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

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - PFC Donald J. Justinger

 

Private First Class

Donald Joseph Justinger

When Donald Justinger was born in Paulding County, Ohio, on February 16, 1921, his father, Alfred Joseph Justinger, was 20, and his mother, Esther (Brown) Justinger, was just 19. Donald, however, was raised by his grandparents, Daniel and Lucy Brown. In the 1930 Census of Auglaize Township, Donald and his brother, Worth, and sister, Beatrice, all lived with their grandparents.

On January 5, 1942, Donald married Alberta Ellen Nichols in Paulding. At the time of Donald's death, he left a two-year-old daughter, Donna Jean Justinger.

Donald filled out his draft registration on February 16, 1921, noting his place of residence as six miles south of Defiance.  Prior to his enlistment on October 12, 1942, in Toledo, he worked as a foreman on a railroad section crew. His draft card said he was 5'8" and 155 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

Private Justinger was assigned to the 330th Infantry which was part of the 83rd Infantry Division. The unit served in the European Theater, fighting campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, and the Ardenne-Alsace regions.

Donald died in the line of duty on August 8, 1944, at the age of 23 near Manche, France. According to WW II Hospital Admissions cards, he was admitted to a service hospital but died the same day as a "casualty in the line of duty."

St. Malo, Brittany coast, France

The website called Brothers in Arms has an account by Thomas Dickson Curry, a member of Company F, 331st Infantry, 83rd Division describing the battle that was going on in France about the time of PFC Justinger's death.

"The 83rd Division then assembled near Feugeres, and on 3 through 5 August, they moved out of the Contentin Peninsula and turned west into Brittany. The roads were strewn with German tanks, trucks and staff cars, and often with dead Germans. On the coast near Mont St. Michel, Pontorson and Dol-de-Bretagne, they received orders to capture the port towns of St. Malo and Dinared.

St. Malo was the main port on the northern coast of Brittany. Because of its turbulent past as a privateer stronghold, the town was protected by stone walls. U.S. Intelligence estimated between 3,000 and 6,000 German troops occupied St. Malo.  Actually 12,000 defended the walled city, and they vowed to 'fight to the last stone.'

American soldiers shooting at German snipers
in St. Malo

  

 It would take two weeks of street fighting to  raze St. Malo. On 6 August, the Germans demolished all the quays, locks, breakwaters, and harbor machinery and set fire to the city.

( PFC Justinger was killed on August 8.)

On 9th August, the enemy defenders were forced back to the Citadel at St. Servan and to Dinard on the west bank of the river, just opposite St. Malo. There they held the GIs at bay from underground pillboxes and camouflaged strong points. Days of house to house fighting under thick smoke, artillery fire, and fighter-bomber attacks could not convince the Germans to give up.

Finally, direct hits by 8 inch guns destroyed much of the enemy artillery and machine gun emplacements and forced them to surrender. Frank Reichmann, in the 1st battalion of the 331st, said that a platoon of captured Germans started singing farewell to their commander. Most of them were in tears."

Back home, the Crescent-News announced the death of PFC Donald J. Justinger on August 31, 1944:

PFC Donald J. Justinger was brought home and buried in Riverside Cemetery in Section 26, Soldiers Circle.  His father, Alfred Justinger, requested the upright marble headstone.

Riverside Cemetery

**We could locate no photo of this brave soldier to complete this biography. If you have one, we hope you will send us a copy at defiancegenealogy2002@gmail.com.

Mary Williams, Researcher

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - Private Joe Garcia

 

Private Joe Garcia

Insignia of the 124th Army Cavalry
Motto - I Strike Quickly

Pvt. Joe Garcia has been an enigma for the Defiance

County Veterans Office for a long time. Back in 2011, 

Jack Palmer wrote an article for the Defiance Crescent-News asking for help finding information

about this soldier who was killed in action. No

one answered the pleas coming from the Veterans

Office. Nothing could be found.

So our research started with his Army serial number, the name of his wife and mother, and an area where he died...and it took awhile, but his biography

was completed.

