OCR Text |
Show 2B Sun Advocate Price, Utah Thursday November 7, 2002 Stories from the theatres of wen World War Oscar Evans tells of driving various kinds of trucks in France during World War I. These trucks are examples of American equipment from the time. (Continued Horn page IB) said wc will take care of it all we don't want you down that far.Well, he insisted on taking it and we went down the incline about a half of a mile and the tail pipe on the truck fell off and that was one thing that saved my life. We went down-nethe trenches and here were the hoys coming out of the trenches in their muddy clothes, they had been in the trenches for so many hours, then another group would go in to relieve them. A Lieutenant that was coming out of the trenches with the hoys said shut that truck off and stay here until we have had time to get out of here and you stay an hour before you move that truck and unload it. So we had to stand there. I had six boys there to unload the truck. They had the jitters so bad they could hardly behave themselves. The ammunition had fixed motors on them and they would detonate when they hit an object. When it came time to unload them, I had a little Jewish boy that was to help unload this load. I le threw one out on the ground and 1 said, Oh! Oh! You wait a minute here, you will be worse than the war, you'll blow us all up by throwing that out. You handle these things just like you handle eggs. Three of you stay up in the truck and hand them out and three of you lay them down carefully in a pile." After we got them unloaded and I was ready to start the truck up the. Boys were coming out of the trenches. When I started the truck up it sounded like a machine gun and the Germans that were right near there in the trenches thought it was a machine gun going off. I got about half way out of that area and the Germans did detect a machine gun and they began trying to get this truck. They shot all around us and shot up the road ahead of us but we managed to get by without being hurt at all. Another time I was out on detail myself with a load of stuff and I had a long distance to go and I saw a German plane come over and when I saw that plane coming over and I had the intuition to pull the truck by the side of the road and to get out and get under the truck. Now, these trucks were all open and didn't have a windshield or windows in them and you could be seen in the truck. This plane did come down and he swooped down almost on my truck to see if anyone was in the truck. He must have thought the truck was out of order when ' he didn't see anyone and decided there was no use in shooting at that. Then he went up in the air and came down the second time and I stayed under the truck and when he saw there was no one there he went on and I gpt out from under the truck and I went on my way. ar ' Once I had a load of ammunition and I had a Sergeant assigned to me to go with us. There was a garrison way out in a lonely place, now the Americans had possessed that place and it was a kind of headquarters to take care of the boys. So, when I went out with this load of ammunition before I got there this place was taken over by the Germans and so there were Germans in the house instead of Americans. I went alone to this house and I was supposed to pick up a Sergeant The Sergeant came out dressed an American uniform but it was tight on him and it didn't look natural so we began to think "Boy, that's funny." He got in by us and told us to deliver the load to a certain place. We went along for a little ways and finally I said to the Sergeant "we are not in the French area, these are German names. He said, "Yes, I noticed that." I said, "I'm not going in this truck any further." I said, "I kind of agree with you too, I don't want to go any farther." So I said, "I'm going to turn the truck around and go back." The Sergeant that was with us said, Oh, that's alright you go ahead ifs alright to go ahead and deliver it" We said we wouldn't do h and so he got out and walked towards Germany. It was in the area where the German soldiers were. So, they took him as a prisoner, then be identified himself as having been sent out for this purpose. So we went back and it took us several days. The truck was slow and would only go about 12 miles an hour and if we had to goalong distance it would takeaday or two to make the trip. When we got back to our outfit, they were all surprised because they bad had word that the Germans had overrun the area and we had been taken prisoner and they were quite surprised and my life was saved in this instance. I was involved in four major battles; Yun Vosges, Marne offensive, St. Mehiel and Meuse Argonne. The first area that we were in the war was the Vosges mountains. We were billeted in an area where the homes were all shot up. We stayed in a big building with larpe holes in it and we went up in there on the second floor and laid on tile floors. It was cold and I laid in that blanket and just shook. The thing that added to it was the cannons going off; one cannon after another. It made us very nervous and that was our introduction to the first front that we were in. The mountains were very beautiful and some of them were very steep. There were places where we drove the trucks that were very narrow and covered with trees sixty feet tall You could put your hand out and almost touch the trees from the road. It was very wonderful in that area. (Continued from page IB) every seen, a Navy PBM, a metal hulled seaplane. On that plane, which carried a crew of up to 12 men, he was the rear tail gunner. These planes were designed as basically a flying boat and resi dence all in one. They could land anywhere there was enough water and the plane had four bunks and a kitchen in it. Two months after he joined the unit, the North Koreans crossed the 38th parallel and within TREASURES Antiques, Books, Furniture and a lot of odds and ends Consignment- sStore Hours: W. theplane and since the aircraft could not land on dry land when they landed it started to fill up with I water. reached Korea were many. The served as patrol aircraft watching for Chinese junks which were used to covertly move supplies. We would fly over and from a distance sometimes you could see them lowering their North Korean or Chinese flag, and putting up a South Korean flag, says Wuren. Then we would fly over and they would wave at us, but off in the distance we could see them putting their real flag back up, so they would be shot at by their own people. Wc Clark Warren just before he was deployed to Korea. would then go back and sink them. One time while flying a mission the plane was struck by flak from an gun on the ground. It damaged rite belly of anti-aircr- aft . r War too much. But the jet age was : catching up with the prop planes. One night while on a weather reconnaissance flight for : 9 bombers that would be fly- - '' into the area the next day, the : ing aircraft was confronted ' by Mig 15 jet fighters. The pilot ;; B-2- A bunch of us dressed down to our skivics and jumped overboard and began stuffing mattresses into tire holes to keep it There missions once the UNIQUE 47 24 hours his team was organized to go to Korea. The first leg of the journey in the plane was a 17 hour flight to Ford Island in Hawaii. Eventually they ended up in Japan, after numerous fuel stops they finally arrived in Japan four days later. 