Paris Goes To War: In Memory of Pvt. Joseph R. Shapley, KIA, 406th Inf. Reg., 102nd Infantry Division

Paris Goes To War

War came Paris, Texas on December 7, 1941. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war of the Axis countries of Japan, Germany and Italy against The United States brought World War II literally to the doorsteps of Paris.

The U.S. response to war hit Paris like a tidal wave and the results were everlasting.

This small East Texas town responded as hundreds of small towns across America did. Its sons, daughters and citizens joined the war effort.

But Paris began to develop its own uniqueness with the opening of Camp Maxey just a few miles north of the city limits in 1942. Two major divisions, the 102d Infantry Division and the 99th Infantry Division, trained there. It is estimated that over 200,000 troops and civilians trained and worked at Camp Maxey during its short 4 years of existance.

Camp Maxey was also selected as a site, as were many other training camp sites in Texas, to house German prisoners-of-war. More than 6,000 Germans were hosted there until well after the last shots of anger were fired in Europe in 1945.

Paris, as was the whole country, was like a stirred pot. The young men and women who came to Camp Maxey to train spent their leaves in town. Many of them met, courted, and married local men and women. Likewise, Paris sons and daughters who left were meeting their future spouses. The long historic ties that had held Paris together as a tight community were stretched around the world.

To and from Paris the letters streamed in and out from friends and families: from the battle fronts, from far-away hometowns, from Washington D.C., to Europe, to The Pacific and literally all points of the globe.

Sad news of soldiers being killed, exciting news of the birth of a new baby, common news about town gossip all swirlled around this small town of Paris. Paris was making its contribution to march the country toward victory.

In 1941 Paris Goes To War.

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Thursday, May 31, 2018

In Memory of Pvt. Joseph R. Shapley, KIA, 406th Inf. Reg., 102nd Infantry Division

http://www.dvrbs.com/ccwd-WW2/WW2-JosephRShapley.htm

Joseph R. Shapley

Private, U.S. Army

32959148

406th Infantry Regiment,
102nd Infantry Division

Entered the Service from: New Jersey
Died: November 21, 1944
Buried at: Plot H Row 6 Grave 23
Netherlands American Cemetery
Margraten, Netherlands

Awards: Purple Heart

PRIVATE JOSEPH R. SHAPLEY was born in New Jersey in 1925 to Joseph and Miriam Shapley. By the time of the April 1930 census, the Shapley family lived at 2125 Lexington Avenue in Pennsauken NJ. The elder Shapley worked as a railroad postal clerk for the United States Postal Service. Joseph R. Shapley was an honor graduate of Moorestown (NJ) High School, and was attending the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia PA.

Drafted at Camden on October 13, 1943, Joseph R. Shapley was inducted into the United States Army in November of 1943. He was sent overseas in September of 1944 serving with the 406^thInfantry Regiment, 102^nd Infantry Division.

The division itself was constituted as a Missouri/Arkansas Army Reserve unit on June 21, 1921, with it's headquarters in St. Louis. The division existed on paper only until September 15, 1942. Major General John Anderson, from the 2nd Infantry Division assembled 15,000 men from throughout the United States at Camp Maxey in Northern Texas.

In June 1943, 1475 men were transferred to the 42nd Infantry Division at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. In October 1943 the 102nd moved to Western Louisiana for advanced training. In December 1943 the 102nd moved to Camp Swift, Texas.

On January 20, 1944 Brigadier General Frank Keating assumed command of the Ozarks. In March 3,250 men from the Army's Specialized Training Program (ASTP) joined the division. It is likely, given his educational background, that Private Shapley was one of these men. The division now at full strength began their long journey to Germany. On June 24, 1944 they arrived at Fort Dix, NJ.

While staged at Fort Dix the 405th and 406th Regiments were deployed to guard the property of the Philadelphia Transit Authority during a union strike. The strike, if allowed to go unchecked, could have had a devastating effect on General Patton's troops in France. The entire city of Philadelphia had shut down; the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot included. The Quartermaster Depot was the main source of supplies for Patton's Army.

The soldiers rode shotgun on buses and trains and guarded the rail yards, highways and bridges against attacks from both strikers and German sympathizers. The City of Philadelphia must have thought they were under siege. There were sandbagged machine gun emplacements at major intersections, automatic weapons at water towers, municipal sites, transportation centers, and shipyards.

The strike was the result of a labor shortage. A number of maintenance workers, largely minorities, were retrained as drivers and operators. By union rules, their many years as maintenance workers gave them seniority as drivers and operators over many of the white drivers and operators.

On September 3,1944 the Ozarks deployed to Camp Kilmer, NJ. Finally, on Sept 12th, they were trucked to the Staten Island base of the N.Y.P.O.E., where they boarded six transports (John Ericcson, Marine Wolf, Santa Paula, Sea Tiger, Bienville, and the Marina) and rendezvoused with a convoy south of New York Harbor for the long, cramped trip to Cherbourg, France.

PUSH TO THE ROER

The 102nd arrived in Cherbourg thirteen days later, Sept 23rd. They headed northeast by truck and rail through France and the Netherlands into Northern Germany. On October 23, 1944 the 405th Regiment, temporarily attached to the 2nd Armored Division, relieved the 41st Armored Infantry and became the first unit of the 102nd to engage the enemy.

On October 27th First Sergeant Cecil Reynolds became the first Ozark wounded in action. The next day PFC Clayton Richards became the first Ozark to die fighting for his country. Both men were members of I Company, 405th Regiment. On October 30th the 407th Regiment saw their first action near Waurichen, Germany when they relieved the 115th and 117th Infantry Regiments. By November 2, 1944 the 406th Regiment had their baptismal by fire, under control of the 30th Infantry Division they relieved the 117th Regiment near Geilenkirchen, Germany.

Plans were afoot for the 9th Army to spearhead an attack on Hitler's Siegfried line at Geilenkirchen. The Ozarks, already in place, were permanently reassigned to the 9th. These zones of fortification facing France's "Maginot Line" fortifications were constructed near the French and German borders in the years preceding the invasion of France, 1940. Some of the fortifications were built to resemble houses, barns and outhouses. Others were naturally camouflaged by years of natural vegetation growth.

Meanwhile, the German Army decided to dig in for the winter of 1944 and reinforce their Siegfried line. Additional cement fortifications with ten feet thick walls were built. Heavy artillery was brought in and extensive mine fields laid. Winter fog and rain enabled Hitler to do this without air observation; thus it went largely undetected. Unknown to the American Army at the time the Germans were also assembling for their ill-fated winter of 44 Ardennes Forest plunge.

On November 3rd the 102nd flanked by the 113th Cavalry Group and the 2nd Armored Division began its push through the Siegfried line. Weeks of regrouping and defensive measures forced the Division sector to move southeast. They advanced onto a battlefield honeycombed with pillboxes, concrete fortifications, minefields, and heavy enemy artillery. Heavy resistance ensued, but by November 24th the 406th Regiment and the 2nd Armored Division had captured Apweiler and Gereonsweiler. Hitler's elite 10th Panzer Division and SS troops had been pushed back to the banks of the Roer River. Over 1000 German soldiers were taken prisoner. Private Shapley was killed in action during this operation, on November 21, 1944.

Joseph R. Shapley was originally listed as missing in action. His body was recovered, and his death was reported in the October 8, 1945 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. He was survived by his parents and younger sister Dorothy, of the Pennsauken address.