HomeMy WebLinkAboutWilliam M. "Bill" Warren, Brazos Valley Heroes ' One in a series of tributes to members of "The Greatest
Generation" who served our country during World War II
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William M. "Bill" Warren, a recent graduate of The fragment was located along side a nerve and
Michigan State and native of Bancroft, Michigan, was a the doctors there did not have the ability to take it out
member of the teaching faculty at A &M when Pearl without permanent damage. Warren lost use of his arm
Harbor was bombed. "After that, droves of student and for several weeks before feeling returned to his hand and
faculty were called into the service. The Dean of fingers. He was to be shipped home but when the feel
Agriculture. Dean D. W. Williams called all of the faculty ing began to return, he asked and was allowed to return
together and tried to impress on all of us the importance to his unit. When he reported back to the First, he had a
of staying put and helping the college maintain its mis- reward waiting. There were 81 letters from Carolyn wait
lion of education, but when he announced he was join- ing to be' delivered. "I think that was a record mail call. tet
ing up, I started to think about doing the same." Sixty years later, I still have them and a 3 inch shrapnel
Pot Warren and two faculty friends drove to Houston, souvenir in my arm."
to the Navy recruiting office. They took physicals, com- The next invasion for Warren and the First was
pleted exams and returned to College Station to await Okinawa. The landing was uneventful, but when they
orders but nothing came for Warren. After several moved inland, the Japanese launched a bombardment
weeks, he boarded a train to Dallas and enlisted in the from battleships, artillery, Kamikaze flights and ground
Marine Corps. When he got back•a packet from the Navy troops. That, along with considerable rain, made
awaited him with an assignment as a deck officer with advancement difficult.
the rank of Lt. J.G. "I had to return their orders with a "We received orders to move our artillery to a new
note signed William M. Warren, PFC, USMC." position one night. I was leading on foot when I could iErl
filliz Before he left to report in early January 1943, he tell someone was nearby. I asked for the password. He
attended a New Year's dinner party in Bryan where he grunted and then swung a sword; just missing and 1
met and fell head over heels for Carolyn Glass, who, after fired the shotgun I was carrying. The next morning our
the war, became his wife. people went to the area and found a dead Japanese Ait
a S oon after arriving at Parris Island to begin boot major with a 13th century Samurai sword which they
camp, he often thought of that great assignment he brought back and gave to me. I had little desire to collect
could have had in the Navy. From Parris Island, he went war souvenirs, but I kept that sword."
to Quantico for OCS where, despite the heat and poison During Okinawa, FDR died and Truman took over
ivy, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. The bomb was dropped on August 6 and 9, and shortly
In November 1943, Warren boarded ship and thereafter the war ended and the island secured. Warren
steamed out of San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate was then sent to Tientsin, China to disarm the Japanese
Bridge on his way to New Caledonia in the South Pacific. located there. In late November 1945, Bill, now a major,
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" After arriving, he was ordered to report to the 11th boarded a ship for home and 28 days later landed in San , ..
Marine Regiment, First Marine Division for the invasion Diego. "That was definitely the slow boat from China.
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of New Britain, his first combat experience. Bill and Carolyn were married on December 20,
"In my opinion, the islands of the South Pacific .1945, and he resumed teaching at A &M in the spring
were the most oversold real estate in history. It rained semester of 1946 until he enrolled at the University of
• every afternoon, you were bombed every night and you Missouri where he obtained his Phd in 1952. He
• fought foot long rats for the use of your foxhole each returned to A &M as a full professor before leaving to
• night. Plus the locals were all cannibals." become the head of the department of animal genetics at
After securing New Britain, Warren and his unit Auburn where he remained until he retired in 1980. After
were sent to Guadalcanal to train for their next mission that he was a vice - president of the Santa Gertrudis
which was to be a small 3x5 mile island named Peleliu. Association and then returned to College Station as the
g. "We were informed' by Tokyo Rose that the First would director of the international livestock school with the
be annihilated by the Emperor's Royal Marines. There Extension Service.
was a while after our landing when that was a real pos- "In combat, fear ,is manifested in many different
sibility. What we thought would be a quick victory of a ways, and not the same for any two people, nor to the
it few days lasted almost 8 hard fought months." same degree. I do not recall a single time when fear
When the island was secured, the First Marine dominated my actions. I know I was not particularly
A. Division, which had more than 19,000 troops, had suf- brave - maybe just slow."
', fered more than 8,700 casualties. One of them was Warren's name can be found on the Brazos Valley