WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - PFC Robert L. Wade

 

Private First Class

Robert Lee Wade

Robert Wade was born in DeKalb County, Indiana, lived in Hicksville, Ohio, and then enlisted in Kalamazoo, Michigan!

Born in DeKalb County, Indiana, on March 10, 1922, to Stearl Earl and Delpha Iola (Coburn) Wade, Robert had four siblings: Gerald Calvin, Leone Ruby, Irene Helen and Donald Harry.

In the 1940 Federal Census, they lived at 321 Chicago Avenue, HIcksville, with Delpha's father, Calvin Coburn, who was 85 and widowed. Just the two younger children, Robert L., 18, and Don, 14 were with them.

Robert filled out his draft card in Kalamazoo, Michigan, as he was working at a dairy farm in Niles, Berrien County, Michigan. His grandfather lived past 90, so one could assume his parents stayed in Hicksville to care for him, while Robert found work in Michigan.  Enlisting on December 15, 1942, in Kalamazoo, Robert was inducted into the 184th Infantry, 7th Division. 

The 7th Division was known as the "Hourglass Division", a group that fought from the islands of Alaska to Hawaii. By the time Private Wade was sent overseas, they were in Hawaii undergoing rigorous training for jungle fighting in the heat. Early in 1944, they landed on Kwajalein in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands, where the Japanese lost their first territory in the war.

184th Infantry landing in the Phillipines 1944

"On October 20, 1944, the 7th Division "hit the sand near the town of Dulag and found themselves opposed by one of the crack Japanese divisions - the 16th, perpetrators of the Bataan Death March. Fighting for every foot, the 7th drove inland, and within four days, had captured Dulag, its important airstrip, the San Pablo airfield, and the city of Burauen. Swinging north, (they) plowed through the rice paddies, waist deep mud and monsoon gales to crush Jap resistance and overrun Jap defenses at the key town of Dagami.

But MacArthur gave them little rest. He turned them south and told them to eliminate all the enemy from Leyte watershed...  The mission was accomplished under the most adverse weather conditions. The men were pelted by torrential rains, blown down by the winds of typhoon velocity, and had to fight flash floods and swollen rivers and streams.

The 7th finished its chore in the Leyte campaign by landing on Camotes Islands and exterminating all the Japanese on this island group. The 7th moved 105 miles on Leyte, covered 1,950 miles in reconnaissance and killed 16,559 of the enemy." 

(Sons of Liberty Museum narrative)

The battle actually ended on Christmas Day, 1944, yet hard fighting continued after that to finish. PFC Robert Wade died of wounds on December 30, 1944. He was admitted to the field hospital with two hits from a rifle bullet, one on the spinal cord in mid-back and one in the lung. A blood transfusion was given, but he did not survive.

The South-Bend Tribune, August 5, 1945

His name appears on the Tablets of the Missing monument in the Manila Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Philippines. A memorial stone stands in the Alton Cemetery, DeKalb County, Indiana, as well.

Dianne Kline, Researcher

 

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - 1st Lt. Arthur E. Ury

 

First Lieutenant

Arthur Edwin Ury

Born in Defiance, Ohio, Arthur Edwin Ury was the son of Dr. John Busby and Laura (Kuhn) Ury. In the Federal Census of 1920, seven year old Arthur lived at 402 Jefferson Street in Defiance with his mother and brother, John Francis. His father, a noted Defiance College graduate and local physician, passed away during World War I while working at a military installation in Georgia.

Arthur, born on August 14, 1912, attended Ohio State University and graduated, afterwards, beginning a career as an advertising specialist at Owens-Illinois Glass in Toledo, Ohio. On Christmas Day, 1935, he married Virginia Steward. 

At 28 years old, Arthur registered for the draft in Toledo on October 16, 1940.  It was May 28, 1942, before Arthur officially enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a First Lieutenant in the 335th Infantry Regiment in the 84th Infantry Division.

