75th Infantry Ladies Auxillery

Posted on by Thor

On the first day of the 79th annual,  75th Infantry Reunion, the Hospitality Room was on the schedule as being open. I had arrived before my room was ready, so I decided to sketch the hospitality room as I waited.

Ralph Steiner, the president of the 75th Division Veteran’s Association and someone from the reunion committee were meeting with the woman from the hotel staff who plans such functions.  Chicken or beef options were on the table for the final gala dinner. I had contacted Heidi via Facebook at the last minute and managed to get the reunion rate on a hotel room for the 4 days I was there. Heidi  said that her father, like mine, had never told stories about his service in WWII.  She has been attending the reunions for years and now is the heart that makes the fun happen each year. My curiosity is leading to my wanting to travel the cities in Europe that my father’s 75th Infantry C-Company had liberated of seized up until the final days of the war.

Today I discovered that WWII reenactments a big in France and I am hoping to sketch a few on my travels. Unfortunately the biggest celebrated 80 years since the D-Day  invasion and that happened June 6th. I can’t regret what is passed, I just need to focus on what lay ahead of me.

While doing research on C-Company at one of these round banquet table, the ladies auxiliary came into the room and held a meeting. The minutes from last years meeting were read, then business was forwarded. I was pleased to hear that they plan to make donations to two of the sites we had visited. The Woodring Wall and Museum in Enid Oklahoma. The wall and a small library and room filled with airplane models were on a small air base. The museum was in an abandoned mall and there was  little to no air circulation. Despite this the limited staff was so helpful to the veterans who visited the site. Their mission to preserve military history would get a boost from any donations. I did notice one mom walking through the museum with her daughter at the military museum.

Some of the women of the auxiliary are the same woman who laugh loud and make the reunion such a blast to attend. I learned so much in the few short days I was there and I met some amazing vets including Charles who is 99 years young and was with the 75th Infantry at the Battle of the Bulge.

Looking through one of the history binders on one of the table I found my father listed as a replacement 1st Lieutenant for the 75th. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. Also during the ladies auxiliary meeting I found the names of the work and POW camps that my father’s C-Company had liberated. All last week I was searching to the camp mentioned in several of the C-Company oral histories. The problem is that there were so many Concentration Camps,  Work Camps and POW camps that there were too many possibilities. Attending the reunion, gave me a first hand account from someone who was there. I wanted to shout for joy, but the meeting was in progress and I didn’t want to disrupt the business at hand.

I totally reworked the listing of towns that I plan to visit when back in the hotel room.I added tons more information about other companies movements so I would have a bigger picture of what was happening.  Now I need to compile a simpler list that is just about the towns and how long C-Company was in each. I also need to finish compiling a Google map that shows the location of each town. Though I am planning a very specific path through Europe, I might stray if there are reenactments of 80 year anniversary celebrations in other towns. I saw some amazing photos of the 75th Infantry walking through the woods and down muddy roads. The quality was much better than any other historical photos I had seen at the time. I didn’t recognize the face of the 1st Lieutenant pictured. I soon realized that I was looking at a reenactment of my fathers infantry unit. History had been brought back to life in these crisp color photos.

Woodring Wall and Museum

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The 75th Infantry Reunion crowd walked into the Museum after seeing the Vietnam Woodring Wall outside. There was a huge artillery cannon outside the museum. I thought it might have been from WWII but it was built in 1998. I decided not to stop and sketch it. Inside the building was a small museum of WWII to present military memorabilia.

There was a whole wall bookcase full of military books. I picked up one book and immediately found chapters of the Colmar Pocket and Ruhr Industrial Area Battles of WWII. Unfortunately there was not enough time to just sit and read.

The next room had some round tables set up and a podium at the front of the room. Here Bob Ford introduced himself and gave us a brief talk on his military carrier. Bob was particularly proud that there was a living WWII vet in the audience in Charles, who served with the 75th Infantry in WWII at the Battle of the Bulge. Bob said that he wanted to serve to honor the men who fought in WWII.

Bob handed out photos of himself posed in front of the 282 Assault Helicopter he piloted in the Vietnam war. The photo was taken in January of 1968 in Hue, South Vietnam. In the photo Bob was wearing a bulletproof chest protector and he was holding an M16. His command signal was Blackcat 21. Bob praised the accuracy of his machine gun crew. Any time the chopper was getting flack from the ground the gunners would hit the ground guns with absolute accuracy.

Outside I was speaking with a 1st Lieutenant Colonel who said that there were not enough troupes sent into Vietnam. Even so, he felt that the battle could have been won.However the media went in and started to claim that the was was not winnable. That message gave the enemy hope and a conviction that they should hold out and keep fighting. He felt the media had committed treason.

Bob Ford got choked up as he spoke about loosing an entire crew in Vietnam. When an audience member asked if he ever had to deal with napalm, he said that the photo he had handed out showed barrels of napalm in the background. He instructed his crew to stay clear of the stuff. Bob is incredibly fit. It wasn’t until the next day that someone from the reunion told me that Bob is 88 years old. He was wearing the uniform that he was wearing when he was 23 in the photo. He works out every day. He wrote a book about his Vietnam war experiences called Blackcat 21: The True Story of a Vietnam Helicopter Pilot and his Crew.

