Interview of Horace Whitley
Transcript Number 060

Today is June 4, 2001. We're in the Columbus County Library in Whitefield. Today we're talking to Horace Whitley who served as an infantryman in Europe in World War II. He will tell us the beginning, how you went in and so forth.

WHITLEY: I was inducted into the service in April, 1944. I was living in Virginia at that time, and I went to Fort Mead, Maryland, and just stayed there a day or two and they transferred me to Camp Croft, South Carolina. That was a camp during World War II, just outside of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and that's where I got my basic training. Following the Basic Training, I came home for a few days. I was already married at that time and had my boy, my son. So, I spent a few days with my family and then in October, 1944, I went to New York and boarded the Queen Mary, went across the big, big ocean on the Queen Mary. As you know, the Queen Mary was quite a cruise ship, however there were twenty thousand soldiers on board, and we slept one night on deck, one night below, and it took us only five days to get across. We were not escorted and went in a zig-zag position. You could look behind you and see the zig-zag trail in the ocean. We landed at Scotland and spent a day or so, and went on down into England. We sent to South Hampton, England, and took a ship across the English Channel, and landed at Omaha Beach. Now, of course, this was in October. Several months after D-Day had taken place earlier that year. Upon landing at Omaha Beach we took a five hundred and fifty mile journey by army truck, sitting in the back end of an army truck. And that's where we went to this little village called Rambouvilleas which was up in the mountains of France not too far from Strasburg, where I joined the 45th Infantry Division. I was in Company F, the 157th Infantry Regiment. It was a very friendly group of people, uh, we almost immediately went up into the mountain areas around in that little town, and dug in, went in foxholes - snow on the ground. We were up on, as I recall, sort of, maybe a mountain top. And we could look down that hill, across the valley where another mountain top rose up, and we could see the Germans, over there. Snow on the ground, but they had on white coats and you could see the movement taking place. And, as I recall it, we sorta stayed dug in on that hill top for several days - tried to move out on several occasions, however we weren't able to do so. And on the morning of January 18, 1945, the company commander said we were gonna go, and we went. I didn't get very far. I don't recall just exactly how far, but maybe halfway down the hill and all of a sudden something hit me and I turned around and fell down. That was it. The medics came and picked me up and got me on the back end of a jeep and took me to an evacuation hospital. One little funny item I'd like to mention right here - I was wounded in my left knee. In order to get to the wound, they had to undress me from my waist down, and I had on all kinds of clothes, long-handles and everything imaginable. But anyway, they left me naked in the evacuation hospital from my waist down, just covered by a blanket. And I remember one of the nurses comin' in and they were inquisitive and all, ya know, and pulled up the blanket and slapped it down real quick when she saw that I didn't have any clothes on from the waist down. But anyway, I was attended to with expertise. I stayed in that hospital, which was a tent hospital, for a few days and then evacuated further back to a building that was used as a hospital and stayed there for several days and had surgery while I was there. I did not have any broken bones in my injury. It was two severed nerves. The perineal nerve was completely severed and the tibia nerve was partially severed, which gives me a drop foot. I cannot pick up the toe on my left foot. My ankle just will not pick it up. But I've been very lucky, very fortunate, treated very well during this period of time. I stayed in and out of hospital - well, let me go back first. They transferred me to a hospital at Marseille. That's down on the southern coast of France, in order to catch a ship to come home. I stayed there four weeks and a ship never came, so I got on a train and went to Paris and flew home. So, I arrived in the states at Mitchell Field in New York on March 12, 1945. And I stayed from that day forward until June, 1946, when I was discharged, I stayed in and out of hospitals and had several surgeries during that time. I was at Macguire Army Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. I stayed there until that hospital closed and was transferred to the Veteran's Administration. I went to La Seville Hospital out of Atlanta, Georgia, stayed there until that hospital closed and transferred to Veteran's Administration. Then I went to Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. I stayed there for several weeks and was discharged from San Antonio. That was on June, I don't recall the date, June 6, I believe, 1945. So that's almost the anniversary.

