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The True Citizen, Wednesday, May 26, 2021 — Page 9A
the upper right-hand comer of the ramp and boy I thought we
were finished,but we kept on going and finally I felt the bottom
of the boat grating on something and I prayed it wasn’t just a
sandbar and thank heaven it was the beach.
We were put out about 25 yards out in the water where it was
waist deep and I really ran those men across that beach for fear
the artillery would be registered in there and looked back later
and it was. Several M.G.’s were bring up and down the beach
along some wire that we had to cross, but we stayed low and
cut the wire and went on. Our brst phase line was the coastal
highway about 12 miles inland. We landed on the beach at 3:30
AM and were the brst American troops in Italy.
We got to that highway before daylight without much op
position and reorganized. Then a Sgt. and I were standing
on the road when we heard a motor bicycle coming down the
road. I told him to bre as it came up and he did and fumed it
over and that was the brst German I saw (shot in the leg). We
fumed over another motor bicycle and a track at that same
place, but didn’t take time to take any prisoners or investigate
them because we had to move on to our objective which was
six miles up the road. It was getting daylight as we started up
and the Germans really started turning everything loose then.
There was a high mountain about a mile away where they
had their OP’s and they could see every move we made after
daylight and they really poured the artillery on us as we went
up that road. It was “hot”, but we kept moving forward with
not too much resistance from ribe and M.G. bre. Snipers were
bring at us every now and then from the buildings that we
passed, but we took them out.
When we got within a mile of our objective we were pinned
down by ribe and M.G. bre for a while, but we took cover and
went around that to try to cut the Germans off who were on the
road. Some of our boys were shot there, but we moved on up
within about 1/4 mile of our objective and were pinned down
again by mortar, M.G., Artillery and 88 bre. We were along a
RR then about four hundred yards from the road and they were
really cleaning out those ditches by the RR. There were about
50 tanks (German) on the road. We returned all their bre from
there, and our company was about three miles from the rest
of the Bn. (we had a separate mission of taking a bridge). So
we had Germans in front, right, left, and some behind us. They
got several of our men there and several times nearly got me.
As we were bring the Capt. got hit twice in the arm, and as our
casualties were mounting every two or three minutes I told the
Capt. that I was going to move them back about 500 yards before
we were cut off and annihilated. He had just given up and was
carrying on worse than a baby and he wouldn’t say what to do so
I got them out of there and built up another defense line where
we could protect ourselves, but as I was placing men on the rear
after I had my front line built up the Capt. came on back with no
equipment, no helmet, and no shirt (that I had told him to keep
on) and headed back to the beach walking. Then when I came
back to my front line I saw all but bve of my men following him
back to the beach. I don’t know why he let them for he knew
my plan, but they all left with him but bve that were in the ditch
and six that I had put in rear.
The tanks were about 250 yards from us coming our way then
with infantry (German) following, so I had only one alternative
and that was to take those twelve men back to a place where
we could contact some artillery to knock out the tanks or either
stay there and be captured, so I took them back. Paul I didn’t
know that it was possible for a group of men to get shot at so
much without getting hit. Those tanks bred on us at ranges of
150 and 200 yards for about a mile. They kicked up the dirt all
around our feet and cut limbs off over our heads and besides us,
(we were behind German lines then and didn’t know it until we
saw that we were also following some German tanks.). We were
between two waves of them.
Our artillery knocked out the six that were in front of us and
we led those that were following us right up the same place and
got in a ditch and they came within 25 yards of us and the (our)
artillery then shot them up. There was a platoon of Co. M in that
ditch already and we stayed there until the artillery had driven
the tanks off and then we moved back up about 12 miles when
our tanks came up the road.
Boy I never was so glad to see anything in all my life than
our artillery and our tanks. To tell the truth Paul we were so
outnumbered and our Bazooka guns were all out of bring order
till I thought for a while that we were goners, and if the Lord
hadn’t been with us we would not be here today. The Capt. got
CONT.
hit at 11:00 that brst day and I had the Co until we got out of
that brst combat. I haven’t told you half that took place that
brst day and we had much harder days after that, but I don’t
have time to go any farther. I could talk to you for hours about
it. It’s hard Paul, the hardest thing I’ve ever mn up against. If
Yvonne knew how much I’ve been shot at and how so very close
the shells have been, she’d have heart failure.
If you’ll read “On The Beach of Salerno” an article in the
Sept. 27th Time magazine some of the boys said that it tells a lot.
It mentions a mnner in there. He is my runner, but was not with
me at that time. That War Correspondent was shot before he had
a chance to see very much. We assembled the Co. the second
day and had somewhat more than I expected even though they
were still scattered. I can’t tell you how many we had killed,
wounded and missing yet Paul. I thought seeing men (your
friends) killed would affect me more than it did, but you kinda
expect it and that you might go next and even though it may
sound inhuman, you get to looking at the loss of men mostly in
the viewpoint of a decrease in the strength of your unit. I see
why they say “We’re Expendable”.
