Guardsmen Called To Active Duty
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Editor's note: This is part of a series of interviews with World War II veterans. The articles will continue in each day's edition through Saturday's World War II Memorial Dedication and Recognition Day.
As they had for 140 years, Indiana National Guardsmen prepared to go to war in 1941, mustering in response to a Presidential Executive Order, Jan. 29. The 152nd Infantry gathered at the Warsaw Armory.
Two members of that regiment, Wallace Huffman of Leesburg and Howard Haab of Milford, and the widow of another member, Mrs. Katie Kirkendall (wife of Fred) of Warsaw, talked about the days with the 38th (Cyclone) Division and Company L of the 152nd.
They were led by two World War I veterans, Capt. Milo Snyder and Sgt. Ralph Litchenwalter; both were prepared to go another round.
Huffman and Haab, both 86 now, left the processing in Fort Wayne in 1941 and headed for Camp Shelby, Miss., in April.
"This was the second draft call throughout the United States," said Huffman, "and the first in Indiana."
"There were 48 of us, the largest group that ever left from Kosciusko County," added Haab.
They were assigned to the 38th (Cyclone) Division and expected to serve for one year. In September, that expectation was extended to 18 months by an order of Congress.
"At a time like that, there was no question the United States would fight. But we were just going in for a year with the possibility of conflict. We still weren't prepared for the war," Huffman said. "When we were attacked [at Pearl Harbor], we knew we weren't going home. One or two fellas had already left. Their enlistment had gone out. We were going to have to fight."
Both Snyder and Litchenwalter received "early releases" and returned to Indiana. By war's end, Snyder had received news that both of his sons, Clifford (who stayed with the 152nd) and Phillip, were killed in action.
"As soldiers, we had no question we were going to win," Huffman said. "Now, you look back and think, we weren't at all sure we were going to win."
He and Haab took the opportunity to attend Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga.
Haab, a 1936 Milford High School graduate, was commissioned a second lieutenant after OCS. He was assigned to the 28th Infantry Division. He headed to England.
"I didn't make it," said Huffman. "They said I could go back to Company L. And I said, 'No.' I felt like a fool. I was put with the 149th. Their supply sergeant had left for OCS. The commanding officer said, 'Somebody who's come out of OCS can't be all bad.' He made me the new supply sergeant."
Katie Kirkendall was a war bride, marrying Fred, on Sept. 16, 1942. She was 18 and Fred was seven years older.
"I was from Laurel, Miss., and we had been going together for quite a while. He said, 'I'm being shipped out tomorrow, let's get married.' We went to the courthouse and got married."
Fred didn't leave the next day, but he was gone the within the next year.
"He kissed me good-bye. I didn't see him for 27 months. These girls now talk about not seeing their husbands for six months ... I think, 'Oh, big deal.'"
By the time Haab landed in France, he had been promoted to captain and was commanding officer of the 28th division, a group formed in Pennsylvania.
"We were scheduled to land on D-Day. But the war was over in Africa, and troops from there went to Normandy instead."
Haab didn't miss a battle, though. After storming the Normandy beaches, the Allies pushed toward Cherbourg to open that major port on the English Channel. Then they turned and headed toward St. Lo, where the Germans had organized a huge defense. There were 2,000 bombers in the air and thousands of troops on the ground to take the city.
Haab was wounded Aug. 6, 1944, at St. Lo, hit in the elbow and right wrist with shrapnel.
He was sent to England the next day.
"I still can't make a fist and in the army when you can't pull the trigger in a gun ... they don't want you anymore.
"Luckily, I got sent to Indiana and the hospital at Camp Atterbury. The neurosurgeon at Atterbury that operated on me became President [Dwight] Eisenhower's personal doctor.
"A nerve injury takes years to heal. They gave me 90-day leaves at a time to recuperate.
"When orders came from Washington to go to Korea, I was to go to Fort Harrison for a physical. They said I wasn't qualified for duty anymore. They retired me with a 70 percent disability. That's how I got out in 1947.
"At Atterbury, all the orderlies were German prisoners of war and they did all the work. They were happy to be here."
Habb was to learn his brother died in World War II. Harry Haab was another original member of Company L of the 152nd.
The 152nd and the 149th infantries were both sent to the South Pacific. Soldiers of the 38th Division commended themselves so well Gen. Douglas MacArthur christened them the "Avengers of Bataan."