INTERVIEWER: How many years?

WHITLEY: '45, let's see, it was a long time ago. That's really about it, uh, we had some harrowing experiences while we were there in France in that few months, uh, artillery shells bursting all around us, stayed in a bunker as I say most of the time. I remember one incident. Let me share this with you.

INTERVIEWER: Please.

WHITLEY: We had captured some German prisoners. I don't recall; I think it was two or three, and they had to be taken back to, back from the front lines. And I, along with another soldier, were designated to escort those prisoners back to wherever we were goin'. And, again, it was snowy and everything was cold, but we had to go across a stream. For some reason, all the way across that stream was a log, and the two, I think it was two German soldiers, they were glad to be captured as far as I'm concerned. They had no fear, they were just real happy about it. They crossed that log. I know when I got on that log and started across, somehow or another my foot slipped and I stepped in the water. I think it was up above my knees. But anyway, it was cold, but I was alright. But we got on back to where we were going and delivered those prisoners. But I got something to eat while I was back there. I think it was Spam. I hadn't had anything but K-Rations for several and I remember eating a big meal of Spam when I went back to that base. 

There were many, many other things that could be said about it, but it was quite an experience - one that I'll never forget. And as you said, and I said, it's something that you don't go around talking about, but I don't mind sharing some of the things with people from time to time if they ask about it. It was an experience I'll never forget. I don't want to do it again, but I'm glad that I was part of it. Let me make one other comment. Then I'm gonna close. I hear so many or I read so much today about some veterans being critical of the way they're being treated and not getting good attention. I want to say that mine has been first class. I'm very proud of the way the government has treated me, the compensation that they give me for my injuries, and I really have no complaints about the Veteran's Administration. In my opinion, it's first class. I know there are exceptions to that, but I'm just tellin' you my experience.

INTERVIEWER: What kind of shell got you? Mortar, artillery?

WHITLEY: It was artillery or a mortar. I'm not really sure, shrapnel. It was right in the back of my left knee, and I had - what, what, the reason I was hospitalized so long after that period of, after that happened, they tried to rejoin those nerves. Uh, they would operate on me and then my knee would be put in a cast, bent like this 'til it would heal, but it never would hold - the tying together of the nerve never would hold and they'd come apart again.

INTERVIEWER: When you were hit, did it hurt? Did you feel anything or was it just numbness?

WHITLEY: Yes, I felt, bang, I guess you might say or something. Seemed like I just sort of whirled around and fell down. I guess it was a hurt, but as far as it being unbearable, I don't recall it being that way at all, no. The medics got to me reasonably quick, you know, and took good care of me.

INTERVIEWER: But there was snow on the ground then, so you didn't have to lie out there in the snow very long when you were hit? It wasn't long before they picked you up.

WHITLEY: That's right, that's right.

INTERVIEWER: And they probably cut your pants off of you, didn't they?

WHITLEY: I would think, yeah.

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: They had a time doin' that.

WHITLEY: Oh, yes.

INTERVIEWER: When you arrived in France, you said you were in a truck convoy for how many miles?

WHITLEY: Five hundred and fifty miles.

INTERVIEWER: How many days did that take, sir?

WHITLEY: I don't recall, uh, but I don't recall how long it would take, how long it took, but, uh, two or three days I'm sure.

INTERVIEWER: You'd stop at night?

WHITLEY: Uh, I think so, yeah. I think we stopped at night and sleep, camp out you know, that kind of a thing. I remember going through a lot of towns, and uh, we'd have a good time going through those towns. We always had some candy or something like that, cigarettes or what have you, to give to the citizens.

INTERVIEWER: How, how old were you at that time?

WHITLEY: Let's see. That was in '44, so I was twenty-two, twenty-two. I was born in '22.

INTERVIEWER: And the whole bunch of you were replacement infantrymen?

WHITLEY: That's right. Uh, ...

INTERVIEWER: You didn't go as a unit then?

