After WWII – Page 7 – World War 2 History Short Stories

Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery (Part 1): And A U.S. Marine’s Long Journey Home

IMG_1672[1] — Burials at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, began in 1926. The cemetery encompasses 154.7 acres with over 150,000 burials. *Photograph S.R. O’Konski Collection.*

SSgt William J Bordelon 12980_jpg[1] — Staff Sergeant William James Bordelon, United States Marine Corps, WWII. Hometown: San Antonio, Texas. *Photograph mysanantonio.com.*

December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested from the United States Congress and received a declaration of war against Japan on December 8, 1941.

December 10, 1941, a young man named William James Bordelon from San Antonio, Texas, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. A graduate of Central Catholic High School in San Antonio, he and two other graduates of the high school would lose their lives in the Pacific Ocean on an atoll known as Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands during the 76 hour Battle of Tarawa which took place from November 20 – 23, 1943.

On November 20, 1943, Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt) Bordelon was aboard the United States Ship Zeilin awaiting the order to begin the assault on Tarawa. The assault began just after 5 am. The Japanese had occupied Tarawa Atoll since 1941. It was heavily defended and fortified with pillboxes, bunkers, and barbed wire. Ocean tides and a coral reef caused extreme difficulties during the landings.

For his action during the Battle of Tawara, S/Sgt. Bordelon was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION:

For valorous and gallant conduct above and beyond the call of duty as a member of an assault engineer platoon of the 1st Battalion, 18th Marines, tactically attached to the 2d Marine Division, in action against the Japanese-held atoll of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands on 20 November 1943. Landing in the assault waves under withering enemy fire which killed all but 4 of the men in his tractor, S/Sgt. Bordelon hurriedly made demolition charges and personally put 2 pillboxes out of action. Hit by enemy machinegun fire just as a charge exploded in his hand while assaulting a third position, he courageously remained in action and, although out of demolition, provided himself with a rifle and furnished fire coverage for a group of men scaling the seawall. Disregarding his own serious condition, he unhesitatingly went to the aid of one of his demolition men, wounded and calling for help in the water, rescuing this man and another who had been hit by enemy fire while attempting to make the rescue. Still refusing first aid for himself, he again made up demolition charges and single-handedly assaulted a fourth Japanese machine gun position but was instantly killed when caught in a final burst of fire from the enemy. S/Sgt. Bordelon’s great personal valor during a critical phase of securing the limited beachhead was a contributing factor in the ultimate occupation of the island, and his heroic determination throughout 3 days of violent battle reflects the highest credit upon the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

S/Sgt. Bordelon was initially buried in Lone Palm Cemetery on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll. After WWII ended his remains were moved to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1995, 52 years after his death on Tarawa, at the request of his family he was returned to his hometown of San Antonio, Texas.

Prior to his burial at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, S/Sgt. Bordelon received an honor granted to only four people before him. He laid in state inside the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas.

Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas. *Photograph S.R. O’Konski Collection.*

Gene Seng, Jr. and Charles Montague were the two other graduates of San Antonio, Texas, Central Catholic High School to lose their lives during the Battle of Tarawa.

Four Congressional Medals of Honor (MOH) were awarded for the Battle of Tarawa. In addition to S/Sgt. Bordelon, First Lieutenant Alexander “Sandy” Bonnyman, Jr. and First Lieutenant William Dean Hawkins were posthumous recipients of the MOH. Colonel David Monroe Shoup survived the Battle of Tarawa and was also awarded the MOH. He later became the 22nd Commandant of the Marine Corps.

The other individuals who have lain in state inside the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas, were MOH recipient (Philippine-American War 1899 – 1902) Major General Frederick Funston, MOH recipient (WWI) Private David B. Barkley, Mrs. Antoinette Powers Houston Bringhurst (daughter of Samuel “Sam” Houston, the first President of the Republic of Texas), and Mrs. Clara Driscoll (philanthropist and historic preservationist who provided the money to preserve the Alamo Mission).

Thank you to Leslie Sitz Stapleton, Director, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo.

The Fathers Who Never Came Home: And the American WWII Orphans Network

2-lt-john-c-eisenhauer — **John Charles Eisenhauer, WWII US Army 9th Infantry Division, 60th Infantry Regiment, K Company.**

Some men came home from WWII and had children. Some men went to war already having children and never came back.

