WWII Heroes: We Were Just Doing Our Jobs

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WWII Heroes: We Were Just Doing Our Jobs Page 15

by Minton, Linda E.


  “While we were there, we went into Buchenwald, [a] German concentration camp, and it was a horrible place. We saw the ovens, and it wasn’t a pretty sight at all. The camp was empty by this time.

  During his time overseas, starting in Normandy and ending in Berlin, Bill participated in five campaigns. One time, in the Hertgen Forest, fifty miles east of the Belgian-German border, they found out there was a gap in the line. “We were put in as front line soldiers,” he said.

  Another time they were working on a bridge when Germans began shelling. They had to get into a bunker. Finally they got to the spotter that was shelling them, and they could complete the bridge.

  Berlin, Germany

  In 1945 Bill saw Bob Hope when he performed for the troops in Berlin. Bill left Germany on Christmas Day, 1945, on the USS Lejeune, a troop ship, to come back home. The USS Lejeune was originally built as a passenger liner in Hamburg, Germany. He was released from the US Army in January 1946.

  What did you think of the atomic bombing of Japan?

  “I think it was the best thing to do to get it over with. It killed a lot of people.”

  In June 2014 Bill flew to Washington, DC, on the Indy Honor Flight. He has a wonderful pictorial book of his experience. He especially enjoyed the mail call on the way home.

  Eunice Walter Francis – US Army

  “Little did they know, twenty-one years later, December 7 would be a dreadful day!”

  Eunice Walter Francis was born on December 7, 1920, the oldest son of George and Grace Francis. Little did anyone know that this day twenty-one years later would be a dreadful day for America.

  Early years

  Eunice worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps circa 1939–1940. The workers during that time did many jobs for the United States, after the Depression and prior to WWII. Many parks still have buildings that were erected by the CCC workers.

  Military service

  Eunice went into the army on June 11, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. He was an antiaircraft gunner and was drafted after WWII started. He brought home some pictures of people who had died during the war, as it was his job to either bury the dead or get someone to bury them.

  Family

  Eunice had two younger brothers, Richard and Harold. Eunice’s other brother, Frank, also served in the army during the war. When Eunice was discharged from the army after the war, he and his wife worked on a farm in Illinois for a while. Later he got a job at Insley, a company that manufactured heavy equipment such as cranes. Eunice and Sandell moved to Indianapolis and lived on North LaSalle Street for many years.

  Eunice and Sandell Francis

  Eunice was married to Hazel Sandell Stockton. She was fifteen years old when they got married. They didn’t have any children. There was always a picture of Eunice in his army uniform sitting on the nightstand by their bed.

  Both Eunice and Sandell are buried at Washington Park Cemetery on East Washington Street in Indianapolis, Indiana.

  Information: Harold Randall Francis, Eunice’s younger brother; and Iree Francis and Edith Francis, Eunice’s sisters-in-law.

  Frank Milton Francis—US Army

  “A WWII grenade always hung on the living room wall at my grandparents’ home.”

  Frank Milton Francis was born August 3, 1922. He enlisted in the army on June 24, 1940, and was discharged on September 23, 1945. Frank was in the Battle of the Bulge where he developed frostbite on his toes. He earned a Purple Heart for his bravery in the war, but his family did not know the details surrounding the award of the medal. Frank kept a trunk of his war things. His daughter, Betty, took the medal and the trunk with her when she returned to Mississippi after Frank’s death.

  Bill, Frank’s youngest brother, thought Frank was a tank driver in the war. Frank was stationed at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, and Ft. Knox had a tank division. Frank was my uncle, and I remember a grenade hanging on the wall of my grandparents’ living room. It had been brought back from the war. One thing Bill recalled was that Frank was in a motorcycle accident in Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Frank was riding a motorcycle between two cars and had a wreck. He was the motorcycle escort for some of the generals.

