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Home My WebLink About R.P. Stevens, Sr., Brazos Valley Heroes OUI: years. ,/J. 0( -(')/ ~..). _/ c; One in a series of tributes to merfibers of "The Greatest Generation" who served our country during World War II R.P. Stevens Sr. of Bryan was hoping the war was going to pass him by, but it didn't. "I had to leave school early in my life to help my family because back then, times were real bad. I started to work at Coca Cola in Bryan at one dollar per day. We worked six days a week and at the end of the week my check totaled $5.94. "When the war started, I was married and had a baby boy and thought I might not be drafted, but in October 1944 I got my draft notice to report to Camp Hood." Stevens received his infantry basic training at Fort Hood and was immediately shipped to Fort Ord, Calif., and then to the San Francisco docks to ship out for the South Pacific. "We had 5,500 men aboard the USS Gen. John Pope for 31 days before we landed at New Guinea for one night and then on to Manila in the Philippines. "When we landed at Manila we were trucked halfway across the island to the Layte Pass area, where the fighting had been real heavy. After we unloaded the trucks, they had us wait by the road. About that time they brought three dead Gis down to carry back to the rear and laid them down in front of us. I confess that it scared the hell out of me. "Me and another guy were taken to the front lines, where we joined Company K of the 35th Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. When we got there, they only had about 45 to 50 men left. My commanding officer, Captain Fox, told us we wouldn't have time to dig a foxhole and instructed us to join someone else in their foxholes. "I noticed one guy with a red, bushy beard who motioned for me to join him. We were shelled by the Japanese all night long. Our foxhole was right under a tree and I asked the red-bearded guy what would happen if a shell hit the tree. He said, 'You won't know nothing about it.' "I recall that we were on a hilltop above a valley that had a river and Highway Five running through it. There were caves above the river that were full of Japanese that would come out at night for food and water. The only way you could get them was with a flame-thrower. It was my job to accompany the flame-thrower to the caves. If some of them were to run out, I was supposed to shoot them. None ever made it out. "We were in constant combat for the first 165 days I was in the Philippines and most of the time we were in heavy jungle. I remember one night taking a bucket to a river to get water. I was walking back down this trail with my bucket of water when I came nose to nose with a Japanese soldier going to the river to do the same thing. I don't know if I scared him but he sure scared me." When the war ended, Stevens was sent to Japan as part of the occupation forces for 10 months. "When we first got there, you never saw any of the Japanese. Then the kids started coming out and we would give them candy. Then the women started coming out and finally the men." Stevens was discharg~d in November 1946 and came home to Bryan, to the family he had to leave behind and to his old job. "Myoid boss at Bryan Automatic Gas had a new truck with my name painted on the door. I worked there for the next 20 years, then several years at Bryan Air Base as a fireman and finally at Texas A&M as a custodial supervisor for 12 years until I retired. "Last year I went to the World War II memorial in Washington D.C. and would recommend it to all the veterans. It made me think about what we accomplished, the people I met, the places I saw and the friends I made. But the thing I remember most is when I entered the Army I was told that war was hell - and it was." R.P. Stevens Sr.'s name can be found on the Brazos Valley 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 Bill Youngkin at (979) 260-7030. I!!~u~~le ............~........2................~.. f ..~\if'i - ~.' ','" - OfllS'..... KAMU.tamu.edu Channel 15/cox cable4 Local Vietnam Veteran, Alton Meyer will be the guest on ~'Veterans of the Valley" Friday at 8:30 p.m. on KAMU-lV. Veterans of the Valley, hosted by WTAW's Tom Turbiville, can be seen Fridays at 8:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 6:30 p.m.