Here's a good write-up from the Sherman-Denison paper, including soldier's stories.
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World War II reunion still going strong
BY K. MCSTAY
HERALD DEMOCRAT
"Thank you for letting us save the world," Sgt. Paul Gray said as he blessed the meal. Those assembled nodded and scooted closer to the table, chatting amongst themselves. These are the men who served with the 146th Engineer Combat Battalion, assigned during World War II to the 1121st Engineer Combat Group. They landed on the beaches of Normandy, participated in the Battle of the Bulge and returned to the states as heroes. On Friday evening, they came to Denison to hold their annual reunion, a time to share stories and reconnect.
"We're all around 85 years old," said Gray, the organizer of the event. Due to ill health or other complications, several of the veterans were unable to attend the event, and Gray said that this could be the last reunion for the veterans, as age and illness make traveling difficult.
Second Lieutenant Wes Ross spent his time catching up at the banquet that concluded the reunion. "We're telling stories, most of 'em true, some of them embellished," he said. Some of the banter was light-hearted reminiscences on war-time hijinks. Private First Class Lamar Keith shared tales about the right way to store spirits while on the move: not, he said, in aluminum canteens, as it'll melt the metal. "They never told us what it'd do to our stomachs," he said.
At one point while in France, Ross said, he came across a man drinking a small glass of what looked like wine. In an attempt to out-drink the man, Ross drank straight from the nearby bottle. The liquid, however, was Calvados, a French spirit distilled from apples. "I could even breathe for a few minutes," Ross said. While on a reconnaissance mission, Ross said that his team ran into a German truck. "We weren't sure what was about to happen," he said. Out of the truck, however, jumped a Russian soldier. "He ran up to me and grabbed me in a bear-hug" he said.
"The Russian soldiers loved to drink and dance," Keith remembered.
Other memories from the days in the European Theater surface as well. Two weeks prior to D-Day, Tech. 5 Gene Beleele was called in to a commanding officer's tent. "He told me they needed a supply truck driver," Beleele said. The position meant that he wouldn't be in the first wave on Normandy Beach, but would come four or five days after. "I asked, 'do I have to?'" Beleele said. "I'd rather go with them."
A friend of Beleele's took the position instead. "The minute I was out there, I was thinking: 'you crazy idiot,'" Beleele said. "Though I didn't get a scratch." Beleele said that he crawled along the beach, using blasting caps taped to his helmet and TNT carried on his back to clear underwater and beach obstacles. "You had a little more than five seconds to get away from it before it blew," he said.
After D-Day, Beleele was wounded when a mine went off. Fellow soldiers, after clearing, had piled up disabled mines. Beleele was helping to rig explosives on the mines when he heard a snap. Despite soldiers walking around the area all day, no one had touched the final mine. "It went off, but it stayed in the ground," Beleele said. The mines, after being activated, jumped off the ground and sent small metal pieces flying. This mine, however, remained where it was. "I've always felt like the good Lord held his hand on it," Beleele said.
Beleele's shoulder was wounded and both legs were broken in the incident. As a result, he was shipped first to a hospital in Germany, then sent to England. By October, Beleele was served his discharge papers. He went to Tulsa and worked all his life, he said.
Zandra Marlow and Maxine Manning both had family members in the 146th. Marlow's father, Pfc. Jay E. Hansford, and Manning's husband, Cpl. Joe Manning, were both members of the battalion. Hansford was killed in action during the D-Day assault, shortly after Zandra was born. Marlow said that her grandsons, Caleb and Benjamin Newton, found the reunion activities through the battalion's Web site. "I was excited," she said. "We finally found someone who remembered his name." The boys, she said, became interested in the family's history due to a display Zandra has honoring her father. "There's my father's flag, his purple heart and different things," she said. Despite living in Parsons, Kan., Zandra and husband Warren, along with their grandchildren, attend the reunions as often as possible.
Both Caleb and Benjamin Newton believe that their peers aren't learning about the history as they should. "I think they need to learn it," Caleb Newton said. "If you don't learn it, the history dies off," Zandra Marlow said. "There's an urgency to it."
Manning's husband passed away in March. "We only missed two reunions ... we're all one big family," she said. In addition to the camaraderie between the former members of the battalion, she said the honor paid to not only the 146th, but all veterans, is important. "I'd like to see the 146th honored for their service," she said. "I thank them for it, and all the rest of the vets."
Texoma comments ...
1 comment found!
: 10/12/2008
Wes Ross was a 1st Lieutenant, not 2nd LT.
Lenny Fox, Webmaster: www.146thecbwwii.org
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