Hoffert Part of DC Honor Flight
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
He is being chaperoned by one of his grandchildren, Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert.
David has worked with the World War II generation for years, but recently realized he hadn’t done much with his own grandfather.
“I worked to get him signed up and realized there was not a great amount of time to get this accomplished before it was too late as he is 95,” David said in an email.
He also sent out a short email to WCS administrators to see if any classes might be interested in sending letters to all 80 of the men going on the trip.
“I was really hoping for maybe one letter for each of these men and women from Warsaw Community Schools to let them know they still matter. To my amazement, and credit to the patriotic nature of our teachers and students, somewhere between 1,200 to 1,500 letters came in from all ages of students (K-12) along with beautiful artwork by art students at WCHS,” David said.
Russell enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving from July 16, 1943, until his honorable discharge Nov. 12, 1945, at the rank of corporal, according to information provided by Hoffert.
He was born June 11, 1920. At 4 years old, his mother died in childbirth. Russell and his brother Archie were adopted by an uncle and aunt in Claypool. He worked on the Claypool farm until his WWII enlistment.
He graduated Claypool High School in 1938, and married Warsaw resident Marjorie Eaton April 26, 1943. Shortly after their marriage, on July 16, 1943, Russell enlisted in the Army Air Corp at the Warsaw recruitment station.
Russell recorded an interview for the Library of Congress Veteran Oral History program about eight years ago. In the interview, he talks about how after he enlisted he was sent to Greensboro, N.C., followed by Shepherdsville, Texas, for basic training. After basic, he was sent to Denver, Colo., for clerical and logistic training. There, he received orders in spring 1944 to New York City for passage on the troop ship Queen Mary, which was headed for England and the preparation for the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.
“President Eisenhower was getting ready to gather them up and make a big push,” Russell states in the interview.
Two days after D-Day, Russell was transported on a Higgins boat across the English Channel to the Normandy coast. Once at the Normandy Coast, he waded onto dry land where his company began to organize the logistics operation to assist in supplying the Allied forces with needed bombs and munitions for the Army Air Corps bombers.
Though Russell says in the interview he didn’t see any combat, the provided information taken from the interview states, “Russell remembers Europe as being a beautiful continent, but many of the area ravaged by the war. He traveled through St. Lo as the ashes of the city were still burning. During the Battle of the Bulge, the transportation of materials and clerical work kept him roughly 20 miles away from the front lines of the battle. His memories were of knowing what was happening a few miles away and keeping a gun next to him at all times, although most of the clerical work stayed routine.”
While overseas, Russell stayed in contact with his wife by letters. She worked for the telephone company in Warsaw while he was serving.
As the Allied forces won the war in Europe, he was prepared to board a transportation ship in preparation for the invasion of Japan, but Japan surrendered before his transportation happened, according to the information provided. In the following weeks, companies of the men were dismantled and troops started returning home to a post-war world.
He and two other men shared the same tasks and had acquired enough points to go home in the first waves. These three men cut a deck of cards – as Russell said he never had any luck with flipping coins – to determine who would go home first, he said in the interview. Russell cut the Ace of Clubs and found himself headed back across the Atlantic Ocean on a Liberty Ship.
Russell tells David in the recorded interview that he didn’t bring anything back from Germany, but he would have liked to. He also says if he could do it over again, he would have done one thing differently.
“If I had to do it over, I would have asked to go to the Pacific,” he said.
He said the men he served with were “a bunch of good joes” and that the countries of Germany, Netherlands and Holland were “absolutely beautiful.”
Russell says in the interview, “It was a war that was a justified war.”
Returning home, Russell worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad, managed Shrine Shoe Store in Warsaw, was an insurance agent for Mutual of Omaha in Warsaw and opened his own painting business, Warsaw Interior Decoration.
He and Marjorie had two grandchildren, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Marjorie died in 2008, and Russell lives in Fort Wayne.[[In-content Ad]]
He is being chaperoned by one of his grandchildren, Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert.