WHITLEY: No, I didn't go as one individual. There was a group of us together. Another interesting thing, if I could take it ...

INTERVIEWER: Go right ahead.

WHITLEY: When we got to where we were gonna join the 45th Division, I was fully equipped, gas mask, probably two or three changes of clothes, you know. And I remember they told us to discard everything except bare necessities. We heaped all of this in a big pile. There was a tremendous pile of clothes, gas masks, all kind of stuff. I'm sure it was used, but anyway. (Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: How did you get assigned to the 45th?

WHITLEY: I don't know. I don't know how that came about, uh, I really don't know. 'Course, as I say I was just a Private. I did make Pfc after I was hospitalized.

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: But Eisenhower didn't consult with you as to what division?

WHITLEY: (Laughter.) No, ho, ho.

INTERVIEWER: But you were on the line then for several days in a fox hole.

WHITLEY: That's true, yes. Really, from about, uh, late October, '44, 'til January, 1945 - about three months.

INTERVIEWER: Do you remember that Christmas?

WHITLEY: The only Christmas I've ever spent away from home was in '44.

INTERVIEWER: Tell us about it.

WHITLEY: I, I remember it being Christmas. Uh, I don't recall exactly what we had to eat. I'm sure it was out of a can. It was C-Rations or K-Rations. Didn't have turkey and dressing, but we had no celebration, you know, just a group of soldiers together, probably saying "Merry Christmas," to each other.

INTERVIEWER: Horace, did you ever get any hot meals in that three months?

WHITLEY: No, I don't recall, other than the time when I went back to take ...

INTERVIEWER: The rear end, then.

WHITLEY: the German soldiers back. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: And it was only C or K-Rations.

WHITLEY: That's right.

INTERVIEWER: So you weren't relieved for three months.

WHITLEY: No.

INTERVIEWER: Didn't get to take a shower.

WHITLEY: That's true.

INTERVIEWER: Or changing clothes? None of that.

WHITLEY: Oh, we didn't stay in that one spot for three months, but, uh, similar situations all during that time. We did some moving about, uh, but I don't really ...

INTERVIEWER: It was still from one fox hole to another. (Laughter.)

WHITLEY: That's right, that's right.

INTERVIEWER: Do you still remember the name of your company commander?
WHITLEY: I certainly don't. I, uh, read about a lot of people attending reunions and get-togethers, uh, I don't do that. I never have gotten involved in those kinds of things. I really can't remember the company commander's name. Oh, let me share one other thing.

INTERVIEWER: Keep going.

WHITLEY: One day, uh, the sergeant of my platoon came up to me and said, "We need a patrol, to sorta go out," it was a nighttime, "and see what's out there, try to draw some attention to find out what's out there." And I think he said something like this, "I've been observing you and like the way you move, you know," and said, "you've been selected to go on this patrol." So we went, four or five of us, I don't remember how many. But we hadn't gone too far, and it was nighttime, before the, uh, what do you call it, bullets ... the come in red ...

INTERVIEWER: Tracers.

WHITLEY: We took evasive tacticts. We could see them coming toward us. Now that's scary. None of us got hit, I don't think. We fell into ditches and stayed there until we were able to get back home. But if I had tried to look good in the past, I didn't in the future.

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go on any more night patrols?

WHITLEY: I don't recall doing any more, no.

INTERVIEWER: You didn't find anything.

WHITLEY: We found out there was some fire out there.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, yeah. You got your, you accomplished your objective.

WHITLEY: Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Poor way to find out.

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: Uh, they needled you in with some experienced troops, no doubt, in 45th.

WHITLEY: True.

INTERVIEWER: They didn't make a platoon of replacements.

WHITLEY: No, no, no. I don't recall what kind of ratio there was, but you're right. We were not in a group all by ourselves.

INTERVIEWER: That was good, because, uh, they could teach you a lot. You took rifleman training.

WHITLEY: Yes. And that's how I got the Combat Infantryman's Badge.

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: You deserved it. And the Purple Heart.