Apple Store

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In preparing to go to Oklahoma City for the 75th Infantry Reunion, and Oregon to screen my short animated film, COVID Dystopia, I felt I needed to replace the faulty chord on my iPad. Apple sells chords that are made to fall apart in a year’s time.  The chord Apple included with the purchase of the iPad was only about a foot long and some hotels and motels don’t have outlets conveniently located. I needed a longer and more robust chord.

 The Apple Store at the Millennia Mall was insanely crowded. Apparently everyone had faulty power chords. Tourists were coming in and buying chords using their foreign currency cards. I went up to the iBar and waited. Someone asked what I needed and pointed me towards a table covered with boxes of power chords. I wasn’t sure which plug s were needed. I should have brought my iPad, but I came in on a whim while shopping for clothes for my Europe trip.

The sales person was able to scan my iPhone to figure out exactly which chord I needed. I was impressed with his digital detective work. All my devices seem to communicate to one another and are shouting out when they need better power chords.

After I purchased my chord. I decided to stay and get a sketch of the digital chaos. Some people took more than an hour to buy a digital device wile others were in an out quickly. My purchases was pretty easy, but others must have been considering life altering purchases.

The lady in front of me was agonizing over her purchase of an Apple computer. She wore a Lady and the Tramp tee shirt. The Tramp would have made a decision quickly but Lady needed to weigh every option. She did make a decision before my sketch was complete.

Bus Ride to The Woodring Wall and Museum

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Mt father was a 1st Lieutenant of the 75th Infantry Division. The 2025 reunion for the 75th was being held in Oklahoma City, so I had to go to see what I could find out that might help as I make plans to follow in my fathers footsteps through Europe.

There were several day trips planned. One to the Oklahoma National Memorial & Museum and the other to the Woodring Wall & Museum. The bus ride was a solid one and a half hours, so I had plenty of time to get a sketch done. I was also given a paperback book that was a history of the 75th Infantry so I read that on the bus ride back.

The bus driver gave us all one important warning. He said that there was a bathroom at the back of the bus but he advised against against any number twos. I’m guessing the thing doesn’t flush very well. He also advised that men sit down since he didn’t want anyone falling down with all the side to side movement of the bus.

What I recall most about the bus trip was all the gorgeous wide open countryside and and endless line of wind mills. Like an airline, there was a safety video on the multiple screens hanging over the seats.

When the buss pulled into the air field, I could see the Vietnam memorial wall. There were few name to start and then each panel filled up to it’s full height. At the far end of the long wall the names compressed once again as the wall angles down in a triangular fashion. This wall is a miniature replica of the Memorial in Washington, DC designed by then undergraduate,  Maya Ying Lin. To find the name of a loved one it is best to use the index which tells youo what panel to look at. Names on the wall are arranged chronologically, so it might take a long time to search the 58,318 names of Americans who had been killed in action. The printed index allows you to search fr the name alphabetically.

On the bus ride back to Oklahoma City, I read the 75th Infantry history ind underlined sections to double check against the list of cities and engagements I was compiling for my trip through, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Many accounts of what happened in the later days of WWII don’t pin point the actual days or even the cities, so I have to cross reference everything to come p with a unified plan of attack.

Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum

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The 75th Infantry Reunion had a trip to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum planned. After a quick scrambled egg and bacon breakfast in the Founders Room, we all met in the lobby of the hotel to car pool over to the Memorial. For former military, we weren’t exactly keeping a tight schedule. The military pastor was the one to keep us moving along, to get to the entrance by 10am which was the scheduled entry time.  The calendar of events is in military time so I spend some time each night converting the plans to am and pm.

The museum and memorial were quite impressive, it is housed in a former newspaper building. We were taking up to the second floor of the museum and we were told we would work our way downwards. April 19, 1995 began like any other in Oklahoma City. One of the first rooms showed the history of the site where municipal building was constructed. There were several churches just blocks from the building. From there the pastor an I entered into the municipal room, where audio was playing of a mundane water resources meeting. Just as I started to loose interest, a huge explosion was heard and the lights flashed in the room, as panic could be heard from people trying to escape the devastation. This was live audio recorded on the day that the Municipal Building had been bombed. On the wall across from us the faces appeared of all those who had lost their lives on that fateful  day.The faces slowlu faded away and a set of doors opened to the next room.

With the meeting concluded we entered the chaos. The fractured sign of the municipal building was on a wall and across from it were a few letters that had been pulled from the wreckage. Walls were charred and there was the smell of sulfur. in the air. Glass enclosed exhibits in the next room had everyday office supplies that had been crushed of destroyed. I focused on an electronic pencil sharpener which was broken in half and partly crushed. That caught my attention since I use a pencil sharpener often back at the art studio. One display told the story of hearing a survivor buried under the rubble and setting all other concerns aside to try and rescue that one person. Over the course of the day, the numbers of reported dead continued to rise. Anyone who had walked away from the explosion was encouraged to call in since there were so many people who were missing.

