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Section of SH-18 Named for WWII Veteran
Section of SH-18 Named for WWII Veteran Roy “Junior” Herring
by FARREL KLECKNER and PATTI HARRIS
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In collaboration with Pam Edmoundson, Junior’s daughter
Bronze Star recipient Roy “Junior” Herring was honored on Veterans Day by naming a section of State Highway 18 North after the WII veteran.
The two-mile stretch of SH-18 in Cushing runs right past Herring’s home on North Little and the site of Rice’s Service Station, where he once worked, then enters the city limits from the north.
At 96, Herring still serves his country and community through his activity with the American Legion Post 108 in Cushing. In the recent past, he was a member of the Honor Guard which performs ceremonies at veterans’ funeral services and other service-related activities.
Herring was born on a farm in Lincoln County near Chandler on May 11, 1926. He was the second oldest of six children of Edward Leroy and Myrtle (Moore) Herring. He attended Victor School in Lincoln County while helping maintain the family farm. He also worked in a relative’s grocery store and drove a beer truck route until 1944 when he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
Entering the army at the height of the war, Herring was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
While serving in combat on the “Siegfried Line” in Germany in midMarch 1945, his company was ordered to cross an anti-tank ditch while advancing forward. Pfc. Herring was carrying a machine gun and slid into the deep ditch injuring his back and rendering him unconscious. The men in the advance thought he was dead. They retrieved the vital machine gun and continued forward, leaving the injured soldier without a weapon.
When Pvt. Herring regained consciousness, he followed the sound of gunfire back to his company about a quarter mile away. During the battle, Company A which was ahead was nearly wiped out. The strategic radio was left in the field with them. Pvt. Herring and five others were “volunteered” to retrieve it. Though Pvt. Herring’s back was injured, he did not hesitate to follow the order. The small group waded through bodies searching for the precious radio when they came across a wounded soldier alive and conscious. The soldier told them that the Germans had just taken the dead men’s watches and rings and were still close. He directed the detail to the radio and was then rescued by the group.
When the group returned, Company C was entrenched around a pillbox and pinned down. The Germans continued shelling and it was during this siege that Pvt. Herring was wounded by shrapnel. The siege
lasted for about 48 hours before Pvt. Herring and the other wounded could be taken to a hospital.
It was after he healed and was returning to his unit that Pvt. Herring heard “THE WAR WAS OVER.” When he returned to Company C, he found out that the soldiers who had been with him during the retrieval of the radio and the wounded soldier had all received the Bronze Star for their bravery. They could not remember Herring’s name so he was overlooked.
Seventy years later, through the diligent efforts of his family, the American Legion and the Oklahoma Legislature, Herring was presented with his Bronze Star by Congressman Frank Lucas for “meritorious achievement in active ground combat against the enemy on 9 February 1945…in keeping with the finest traditions of military service and reflects great credit upon himself, the 3rd Infantry Division and the Army of the United States” according to the citation.
When he returned from the war, Herring joined the Army National Guard as a corporal in California where his family temporarily lived. Later, he returned to Chandler and worked at Ford Tractor, City of Chandler, an ice plant, in the oilfields, at a wrecker service on the Turner Turnpike and at the Ford Garage. He often worked more than one job at a time.
He married Patty Hesser on March 20, 1948 after the two had met on a blind date. Their only child, Pam, was born 10 years later.
Most people in Cushing will remember Herring from his days at Rice’s 18 Service Station where he provided full service, washing windshields, checking oil and tires and even vacuuming cars with every gasoline purchase.
He worked hard, seven days a week and hired many young men in whom he instilled good values and hard work. He taught them that hard work and good values would get them hired anywhere.
Herring also had a Gibble Gas Station on Cherry Street, worked for Earl Gibble as a truck dispatcher and driver as well as managing the Cimarron Turnpike gas station near Pawnee. In 1981, he retired from Lionel Harris Oil Company.
Perhaps the most memorable of Herring’s habits was that he ALWAYS had candy for the kids. He still carries a pocketful of Lifesavers he joyfully gives to everyone he comes in contact with.
In 2015, he was presented with a handmade quilt by the local “Quilts of Valor” foundation and was chosen to participate in the Oklahoma Honor Flight Program where he was accompanied by his daughter and fellow veterans on a trip to Washington DC. He called it a “trip of a lifetime.”
“There are several veterans in Cushing deserving of the honor of a ‘Memorial Highway’ but none more deserving than Junior Herring,” said Post Commander Steve Ferchau.
Due to increasing costs for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation signs, donations are being solicited. Donations may be sent to American Legion Post 108, P.O. Box 108, Cushing, Oklahoma 74023. n