Huffman boarded the Marcus Daly on Nov. 20, 1944. Arriving in the Leyte Gulf, Japanese Kamikaze pilots attacked the ship twice just prior to landing Dec. 11; 122 men were lost.
The Japanese had control of an inland airstrip and fighter planes flew low, strafing the beaches and the struggling National Guardsmen. Under fire, the men of the 149th slogged through knee-deep mud, hauled bogged-down vehicles and launched themselves at the airfield, retaking it. They fought on for four more days.
"I have no resentment against the Japanese," Huffman said 60 years later. "When we were fighting, we were kids. They were kids. We knew we were right because we were attacked. And they, whether they approved or not, they had no choice.
"The Germans and the Japanese were both well-trained and expected us. Their officers planned all along to take over southeast Asia.
"I read later they eventually realized their attack on us was pulling on the dragon's tail. They would have eventually been a threat, even if they hadn't attacked Pearl Harbor."
The 152nd and many Kosciusko County men fought four battles in the Phillippines: at the Zig Zag Pass from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14, where 14 locals were killed in action, including Milo Snyder's son Clifford; at southern Battaan, which resulted in Allied control of the entire peninsula; at Fort Stotsenburg to cut Japanese escape routes to the north; and helping to secure Manila.
Once the fighting settled down, Huffman returned to his duties as supply sergeant for the 149th: "I had a nice little laundry boy who gave me some 'tuba' one day. He climbed up the coconut tree, you know, with his bare feet. At the top he tapped and drew off some liquid. And it tasted just like cider. And if you leave it sit two or three days it would ferment and be like a beer. But I never drank or smoked."
Huffman returned to the states in October 1945 and to his wife of two years, Virginia.
"We received $21 per month when we went in, and after six months made $30. Then $30 became the starting pay. But you could buy a quarter-pound candy bar for a nickel. Gasoline was 13 cents a gallon and most people made 50 cents an hour. That means I had to work two hours for 7 gallons of gas."
Huffman returned to the job he held before the war as a rural mail carrier.
Haab and a brother operated the Milford Dairy.
Kirkendall was a tin bender at Comfort Temp. Katie remembers he made the crowns for the Counting House Bank in North Webster.
Kirkendall's daughter, Francis, was 3 days old on D-Day. Katie remembers newspaper hawkers yelling "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" at 3 o'clock in the morning on Center Street in Warsaw.
"Ted and Rube, (Williams, owners of the Times-Union) they'd get those papers out there," she said. "I was hoping the war was over, but the news was about D-Day."
Kirkendall keeps them all together, Huffman said. She's already planned this year's 152nd Infantry reunion for Aug. 8 at the Legion. They always meet the first full weekend in August.
All three have attended the annual events since they first started in the 1950s, originally held at the armory.
"Well I may have missed the first couple," said Huffman, "but I lived way out in Oswego."
"We'll collect around 11 or noon and eat at 1 p.m," Kirkendall said.
Members of Company L, 152nd Infantry Regiment included:
Leader - Wallace W. Huffman
Squad 1 - Assistant leader Cpl. George Darrel Swan, Frank Edward Mathy, Oscar John Miller, Othel Paul Hepler, Everett Leroy Vandermark, Robert Hill, Donald Earl Smith and Lewis Everett Auer.
Squad 2 - Cpl. James Turner, Edgar Riley Igo, Thomas B. Hay, Charles Norris Wiggins, James Albert Hawley, Harold William Ervin, Kenneth Alton Julian and Floyd R. Huffman.
Squad 3 - Cpl. Charles Edward Lucas, Joseph Raymond Clossen, Harry Fredrick Haab, Howard Hartter Haab, Chester Marquart, Clarence H. Boettger, Willard Roy Robinson and Rudolph Fredrick Sierk.
Squad 4 - Cpl. James Wallace Minear, Neal Wade Cauffman, Robert Ralph Upson, George Harold Dome, Ralph Gerold Shock, Joseph Merlin Bennett, Lewis Earl Sechrist and Marlin A. Main.
Squad 5 - Cpl. Wallace Wayne Besson, Donald James Smith, Everett D. Kirkdorffer, Kenneth Woodrow Horn, Orville Wilber Losee, Franklin Warren Troupe and Frederick Alvin Kirkendall.
Squad 6 - Cpl. Paul Maurice Scott, Marshall Sherman Worsham, Robert Lee Hoffman, James Leroy Long, Charles Williams, Willie Woodrow Hopkins, Ellis Vanderpool and Glenn Edward Long. [[In-content Ad]]
Editor's note: This is part of a series of interviews with World War II veterans. The articles will continue in each day's edition through Saturday's World War II Memorial Dedication and Recognition Day.
