War Stories
| John's Story |
Historical Context |
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Entering the
Service,
Boot Camp and Training
John Wallach inteviewed by grandson Michael Wallach 10-26-1996  Q:
How old
were you when you went to war?A: I was twenty years old. My brother and I were drafted around the same time. He went to Greenland and I went to North Africa. We were really close. We did almost everything together. I was really sad to be separated from him. Q: When you were drafted where did you report? A: I reported in New York City. Then went right to Ft. Belvoir Virginia. Q: Is this where you did your basic training? A: Most of it. Q: What was basic training like? A: In one word - Hell. I was in good shape at the time, but boy did they work us. Our drill sergeant was a mean son of a bitch. He sure worked us hard. I was not used to the southern climate or its heat. This made the runs and exercises much harder. Q: What service were you in? A: I was in the engineers in North Africa. Then I went off to England. The boat ride over was very interesting. About ninety-five percent of the Americans got sick on the ride over. I got sick too. The food there was very exotic. They served fish with the scales on and mutton. Just because the food was exotic did not mean that it was good. It was. terrible. I was so hungry that I chose to spend my last five dollars on oranges. We spent some time in London getting further preparations and training. Q: What was it like leaving home and your parents at age twenty to go fight in the war? A: I grew up in a very close family. It was very sad leaving. I sent ten dollars a month home to help out my family. That was most of my basic pay. I really missed them the whole time I was there. Fortunately I was able to meet my brother Ben in Pennsylvania before we were both sent overseas. Somehow I knew that this was not our final goodbye. Thankfully I was right. Ben was my older brother and my role model. He gave me a lot of inspiration before we parted. I will never forget that time in Pennsylvania. Q: Did you have any doubts about gong to war? A: Absolutely not. Patriotic fever was everywhere. Not going to war was not only not an option, but not something we thought about. The Japanese and Germans were our archenemies. The macho side of me wanted to be out there fighting them. Q: Did you want to fight the Japanese over the Germans because of hatred? A: It really didn't matter to me, I just wanted to do whatever I could for my country .Boy did we believe in America. How could we not, for we were the good guys fighting for justice and truth. Q: What was your rank? What service were you in? And what was your platoon number? A: The Army was looking for volunteers for the Rangers. I was very fast but I did not volunteer. I was the only one who didn't. The Ranger option never appealed to me for some reason. I am glad that it didn't, for everyone I knew who was in the rangers ended up dying. I was in Company K, third infantry. What a group. What a great group of guys we were. |
 Fort
Belvoir"...Fort Belvoir again expanded. To accommodate the influx of draftees after 1940, an additional 3,000 acres were acquired to make room for the new Engineer Replacement Training Center (ERTC). In March 1941, the ERTC facility began to provide basic military engineer training to draftees. Originally, the ERTC program was designed as a 12 week course, but its duration was shortened to eight weeks early in 1942, when the demand for troops escalated dramatically after Pearl Harbor... Recruits were schooled in reconnaissance, unit coordination, road and obstacle construction, and demolition. After mid-1942, Belvoir began training engineer specialists in operating construction machinery, carpentry, drafting, and surveying... As the war progressed and new weapons were developed, specialized courses in weapons operation were added to the curriculum. Engineers learned about tanks and their uses, flamethrowers, and anti-aircraft guns. By the end of the war in 1945, the ERTC at Fort Belvoir had trained roughly 147,000 engineer troops. One of the most innovative troop training strategies developed during World War II was the obstacle course. A Fort Belvoir invention, the course was designed to teach recruits how to handle themselves and their equipment in simulated field conditions. Belvoir's obstacle course incorporated walls to climb over, hurdles to jump over, barbed wire to crawl under, ditches to swing over, and pipes to crawl through... Proven to be a highly effective training exercise, the obstacle course was adopted at Army installations throughout the country. "  Blue and White
Devils The 3rd Infantry Division "... the 3rd began its war against the Germans early Nov. 8, 1942, off the coast of French Morocco. Thirty months later, May 8, 1945, when the Nazis surrendered unconditionally, the 3rd boasted three additional amphibious landings, eight campaign stars, 33 Congressional Medal of Honor winners and such memorable milestones as Casablanca and Tunisia in Africa; Palermo and Messina in Sicily; Monte Lungo and the Volturno River in southern Italy; the Anzio beachhead, Cisterna and Rome in central Italy; the Riviera, Rhone River Valley, Montelimar and Besancon in southern France; the Vosges Mountains, Strasbourg, the Colmar Pocket, Siegfried Line, Rhine River, Bamberg, Nurnberg, Munich, Berchtesgaden, Salzburg. There were few veterans of the initial D-Day on hand for V-E Day in Salzburg and Berchtesgaden, a solemn day for both veterans and recruits alike. For during those 30 months, the 3rd had sustained 34,000 casualties -- more than any of the 60 divisions in the European Theater -- in its 3200 mile trail from Casablanca to Salzburg." - From
the "Blue and White Devils" is a small booklet covering the history of
the 3rd Infantry Division. This booklet is one of the series of G.I.
