“Deeds not Words” By Earl King (1921-2001)

“Deeds not Words”

A narrative about WW 2, June 1944

Written By Earl King (1921-2001)
Begin date: 16 Nov. 1999 at 1330 hours.

enlisted service # RA 7030996
commissioned #01922677
SS# 333-10-6173.

Edited by Bryan R. King September 20th, 2009 shoshin007@yahoo.com

Born Nov. 27, 1921 in Marion, Illinois. Primary unit assignment during W.W. 2: I was a member of company B , 22nd Inf., 4th Inf. Div.

On D-day I held the rank of Pvt. By the end of June 1944, I had been promoted to the grade of S/Sgt. Highest rank held in the military service was Capt. Inf.

I became a career soldier after W.W. 2 and was commissioned a 2nd Lt. Inf. in 1952 and retired from active duty with over 21 years of active federal service , in the grade of Captain, in April 1963. My enlisted service # RA 7030996, commissioned #01922677, SS# 333-10-6173.

I first entered the military service (Army) the 28th of May 1940 and was mustered out 28th July 1945. I had enlisted for three years and served 5 years, 1 mo. and 28 days. I reenlisted in the army in May 1946 and left in 1947, reenlisted in 1947 with continuous service through April 30th,1963 when I retired with over 21 years of active federal service.

Places of assignment:
Fort McClellan, Ala. 1940
Fort Benning, Ga. 1941
Camp Gordon, Ga. 1942
Fort Dix, N.J., 1943
Camp Carrabelle, Fl. 1943 (Amphibious Trng.),
Fort Jackson , S.C. !943
England, Newton Abbot, 1944 (Eng. Moors and Slapton sands training area).

6 June 1944 , Utah Beach landing @ c 1030 hours.

In Jan. 1944 we arrived in Liverpool, Eng. (Capetown Castle,Eng. Ship) Moved by rail to Newton Abbot. Devonshire, Eng. We were billeted in an old and small bakery building..

Principal duty assignments: Co B, 22nd Inf., 4th
Inf. Div., 4th Platoon- mortar ammo carrier, Sq. Ldr,
Section Sgt. 60 mm., 3 squads.

For the beach assault, the ammo carriers were issued pack boards . The ammo was stored on the pack board , in addition to the light pack and other items. After the first day of combat these boards were left behind. For the beach assault, we wore chemically treated clothing. Winter underwear was worn during the first week or 10 days of combat. There was much concern that the Germans would use chemical weapons , especially nerve gases.

While in the assembly area back in England, we were given a very good briefing by S 3 on our immediate objectives in France. A good sand table showing key terrain features was used.

We were given the same type briefing later for the end run at St. Lo. where we rode tanks of C.C. B of the Second Armored Div. We went through the bombed out areas , riding on the tanks and moved until very late (perhaps midnight) .We went into a defensive circle with the tanks being shielded by the Infantry presence.

As we moved through Saint Lo, we went through a church cemetery that the bombs had churned up. I will never forget the stench of decayed human flesh.

We witnessed the air assault on St. Lo of the approximate 1000 bombers from three or four miles back. We could see the clouds of dust and debris in the air. This is the action that General McNair was accidentally killed in by our bombs.

18 Jan. 1944 ETO 29 Jan. 1944
16 July 1945 USA 24 July 1945

The 4th Inf. Div. sailed from N.Y. harbor. My unit was on the Cape Town Castle. A British ship that prior to W.W. 2 had carried mail and passengers to Cape Town S. Africa.

I was sent in the advance party to the ship and having some knowledge of baking , I with a crew of some other G.I.’s was put to work helping the British crew bake bread for the troops, fancier stuff for the officers.

We worked at night and were off duty during the day. It was a mixed blessing because we had our own little off duty area and we ate on shift with the British. The troops were fed twice a day and ate standing up at long raised tables. The menu consisted mostly of Lamb, fish, prunes, boiled potatoes, bread and weak tea , all of which was a culture shock.

Day 1
We were woke up early on the morning of June 6, 1944. Had a hot breakfast aboard ship and got our equipment ready to go. The small landing craft were in the water and looked like angry water bugs darting about.

