I remember WWII

My earliest memory of WWII: When I was a very small boy lots of stuff was rationed. Mother had a ration stamp for a pair of shoes for me, so I was looking forward to getting the shoes when we went to the dry goods store. She picked out the shoes and tried them on me. When we went to the cash register to pay for them she had lost the ration stamp! She searched her purse thoroughly, but it just wasn't there. So I had to pull the shoes off, put on my old ones and leave those nice new shoes at the store. Big disappointment.

Mother never did find that ration stamp.



The things I remember being rationed were gasoline, tires, shoes, butter, sugar. But we made out fine since we lived on a farm and grew or raised most of what we ate.



Other memories will follow as I think of them.



Stan

 

I remember WWII quite vividly even though I was a small boy when it ended. I was raised on a farm in Mills County, Texas. We lived 25 miles from Camp Bowie near Brownwood, Texas. Camp Bowie was a huge army training camp. It was built by civilian labor in 1940. At one time there were 15,000 laborers building the camp. My Dad, Grandfather, and an uncle worked building the camp. Camp Bowie covered 123,000 acres in Brown and Mills Counties of Texas.
While the living quarters were being built, larger buildings were going up all over the campsite. On March 1, 1941, it was reported that 213 mess halls and 224 bathhouses had been built. The men enjoyed sports and entertainment at the 22 recreation centers. There was one post exchange with 27 branches, three libraries, one 18 hole golf course, a veterinary clinic, three dental clinics and two Red Cross buildings. When completed, the hospital could take care of 2,000 patients. The fourteen chapels broke the monotony of the buildings with the steeples reaching toward the sky. There were numerous other buildings constructed at the campsite.

There was also a prison camp for 2,700 prisoners of war attached to the camp. Most of the prisoners were from Rommel's Afrika Corps. The prisoners were issued uniforms that had a large stenciled "P" on the left leg of the trousers and a "W" stenciled on the left leg. This made identification easier. The prisoners were in general well behaved. Some worked at the camp and were paid a small amount by the Army. Other prisoners were allowed to work for farmers and ranchers in the surrounding country. They were paid by the individual farmers and ranchers.


There were many civilian employees at the camp after it was in operation. Two of my Aunts worked out there. One day one of my Aunts went into the women's restroom and discovered that 3 prisoners of war were hiding in one of the stalls. Needless to say, she beat a hasty retreat and informed the authorities who came and took them back to the prison camp.

 

Transportation during the war.


If you have never seen a troop train pulled by a steam locomotive you have missed a great treat, especially for a small boy like I was. Troop trains always seemed in a hurry, traveling faster than other trains. The locomotives had two flags flying from the front of the engine. The train was painted olive (army) green. Troop trains always had the right of way. All other trains had to take a side track.


The army didn't ship jeeps and trucks and trailers much by rail. They drove them over the highways. I have seen huge convoys that sometimes lasted as long as 4 hours to pass by. Tanks, half-tracks, and big guns were shipped by rail.


Nowadays I think the army primarily used the railroad to ship equipment. I now see whole trains of 100+ flatcars of military equipment.


Hitchhiking was a popular way for the soldiers to go on furloughs and come back. Very few drivers would pass a soldier up on the highway if he had room in the car.

 

"That had to have been hard on a little boy. You were probably 4 or 5?"

Yes, I was disappointed, but I don't think it traumatized me for life. I got started pretty early. I started school in the first grade when I was five. Little one teacher country school.

On another matter:
I once knew an old man who was a combat veteran in WWI. I asked him one day where he went in the war. He replied, "I didn't know where in the hell I was, but they said I was in France".
Stan

 

This is great reading. Thank you very much for the posts.

 

Thanks for sharing your memories, Stan. I hope you continue to do so. You have provided a different perspective on WW2 that we don't often hear. Usually, we get stories about the war from the soldiers' point of view. Your recollections have motivated me to ask my mother what she recalls. She was 8 going on 9 when the war ended in 1945.

All the best to you, Stan!

Tom

 

Firing Range


Camp Bowie, Texas allocated 23,000 acres on the easternmost side of the camp for an artillery range. Locals called it the "firing range". This portion of the camp was in Mills County. My Grandfather's Brother (my great uncle) and his wife lived owned a ranch right across the public road from the firing range. One time my parents and I went over to their house for a visit and spent the night with them. I distinctly remember the booming of the big guns and the machine gun fire that went on over there for most of the night.


The next morning which was Sunday Uncle Wick wanted to take us over to the firing range to show us around. He said they wouldn't be firing that day it being Sunday. He had a model A Ford automobile. My Dad and I got in with him and we drove across the road and into the firing range. It was a real eye opener for me. So many jeeps had drove on the pasture roads over there that the ruts were very deep. An ordinary automobile would have high centered on them, but his Model A was high enough off the ground that we made it fine. The scene over there was just like a World War II movie. Craters in the ground from 6 ft. in diameter down to 3 inches in diameter abounded. Lots of jeeps, tanks, and trucks were over there that they had shot all to pieces. They also had build some small cement buildings that were covered with bullet pockmarks.


Shrapnel and spent shell casings were all over the place. It was a scene I will never forget.


My Uncle Wick had a very large bullet that he used as a door prop. I would estimate that it was 5 inches in diameter and probably 18 inches long. It had a silvery looking nose cone and was very heavy. I of course didn't think anything about it at the time, but now I believe that it was a bullet that should have exploded, but didn't. I don't know what ever became of it. He also had some large shell casings and belts of spent machine gun bullets in his barn.


