HomeMy WebLinkAboutFrank W. Sheppard, Jr., Brazos Valley Heroes
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By Bill Youngkin officer was a first lieutenant and a recent graduate of Auburn
Special to The Eagle University who lived nearby in Dothan, Alabama. I told him
I would take over all the training because of my background,
Frank W. Sheppard Jr. of College Station has two but told him I would like to have a date with some of the local
birthdays - his official one of February 13, 1921, and his girls. The next weekend, he took me to his home to meet
military birthday of February 13, 1920. his wife's identical twin sister. When I left that day, I said to
As explained by Sheppard, "I graduated from Kerrville myself,'That's the girl I'm going to marry someday. Floris and
RINI High School in 1937 at 16 years old. We had a National Guard I were married in December 1943, and she was my wife for
the next S5 years until her death in 1998. She was the best
unit and a recruiter who signed up all the boys in the class, thing that ever happened to me.
including me. When he checked my records he found I was
only 16 years old, and you needed to be 17 before you could "We were sent to California and were trained for
TP -Re
go to summer camp. I wanted to stay in the unit, so my amphibious assaults on the beaches of California, so we
military birthday on my records became 1920, not 1921. knew where we were headed and what we would be doing
We were part of the 36th Division, and I went to camp very soon. I was shipped to Hawaii, where we trained some
each yearwhile I was enrolled at Shriner Institute in Kerrville, more and then shipped to the South Pacific. On September Z,Z
15 1944, the marines hit the beaches of Peleliu and caught
r, which was a two-year school then. In 19391 enrolled at San
Marcos and that fall my Dad died. I thought I would probably hell, suffering great losses. We landed on Angaur Island and I =Z
drop ou?of school, but the dean called me into his office and to our surprise, the Japanese had only a token force. As a
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gave me a job as a lab instructor in the chemistry department. result, we took the island with very few losses.
It paid $60 a month. With that money, my sister and I were "The,day we landed I saw a black buck sergeant with a
able to remain in school. transit, surveying the ground. I asked him what he was doing
"Everything was going great until 1940, when the and he said, 'Sir, I'm building an airstrip' He and the black
36th Division was mobilized for one year. We mobilized on troops built that airstrip and planes were flying bombing
Thanksgiving Day, but we stayed in Kerrville until June 1941 missions on the Philippines within 12 days.
because they had no facilities for us at Camp Bowie, which "We took over Peleliu from the Marines and we had a
was located outside of Brownwood. position in the hills. We traded our artillery pieces for theirs
"We now had draftees coming into our unit. I was which the Marines had zeroed in on the areas the Japanese
assigned to drill and train the new guys. Before long I was would locate. We used them that first night and found they
in charge of training for the entire new group and led them were zeroed in correctly because of the dead Japanese we
in their graduation march. We were near the end of our found the next morning. r
one-year call-up and most of the guys had headed home to "We trained in the Philippines for the invasion of Japan
Kerrville for Christmas 1941 as leave started on December 5. but fortunately the bomb was dropped and as a result, a lot
"I had a portable radio and had just turned it on in time of our lives were spared. I returned home to Texas on my
to hear President Roosevelt address the nation about Pearl child's first birthday. My daughter, Sally Sheppard, who was
Harbor. Word went out immediately for everyone to return to the vice provost at A&M a few years ago, had thought that ~ O~k
Camp Bowie. Shortly after our return, word came down that her Daddy was a photo, so she was a little scared of the real
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anyone who had two years of college must apply for OCS. All person."
of us from Kerrville applied. I was sent to artillery OCS in April Sheppard completed his education at A&M and later
1942 at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma" received his PhD from Cornell. He served with the State
"I had trained at Ft. Sill in the National Guard in 1940. Department and the Extension Service at A&M until he
I had been the radio operator for the instructors, so I knew retired. When asked what his service to his country meant
the location of all the targets and all the proper commands. to him, his response was, "It was a special experience for me
Because of that, I made a really high score on the gunnery I felt we needed to do what we could. And I met my wife
part of OCS. I was commissioned as a second lieutenant because of the military"
on June 30, 1942, and I will never forget the pride I felt in Ifyouwant tohave aname added totheVeterans Memonar 02
getting those gold bars pinned on my uniform. for more information, to make a contribution, or if you knowa
"I was assigned to Ft. Rucker, Alabama, to be part of the World War II veteran whose story needs to be told contact the
formation of the 81st Infantry Division. My commanding BWMatwww.bvvm.orgorBillYoungkinat(979)776-1325