We loaded into the landing craft a little later than planned ( due to confusion on the beach ). We had belt type (c/o 2 ) life support belts.

We also installed two on each pack board. This was really a life saver later as we waded through the flooded areas behind the beach. We climbed down the landing net ,the sea was still rough from the weather of the day before.

A few of the less encumbered dropped from the net into the landing craft and helped the more heavily loaded drop into the boat without injury. When the craft was loaded we moved into an assembly area a short distance away from the troop ship.

When the command was given, we moved out in an extended line of landing craft to Utah beach. I remember the excitement and thinking this is really it! The photographers were shooting pictures from the deck of the trooper. I think very few of us were dreading the action. Most of us in my platoon had been together for about three years . We were very young, in great physical condition, and we thought we were invincible.

We hit the beach at about 1000 hours and followed a path through land mines that had been marked by special troops while we waited. When we moved over the sea wall we angled to the right.

We were supposed to be able to use a beach exit road but it was blocked by disabled tanks and other troops. We were receiving very little artillery fire and some small arms fire.

We crossed the road and moved through the flooded area, trying to move toward our objective. We received sporadic enemy fire as we groped our way through the flood. Some of the water was over the shorter peoples heads. The taller ones would get across the deep places and then pull us across with a rope.

When we went into the flood, we inflated the belts on the pack board. It worked out real neat. We could float in the deep water and be pulled across. I have read that some units of the 22nd Infantry were in the flooded area about eight hours. I know it was a long day. I felt like a fish being shot at in a barrel.

As we came out of the water, we intersected the road from Saint Germain de Vierville. Our lead elements were clearing out a German delaying action.

A lone Frenchman was standing by the entrance to his home with a huge loaf of brown bread , slicing it with a knife and trying to give a slice of bread and butter to anyone that would take it. He got very few takers (it was delicious) . I feel he was thanking us for his freedom from the Germans.

We spent the night in the vicinity of Saint-Germain de Varreville. The main road intersected with a sunken trail that came up the from the direction of the beach and continued on to the east. A German machine gun position was in the N.E. about 300 yards from the intersection. It was in a closed concrete bunker. We tried to blast it out with mortars with no success.

A Lt. Davis with the 101st Airborne Div. and some men from our unit tried to take the position. They were repulsed with losses. Davis had been a member of our company back at Camp Gordon ,Georgia and was well respected in our unit.

When the planes with their gliders in tow came in just at dusk they passed a short distance in front of our lines and the Germans fired everything they had. The sky was filled with mostly tracers from the German machine guns. There was some German AA from artillery . We couldn’t do anything but watch the spectacular show of courage as the planes flew through the intense hostile fire. Those pilots were a very dedicated and courageous group intent on reaching their objective.

We dug in a mortar position in the S.W. corner of the intersection. It was in someones vegetable garden. I remember the the strawberries that were too green to eat.

We could see the sky fill with all types of A. A. fire by our forces as German re-con planes made passes over the beach area that night. It was a very long night.

Nerves were on edge as we worried about what the Germans might do. Nerve gas, night attack or German tanks? A few people broke under the stress and headed for the beach when a false gas alarm was given.

Day 2
We were all awake and ready for action at 0400 hours. We waited for an attack ,ate our assault rations and c-bars. At about 0700 we moved out toward our day’s objective of the German fortifications at Crisbecq. The approach to Crisbecq was marked by German harassing small arms and sniper fire. As we entered St. Marcouf, we began to receive artillery and mortar fire. in addition to sniper fire and prepared German automatic weapons positions.

We took St. Marcouf without a major fight and then the attack was launched on the fort. My unit was on the right of the first battalion of the 22nd Inf. guiding on an overgrown trail to the objective. My mortar squad was attached to a rifle platoon in a supporting role. “?” company was on the left using a parallel road. All went well until we reached the outer fortifications.

We used a small trail to reach the top of a small rise. It was criss crossed with small trenches that the Germans had dug. They were very old . The Germans had fallen back to alternate positions.

