Signal
Corps Successes The Final Story – How Seven Signal OCS
Graduates From Class 42-06
Built The
103rd Infantry Division’s Signal Company
– Epilogue –
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continuing...
As the war drew to a close, in April,
the Company focused on maintenance of
its equipment. Readers will recall that
Captain Beck had been
nearly court-martialed because of
the bad job his men had been doing with
regard to vehicle maintenance. As a
result of that experience, not only did he see to
it that his men focused on vehicle and
equipment maintenance, but he did so
himself. He wrote that on 12 June, 1945:
“Today I donned coveralls and spent the
day in my motor shop with my mechanics.
Having the responsibility for so many
vehicles kind of makes me feel uneasy
when I am not an automotive engineer. It
is a good thing that I have such a good
Motor Officer—Mr. St.CIN.”
In addition to maintenance duty, the
unit continued to perform its usual
communications support duties. Over the
first two days of May, the 103rd Signal
Company undertook the installation and
commissioning of a new Division
communications network, to support the
final Allied drive into the heart of
Austria, and then on to Italy.
One of the tasks they undertook in
relation to this new network was the
provisioning of communication systems to
support the junction with the Fifth
Army, at Brenner Pass. This involved
linking earlier communication networks
they had built in the early part of the
war (in November and December, 1944)
through the rugged snow-covered Vosges,
then down and across the Rhine River
plain, and on into and through the
Siegfried Line, and from there across the Rhine River itself and on
through Southern Germany and Austria, to
where they were now. This they then
linked with the networks coming out of
Italy.
Commanders in the 103 I.D.’s
Headquarters took note of the
achievements of the 103rd Signal
Company, commenting that the fact that a
major portion of this communication
network was constructed, operated, and
maintained through some of the roughest
terrain in Continental Europe, under
advancing combat conditions, was a credit to the “ingenuity,
initiative, and aggressiveness of the
entire Signal Company personnel.”
Among the systems the 103rd Division’s
Signal Company installed were automatic
private branch exchanges, to serve
Innsbruck’s needs. To support phone
connections, commercial wire and cable
was policed up from the city and
surrounding areas, and utilized to the
fullest extent, in order to conserve
field wire. Additionally, to enable
these systems local workers were
recruited, taught cable splicing, and
then sent into the
field under the Company’s supervision to
rehabilitate the “tall cables in the
Innsbruck area,” cables that had been
damaged during the war.
A radio code school was also set up by
the Company, constructed from captured
German equipment and other improvised
materials. This school served the
purpose of providing field refresher
training for 20 of the Company’s men,
who would then go on to become operators
in various support units, where as well
as processing coded cables, they would
train their own replacements before
returning to the Company.
During all of this time the
communication networks the Company set
up experienced an exceptionally heavy
traffic load. Part of this was due to
the massive number of Allied units that
found themselves camping in the
immediate vicinity of Innsbruck. On
average, the traffic load exceeded 4,000
calls every twenty-four hour period. The
local commercial exchange, whose
operation was overseen by the 103rd
Signal Company, consisted of
approximately 4,500 working lines, and
was just as busy. However, because
Headquarters could not assure that it
wasn’t being used for clandestine
purposes, the Seventh Army ordered that
it be shut down on 21 May 1945. Only
those lines essential to the functions
of the City and local military
detachments were left in operation.
Work or no work, center in every man’s
mind was when the “next shoe would
fall.” That is, while the post-war
period found the men of the 103rd
experiencing everything from boredom to
make-work, real work, and more, what
occupied everyone’s mind was what role
the War in the Pacific was going to have
on their lives. It was at about this
time, in early May, 1945, that plans for
the movement of troops from Europe to
the Pacific were announced.
