Raymond D. Zomerfelt, 90, of Duluth, died April 13, 2013.
Veterans Memorial Hall
is a joint program of the St. Louis County Historical Society and the United
States Military service veterans of northeastern Minnesota, with a mission to
gather, preserve, interpret, and promote the rich and diverse human experiences
of veterans, their families, and communities through museum, archival, and
educational programs.
Mr. Zomerfelt entered the Army April 27, 1943, at Fort
Snelling, Minnesota. Home at entry: Duluth, Minnesota.
He served as a Technician Fifth Grade and low speed radio
operator and mine field clearer with the 158th Combat Engineers in Normandy,
Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, and Central Europe. Attended basic
training at Camp Maxey, Texas, and assigned to the 158th Engineers C Battalion.
Twenty and twenty-five mile marches were nothing new.
On February 28-9, 1943, the battalion was engaged in an
assault crossing the Red River. March 16th left for Camp Shanks, N.Y., where
masks were issued and tested in gas chambers. At 0550 hours boarded the USS
Thurstonand began a 212 mile zag across the ocean which took 13 days to
reach Cardiff, Wales. Took a train to an area near Strood, England, on May
17th.
Trained in firing tommy guns, bazooka, and grenades. On June
24, 1943, at South Hampton, England, boarded the SS Robert L. Vann setting
sail for France. Landed on Utah Beach at 1950 hours on June 26th. Cleared a
four mile area of mines, grenades and booby traps, most were in the hedges, for
the Third Army going through St. Lo to Paris.
At one point in France, Companies A, B, and C with the
Headquarters in a local castle. Near the castle was a garage with a room
upstairs with his radio. That night a German plane flew over and strafed the
motor pool and his sergeant in the legs. Received a message on the transmitter
indicating that the Germans had broken through the American lines. Ran the
message to the castle and gave it to a captain who said that he had to write
urgent on the message.
In radio school was instructed that he could not write on the
message. The first lieutenant told him that he was correct. The next day the
companies were to move out. The captain put him out in the field all by himself
and told him to catch a ride when his outfit came. Luckily his sergeant came by
and said, "What are you doing here?" Informed his sergeant what the
captain had said and his sergeant replied, "He must be crazy!"
December 17, 1944 — The 158th Engineer Combat Battalion,
under Lieutenant Colonel Sam Tabet, was assigned to protect VIII Corps
headquarters at Bastogne until the 101st Airborne Division arrived. Engineers
constructed and manned a line of roadblocks, hasty minefields, and dug-in
positions. They stretched chains of antitank mines across the roads and covered
these obstacles with rifles, machine guns, and bazookas. Elements of an armored
division were forced back leaving the 158th Engineer Combat Battalion and a
company of the 35th Engineer Combat Battalion as the only force in front of Bastogne.
By afternoon, 19 December, the engineers had held the line long enough for the
101st to move up and relieve them.
They were sent back to reorganize. He and two buddies were
sent to a farm house to relay messages to our battalion. Heard Germans getting
close to their location so they buried the radio. Cut off from his outfit, he
hooked up with a supply outfit for over two months. When he reconnected with
his company, was told that the Germans asked the couple in the farm house,
"Where are the three Americans that were on the radio?"
He was awarded the following: Good Conduct Medal,
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and three overseas service
bars.
Mr. Zomerfelt was honorably discharged on October 31, 1945,
at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The Saint Louis County World
War II Project, page 368.
No comments:
Post a Comment