The investigation began immediately and evidence began to mount that this was a domestic terrorist explosion. The back axial of a u-Haul rental truck was recovered and it had a serial number on it. That serial number lead to a Miami u-Haul dealership. The truck was supposed to be at a Nebraska site for repair and it had been sold to the perpetrator under an alias. The needless violence had been inspired by the Waco Texas incident where a compound had been burnt to the ground with many inside dying.  Violence begets violence. The perpetrator was getting away in a 1977 Mercury Marquis and he might have gotten out of the state but he was pulled over for not having a license plate on the car. The officer who pulled the vehicle over noticed that there was a concealed weapon so he was arrested on a weapons charge. Only later did they realize that they had the bomber under arrest.

One full room is dedicated to remembering those who were lost. The explosion killed 168 people and injured over 600 others. Rebecca Anderson, was a 37-year-old licensed practical nurse. She showed up at the explosion site and immediately went about trying to save others. She pulled one person out of the building and then went back in to find others. While inside, she sustained a head injury. She managed to get back outside and collapsed in the arms of another rescue worker. She was brought to the hospital where they performed an operation to relieve pressure on the brain. Despite their best efforts, she died three days later. 

There were so man interviews of survivors. One man wondered if he had lost faith in human nature and should isolate himself from humanity. After seeing Oklahoma Cities response to the tragedy, he decided that despite the horror of what he had witnessed, he felt there was so much good to be found in the world. Outside the museum is the Field f Empty chairs with one chair for each victim. The chairs occupy the former sire of the Municipal building that had been bombed. On Harvey Avenue, there is a chin link fence where people still leave mementos for those who have been lost. The fence reminded me of so many others that I have seen a Pulse in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Park land High School in Parkland Florida.

Hate groups were on the rise in the 1990s with the KKK and Militias and anti-government extremism. It would be nice if humanity had moved past hate, but hate groups are on the rise in America now more that every. 168 chairs sit silently in a beautiful empty filed in city center looking towards a tranquil reflecting pool. At the top of a stair stepped rising across the reflecting pool stands the Survivor Tree. It is the highest pint in the Memorial and stands for strength and resilience in the face of hate.

75th Infantry Reunion

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I drove for two days to get to Oklahoma City for the 75th Infantry Reunion. The drive was gorgeous at sunset and early in the morning when the golden light lit up the wide open landscapes. Huge hap cylinder shaped hay bales were arranged in neat rows in lush green fields as far as he eye could see.

A registration table was set up in the hotel lobby. Each attendee had a yellow manila envelope with all the events and plans. I met a 75th Infantry historian who is going to arrange for me to swing by the 75th Infantry museum on my drive back to Orlando. The museum is in Texas, so I would just have to take a more southern route to get back to Florida.

The lobby buzzed when Charles Atchley entered in his wheel chair. Charles is 99 years old and is the oldest and only living veteran form the World War II Division.

I sat down with Charles for maybe an hour before the room grew to loud to talk any further. He explained that Germany didn’t have an access to the sea in WWII. They had a lot of Submarines. One submarine went into New York Harbor and sunk one ship. Charles went to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth. They went to Glasgow, Scotland in four and a half days. The USO would have supper and then a show. The troops went on a railroad and went all the way own from Glasco to South Hampton England, where the troops got on three ships to go to France. There were 19,000 in the group. From there they went up to Belgium. All up north, there used to be camo caravans. They would bring food and supplies for Europe.  That trail was as wide as a football field. On the American side there was a swamp. The German tanks if the got too gar off would slip into the mud. General Eisenhower had four divisions. The 290th Division was among the four.something else. The Germans had to stop because they were running out of gas. Charles survived the Bulge he said because he was so small. He only weighed 102 pounds. He was also had some incredible luck. The one thing he could not escape was the cold. The troops were not outfitted with winter clothing and it got unbearably cold in the fox holes. Charles had to go to several hospitals to treat his frozen feet.

Charles was in the mortar squad. He had a backpack that two mortars in it. If those got hit by anything, they would explode. There were two men carrying the mortars. Charles learned to run in a zig zag pattern to be sure the mortars were never hit. The army would get the soldiers a hot meal every day which was hot oatmeal with raisins.  Charles sill had hot oatmeal with raisins every morning. He had oatmeal in the morning of the reunion.

After the battle of the Bulge the 75th went to the Colmar Pocket which was in Alsase France. The day the 75th got to Colmar, Charles was 19 years old. Charles was in the A-Company. He was one of 10 soldiers to get a blue Combat Infantry badge that day. Audie Murphy was already stationed in Colmar. Audie was 10 days older than Charles and he grew up kn the next town. Audie was from Princeton Texas and Charles was from Lucas which is close to Allen Texas. He never saw Audie when he was in Europe. Audie was in the 3rd Infantry. Audie made a lot of movies. Charles graduated from high school in 1047 with a friend, Charles wanted to join the navy, but you had to be 18 years old.