1st Lt. Arthur Ury and his cousin, Orville Miller

The 84th Infantry slogged their way through Belgium and the Battle of the Bulge in a cold and rainy November and December 1944, and then their mission was to move into Germany to the Rhine to stop the German offensive. By February 25, they had begun to break through enemy lines.  According to the History of the 335th, "The 335th was moving on fast without the assets of tanks or reconnaissance troops, and yet they caught up with our motorized troops.

The unit went north through Krefeld and Moss and on to the Rhine River.

On March 4th, 1945, the last day of real combat in this operation, the 335th set out at daylight, meeting only random sniper fire at first, and those enemy soldiers were captured. The mission was to stop traffic on the railroad bridge, as trucks, artillery, citizens and soldiers filled it. The unit tried to take it out, and finally they waited till night and blew it up at 8 p.m. Several other companies of the 335th were supposed to block a road but realized too late that they had walked into German lines.  When they tried to escape, the Germans opened up with machine guns.  It is not certain which company Lt. Ury was in, but the guess is the second group. Lt. Arthur E. Ury died on March 4, 1945.

Crescent-News, April 13, 1945

1st Lt. Ury died during combat in Wesel, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany and was laid to rest at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. He was survived by his mother and wife.

His cross overseas in the Netherlands

Kim Bercaw, Researcher

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - PFC Ross L. Pendleton

 

Private First Class

Ross Lynn Pendleton

The former Agnes Sprow received word that her husband, PFC Ross Pendelton, aged 25, was killed in action April 21, 1945. He was serving with the 85th Mountain Infantry of the 19th Division, Fifth Army near Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

The Crescent-News noted that, at the time of his death, Ross was the 68th fatality from Defiance County.

Ross Pendleton was born in rural Washington Township on October 18, 1919, to Calvin C. and Florence (Garber) Pendleton. After graduation from Ney High School, in 1937, he married in August 1939, to Agnes Sprow, the daughter of Arthur and Katie (McFeeters). The couple were both 19. In the 1940 census, Ross and Agnes were living in Washington Twp. Ross was attending International Business College and eventually worked at the Aro Equipment Company in Bryan, Ohio. They had a son, Ronald.

Draft Registration Card 

Ross entered the service on April 24, 1941, at 5'10", 139 pounds. He was described as having brown hair and blue eyes. He would serve in the 85th Mountain Infantry that trained for survival and combat in winter mountain conditions. The 85th Infantry was assigned to the Italian front, departing Hampton Roads, Virginia, on January 4, 1945, aboard the SS West Point, arriving in Naples, Italy on January 13, 1945.

85th Mountain Infantry Insignia - blue for
infantry, ram's head for skill in mountains, white
mountain peaks and the green boot for
Italy

The 85th was attached to the 10th Mountain Division. According to History of the Legendary 10th Mountain Division, "They trained hard to live, sleep, climb, ski and fight on snow. During maneuvers, the 10th would lay down their skis on the snow, throw their double sleeping bag on top of that and call it good for the night. The training created some of America's strongest soldiers, and they were called to prove it."

The 85th Mountain Unit joined forces with units previously assembled to attack the German strongholds high in the Apennines Mountains. In three major offensive attacks, with heavy casualties, the forces crossed the Apennines from south to north, entered and traversed the Po Valley. 

PFC Pendleton was in the 3rd battalion of three with the 85th Infantry Regiment who traveled with the 10th Mountain. On April 21, 1945, the day he died, the 3rd battalion moved out at 9 a.m. to make a fast dash across the Po Valley which they had reached the previous day.  The 3rd traveled with the 2nd battalion, with tanks following the 2nd and artillery following the third. However, they were exposed as they were on foot, drawing enemy artillery and machine gun fire as they crossed the valley. This is most likely where PFC Pendleton was wounded, during this 15-mile march. 

PFC Pendleton died on April 21, 1945, at the age of 25 of a penetrating wound in the abdomen which traveled through the pelvis and back.  He was first buried in Mongiorgio, Citta Metropolitana di Bologna, Emilia-Romagnia, Italy and later brought home and reinterred in Ney Cemetery.

