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Show November 11, 2005 The Summit County Bee Page A3 "Well. Mom, this is it. I found instructors tell tales about combat my sincerest sympathy, and the not killed or wounded." '-^ >_'*'•: : out a few minutes ago where I am this last week we are all afraid that hope that time and the victory of He didn*t provide many details headed. I will be going to Fort Sill, we might pass." our cause will finally lighten the about the battles he was in, but I Oklahoma in the Field Artillery. I "Well, Mom, the secret code has burden of your grief." was to find out just how intense the am quite happy that I haven't changed a bit and now we can fighting had been when I began to caught up with the infantry yet. make it 11-4. Have youfiguredout Sincerely yours, do research on the 509th PIB. They tell me it takes about four what it is yet?" Henry L. Stimson For their actions at Carano, Italy months training and then I'll be Nathaniel Thomas Toole was Secretary of War 9 Anzio), the Battalion was awarda Second shipped for replacement some- commissioned ed a Presidential Unit Citation. For* Lieutenant, Infantry, on January 27, where." Nathaniel Thomas Toole came a unit to receive a Presidential Unit' "This is where they ask you 1945. He came home on leave as he home in the fall of 1948 and was Citation, the level of valor exhibit-'* what you prefer and then put you was being transferred lo the buried in the Coalville City ed must be equal to that of an indielsewhere." "These are real bullets replacement depot at Fort Ord, Cemetery on October 3, 1948. vidual who is awarded a just above your head." "Won't this California. This was the first time My mother packed up his uni- Distinguished Service Cross, which be fun?" "Don't believe everything he saw his son Tommy. forms, letters, flag, and Purple is second only to the Congressional Heart and like many Veterans Medal of Honor for Valor. His copy you see Hazel. There are chaperclosed her mind to what happened of the citation reads in part: "The Ft. Ord, Calif. ones for each gal and 100 soldiers and got on with life. She raised two 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion or more." sons. My Darling Tink, On completing basic training at is cited for outstanding perform"Please feel that I did right to Fort Sill, Tommy Toole and his best Tommy and Hazel Toole have ance of duty in action on 29th buddy, Verl Scott, transferred to join up. It worries me that I left you two sons; Doug (Saundra) and Tom February 1944 near Carano, Italy. . Officer Candidate School at Fort and the kids, but honestly Mom, I (Judith), 7 grandchildren, 13 great- . depleted in strength after many Benning, Georgia in September of wouldn't want to stay home and not grandchildren, 1 great-great grand- days of continuous combat. . do my part. Not when all the other child, with more on the way. 1944. .fought desperately, disdaining {These captions were written by fathers went." retreat engaging the overwhelming Tommy and Verl Scott shipped Tommy under pictures in a Field Junior John Leydens and constantly increasing German Junior John Leydens Nathaniel Thomas Toole out together and arrived in Leytc, Artillery Magazine.) force with rifle butts and even fists. Philippine Islands in late March, Junior John (Jack) Leydens was . . The courageous and determined BY NAVEE VERNON One soldier was my father; the 1945 where they were assigned to born in Iowa and raised on a farm. stand . . . resulted in the retention of Fort Benning, Georgia • Dec. Summit County Historical Society other was my friend. My father's the 182 Infantry Regiment, He was one of 17 children born to a vital sector of the beachhead and 12, 1944 story is drawn from letters and docAmerical Division which was John A. and Bessie Van Brogen prevented a dangerous German Written by Thomas W. Toole uments my mother kept. My engaged in heavy fighting on Cehu Leydens. He enlisted and entered wedge between two infantry diviMy Darling: (son of Nathaniel Thomas Toole) friend's story was told to me one "We had our Physical Island. the war as a member of the 509th sions." night when I was visiting him and it Achievement Test. I passed everyParachute Infantry Battalion. It was Veteran's Day is a day lhal we is written as faithfully as I can He was wounded in the April 10, 1945 • Philippines thing except the 350 yd. Grenade known as the "Gingerbread Southern France campaign and was pause to remember those that have remember it. race. The qualifying time for that Battalion" because part of the bat- in the hospital for several mon hs. served our country in the various My Darling, was 71 seconds. I made it in 72. talion jacket patch looked like a He had recuperated enough .J be branches of the armed services. Nathaniel Thomas Toole "This is the only letter I will be gingerbread man. However, they told us tonight that Every Veteran has a story, but some sent back to the battalion just prior Nathaniel Thomas "Tommy" In some ways, I cannot do jus- to the Battle of the Bulge. of them don't talk about their expe- Toole was the youngest of five if a person only failed one test, they able to write for awhile. I have riences, especially those that were brothers born to William and would allow him two seconds or been in the lines for five days liv- tice to his story because one had to The Battle of the Bulge began in combat. The memories are too Roberta Blanche Huntington Toole. two pull-ups etc. Boy! I will be ing in a nice cozy fox hole. I surely be there to feel the emotion that on December 16, 1944 and was vivid and they sometimes haunt They lived in Dixon, Wyoming in thankful for that for I surely dread hope