Thursday, November 1, 1945
The 101st Airborne Division was committed to action in the early morning hours of D-Day in Normandy, its paratroopers dropping in behind the vaunted West Wall to spread fear and confusion among the German defenders and contribute vitally to the successful storming of Utah beach later in the day.
The Division next descended on Holland by parachute and glider liberating the first Dutch city, Eindhoven, and securing the left flank of the Allied line while armored spearheads probed the Siegfried defenses.
“The Screaming Eagle” Division will probably be best remembered, however, for its remarkable defensive action during the Battle of the Bulge, which earned the proud title of : “The Battered Bastards of Bastogne.” As a result of this stand, the 101st was cited by the War Department in the name of the President for gallant and heroic action, the first instances of an entire Division citation in the history of American arms.
One of the members of the 101st Division is Carl C. VanReenan, of Marlinton. He entered the service in March 1942. He is a mortar gunner. He participated in four battle campaigns: Holland, France, Bastogne, Germany. He has four battle stars, bronze star, Croix de Guerre (without the rope), Presidential Citation, Good Conduct medal. He expects to arrive in the United States about November 1.
Our Army and Navy Boys
Private First Class Lloyd J. Woods has arrived home from the Army with an honorable discharge. He has been in service for three and a half years with 16 months’ duty in the Hawaiian Islands. He wears the Asiatic-Pacific theatre ribbon and the Good Conduct ribbon. He has two brothers still in service: Clyde, serving in Belgium, and Albert, of the Navy, now stationed in Massachusetts. Two other brothers, Stewart and Forest, have received their honorable discharges and are home. They are the sons of Mrs. Lenora Woods, of Woodrow.
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Mrs. and Mrs. Wilbur Sharp have received word from their son, T-Sergeant James R. Sharp, now stationed in China, that the 51st Fighter Group, of which he is a member, had received orders to return to the United States immediately. Sergeant Sharp has been in service over three years and has served 18 months in China.
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Private First Class Guy A. Sharp has received his honorable discharge from the Army and has arrived home. He had been in service thirty-nine months with 31 months overseas in Africa, Sicily and Italy with the 45th General Hospital. He is the son of Mrs. Willie Ryder and a nephew of Mr. and Mrs. Clete Kelley, of Huntersville.
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Samuel Sharp, son of Joseph Sharp, of Mingo, is home from the Army with an honorable discharge after long service in the European area.
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Tech-Sergeant Earl C. Gay, of the Medical Corps, stationed in Italy, writes to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pay Gay, that he expects to be home by Thanksgiving.
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Corporal Argile C. Arbogast has returned to his home at Millpoint with an honorable discharge from the Army.
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Lieutenant Woodrow Shinaberry is on furlough at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Shinaberry, of Cloverlick. His outfit was attached to Patton’s Third Army as support troops to the famous Fourth Armored. He was in Czechoslovakia when the war ended. He wears the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
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Lieutenant Walt Jett is home from the Navy with an honorable discharge.
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Lieutenant Richard F. Currence, of the Navy, is home with an honorable discharge.
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Raymond V. Geiger, Aviation Metalsmith, first class, is home from Tokyo Bay on a short leave with his wife and sons at Norfolk, Virginia, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ellett Higgins on Spruce Flats. Raymond spent nine months in the Pacific. He served on the great air-craft carrier the U. S. S. Shangri La.
NOTES
My friend, S. D. Beale, of Mingo, vouches for this interesting news item about Uncle Lee Arbogast and his one man sawmill industry, and he has never yet gone on a strike. Uncle Lee is 82 years old, and yet he operates a steam sawmill without any help whatsoever. He cuts fire wood on the saw; fires the boiler; rolls the logs on the carriage; saws them into good lumber; off bears the lumber from the saw; and barrows the sawdust a distance of 50 to 100 feet to keep it out of the river. On Saturdays, he operates a grist mill, grinding meal and crushing corn for the whole community. At harvest time, Uncle Lee still cuts his grass with a scythe, putting up enough hay to winter two cows.
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Arch Galford of Galford’s Creek has a pack of four as good a bear dogs as ever put nose to a trail or ever fought a bear. His poor luck recently has been delayed in the reporting on the part of those who have lost sheep by bears. Even sign as strong as bear does get cold, and bears do wander far.
Dallas Tacey of Back Alleghany is outfitting himself again with a pack of bear dogs. He got some pups of his own old bear fighting strain over in Virginia.
A recent loser of sheep by bears on Back Alleghany is Price Kessler.
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On the first day of the squirrel season Mrs. Parley Kincaid went hunting on the High Top of the Alleghany. She was doing very well getting her quota of squirrels, when she heard a noise. It was a big bear coming through the forest. Lady and bear saw each other about the same time; the bear ran so the lady did not have to run.
On the first day of the open season for wild turkeys, Mrs. Parley Kincaid went turkey hunting on the High Top of the Allegheny. While watching and waiting for turkeys, doggone, if another big bear did not turn up. Seems like the bears of the High Top have the habit of following this lady around.
HOSPITAL PATIENTS
Arbovale – J. A. Patterson, condition good.
Marlinton – Mrs. Tipton Dilley, condition same; Bernard VanReenen, condition good; W. J. Abbott, condition somewhat improved.
Mrs. Hansford Allen and son, born October 17; mother and baby doing nicely.
Mrs. Lloyd Reed and daughter, born October 27; mother and baby doing nicely.
Slaty Fork – Miss Minnie Vandevender has undergone a tonsillectomy.
Mrs. Hazel Vandevender and daughter born October 28; both doing nicely.
Dunmore – Mrs. Eliott Gragg, condition is good.