HomeMy WebLinkAboutHubert W. Conway, Brazos Valley HeroesBy Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
Hubert W. Conway of Bryan did not volunteer or want to
go to war, but he would be drafted and would end the war
on the Elbe River after 128 days of combat.
Conway, who was born on April 20, 1919, is now 89
years old. He was born on a farm at Aubrey, Texas, near
Denton. At the age of eight, his mother died while birthing
his twin brothers. His father died shortly thereafter, leaving
the babies, Conway and twin older brothers who were about
12 years of age
Conway and his older brothers had no one to take
them into their homes, so the boys remained on the farm
and farmed until they were drafted into the military, one by
one.
Conway was the last to be drafted in 1943. When he left,
he had to shut the farm down until - hopefully - he or his
older brothers could survive the war and could then return
to and farm their land again. They all did and the land was
farmed by his older twin brothers until their deaths.
According to Conway, "I was drafted in 1943 and was
sent to Mineral Wells, Texas, and then to Camp Howze, which
was just outside of Denton and near our farm. In order for us
to hold basic training there, we had to build the camp. I got
there just before Christmas, and the thing I remembered was
being cold and being out in the cold all the time:' It would
be this training that would prepare him for his first combat
assignment in November of 1944.
"We moved from Camp Howze to Alexandria, Louisiana,
for training with the whole division. It seems we did nothing
but walk. We received orders to go to the east coast to board
ships at New York harbor for Europe. We landed in England,
trained there for a short period and were sent straight into
the line on the German border on the Siegfried line.
"I remember our first night in the line. It was cold and
snowing and it was real quiet. One of my buddies in the next
foxhole said, 'There aren't any Germans around here: I told
him to be quiet and just wait, because I bet there were some.
It didn't take long for them to open up on us with artillery.
Then everyone knew for sure there were Germans around"
colder at night, and that was when we rode in the trucks,
at night'
The 84th was sent to Marche, Belgium, to help halt the
Germans' all-out effort. The 84th held and then proceeded
to push the Germans back. By February 1945 they had
pushed the Germans back over the Roer River. Ten days
later, Conway and the 84th were at the Rhine River, ready
to invade Germany.
When asked about that experience, Conway's response
was, "That was a time in my life I have tried to forget but
I can't. It was bad. Fighting and walking, fighting and
walking, sometimes for days without any rest. We would get
in a foxhole and begin to try to get warm and then be told
to leave and advance. I remember one night taking one of
my boots off to treat my foot. The boot froze so bad that I
couldn't get it back on and had to walk in my socks. It didn't
much matter.Your feet were cold whether you were in a boot
or out of a boot.
"After one night move, the guy who was responsible for
the base plate for our heavy mortar had forgotten it and had
left it behind. The lieutenant sent me back with him to get
it and then back to the company. That guy never forgot it
again, because I wouldn't let him forget.
"I remember our crossing of the Rhine, which we did
at night, and remember chasing the Germans to the Elbe
River, where we stopped - us on one side, the Russians on
the other. Finally, the war was over for me"
Conway returned to Texas and helped his brothers, who
also survived the war, to get the farm running again. He
worked at various jobs until getting a job with a right-of-
way company installing power lines. The power line job lead
to Bryan, where he met, married and stayed. He would be
employed by The ASCS headquarters in College Station for
27 years until his retirement.
When asked to reflect on his experience, Conway's
response was: "First, I would say, never retire. It seems like I
have been standing in doctors' offices ever since I did.
"As far as the army is concerned, it is an experience I will
never forget. I remember walking over and past those boys
lying in the snow and thinking they were from somewhere
still think about them"
Just before Christmas 1944, the Germans would start like me with families, just like me. I didn't know them, but I
their biggest offensive effort of the war in what became
known as the Battle of the Bulge. As recalled by Conway,
If you want to have a name added to the Brazos
"When the Bulge started, we were loaded onto trucks and
Valley Veterans Memorial, for more information, to make a
sent to an area that needed reinforcements. I remember it as
contribution, or if you know a World War II veteran whose
being so terribly cold and all of us almost freezing to death in
story needs to be told, contact the BVVM at www.bvvm.org or
the backs of those trucks. It was cold during the day but even
Bill Youngkin at (979) 260-7030.