Recollections of a World War II Soldier

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Editor's note: Jaleana Thompson is a student at Bronaugh High school and recently took on the project of interviewing Jim Woody, an 82-year-old veteran of World War II. Following is Thompson's account of the interview; a letter to the editor relating to this article appears on today's Opinion page.


Jim Woody served in World War II from February 1943 to December 1945. On his 19th birthday, Feb, 8, he got his induction notice to the U.S. Army, and in a few days left for Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to be inducted into the service. From there he was shipped by train to California where he started his basic training. This training took 13 weeks and Woody, as most men, was awfully homesick right from the start. The hardest part of the training was having all of your freedom taken away from you. Woody's main training was in artillery, which took about 18 months. His uncle lived close by where he was stationed in California, so he was able to see him once in a while. The Army also took his unit on a field trip to Lake Tahoe while he was in training.

In June 1943, while Woody and some others were on a three-day pass, his unit got orders to leave in 24 hours for Camp Beal, Calif., to board a train bound for a camp close to Boston, Mass. Woody and his friends got back from their pass just in time to get packed and make it to the train. Around July 1, the troops boarded a luxury liner that had been converted to a troop carrier for the trip to Liverpool, England. It took nine days to cross the ocean with 10,000 troops onboard plus the Naval troops that ran the ship. The ship had to zigzag across the ocean to avoid getting shot by German submarines. The cots they slept on were about a foot and a half apart from each other, stacked one atop the other. Those aboard could barely roll over and had to nearly roll halfway off the cot to get turned over. They ate two meals a day, usually consisting of baked beans, potatoes and some sort of meat. Many of the soldiers got very seasick while crossing the ocean.

Woody said that around August, they took LST boats across the channel to Utah Beach in France. An LST is a tank landing ship used to carry troops and equipment to shore. Woody remembered Utah Beach stank horribly from the fighting and gave him a "very weird feeling" about being there. The group Woody was with made up the third part of Patton's army. They had to race to catch up with the rest of the Army. There, Woody had his first part of real combat experience. He had his first fire mission in the middle of October. There were German soldiers all around and at night soldiers never knew, as someone was approaching, if it was an American or a German until they were very near. Woody said it was the scariest experience of his life. The weather was terrible; it rained nearly all the time and was extremely muddy which made it very hard to set up the big guns. Sometimes, the soldiers would use a dozer to dig out an area to place the guns in for better protection from enemy fire, but when it rained these areas became ponds and made setting up the guns even more difficult. The deep mud also made it very hard to keep the soldiers' boots and feet dry. When it finally got cold enough to freeze, they could finally start to keep dry.

Woody's assignment was field artillery. He was in the Battery A of 273rd, and in the support of tank divisions and infantry. His job on the gun was setting elevation and direction. After each shot, he had to re-level the gun and know the distance to be shot. (The forward teller would radio the directions to fire). After every shot they had to reset the gun all over again. The guns could shoot 20 miles, like from Bronaugh to Lamar. They didn't have computers or GPS guided missiles back then like they do now so he had to do everything manually with a slide rule. The firing of the guns had to be fast for the battles but accurate to avoid hitting friendly troops.

One day as Woody and his unit were moving along, they came to a potato patch where all of a sudden they came under heavy fire from the Germans. They opened fire in all directions around themselves. He recalled they used a lot of their ammunition up just before they drove the Germans back.

Woody spent eight months in war. Some of the things he carried with him was a .30-caliber carbine gun with lots of ammo, a pack strapped to his back with supplies, a steel helmet, his canteen filled with 'doctored up' water, and a raincoat. He also had a duffle bag full of stuff on his track carrier. From France he was sent over to Germany. His unit moved just before Christmas to Luxemburg, where he spent the coldest winter ever recorded in history, from there south of the Battle of the Bulge.

Woody was glad to be in the artillery because at least they had tents to get in when they weren't firing the big guns. There were about 16 men in each tent which made enough warmth to at least cut a little of the chill. They wore overcoats and long-handles. However the unit lacked a lot of overshoes. Overshoes were a high priced item on the black market and they seldom made it to the troops. He often thought with concern of the infantry soldiers on the front lines with no tents or shelter from the cold.

It seemed like it took forever for winter to finally end. When winter was over they spearheaded back through Germany. In March his unit started taking in German prisoners like crazy. They kept on rolling to Berlin where they joined the Military Government and the men wrote MG on their helmets. There were 11 people in the group with Woody, and they picked up many prisoners who were kept in slaughterhouse pens. A few people they met along the way were able to speak a little English, but hardly any. This was about the end of the fighting for his unit.

The happiest time in the whole service Woody had was on May 9 when they saw some German soldiers walking home. "They went over to start rounding them up and just then they saw an airplane. It flew over to them, cut the engine, and the guy in it yelled out ' the war is over, let 'emgo!'" Woody said

When his unit moved through France Jim was assigned to drive one of four trucks loaded with motorcycles to Paris where he was able to get a look at the Eiffel Tower. Soon after Thanksgiving he got on a boat to come home, and on Dec. 8 arrived in St. Louis. The following April he got married, and has been married for 60 years to Joanna.

Woody wasn't able to write home too often when he was over seas. He could only write to let his family know he was alright, and he couldn't say anything about where he was or what was happening. Sometimes it seemed like it took weeks at a time to receive mail.

Woody was one of five brothers and every one of them was called in to the service. Woody was the next to oldest brother. One of his brothers went into the reserve then later to Korea, and didn't make it home. Woody and his wife Joanna have a large family. One of their sons, Willard, was also in the service. Willard was 20 years old when he was killed in Vietnam in January 1971.

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