USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Wenham > Wenham in World War II : war service of Wenham men and women and civilian services of Wenham people > Part 9
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Leaving from POE (Port of Embarkation), Hampton Roads, Va., Harwood went overseas May 9, 1943 and landed at Oran, N. Africa, where the unit became part of General Patton's Seventh Army. On May 9 the American forces had taken Bizerte, and the British had taken Tunis. The fighting in North Africa was about over and the fighting in Europe about to begin.
While in North Africa the 201st was stationed at principal air- ports in Bizerte, Tunis, Oran and Mersa Matruh.
Naples fell in October 1943, and in November the unit was sent to Italy. They landed at Naples and were stationed at airports in that vicinity. "During this time there were numerous air attacks by the Germans, on airfields and the Port of Naples. A few planes were shot down by the unit." In March 1944, the 201st was sent to Corsica, where it was stationed at airports at Bastia and Porto Vecchio. During this time a beachhead had been established at Anzio, and later linked up with the forces which had finally taken Cassino.
In September 1944 the 201st was disbanded due to the cessation of German air attacks, and the men were assigned to other units. Harwood was assigned to the 2698th Tech. Super. Regt. whose duties were to supervise and control the Italian soldiers. Harwood and three other sergeants were assigned to an Italian Labor Battal- ion which was used to operate a Quartermaster Clothing Depot. During this time he was promoted to S/Sgt. and T/Sgt. (Staff and Technical Sergeant).
After the Po Valley fell, the Italian Labor Battalions were dis- banded, and stockades were built to hold German prisoners who were to be used instead of Italians for labor.
Douglas Harwood was honorably discharged at Ft. Devens, Mass. on November 28, 1945.
Good Conduct Medal
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American Campaign Medal
European Campaign Medal with stars for Naples-Foggia and Rome-Arno campaigns.
World War II Victory Medal
KINGSBURY ALLEN HARWOOD entered on active duty as a Private in the Army of the U. S. on May 3, 1945. He was sent to Camp Gordon, Ga. (Co. D, 12th Battalion, 7th Infantry Regi- ment) for basic training and then to Ft. Meade, Md. for further training.
Kingsbury Harwood was honorably discharged on October 10, 1945 but re-enlisted October 11, 1945 in the Regular Army for three years. He was assigned to the Army Air Corps and sent to Greensboro, N. C. for a week, for processing for overseas. At the end of that time he was, however, ordered to Westover Field, Mass. where he did clerical work at H.Q. He was promoted to Corporal in December 1945 and was transferred to Hamilton Field, San Francisco, Calif. where he served as Flight Clerk with the Air Transport Command.
While at Hamilton Field he flew to Kwajalein with atomic bomb equipment for the experiment at Bikini. The trip took two weeks and on his return he was sent back to Greensboro, N. C. for pro- cessing for overseas. Here he was taken sick with rheumatic fever and sent to Ft. Bragg Regional Hospital, N. C. where he spent three months. Then back to Greensboro again. He spent six months at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Ala. and flew to New York on week-end passes several times.
Harwood was honorably discharged on April 1, 1947 at Maxwell Field, Ala.
American Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
WAYNE PRESTON HARWOOD entered on active duty as Apprentice Seaman in the U. S. Coast Guard Reserve September 4, 1942. His first assignment was to the CG 2503, part of the schooner anti-submarine patrol off Portsmouth, N. H. He remained on this duty for two months, and was then transferred to the District Coast Guard Barracks, Portsmouth Navy Yard, where he was given guard duty assignments throughout the city of Portsmouth. This duty consisted of guarding the gas and power source and the lines supply- ing the Navy Yard. He was promoted to Coxswain in March 1943.
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Personal Records of Those in the Armed Forces
In May 1944 he was sent to the 20 and 40 mm. gunnery school at Pontiac Motors, Pontiac, Mich. and later to Curtis Bay Training Station, Curtis Bay, Md. where he received all sorts of training, which prepared him for duty afloat. He also had pre-radio training here. Upon completion of this course he was shipped to Groton Training Station, Groton, Conn. where he studied Loran, which at that time was very secret. "All operators were sworn to secrecy. Now that the secret is out, I am able to give a brief idea of its purpose.
"When bombing Japan was planned, Saipan and Guam were scheduled to become B-29 bases. In making long range flights from these bases to Japan, Loran acted as a highway on which the planes might travel and carry a minimum load of gasoline. This would, in turn, enable them to carry a maximum bomb load.
