THE RETURN HOME

CHAPTER 13

TO THE END, MY GRANDFATHER WAS A FIGHTER AND TO THE VERY END MY GRANDFATHER WAS MY HERO.

Like I recently mentioned in the last chapter, three weeks after the liberation of Buchenwald, the concentration camp of Dachau was liberated. One day after Dachau’s liberation, Hitler committed suicide. On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered and World War II came to an end.

Prior to us talking about the war ending and our research regarding the 2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation)’s return home, Larry wanted to relay one final story to me about our “famous” buddy Coy Shirley and another soldier Jack Keller.

It was near the end of the war and Jack was making a run to Cologne, Germany. Coy, being a mechanic, never got to go out on a run so he talked the Captain into letting him do a ride along. The Captain told him he could go but he wanted him and Keller to find a car and bring it back to him. Coy said that they got to Cologne and drove right up on a tank battle. He said the American tank was behind a church and that it would come out, fire across the river at the German tank, and then duck back behind the church. The German tank was doing the same thing but on the other side of the river.

Coy said after fifteen minutes he told Keller we better head back because those shells are starting to land closer. So they headed back. On the way out, Coy saw a garage with the door up about two feet. He could see wheels so he knew a car was in there. He told Keller to stop and let’s check this out. They got out and went to the garage and started trying to force the door up when all of a sudden they heard “tat-tat-tat-tat” and gravel started flying all around them!

They ran back to the truck and jumped under it. By now, they both realized they left their weapons in the truck.

Coy said to Keller, “Are we going to die here Keller?” Keller said, “No damn it! WE are not. I am going to roll out from under here, jump in the cab, fire the engine up, and haul ass out of here! If YOU are not in the truck, then good luck!” I couldn’t stop laughing after Larry shared that with me and he said neither could Coy because that was one of his favorite memories during the war.

Now back to talking about the return home. After the war ended, I had little to no information regarding my grandfather’s travels or details of his journey home. I reached out to Larry to find out if he had anything. According to Larry, after Germany surrendered all of the men with 85 service points were moved into other units and shipped home. In the 2487th, this would have been married men and married men with children because they received additional points for having a wife and children. So some of the guys were home by the end of August while others arrived in October and November.

Larry said that if I had access to my grandfather’s discharge papers it should list his Unit assignment at time of discharge. Larry knew that some of them were transferred into the 475th, 476th, 485th, 488th, and 496th. He also knew that the 2nd Platoon (my grandfather’s) was absorbed into the 476th Air Service Group (ASG) in June of 1945 and the 1st Platoon was absorbed by the 475th Air Service Group (ASG).

Larry also said that after Japan surrendered, things got real crazy when President Truman said he wanted all the boys home by Christmas. They started moving them into any unit headed for home and sometimes it would be just a few of them at a time. He was able to find his dad’s last overseas pay voucher and it listed him in the 496th Air Service Group. With that, he was able to find the ship that he came back on, the Mahanoy City, which arrived back at the same port they left from at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The 476th was also on the boat so Larry suspects that others from the 2487th were on there as well. Larry’s dad arrived back on October 27, 1945.

Thanks to my mom and getting more documents from my Uncle Mike, we had a picture of my grandfather’s discharge paperwork. He also arrived back in the United States on October 27, 1945, making Larry’s research accurate and my grandfather more than likely also arriving back to Hampton Roads aboard the Mahanoy City on Pier 8. Once again, full circle. I also sent Larry a photo of an additional patch that my mom found. Larry said that the patch was probably a Headquarters Company patch. He said that my grandfather would have been transferred into a Headquarters Company in preparation for returning home. There were large numbers of those formed right after the surrender for the sole purpose of processing and getting the boys home. Larry went through his dad’s last pay voucher and it was from the 496th Air Service Group Headquarters Company. His dad never mentioned them and he wouldn’t let them put it on his discharge paperwork because he wanted his documents to reflect that he was out of the 2487th. Larry said my grandfather’s documents say the same. He talked to several other members years ago about it and they were also the same. Attached is a picture of the badge we found that is probably a Headquarters Company patch.

In the beginning of the chapter is a picture of the Mahoney City and I have attached some additiional photos of ships arriving in the United States shortly after the end of World War II. You can just imagine what it must have been like for those extremely crowded ships filled with more than happy soldiers returning home to see their loved ones! The pictures say it all.