David has worked with the World War II generation for years, but recently realized he hadn’t done much with his own grandfather.
“I worked to get him signed up and realized there was not a great amount of time to get this accomplished before it was too late as he is 95,” David said in an email.
He also sent out a short email to WCS administrators to see if any classes might be interested in sending letters to all 80 of the men going on the trip.
“I was really hoping for maybe one letter for each of these men and women from Warsaw Community Schools to let them know they still matter. To my amazement, and credit to the patriotic nature of our teachers and students, somewhere between 1,200 to 1,500 letters came in from all ages of students (K-12) along with beautiful artwork by art students at WCHS,” David said.
Russell enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving from July 16, 1943, until his honorable discharge Nov. 12, 1945, at the rank of corporal, according to information provided by Hoffert.
He was born June 11, 1920. At 4 years old, his mother died in childbirth. Russell and his brother Archie were adopted by an uncle and aunt in Claypool. He worked on the Claypool farm until his WWII enlistment.
He graduated Claypool High School in 1938, and married Warsaw resident Marjorie Eaton April 26, 1943. Shortly after their marriage, on July 16, 1943, Russell enlisted in the Army Air Corp at the Warsaw recruitment station.
Russell recorded an interview for the Library of Congress Veteran Oral History program about eight years ago. In the interview, he talks about how after he enlisted he was sent to Greensboro, N.C., followed by Shepherdsville, Texas, for basic training. After basic, he was sent to Denver, Colo., for clerical and logistic training. There, he received orders in spring 1944 to New York City for passage on the troop ship Queen Mary, which was headed for England and the preparation for the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.
“President Eisenhower was getting ready to gather them up and make a big push,” Russell states in the interview.
Two days after D-Day, Russell was transported on a Higgins boat across the English Channel to the Normandy coast. Once at the Normandy Coast, he waded onto dry land where his company began to organize the logistics operation to assist in supplying the Allied forces with needed bombs and munitions for the Army Air Corps bombers.
Though Russell says in the interview he didn’t see any combat, the provided information taken from the interview states, “Russell remembers Europe as being a beautiful continent, but many of the area ravaged by the war. He traveled through St. Lo as the ashes of the city were still burning. During the Battle of the Bulge, the transportation of materials and clerical work kept him roughly 20 miles away from the front lines of the battle. His memories were of knowing what was happening a few miles away and keeping a gun next to him at all times, although most of the clerical work stayed routine.”
While overseas, Russell stayed in contact with his wife by letters. She worked for the telephone company in Warsaw while he was serving.
As the Allied forces won the war in Europe, he was prepared to board a transportation ship in preparation for the invasion of Japan, but Japan surrendered before his transportation happened, according to the information provided. In the following weeks, companies of the men were dismantled and troops started returning home to a post-war world.
He and two other men shared the same tasks and had acquired enough points to go home in the first waves. These three men cut a deck of cards – as Russell said he never had any luck with flipping coins – to determine who would go home first, he said in the interview. Russell cut the Ace of Clubs and found himself headed back across the Atlantic Ocean on a Liberty Ship.
Russell tells David in the recorded interview that he didn’t bring anything back from Germany, but he would have liked to. He also says if he could do it over again, he would have done one thing differently.
“If I had to do it over, I would have asked to go to the Pacific,” he said.
He said the men he served with were “a bunch of good joes” and that the countries of Germany, Netherlands and Holland were “absolutely beautiful.”
Russell says in the interview, “It was a war that was a justified war.”
Returning home, Russell worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad, managed Shrine Shoe Store in Warsaw, was an insurance agent for Mutual of Omaha in Warsaw and opened his own painting business, Warsaw Interior Decoration.
He and Marjorie had two grandchildren, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Marjorie died in 2008, and Russell lives in Fort Wayne.[[In-content Ad]]
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