Belleau Wood 94 years ago

[devildog34]

I hope I'm not beating the topic into the ground and driving other forum member nuts with these posts, but given that there are ironically 2 similar stories of valor by several groups of men from the same company on the same day I am posting their stories here. Without getting into the information too much I am just reposting the same text to give quick and brief background and context of what happened to put these 7 men into such a scenario.

 

see the link for the other post. This is a very crazy irony to have these two groups so similar to two men from the same company for similar actions on the same day, a testament to how thick the woods were with Germans and the unfathomable bravery of these men.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...=146233&hl=

 

On June 11, 1918, the 2nd battalion 5th Marines managed to fight their way into Belleau Wood under horrendous conditions and at a significant loss of men (specifically the 51st and 43rd Companies). The confusion and errors in linking up with the 1st Bn 6th Marines meant that the better part of a German battalion stood between them and the left flank of the 1st Battalion 6th Marines. Unaware of the miscalculation the battalion continued to work their way east towards the woods. In the dense woods, dotted with numerous and well-concealed enemy machine gun positions liaison between companies, platoons and even squads was incredibly complicated. Eventually reaching the eastern face of the woods, the surviving company commanders believed they had reached the northern fringe of the woods, a testament to the complicated conditions. Relaying the erroneous report to regiment, then division and eventually AEF headquarters, Lt. Col. Frederick Wise was unaware of the error but unfortunately the news was out. The following day newspapers reported of the success at Belleau Woods, a battle that for the past week had captured the attention of the public back home and for the time was the biggest news coming from the warfront. Making good on the error would fall, as it always does, upon the backs of the Privates, Corporals, Sergeants and Junior officers of the regiment. After costly attacks into the northern sector of Belleau Wood on June 12, the 2nd Bn 5th Marines suffered yet again heavy casualties. During the night of June 12-13, the Germans unleashed a horrendous and violent artillery barrage on the American lines in the woods both upon 2/5 and 1/6. The hours of bombardment have been described by those that lived through it as the worst they experienced in the entire war.

 

According to Lt. Col. Frederick Wise: "They gave us an awful panning. It lasted for about two hours. It was the heaviest artillery hammering I ever took in my life. The drum fire we had stoodon the ridge before we attacked the Bois de Belleau had been child's play compared to it. High explosives from those German hundred and fifty-fives and plenty of seventy-sevens made a hell out of that stretch of woods. Trees crashed, torn to splinters. Jagged limbs and jagged fragments of steel filled the air. The sharp stench of the high explosive choked us and started us sneezing; irritated our noses and throats until it hurt to breathe."

 

The following day the Marines resumed the attack to reduce the remaining Germans from the woods. The 18th Company, who moved out from their fighting holes at dawn after the previous evening's long and thunderous artillery bombardment, immediately ran into several enemy machine gun positions concealed in the center of the northern half of the woods. As 2nd Lieutenatn Chester Fraser's platoon of the 18th Company advanced, 7 members of the 2nd Lieutenant Herman Zischke advanced beyond the platoon and the rest of the company to pinpoint enemy strong points. The men managed to locate an isolated German position and quickly maneuvered on it and successfully surrounded it. Pouring down fire upon the enemy, the men were successful in securing the surrender of one enemy officer and 22 men. Each of the 7 were recommended for a distinguished service cross which was denied. Nonetheless, their bravery and zeal likely eliminated one enemy position that could have created havoc for the company in their advance through the dense tangle of woods and undergrowth in that northern half of the woods.

 

Those brave Marines were:

21 year old Sergeant Guy C. Stickney a laborer from Bothell, Washington

21 year old Corporal Adolph L. Betz a laborer from Alton, Illinois

25 year old Private Omar A. Rice of Chadron, Nebraska

22 year old Private Louis Hill a laborer from Duluth, Minnesota

21 year old Private Frank A. Reed of Waunets Nebraska

23 year old Private Fred J. Dewiit of Chicago, Ill (Dewitt celebrated his 23rd birthday only 3 days earlier)

21 year old Private Ora J. Easton a machinist and part time rancher from San Bernadino, California.

 

Among these men, Cpl. Betz's medals are featured.

[devildog34]

Here is the back of the star and a photo of Betz taken after the war.

[devildog34]

Closeup of Betz's silver star. There is also a named sharpshooters medal which I cannot get a great flushed scan of. The box of the silver star is also photographed with the number that correlates to the rim number on the medal.