John Charles Eisenhauer was born in New York City, New York, on March 23, 1917. He was a New York Giants baseball fan, collected stamps, was interested in photography, listened to Jack Benny and Bob Hope on the radio, and enjoyed western movies starring Gene Autry and The Lone Ranger. He and his friends sailed model sailboats on Jackson Pond in Richmond Hill, New York. John had a Flying Cloud model sailboat he named “Comet.”

John and his cousin were sanding a chair for their grandmother in January 1941 when he heard his draft number called on the radio. He was inducted into the United States (US) Army 9^th Infantry Division (ID), 60^th Infantry Regiment, K Company, and was assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

In the late 1930s John had met Dorothy Krumm, a New York City Flower 5th Avenue Hospital nursing student, on a blind date. On February 7, 1942, Dorothy and John were married in Dillon, South Carolina.

October 23, 1942, John sailed with the 9th ID from Virginia on the United States Ship Susan B. Anthony. They landed at Port Lyautey, French Morocco, as part of the WWII North African Campaign Operation Torch which began on November 8, 1942.

November 9, 1942, John’s daughter, Gail, was born.

In May 1943 the 9^th ID moved from French Algeria and French Morocco to Tunisia and then to Sicily in July 1943. John and his unit sailed to England in November 1943 and prepared for the upcoming invasion of Europe. June 10, 1944, D-Day plus 4, the 9^th ID landed on Utah Beach in Normandy, France.

John received a battlefield commission to Second Lieutenant in late June 1944.

The Allied push continued through France, Belgium, and into Germany.

The Battle of Hurtgen Forest (Schlacht im Hurtgenwald in German) was fought from September 1944 to February 1945. The Hurtgen Forest is approximately 50 square miles in size and east of the Belgium-German border. The densely wooded area made Allied artillery and air support problematic. It was also heavily fortified by the Germans. It was the longest battle of WWII fought on German soil.

During the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, Second Lieutenant John Eisenhauer was mortally wounded on September 27, 1944, when he and his company attempted to capture a German pillbox.

John never met and held his daughter. His body was not found until 1948. He is buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.

Gail Eisenhauer first visited her father’s grave in 1981. She has returned several times since then. Her regret …”I wish I had had the privilege of knowing him. And I wish he had lived long enough to get to know me.” Gail inherited and treasures “Comet,” her father’s sailboat.

HPIM0045 — Gail Eisenhauer with Marie, a young Belgian girl, at a Memorial Day ceremony in 2015 at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium. Citizens in Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg have “adopted” WWII American graves at American cemeteries in their country.

The American WWII Orphans Network (AWON) was founded in 1991 by Ann Bennett Mix who is herself a WWII orphan. The government defines “war orphan” as a child who has lost one or both parents in war. It is estimated that 183,000 American children were left fatherless as a result of WWII. The organization has assisted the orphaned children and family members by providing support and in locating information about those fathers killed in action or missing in action in WWII.

Story and photographs are published with the permission of Gail Eisenhauer and the Achten family.

For more information about AWON visit http://www.awon.org/awmain.shtml.

Yuri Beckers, a 38 year old Dutch man, has created a WWII website with in-depth information about the US Army 9th ID and the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. See https://www.9thinfantrydivision.net.

The Medics: Those Who Took Care of the Wounded and the Dying in WWII

24thTentSetup-Relaxing — US Army 24th Evacuation Hospital nurses resting after a tent hospital set up. *Photograph courtesy of Josephine Pescatore Reaves.*

WWII medical support units provided a literal lifeline to the casualties of the war. This story is in recognition of all the medics who experienced their own kind of war taking care of the sick, the injured, the wounded, and the dying.

One of the many medical support units in WWII was the United States (US) Army 24th Evacuation Hospital which was activated on June 15, 1942, at Fort Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan. On January 21, 1944, after extensive preparation for overseas movement, the unit sailed on the Queen Mary from New York City, New York, and arrived in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 29, 1944. The evacuation hospital complement was then stationed at Cheddar in Somerset, England, awaiting the invasion of Europe.

The 24th Evacuation Hospital landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on June 12, 1944, six days after D-Day. The unit followed US military operations through France and then in Leopoldsburg, Belgium, and in Uden and Nijmegen, Holland, it provided medical support for Operation Market Garden in the fall of 1944.