  The family went to Ft. Knox to see Frank in the hospital. The family lived in Kentucky. George Francis, patriarch of the Francis family, worked on building the airport at Ft. Knox. So the family lived near Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Bill thought the name of the small town was Vine Grove. This would be about one or two miles north of Elizabethtown.

  Frank married Margine Ruth Jeffries in 1942, while he was in the service. She lived with her mother while he was gone. They had two children, Robert and Betty. Margine died from cancer while she was pregnant with their third child, on September 9, 1948; the child, Ruth Anne, also passed. Frank moved to Indianapolis and worked for American Can Company.

  Information: Frank’s brother, Harold R. Francis.

  John Raymond Geilker—US Army

  By Judy Geilker Beeson

  “My dad was in charge of heavy artillery in Germany.”

  Both Ray and his wife, Margaret L. Geilker, went to Tech High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ray was four years older than Margaret. Ray and Margaret were married in 1943. Ray enjoyed playing golf in his later years.

  John (Ray) Geilker was in the US Army infantry. According to Ray’s army discharge papers, he was assigned to the 893rd Tank Destroyer Battalion and given a medal for “meritorious service in connection with military operations against the enemy during the period from 23 November 1944 to 8 May 1945 in Germany.”

  “My dad was in charge of heavy artillery in Germany,” said his daughter, Judy. Ray took part in the liberation of Paris in August 1944. The Allies arrived in Paris in mid-August to free the city from the Germans. It had been under Nazi domination since June 14, 1940. Ray’s job in the military was to go and ask people to give up their homes so the officers could use them as bases. “He always felt bad about it,” Judy said.

  His army records note, “First Lieutenant John R. Geilker rendered consistently outstanding service in billeting, supervising the rear echelon installations, and maintaining adequate guard.” It went on to mention his excellent character and qualifications to be a great soldier. “His loyalty, initiative, and untiring devotion to duty are in accordance with the highest military traditions.”

  First Lieutenant Geilker received a Bronze Star for his service in Germany during WWII.

  Korea

  When the Korean War broke out, many WWII veterans were willing to defend America again. Ray was called up and was sent to Korea. While he was in Korea, his son Jack was born. Another veteran in this book, Richard Greenfield of Indianapolis, also served in Korea as well as WWII.

  William Kincheloe—US Army, Tank Division

  “I was starting to get in the tank when I was hit.”

  In January 1943 Bill was drafted into the army. “There were nine of us from Posey County, Indiana, that stayed together and eight hundred in the tank battalion.” He spent a year training in Texas and completed additional training in Louisiana. Bill went to New York the following year. Later he sailed to England, where he stayed until June, when the invasion of Europe began. “Then we sailed to France on an LST. The LST held fifteen tanks—that is one company.” He didn’t think this particular one was made in Evansville.

  Bill drove a Sherman tank in Europe. “The Sherman tanks weighed thirty tons, and we fought against the German Tiger tanks. There were five men in a tank,” said Bill. “The Tiger tanks weighed sixty tons. They had big guns on them. Our tanks were more reliable—their tanks broke down a lot. We had one boy who was killed in the tank when he got his head behind the gun. When it recoiled, it killed him.”

  Bill went on to say, “Our outfit missed the Battle of the Bulge. That was some tough fighting in there. There were eight hundred in my outfit, and seventy-nine got killed. That was about ten percent, which was real low. The marines—they took a beating.”

  Did you like being in the tank?


  “Yes, it was better than being in the infantry. You got to ride instead of walk. A lot of times, especially when we were with Patton, we would load our tanks with the infantry. We would tell them to hold on, and we would take them on top across country.”

  On a map he indicated where he landed on Utah Beach in Normandy. The LST did not sail very fast, and it took all night to get there. They landed at Saint-Mere-Eglise and went through LeMans and Laval. “The day we landed in France was the day they liberated Cherbourg—I think it was the twenty-seventh of June. We stayed with the first army, which made the invasion, until Patton came over. That’s when he made his breakthrough at St. Lo, France. We joined his Third Army. We chased them all the way to the Belgium border. Then we just transferred to the Seventh Army, who had made the invasion into Marseille from Italy. They crossed the Seine River fifteen miles from Paris.” The bridges were pontoon bridges, or temporary bridges.

