A Marine Speaks of Battling "The Horrible Huns" in 1918

From the December 5, 2018, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1918, 100 Years Ago.

"Joe Neuman, a wounded Marine,  was at Genoa last evening, where he gave a couple of addresses, telling of his experiences in the firing line against the horrible Huns.  Genoa people had planned a regular demonstration for the DeKalb soldier, but rainy weather put a halt to the plans.

"Neuman is scheduled to speak at Sycamore Friday evening and at Shabbona Saturday evening of this week, and it is probable that he will be heard by many people in both places."

--Cooter

A World War I German Musketeer?

In the last entry, I mentioned one of the buried Germans as being Musketeer Martin Heidrich, 21. I was unfamiliar with Musketeer being used for German soldiers as late as 1918. I knew that soldiers up until the 1850s-1860s used muskets as a main personal weapon, so the term Musketeer would make sense.

However, by the Civil War, the use of rifles became more the weapon of choice. Hence, the term rifleman.

According to Wikipedia, the term Musketeer is the traditional designation of an infantry private. The use of Musketeer survived in the Imperial German Army until World War I, which would explain Musketeer Heidrich. However, there was a private also buried in that tunnel.

So Still A Bit Mixed Up. --Cooter

Wilmington, NC, Heroes-- Part 1

From the Wilmington Star-News Dec. 23, 2009 MyReporter.

WILLIAM P. MURRAY, JR.

A Wilmington native drafted into the Army in 1942. 1st Lt. 3rd Infantry and leading a scout platoon and fought a larger German force near Kayserberg. Called in artillery strikes and attacked the enemy with a grenade launcher, a Browning Automatic Rifle and mortar. Was wounded, but continued fighting and received a Medal of Honor July 5, 1945. Wilmington's Murray Middle School is named after him.


WILLIAM DAVID HALYBURTON, JR.

A graduate of New Hanover High School in 1943 and enlisted in the US Navy and became a corpsman (medic) with the US Marines. Was killed in action at Okinawa while tending the wounded under heavy enemy fire and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Wilmington's Halyburton Park is named in his memory.

Heroes All. The Greatest Generation. --Cooter

German POW Camps in Wilmington, NC-- Part 1

From the My Reporter Column in the Jan. 15th Wilmington Star-News.

Between February 1944 and April 1946, there were three German prisoner of War camps in the Wilmington area.

The first group of 250 Germans arrived February 7, 1944 and were held in a camp at the intersection of Carolina Beach Road and shipyard Boulevard. They had been captured in North Africa in 1943 (probably members of Rommel's Afrika Korps).

By September 1944, the camp had become overcrowded and a second one opened in a four-block area around 8th and Ann streets. During World War I it had been a Marine hospital. By October, this camp was open and all prisoners were transferred there and the first one shut down.

These prisoners were put to work in local sawmills, fertilizer plants and farms. A third group worked in the officer's mess and grounds keeping at the Bluethenthal Army Airbase, now Wilmington International Airport.

Local citizens took Sunday drives out to see the prisoners.

The Life of a German POW in the US. --Cooter

World War II in Wilmington, NC

Again, of all the cities and communities in the United States, I doubt that there is any that is doing more with their World War II heritage than Wilmington, North Carolina. They even have a group that concentrates on it called the Wilmington Homefront Heritage Coalition which recently installed a German POW sign in the lobby of the USO Building located at 10th and Ann streets..

It was painted on the mess hall by German prisoners and originally in the Swift and Co. fertilizer plant across the Cape Fear River on US-421. The plant closed in the early 1970s and was donated to the Coalition earlier this year. When the building was torn down, it was saved.

These Germans were part of Rommel's Afrika Korps and among 550 prisoners interred in and around Wilmington during the war. None tried to escape and they were returned to Germany in 1946.

The Little-known US Homefront. --Cooter