Defiance Crescent-News
May 21, 1945

Ney Cemetery

Crescent-News, July 7, 1949, p. 1

Ney Cemetery

Mary Williams, Researcher

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - PFC William D. Smith

 

Private First Class

William Donald Smith

William D. Smith was the youngest of the seven children of Charles and Martha (Groll) Smith. Born on October 21, 1923, in Holgate, Henry County, Ohio, the family suffered a tragedy when the mother, Martha, died at about age 36 in 1925.

William attended two years of high school at Defiance High School and then went to live in Findlay while he worked at the A & P Tea Company.

Draft card

On his draft card, he gave both a Defiance address, Latty Street, and a Findlay address. Mrs. Edna Benien, an aunt who raised him, lived on Latty Street and always knew where he would be. His sister, Imogene Smith, signed the draft card on the other side. At the time, William was 5'8" and 145 pounds.

In January 1942, William married Audrey J. McDonald and they had one daughter, LaDonna. On February 2, 1943, William enlisted in the Army, 101st Infantry, 26th Division.

After training at Camp Campbell in Kentucky and Camp Gordon in Georgia, he left for overseas on August 21, 1944.  He was part of the Ranger unit attached to the 101st Infantry - an elite group known for their intelligence, physical fitness and stamina, and their strong discipline. Often, they were sent ahead to begin offensive operations.

The group arrived in Cherboug, France, on September 7, 1944, and their offensive against a strong German Army began on November 8. It was heavy fighting against the Germans as the 101st pushed through France. On November 12, 1944, the day before PFC William Smith's death, they were up against a very tough German counterattack.

On November 13, 1944, PFC Smith met his death in the Lorraine campaign. The irony was that that same day, the Army was to get almost 800 replacement soldiers for his unit.  

His obituary appeared in the Crescent-News on November 28, 1944:

"William Smith Killed In Action

Former A & P Store Worker Gives Life in France Nov. 13

Pfc William D. Smith, 21, son of Charles Smith, route 3, Defiance, was killed in action somewhere in France on Nov. 13, according to a telegram from the War Department received Monday by his wife, Audrey in Tiffin.

He is the 46th Defiance county man to lose his life in this way.

Pfc Smith was a member of the Rangers attached to an infantry unit.

He was inducted though the Defiance county selective service board Feb. 9, 1943; was trained at camps in Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina, and was sent overseas on Aug. 21, 1944, going directly to France.

He was born in Holgate, Oct. 21, 1923, but had spent the majority of his life in Defiance. He attended St. John's Lutheran grade school and Defiance High School. He was produce clerk at the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co.'s supermarket before entering the service.

He was a member of St. John's Lutheran Church and memorial services will be conducted from the church at a later date.

Pfc Smith was married to Miss Audrey McDonald in January 1943, and has an infant daughter, LaDonna. Both make their home with Mrs. Smith's parents in Tiffin.

In addition to his wife, daughter and father, survivors are two brothers, Clifford Smith, Toledo, and Lavon Smith, Defiance; four sisters, Mrs. Margaret Wagner, Jewell, Mrs. Imogene Smith, Defiance, and Mrs. Martha VanAuker and Mrs. Gladys Green, Adrian, Mich. and an aunt, Mrs. Edna Benien of Defiance with whom he made his home after the death of his mother in 1925."

PFC Smith was buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, Saint Avoid, Departement de-la Moselle, Lorraine, France.

Robert Carpenter, Researcher

The American Field Service and George R. Demuth

 

The American Field Service began in World War I when it was formed to transport wounded French soldiers. In 1914, it began its operations in an auxiliary military hospital in Paris. This volunteer-run, citizen founded hospital opened in September 1914, as an extension of the nearby American Hospital of Paris.

AFS paramedics were unarmed and put their life as risk to save the lives of soldiers wounded in battles. Their mission was based on compassion, not conflict. During this war, 2,500 men served in the AFS with the French Army of which 127 AFS died while on duty.

The American Field Services played a vital role in World War II, initially as a volunteer ambulance corps, providing crucial medical and logistical support to Allied Forces in France, North Africa, the Middle East and Italy.