  “We took this one town three different times,” said Bill. “We would take it, and the Germans would run us out at night. Then we would retake it. We finally took it and kept it.”

  “On the first day of action, we were called up because the infantry was pinned down, and they couldn’t move, so we went up there. The lieutenant was leading us, and they showed the lieutenant about where the Germans were located, and he started down there, and then he backed up.” Bill’s tank had to take the lead and go first. “I was the machine gunner that day, and I was spraying banks and hedgerows and got down there about a hundred yards when two guys said, ‘I see them over there.’ Well, we backed up the tank and ran over a mine and blew our tank up. We had to get out and get back to our lines. When we started back, these two Germans came out and stared back at us.”

  Were you ever wounded?

  Bill was wounded at Manorfield by a piece of shrapnel. This was quite a piece of shrapnel; it cut through his arm. His group was pulled off the road doing repairs when he was hit. “I was sitting on top of the tank getting ready to go to supper when a shell hit a house nearby, blowing the roof off. I was starting to get in the tank when I was hit.” He was flown to Southern France and then to Italy, where he stayed one month. Then, he was put on a ship to return to the States on Thanksgiving 1944.

  Upon reaching the States, he was sent to Ft. Sam Houston Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. He spent Christmas Day there. Three doctors conferred at the hospital. Two doctors wanted to take off his arm, but one of the doctors said, “I think we can save it.” Bill was glad that doctor was there! Bill received a Purple Heart for his injury. After spending a total of eight months in the hospital, Bill was discharged in June 1945.

  Harold Pettus, another WWII vet, and Bill worked together at Bucyrus-Erie, located in Evansville, Indiana. Bucyrus-Erie made armored bulldozers during the war. After the war Bill Kincheloe worked as a machinist at the factory.

  Bill’s wife, Florence, met Bill “right in the middle of the street” after the war was over, in Mt. Vernon, Indiana. They went to a show on a date—“probably a war movie,” said Florence.

  The Indiana Military Museum in Vincennes, Indiana, has a tank like the one Bill used during the war. He was able to see it when he went to visit the museum.

  As I left their house, Florence said, “When you get as old as we are, when someone comes, it’s a treat.” They are truly lovely people.

  Evanula Ledbetter—US Army

  By Jim Ledbetter

  “My father never discussed the war with any of his family and got very belligerent if asked about it.”

  Evanula, called Van by his family, was born on May 18, 1925, in Weir, Mississippi, to sharecroppers Webster and Mariah Ledbetter. Van’s father, a very mean man, made his children work hard at a very early age. Van, a large man weighing about three hundred pounds, was about six feet tall. In January 1989 he died of kidney and liver failure. Van was an African American WWII veteran.

  Military life

  Van was drafted into the army in 1944 at age nineteen. He served two years in an all-black unit. During the latter stages of the war in Germany, he and his fellow soldiers were confronted with enemy fire. As they took cover in foxholes, one of his comrades was killed. For fear of being killed himself, Van hid with the dead soldier for three to four days.

  Effects of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]

  Upon returning to the United States, he married Mary Seward. At that time there were not many diagnoses of PTSD and little therapy, especially for black soldiers.

  Jim said, “My father never discussed the war with any of his family and got very belligerent if asked about it. I don’t know what encompassing effects the war had on my dad, but I do know that he was a very bitter and mean man. He seemed to hate his children and beat on my mother and his kids as well. During our life with my dad, we never even held a substantive conversation with him. He generally responded to us with curse words and name-calling. I personally believe World War II had a profound effect on my dad. He was also a chronic alcoholic.” Jim has no pictures of his dad.

  What was your family home like?

  Jim shared, “My family home in Mississippi was uninhabitable.” Jim’s mother was one of nineteen kids. He saw his dad smile only one time in his life. There was no talking at the supper table.