As they had for 140 years, Indiana National Guardsmen prepared to go to war in 1941, mustering in response to a Presidential Executive Order, Jan. 29. The 152nd Infantry gathered at the Warsaw Armory.
Two members of that regiment, Wallace Huffman of Leesburg and Howard Haab of Milford, and the widow of another member, Mrs. Katie Kirkendall (wife of Fred) of Warsaw, talked about the days with the 38th (Cyclone) Division and Company L of the 152nd.
They were led by two World War I veterans, Capt. Milo Snyder and Sgt. Ralph Litchenwalter; both were prepared to go another round.
Huffman and Haab, both 86 now, left the processing in Fort Wayne in 1941 and headed for Camp Shelby, Miss., in April.
"This was the second draft call throughout the United States," said Huffman, "and the first in Indiana."
"There were 48 of us, the largest group that ever left from Kosciusko County," added Haab.
They were assigned to the 38th (Cyclone) Division and expected to serve for one year. In September, that expectation was extended to 18 months by an order of Congress.
"At a time like that, there was no question the United States would fight. But we were just going in for a year with the possibility of conflict. We still weren't prepared for the war," Huffman said. "When we were attacked [at Pearl Harbor], we knew we weren't going home. One or two fellas had already left. Their enlistment had gone out. We were going to have to fight."
Both Snyder and Litchenwalter received "early releases" and returned to Indiana. By war's end, Snyder had received news that both of his sons, Clifford (who stayed with the 152nd) and Phillip, were killed in action.
"As soldiers, we had no question we were going to win," Huffman said. "Now, you look back and think, we weren't at all sure we were going to win."
He and Haab took the opportunity to attend Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga.
Haab, a 1936 Milford High School graduate, was commissioned a second lieutenant after OCS. He was assigned to the 28th Infantry Division. He headed to England.
"I didn't make it," said Huffman. "They said I could go back to Company L. And I said, 'No.' I felt like a fool. I was put with the 149th. Their supply sergeant had left for OCS. The commanding officer said, 'Somebody who's come out of OCS can't be all bad.' He made me the new supply sergeant."
Katie Kirkendall was a war bride, marrying Fred, on Sept. 16, 1942. She was 18 and Fred was seven years older.
"I was from Laurel, Miss., and we had been going together for quite a while. He said, 'I'm being shipped out tomorrow, let's get married.' We went to the courthouse and got married."
Fred didn't leave the next day, but he was gone the within the next year.
"He kissed me good-bye. I didn't see him for 27 months. These girls now talk about not seeing their husbands for six months ... I think, 'Oh, big deal.'"
By the time Haab landed in France, he had been promoted to captain and was commanding officer of the 28th division, a group formed in Pennsylvania.
"We were scheduled to land on D-Day. But the war was over in Africa, and troops from there went to Normandy instead."
Haab didn't miss a battle, though. After storming the Normandy beaches, the Allies pushed toward Cherbourg to open that major port on the English Channel. Then they turned and headed toward St. Lo, where the Germans had organized a huge defense. There were 2,000 bombers in the air and thousands of troops on the ground to take the city.
Haab was wounded Aug. 6, 1944, at St. Lo, hit in the elbow and right wrist with shrapnel.
He was sent to England the next day.
"I still can't make a fist and in the army when you can't pull the trigger in a gun ... they don't want you anymore.
"Luckily, I got sent to Indiana and the hospital at Camp Atterbury. The neurosurgeon at Atterbury that operated on me became President [Dwight] Eisenhower's personal doctor.
"A nerve injury takes years to heal. They gave me 90-day leaves at a time to recuperate.
"When orders came from Washington to go to Korea, I was to go to Fort Harrison for a physical. They said I wasn't qualified for duty anymore. They retired me with a 70 percent disability. That's how I got out in 1947.
"At Atterbury, all the orderlies were German prisoners of war and they did all the work. They were happy to be here."
Habb was to learn his brother died in World War II. Harry Haab was another original member of Company L of the 152nd.
The 152nd and the 149th infantries were both sent to the South Pacific. Soldiers of the 38th Division commended themselves so well Gen. Douglas MacArthur christened them the "Avengers of Bataan."
