Sgt Richard “Railroad” Lee 65th/9th ID uniform grouping

[36thIDAlex]

Hey y’all! In the midst of this winter snowstorm I thought I would share a really nice group I got recently from a fellow forum member to a fairly hard to find late-war division. This set belonged to Sergeant Richard “Railroad” Lee who served as the communications chief for HQ Co., 2nd Bn., 261st IR of the 65th Infantry Division from its foundation all the way to the end of the war. During his service, he was wounded by a German machine gun round which hit him in the back during the fight over the small village of Wenfried.

 

 

 

Richard Reginald Randolph “Railroad” Lee was born the son of a WWI veteran and cattle farmer outside the small North Carolina town of Clayton in 1921. After returning home from the Great War, Richard’s father settled down in the town of 1,700 and pursued a quiet career away from the noise of life where a family could be raised in peace. Richard grew up as many American farm boys did, doing chores, cleaning up after animals, and generally helping his father sustain their family business. Even with the limited educational opportunities afforded in such a small community, Richard did well enough that in 1941 he earned a spot at North Carolina State University and decided to pursue a degree in agricultural studies. A first-generation college student, life in Raleigh was much different from Clayton but it was through the support of soon-to-be lifelong friends that Richard would last. With the war ramping up Richard joined the Army Enlisted Reserve Corps in hopes that his status as a college student with minimal service would allow him to remain exempt from overseas time. That dream did not last too long, however, and in November of 1942 he was called up for service in the regular US Army.

 

Less than two weeks later Richard found himself at Fort Bragg amongst a large group of college students who had also enlisted in the Army Reserve and been called up for active duty. As a class, Richard and his fellow collegiates trained as a heavy weapons company and learned the ropes of operating 81mm mortars and .30 heavy machine guns. While going through basic, Richard became fast friends with Robert Patton, another North Carolinian who had been called out of Davidson College and earned the nickname “Railroad” which would stay with him throughout combat in Europe and even the years after. Both got very close and ended up serving throughout most of the war together as battle buddies. After 7 or 8 weeks of training Richard and Bob were both assigned to the newly activated 65th Infantry Division, the last to be activated, which was forming up at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Upon arrival the pair found themselves amongst the first cadre of officers and non-coms to make up the division. With Bob a well-regarded typist and Richard a fast runner, both were assigned to the Hq Company of 2nd Battalion, 261st Infantry Regiment. Richard specifically joined the communications platoon of the company and oversaw the delivery of messages and orders between the companies of the battalion of its commanding field staff. Training at Shelby continued for the next two years until the 65th was finally called for European duty, setting sail on January 10th, 1945.

 

The “Battleaxe” division arrived eleven days later and spent their first month in theater learning from combat veterans about the conditions they were about to face. As the first troops began making their way to relieve the 26th Infantry Division at the Saar, Richard and bob both received promotions to sergeant, Richard now commanding the entire communications platoon with the title of “Message Center Chief.” Responsible for sending, receiving, coding, and decoding all messages for the battalion in and out of combat, Richard became an essential part of the machine to keep his battalion running and effective in the battlefield. The division saw its first action clearing German resistance near Menningen and down into the Saar river valley, finishing the month of March crossing the Rhine to attack Fulda with the 6th Armored Division on April 2nd.

 

Exhausted but chugging along, Richard gained a brief day of rest after contacting the armored boys but as night came so too did new orders to capture a German bridge at Muhlhausen. While no German forces remained inside the city, a series of defensive lines outside the limits prevented the GIs of the 65th from capturing the town without a fight. Little did they know, the delay caused by the German defenders was covering a mass relocation of women prisoners located at a concentration labor camp just outside the city. Regardless, the 261st pushed onwards toward their objective. One of these defensive lines was set up in the small village of Wenfried. As a German detachment had dug in along the riverbanks and hills surrounding the town, American forces worked in darkness to dislodge the opposition and advance to the main objective. In the pitch-black Richard ran constantly trying to keep up with the advancing companies of his battalion ensuring that critical orders could maintain the advance. On one of these trips he was not so lucky. A German machine-gunner sighted his dark outline amongst the trees and opened a spray of fire. Thankfully the stream, while accurate, was misguided and a single round made its way straight across Richard’s upper back, tearing his skin and muscle but not lodging itself inside his torso. Had the German tilted his gun ever more forward, it is likely Richard would have never made it home. According to Bob, it was “a million-dollar wound.”

 

Richard only needed some treatment at the field aid station before he was able to rejoin the battalion and finish the drive into the Nazi heartland. The 261st finished the war with a tough fight over the territory south of Regensburg, driving through the Inn and Enns river before making contact with the advancing Soviet Army near Strengberg on May 8th, 1945. During occupation the division remained in Austria until it was broken up and sent home that August. Richard and Bob ended up having to stay a little bit longer and were transferred, together, to the 1st Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division performing the same jobs they had done in combat. They served with the 9th for a few more months but were allowed to come home in the spring of 1946. Richard went back to his small-town community of Clayton and there settled on a 500-acre cattle farm he raised and sold for beef for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, about six months after he came home Richard’s arm got stuck in a hay bailer and it had to be amputated at the shoulder. Not one to let this get him down, he stuck to his farming and, never marrying, spent his entire life living alone and raising his 50-head herd all on his own, even birthing the cows by himself with his single arm. In his post-war years Richard became a very religious man and ended up writing an entire book on faith in his life which was sadly never published. He became a highly respected member of his church and community and even decades later when Bob found his phone number, still answered to his old army nickname, “Railroad.”

 

 

 

The set is very cool to see in its entirety. While the uniform does have some mothing issues, the completeness and insignia more than make up for it. Besides his ribbon and CIB, the jacket has German-made lapel DUIs of the 60th IR and custom white-bordered 65th and 9th division patches on either shoulder. The group also contains his souvenir bag, bring back papers, an original cadre roster for the 261st IR with his name on it, a newspaper from the SS New Bern Victory, and his engraved replacement Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals. In all a really solid group from an often-overlooked division that helped push our boys into the German heartland.

 

Map of Wenfried and surrounding areas

[Timberwolf]

Nice write up! This was a great find.

[BILL THE PATCH]

Yes it is, great story.

Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk

[ViperChief]

Wow!! 
 

Bob Patton was a close friend of mine for many years. My Grandfather served in the division (259th, K. Co.) and I’ve been very active in the association for some time. 
 

Awesome to see it! 

[ViperChief]

On 2/16/2021 at 1:18 PM, 36thIDAlex said:

 

Hey y’all! In the midst of this winter snowstorm I thought I would share a really nice group I got recently from a fellow forum member to a fairly hard to find late-war division. This set belonged to Sergeant Richard “Railroad” Lee who served as the communications chief for HQ Co., 2nd Bn., 261st IR of the 65th Infantry Division from its foundation all the way to the end of the war. During his service, he was wounded by a German machine gun round which hit him in the back during the fight over the small village of Wenfried.

 

 

 

Richard Reginald Randolph “Railroad” Lee was born the son of a WWI veteran and cattle farmer outside the small North Carolina town of Clayton in 1921. After returning home from the Great War, Richard’s father settled down in the town of 1,700 and pursued a quiet career away from the noise of life where a family could be raised in peace. Richard grew up as many American farm boys did, doing chores, cleaning up after animals, and generally helping his father sustain their family business. Even with the limited educational opportunities afforded in such a small community, Richard did well enough that in 1941 he earned a spot at North Carolina State University and decided to pursue a degree in agricultural studies. A first-generation college student, life in Raleigh was much different from Clayton but it was through the support of soon-to-be lifelong friends that Richard would last. With the war ramping up Richard joined the Army Enlisted Reserve Corps in hopes that his status as a college student with minimal service would allow him to remain exempt from overseas time. That dream did not last too long, however, and in November of 1942 he was called up for service in the regular US Army.

 

Less than two weeks later Richard found himself at Fort Bragg amongst a large group of college students who had also enlisted in the Army Reserve and been called up for active duty. As a class, Richard and his fellow collegiates trained as a heavy weapons company and learned the ropes of operating 81mm mortars and .30 heavy machine guns. While going through basic, Richard became fast friends with Robert Patton, another North Carolinian who had been called out of Davidson College and earned the nickname “Railroad” which would stay with him throughout combat in Europe and even the years after. Both got very close and ended up serving throughout most of the war together as battle buddies. After 7 or 8 weeks of training Richard and Bob were both assigned to the newly activated 65th Infantry Division, the last to be activated, which was forming up at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Upon arrival the pair found themselves amongst the first cadre of officers and non-coms to make up the division. With Bob a well-regarded typist and Richard a fast runner, both were assigned to the Hq Company of 2nd Battalion, 261st Infantry Regiment. Richard specifically joined the communications platoon of the company and oversaw the delivery of messages and orders between the companies of the battalion of its commanding field staff. Training at Shelby continued for the next two years until the 65th was finally called for European duty, setting sail on January 10th, 1945.

 

The “Battleaxe” division arrived eleven days later and spent their first month in theater learning from combat veterans about the conditions they were about to face. As the first troops began making their way to relieve the 26th Infantry Division at the Saar, Richard and bob both received promotions to sergeant, Richard now commanding the entire communications platoon with the title of “Message Center Chief.” Responsible for sending, receiving, coding, and decoding all messages for the battalion in and out of combat, Richard became an essential part of the machine to keep his battalion running and effective in the battlefield. The division saw its first action clearing German resistance near Menningen and down into the Saar river valley, finishing the month of March crossing the Rhine to attack Fulda with the 6th Armored Division on April 2nd.

 

Exhausted but chugging along, Richard gained a brief day of rest after contacting the armored boys but as night came so too did new orders to capture a German bridge at Muhlhausen. While no German forces remained inside the city, a series of defensive lines outside the limits prevented the GIs of the 65th from capturing the town without a fight. Little did they know, the delay caused by the German defenders was covering a mass relocation of women prisoners located at a concentration labor camp just outside the city. Regardless, the 261st pushed onwards toward their objective. One of these defensive lines was set up in the small village of Wenfried. As a German detachment had dug in along the riverbanks and hills surrounding the town, American forces worked in darkness to dislodge the opposition and advance to the main objective. In the pitch-black Richard ran constantly trying to keep up with the advancing companies of his battalion ensuring that critical orders could maintain the advance. On one of these trips he was not so lucky. A German machine-gunner sighted his dark outline amongst the trees and opened a spray of fire. Thankfully the stream, while accurate, was misguided and a single round made its way straight across Richard’s upper back, tearing his skin and muscle but not lodging itself inside his torso. Had the German tilted his gun ever more forward, it is likely Richard would have never made it home. According to Bob, it was “a million-dollar wound.”

 

Richard only needed some treatment at the field aid station before he was able to rejoin the battalion and finish the drive into the Nazi heartland. The 261st finished the war with a tough fight over the territory south of Regensburg, driving through the Inn and Enns river before making contact with the advancing Soviet Army near Strengberg on May 8th, 1945. During occupation the division remained in Austria until it was broken up and sent home that August. Richard and Bob ended up having to stay a little bit longer and were transferred, together, to the 1st Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division performing the same jobs they had done in combat. They served with the 9th for a few more months but were allowed to come home in the spring of 1946. Richard went back to his small-town community of Clayton and there settled on a 500-acre cattle farm he raised and sold for beef for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, about six months after he came home Richard’s arm got stuck in a hay bailer and it had to be amputated at the shoulder. Not one to let this get him down, he stuck to his farming and, never marrying, spent his entire life living alone and raising his 50-head herd all on his own, even birthing the cows by himself with his single arm. In his post-war years Richard became a very religious man and ended up writing an entire book on faith in his life which was sadly never published. He became a highly respected member of his church and community and even decades later when Bob found his phone number, still answered to his old army nickname, “Railroad.”

 

 

 

The set is very cool to see in its entirety. While the uniform does have some mothing issues, the completeness and insignia more than make up for it. Besides his ribbon and CIB, the jacket has German-made lapel DUIs of the 60th IR and custom white-bordered 65th and 9th division patches on either shoulder. The group also contains his souvenir bag, bring back papers, an original cadre roster for the 261st IR with his name on it, a newspaper from the SS New Bern Victory, and his engraved replacement Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals. In all a really solid group from an often-overlooked division that helped push our boys into the German heartland.

 

Map of Wenfried and surrounding areas

 

Wow!!!

 

I wanted to you know…Bob Patton was one of my closest friends growing up, I truly loved the man and miss him dearly. What a kick that I own his friends grouping!!

 

Thanks for sharing, and glad to be the new caretaker of this group! 

[36thIDAlex]

1 hour ago, ViperChief said:

Wow!!!

 

I wanted to you know…Bob Patton was one of my closest friends growing up, I truly loved the man and miss him dearly. What a kick that I own his friends grouping!!

 

Thanks for sharing, and glad to be the new caretaker of this group! 

That is really amazing to hear how close you were with Bob, sounds like Lee’s group was fated to end up with you. Both of them were great buddies for their entire lives so I can’t imagine this group in better hands than where it is now!