My dad was only thirty-seven years old when he died, and he
never spoke of the war years, so I had no idea about his service. I tried to
contact the military, but I was informed all his records were lost in a fire in
the 1950s. We have no detailed records at all either about his participation in
WWII or his medical records.
Although his family called Dad “Ray,” short for his middle
name, his friends in the service called him “Hank.” [He wasn’t called this in
his family because he was named after this father, and he often used this
nickname.]
According to my mother, he changed addresses in March of
1941 and received his draft notice on April 8 (eight months before Pearl
Harbor.) He reported on April 21, 1941 and served through November 24, 1945. I
believe he did his basic training at Fort Ord, California. I think he was
transferred from there to Camp Swift in Texas for training. He was stationed
there in October of 1942 when he and my mother were married.
He was transferred to Ft. Bliss, Texas, where his unit was
formed. When he arrived, he made arrangements for Mom to join him. However, he
became quite ill (meningitis?), and he told her not to come. By the time he was
well enough, he could no longer have her with him.
These are the basic facts my mother told me, but she didn’t
know any of the details.
On Memorial Day of 1994, I sent letters to three of the men
my father served with in WWII. My mother had stayed in touch with them after my
dad died in 1954, so I was fortunate to have their contact information. They all
contacted me, and each of them provided information about Dad’s military
service.
The first of his friends, Brainard “Mac” McNeil, called me. What a thrill to talk to a living
link to my father. He wasn’t well but wanted me to know the basics as he
remembered them:
· They met when both were stationed at Camp Swift
in Austin, TX. In June of 1944, they were stationed together at Camp Murphy in
Florida. They shipped out from there. First, they boarded the Queen Mary, used
at the time as a troop transport. They entered the Firth of Clyde in Scotland.
[While there, Dad took a train, which stopped near my maternal grandmother’s
family home in Ayrshire. Her family members went to the station and waved to
Dad as the train passed.]
· They crossed the English Channel on an LST. Dad
was in the Signal Corps with HQ Company.
· From Europe, they sailed on the SS Marseilles.
I next received a letter from Bryan Shaner, another man who served with Dad. From him, I learned
the following:
- · Dad was in Supply. He and John Coyle were
together when the unit formed at Ft. Bliss in Texas.
- · Bryan joined them at Camp Murphy in Florida.
- · They left Camp Murphy as a unit at the end of
October, processed as required in New York, where they boarded the Queen Mary.
They sailed on November 3 with about 15,000 troops aboard. The trip took three
or four days. They had no escort because the ship was too fast.
- · They sailed into the harbor on the River Clyde
in Scotland, anchored in the bay, and disembarked onto a small ship. It took
them to the dock, where the London-Scotland train waited. Dad asked the
conductor if he knew the Kennedys (my mother’s relatives). The conductor said
they were his neighbors.
- · The went to a camp in Hereford, England and
stayed until January or February of 1944. Bryan crossed the channel in an
advance party. The rest came about a week later.
- · They convoyed to Brussels, Belgium where they
stayed for about two weeks. They left for Charleroi, Belgium, and then on to
Nancy, France, where they were assigned to Patch’s 7th Army.
Patton’s 3rd was to their left, and the French 2nd army
was to the right.
- · They continued up through southern Germany. They
were in Augsburg, Germany when Germany surrendered in April of 1945.
- · They convoyed to Heidelberg, Germany and stayed
there for a while, then convoyed to the Arles Staging Area, about 80 miles from
Marseilles on the Mediterranean.
- · In July of 1945, they sailed out of Marseilles
on a Matson ship headed for the Pacific. Three Matson ships sailed out of Los
Angeles and San Francisco before the war. Over 5000 sailed aboard this ship
past the Rock of Gibraltar.
- · They docked in Panama City and stayed overnight.
Some stayed ashore, and others stayed in the Navy barracks. [Dad stayed ashore
and won spending money playing poker with the drunks as they returned to the
barracks.]
- · They were a few days out of Panama, when Japan
surrendered. They thought the ship would turn around to go back to the US, but instead,
they sailed into Manila Harbor. They went to Clark AFB.
- · In two groups, during September and October,
they went to Japan because they had no supply lines at the time. They were
among the first troops in Japan. Fortunately, they had enough food rations
during their stay.
Bryan remembers Dad as quiet and unassuming. He didn’t drink
or carouse like some of the others did.
John Coyle, the
last of the three, sent me a letter. In it, he told me Dad was his boss from
the time the 46th Signal Heavy Construction Battalion was formed at
Camp Swift, Texas in 1944 until it disbanded in early January of 1946. [Dad had
longer time in service, so he was discharged in November of 1945, ahead of most
of the others.]
John provided a chronological and geographical record of his
service during WWII. Since Dad was with him throughout, this was the Holy Grail
of records! Since Dad’s service records were gone, I rejoiced when this letter
arrived.
In early February of 1944, John was assigned to the Supply
Office of the 24th Battalion. He had no idea what they did or what
his job would entail. In the spring, a cadre of experienced non-commissioned
officers arrived to help organize the unit. [By this time, Dad was probably a
sergeant. He became a master sergeant by the time he left the service. They
wanted to promote him, but he turned it down. He said the junior officers were
targets for the enlisted men.]
The battalion consisted of two operational companies of
approximately 175 men each and a headquarters company of about 50 men. John and
Dad were part of the headquarters company Supply Office with one commissioned
officer, one warrant officer, one charge non-com (Dad), one clerk (John), and
two truck drivers. This arrangement continued during their entire deployment
overseas.
Dad is second from left, back row (the
short one).john is at left, front row.