"Loran stations were built in pairs, each being a number of miles from the other. These pairs consisted of a master station and a slave station. The two stations sent out powerful radio pulses that were picked up by Loran receiving sets in the planes. By first pick- ing up a slave pulse, then a master pulse, and reading the calibra- tions, it was a simple matter to look on special charts and find one's exact location which would be accurate within a mile."
After finishing Loran school, all men scheduled to man various stations were sent to Alameda, Calif. and put aboard the USS Menkar (AK 123). "This ship was loaded down with equipment and supplies to build three Loran Stations. Nearly one month after leaving the States, a Loran Master Station was put ashore at Saipan. A few days later the slave station was put ashore at Cocos Island, which is three miles off the southern tip of Guam. I remained to aid in building the station on Cocos, while the Menkar went to Guam to unload the monitor station. After completing the slave station, the entire complement remaining with the station consisted of twenty-nine men, one chief petty officer and an ensign in charge."
Harwood served for several months as scope operator. A scope is a cathode ray tube that reflects the pulse sent out from the station. Both the master and the slave pulse are projected on this tube's screen. The scope operator has to keep these pulses in perfect syn- chronization. He was then put in charge of an LCVP which car- ried supplies, mail, etc. from Guam to Cocos.
He left Guam for the States in November aboard the USS York- town and arrived in Boston December 12, 1945.
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Wayne P. Harwood was honorably discharged on December 14, 1945 at Constitution Wharf, Boston, Mass.
Good Conduct Medal American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
WALLACE CURRIER HASZARD entered on active duty as Apprentice Seaman in the U. S. Naval Reserve on April 4, 1945. He took boot training at Sampson, N. Y. and afterwards went to Shoemaker, Calif. for sea duty.
Wallace Haszard made Seaman 2/c from boot camp and left California in July 1945 for the Pacific on the USS Jean Lafitte as a Navy passenger. He went to the Marshall Islands, Caroline Isl- ands, and Philippine Islands where he was transferred to another transport (still as a passenger) and picked up the USS North Caro- lina (BB-55) to which he had been ordered, on August 24, 1945, while underway.
The North Carolina was part of the 3rd Fleet operating just off Japan. Haszard was assigned to the Engineering Dept. as Fire- man 2/c and went into Tokyo Bay two days after the Peace Treaty was signed.
He returned to Boston via Pearl Harbor and Panama. The ship stayed at Boston for Navy Day; then went to New York. There he was transferred to the USS Gen. J. R. Brooke (AP-132) and made four trips to Le Havre, France to bring home troops and take over replacements. On one of these trips he went up to Paris.
Wallace Haszard was honorably discharged on July 15, 1946 in Boston.
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
WARREN ELTON HEATH entered on active duty as a Private in the Army of the U. S. on June 20, 1944. He was assigned to the Army Air Forces and sent to the 3704th AAF Base Unit at Keesler Field, Miss. for basic training, to Lowry Field, Denver, Colo., Arma- ment School and to Kingman Army Air Base, Ariz., to Gunnery School where he was promoted to Corporal on January 1, 1945, upon completion of this course.
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Personal Records of Those in the Armed Forces
Warren Heath was assigned to OTU (Overseas Training Unit) Gunnery School, Drew Field, Tampa, Fla., was assigned to Cadets at Keesler Field, but "washed out" like so many others when this training program was curtailed. He was then sent for further gunnery training on B-29's at Barksdale Field, La., a B-29 Base where he was promoted to Sergeant and in November 1945 was sent to the Overseas Replacement Depot at Greensboro, N. C., and then to Camp Kilmer, N. J. for overseas training.
Heath left the States on January 30, 1946 on the SS William and Mary, a Victory ship, which docked at Le Havre, France. He was stationed at Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany with the Army of Occu- pation.
He was transferred to the Lechfeld Army Air Base at Augsburg, and flew photographic missions in B-17's over Europe until July when he was sent to Tripoli, North Africa for the same purpose. The photographs thus obtained were used for map making.
He returned to Germany in October and came back to the States on the USS Admiral Coontz on December 1, 1946. He was honor- ably discharged December 6, 1946 at Ft. Dix.
American Campaign Medal
European-African Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
THEODORE CLARENCE HOLLANDER enlisted as Boatswain's Mate 2/c, U. S. Naval Reserve three days after Pearl Harbor and was called to active duty January 19, 1942. After indoctrination training, he was ordered in March to the USS Teaberry (YN 29), laying and repairing anti-submarine and anti-torpedo nets protect- ing Boston, Philadelphia and Newport. He made Boatswain's Mate 1/c aboard her in November 1942. He left her in January 1943 for another tour of duty at the Section Base, this time as Master- at-Arms, and in April was sent out as Officer-in-Charge of a small converted yacht, USS Trimfore, doing picket duty outside Boston Harbor. He was appointed Chief Boatswain's Mate in October, and in March 1944 was commissioned Ensign, detached from his command and sent to the Amphibious Training Base, Little Creek, Va. for further training. Upon completing the course, he helped put the USS LSM 261 in commission as Executive Officer with the duties of Navigator, First Lieutenant Personnel Officer, and Dam- age Control Officer.