Born on March 13, 1917, in Luling, Caldwell County,

Texas, his mother was Anastacia Machado and

his father not named, but Joe was given the last name

Garcia. 

In October, 1940, he filled out his draft card as required in Austin, Texas, where he worked for a farmer. 

At some point, he married his wife, Therena (Trine) Esquivel, and they had two children, Jesse and Josephine. On August 10, 1942, their son, Jessie (Jesse) was born and the parents, Joe and Trine, were living at rural route, Jewell, Ohio, Defiance County. Jesse's sister, Josephine, was born in 1941 in Texas. Joe was working as a laborer and Trine as a housekeeper. It is a possibility that they were migrant workers.

Joe joined the Army on December 5, 1942, in Texas and was assigned to Troop F, 124th Cavalry. On 10 July 1944, the company turned in their horses and embarked from Los Angeles for Bombay, India They were the last horse cavalry regiment in the Army. Arriving in India on July 25, they immediately went to a training camp for infantry, jungle and patrol training. They became part of the 533rd Brigade, which was to be known as the Mars Task Force.

Part of the Mars Task Force

The men were moved into the mountains of northern Burma on December 15, 1944, in the area of the Burma Road, an important supply line. The 124th worked behind the Japanese lines, building roadblocks and other devices to stop the Japanese. The Mars Task Force covered over 300 miles in Japanese-held territory, working with the Chinese troops there.

On January 15, 1945, the regiment began to meet up with the Japanese forces. On February 2, near Loi Kang, Burma, a tremendous fight occurred where the Troof F commander was killed ...along with Pvt. Joe Garcia. They did recapture the Burma Road a few days later.

In May 1949, his mother, Anastacia Garcia, applied for a flat marble marker for her son. He was buried at Lamesa Memorial Park Field of Honor, Dawson County, Texas, when his body returned home.

Dianne Kline, Researcher

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - Petty Officer 2nd Class Gerald G. Doenges

 

Petty Officer Second Class

Gerald Gordon Doenges

Gerald's school photo

Born in Putnam County, Ohio, on March 13, 1921, Gerald's family later settled in Defiance at 830 Riverside Avenue. Gerald graduated from Defiance High School and went on to work at the American Packaging factory and later with his father, John Ross Doenges, at his gas station. His mother was Harriet (Snodgrass) Doenges.

In May 1940, he enlisted in the Navy and headed to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Chicago.  On a furlough back home, he married his love, Phyllis Giffin, on June 23, 1944.

His occupation in the Navy was Yeoman 2nd Class, taking care of administrative and clerical duties. Personnel records, correspondence and reports were his jobs, as well as anything else assigned.

Petty Officer Doenges served in Midway, Wake, and several other islands. But in October, 1944, he was in the Philippine Sea, trying to get the Philippine Islands back from the Japanese who were determined to not let that happen.

Although it has not been determined exactly what ship he was on, he was a part of the Battle of Leyte on the Philippine Sea.  The group of ships he was with were called Taffy 3 and his group was in one of the three battle areas of the Battle of Leyte - The Battle of Samur.

One historian called it "one of the greatest last stands in history," on October 25, 1944.

Doenges' part of Taffy 3 consisted of several small escort carriers, 2-3 destroyers and escorts for the destroyers., all intended to be in a support situation. They were not properly armed to engage with the large Japanese armored ships. As the Japanese attempted to enter Leyte Gulf (the red curved line on the map), they opened fire on the U.S. ships just after dawn on October 1,  1944. They went after the escort carriers first. Then, for the first time, these U.S. sailors experienced a kamikaze attack as Japanese planes took off from their aircraft carriers, manned by Japanese men who were prepared to die for their country.

The Americans lost two escort carriers, two destroyers, and a destroyer escort and numerous aircraft. Petty Officer Doenges' escort ship was sunk, and his body was not recovered. He is listed as buried at sea. In January 1945, a memorial service was held for him at St. Paul Methodist Church in Defiance. He was memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Philippines.