In an oral history interview for the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas, in September 2011, 24th Evacuation Hospital nurse Lieutenant Josephine Pescatore Reaves tells the story of two patients in the hospital in Nijmegen, Holland, who were seriously wounded. The two patients, members of the US Army 101st Airborne Division, were John Kubinski from Ohio and Nick Patino from New York. This is the story.

Josephine’s story is representative of the medical units in WWII that were responsible for saving many lives. They also had to deal with the deaths of many young men. During her interview Josephine shared with me, “I shed quite a few tears … when the boys didn’t see me.” If the families of those lost in WWII had known that their loved ones did not die alone but were in the hands of caring people, it may have offered them some solace in their grief.

There are two other stories on this website about the US Army 24th Evacuation Hospital and Lieutenant Josephine Pescatore. The posts are “WWII Camp Shanks, New York: And a Visit by Archbishop Spellman,” story link https://www.ww2history.org/war-in-europe/wwii-camp-shanks-new-york-and-a-visit-by-archbishop-spellman/ and “An Afternoon in Paris after Liberation: And a Letter from a Parisian Lady” link https://www.ww2history.org/war-in-europe/an-afternoon-in-paris-after-liberation-and-a-letter-from-a-parisian-lady/.

The photograph in this story is used with the permission of Josephine Pescatore Reaves. The oral history video is used with the permission of the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas.

A valuable website with extensive information on many of the US medical support units in WWII is the WW2 US Medical Research Centre at https://www.med-dept.com/unit-histories/.

In Memory Of … Sara Elizabeth Clarke Anderson

Betty2 — **Sara Elizabeth Clarke Anderson**

Sara Elizabeth Clarke Anderson, known to family and friends as Betty, was 22 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.

Betty was working as a photographer’s model for a modeling agency in Chicago, Illinois, and was featured in advertisements for companies such as Sears, Roebuck, and Company and Folgers Coffee. She posed for the cover of several detective magazines of the day and for one cover she told of being photographed in the Chicago River pretending she was about to drown. She was also involved in radio and television broadcast media in Chicago. Betty worked at radio station WAAF which broadcast from the top floor of the Palmer House. On Mondays at 2 pm she had her own radio show and sang songs. Her beauty and talent opened the door for her early television work at Zenith Experimental Studios. She appeared in various television productions.

During WWII new product development was limited, and rationing affected product availability. When the use of advertising and broadcast media temporarily changed its focus during wartime, Betty moved to Arkansas and was employed at the Arkansas Ordnance Plant (AOP) as an Inspector. Her starting salary was 56 cents an hour.

The AOP was located in Jacksonville, Arkansas. In 1942 the contract to build and operate the plant was awarded to Ford, Bacon, and Davis of New York. The plant was one of the first of its kind in the United States (US). It assembled military munitions fuses, boosters, detonators, and primers. The first assembly line was completed in March of 1942 and approximately 75% of the employees were women.

Betty worked in the Percussion Element Division and made relay and delay fuses for bombs. Components of the fuses included the potentially unstable elements of lead azide and mercury fulminate. She told of assembly line workers taking extra precautions as fuses were moved within the AOP as it was thought even human body heat may cause a fuse to explode.

The AOP shut down production in August of 1945 a few weeks after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. WWII was over.

After WWII, those on the Homefront and veterans returning home from the war started a new chapter in their life. Betty married “the love of her life” E. M. (Tex) Anderson and raised six children. She had a lifelong interest in broadcast media. Betty became a television personality for San Antonio, Texas, public television station KLRN and was elected to the Alamo Public Telecommunications Council.

Betty passed away on January 16, 2016, at the age of 96. Her love for her family and her contribution to her country, her community, and her work in broadcasting will be remembered.

Betty’s son, Jeffrey, found this AOP employee award card among her belongings after her death.

**A Message from US President Franklin D. Roosevelt on back of Meritorious Work Award Card**

In November 2010 I did an oral history interview with Betty for the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. She was representative of the citizens on the Homefront during WWII who wanted to “do their bit” and were themselves sometimes placed in potentially dangerous jobs.

I knew Betty for over 20 years. She was a “classy lady.” I will miss her friendship.

Photographs for this story are used with the permission of the Anderson family.

WWII Displaced Persons in Europe: And the German Town of Haren

Polish_servicewoman_Haren_German_1945_A158895-v6 — **A Polish servicewoman wearing a German uniform with Polish insignia is checking the identity card of Canadian soldier William Massey near Haren, Germany, in 1945.**

Displaced Persons (DP) were defined as people outside the border of their home country when WWII ended. The majority of these people were slave laborers in Germany, had been held in prisoner of war or concentration camps, or had fled their country in fear of prosecution or retribution as post war borders and governments changed after the war. There were an estimated 11 million to 20 million displaced persons when the war ended.