As the orders were explained, men with
sufficient service (measured in points)
would be transferred into veteran units,
and discharged. This meant that members
of the 103rd Infantry Division and other
units that had been engaged in combat
for less than a year would more likely
than not be sent to the Pacific, to
fight the Japanese. Considering that the
103rd Signal Company served the 103rd
I.D., and had marched and fought
alongside of it for its whole time in
Europe, and that the 103rd I.D. had only
about 210 days of combat duty to its
credit, the only conclusion that could
be drawn from this was that the men of
the 103rd Signal Company would be
assigned to units that would move back
through the United States, have a few
days of rest at home, and then be
shipped on to Japan.
The first group of
Signal men to leave
Innsbruck were assigned to the Signal
Company of the 5th Infantry Division.
For some unknown reason, these men were
part of a "fast track back through the
United States and then to the Pacific
war" group that was moving out before
the idea of packing up and moving out had
even settled into the minds of most of
the other units. When their plight was
learned, every other Signals unit
stopped to take notice, watching closely
to see how the process worked.
One of the Signaleers from the 103rd, a man named
Evans, reported that...
“About the end of
June, I said goodbye to the 103rd
‘Cactus’ Infantry Division and to
Innsbruck and headed east, eventually
arriving at Vilschaffen, a town close to
the Czechoslovakian border on the Danube
River.
“I along with other[s]... [were]
assigned to the 5th Infantry Division
Signal Company. We had a few more days
to enjoy the beautiful scenery, during
which we liberated a couple of outboard
motor boats and spent a lot of time
boating up and down the Danube.
“We were just marking time while other
G.I.s from other units were reassigned
to the 5th Division. We took the Cactus
shoulder patches off of our uniforms and
replaced them with the Red Diamond of
the 5th Infantry Division.
“Eventually, the rosters (of the 5th
division) were full, we had been through
innumerable inspections, and we were
ready for the trip back to the U.S. …”
Unbeknownst to Evans, what was happening
was that Headquarter companies were
counting each man’s points, and
reassigning them to units where other
men with similar numbers of points were
serving. In this way, a reconstructed
unit could be sent, newly complemented
but still intact, to that place where it
could best serve in the war on Japan.
While rumors were rampant, and
reassignments painful, the truth was
that there was a plan, and it was
working. In the case of the men of the
103rd Signal Company, those with low
numbers found themselves being
transferred to the 45th Signal Company,
a sure sign that the 45th was on its way
to fight in Japan. Those with higher
numbers stayed in the 103rd, a rather
comforting sign that the 103rd was
heading back to the States, rather than
Japan.
Captain Beck himself found that he was
going to be transferred to the 45th Signal
Company of the "Thunderbird" Division.
There he would be assigned command of
the 45th Signal Company. To keep him
company, nearly every man with less than
85 points went with him, again showing
that what was left of the 103rd would
likely end up going back to the States
for good, as their point count was too
high for reassignment to the Pacific
War.
By 3 July 1945, all of the officers and
men who were to be transferred out of
the 103rd Signal Company, had left. For
those that stayed behind, the reality
was bittersweet. They were happy that
they were heading back to the States,
but sad that their combat buddies had
left them, and were now moving on to
their next fight. For those that had
transferred out to the 45th, the only
solace they had was the fact that for
all practical purposes the 45th was in
reality the 103rd, but with a different
arm patch.
What Captain Beck was to learn however
was that it was not as simple as that.
The fact of the matter was that
redeployment in the European Theatre of
Operations worked on the basis of units
being brought in from all parts of
Europe to one of the many assembly area
camps, where they would then be
processed either for return to the US or
direct shipment to what was called the
CBI (China, Burma, India combat area).
Initially
Captain Beck was sent to the Camp St.
Louis processing area. Once he arrived there
however, he was catalogued and
categorized and moved on again to
a staging area closer to the port of
embarkation (POE). There too he found
himself undergoing further processing,
after which he was sent on to a final
staging area where he was told he would wait for his
passage to his next assignment area.
Since nearly everyone was shipping out
by ship, and the final staging area was
where the ships loaded, the time spent
in this final staging area was usually
just a
few days. With the ships sitting in
port, waiting for the men, once all of
the business of organizing the outward
passage was completed, and the manifest
secured, it didn't take long to load the
ship... thus usually within a few short
days of a man's arrival at the POE he found himself
on his ship, watching the shore slowly
slip away... enroute to his next
assignment.