At this time they pounded us with artillery, nebelwerfers and the big German guns at Azeville. We refused to back up until we discovered the rifle platoon had withdrawn. The brush and grass were on fire from the shelling. We caught up with our platoon about 300 yard back in the hedge rows . We got back just in time for our side started shelling the same area.

At about 1600 hours the battalion started; a withdrawal, which almost degenerated into mass hysteria. The Germans had counter attacked (?)company and some enemy armor was involved.

We had lost a major part of the battalion in the attack on the fort and we were in a panic. We thought the Germans were going to finish us off.

We were at about half strength . The officers got us started to building a defensive position with our automatic weapons build into a final protective line.

Just as we were getting the line secured, a young French women came up to our lines from the front and wanted to pass through our lines to the American rear area. She had two children with her. A boy of about fourteen and a girl that was a few years younger.

As they passed through our lines, the boy turned and started to run back in the direction that was controlled by the Germans. Someone yelled to stop him.

There were two or three shots fired. The boy was struck in the upper leg but otherwise seemed to be okay.
One of the soldiers carried him back accompanied by his mother to the aid station.

“After all these years, I can still close my eyes and see that young kid panicked by fear..”

We spent the night in this defensive position about three hundred yards south of Dedodanville.

The Germans tried a counterattack just after dark. It was broken up and routed by naval gunfire from the ships offshore. We had naval and artillery control people that were a part of the attack force.

We spent the night in our prepared positions and resumed the attack on St. Marcouf the next morning of June the eighth. As we went back, the German troops had re-occupied the town during the night.

We received heavy small arms fire and mortar fire from the Germans in town and nebelwerfers and heavy artillery from the forts at Azeville, Crisbecq and Quineville.

We lost a lot of people in the attack but kept moving and pressing the Germans back to Crisbecq. We were able to close in on the fortifications with heavy loses.

The Germans buttoned up in their blockhouses and fort and let us advance within about two hundred yards. A friend of mine (Alton Krause) and I crawled up within fifty yards of the 280 mm. gun port and could see nothing. The big gun had been secured by them in the lower level of the fort.

At this point the Germans opened up with everything they had. We were given a terrible pounding by their other forts. They knew where we were and they knew the terrain . They literally pulverized us. The dead and wounded were lying everywhere and most were Americans.

After perhaps thirty minutes of shelling us, the Germans counterattacked on the left flank and their attack was rolling against our shattered battalion. The battalion finally slowed their attack and we withdrew to the vicinity of our point of departure that morning. Our rifle platoons had been cut to half strength .

I read later that one rifle company had lost one hundred fifty men in two days of fighting (7& 8 June). At that time we were not getting sufficient replacements to cover all the loses.

We had been green to combat on 6 June but now we had been “baptized by the blood of our friends in this terrible struggle.” We dug in and waited through the night to see what would happen when morning came.

On the 14th of June the 22nd Inf. was a part of the 4th Div. attack on the German defense line from Monte burg to Quineville. The defense line was a ridge line running across the front.

In looking back, this was the most terrible beating we took during my time at the front ( I was wounded in action) on 11 October 1944 near Murrion, Bel. by German artillery fire and had a long stay in the hospital in England.

According to the record, this battle lasted over three hours of everything that the Germans could fire. We laid there and took it, inched our way up the ridge. The Germans wanted desperately to hold that ridge but as we closed in they withdrew .

I can still remember it as if it was yesterday. After writing this I started to dream again of the horror of that day. Earl King Jr.

Earl King, 80, passed away 11:30 am. Monday, December 24, 2001 in the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He was born in Marion, Illinois November 27th. 1921 to Earl and Ruth (Fowler) King. He married Aletha Jack in May 6th, 1943 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Earl King also received a Distinguished Service Medal during the Korean War. He was active in U.S. Reserves and was in charge of building the Marion Army Reserve unit. He was also in charge of Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri U.S. Army Reserves. He was a member of the American Retired Officers Association

Awards
Combat Inf. Badge, Bronze Star Medal (V),
Purple Heart, Good Conduct Ribbon, American
Defense Service Ribbon, European African Middle
Eastern Theatre Ribbon with three Bronze Campaign
Stars, One bronze arrowhead ( Utah Beach), three
overseas service bars