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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBob Armstrong, Brazos Valley Heroes Valle OE. One in a series of tributes to members of "The Greatest Generation" who served our country during World War II MW u Bob rmstron By Bill Youngkin " I was now back on campus taking courses like Special to The Eagle thermodynamics and other engineering courses when 1 d'. received a letter from a relative with an APO address That First of two parts. made me feel guilty again that I, too, wasn't overseas, so I asked to be dropped from the program and told the army I Bob Armstrong's roots in Bryan and the Brazos Valley wanted to be sent for training for overseas duty. I got my go back along way. wish. His family lived in Navasota and Bryan and his father "I was sent for training in the desert at Yuma, Arizona, y. was an attorney in Bryan. He attended Travis Elementary for infantry training. I ended up in a'wire section; where when it originally opened and Stephen F. Austin High when our job was to lay phone lines so our command posts could it originally opened. His home was across the road from communicate with each other. When we completed our *72 what is now the Women's Federal Prison, which was then a training I was going to go home and get married to my 1 cotton field. He has seen a lot of changes since his birth on childhood sweetheart but went to Mexicali, Mexico, before December 9,1923, some 85 years ago. But the changes that I left. We celebrated completing training, but I was also affected him the most were his experiences during World able to buy my mother and fiance nylon hose and perfume, War II. things they could not get at home. According to Bob, "I graduated from SFA in 1941 and "I wassenttoFt.Dix, where mywifejoinedme.Wetook enrolled at A&M that fall. I was a 'day duck; which meant I a trip into New York City and stayed at the Taft Hotel The lived at home while attending A&M. I had a car and would next morning when I walked out of the hotel, it was almost pick up other local boys and drive the five miles from Bryan like the city was deserted. Then I noticed the headline in the to the campus each day, paper. We had invaded France. D-Day had occurred while "I remember December 1, 1941, very well. I was out we slept. driving in the family car listening to the radio that Sunday "We soon left for Europe on the Queen Mary, all 18,000 , afternoon. I remember that I was about in front of the men in our division. I slept on deck one night and the next Systems Building when the radio announcer came over the night in bunks below deck. We rotated like that until we radio with the news of Pearl Harbor. That guy must have reached Glasgow, Scotland. From Glasgow we were trucked heard Orsen Wells"'War of The Worlds" story, because he to outside Manchester, where Patton had assembled his kept repeating'this is real - this is realnap: I. I remember remember going him Third Army. We were now part of this army as the 80th home and waking my Dad up from his Infantry Division. It was a division made up mostly of coal ` getting mad that I woke him with such foolishness until he miners from Pennsylvania and West Virginia. heard it on the radio. It was hard for me to believe myself. "We went over the Channel and were offloaded into a "I was on campus when they filmed the movie We've LST. As we were going over the side we were each given a . Never Been Licked and I remember you could be excused complimentary carton of cigarettes which had printed on from class if you wanted to be in the marching scenes. My the side that they were the compliments of some funeral second year I got to feeling guilty about still being in school home from Little Rock, Arkansas. I declined my carton with so many of my friends already in the service. I drove to "The hedgerows had just been cleared when we Dallas on New Year's Dayto enlist with the Marine Corps but arrived. We gathered outside of St. Lo, France, and that is failed their eye test. I dropped out of school, and it wasn't where Patton broke loose, making it almost to Metz before long before I received my draft notice. running out of gas. We would lay lines every time we "I was inducted in Houston, sent to Ft. Sam Houston stopped and leave laying when we left. When we stopped in San Antonio and then to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, for basic we were just outside Nancy, France. The Germans realized training. I applied for OCS but it was full, so the army sent we were out of gas and weren't going to be moving, so me to the Army Specialized Training Program, which would we were shelled all day and all night. We would remain in allow me to continue my education in engineering. constant combat for the next 10 months' "They sent us to Oklahoma State College at Stillwater. I Next week, Armstrong's memories of the Battle of the remember when our trucks pulled onto campus there were Bulge, and earning the Purple Heart medal. all these women leaning out the windows whistling at us. Bobkmshvn0nameisfowrdonriâ–ºe&masValley yeffim p They were women who had enrolled in the navy and were MwwkL If ynu want to have a name added to the Veterans there for training. I was to be sent on to Purdue but saw on Memodal formoreinformatron, tomakeaomtribution,orifyvu some of the paperwork that an opening was also available knowaWoddWarllveteranwhosestoryneedstobet*aorrtact at A&M. So I got the clerk to change my orders to A&M" theBVVMatwww.bvvmorgorBillYoungkinat(979)260-7030. v By Bill Youngkin woods where the