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Interviewed by: Jonathan Blair |
 I am Ralph
Shackelford. I was born July 21.1918, in the state of Missouri and the county of
Platte. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. The U. S. declared war. I
was at home when I first heard the news.I received my notice to report to the draft board November10,1942. There were Army trucks at the courthouse in Platte City to take us to Fort Leavenworth. The roll was called. When your name was called, you got in a truck for the trip to Fort Leavenworth. The next day I had a physical. We lined up naked as a jaybird. The physical wasn't much. At the end of the line we were given our clothes. The clothes fit fair; all but the shoes. My shoe size was 9B and they gave me size 11. From Fort Leavenworth we went to Camp Funston, KS. All officers and non-commissioned officers (non-coms) were at camp waiting for us to arrive to form the 9th Armed Division. I was put in Company A 27 Armed Infantry Battalion. We had our basic training there. Discipline was the first order. When they said jump, we didn't ask how far. The non-coms weren't allowed to touch us, but there were plenty of other ways to get our attention. I always managed to stay out of trouble. I got lots of weekend passes by having a neat uniform and always clean equipment, such as my rifle. We did lots of shooting on the firing range. After training at Camp Funston, I was sent to Camp Ibis, CA for desert maneuvers. The temperature every day was about 115 degrees. We trained there on the desert expecting to be sent to Africa. They didn't end up needing the 9th Armed Division there. While we were in the desert, I was hungry for a big juicy peach or tomato. After desert training, we were sent to Camp Polk, La., for maneuvers there. We were on maneuvers there during the winter of 1943 and 1944. There was lots of rain and some snow. We were outside the months of November, December and most of January. I wore the same clothes and didn't have a bath for over 30 days. Finally there was a warm day, and I took a bath in the creek. After maneuvers, we went back to Camp Polk. We had more training on the firing range and lots of 25-mile hikes. We left Camp Polk for Camp Kilmer, NJ, August
1944. We went from Camp We docked at Glasco, Scotland and boarded a train for England somewhere near London. We were in England until our division was issued new vehicles. October 1944 we loaded vehicles and LST to cross the English Channel. We landed at La Harve, France. One squad, which was 10 men for each half-track, was driven onto the LST. Where the vehicles were on board, there were big stacks of canned food. We were helping ourselves to these piles of food and storing them in our half-tracks. There was coffee, cheese, Spam and canned fruit. This was in case of emergency. Some smart sergeant caught us and wouldn't let us get anymore. They posted a guard to make sure. Some men had to unload their food from the half-track. Our half-track didn't have to unload. After landing at La Harve, France, we drove through Paris, then on to the front lines which were in Belgium. it was quiet on the front at the time. The Americans had moved so fast through France and Belgium and had run out of supplies. Germans were building up supplies getting ready for their last big push, which was the Battle of the Bulge. At night there was always lots of shooting on the German side. In December 1944 the weather was rainy and cold. The Germans started their big push early on the morning of December 16,1944. That morning the Germans captured all our supply crew and kitchen staff. Also, our first aid station was captured. They didn't kill any first aid people. They needed them, but they did kill all of the kitchen and supply crew. Our Company A was surrounded. Orders were to destroy all guns, ammunition and vehicles, because we were about to be captured. The next order was not to destroy; we would try to break out. There were lots of Germans caught behind our lines dressed in American uniforms. We pulled out of the Bulge to a town near Metz, France, where we were to get replacements, we started spearheading into Germany. We had advanced well into Germany and on March 5, 1945, we had to fight hard for this town. That afternoon four of our men were killed and one was wounded in the leg. I saw him laying out in this field. there were no medics around, so I went to help him. I bandaged his leg, got him up and carried and drug him to the road. About that time, General Hoge drove up. When he learned of the situation, the General ordered the man be put in his jeep so the man could be taken to the first aid station. During this encounter the General's aid was killed. Our company commander also was wounded badly that day. The next day, March 6th was an easy day. We got a new company commander. On March 7, our orders were to advance to the Rhine River and go south along the river to join up with Patton's 3rd Army and surround the German troops in that area. We took a few German POWs that morning. After we came out of the woods on the hill overlooking the Rhine River, we saw that the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, Germany was still standing. Seeing that the bridge was still standing, our orders changed; we were ordered to capture the bridge. Rumors from our German prisoners were that the bridge would be blown at 4PM. Company A was approaching the bridge about 3:45PM when the first explosion went off. The second explosion went off on the bridge, but the bridge survived that explosion. We were at the bridge ready to cross. As we were running across, we were expecting the bridge to blow at any minute. The first man across was Alex Drabik from Toledo,