Crescent-News, November 13, 1944

Despite this horrific battle, the Americans actually won a great victory, crippling many of the Japanese battleships and reducing the enemy soldier count.

MacArthur had the Philippines back.

Petty Officer Doenges died on October 1, 1944, and, since he was buried at sea, a memorial stone was placed in North Mount Zion Cemetery, Continental, Putnam County.

Memorial stone in Continental, Ohio

Robert Carpenter, Researcher

 

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - Ensign Joseph R. Riddle, Jr.

 

Ensign Joseph Roger Riddle, Jr.

Several honors were bestowed on Ensign Joseph R. Riddle, Jr. due to his service and his death in battle. Joseph Riddle, a former Hicksville High School teacher and coach, was awarded posthumously the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, and a Battle Star. Later, a U.S. Cannon-Class Destroyer, the S.S. Riddle, was commissioned in his honor on November 17, 1943.

He was born January 6, 1918, in St. Clairsville, Ohio to Joseph and Anna (Blaha) Riddle, who were both immigrants from Bohemia, according to the 1930 Federal Census. At that time, Joseph was 16 and a brother, John, was 12. However, by 1940, both his father and brother were deceased.

Joseph registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, in Hicksville, Ohio where he lived on Cornelia Street. He had attended Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and then was employed by the Hicksville Schools as an industrial Arts teacher and a coach from 1939 -1941. On the draft card, he listed himself as 5'10", 160 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes. 

Joseph enlisted in the Naval Reserve in May 1941 and was appointed an Aviation Cadet by September.  In March of 1942, he qualified as a Naval Aviator and was commissioned an Ensign. He was first based at the U.S. Naval Station in Seattle, Washington and his assignment was to Escort Scouting Squadron 12.

On October 16, 1942, he was officially active in the Navy and ready to be sent overseas. He joined the Landing Craft School, Headquarters Unit in San Diego, CA and then was sent to fly combat missions over the Solomon Islands.

Ensign Riddle was assigned to fly a TBF-1, a torpedo bomber (the Avenger) used specifically by the Navy and Marine aviators. Designed by Grumann, it was the heaviest and largest, single-engine aircraft used in the war. It could hold one 2000 pound torpedo or 4 -500 pound bombs.

The designer had figured a way that the wings could rotate and fold up. The plane had to be catapulted to take off due to its weight.

The joke was, among the aviators, that

it could fall faster than it could fly.

In February of 1943, Ensign Riddle was flying missions over the New Georgia Islands (part of the Solomons). 

A newspaper reported:

"Ensign Riddle was killed during a battle when, after ignoring heavy anti-aircraft fire from the Japanese fleet and scoring a direct hit on an enemy cruiser, he was returning to base when his plane was attacked by seven Zeros.  He shot one down, but was knocked out of the air after his plane was made useless."

https://militaryzone.blog/tough-turkey-why-grummans-tbf-avenger-was-the-ultimate-torpedo-bomber/ 

A Japanese "Zero"

Ensign Joseph Riddle's official death date is February 3, 1943.  His body was returned home to be buried with family in the St. Clairsville Union Cemetery, St. Clairsville, Belmont County, Ohio. Only his mother survived of his immediate family, and his awards were presented to her posthumously.

The U.S.S. Riddle

The Crescent-News, September 10, 1043

The Riddle earned 12 battle stars for World War II service, acting as patrol in the Philippines and in 1945, acting as anti-aircraft and anti-submarine patrol as well as escort for various units in Iwo Jima as well as Okinawa.  She was decommissioned at the end of the war and transferred to France in August 1950, where she served in the French Navy until retired in 1965.

Mary Williams, Researcher

**Sidenote - Two famous men also served on a TBF-1 in WW II.  Paul Newman was a gunner and George H.W. Bush was a pilot.

It was also interesting to know that General Motors made more of these planes, using some auto factories, than did the Grumann factory. They were known as TBM-1.