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I am writing to let you know about the 3414th Ordnance MM Company in WW II.
The 3414th Ordnance MM Company left San Francisco on February 26, 1943, on the on the USS Republic. Aboard the ship were 5,200 troops, and a US Navy crew of 800. The ship zig-zagged every 9 minutes to avoid Japanese torpedoes.
The USS Republic arrived in New Caledonia on March 20, 1945. New Caledonia was a forwarding base for Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines . Troops were brought to the
islands to replace the troops in battle. The troops on the islands consisted of US Army, US Marines, and US Navy personnel.
The 3414th Ordnance, along with the 352 Ordance Bn, which included the 3415th and the 852 HM were to service and repair vehicles that were damaged in the war. The vehicles were brought to the island by boat.
In the spring of 1945, the 3415th Ordnance was sent to the Philippines under the command of Colonel Daniel Schlafly to be part of Operation Olymplic; a plan to invade Japan in November of 1945.
The 3415th Ordnance set up a site 75 miles south of Manila. The atomic bomb was dropped, and the war ended. The 3415th Ordnance recieved the Presidential Unit Citation , as well as other medals for the Southern Philippines Campaign.
The Ordnance companies left the Pacific Theatre of Operations and arrived back in the United States on December 19, 1945. The 3414th Ordnance Company has held 10 reunions since their release from military service.
A very special thanks to Wilfred Engle, who has kept great records of the unit for all these years.
**** A very special tribute to my father who was part of the 3415th Ordnance Company in WW II.
Karen
Vietnam Vet
P.S. Thanks so much for giving me the chance to post my story.
Webmaster's commentary: The following story was sent in by the grandson of an infantry soldier who served in Europe. It is not especially pleasant, but it is real and worthy of note.
“Here it is Ghost. I decided to only tell 1 story though the other is how my grandad married my grandmother. I will tell of his brother after I get the information right. (This brother did not survive, and this is why I needed the search link info to find his records as no one in the family truly new his fate nor asked.)” (Webmaster note: Ghost is my callsign when I am flying on the internet in a WWII fighter squadron)
This event was my grandfather's biggest regret.
Herman, Joseph M. served with the 8th Army in Europe; he spotted artillary. Not a very fun job as he had to sit at the target and call in fire. His unit was quite lost and they stopped for a bit to determine where they were. They finally decided to send a scout, and what better scout than the spotter, so off he went. After about 40 minutes on foot he came across a German armoured column that was appearantly out of fuel. He sat down and roughly calculated his position. After doing so he called in to the battery, and shells started falling soon after. The barrage lasted for about three minutes. After they ceased action the unit caught up to him. The attack was a "complete success": all 105 German personel were dead.
After he told me this story a tear came to his eye, he then told me that was the worst day of his life and he still has bad memories of that day. Mainly because they were in the wrong place and the German soldiers were caught completely off guard as they waited for fuel. He told me they were relaxing and playing
His words to me were "this was not war, it was murder." He has changed my perspective on "glory", and "honour" in war.
Thank you for giving me a place to share this story. Sorry it wasn't a good one. But this is the way it was for one man.
Don
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