Stories
published byt he Stars & Stripes in Paris in
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War Experience
Q: What was your first Battle experience? A: Our first mission was to Africa. As we got close to Casablanca the attack was already underway. My commander yelled my name and the next thing I knew, I was being lowered onto a barge. They dropped me on a big pile of bags. I was so sick from the long journey. I was exhausted and hungry, not exactly ideal fighting conditions. I was so sick that my dry heaves started coming up green. . When I got to Canasteil, which is an Arab burial ground, we pitched tents. I got stuck with the worst job building the latrine. Building latrines was exhausting and boring work. Each latrine took forever to build. In no time we had a whole camp set up. There were 15,000 scatted tents and no lights. The Arabs there were not very experienced soldiers. They were more afraid of the bayonets than the guns themselves. One night I was walking around the camp when I stumbled onto an Arab. Upon seeing me, the Arab tried to frighten me or rob me or something. He had a little knife. When the Arab saw the Bayonet on my rifle, he turned ghostly white. I frisked him and grabbed his knife. My general asked me to hand over the knife much to my disappointment. There were these huge frogs all over the place. They were really loud. Their chirping kept me up all night. It was also very cold at night. Boy, did you get a chill late at night. The days were very hot. One morning a special bugle woke us up. We were so used to calm conditions that we thought that bugle was alerting us that a movie was going to be shown. All of the sudden I see these red rockets and this jeep come roaring in. It was an air raid. I ran as fast as I could to the latrine that I had built to take cover. I heard people speaking Spanish. Finally I heard the siren that the air raid was over and I crawled out of the latrine. Sitting in that latrine was a horrible experience. All I could do was pray that I would not get hit. Q: Were you ever injured? A: Now this is a story .At this time I was stationed in Colmar, France. It was in the middle of the winter and boy was it cold. Everything was white from the constant snow. We used white sheets for camouflage. One night at around nine o'clock p.m. we began to prepare for war. I was one of the biggest guys and stood in the front. Ahead of us were tanks. There were American artillery planes above us in the sky. We had to hike for twenty miles to a big clearing. For the record, these types of hikes were so common, that twenty miles was nothing. In the middle of the hike there was a sudden halt. A German sentry tried to stop about 20,000 solders. Everyone shot him. This guy was shot more times than can be imagined. The brutality of his death did not even phase us - we were used to seeing it. All of the sudden we were under fire from all directions. Men were dropping like flies. The Germans were hidden in the forest. My sergeant fired his flare gun. The Germans saw the flare and killed him. I watched him go down. With the sergeant gone, we started to panic. A man, Basser Ofgaven, said in German that we better give up. My friend told him to shut up. Eventually the Germans turned away, and stopped firing. After a number of hours of searching the perimeter, it was time to go to sleep. I told my buddy that I would keep first watch while he slept. Those hours when you were one of the only ones up were the loneliest. Although, any movement of any kind got our attention. After my friend had gone to sleep for about an hour, I heard footsteps. As the footsteps got closer I realized that they were Germans. These Germans were about one hundred yards away. They weren't fighting, they were just walking. They started coming closer and I shot at them. My buddy woke up by the loud noise. Then there was silence again. About twenty minutes later we saw a tank coming towards us. We all started to run. Missiles were being shot at us but no one was hit. We looked for cover everywhere. When I got to the edge of the forest there was a big explosion. I felt a hot burning in my leg and I lost my gun. When I got up to try to run I just fell. I looked down at my leg. There was a big chunk of shrapnel. My friend came back to get me. We ran together to the Eo River. The whole group jumped in and started to swim to the other side. My friend Ronny, who was already half way across the river, saw me lying there. Ronny screamed for me to jump in. The problem was that I could not swim with two legs, let alone only one. I begged my friends to keep going and get some help for me. As Ronny and my group faded into the distance, my heart dropped. I was now truly alone. By this time my foot was throbbing. I knew that I had to do something. With a lot of pain, I got a big piece of the shrapnel out of my foot. I used my towel to try and stop the bleeding. This whole process took the last of my energy. Before I dozed off, I remember throwing my dog tags into the river to hide my Jewish identity. You see, there were stories told of how the Germans treated their P.O.W.'s, especially American Jews. At this point, I passed out for some time. I woke up to loud explosions everywhere. I could hear soldiers coming towards me. One of the greatest miracles of all time happened to me then. While I was laying there unable to move, a mortar landed two feet away from me. When it hit the ground, I thought I was dead. For whatever reason that mortar never went off. It was a dud or something. I am not a religious man, but boy did I thank him for saving me. As the soldiers came closer, I could no longer take hiding and the pain. I crawled from my hiding spot to surrender. I went before this soldier on knees with my hands up. This soldier, dressed in white was not holding a rifle. Instead, he was holding his hand. It turns out that he was American I and had been shot in the hand. He told me that there was a CQ only three miles away. I begged him to let me lean on him and go with him. He told me that he was way to weak to carry himself