Ohio. He received the Medal of Honor. (see
note below) The next fourteen men received Army engineers had a pontoon bridge built across the river within 24 hours. I saw the first jet airplane while we were there. We captured the bridge March 7,1945, and it collapsed March 17, 1945, taking 32 engineers with it. We were the first troops to cross the Rhine River since Napoleon. After three days rest at Erpel, Company A started spearheading again. We spearheaded on to the Eble River. Capturing the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen shortened the war by months. The war ended two months after we captured the bridge. After the war was over we were stationed a Hof,
Germany. The 9th Armed Division On January 15, 1946 I started the trip home. From Brema Haven, I went to La Harve, France. It was a 16-day rip on a rough ocean back to New York City. we took a train from New York to Camp Kilmer, NJ. We went from Camp Kilmer by train to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where I was discharged on February 13,1946. The Army gave me $300 cash and a bus ticket to Kansas City, MO. When I was first drafted into the Army, I was drawing $21 a month. I had $10 a month taken from my pay to be sent to my mother and $6 per month to pay for my $10,000 life insurance. That left me $5 per month. After awhile, I made Private First Class which paid $5 more a month. A month or so later I earned my expert infantry badge which was $10 per month for the combat infantry badge. After capturing the Bridge at Remagen, I made sergeant. I don't remember how much more that was. We always heard the story about
the soldier writing home for money. When I got home my mother hadn't spent any of the money I had sent her. She had put it all in the bank for me, which amounted $2,100. In Hof, Germany, this little blonde girl, who was about 8 years old, was eating out of the G.I. garbage can. After seeing that, at each meal, I would bring her some food in my mess kit. From then on, she was my shadow. Wherever I went, she was with me. She was always nice and clean. Also, I met this young girl in Erpel after capturing the Remagen Bridge. Each item my wife and I went back to Remagen, she was always there to meet us. We have been back to Remagen five times. I met Mary Edna in 1946 and we were married May 18,1947. I retired from Trans World Airlines in 1981. Author's Note--Mr. Shackelford brought a number of items with him to
the interview. When asked if he was ever afraid for his life, he answered, "Those who expected to die, did; I knew I would make it through, and I did." We have received a historical correction: Alex Drabik was actually awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and not the Medal of Honor. Thanks to John Pfeister, Green Bay WI |
| Permission granted for use
by Ralph Shackelford © 2001
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Ralph
Shackelford
Kilmer to New York harbor where we boarded the Queen Mary to sail for Glasco
Scotland. It was a six-day journey and we sailed alone, because we could
out-run German subs. We changed course every nine minutes. There were 20,000
on the ship. We had two meals a day. There were some nurses and WACs on
board. We never did see any of them. An M.P. guarded them pretty closely.
The
weather was getting colder and the snow was getting deeper. We were caught without
good winter clothes. We had no overshoes. Lots of people had trench foot and
frozen feet. The temperature was well below zero. The front line soldiers
were the last ones to get supplies. There were 600,000 Americans who participated in
the Battle of the Bulge; there were 82,000 casualties (that includes those who were
killed, wounded or captured). We were always cold, hungry, and tired. We
saw bodies of American soldiers piled up like cordwood. They were all young
soldiers 18 to 20 years old.
sliver stars. I wasn't too far behind them, but all I got were orders
to climb the hill and knock out the guns up there. I can't complain, because I went
all through the war without being wounded.
started
sending high point men home. I was low on point, so I stayed with Company A.
In August 1945, I was sent to La Harve, France, to be sent to Japan for the
invasion. The U.S. dropped two A bomb on Japan. Japan surrendered. I was sent
to Brema Haven, Germany with an engineer company. I took a furlough to
Denmark. It was a pretty country. After furlough, I went back to Brema Haven.
He had a picture frame
filled with medals, including the Bronze Star and a medal from the Belgian government, in
appreciation for his part in defending that country. He brought books and pictures
and even banners. He showed us a watch that a German prisoner gave him because he
was so happy to be captured! He even put on his uniform with his sergeant stripes,
which still fits. (See picture at top of page.)