Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 43

Saturday, September 2, 1995 Dl 1 Lee brothers went separate ways in war by order By AMY KAISER StaffWriter 66 Mid-LUinoig Newspapers I There were guys there with no legs, no arms I considered myself lucky.The day I got hit, all butthree of my company got killed. Ralph Lee KIK "hmvr-tiV I 'v' LelandLee A fjlH- 1 vVr sHr 'WtWy Ralph, Leland and Loren Lee of Charleston went their separate ways in 1942 during WWII not by choice, but by order. Within six months of each other, the three brothers received separateletters that began something like "Greetings. You are hereby notified. Although they were notified that they had been drafted, for Ralph and Leland especially, there was no notification for what was to come during their days ahead overseas.

It was on the side of a mountain on Cebu Island in the Philippines that the youngest of the three Ralph of the 182nd In-, fantry of the America was nearly killed. He was performing his job as a scout a job most probably did not want, but those who were given it, had no choice. It was his duty to seek out the enemy and in-form the front lines of their whereabouts to, hopefully, limit the number of casualties his division would see. "You never knew when one was going to pop up," Ralph remembers from his scouting for Japanese. "They had tunnels everywhere.

It looked like mole runs. "We had them surrounded," Ralph, now age 70, recalled, with a hint of shakiness in his voice. "That's when they threw a grenade and it landed right beside my leg. I ran 10 feet down the hill and the grenade rolled down too." Then there was the explosion. Just beside Ralph's head, the Photo by Sheryl Sue Sldwetl The Lee brothers, Ralph, Leland and 99 Tommy gun was a semi-automatic that carried 30 shells.

Some of Leland's recollections included 10-day walks and living in foxholes for months at a time. covered 380 miles in 10 days. We were fighting day and night. There was no time to sleep. You slept while you walked," he said.

"And you ate what you could get from the Italians. "The only place you could get water was from an old straw pile," Leland recalled. From drinking that water, he contracted hepatitis and jaundice and was sent to an isolation ward in Florence where he spent two weeks recovering. Leland was awarded the Bronze Star for his heroic achievement on April 27, 1945 near San Bonafacio, Italy. A congratulatory letter read in part: "Mounted on bicycles pushed northeast on Highway 11 in rapid pursuit of the enemy.

Suddenly, the lead squad under Sergeant Lee was trapped by fierce enemy machine gun fire from the left front and both flanks. Sgt. Lee saw the enemy positioned 75 yards to the front and immediately endeavored to fire his Tommy gun which jammed but courageously stayed in his exposed position, cleared his gun and placed accurate fire on his target and silenced the gun temporarily. Lee then moved to the left of the road and directed his men to attack the enemy machine gun on that flank while he attacked the position to the front. He was pinned down from the flank.

Bravely Sgt. Lee lifted himself and hurled two grenades at the forward position which was again silenced." Loren to wear was a pair of pajama bottoms. His uniform was held back for another soldier to wear. "There were guys there with no legs, no arms I considered myself lucky," Ralph said of his head and face injury. "The day I got hit, all but three of my company got killed." That was out of 150 men.

When questioned about whether he considers himself brave, Ralph, who still bears a scar, plainly said "no." "It was just one of those things. Ijust did what a lot of other guys did." But brave or not, he was awarded a Purple Heart because of his wounds. "If anybody on the frontline told you they weren't scared, they were lying," Ralph said, adding that during his scouting, he usually carried a bayonet The oldest of the brothers, Loren, 76, was the first to go into war and the last to come home. He was in the Army Air Corp and was a flying radio operator whose duty it was to help with the transportation of bombers and personnel supplies overseas. He flew from the east coast much of the time.

Although Loren, the oldest of the three brothers, never served on the front lines, flying was Wilbur French returned home with sleeves full of overseas hash marks Ralph Lee "If the German planes came out, we were sitting ducks because we had no ammo on our planes," Loren recalled, adding that his planes were like moving targets much of the time. Loren said he was not subjected to front-line combat. Leland, better known as "Bus" to his friends, was a sergeant in Company of the 350th Infantry. He served on the front lines in Italy, beginning August 1944. "You just wondered how long it was going to be until you got hit," said Leland, who was a squad leader during the war.

Part of his job was to carry extra ammunition for the BAR man the guy who manned the automatic rifle that could fire 20 rounds. "I also carried an extra grenade at all times. "In combat, I carried a Tommy gun," Leland, 74, continued. A A Satate of Hobof. Wilbur E.

French, oldest son and child of Orion and Susie French was born April 17, 1918. He was drafted into the service on Sept. 24, 1941 in Mattoon and was inducted into the Army at Ft. Sheridan. He was sent to Camp Wolters, Texas, for his basic training.

The men he was training with were yery pporly equipped, using wooden rifles instead of the real things. That was one incident. While in Camp Wolters, Texas, the Japs raided Pearl Harbor which lead the United States into WW II. The raid occurred on December 7, 1941. While in Texas the men training at Camp Wolters were put into the 27th Division.

The 27th was a New York National Guard unit and had been training on Louisiana-Arkansas maneuvers and they were reassmebled at Ft. McClellan, Arkansas. The regiment left Texas for the West Coast on December 16, 1941. They were stationed at Carona, on Dec. 20, 1941.

They were stationed at Camp Haan, in January 1942. They were later stationed at Fort Ord, in February, 1942. While at Fort Ord his mother and baby brother, Lee, visited Wilbur a few days. Their trip was made by train. It was the only time any member of his family saw him again until he got back on a furlough from the Pacific in March 1945.

