World War II Recalled
(Editor’s Note: McIntosh State Bank again this year plans to salute all Jasper County veterans. However, The News thought a good way to lead up to the observance of Veteran’s Day would be to talk with some World War II veterans. Many of them will be highlighted in the November 10 section, and The News plans to talk personally to several as well. This is the second in a series on World War II veterans.)
By TED DUNAGAN
The fall of France to the German Army in 1940 shook the strong pacifist sentiment of the American public. Suddenly, only Great Britain stood between Nazi Germany and the U.S. This ominous fact brought about a soaring of patriotism in the American society, and by December of 1941, the U.S. was fully committed to the war.
This commitment was not just men and machines, but also an American public who was eager to carry out blackouts and civil defense drills, recycle metals, paper, and even cooking fats. They were also pleased to work longer hours and to consume fewer goods as ways to support the war effort.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an address to the nation in April, 1942, encouraged this effort on the Homefront when he said, “One front and one battle where everyone in the US—every man, woman, and child—is in action. That front is right here at home, in our daily lives.”
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Just 15 months prior to this address to the nation, Marion Stone became the first Jasper County citizen to be drafted into the U.S. Army. He served from January 1941, through October 1945. In February of 1945, he was deployed to England with the 105th Medical Battalion, 30th Infantry Division right after D-day and the Allied landing at Omaha Beach.
“As a medical battalion, we stayed on the front all the time even though we weren’t actually fighting. What we did was pick up the wounded off the battle field and bring them into a clearing station,” Mr. Stone explained.
“The coldest I’ve ever been was during the Battle of the Bulge. We got the call to go down there on Christmas Eve night. The Germans still had some air force left and they bombed the road we traveled on the way there. About the time you got into a truck you would have to jump out and jump into a cold ditch again. We went about ten days there where the temperature never went past zero, even during the daytime.”
On communicating with home, Mr. Stone said, “My mother would write me on post cards and sometimes she would run out of card before she finished what she had to say. One time I had to wait four weeks before I could finish reading a sentence.”
A note of sadness crept into his voice when Mr. Stone said, “The worst situation I had to face during the war was when my division was sent to Buchenwald prison. It was a place where many different kinds of people, soldiers and civilians alike, had been held prisoner.” He went on to describe the stacks of human body parts.
As he described another battle front situation, Mr. Stone’s fingertips lightly traveled up his forearms and then touched a spot on his shoulder as he indicated the different places the shrapnel from a bomb had hit him.
“It was in November of 1944, the Saturday night after Thanksgiving. We were right on the line between Holland and Germany one night when I walked out of the door of the old school house where we were bivouacked just to take a look at a beautiful moon lit night.
“While I was standing there talking to the guard on duty, a bomb hit in the middle of the street. The percussion knocked me down and three people who had been standing near me were killed. That’s how I got my Purple Heart,” he concluded.
Mr. Stone was also awarded the Good Conduct medal, the European Theater of Operation w/5 battle stars, plus several other awards and citations. On coming home, he said, “To tell you the truth, it’s a feeling that you can’t describe. After having been gone for so long and been through so much, it was just a wonderful, indescribable feeling.”
Far from the European battlefront, in the South Pacific near the Island of Guadalcanal, John Thornton, another WWII veteran from Jasper County, heard general quarters sound aboard the light carrier USS Atlanta.
Mr. Thornton, 87 years old, served in the U.S. Navy from 1941 through 1945, aboard the USS Atlanta, which supplied support and protection for aircraft carriers in the battle of Midway, the Coral Sea, and Guadalcanal.
He tells of the night of November 13, at Guadalcanal, when the USS Atlanta was there to support the landing of the Marines, when a torpedo hit the ship in the engine room. At the time, Mr. Thorton was in the plot room, adjacent to the engine room. “The force from the torpedo raised a seam in the deck of the plot room, water started coming in, we lost power, and the ship was in darkness.
“By the time we got topside we could hear the cries of the injured, but still couldn’t see anything in the darkness. When daylight finally came all we could see was twisted metal, and injured and dying men. We finally had to abandon the ship and the Marines came out in boats to take us off.
“Before I left the ship I found a seaman, who was a good friend of mine even before we joined the Navy, wounded on the deck. He asked me to keep his wallet for him. I kept it for many months. Finally. I wrote his family in Thomaston, Ga. They gave me his address and I sent his wallet and money on to him.”