Around about the 7th of August, 1945,
while all of the foregoing was happening to Captain
Beck, news began to circulate around the
staging areas he was passing through
that something big was up.
Students of history know that on
August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber
dropped the world’s first deployed
atomic bomb on the Japanese city of
Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90
percent of the city and immediately
killed 80,000 people. Tens of thousands
more would later die of radiation
exposure. Not surprisingly, it took two days for this
information to reach Captain Beck. On 9
August the news finally arrived, in
sufficient depth and context so that he
knew what had happened. He
was so excited by the news that he
immediately wrote his wife.
“Today was
the day that we all have been spending
long discussions on the merits of this
atomic bomb that was launched against
Japan. Wow! what a bomb! It is very
fortunate that the development of this
massive destructive power was by the
United States and not some foreign
country. Just think of what that bomb
can do in conquering the world.”
One can only imagine what this incredible
news meant to the tens of thousands of men awaiting,
alongside Captain Beck and his fellow
Officers, for shipment to the Pacific Theatre of War.
As rumors flew around the camps and
staging areas, everyone tried as they
could to find some solid news.
By 11 August, 1945, Captain Beck had
found out more about the story, and was
beginning to reflect on what the bombing
of Japan with this new fangled thing
might mean for him.
First
he wrote that his primary source of news
was Stars and Stripes, which he said he
not only read, but reread over and over
again, savoring every word. He said radio news reached him occasionally
too,
but only sporadically. Even so, he
said that he absorbed everything he could find about
the war in Japan, and the effort the
U.S. was making to bring it to an end.
Deep thinker that he was, he paused in
yet another letter home to speak of his hopes for the future:
“My wishes and plans of the future are
the same as any American G.I. I want a
world to live, which is secure and safe
for my wife and I to raise our little
family. I want a fair chance to make a
living—and my abilities and ambition
will take care of the rest. I want to
return, permanently, soon so that I can
get started and not to be too old to
grow up with my children.”
Reading his personal letters of then,
from today's perspective, it is obvious
that one couldn't ask for a better
example of a
U.S. Army Signal Corps Officer than
Captain Beck. When Signal OCS produced
this graduate, it produced a winner.
His story is incredible... a full tour of combat
duty, fighting his way across Europe, in
command of 300 Signaleers, had left this
man not bitter, but hopeful. Not full of
rancor for what had befallen him, but
full of appreciation for the wonders of
life, and the beauty of what was yet to
come. Without doubt, Captain Beck is an
example of the oft stated phrase that is
applied to World War II veterans: “he
was a member of America’s greatest
generation.” In reading his writing, one
can see the greatness of both Captain
Beck, and that of his
generation, shine through.
By 2 September, VJ Day, the war with
Japan was over. At the time this news
reached them the men of
the 45th were waiting to ship out for
Japan. Camped at the Le Havre docks and
waiting to be assigned a ship, the
tension they had been feeling eased a
bit. All low numbered men, where before
they knew they were headed for combat
duty, now they were sure that they would
end up performing occupation duties.
Finally, for them, the fighting was over. No attacks on the
fortifications of Japan, no jungle
combat… just occupation duty. God was
good. A little slow, but good.
The next morning, a foggy day, the men
loaded themselves onto the Madawaska
Victory, and after throwing off a few
lines the vessel pulled out past
scuttled hulls, and headed for Wales.
The passage was planned to take 7 days.
As they progressed the weather was calm,
and there were no storms. About the time
they were off the Plymouth Lighthouse,
to the south of England, the
ship’s public address system blared out
a call for everyone to listen up. “Attention on deck,"
it beckoned "there has
been a change of orders.” And just like
that, in an instant, the men found that
they would now be proceeding to Boston
instead of Wales, England.
They were going home... immediately.