Paul I hope and pray that you all never have to come over
here. Remember me in your prayers as I know you do that I
may come through all of this all right. I hope that this war will
soon end. It causes so much sadness and unhappiness.
I’m still bne and I hope to come home that way and I
hrmly believe that God is going to take me back like that.
I had two baths I think during the month of Sept. Paul, I was
thin as a rail. Must have lost 25 lbs., but have it all back now.
Combat with little or no sleep and meals just when you have
time to eat and all that exhaustion really takes the weight off. I
do wish that I could tell you everything, but it would take vol
umes and there is a lot that I can’t tell. Please send this letter
home Paul for I haven’t had the chance to write so much before
to anybody. I don’t know when I’ll get to write to you again,
but please don’t stop writing to me. Just keep on praying too.
Lots of Love Always,
Your Brother Bill
UNCLE BILL
BY BILL HARGROVE
After following his broth
er Roy and graduating from
The Citadel in the spring of
1941, my uncle William T.
Stone entered service as a
Second Lieutenant.
He was assigned to the
36th Infantry Division
which was originally com
posed of Texas National
Guardsman and had been
mobilized into the Army of
the United States on No
vember 25,1940.
The 36th “Texas” Infan
try Division would go on to
become one of the hardest
fought Divisions in the war.
The 36th made amphibious
assaults at Salerno Italy and
The Riviera in the south
of France. When German
Field Marshal Albert Kes-
selring was interviewed
after the war he was asked,
"What do you consider the
finest American Division
to have opposed you?"
Without hesitation, Kessel-
ring replied, “Your 3rd and
36th Infantry Divisions. I've
been continually amazed by
their audacity, at their long
flanking tactics and the way
they turned up in so many
different places. I've had to
pit my best troops against
them."
In April, 1943 the 36th
arrived in Algeria where
they were held in combat
reserve until the defeat of
Rommel's Afrika Corps.
The Division formed the
backbone of the newly or
ganized Fifth Army. By
the time they embarked for
the invasion of Sicily, Stone
had been promoted to First
Fieutenant and appointed
Executive Officer of his
company.
In September the Texas
Division shipped out to
head up the amphibious
assault at Salerno, Italy
and would become the brst
American soldiers to invade
the European mainland and
test Hitler's continental
fortress.
Salerno was one of the
bloodier and more critical
operations of the Second
World War. Before dawn
of Thursday morning, Sep
tember 9, 1943, without
Second Lt. and Mrs. William T. Stone
previous naval or air bom
bardment, the leading waves
stepped ashore on the sandy
beaches near ancient Paestum
under heavy fire from the Ger
man Army.
From Salerno the struggle
moved to the hills of Alta-
villa where it raged back and
forth until September 11 when
Stone's unit (142nd regiment)
succeeded in taking hill 424.
The 142nd would go on to fight
even tougher battles in places
like Mount Maggiore, Mount
S ammucro, Mount Fungo, S an
Pietro in the Firi Valley, the
Rapido River, the hills above
Cassino, Mount Cairo, Anzio,
Velletri.
On June 5, 1944, one day
before the Normandy inva
sion, and after a long hard Fall,
Winter, and Spring of heavy
fighting Stone's unit entered
Rome with light resistance. The
Germans were now in retreat.
However the unit would con
tinue to fight on, moving north
from Rome liberating villages
along the way. Reaching the
hills overlooking Magliano
they experienced hard fighting
from the desperate Germans.
The 36th would continue on to
the hills of Tuscany mopping
up the enemy's rear guard. The
Texas Division's Italy cam
paign would come to an end
at the city of Piombino Italy
where they were withdrawn
on June 26th, 1944 for a brief
l-r) Paul S Stone (blurred photo), D.L. Stone, Myrtis Tinsley Stone, D.L Stone, Jr. and Wil
liam T. Stone
rest in Rome and prepared for
another beach assault in the
South of France.
On August 14,1944, Stone's
unit participated in the am
phibious assault on the Riviera
in the south of France where
they experienced light resis
tance as they landed on the
beaches. On August 18, 1944,
Captain Willian T. Stone was
severely wounded at Draguig-
nan, France. He received mul
tiple shrapnel fragments from a
German 88MM canon shell that
entered his torso and penetrated
into his back. His life was
saved by a German surgeon
who had been captured.
Stone would be shipped back
to the states for a long recovery.
He was awarded a Purple Heart
for his wounds. He also re
ceived the Silver Star for Valor
on the battlefield. His wounds
would cause him pain for the
rest of his life but he never let
them slow him down.
I will always see him in the
light of "The Greatest Genera
tion."