Germans were iocatea. You cowa see the x; Special to The Eagle little churches down the valley in the snow and I remember thinking it looked like a Christmas card in the snow. Second4iiIIIIIIIIIIWartl "We had a break in our wire, so another guy and I were sent out to locate and fix the break. We were going up a hill Robert E. "Bob" Armstrong of Bryan was part of the behind the town, in full view of the Germans on the other side 80th Infantry Division, which made up part of Patton's Third of the river. We met a couple of artillery guys coming down Army. He was part of a "wire section'for the 1st Battalion of the hill looking for the break also. When we came together the 317th Infantry Regiment. As such, his job was to provide the Germans sent an 88 shell right into the middle of us. An 88 communication between the various command posts that is one you don't hear because they came so fast. were constantly being set up. "It blew snow, smoke and everything in the air. I knew W According to Armstrong, "When we weren't laying wire, I was hit because I felt a red hot burning sensation in my we were repairing wire. Tanks and artillery bombardments back. One of the artillery guys was down. The other two guys could really tear up your lines. The wire came in rolls weighing were gone. The artillery guy asked me to help him because 82 pounds each with a quarter mile of wire, which we had we both knew another shell would soon be on its way to the to carry on our shoulders without any padding and also carry same spot. I drug him away and finally got both of us to a field a carbine. Sometimes we just left the carbine, depending on station, where we were both treated. our guys to protect us. "When they pulled off my upper clothing, that pulled "We were always at the front, which meant we did more the shrapnel out of my back. The doctor patched me up and crawling than walking. You just didn't have time to worry too gave me a purple heart on the spot, after he filled out the much about what was happening because what we were paperwork. I was sent back to my unit the next day, which doing was so critical. We had to get the wire where it was was Christmas Day. We had turkey and all the trimmings. needed so everyone could communicate:" "It was a clear, beautiful day and we had some bombers When asked about specific memories of events or people, come over. The Germans shot down one of the bombers and Armstrong responded,"The event I will always remember was four guys exited the plane. One of the chutes didn't open the Battle of the Bulge. Patton's Army was below the Bulge and we watched him fall all the way to the ground. It was a x when it started and we were ordered to cut through and Christmas I will never forget. relieve the U.S. troops under attack. "Before that break in the weather, at the Battle of the "We loaded up on trucks and headed out before daylight. Bulge, General Patton had a prayer prepared by the head I remember raising up and looking ahead and behind. As far chaplain which they printed up and distributed to all of us as you could see ahead and as far as you could see behind with orders that all of us pray that prayer. It asked the Lord to were trucks loaded with American GIs. I can't remember all provide us some clear weather so we could use our aircraft to the towns, but I remember all the snow and the terrible cold. defeat the Germans. That prayer was later reprinted in Time magazine. I don't know about everyone else, but I followed "We ended up just outside of Bastogne, where we t' became almost surrounded by the German army. I remember orders and said that prayer. Lt. Farrell had our mortars set up behind a wall. Everyone liked Patton's prayer that he had printed on a small card and Lt. Farrell because he was a rich guy and had bought all his delivered to every man in the Third Army reads as follows runners bicycles. He did things like that to help his men. When "Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech the Germans began one of their advances, Lt. Farrell took over Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate one of the mortars and threw down 21 mortars before the rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair µ first mortar hit the ground. From that time on we called him weather for battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers ° Rapid Fire Farrell: who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may "That weather was terrible. I remember having to take advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and r some wire up a hill from our switchboard, which we had wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among located in a barn. On the way up I started getting shelled, and men and nations." in trying to get away started stumbling and falling over bodies The conclusion of Bob Armstrong's story will be next located in and covered by the snow. I got a little panicked and week. as a result, pulled the wire loose from the switchboard. But I Bob Armstrong's name is found on the Brazos Valley was literally walking on dead bodies. Veterans Memorial. If you want to have a name added to "Another memory I had was when we were taking the the Veterans Memorial, for more information, to make a Siegfried Line for the second time. It was Christmas Eve and contribution, or if you know a World War 11 veteran whose we were near Luxembourg in a little town on a river that I storyneeds to be told, contact the BWM at www.bvvm.org can't remember the name of. On the other side were some or Bill Youngkin at (979) 260-7030.