Darrell Beard pointed out one of two photos he took in the early 1940s depicting Bullard scenes. (Banner Staff Photo by Don Treul) Darrell Beard’s family moved from East Texas to Bullard when he was 12.

It was a different town in the 1930s. The sound of a train approaching the downtown station frequently broke the silence of the sleepy small town Bullard seemed to be more than 70 years ago.

Beard remembers driving his father’s 1939 Ford around town.

“He traded $300 and a 1935 Ford for the 1939 when it was a year old,” Bead said.

Beard enjoyed taking photos of Bullard in the 1930s and 1940s. At least two of the photos are hanging in the Bullard City Hall, and both depict a railroad scene, including one with the 1939 Ford his father owned.

Beard graduated from Bullard High School in 1942. He attended college for a short time, and about a year later, with World War II raging, he joined the U.S. Navy. He was the supply officer for the U.S.S. Goss, a destroyer escort based at Long Beach, Calif. After he was released following World War II, Beard rejoined the ship’s company when the U.S. assisted in the Korean conflict.

As a result, Beard is one of only a few Bullard natives whose name is engraved on the monuments in front of Bullard City Hall, indicating the fact he served in both conflagrations.

Beard also will be honored when Brookshire’s will host a trip to Washington D.C. in May. He will be one of 30 World War II veterans who will view the World War II monument in the nation’s capital.

Beard, now 84, has lived in Tyler since 1974.