WHITLEY: And the Purple Heart, and let's see, the Bronze Star, I believe. It was the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and the Good Conduct Medal. I had the Good Conduct Medal.

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: We would expect you to have that. I was interested in hearing you say that going over on, it was the Queen Mary? You slept on deck one night?

WHITLEY: On deck one night and down below the next night. We all did that. It was because there were twenty-thousand troops on there. And the reason they did that was, 'course it had been converted to a troop ship, it was not a luxury liner any more. The reason we did that is that the down below was a little bit more comfortable than the deck. On the deck you just took your bed-roll and threw it down on the deck. (Laughter.) You did have a bunk down below.

INTERVIEWER: It was more comfortable below than on ... How did they feed twenty-thousand troops and the crew?

(Laughter.)

WHITLEY: I don't know.

INTERVIEWER: Two meals a day, probably.

WHITLEY: Well that's right, and we may have had some K-Rations or C-Rations on that. I'm not real sure about that. I don't recall exactly. I don't know that we sat down at a table for a meal or anything like that. (Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: Do you recall how many weeks you were in Basic, Horace, you were seventeen a little later.

WHITLEY: I went in service in April and, uh, I went overseas in October. I think I stayed home about two weeks before going overseas, so about the seventeen I think is about right.

INTERVIEWER: You were drafted.

WHITLEY: That's correct.

INTERVIEWER: And what were you doing. Were you in school, or ...

WHITLEY: I was working in a shipyard in Norfolk, no Portsmouth, Virginia. I was a sheet-metal worker. We made all kind of things for service of ships and things of that sort. I worked there about three years, I think, before I went into the service.

INTERVIEWER: You went to UNC at Chapel Hill.

WHITLEY: No, I didn't go to college.

INTERVIEWER: You didn't go to college?

WHITLEY: No, when I got out of high school I wasn't able and I went to work in the shipyard pretty soon afterward. I could've gone...

INTERVIEWER: On the G.I. Bill.

WHITLEY: My determination was not as good as it might have been.

INTERVIEWER: Well, you got into banking.

WHITLEY: Well, I got into banking. I was fortunate there. I got into banking and I made a career out of it.

INTERVIEWER: Tell us about your hospital experiences. Was there anything that, uh, for example, could you leave the hospital on a three-day pass, or,

WHITLEY: I appreciate you mentioning that. What I would do, after I got back to the States to the hospital, I would go to the hospital and have some surgery. Then, as soon as I was able following the surgery, they'd send me home for ninety days. Then back to the hospital and back and forth like that. Most of the time that I was stationed at these hospitals, I really spent the time at home.

INTERVIEWER: But that would be ... How did they handle your pay records, for example?

WHITLEY: I really don't remember.

INTERVIEWER: But you got the money?

WHITLEY: Yes, when I went in the Service I was paid twenty-one dollars a month. I don't know if that increased a whole lot, before I got out or not. I don't think so. And I really don't remember, but, uh, you know I was on furlough. I'd have surgery and I'd go on furlough for ninety days. So they could keep up with me. They knew where I was.

INTERVIEWER: When you were in hospital in France, in Marseilles, you said you got into Paris one time?

WHITLEY: Well, they sent me to Marseilles to an evacu-hospital to await the arrival of a ship.

INTERVIEWER: Uh, huh.

WHITLEY: I stayed there four weeks and a ship never came. So then I got on a train and went to Paris and caught an airplane and flew home.

INTERVIEWER: Well, you were very fortunate.

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: What was the Marseilles hospital like? Was it, uh ...

WHITLEY: As I recall, it was not like our hospitals today, but very nice, clean, uh ...

INTERVIEWER: Pretty part of the world.

WHITLEY: That's true, it is.

INTERVIEWER: Were you able to walk to the airplane?

WHITLEY: On crutches, yes, on crutches.

INTERVIEWER: Were, uh, did anybody you were in Basic with end up with you, Horace, or not?

WHITLEY: Don't recall.