There are still lots of WWII artifacts over on that place. More about that later.


Stan

 

Great thread, Stan! Thanks for sharing!!!

...and if you ever need help "cleaning" out that barn....

 

Thanks for sharing these memories, Stan.

I know you said you weren't traumatized for life, but still couldn't help but feel sorry for you having to put back the beautiful new shoes....And my heart goes out to your mother. As a mother, I know it must have been hard on her, as well, having to see you so disappointed.

 

I had 3 Uncles (by marriage) who were in WWII


Henry was a Norwegian from Iowa. His parents had emmigrated from Norway in the early 1900's. They all could speak Norwegian, but I never did hear Henry speak it. He trained at Camp Bowie and that is where he met and married my Aunt. He went to Belgium and Germany. He sent me a couple of items from over there. One was a pocket watch that he had taken off a dead German soldier's body. It wouldn't run, so I took it apart and of course never did get it back together and lost all the parts. He also sent me a Belgian coin. It had a hole in the middle and a very small hole on the edge and a short piece of chain. He had taken it from around neck of a dead soldier. I still have it.


Henry spoke with a heavy Norwegian accent and us boys used to get a kick out of hearing him say that he was in Patton's turd army.


Milton was in the Navy and served in the Pacific. I suppose he was a medic since he said he was a "pill roller".


Bill was an infantryman in the Army. He went to the Pacific. Bill was badly burned by a Japanese flame thrower and spent a long time in the hospital. He was said to have very bad burn scars on his back, but I never saw him with his shirt off. Bill never said anything about his war experiences and his wife said he didn't tell her much about it. The nearest I ever heard him mention it was one time we were discussing the different qualities of Pickups - Ford vs. Chevrolet, etc. He said, "I know one thing, I'm not ever going to buy one of those damn Jap pickups".

 

The barn (and Uncle Wick) have been gone for many years. I have no idea what happened to his military relics.
Stan

 

:lol:

Stan, I just about fell out of my chair laughing when I read this. I also had an uncle with a heavy Norwegian accent. When I was a young lad, my elder sister & I used to make a point to ask him the time at "half past 4 o'clock". Much to our pre-adolescent amusement, he would dutifully reply with, "Tree turdy".

 

We were polite enough not to laugh in his presence, but when we got outside---------------------------

 

Return to Firing Range:


When Camp Bowie was built in 1940 the Army condemned and purchased 23,000 acres in Mills County for the Artillery Range. Then when Camp Bowie was closed the Army offered to sell the ranches back to the original owners at the same price. If the original owners didn't want to buy it back it was sold to others. Most of the original owners had either bought other ranches or had spent the money they had received and couldn't afford to buy it. Most of this land is rough, hilly, and rocky and not much of it is suitable for farming, so Camp Bowie now consists of mostly large cattle ranches.


5 or 6 years ago I went back over to a part of the old Camp Bowie Artillery Range to hunt for Indian arrowheads. That is a hobby I have had since childhood. There's lots of arrowheads over in that area and the archaeoligists say that the arrowheads and spear points found in this area are anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 years old. To me it is a pleasant pastime to hunt for them. I found several, but most of them were broken. I always wonder what broke them. It may have been because they hit a large bone in a human or animal, or the hunter missed his target and hit a rock, or they may have been run over by a half-track or stepped on by a cow in 1996. Nobody knows.


Lots of the old jeep dirt roads are still in evidence. There is still a lot of World War II debris over there, but it is mostly small pieces. No tanks, jeeps, or big guns. In the 1950's when I was in high school a classmate of mine who lived on part of the firing range found lots of stuff. He found several helmets. The best thing he found was a 30 caliber carbine leaned up against a tree. He took it home, cleaned it up, bought some bullets for it and used it for deer hunting several years.


I found a bullet about 2-2 1/2 inches in diameter and about 8 inches long. It was still in good condition although it did have surface rust. I carried it along intending to take it home as a souvenir, but I found several others just like it except they had exploded. When I saw the damage they did when they exploded I took my bullet and laid it gently against the base of a mesquite tree. As far as I know it is still there.


I admit that I am a sentimental old sap. As I walked slowly along I wondered how many soldiers who trained here never did return to their native country. Many I am sure.


I also thought about the people who were here 8,000 years ago. This land has been either a battleground or as a training ground for war many, many years. I think that the widows and orphans of 8,000 years ago grieved as much as did the ones in 1945.


I wonder if the world stands for another 8,000 years how many times this territory will be used as a battleground again. Who knows?

 

I have really enjoyed reading what you have posted. My grandpa, also a WWII vet and his 2 sons (one is my father) enjoy hunting for arrowheads. They have quite the collection from here in Wyoming. I wonder how old they are, I bet they never thought to ask anyone.

 

Stan41.... My uncle was one of the soldiers you spoke of that never returned. He was an original T-Patcher of the 141st Regimrnt, 36th Division. He was with the Texas National Guard upon his enlistment early in 1940. They were federalized on Nov 1940 and spent many months at Camp Bowie. I have a photo of him when he came home to visit his kin in St Louis for the last time before shipping out to N. Africa, then on to Itlay, and onto France were he was KIA. His grave is in St Anvold , France at the Lorranne American Cemetery. He was born and raised in Missouri but I am happy to say Texas considers him one of their own.

Best Regards

 

Steve: That's interesting. Have you read the book T-Patch to Victory?

Also, here is an interesting site in case you don't have it:

The Story of the 36th Infantry Division

Stan

 

Just getting caught up...great stuff keep it coming Stan!