you and the kids are O.K. I came with the words. Laughter over on January 25, 1945; but for love all of you millions." turned to feelings and a look that I the 309th PIB, the war was over. At and torment their souls because the Little Snake River Valley and doing it again." "We have a combat badge and a "They have a new test. It is a 50 can't describe. I could tell that he the end, there were 55 men left, they know what hell is like. then moved to Rawlins, Wyoming. battle star now so things are pickyd. Crawl and I made it in 38 secwas reaching back into his mind to seven officers and 48 enlisted men. What follows are the stories of He graduated from Rawlins High ing up around here. That's all the onds, which was superior. So remember, but he really did not The Battalion was deactivated and two Veterans that in many ways School where he was an outstandmedals I want so I hope I never get maybe when I come home the baby want to. It was as if he stared right the remaining 55 men including reflect the experiences of many of ing student and an exceptional athanymore at all." and I can have some mutual good through things and his voice wounded were assigned to other those that answered the call to duty lete. He followed his brothers. times. Always, all my love. I love changed to one that was serious but battalions. The 509th PIB entered to protect and defend this great Doug and Frank, to Coalville. May 2, 1945 • Americal tinged with regret. He packed a lot the war with 539 men. and was nation. Their backgrounds were Utah, where he began working for you millions and always will." Division of emotion into a short conversa- reduced to about 10 percent of its quite different. One came from the the Mountain Fuel Supply tion and he didn't want to say any- strength not considering replaceDecember 15, 1944 plains of Iowa, the other from the Company. He married Hazel more. Dear Mrs. Toole, mountains of the West. One was Wright on September 23, 1940. As ments that were assigned to the "I was with Tommy when it hapThe telling of his story began unit. My Darling; young, 19 years old. not long out of the war progressed, he waived his "1 have a few minutes this pened. My sergeant and 1 left to go one evening when I visited him; high school. One was 27. married deferment as a worker in a critical Junior John Leydens came home evening so I'll try to send you a register in some mortar targets. and as things usually went, we diswith one son and his wife expecting industry and enlisted in the Army. in the late-summer of 1945 with a note before study hall. It's a funny Tommy was hil. . .1 got back to him cussed the weather and politics. For their second child. Their stories are Combat Infantry Badge, a Purple thing this altitude we all take. and he was conscious and seemed some reason, we got onto the subdifferent, but they did have one. Fort Douglas • May 22, 1944 Heart and the European-African When we first got here we were ail to feel very little pain. He said, ject of kids. He said "Tom, I wouldthing in common; they both came Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon afraid that we would not get"Scotty, tell Tink not to worry, It's n't want to be a mother now-a-days home, just in different ways. Dearest Hazel; with three bronze campaign stars through and after listening to the o.kJYThe medics were-there right with all the drugs and other things ;, for, action atAnzio.( : Sduthern'; afteifTit^happened and they d i d ' that-are going on."- ' - ^ ' j ^''" 1 : France-(Operation^DraotfonV and" everything they could to help him." Then he smiled ariti' begarTto' Ardennes-Alsace (Battle of the -Verl Scott sent this letter thinking chuckle. "You know Tom, I wonder Bulge). He became a mechanic and it would not get home before my what my mother thought? At 19, I mother was notified by the war was headed for shore at Anzio. owned his own shop. He moved to department. It arrived before the There were about 550 men in that Coalville and worked in construction until he retired and he never War Department's telegram. battalion. We went in and for 4 said much about the war. days we dug in on the beach. That At his funeral. I asked one of his was the biggest mistake that was MRS. HAZEL TOOLE sisters if Jack had ever talked about ever made. We never took those BOX 202 his experiences in the war. She hills and then we fought the COALVILLE, UTAH Your Local FORD • MERCURY Neighbors! said. "He never said a word. He Germans for them for days. Back came home and went about life THE SECRETARY OF WAR and forth, pounding each other without ever discussing the war." DESIRES ME TO EXPRESS HIS until we were tired and exhausted Of/? COT W/Tt/ DO^EA/S OE QUAL/TY P/ZE-CHA/A/E& T/ZA&E-WSf Junior John (Jack) Leydens was and we had a lot of casualties." DEEP REGRET THAT YOUR buried with full military honors on HUSBAND 2/LT TOOLE "After Anzio, I jumped into February 1. 2003. I was given the NATHANIEL T WAS KILLED IN Southern France and we were in the ACTION ON CEBU 14 APR 45. thick of it again. We hit one posi- privilege and honor of dedicating CONFIRMING LETTER tion for seven days and finally they his grave. Where he rests is halFOLLOWS J A ULIO THE relieved us. We were a tough unit lowed ground. FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION AND PHOTOS CHECK OUT and finally they brought up another ADJUTANT GENERAL OUR WEB SITE: crandallfordmerc.com TO ALL VETERANS unit and they took it in three days. But the casualties they took, what June 20, 1945 Each of you has a story to tell casualties! Those SS troops were and it may be difficult for you to tough. They just wouldn't give up. 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