As fast as the announcement was over, celebrations broke out
across the ship. Hats were tossed
in the air and overboard, as were gas masks and
anything else the men could get their
hands on. Everyone was euphoric, as they
were almost certain that when they
disembarked in Boston they would find
out that as low as their "point system"
scores were, they would still be high
enough to warrant a full discharge...
hopefully right
away. After all, the war in Japan was
over... they were no longer
needed.
Regardless of whether this quasi-truth,
quasi-wish turned out to be the fact or
not, every
man formerly a member of the 103rd
Signal Company celebrated, saying that
their trip back was proving to be a much
more enjoyable trip than the one going
over.
By 11 September the ship was standing
off of Cape Cod, in a pea soup. Foggy
though it was, eventually the U.S.
mainland appeared, and a cheer went out.
Yet the cheer was not as loud as that
which proceeded when a few minutes later the men noticed
that a boat load of WACs had approached
the vessel. Strangely, as full as it
was, the boat did not capsize as
everyone clambered to the port side to
cheer the women on.
Within a short while, the vessel docked
in Boston Harbor, the men were unloaded,
and everyone moved off to Camp Miles
Standish. “There, the fastest all-night
processing imaginable had us on board
appropriate trains to all parts of the
USA.” Heading for Separation Centers,
the men were going home. There they
would be given 30 days of rest. For
some, their time in the Army would end
there. For others, after their leave,
they would move on to a new unit, where
they would report to finish out their
enlistment.
Most of the men of the now 45th Signal
Company (essentially, the new version of
the 103rd Signal Company) were told to
report to Camp Bowie, Texas, after their
30 days at home. By early to mid
November, 1945, those assigned to Camp
Bowie had gathered
there.
What they found surprised
them. The 45th was being deactivated.
On
21 November, the 45th Signal Company
ceased to exist. A few men, lifers
mostly,
moved on to yet another assignment; most
however packed their duffel bags and
headed for home. One of the men noted
years after that day that on his last day
on base, as he was heading for the bus
stop, he walked with his “duffel bag,
etc across the main entrance courtyard
of Camp Bowie, with its tall flagpole
and large, waving American flag…”
At that point he noticed that an
“impressive color-guard marched out for
the retreat ceremony and the lowering of
the colors.”
“I was there alone in that broad
expanse, except for the active
participants in the ceremony, when the
bugle [sounded] 'To the Colors'.
"Standing there in my uniform, saluting
for the last time on my last day of
active service, I experienced those
highly emotional feelings millions of
other service men have felt before and
since.
“We were honored to serve with so many
others. I and the other men of the 103rd
Infantry Division and its Signal Company
will never forget the times, the places,
and OUR MEN.”
With such simple words, this Signaleer
of the 103rd Signal Company expressed
what so many former Signaleers have felt
down through the ages... at the end of
every war, at the end of every
enlistment, on a soldier's last day in uniform: love of
country, love of service, love of the
Signal Corps, and love of those we
served with.
fe
103rd Signal Company Battle Stars
The 103rd Signal Company engaged in the
following 34 battles from the time they
went "on the line" until the surrender
of German forces on Victory in Europe
(V-E) Day (11 Nov 44 - 8 May 44).
Taintrux Valley, France
Saulcy, France
Steige, France
Ville, France
Maisongoutte, France
Dambach-la-Ville, France
Selestat, France
Mertzwiller, France
Climbach, France
Rott, France
Bobenthal, Germany
Sarreguemines, France
Sessenheim, France
Schillersdorf, France
Moder River, France
Neider Schlettenbach, France
Reisdorf, Germany
Klingenmunster, Germany
Kircheim, Germany
Nurtingen, Germany
Munsingen, Germany
Bohringen, Germany
Turkheim, Germany
Schongau, Germany
Partenkirchen, Germany
Klaus, Germany
Landsberg, Germany
Scharnitz, Austria
Leithen, Austria
Zirl, Austria
Innsbruck, Austria
Brenner Pass, Austria
103rd Signal Company Campaigns
For its role in the European Theater of
Operations, the 103rd Signal Company was
credited with participation in three
campaigns. In military terms, this means
that the Division and Regimental colors
are authorized campaign streamers to be
affixed, and soldiers of the Division
are entitled to three campaign stars
mounted on their individual
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign
medal and ribbon.