DP camps were intended to be temporary facilities to house, care for, and eventually resettle or repatriate the inhabitants. This was a monumental challenge as many of the DPs were ill, exhausted, and psychologically traumatized by their wartime experiences.

By the end of 1945 DP camps numbered in the hundreds and were located primarily in Germany, Italy, and Austria. Due to the great need for DP camps, one was even established in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Among the different nationalities classified as DPs were over 3,000,000 Polish citizens. In May of 1945 the German town of Haren in Lower Saxony was chosen by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force as an enclave for some 4,000 Poles. It was located in the British Sector under the administration of the Polish 1^st Armoured Division of the Polish I Corps. German residents of the town were moved to surrounding communities.

The Poles renamed the town Lwow after a city in Poland that was an important cultural center in that country. The Soviets objected to the name. Lwow was in Soviet-occupied Poland at the end of the war. Under pressure, the Poles then named the city Maczkow after Polish General Stanislaw Maczkow.

Maczkow became a working Polish community with a Polish mayor, school, daily newspapers, a theater and cultural center, fire brigade, and a rectory. Streets were given Polish names. Four hundred and seventy-six Polish babies were born there and have birth certificates registering Maczkow as their place of birth.

In 1946 the Poles of Maczkow began to emigrate to other countries or return to Poland. Those Poles returning to Poland, especially those who had participated in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 or had been in the Polish Home Army or Polish Resistance, feared possible repression, prosecution, or arrest by the new Polish Soviet-influenced government. Those fears were realized by some of the Poles returning to their home country.

The town of Maczkow was returned to the Germans in 1948 and renamed Haren.

The last DP camp was closed in the early 1960s.

Thank you to military historian Dr. George H. Kelling for his assistance in the writing of this story.

The WWII Schweinfurt Raids into Germany: And a Post War Reconciliation

BILD1856 — The WWII German American Memorial in Schweinfurt, Germany. Inscription: “Dedicated by some who witnessed the tragedy of war, now united in friendship and the hope for lasting peace among all people.”

Wars are not forgotten. But with time, the people involved may look at a former enemy in a different way. This is one of those stories.

June 14, 1943 – April 19, 1944

Operation Pointblank

Operation Pointblank was a Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) strategic bombing plan of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) with the objective to destroy or cripple the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) fighter strength and aircraft production prior to the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944. CBO targets included German aircraft factories, fuel depots, ball bearing plants, and other related industry.

1943

Tuesday, August 17

First Mission to Schweinfurt

The two targets of Mission 84 deep into Germany were the Messerschmitt Bf109 fighter plane factory in Regensburg and the Schweinfurt ball bearing plants.

USAAF “Flying Fortress” B-17s from the 4^th Bombardment Wing (BW) in England flying to Regensburg took off around 8 AM that day. The 1st BW B-17s were scheduled to take off next. Due to heavy fog at their bases in England, the 1^st BW began take off more than three hours later with their target being Schweinfurt. The delay seriously affected the mission plan. One objective of the mission was to overwhelm German air defenses as a large number of B-17s attacked at two different targets in rapid succession. Because of the delay, German fighter planes had time between the waves of B-17s to land, refuel, and rearm before again attacking B-17 formations.

Losses that day numbered 60 B-17s of the 376 B-17s assigned to the mission, and another 95 aircraft were seriously damaged. Three USAAF P-47 “Thunderbolt” fighter planes and two RAF Spitfire fighter planes were also lost. Air crew Killed in Action (KIA), Missing in Action (MIA), Wounded in Action (WIA), and Prisoner of War (POW) numbered over 550.

1943

Thursday, October 14

Second Mission to Schweinfurt

B-17s assigned to Mission 115 numbered 291. Aggressive Luftwaffe fighter planes and a heavily defended city led to more losses for the Allies. It is estimated that 1,100 German fighters were involved in the defense of Schweinfurt as well as numerous anti-aircraft Luftwaffe Fliegerabuchrkanone (Flak) batteries in and around the city.

Sixty B-17s were lost. Air crew KIA, MIA, WIA, and POW numbered over 625. This mission became known as “Black Thursday.”