let alone help me. But he did promise that he would get help. I went back to the hiding spot with little hope. I Again I dozed off. I was losing a ton of blood and was absolutely starving. I think that I was going delirious. After a number of hours, I remember hearing a man with a very thick Irish accent. This man picked me up and put me in his truck. I don't remember the ride to the hospital or arriving there. In fact I don't remember all that much from that time period. I do remember pleading with the doctor not to amputate my foot. The fear of losing my foot was the only thing that I could think about. Although as I sat in the hospital waiting to be operated on, I could feel my body warming up. I think that had I been outside much longer, I would have froze. As my body warmed up, the pain in my foot became excruciating. The doctor came over and gave me a shot of Morphine. That shot made me feel like I was in heaven. Boy did I feel good. I felt so good that I passed out. When I woke up, I saw that my foot was in a sling and not amputated. I was so happy and thankful. Those feelings became overwhelmed with pain as I realized how much a my foot hurt. The guy in the bed next to me was a triple amputee and had a metal plate in his head. Seeing these guys made you want to cry. At first the doctors told me that I would never walk again. But after a few I weeks I was up and about. I really wanted to see my family. I found out later that my family only knew that I was injured. They did not know the extent of it. It was really hard to write to them from inside the hospital.  Q:
Backing up again,
what year were you injured? A: Right near the end in 1945 Q: Did you get a hero's welcome when you came home? A: I arrived home on a hospital ship, which was much nicer than the boat I came over in. I went to a hospital in Florida where I was supposed to recover. In no time I was back with the family. Shortly after I arrived home, I met your Grandmother. I was awarded three battle stars and the Purple Heart. These honors were a great sense of pride for me. Q: Did you start smoking over there? A: Yes- I smoked Camels and Lucky Strikes. Pretty much everybody smoked in those days. It was something to do to kill time. Smoking with the boys was a bonding experience. When we were in Europe and Africa, there was a lot of time when we were not doing anything. Having those cigarettes were our entertainment. Q: When looking back at those years, how do you feel? A: I never ever would want to go through the war aspect again. It was horrible. I think that war is legalized murder. On the other hand, in a way I am glad that it happened in that I found a bond with a bunch of guys that I could not get in any other way. I loved those guys. Interview with John Wallach - Michael Wallach Oct. 26, 1996 |
Algeria-French
Morocco November 1942
Operation TORCH "The friendship and trust which had developed between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill finally broke the impasse at the Combined Chiefs. The President agreed to send American troops to North Africa in late 1942, and the Prime Minister agreed to support a major cross-Channel attack in 1943 or 1944. Their differences resolved, American and British CCS members in London began planning the entrance of the United States Army into the Mediterranean area, an operation named TORCH..."  "BRUSHWOOD consisted of three regimental landing groups (RLG), based on the 7th, 15th, and 30th Infantry Regiments, 3d Infantry Division... Each regimental landing group consisted of three battalion landing teams, each with engineer, artillery, air liaison, and other support detachments. The 1st and 2d Regimental Landing Groups were each reinforced by a platoon of light tanks. With support units, BRUSHWOOD totaled 19,364 officers and men... The objectives of the landing were to silence all coastal batteries, seize the town and port of Fedala as well as all roads and rail lines serving them, and then turn south to envelop Casablanca from the landward side. ...."  ... The rest of the 7th and 30th Regimental Landing Groups came ashore late in the morning of D-day, and the 15th Regimental Landing Group landed that afternoon. The D-day objective was a beachhead eleven miles wide and five miles deep. By nightfall the troops had pushed far enough inland but were still three miles short of the desired position to the south. The next morning General Anderson deployed his troops in a four-battalion front and began moving south along the coast to assembly areas for the attack on Casablanca, scheduled for the third day ashore.... During their move south the Americans made good progress against sporadic fire and strafing aircraft. But soon the unloading problems of the previous day began to retard operations..." The Colmar
Pocket
Colmar, France December 1944 - January 1945  "The Third Division was called to eliminate all hostilities in the Colmar Pocket in mid December 1944 just days before the start of the German's Ardennes Offensive. As history played out it was an eventful end to 1944 on the Western Front, and the beginning of the end to the German bridgehead around Colmar."  "Eisenhower's order to the Seventh Army in December 1944 was to straighten its lines around Strasbourg and eliminate the 40 by 20 mile German bridgehead centered around Colmar.The Third Division was chosen to deal with the Colmar problem...A strongly defended Sigolsheim was attacked by the 15th Regiment on December 26 after they fought long and hard for Hill 351 to the north in action commenced on Christmas Eve."  "PFC Steven R. Lakos of the Third Division contemplates the enemy in death at Ostheim, France during action in the Colmar Pocket January 1945. So overshadowed by the news of the Battle of the Bulge, the equally-heroic Allied action around Colmar and Strasbourg became known as the "forgotten war.""  "A body collection point ten miles north of Colmar in Ribeauville brings war down to the numbers. By the time the Colmar action was through, the Third Division would mark 4,500 casualties since it's southern France landing." |