[devildog34]

Betz's low rim number'd star suggests he applied for it in '32 or early '33 but unfortunately this info was not copied by the researcher. I need to obtain a complete file and request the award card. His good conduct medal is in the higher range for WWI awarded good conduct medals. 65940 is the rim number which correlates to his service records see bottom of enlistment card. There seems to be a correlation between those who were severely wounded and did not return to action and higher end serial numbered GCM's although the previous post of Joseph L. Ball's group disputes this. Maybe it's coincidence but in looking through these records I have seen a few examples of early war enlistmens who were wounded getting higher number GCM's.

[devildog34]

Original write up which is personalized for all 7 Marines but worded the exact same.

[devildog34]

Here is Adolph after the war along with a Catholic prayer card from his funeral in 1971. Adolph obviously had a purple heart as there is a lapel pin with the group but according the niece where this came from there was no purple heart with it. I maybe floating around out there somewhere.

[BigJohn#3RD]

Kevin,

The courage and sacrifice of our combat soldier and sailors marines, especially in this historic battle. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

John

[devildog34]

Betz did not remain in action with the company. On July 18, 1918 near Vierzy he was horribley wounded by a gunshot wound to the lower righ thigh that shattered the femur. I cannot imagine the agony of such a wound. He would never fully recover and never again returned to action. He lived the remainder of his life working for the Olin corporation. He died Sept. 11, 1971.

[devildog34]

Among the other Marines that day who advanced on that enemy position was Ora J. Easton who was also terribly wounded in action before war's end. He was his by shrapnel October 7, 1918 at Blanc Mont Ridge. He suffered a comminuted fracture of the lower end of the radius on his left arm. He would lose some bone mass. The same explosion peppered his abdomen with shrapnel which severed part of the intenstine. He survived the war only to be tragically killed July 6, 1935 while working as a rancher. While branding a calf he sustained a goring wound to the left side of his chest that resulted in pulmonary hemoraging that killed him.

[devildog34]

One of the other 7 was Louis Hill, a laborer from Duluth, MN. Louis was previously cited for valor only a few days earlier on the night of June 9-10 when the position of the company, fronting the western face of Belleau Wood from the eastern edge of Bois St. Martin came under horrendous artillery fire killing several and wounding yet more. Louis ran up and down the line of 3 platoons as shells exploded volunteering his services as a stretcher bearer to evacuate wounded men despite the extreme exposure to shellfire. Homesickness is something that likely plagued everyone who went to France in 1917-1918 but for Louis that feeling had to have been a truly sickening feeling for just before departing Quantico, Louis's sister wrote him from Libby, MN and notified him that their parents had both died (circumstances of their death is a mystery as I have found nothing as to the cause of death, but undoubtedly an accident) The death of his parents would complicate things and aggrevate the mourning of his sister Carrie McKay months later when she read of her brother's death in the newspaper. The death of Louis's parents meant that the next of kin information was not updated in his records and so when Louis died September 15, 1918 of wounds he received on the same date. The telegram sent to his mother Josephine was obviously never received since she had died over a year earlier.

[devildog34]

One of the other 7 was Frank Reed. Frank was the youngest of the 7 to attack the enemy strong point. Reed would receive the Italian Croce de Guerre ( Never heard of this and have no idea why this was awarded to him but there is reference to it in his records)

[bobgee]

Again - another great tale of Belleau Wood heroes! :bravo: Semper Fi........Bob

[devildog34]

The senior Marine involved was 21 year old Sergeant Guy Stickney of Bothell, Washington. He was a recently promoted Sergeant as of the first of the month. He was wounded July 20th at Soissons but returned to the company October 25th. He was discharged from the Marine Corps June 23, 1919. He passed away in 1980 in his longtime hometown of Bellvue, Washington.

[normaninvasion]

Kevin, You have been posting some amazing stuff recently with excellent research. It has been quite a history lesson. Thank you for keeping the WW1 experience, esp. Belleau Wood, alive. Jeff

[vicjoy1945]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

Fantastic post...again !! Just a fantastic lesson in USMC history !!

 

Vic

[mes]

Kevin Thanks for this post.It's good to see Adolph again and be reminded of his heroism. mark

[boisbelleau]

Bravo!!! and thanks for sharing this...

 

BB

[Popo367]

Kevin,

Amazing reasearch!!!! Thank you for sharing.

 

Enrique

[devildog34]

Remembering these guys 95 years later.

Semper Fi

[Navymm98]

On 6/14/2012 at 5:19 AM, devildog34 said:

Woah! just did a quick search of Alton Ill. and stumbled upon this post. hope its still around! i will definitely have to look up this marine next time im home!

 

[Kurt Barickman]

Kevin does some of the most thorough presentations of USMC!

 

 

Kurt