The function of the brigade was to build telephone lines,
the type with poles, crossties, and wire. The operational companies actually
used emergency cable 90% of the time to maintain telephone communications.
After Germany surrendered, they built one conventional telephone line to
connect Heidelberg and the Rhine River.
From Texas, their next stop was Camp Murphy, Florida for
additional training. After Camp Murphy, they went to Camp Shanks, New York for
a few days. Then they boarded the Queen
Mary for their trip overseas. John said he slept in the cocktail lounge on
an upper deck in the front of the ship. The Queen
Mary put in to the Firth of Clyde, and the troops landed at Greenock,
Scotland.
John’s recollection of Dad was that he was firm. He
understood whatever was necessary to do the job, and was always helpful and
friendly.
Here is John’s chronology for the period he was with Dad:
France, Belgium, Germany – 29 Jan
to 21 Jul 1945
Philippine Islands – 27 Aug to 2
Nov 1945
Aboard LST-912
[USS Mahnomen County] – 2 Nov to 18
Nov 1945
Here is John’s narrative of his service (parallel to Dad’s):
Left Camp Murphy
26 Oct 1944 for Staging Area at Camp Shanks, New York. Remainerd at Camp Shanks
72 hours. Loaded aboard English liner Queen
Mary at Pier # BO, New
York City. Sailed for Scotland at two p.m., 3 Nov 1944. An estimated 20,000
troops were aboard including Paratroops, Engineers, WACS, Netherlands women’s
army axillary, and a few Canadians. The ship is 12,019 ft. long, and weighs
81,000 tons. Mounts Bophurs, 20 MM, AA, 3" and one 6" gun. Arrived 9
Nov 1944. Traveled an average of thirty knots. Bobby Breen, Mickey Rooney, and the
original cast of Junior Miss were
aboard.
Landed at the
Firth of Clyde, Scotland. Boarded the train at Clyde in the late afternoon.
Traveled all night and arrived the following morning at Hereford, England.
[Several of my mother’s relatives remembered going to the station and waving at
Dad as the train passed.]
Billited in
Birmingham Abbey. The Game Cock Pub was the scene of much festivity.
Left Belgium on 17 March for Baccarat, France, twenty-five miles
from the front, as of this date. Left 23 March for Rech, a very small village in
Alsace-Lorraine. We lived here in a school building. Left Rech 30 March,
convoying over 100 miles to Kaiserslautern, Germany. Billeted
here in a fine apartment house. Convoyed to Eberstadt, a small town five miles
from Darmstadt. Darmstadt was completely
demolished. Convoyed ninety miles south to Albertshofen, a village twenty miles
east of Würzburg. We were first
enemy troops in the town and were in complete charge.
Moved to
Schwäbisch
Gmünd, Southeast of Albertshofen, on the 26th of April. This is in the
Black Forest Region and close to Austria . Moved to Augsburg
near Munich 5 May 1945. Billeted here in an apartment house. This large city was
not too badly damaged.
Hostilities
ceased one minute after midnight 8 May 1945. To save lives, cease fire order
was given 6 May 1945.
After the end of the war, the unit convoyed from Augsburg to Heidelberg
13 May 1945. Left 7th Army attached to 3211th Signal Service Group. Still
part of 6th Army Group under General Devers. Gen Patch, C.O. of 7th Army.
Heidelberg was undamaged because of the University. It had been declared an
open city by the Germans. All bridges, however, were blown.
Unit was awarded battle participation bronze stars for the Rhineland
Campaign (15 Sep 1944 to 21 March 1945) in Belgium, and the Central
Europe Campaign (22 March to 11 May 1945—final date of European War in southwestern Germany).
Left Heidelberg
for Staging Area on Southern Coast of France 22 June 1945. Arrived 26th June.
Remained in the area until 22 July. Sailed from Marseilles, France on the Matson
Liner, Monterey. Passed Gibraltar 24 July
en route to Panama. Arrived at Canal Zone 2 Aug 1945. Disembarked at Balboa on
the Pacific end of the canal and had entertainment and night lodging at Albrook
Airfield.
Received announcement of V-J Day
14th Aug 1945. At this time, all ships’ guns were fired and the
ship’s whistle was blown. Started taking Atabrlne
tablets 15 Aug. Crossed International Date Line on the 17th making the date 18th
Aug. Later V-J Day was considered to be 3 September officially.
Arrived at
Manila 27th August. Crossing took 37 days. Camped at Lipa.
Sailed from Batanges 2 Nov 1945 aboard the LST-912.
Stopped in Manila Harbor to form convoy and sailed from islands for Japan 3 Nov
1945, one year to the day we sailed for Scotland. Ran into the beginning of a
typhoon the second day out in the East China Sea. After damaging
several ships, the convoy turned around and headed back for Manila. Storm let
up, and we turned around and continued on our way. One ship lost its rudder and
crashed another LST. Our ship lost its bow anchor. Rest of trip uneventful.
Arrived at Sendai
18 Nov 45. Received orders to proceed to Tokyo. Put out to sea and arrived in
Tokyo 20 Nov 1945. Lived at Kawasaki, halfway between Tokyo and Yokohama in former
radio factory employees’ quarters.
Dad was discharged on November 24, 1945. We have no
record of how he was sent home, an no one is still alive who would know.
I just checked and Brainard “Mac” MacNeill died on May
17, 1998. His wife, Beatrice (Bea) died on February 26 of the same year.
(Ellis) Bryan Shaner passed away on April 28, 2008. His wife died on March 17,
2011. John Coyle died on November 12, 2007. His wife, Myrna, is 103 years old
and still living in Florida.
I owe these fellows a great debt for the information they
provided.