  In 1951 or 1952, the family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, into a house that was condemned and had large river rats. The house was four and half blocks from the Mississippi River. The house was not as important as the unhappiness that lived inside it.

  Jim’s brothers and sisters were involved in crimes and are dead as a result. The effects of poor parenting and PTSD; adult children involved in drugs, alcohol, and prostitution. Jim summed it up, “Without a doubt, the effects of poor parenting reaches far and wide!”

  How did Jim survive the results of a terrible childhood?

  “God saved me from what happened to the rest of my family.” He is a retired schoolteacher and coach and a family man who attends church regularly. Jim is married to Debbie Hlavacek Ledbetter. Their fathers were both WWII soldiers. However, their fathers couldn’t be further apart in how they treated their families.

  Debbie and Jim Ledbetter

  I have been deeply moved by many of the stories of the veterans I have interviewed; however, Jim’s past is hard to write and difficult to imagine. We don’t know what WWII veterans have given to our country—of themselves or their offspring.

  Robert W. Miller—US Army

  A letter containing sweet, loving comments, from a lonely husband to his wife and baby, at home:

  “Honey, the censorship is lifted now. We seal our own letters now and can write anything we please. We can’t talk to Russians, Poles or Germans.”

  —Germany, May 24, 1945

  “We were leaving New York City from the harbor at Forty-Second and Broadway!” said Bob. The ship was docked there. “I got up in the morning and looked up and down the river. The guys wanted to go into town but were told they couldn’t go into the city. The next morning I looked up the river; all the boats were pulling out. Our ship was pulling out too. We came to the submarine nets then went on through. Seeing a little land, I asked a maritime man, ‘Where are we?’ And he said, ‘Sandy Hook, New Jersey.’ As we went out into the ocean, we formed a big convoy. Three days out, we were six hundred miles off from Norfolk, Virginia.

  “We went south—why, I don’t know. A half day out, we joined up with another convoy coming from New York. It had baby flat tops with it. It pulled up beside us, and we were so excited! They left us on the way to England. We were heading toward Gibraltar. We saw the Rock of Gibraltar and Portugal. Next was Spain and Africa. Every three or four miles, there was a house or building but mostly desert. Sometime during the night, we turned north and went to Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. Then the convoy stopped.

  “There were seven or eight of us talking down below in the hull. Half of the guys went to breakfast. I didn’t go with them, but when they came back they said there are a lot of red cliffs ou
t there. I said which side of the boat are they on? They said on the left side. Oh, thank goodness, because Italy is on the right side.

  “No one walks in the armored division! We didn’t want to go to Italy in these tanks. Of course we didn’t know where we were going. It was Marseilles harbor.” They were told they were going to walk twelve miles up the mountain. “My buddies and I had a plan. We would wait for everyone else to get their bags, and ours wouldn’t be so hard to find. However, our bags froze solid that night.

  “There was a wine shop next door. Some of the guys drank wine all day. That night they got in a big fight, and they killed four of their own guys.”

  Bob’s job was in a medium tank, without a turret. It had a 105-millimeter gun on it. Their superiors said, “You guys are going to fight.” Bob recalled, “It took us a week to pass inspection. We finally passed. We went over to France to practice shooting at a target. The artillery mechanics set the guns close, so they wouldn’t hit the target. They were supposed to get close but not hit it.

  “GI are crazy. They don’t have a lick of sense!

  “They asked, ‘Which way to combat?’ They were told, ‘Oh, the regular old way.’ The guys answered with, ‘We don’t want to go that way. We want to go the way Hannibal crossed with forty elephants.’ Then the response was, ‘Well, you aren’t going that way because we have to take the train. What’s wrong with you?’”

  France

  They went to Lyons and Alsace in France. “We got there and camped. While camping there, the Germans had two-hundred-millimeter guns all up and down the line. They would pull them out on railroad flatcars, fire three rounds at three o’clock and six o’clock in the morning. In the afternoon, three or four o’clock, they would pull them back out and shoot three rounds again.

 

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