The three campaigns, the War Department
General Order, and the date authorized
are as follows:
Rhineland (WDGO 118, 12 Dec 1945) (15
Sep 44 - 21 Mar 45)
Ardennes-Alsace (WDGO 63, 20 Sep 1948)
(16 Dec 44 - 25 Jan 45)
Central Europe (WDGO 116, 11 Dec 1945)
(22 Mar 45 - 11 May 45)
Additional Information
The following background information for Captain Beck is
quoted from Evans, Pierce; Papa's
War, Limited Publication 1995:
“Throughout his civilian life, before and after military
service, Bernie Beck worked in the field of sales promotion
advertising. He was an accomplished commercial artist and
calligrapher. After his discharge from active service, he
held executive positions in national advertising agencies
and organized his own firms under the names Bernard Beck
Associates.
“Beck eventually retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a
Lieutenant Colonel. His military awards included the Bronze
Star, the Good Conduct Medal, the Emergency Service Medal,
the Purple Heart and Service Ribbon with two battle stars.
“Beck was married to Roslyn Nasser
until he died. They had two children, Paul Beck, an
Electronics Engineer and Andy Beck, an Architect. Bernard
Beck died of a smoking-related heart attack at the young age
of 65 in 1985.”
Reference Sources
Various backround material taken from
Fighting in the Val de oder; Lise M. Pommois, Association
Les Amis de la Libération de Pfaffenhoffen; C. Delbecq, 1989
- Alsace (France).
Many of the comments and quotes in this
series, and especially in this article, were taken from the excellent book
entitled 103d Infantry
Division Signal Company Remembrances; 1918 – 1945,
by William F. Barclay. Some portions of
the text in this article are a literal
rewrite of a few parahraphs of that
book. The text of the book is currently in the process of being placed
online, and is available in partial form at this
link.
Of note, text and
pictures are being added to the online version by the son of
Captain Beck. We have depended heavily in our quoting the
writings of Captain Beck, and in using
his observations to add color to this
story, on information contained in this
book, which information most certainly
must have come from Captain Beck's son
Andy Beck. Our expressed gratitude for
his having provided it for inclusion in
the 103d Infantry
Division Signal Company Remembrances;
1918 – 1945,
and for the chance to quote from it
here.
In addition to the above, generally, quotations shown, unless otherwise
identified, were excerpted and extracted
from 103d Infantry
Division Signal Company Remembrances; 1918 – 1945,
by William F. Barclay. However, because
of the extensive use of what we
believe was Barclay's
book as source material for other
deep web sources, from which we in turn
extracted data for use here, we can not
say with certainty that the material
used here originally came from Barclay's
book. Notwithstanding this, the nature
of the quotations and stories appearing
in such deep web sources leads us to
believe that it was originally sourced from
Mr. Barclay's book, and accordingly we
wish to provide credit here.
Pictures from various online sources.
When shown without identification, no
identifying source was able to be found.
The Patriot Files; dedicated to
the preservation of military history;
www.patriotfiles.com.
Generally, map graphics and references courtesy
www.103rdcactus.com.
Papa's War, Evans, Pierce;
Limited Publication, 1995; various
online sources.
Report After Action: The Story of
the 103rd Infantry Division;
Mueller, Ralph; Turk, Jerry; Printing
Office, Innsbruck, Austria.
Index of /Sexton/103rd; deep
web sourcing.
103D Infantry Division Signal
Company History, online as a
Pierce-Evans.org project.
103rd Infantry Division,
Wartime Press.
Miscellaneous fact checking: The Patriot
Files; an online resource dedicated to
the preservation of military history.
PPhoto of German soldiers surrendering
outside of Dachau reproduced courtesy of
Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and
Heroes' Remembrance Authority.
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