His unit was the 27th Division and they sailed for Hawaii on March 10, 1942 and arrived at Hawau on March 15, 1942. is unit was stationed in the Sector on March 17, 2. While in Hawau on the big iffland of Hawaii, it was fortified hjf the Division. I In October 1942, the 27th Divi "All I could do was lay still," he said, recalling that his head injuries weren't causing him a lot of pain, it was the scratches and cuts on his back that hurt. Ralph had steel shrapnel from the grenade in his head and other pieces in his cheek and eyes all of which remain there today.

Once he got to safety, Ralph was put on a luxury liner and sent to a hospital in Los Angeles. It took 15 days to get there. He said he didn't remember sea sickness, but did remember that all he had "rehabilitation period." My brother, Wilbur told me that there were six names drawn out of a helmet for men to get furloughs, and his name was one of them drawn. He came back to the States on March 15, 1945. he had to sign a paper stating that he would return to his unit at the end of his furlough, however, his furlough had been extended and during that time the European War ended.

The point system was announced and with over three years overseas, Wilbur was a "high point" man, so Wilbur did not have to return to his unit and was discharged instead. He was discharged at Ft. Sheridan on May 18, 1945. If Wilbur had returned to his unit, the 27th Division, he would have been sent to Okinawa and a brother of his, Carl, was with the 96th Division on Okinawa. He also had an uncle on Okinawa-John English, a 2nd Lt.

in the Quartermaster Corps. I had talked to my brother Wilbur some time after we were both discharged. He told me about the first Jap he encountered. They were both scared of each other and they fired their guns into the air and ran. When Wilbur came home on a furlough in March 1945, he was about the first soldier Mattoon to have six overseas hash marks on his sleeve.

Each mark indicated six months overseas. Wilbur and Evelyn Quinn were married on September 7, 1947. They had four children. Wilbur worked for the Railway Express Agency in Mattoon and later worked for USI Chemicals in Tuscola, and retired USI. Wilbur passed away on September 18, 1992.

rectly overhead. It was in a direct dive toward the deck of our ship. We had seen many Japanese "Ka-makazi" planes before and had been under attack by them. This type of airplane does not drop bombs or fire their guns. They simply try to ram a ship by hitting it directly with the plane and by the way with the pilot, also.

It was a suicide mission. Here we were anchored to the bottom of the Pacific ocean. We we totally dead in the water, no power, and no way to evade this oncoming problem. As Officer of the Deck, what was I to do? By the time I scratched my head a few more times, the Kamikaze missed its mark. He had hit the surface of the water some 20 or 30 feet from our port bow.

Talk about big thrills! I just wish all the readers could have been with us. I could actually see the pilot's eyes. And to this very day, I am thankful for those 20 or 30 extra feet of space between our ship and the suicide enemy plane. pineapple-shaped grenade went off. Severely injured, all he could do was wait.

Upon notification of his injury, two Filipinos were designated to carry him to safety and despite not really feeling any pain, Ralph remembered the blood. As the two quickly carried him, the Japanese caught sight of Ralph and the rest of his infantry and began firing. The two carrying Ralph, dropped him on the ground to get in a foxhole. sion sailed for Oahu and they were stationed at the South Sector which was Honolulu. Later they were stationed at Scofield Barracks, Hawaii.

In October 1942, the Division was getting more training. My brother told me that the Army took 10 cents a month our of their pay to pay for the pineapples that the troops had eaten while in training. There were many pineapples grown in Hawaii, and the soldiers spent time in the field near them. After more training the 27th Division sailed for the Marshall Islands on January 23, 1944. They landed at Majuro and Eni-wetok in February 1944.

On February 4, 1944 Wilbur was awarded a bronze star "for exemplary conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy during Eastern Mandates Campaign in the Pacific Theater of Operations while assigned as a Private First Class, 106th Infantry Regiment." Wilbur was in the 106th Regiment at Majuro and Eniwetok. The battle for Eniwetok was a bloody five day campaign. The 27th Division sailed for the Marianas Islands in May 1944. The Division landed on Saipan Island on June 20, 1944. The campaign for Saipan was a bitterly fought campaign with many casualties.

The campaign lasted for 25 days ending on July 9, 1944. One thousand fifty three of the men from the division were killed and they had to be replaced for the next campaign. Twenty six hundred and seventeen men were wounded and more than half of them would never return to duty. After the Saipan campaign was finished the 27th Division was sent to Espiritu Santo for a Chester Honnold i 1 denly, the ships sirens sounded "battle stations," so everyone manned their assigned position during this time. My battle station was the ship's bridge.

Being the ship's navigator, my duty was to take control of the ship as Officer of the Deck. I had no more reached my position until there was the roar of an airplane di JUfcv. I I Memories of war still vivid marinuecorps 8 To the brave men and women air force I 1 who brought and kept 8 FREEDOM for this great f0))l UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 8 much of the world 8 NGUARDL COASTGUARD I GOD BLESS YOU ALL Submitted by. Chester Hon-hold Kansas i World War II was a great experience the citizens of the USA had and I am not only speaking of those of us who served in combat. But those in combat have long remembered vividly those events hey were involved in.

i I served on one of the escort carriers the USS Saginaw Bay, CVE 82. We operated for some 19 months in the South Pacific from Jan. 1944 when our ship was newly rommissioned to the end of tjje war. Our last engagement fas at Okinawa in late April 1945. Of course the atomic bomb followed that battle later that Jwmmer to end WWII.

It was there at Okinawa that I had my biggest thrill, or in fact, scare, of the war. 1 We were anchored in the harbor at Okinawa the day after the Island fell from Japanese control. If was in fact the last territory Surrendered in the war. Sud- 6 Our Best Wishes to All Who Served in the United States Armed Forces from the employees and owners of Gasland ID Willarcdt Oil Company.