HomeMy WebLinkAbout Eldon L. Sanders, Brazos Valley HeroesBy Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
Eldon L. Sanders of the Peach Creek Community
of Brazos County had a career of service to his country
and service to the medical treatment for those who
serve their country. His passion for the care and
medical needs of others began with his father in
Pawnee, Illinois.
According to Sanders: "My father was not a doctor
but was a livery man, which meant he operated a
buggy service for others. His most frequent customer
was our local doctor. At that period of time, all babies
were delivered at home. My father would drive the
doctor on his rounds to birth all the babies.
"After one birth atone farm, the doctor would sleep
in the buggy on the way to the next delivery while my
father drove. This continued until 1947, when they
paved the roads in the area sufficiently so that one
could drive a car over what had been impassible roads
except in ahorse-drawn buggy.
"As a result, my father had all the birth records in
his livery book. Until 1929, there were no requirements
for a birth certificate when a baby was born. I now have
that book, and people who were bom in that time period
still contact me requesting their birth information."
It was that experience and a visit to the doctor for
what was thought to be a broken collarbone which
influenced the direction Sanders' life would take, even
with war beginning in Europe and the Pacific.
"The doctor who treated me recognized my interest
in what was happening in his office and he allowed
me to help in his office through my high school years,
assisting him in the treatment of some pretty serious
injuries.
"After I graduated in May 1941, I enlisted in the
regular army corps (Air Corps) for the purpose of taking
flying training. At that time, the law did not permit
commissioning of an officer below the age of 21, but
the army had the `Flying Sergeants' program. I was
sworn in August 1941 and shipped to Camp Grant,
Illinois, for further processing. As soon as I completed
my classification test, I and iwo other regular army
enlistees were placed on a train to Sheppard Field,
Texas. What a surprise that was.
base dispensary. While waiting to see the doctor, the
men there were unpacking and I volunteered to help.
When it became obvious to one of the doctors there
that I had some familiarity with the equipment, he left
but soon returned with the first sergeant of the medical
detachment, and the doctor instructed him to have me
assigned to them. I became a medic on the 13th day of
December,1941."
It would be.his field of service for the rest of his
career. After additional training, Sanders would be
shipped to the European Theatre. But before he left,
he married an army nurse he had met who was his
superior officer. Their dating was conducted in secret
- as well as their marriage -for some time thereafter.
As recalled by Sanders: "We departed Hampton
Roads, Virginia, on April 1, 1944.- The trip was pretty
uneventful until the evening of April 20, 1944. As we
began to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar, we were
attacked by 23 JU-88 torpedo bombers. The SS Paul
Hamilton, an ammunition carrier with 580 men aboard,
was hit. We were about 100 yards behind them when it
blew up, killing all aboard.
"The blast was so powertul it caused a tidal wave to
almost to wash over our ship, hitting us with shrapnel.
And the most gruesome flotsam you could imagine
landed on our ship. I had been assigned duty as an
ammunition carrier for the five-inch cannon mounted
on the bow of our ship. When the tidal wave hit us, I
had to hang onto anything available to keep from being
washed overboard.
"We eventually landed at Bari, Italy, and then on to
Naples, Italy, where I was part of the Air Force Service
Command, where I remained until the war ended. With
the war's end I was sent home and discharged. Ninety
days later, I re-enlisted and was able to continue my
career in medical service. I eventually received my
commission and served at facilities across the United
States and the world, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
We returned to my wife's family farm here in Brazos
County that has been in her family since the late
1800's. It was a satisfying career and it has been a
satisfying retirement.
"I think witnessing that terrible event in the Straits
of Gibraltar created an attitude in me that I would give
all the support I could to our medical staff, who in turn
gave all their support to our patients. That attitude
"The place was under construction and we ended remained with me and is why I had such a satisfying
up in a tent city at Iowa Park, Texas. During my training career."
at Sheppard Field it was the only place I had been
where you could sink in mud up to your knees and
have dust blow in your eyes. I finally received my flight
physical and discovered, much to my dismay, that I
was disqualified because of red/green color blindness.
"They had no place for me, so I became a regular
of the KP group until I got sick and had to go to the
-~ . - -
Eldon L. Sander's name is found on the Brazos
Valley Veterans Memorial. If you want to have a name
added to the Veterans Memorial, for more information;
to make a contribution, or if you know a World War
II veteran whose story needs to be told, contact the
BWM at www.veteransmemorial.org or BiII Youngkin
at (979) 260-7030. ~_ __