As WWII continued, a group of American men volunteered to assist the United States and allied countries by providing non-combatant people to assist in helping with the care of the injured.

World War II ambulance

AFS organized and deployed the volunteer ambulance drivers, providing essential medical evacuation and transportation services to wounded soldiers on various fronts. The volunteers in the American Field Service were American males, ages  eighteen years to the forties, non-combatant, and in good standing with the governments of the U.S. and Great Britain.

It was the American Field Services that also helped in the liberation of the concentration camp,
Bergen-Belsen. Their compassion was certainly needed there.

George R. DeMuth

The unit in which George R. DeMuth of Sherwood, Ohio, served had been organized in New York, transported to Scotland and then to Ceylon and India. Dr. DeMuth told,

"Ours was the last AFS group assembled in the United States in World War II. It was headed for CBI or SEAC (China, Burma, India, or Southeast Asian Command, depending upon British or American orientation."

"I volunteered as an ambulance driver to support a nearby British army clinic in India. I had a relief driver. The advantage for the two of us was our having our lunch in the dining area with the hospital staff. This was a chance to learn the concerns and expectations of the British staff."

In addition to India and the experiences there, George was also able to spend time in England. These were quite memorable times and experiences for a young man not yet 20.

After the war George earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan. At Fredericksburg, Maryland, he researched antidotes to biochemical welfare. Most of his medical career, however, was in Ann Arbor where he served on the University of Michigan medical staff as a pediatric doctor and also served on the teaching staff at the hospital.

After a long, distinguished medical career, it was AFS that he asked to be put on his grave stone.

Mary Williams, Researcher 

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - T5 Oliver H. Mullholand

 

Tec/5 Oliver Henry Mullholand

Oliver Henry Mullholand was thirty-five when he enlisted in the Army in November 1942. He had already graduated from DHS, the Defiance College and law school in Cincinnati, and he was a partner in his father's law firm - H.B. and O.H. Mullholand, Attorneys at Law in Defiance. 

His parents, Henry Beebe and Ora Carmen (Davis) Mullholand raised three children in Defiance; Oliver was the middle child, with Alfred, older, and Muriel, younger. They lived at 214 East High Street.

He trained at camps all over the United States, beginning in Camp Wheeler, GA and ending in Hawaii for jungle training. His main job was doing clerical duty with his unit, the 307th infantry, part of the 77th Infantry Division. However, he was a part of combat, as well.  The unit was sent off to the Mariana Islands, specifically Guam.

Guam had been a U.S. territory before Japan took it away right after Pearl Harbor in 1941. Now, in the summer of 1944, the U.S. wanted it back. A joint effort using the Army Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Army had a plan to be instituted on July 21, 1944. Phase 1 began with airstrikes, followed by the Marines 

Mullholand was with the 77th Infantry Division, 307th Infantry Regiment, who began their entry on July 31.  On August 5, 1944, while attacking the Japanese defensive line, Tec 5 Mullholand was shot and wounded. His death is thought to have occurred on a U.S. hospital ship while being evacuated from the combat zone.  The final battle in Guam was on August 7, and the Japanese surrendered on August 10.

Statistics vary, but it was estimated the Japanese losses numbered nearly 24,000 from July - September 1944 on Guam.  Less than 1500 Japanese surrendered, but there were about 7000 at large on the island hiding. The U.S. lost 1,759 men, with more wounded. The United States gained a good harbor, some airfields, and the island of Guam itself, which General Nimitz took over for his headquarters for the rest of the war. 

Raising the U.S. flag after victory in Guam

Oliver Mullholand's remains made it home to Defiance in May 1949. He was reinterred in Riverside Cemetery with the St. Paul Methodist minister officiating.  Pallbearers who served were: Karl H. Weaner Jr., John E. Kissner, Dan Batt, Erwin L. Clemens, Jay R. Pollock and Edward Hummer.

The Masons and American Legion attended as groups.