4 In the Marne offensive, it was more in open country and there were a lot of places shot up there. One place, I remember there was a big theater with lions around it that looked like they were going up the steps. The theater was all blown away, all that was left were the lions. Now, the next one was St MehieL St. Mehiel was located just before Alsace Lorraine. Alsace Lorraine was an area that the Ger- mans had taken away from the French years before. Those people Ci certainly welcomed us in that area later on after the war. In St Mehiel, the homes were all shot up with holes in them. The churches were 'I ...I damaged and run by the women. Td also like to tell about one other place, ML SeinL The Americans were able to come into ML Seint The Germans had come in -there and made big tunnels in this mountain-an- d they had a lot of soldiers. They made a bole in the top where a man could get up in it ! i and observe the land all around. I had the opportunity to sleep m the 0 tunneL M ; A short distance from there was a cemetery of soldiers with rows i of white crosses. There were a couple of thousand men lost trying to take die town. When the Americans went in they circled the city and by doing this they were able to overthrow ML Seint Inside the tunnel they built machinery to pump water in and it was just like a fortress inside the mountain. The Americans were able to penetrate it by encircling it and coming in from all sides. We also cut off their supplies. But the thing that impressed me the most was all these white crosses in that cemetery. When I walked along there in certain areas, I saw w&d pigs rooting upsome of the soldiers that were buried there. I have some memorabilia or buttons from some of these soldiers. The crosses were in ML SeinL That was the battle front between the Germans and the French. It was the French that lost all those boys. The Americans didn't lose too much because they encircled ; the Germans and cut off their supplies. There were rows and rows of crosses where they had been buried. No names on them - just white crosses. The town itself was entirely knocked to pieces. Another city Long, was on a hill and it had a large wall around it like the ancient cities used to have. It had been overthrown so many times that it became like a hill The walls were still there and having been destroyed so many times, they had tramways that came down into the valley and the people would travel up there on the trams. It was quite a big city. The city was in France in the northern area but it wasnH in the battle area. TVvo other cities were the same way, they were all blocked in like : Forts. I stayed in one of the dries, Tlille, and it was dose to the fronL too. There is one more thing Fd like to mention about one of these dries in the area. There was a hill and it had a statue of Christ on the cross with the mother of Jesus, Mary, looking up and that gave me . quite a start I don't want to go into anything else I saw in France; the wicked things. ofmr. The Korean Stories from the theatres I from leaking, he says. At one point it was considered by the admiralty that the planes in the PBM units and a British air wing of seaplanes fly and land on a reservoir to' rescue troop that were cut off This would nave been extremely dangers due to ground fire and the slow moving aircraft. However, when the leadership discovered the reservoir was frozen over the plan was abandoned. The plane was also used for some intelligence work using cameras, but that didnt happen dived the plane toward the ground where it could fly just above the surface and the jets' never came after Wirrens i " ' plane. Warren served two tours of; duty in Korea, one for nine ' months the other for six months. ' All together he flew 46 missions over enemy territory. In 1958, after lOyears in the Navy he left for civilian life, but later' ; in the sixties a naval officer came ; to see him and convinced him to : ' ' join the reserves where he served for an- - ; other 27 years. Main Street, Price 1 0am-3p- m Monday-Saturda- y It's time to get your The Sun Advocate apologizes that there are no veterans from the Viet Nam Conflict featured in todays Salute to Veterans. At the last minute both Viet Nam veterans that we were counting on to interview were not available. furnace serviced and ready to go Call Price Sheet Metal 435-637-25- 80 i us Install one of the new high efficiency heating systems now! Let 594 South Carbon Ave., Price 9 24 Hour Service 637-25- t : (OL 80 FARM BUREAU FINANCIAL SERVICES 637-870- i.; 'Hr ONE LOW PRICE HEW RADIAL TIRES 4 for 148 Uleadi fwleami 396 South Basso Carinate, Pika tow Soli A 637-42- 00 Erect Ilea III i , Have a feature story idea or news photo suggestion? 155B0R13 18580813 18575R14 19575R14 20575R14 21V75R15 20575R15 22575815 23575R15 Includes mount, balancing ind new stemi Tread design may vary. i t I Lori A Prince e Career Agent 690 E. Main Street, Suite C, Price, UT 84501 Bus. (435) 1 637-840-0 Fax (435) 637-522- 4 . RegUsred Reprstentsdn EquUiust MstkeUng Senioes, 5400 UnmsKy Annue, West Dee Moines, M 50288 1 (8 00) 247-417- LLC 0 No hiddan costs COUPONS FALL SERVICE SPECIAL 01 6 Fter Lute Santa (l to5qurt 29 Point Sriity impaction -- Bumper to Bumptr Check Cheqjng System & Battery Tire Rotation (Snecaeeary) Oompiele Brake kwpedon Check Ai FUd Leueb ETbpOi hoped Hating E Cooing Byetem Check Suepenelan likes ConeiiMlan On Arty PrahtHTieWlh Your Vahlcte $79.95 VMue Coupon Expires AA! the Sun Advocate today cJ Serving Castle Country since 1946. 98 South 300 East, Price (435) 63Y-dY3- 2!i fSeueBM 637-31- 31 mim POOR |