Mary Elizabeth (Atkinson) Klein (1916-2001)
(World War II)
On April 6 he left for the induction center in Sioux Falls. From there he was shipped to Texas for orientation and assignment. He was sent to Fort Leonard Wood in MO for basic training. Ordinarily when the men were drafted and the induction procedure completed they were allowed to go to make necessary arrangements for their family, business etc. Not so this time. I didn’t know until history was written that this was a crucial period of the war. The Allies were putting the squeeze on Hitler’s army and they needed all the manpower they could muster as soon as possible. I visited him for a few days while he was in Missouri. He was shipped out to ETO (European Theater of Operations) in late summer, destination unknown. They were on the seas for quite some time. At one point they were in complete blackout as an enemy submarine had been detected in the area. That meant all power and communications were suspended until the sub moved away. They eventually docked at Oran, Morocco on the northern coast of Africa. They waited there until The Plan called for their services. He served with the 345th Engineer Corps, which was part of the Fifth Army headed by General Mark Clark. Their expertise was preparing the way for the troops. They built roads, bridges, airfields etc. and one of the biggies in their unit was to sniff out land mines. He served in the medical detachment as a first aid man and was there to minister to the casualties of the minefields they were assigned to clear before the troops came in. Due to the shortage of personnel there was no professional medic in this unit so he was the “doctor” to the men who had any physical afflictions. A bonifide doctor came by about once a week to check on things. The men in this unit were in their late twenties and early thirties, men for the most part of maturity and fairly cautious although soundly loyal to their country and assignment. He assumed these responsibilities as a Private First Class rank. His commanding officer apologized for this once. Due to the nature of the unit and the number of non-commissioned men allowed there was no room for advancement. He was doing the work of a sergeant but got PFC pay.
When the “squeeze play” went into action, the 345th crossed the Mediterranean and went to work in Italy. Their first objective was Salerno, then Anzio, Cassino and eventually Naples and finally Rome. It was a long hard haul with very few breaks for the men. It was a time of great mental and emotional as well as physical stress and some didn’t hold out. A sergeant in Barney’s unit succumbed. His job was to go out and probe for mines and defuse them. He gave Barney orders never to go to a fallen man until he had probed the area ahead first. Barney felt he probably owed his life to this man. The 345th hung in there not knowing just what all was going on at HQ until it was over. Secrecy and silence were part of the war strategy. Finally the unit got news they were to get some R&R (Rest and Recreation) and it was to be back in the States! They were transported to Paris in early May of ’45. Suddenly everything was on hold, no travel orders, and no sight seeing, just rumors. Then the news broke. The European phase of the war was over! Germany had surrendered! The “squeeze” was completed. The Axis troops at Rome on June 4, 1945 and the remainder with the Normandy invasion two days later capitulated after a hard fought war with many casualties on both sides. Within a short time, the men from the 345th were back in the US and bussed to their families. After a furlough of several weeks Barney was ordered to Camp Crowder, MO. We didn’t know it then but the returning troops from Europe would be held in the event they were needed in the Pacific Theater. Thank God Japan’s surrender came in August and Barney’s subsequent discharge that fall.
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