Crescent-News, May 11, 1949

Sidenote: Oliver's younger sister, Muriel, left for Yeoman Training School at Oklahoma A&M, Stillwater, Oklahoma, in February 1943. She had been sworn into the WAVES (Women's Auxiliary Volunteer Emergency Service (naval) October 20 at Detroit, and Muriel received her call to report for training on February 12.

Dianne Kline, Researcher

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - Private John W. Koch

 

Private John William Koch

It was March 14, 1924, when John Koch was born in Springfield Township, Williams County, Ohio. His parents, George N. and Matilda "Tillie" E. (Cox), Koch would add seven other children to their clan; three served in the war.

John attended the Farmer School in Defiance County, as his parents lived in Farmer Township, but his mailing address was Route 5, Bryan, a common situation for his school district. According to the 1940 census, they had lived in rural Williams County in 1935 also.

Entering the draft in 1942, it was only a year later before he enlisted in the Army in Toledo.

Draft Card

As a farmhand at home with 2 years of high school under his belt, he officially enlisted on December 17, 1943. 

He was assigned to Company B, 33rd Armored Regiment. Most of his basic training took place in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Pvt. Koch was a combat soldier in the Battle of the Bulge, one of the most intense battles for the United States, ending with sieges in Belgium. Belgium wanted to be a neutral country, but, unfortunately, the Germans invaded them in 1940 and despite resistance, occupied the country.  By August 1942, the Germans were deporting Belgian Jews into concentration camps.  In November 1944, Pvt. Koch was sent to the field hospital, having been hit in the jaw and cheek by aerial debris from a bomb blast. He was sutured up and sent back out to duty.

Battle of Bastogne

The Siege of Bastogne was a fight for a very strategic location for the Allies as all roads through the Ardennes, heavily forested, rough, hilly ground, led to Bastogne.

It grew impossible to get supplies in except by airlift due to the pockets of German soldiers, and the winter of 1944 was one of the coldest on record for the region.

From December 16 - December 27, the Allies worked to pin the Germans in and capture the city, and they succeeded. In the first week of January when the Germans renewed an offensive. On January 7, 1945, the day that Pvt. Koch was killed, the 33rd Armored Division had stayed in Bastogne and Regne to hold on to the territory. They maintained road blocks and set guards with resistance from the Germans with artillery, guns, and mortars. The weather was cold and snowy and there was low visibility, the diary of the 33rd Division noted.

Bastogne

Private John Koch was killed on January 7, 1945, at Regne', Arrondissent de Bastogne, Luxembourg, Belgium.

Boynton Cemetery, Stryker

His obituary appeared in the Bryan Democrat on Thursday, November 20, 1947, as his body was brought home from overseas.

"BODY OF WILLIAMS CENTER VET HERE

Military Services for John W. Koch Will Be Held Saturday

The body of Pvt. John William Koch, first of the World War II dead to be returned to this area, was scheduled to arrive shortly after 4 

o'clock this afternoon at the New York Central railroad station (here) from the Army Distribution Center in Columbus.

Pvt. Koch, who was 20 at the time of his death in Belgium on January 7, 1945, had served in the army one year to the day he was killed. He was with Company B, Thirty-Third Armored Regiment, and previously to his death had been awarded the Purple Heart.

His body arrived in New York recently on the army transport, Joseph Connolly, in the first shipment from the European area. Upon arrival late today, it was to be expected at Oberlin-Ford Funeral Home, where services will be conducted at 2 pm. Saturday with the Rev. W.E. Turner, pastor of the Ney Church of God, officiating. Burial will be in Boynton Cemetery at Stryker.

Graveside military rites will be held by the Farmer American Legion Post and the Evansport V.F.W. Post.

Surviving are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George M. Koch, who reside south of Williams Center in Defiance County; four sisters, Mrs. Mary Goebel of Edgerton; Mrs. Fern Kline of Mark Center; Mrs. Ethel Hanawalt of Defiance, and Miss Susie Jane Koch,at home; three brothers; Samuel at home, and Ray and Walter, both of Bryan." 

John's brothers, Ray and Walter, made it home and settled in Bryan.

Dianne Kline, Researcher