible Way Missionary Baptist Church in Copperas Cove. 
Bell was a long-time resident of Copperas Cove and a fierce advocate for veterans and veteran organizations in the area. 
He had served as the president of the Department of Texas Korean War Veterans Association and the national director for the Korean War Veterans Association since 2017.
Bell was also a lifetime member of the Star Group-Veterans Helping Veterans, since 2015. Other organizations that Bell was affiliated with included VFW Post 8577, the Military Order of the Cootie (DOOIT #13), National Home (Eaton Rapids Michigan), Korean War Veterans Association (Chapter #222), Disabled Veterans (DAV Post #74), Vietnam Veterans of America (Chapter 1000), VetFriends Veteran of America New, Association of the United States Army, AFCEA, Forty & Eight (Locale #266), Non-Commissioned Officers Association, American Legion (Post 582), Killeen Sister Cities (Osan Korean Committee), New Light Lodge #242, Consistory #306 (Killeen, TX), Shrine #191 (Killeen, TX). He was also a member of Bible Way Missionary Baptist Church.
Bell also was a supporter of Operation Stand Down Central Texas. 
Joann Courtland, executive director of Operation Stand Down Central Texas, attended the service last Wednesday. She described Bell as someone who was a “servant leader.”
“He gave everything he had to those who needed it,” Courtland said. “There’s not going to be another guy like Eddie. He always supported us [Operation Stand Down Central Texas]. He always supported the other veterans’ organizations, small or large. He wanted to make sure that that veterans’ voices were heard.”
Courtland shared that when Willie Browning, a retired Army captain and veterans service officer who helped as many as 100,000 veterans with their claims, passed away back in 2016, Bell started an interment fund through the Korean War Veterans Association to make sure no veteran was turned away from being interred at the cemetery. 
“He was always very supportive, always tried to help us find sponsors, helped us spread the message of what we were doing,” Courtland said. 
Courtland said she was glad that she was able to help get a proclamation done in Bell’s honor, through Mayor Dan Yancey, that declared June 1, the day of his funeral, as Ret. 1st Sgt Eddie Bell Sr. Day in Copperas Cove. 
Sheila Timmons, with Star Group-Veterans Helping Veterans, called Bell a quiet person who was always looking to help. 
“He was just a very quiet spirit, but a very willing spirit,” Timmons said. “A lot of people, they do things to be seen. They try to make you see them, but that was not him. I always tell the people here at Star Group that God will make room for you. He doesn’t need you to make room for your own stuff, so if you step back and allow God to use you in a service ability or service capacity, then He’s going to make room and open up doors, and that’s the way Mr. Eddie Bell was. He was full of service for any organization, not just Star Group. He was always sacrificing, and it was never about self.”
Bell passed away on May 25, 2022. He was born on September 24,1947, in Mobile, Alabama to Stella Mae Bell. He married Loretta A. Brown on October 19, 1969, and they raised three children together. 
After graduating from high school, Bell enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966 and serve until 1969, and he enlisted again in 1974. Bell served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. He served 27 plus years in Signal Corps and retired as First Sergeant in 1995. He went back to work for the Department of Defense and retired as a GS-13 in 2014 after more than 19 years in Stuttgart, Germany. Bell and his wife lived in Copperas Cove area for more than 20 years. 
Arrangement for Bell were taken care by Chisolm’s Family Funeral Home in Killeen. Following the service at Bible Way Missionary Baptist Church, Bell was interred with full military honors at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery.