“Golden Acorn ” 87th Division 345th Inf Co. M

Mr. Bill Travis sat down with us and gave a wonderful interview. We owe him our debt of gratitude, as well as all the veterans who served our great nation. Bill tells us of many interesting events during his time in the European Theater of Operations beginning in late 1944.

We were fortunate that the 87th Infantry Division association has a website with wonderful photos. Many of the photos in the video are from their site. This is a long interview.. but it is well worth your time. Please enjoy and send us some Feed back!!!

Bill Travis

Official History
345th Infantry Regiment

( some pictures in the video, and information below is from the 87th Infantry Division Association website)

http://www.87thinfantrydivision.com/History/345th/Official/index.html

On 9 October 1944, the first of the division’s trains pulled out of Fort Jackson with units of the 345th. Four more trains followed and by 11 October, the regiment was in its new but very temporary home at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.

Passes were to be issued when everyone had completed all the requirements for the overseas movement. On a Friday morning, a small percentage of the men received passes and were soon on their way, but late that afternoon came the electrifying news-leaving tomorrow. Everyone not on an important detail was to leave on a twelve hour pass that very night. New York, Trenton, and Philadelphia were all within two or three hours traveling time of the camp. By 1900 the exodus was in full swing. Buses, taxicabs, and trains bulged with the men bound for a final fling before leaving the United States. Bus lines put on extra vehicles, and the Pennsylvania Railroad put on extra trains to accommodate the division, for all had to be back in ranks at 0600 the following morning.

Sunday afternoon, night, and all day Monday, trains shuttled between the camp and the ferryslips at Jersey City, New Jersey. From Jersey City, ferryboats took over, plowing back and forth across the Hudson River until all were aboard the transport. By midnight, 16 October, the gangplanks were down, and the big ship swayed at her moorings to await the full tide on which she could sail.

The transport was the Queen Elizabeth, the largest and finest ship afloat. Men were crowded, but not uncomfortably, for there was no double loading. Pulling from the pier at 0630, 17 October, the Queen sailed from New York harbor. The sea was calm, the weather clear, the trip uneventful. The ship was unescorted.

GI vaudeville shows and small bands toured the ship daily. Moving pictures were shown every evening on the blacked out decks. Card games, men reading or writing letters, or small groups playing phonographs were a familiar sight on every deck. Others just lined the rails and watched the huge waves, pushed apart by the speeding bow. Two meals a day were served on the voyage; more than five sittings being required to feed the entire complement of passengers.

On 22 October the anchor was dropped in the Clyde River, midway between Gorick and Greenock, Scotland. The 345th disembarked on 23 October. Boarding English trains, the men traveled by daylight to the journey’s end. The regiment was scattered over a twenty square mile area of England’s Midlands-the villages of Biddulph, Stone, Leek, and Peover Hall.

Special Services and the local Red Cross establishments provided dances, moving pictures, concerts by the regimental dance band, and tours of nearby points of interest. Thanksgiving dinner was served at midday 23 November but that night movement orders were received, and the regiment prepared to take its leave of England.

The 345th boarded trains during the night of the 25th and marched through the streets of Southampton the following morning enroute to the docks. The vessels bearing the foot elements arrived off Le Havre harbor in the early evening and anchored for the night. The next morning they moved inside the breakwater, and the troops went over the side into LCIs for ferrying to the shore.

Motor convoys were waiting to carry the regiment to a bivouac area. The following day they arrived at the apple orchards of St. Saens near Rouen in the Red Horse Assembly Area. Rain, cold, fog, and mud combined to make life miserable.

The Saar

On 13 December the entire regiment closed into this rear assembly area by 1600, some 500 yards from Gros Rederching, and dug in for the night. On December 14 orders were received moving the regiment into division reserve. That night intermittent enemy artillery fire landed in the First and Third Battalion area.

On the morning of 15 December, the 345th relieved the 346th Infantry’s First and Second Battalion in the vicinity of Rimling, France. The Second Battalion was in Regimental reserve. At 1500 the Third Battalion moved out. Company I, on the left, and Company K led off. At 1530 a terrific enemy barrage landed on the forward element. It continued to fall intermittently all afternoon inflicting a number of casualties. By dark both companies had reached their objectives and dug in for the night.

At dawn the next morning, 16 December, the attack jumped off again, this time with Company L on the right and Company I on the left. Only slight resistance was met and both companies reached their objectives. However, as Company L was reorganizing an intense enemy shelling forced them to withdraw to more favorable ground. Company I, in a more protected area, remained on the objective until the Second Battalion passed through the Third Battalion the next morning. The First Battalion had jumped off simultaneously with the Third and met little resistance. They had secured their objective at 1045.

On 17 December the Second Battalion moved through the Third Battalion at 0930 toward a new objective two thousand yards ahead-a heavy woods west of Medelsheim, Germany, and covering a ridge running in the general direction of Seyweiler. The first thousand yards were covered in less than forty-five minutes. At 1115 Company E encountered two enemy machine guns and was pinned down. Two enemy tanks appeared 300 yards to the front and opened fire. Soon the entire Second Battalion area was subjected to an intense bombardment.

Company F was moved up on the left flank to assist Company E. During the course of the action, the company suffered many casualties from tree bursts and was forced to withdraw. Company E was now in danger of a counterattack on its exposed left flank. Finally, the battalion commander decided to withdraw to more favorable ground and reorganize the battalion.

The long awaited tanks arrived at 1500 and the unit’s of the Second Battalion were reorganized. The attack resumed at 1530 with Company E on the left and Company G on the right. Despite fields of mines and bitter resistance they pushed forward 500 yards to drive the enemy from his positions. Medelsheim, Germany, was taken-the first German town to fall to the 345th combat team.

On the morning of 19 December, the First Battalion relieved the Second and a defense of the area was established. Snipers were reported from time to time but no major action materialized during the next four days.

On 23 December, the regiment was advised it would be relieved that night by elements of the 44th Infantry Division and would move, by motor, to Cutting, France, some forty miles to the rear. The intermittent rain and snow with temperatures around 15 degrees made life miserable.

On 24 December at 1600 the 345th closed into its new area. Barns and homes combined to provide a degree of warmth and comfort for Christmas Eve. Mail was obtained and distributed during the night. Christmas Day dawned bright and clear. Cooks and bakers worked most of the night to serve a turkey dinner with all the trimmings for the midday meal. The holiday atmosphere prevailed until big Army cargo trucks began arriving to move the regiment once again.

The Battle of the Bulge
Nazi hoards had broken through American defenses along the German-Belgian border between Malmedy, Belgium and Echternach, Luxembourg. Few were aware that the regiment’s sudden departure from the Saar Valley was a direct result of the German’s fifty-mile salient into the Ardennes Forest.

By 1630 on Christmas day, the entire unit was on the road-destination unknown. With the fall of darkness, the thermometer reached a new low. Everyone’s prime consideration became how to keep warm on the tortuous two-hundred mile move.

All night the convoy wound it’s way through France, avoiding all large towns and most of the main highways. Security was of the utmost importance. The division was assigned to the XV Corps, Seventh Army, as a further precaution- the whereabouts of the Third Army being a closely guarded secret.

At 1500 on 26 December the regiment closed into a bivouac area less than fifteen kilometers from the Cathedral city of Rheims. Heavy frosts and low temperatures covered the landscape with a blanket of ice. Soon after unloading, the olive drab vehicles were blended with their surroundings under a coating of white.

The division’s mission was to provide protection in the event of another German breakthrough to the southwest and at the same time to provide the men with a short rest. Regular convoys rolled into Rheims to give the men showers, clean clothes, and a bit of relaxation. Shortages of men and equipment were made up and the 345th was again at full strength. Christmas mail caught up with the unit. Reassignment to General Patton’s Third Army came on 28 December and on 29 December the regiment was again on the road bound for an assembly area in the Luchie Woods 19 kilometers southwest of Moircy, Belgium. The last of the column arrived in the area at 2100.

The regiment was to jump off the next morning, clear Libramont and Recogne and continue east along Highway 26 toward a vital enemy held crossroads at Pironpre, Belgium. The road from Libramont to Moircy was reconnoitered during the night and no enemy was encountered.

On 30 December the attack began at 0800. The First Battalion was in the lead, followed by the Third and then the Second. Company A was in the lead. No opposition was encountered in the first stages of the attack. By 1030 the Battalion Command Post was moved up the highway 10 kilometers to Freux Menil. At 1030 Company A first drew fire from enemy positions. Two German Burp guns opened fire as the leading elements of the company approached strongly fortified Moircy. The advance continued but soon two enemy Tiger tanks, partially hidden by buildings, laid down a murderous fire. Machine guns, emplaced in a nearby field, joined in and caught the unit in a withering crossfire.

At 1400 regiment was notified that elements of First Battalion had entered Moircy itself. By 1600 Company C had pushed on another thousand yards around Moircy to enter Jenneville. At 1700 the Germans launched a violent counterattack. The First Battalion was withdrawn to better defense positions west of Moircy. Elements of the battalion did not receive the order and remained in the village. Others withdrew as squads, sections or platoons, and in some cases, as individuals. The battalion was regrouped and a defensive position on high ground was established overlooking the town.

Meanwhile, the troops that had remained in Moircy were subjected to an intense artillery bombardment from German 88mm gun and occasionally American guns. Shortly after dark it began to snow, and soon everything was covered with a mantle of white.

The Third Battalion was moved into positions just to the rear of the First Battalion. They were subjected to heavy enemy fire which inflicted some casualties. Second Battalion was in Regimental Reserve.

On 31 December, The Second Battalion moved out at 1330 and moved through Remange, cleared it and took the high ground to the north. By 1830 the entire battalion had dug in-its mission accomplished.

On New Year’s Eve, the regiment was notified that the 347th would relieve the 345th. The 345th was to revert to Divisional Reserve.