After a very brief shakedown cruise in Atlantic waters, the 261
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was sent through the Canal to the West Coast Amphibious Train- ing Center at San Diego, Calif .; then to another training center in the Hawaiian Islands-where he was promoted to Lieutenant (j.g.) for final full-scale training exercises; and then via the Mar- shalls to the Marianas in preparation for the Iwo Jima operation.
The special mission of the 261 at Iwo was to land Marines, bull- dozers and high priority supplies on the beach on D-Day. This they succeeded in doing and in spite of continued machine gun fire and many near-misses continued to deliver loads on the beach until the island was secured.
The LSM 261 came back to the States for repairs in May 1945, and Hollander was detached in July and sent to the Naval Hospital at Long Beach, Calif. They discharged him fit for duty in early September.
Hollander has a Letter of Commendation from the Army. It is for a matter of seamanship. It seems that an Army Tug ran aground and the Navy came to its rescue and got it off.
The LSM Squadron of which the USS LSM 261 was a part, was commended for "exceptionally meritorious performance of their mission" by Rear Admiral H. W. Hill, USN, Commander Task Group.
Theodore Hollander was released to inactive duty on September 20, 1945 at Boston.
Good Conduct Medal
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with star for Iwo Jima.
World War II Victory Medal
LAURENCE EDWARD HOMAN entered on active duty as a Pri- vate in the Army of the United States on March 10, 1942. He was assigned to the 121st Engineers at Ft. Devens, Mass. and sent to Ft. George G. Meade, Camp Blanding, Fla. for training where he was promoted to Private First Class.
On October 5, 1942 his unit was sent overseas. They sailed from New York on the SS Queen Elizabeth and landed in England where Homan was later transferred to the 1301st Engineers.
On August 6, 1944, the 1301st Engineers crossed to France where they were assigned to General Patton's Third Army and took part in the campaign of Northern France, the Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe.
V-E Day found the 1301st Engineers at Verdun, France. From
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Personal Records of Those in the Armed Forces
then on they were part of the occupation and were stationed in Ger- many.
In July 1945 Laurence Homan returned to the States. He was honorably discharged at Ft. Devens on August 7, 1945.
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with stars for Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Ger- many.
CHARLES E. INCHES, JR. entered on active duty as Coxswain in the U. S. Naval Reserve on April 1, 1942 and reported to Boat Division Quonset Point, R. I. where for twenty months he was assigned to aircraft rescue and salvage. In December 1942 he was advanced to Boatswain M 2/c.
In August 1944 he was assigned to the pre-commissioning detail of the USS Leyte (ARG 8) a repair ship at Newport, R. I. He was advanced to BM 1/c and his duty was instructing petty officers who were in charge of training the deck divisions for sea duty.
The USS Leyte was commissioned at Baltimore, Md. and left Norfolk, Va. for the Pacific, October 3, 1944. After the Battle of Leyte her name was changed to Maui as names of battles are re- served for carriers.
"My ship repaired all types of landing craft from LST's (Land- ing Ship Tanks) down to Auxiliary Mine Sweepers. Our working stations were: Manus, Admiralty Islands ; Hollandia, N. G .; Leyte, and finally Subic Bay, P. I. from April to November 1945. We saw no action-just air raids." Inches was in charge of half the deck and rigging details (1st Div.), about seventy men.
The Maui returned to Portland, Ore. December 29, 1945 and Charles Inches was honorably discharged in Boston on January 11, 1946.
Good Conduct Medal
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
Philippine Liberation Medal with star for two air raids at Leyte. World War II Victory Medal
JARED CARTER INCHES entered on active duty as a Private in the Army of the U. S. on November 7, 1942. He was assigned to the Air Corps and joined the 607th Signal Co. (Air Warning) of the First Fighter Command, Boston. Mass. He was detached from the 607th and sent to the Army Air Forces School of Applied
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Tactics, at Orlando, Fla. and then to camp Kearns, Salt Lake City, Utah for overseas training.
In September 1944, he sailed to a New Guinea Replacement Depot. The Replacement Depot sent him by air to Australia for assignment. On arrival he found that the unit he had been ordered to join had left so as he says, he had "a pleasant four weeks' vaca- tion before embarking" on the Liberty Ship SS Stephen Furdeck.