INTERVIEWER: Don't have any memory.

WHITLEY: No, no.

INTERVIEWER: And, uh, you don't know what kind of a plane you came back in. Was it a four-engine DC-4?

WHITLEY: I sure don't. I don't remember.

INTERVIEWER: You probably stopped in Ireland and Iceland?

WHITLEY: We stopped at the Azores.

INTERVIEWER: Azores. You went southern ...

WHITLEY: The southern route, yeah. Stopped at Azores to get some fuel.

INTERVIEWER: And, you're training at Camp Croft was in rifles?

WHITLEY: That's correct.

INTERVIEWER: I took heavy weapons at Camp Croft, startin' in August of '45.

WHITLEY: How about that.

INTERVIEWER: Uh,

WHITLEY: The biggest thing I remember about Camp Croft, some of the areas that we did our training was through peach orchards, and peach trees galore.

INTERVIEWER: I don't remember that. They used to call it the Country Club of the Army.

(Laughter.)

WHITLEY: Is that right? (Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: If you want a country club with forty pounds on your back and twenty miles ahead of you.

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: Uh, I think I was fortunate to get there 'cause I could come home a couple of week-ends. Not for long, but, uh ...

WHITLEY: Um, hum. Well, that's another thing that, uh, during my time at Camp Croft, my wife and young son lived in Spartanburg, and I would come in to visit with them quite often.

INTERVIEWER: But you still had to spend all your nights in the barracks.

WHITLEY: That's true.

INTERVIEWER: I know we had a couple like that in '45, and they said, "Just so you're here at six o'clock in the morning."

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: And, of course, they might say, "All out at eight o'clock at night for night reviews, and that was it.

WHITLEY: I remember, uh, I was in Spartanburg the morning of D-Day, and that was quite an experience to hear it over the radio and that kind of thing happened and that was June 6, '44.

INTERVIEWER: June 6, '44.

WHITLEY: Right, and ...

INTERVIEWER: You did land at Omaha. Did they have any kind of wharf or pier there then?

WHITLEY: I don't recall any piers or wharves or anything, but there were still ships sunken out in the ocean.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, but you didn't have to wade through the water.

WHITLEY: Yeah, we went on an LST from the ship we went across, we got on the LST and went in, and we had to wade probably a hundred yards or so.

INTERVIEWER: Uh, huh. 

WHITLEY: Quite an experience, but ...

INTERVIEWER: You don't want it again.

WHITLEY: I'm glad I'm still here, seventy-nine years old. How old are you?

INTERVIEWER: Seventy-four, sir. 

2nd INTERVIEWER: At seventy-four you just did miss World War II.

INTERVIEWER: Yes, sir.

2nd INTERVIEWER: But you got in Korea.

(Laughter.)

WHITLEY: You know Paul Garner?
2nd INTERVIEWER: Yeah, Garner, he was tellin' me about - I didn't know it was Paul Garner when he first called me. She lives in Raleigh?

INTERVIEWER: Yes. Ahem.

WHITLEY: His office is just beyond the motel over there.

2nd INTERVIEWER: The Judicial District or whatever.

(Laughter.)

INTERVIEWER: What, uh, you know I've asked the other veterans and, uh, told 'em, "Look right in the camera, they're talkin' to their great-great grandchildren." And I always ask the same question. What did you learn from being in the war? What did it really mean? What would you tell your grandchildren, great-grandchildren?

WHITLEY: Hum. That's kind of a hard question.

INTERVIEWER: It's awful hard.

WHITLEY: I think I learned that we have an obligation to pay to our nation, to our people, and that we ought to be willing to pay. There's so much ill feelings, ill will existing today. Some of the people that really don't have any basis, I guess you would say, for ...

2nd INTERVIEWER: Solidness.

WHITLEY: And I think World War II was a good learning experience for them, and other conflicts as well, I'm sure.

INTERVIEWER: If called upon, would you do it again?

WHITLEY: Yes, if the need was there, and I was able to do it, I'd do it again. Yes.