HomeMy WebLinkAboutPerry Shirley, Brazos Valley HeroGreatest
Generation" who served our country during World War 11
In 1942, Perry W. Shirley of Bryan found out that your five days — long enough to get a good Thanksgiving meal
personal qualifications to serve your country depended on and than back to my unit before Chnstmas, which was
your country's need at the time. clearing out the Maginot Line Bunkers near Saabrucken.
"I grew up in the Reliance community of Brazos County.
My two older brothers — Lewis and Frank — had already
been drafted into the Army. I knew my turn would come
soon so in September 1942 1 tried to enlist in the Coast
Guard. They turned me down because 1 only weighed 115
pounds. In May 1943, after turning 18 and still weighing
115 pounds, I was drafted. Apparently weight was not a
factor anymore. At least they let me choose my branch of
service. I chose the Army."
Shirley was inducted at Fort Sam Houston and then
sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, where he was placed in the
horse calvary. After,tmining, he was sent to guard the Tex-
as- Mexico border. In 1944, he was ordered to Fort Meade,
Md., to be part of a replacement unit being sent to Italy.
"We shipped out on a liberty ship headed to Oren,
North Africa, except our ship got lost at sea. We finally
landed at Algiers, North Africa. We were sent to a replace-
ment center at Naples, Italy, and then on to Anzio as part
of Company B, 36th Amphibious Combat Engineers. We
served as engineers or infantry, depending on the situation
at hand. We were trying to hold about 10 square miles with
the Germans holding the upper hills. We were still in our
riding britches and calvary boots. We had more problems
with kidding from our guys about our riding britches and
boots than trouble from the Germans. We eventually out
off the tops of the riding boots and made them into leg-
gings."
Shirley's unit pined with other U.S. forces and pushed
the Germans back, where the American troops met Ameri-
can forces coming up from southern Italy and pushed the
Germans 100 miles past Rome. He was than ordered back
to Naples to prepare for the invasion of southern France,
which occurred on Aug. 15, 1944.
"On Dec. 30, 1944 my best buddy, Bill Mott, and I were
sent as guards to take a guy back to headquarters for
court- martial for being AWOL. We were in a two- vehicle
convoy when we were straffed by an American plane be-
ing Flown by the Germans. The plane had been captured
during the Battle of the Bulge. My C.O. and 1 st Sgt, who
were in the lead vehicles, our driver and Bill were killed.
The prisoner and I were severely wounded."
Shirley was taken to a field hospital where he was
treated for multiple wounds from his neck to his toe. He
was hospitalized for several weeks, during which time his
weight dropped to 90 pounds. While undergoing treat-
ment, it was announced that ambulatory patients would
be able to go home. Shirley had lost a toe, which made
walking difficult. He got some extra large shoes and cut
the toe out of one, which enabled him to walk onto the
troop train that carried him to Marseille for transport back
to the United States. He was sent to hospitals in Charles-
ton, S.C., and Temple, Texas, for treatment until his medi-
cal discharge on July 2, 1945.
"My brothers and I were In France at the same time
but never got to see each other. When my brothers came
home I was already out of the Army, so they never got to
see me in uniform."
Shirley enrolled at the University of Houston for a while
before relocating to Bryan to attend McKenzie - Baldwin
Business College. He went to work for City National Bank
antl retired 36 years later from First City National Bank,
now Wells Fargo.
In 2001, Perry Shirley, along with several other Stephen
F. Austin schoolmates, were awarded their high school di-
plomas from Bryan High.
.'We had very little resistance on Yellow Beach near
Nice. France. We set up supply depots on the beach and
than caught up with the fmnt lines, building bridges where
ever the infantry needed them. On Nov. 20, 1944 we were
building a Bailey Bridge near St. Die, France. The Germans
had set fire to the town so we were able to work at night
by the light of the burning town. The next morning they
started shelling us and I was wounded by mortar shrapnel.
I was wounded enough to get sent back td a hospital for
"When I came home, I still wasn't very big, couldn't vote
or drink legally but I was a man. You grew up pretty fast."
Perry Shirley's name can be found on the Brazos Val-
ley Veteran's 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 wwmveter-
ansmemorial.org or Bill Youngkin at (979) 260 -7030.
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