"The Furdeck sailed for the Island of Leyte but was held up so many times enroute that the trip took 78 days during which 800 men lived in such cramped quarters that only half of them could sleep at one time and then we slept on the steel decks of the ship as there were no other accommodations. In fact, there was no accom- modation of any kind for troops. I believe this trip is now an Official Record. In the 78 days no one set foot on shore.
"After arriving in Leyte, I was assigned to the 248th Quarter- master Truck Co. (Aviation). I was in the Orderly Room and in due course became Acting 1st Sergeant."
Inches returned to the States and was honorably discharged on February 8, 1946. He enrolled in the Army Enlisted Reserve on the same date, with the rank of Sergeant.
Good Conduct Medal
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with star for Leyte.
Philippine Liberation World War II Victory Medal
HERBERT JAQUES, JR. entered on active duty in the Army of the U. S. on September 21, 1942. He was assigned to the Air Forces and took his basic training at Basic Training Center, Miami Beach, Fla. He was selected for the Air Force Officers' Candidate School at Miami Beach and was then sent for further training to AAF Statistical School, Soliders Field, Boston, Mass. from which he was graduated with the rank of 2d Lieutenant. His training finished, he was assigned on March 1, 1943 to the Statistical Con- trol Division, Office of Management Control, HQ Army Air Forces, Washington, D. C. where he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on June 6, 1943. His next duty was in the Statistical Control Divi- sion, HQ Continental Air Forces, Bolling Field, D. C.
In March 1944 he got his Captaincy and in September 1945 was sent overseas. He was stationed at Ft. McKinley, Manila, P. I. and attached to the 20th Statistical Control Unit, HQ Pacific Air
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Personal Records of Those in the Armed Forces
Command. "The duties of the 20th SCU included, among other things, the compilation of the strength of AAF personnel in the en- tire Pacific area; the number, condition and location of the various types of aircraft; the re-deployment status of AAF personnel ; and the amount of AAF materiel and supplies on hand at the various installations in the Philippines, Hawaii, Okinawa, Korea and Japan."
Herbert Jaques' duties included those of Reports Control Offi- cer (through whom all directives for new reports of any type had to flow in order to prevent duplication of reporting by lower units to higher commands) ; Administrative Officer; and Executive Officer of the 20th SCU. He was promoted to Major on January 18, 1946, returned to the States by plane two months later and was released to inactive duty on May 13, 1946.
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
DONALD WILKINSON JOINER entered on active duty as a Private in the Army of the U. S. on October 26, 1942. He was assigned to the Air Forces and sent to Atlantic City for basic train- ing, and afterward to Camp Kilmer, N. J. where he joined the 16th Replacement Depot. With this unit he was sent to Syracuse Air Base for overseas training.
In August 1943, the 16th Replacement Depot sailed on the Queen Elizabeth and on arrival in England, was stationed at Stone where one of the duties of the Unit was to train recruits for convoy driv- ing when they got across the channel. Joiner acted as instructor.
In October 1943 he was transferred as driver to the 92d Bom- bardment Group, 407th Bombardment Squadron stationed at Pad- dington, 70 miles from London. This was an 8th Air Force base from which planes, B-17's, were being flown on missions over Eur- ope. Soon after joining it, he was assigned as clerk to the 92d Bombardment Group PO. He was promoted to Corporal in Jan- uary 1944.
Joiner kept the card index records of all men killed or missing in the Group and Squadron. Good and bad news was faithfully re- corded and a man's record could be referred to at a minute's notice. New information was added if it came in. Missing flyers were occa- sionally picked up in the Channel after they had been considered lost and at the end of hostilities many "killed" or "missing" flyers
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were found in German POW (Prisoner of War) camps. To these carefully kept records many families owe the news, good or bad, that they received from the War Department.
"Incoming mail for men killed in action or missing in action was stamped by the PO and sent to S2 (Intelligence), who returned the letters and personal effects of the men to their next of kin. I was with the 8th Air Force for two and one-half years keeping records on KIA (Killed in Action) and MIA (Missing in Action) and transferring all mail."
Donald Joiner was honorably discharged on November 15, 1945 at Ft. Devens, Mass.
Presidential Unit Citation for bombing raids over Germany by 8th Air Forces
Good Conduct Medal
American Campaign Medal
European Campaign Medal with 5 bronze stars and a silver star earned by Squadron of B-17's in 92d Bomber Group in Air Offensive, Europe, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe.