Huffman boarded the Marcus Daly on Nov. 20, 1944. Arriving in the Leyte Gulf, Japanese Kamikaze pilots attacked the ship twice just prior to landing Dec. 11; 122 men were lost.
The Japanese had control of an inland airstrip and fighter planes flew low, strafing the beaches and the struggling National Guardsmen. Under fire, the men of the 149th slogged through knee-deep mud, hauled bogged-down vehicles and launched themselves at the airfield, retaking it. They fought on for four more days.
"I have no resentment against the Japanese," Huffman said 60 years later. "When we were fighting, we were kids. They were kids. We knew we were right because we were attacked. And they, whether they approved or not, they had no choice.
"The Germans and the Japanese were both well-trained and expected us. Their officers planned all along to take over southeast Asia.
"I read later they eventually realized their attack on us was pulling on the dragon's tail. They would have eventually been a threat, even if they hadn't attacked Pearl Harbor."
The 152nd and many Kosciusko County men fought four battles in the Phillippines: at the Zig Zag Pass from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14, where 14 locals were killed in action, including Milo Snyder's son Clifford; at southern Battaan, which resulted in Allied control of the entire peninsula; at Fort Stotsenburg to cut Japanese escape routes to the north; and helping to secure Manila.
Once the fighting settled down, Huffman returned to his duties as supply sergeant for the 149th: "I had a nice little laundry boy who gave me some 'tuba' one day. He climbed up the coconut tree, you know, with his bare feet. At the top he tapped and drew off some liquid. And it tasted just like cider. And if you leave it sit two or three days it would ferment and be like a beer. But I never drank or smoked."
Huffman returned to the states in October 1945 and to his wife of two years, Virginia.
"We received $21 per month when we went in, and after six months made $30. Then $30 became the starting pay. But you could buy a quarter-pound candy bar for a nickel. Gasoline was 13 cents a gallon and most people made 50 cents an hour. That means I had to work two hours for 7 gallons of gas."
Huffman returned to the job he held before the war as a rural mail carrier.
Haab and a brother operated the Milford Dairy.
Kirkendall was a tin bender at Comfort Temp. Katie remembers he made the crowns for the Counting House Bank in North Webster.
Kirkendall's daughter, Francis, was 3 days old on D-Day. Katie remembers newspaper hawkers yelling "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" at 3 o'clock in the morning on Center Street in Warsaw.
"Ted and Rube, (Williams, owners of the Times-Union) they'd get those papers out there," she said. "I was hoping the war was over, but the news was about D-Day."
Kirkendall keeps them all together, Huffman said. She's already planned this year's 152nd Infantry reunion for Aug. 8 at the Legion. They always meet the first full weekend in August.
All three have attended the annual events since they first started in the 1950s, originally held at the armory.
"Well I may have missed the first couple," said Huffman, "but I lived way out in Oswego."
"We'll collect around 11 or noon and eat at 1 p.m," Kirkendall said.
Members of Company L, 152nd Infantry Regiment included:
Leader - Wallace W. Huffman
Squad 1 - Assistant leader Cpl. George Darrel Swan, Frank Edward Mathy, Oscar John Miller, Othel Paul Hepler, Everett Leroy Vandermark, Robert Hill, Donald Earl Smith and Lewis Everett Auer.
Squad 2 - Cpl. James Turner, Edgar Riley Igo, Thomas B. Hay, Charles Norris Wiggins, James Albert Hawley, Harold William Ervin, Kenneth Alton Julian and Floyd R. Huffman.
Squad 3 - Cpl. Charles Edward Lucas, Joseph Raymond Clossen, Harry Fredrick Haab, Howard Hartter Haab, Chester Marquart, Clarence H. Boettger, Willard Roy Robinson and Rudolph Fredrick Sierk.
Squad 4 - Cpl. James Wallace Minear, Neal Wade Cauffman, Robert Ralph Upson, George Harold Dome, Ralph Gerold Shock, Joseph Merlin Bennett, Lewis Earl Sechrist and Marlin A. Main.
Squad 5 - Cpl. Wallace Wayne Besson, Donald James Smith, Everett D. Kirkdorffer, Kenneth Woodrow Horn, Orville Wilber Losee, Franklin Warren Troupe and Frederick Alvin Kirkendall.
Squad 6 - Cpl. Paul Maurice Scott, Marshall Sherman Worsham, Robert Lee Hoffman, James Leroy Long, Charles Williams, Willie Woodrow Hopkins, Ellis Vanderpool and Glenn Edward Long. [[In-content Ad]]