Due to the large attrition of men and aircraft and the continuing bad weather, long range and unescorted missions in daylight deep into Germany were temporarily suspended after these first two missions. Missions resumed again in February 1944.

1973

The Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association (SSMA) was founded by USAAF Lieutenant Colonel Budd Peaslee who had been the Mission 115 “Black Thursday” Commander.

1993

Two WWII German Flak boys from Schweinfurt, Germany, attended the SSMA Reunion in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Helmut Katzenberger and Volmar Wilckens were two of an estimated 2,500 German students who had been ordered to man Flak batteries as German military losses affected its fighting strength. German civilians, young and old, men and women, were recruited to support Flak units. They were called Luftwaffenhelfers (Flak helpers).

1996

Georg Schafer was another of the Schweinfurt Flak boys. He wrote a letter to then SSMA President Wilbur “Bud” Klint.

June 20, 1996

Dear Mr. Klint:

From a good friend of mine, Dr. Helmut Katzenberger of Bad Kissingen, I received a copy of the Briefing Letter 95-4, December 1995 of the Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association, Inc. I was quite excited when I read it.

May I introduce myself to you:

For over 40 years I have been active in the Management and on the Board of Directors of the FAG Kugelfischer Georg Schafer in Schweinfurt, a Company, with which you might have been somewhat familiar some 50 years ago! I am now retired from office, 68 years of age and have lived in Schweinfurt most of my life, also during your “visits” in 1943/44. From January 1944 through January 1945 I have served, together with my classmates, at some of the 8.8 cm Flakbatteries around my hometown, at the age of 16 years!

During 1954 to 1956 I had lived in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, where our Company was establishing a manufacturing plant for ball-bearings. During those years I have met several former US and Canadian Airforce men, who were over Schweinfurt during the war. We exchanged views about our feelings during those “visits” and quickly agreed, that it was a good thing that we missed each other at that time! It also strikingly made us realize how stupid wars are and that everything should be done to avoid for our children and grand-children the experiences our generation had to go through. My wife and I have four sons and four grand-children.

Also: During our last visit to Washington DC, in April of this year my wife and I re-visited Arlington-Cemetary [sic] and noticed how much the tree, your Association planted some 10 to 15 years ago, has grown. A couple of pictures may serve as “proof”. (encl.)

Further on that trip we stopped for a day at Savannah, GA, and tried to visit the Mighty Eighth Airforce Heritage Museum before our departure, name and location of which we found in a visitors’ guide booklet. Unfortunately the place was still under construction, and so was access-road. Only through Helmut Katzenberger’s notification I found out about your Association’s involvement in this exhibition. Maybe better luck some other time.

My wife and I are travelling to the US quite frequently once or twice a year, so on our next trip I shall give you a call, or maybe we can meet, if it is convenient to you. In the meantime perhaps you could send me some information about your Association, and also, if you or another member of your group should come to Germany, please give me a call and, if it is convenient, come and visit Schweinfurt – by Car this time! We’d love to meet with you and show you around our city.

Best personal regards,

Sincerely

Georg Schafer

Georg Schafer attended the SSMA Reunion in 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and brought WWII artifacts with him that are now on exhibit at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler, Georgia.

It was at this reunion that the idea of a German American Memorial in Schweinfurt was first discussed.

1998

G.HubertNeidhardMemorialDesignerWalterHillgartnerGeorgSchaferGudrunGrieserJohnParkerBudKlintGeorgeGlass — Memorial dedication. Left to right: G. Hubert Neidhard (Memorial designer, Flak boy), Walter Hillgartner (Government of Lower Frankonia), Georg Schafer (Flak boy), Lord Mayor Mrs. Gudrun Grieser, Colonel John Parker (United States Army Chaplain), Wilber “Bud” Klint (SSMA), and George Glass (American Consul General, Munich).

On June 16, 1998, the German American Memorial was dedicated in Schweinfurt, Germany. Every year since then on October 14, “Black Thursday,” SSMA places flowers at the Memorial.

Georg Schafer’s family owned ball bearing plants in Schweinfurt during WWII. Interestingly, after the war ended, he and his company helped establish ball bearing plants in the United States and Canada.

Thank you to Sue Moyer, SSMA Education Director, for her invaluable assistance in the writing of this story. Those interested in further information about SSMA can view the Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association Facebook page or contact SSMA at ssma43@gmail.com.