World War II Victory Medal
EDGAR EUGENE JOINER, JR. entered Federal Service with the National Guard on January 15, 1941. He was assigned to Btry. "F," 102nd Field Artillery 26th Division. He was promoted to Sergeant in April 1941, and in November 1941 was released to State control. In October 1942 he was recalled to active duty, sent to Ft. Devens, Mass. and escorted recruits to various training cen- ters throughout the country.
In February 1943 he was assigned as Instrument and Survey Sergeant to Btry. "C," 189th FA, 45th Infantry Division at Pine Camp, N. Y. The 189th was sent to Camp Pickett, Va. for am- phibious and commando training and then to Camp Patrick Henry, Va. for embarkation.
The 45th Division went overseas in June 1943 and arrived in Africa just in time to join General Patton's Seventh Army and make the D-Day landing on Sicily, July 10, 1943.
After fighting throughout the Sicily campaign, units of the 45th landed on D-Day at Salerno, below Naples, as part of General Mark Clark's Fifth Army. After a week of costly fighting, a beachhead was established and the unit fought through the winter campaign of 1943, toward Naples and Cassino. Naples fell and the unit was
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Personal Records of Those in the Armed Forces
pulled out after reaching Cassino to take part in the Anzio landing below Rome in January 1944.
At Anzio the Germans were able to bring down reinforcements in sufficient numbers to contain the beachhead and a break-through became impossible until spring. Here rear echelon troops got a little taste of long range artillery fire and air attacks. It was dur- ing this time that Edgar Joiner earned a battle-field promotion and commendation "for marked ability to command men under artillery fire and in combat" from General Mark Clark. He was commis- sioned 2d Lieutenant on February 28, 1944. The 189th FA took part in the break-through in May and the offensive on Rome in June.
In August 1944 the 45th took part in its fourth D-Day landing near St. Maxime in southern France. By early September they were south of Lyons. Edgar Joiner, in charge of artillery support of a task force was assisting the 179th Infantry to hold a road block protecting the only bridge across the Rhone River. They were caught by a tank regiment of the 11th Panzer Division. They suc- ceeded in holding the Germans back from morning until late after- noon when their three remaining tank destroyers were shot up and the remaining men were taken prisoner-among them, Joiner and the C.O. of Co. F, 179th Infantry.
"We were escorted from Besançon to Belfort by a German sub- marine crew fleeing to Germany on foot. From Belfort we rode in a coal car on the railroad to Stalag XII A at Limberg, arriving there on September 11. Here the men and officers were separated, but about ten officers and men, who were thought to be specialists, were held for two weeks' interrogation in solitary confinement in the historic castle's dungeons.
"We were moved by boxcar (railroad) to Oflag 64, at Altburgund, Poland (formerly Shubin, Poland; the Germans renamed it) and here became acquainted with the Gestapo, Nazis, black bread and purple cabbage soup.
"On January 22, 1945 owing to the Russian advance, the pris- oners were ordered to march several hundred miles back into Ger- many to an Oflag near Berlin. En route I escaped with a friend, the C.O. of the 179th Infantry who had been taken at the same time I was. We moved eastward hiding from German rear guard action and from German refugees who crowded the roads, and in February 1945 contacted the Russian patrols.
"More acquaintances ! Russians, Poles, Czechs, Mongols, etc. More
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black bread! No transportation ! 25°-35° below zero temperatures- we walked and stole rides occasionally, to Warsaw, were sent to Odessa, to Istanbul, to Port Said, to Naples and to the United States in about two months."
After a 60 day recuperation leave and a two-week stay at the At- lantic City Recuperation Center, he was sent to Fort Bragg, N. C. to train recruits, and then to Ft. Sill, Okla. for an officer's basic course. Finally he was sent to Ft. Devens and released to inactive duty October 26, 1945.
Bronze Star and Cluster for action in Italy, 1944. (Cluster awarded by Secretary of War in 1945). Good Conduct Medal
American Defense Service Medal
American Campaign Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with bronze arrowhead for beachhead invasion, and stars for Sicily, Naples, Foggia, Rome-Arno and Southern France.
World War II Victory Medal
JAMES EDWARD KAVANAGH, JR. entered on active duty as a Private in the Army of the U. S. on May 8, 1942. He was sent to the Air Corps Training Center at Miami Beach, Fla. for indoc- trination and then to Greenville, Miss. where he joined the 434th School Squadron which was training pilots for the Army Air Corps. He remained at Greenville AAF (Army Air Field) and worked in the Orderly Room as Clerk. While there he was promoted to Corporal in November 1942, Sergeant in February 1943 and Staff Sergeant in May 1943.
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