Recently, due to the fact that I have very little free time to fly to St. Louis or Washington DC to research World War II records, I enlisted the support of a well respected researcher based in Maryland to help me pull two General Orders -- one including the Silver Star citation for PFC Harry F. Holloway- 82nd Airborne, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, HQ Company - and T/5 Lee M. Hawkins - 6th Infantry Division, 51st Field Artillery. Hawkins was an LVT driver in the Pacific - the guy who captained the LVT while it was on water, and then directed the tracks of the vehicle up the dry beach to let out assault troops during amphibious landings throughout the Pacific. PFC Holloway was a Heavy Mortar Crewman and flew onboard a wooden WACO glider into Normandy, France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Naturally, both men's records fascinated me, but I happened to know more about the Normandy Invasion than New Guinea, and never held a conversation with Holloway about his experiences during the war, so I was very excited to get my hands on both documents, but especially Holloways.
For years, throughout Clarksburg and various record sources, I had been told that the village's own - Elwood Dean, who jumped into Normandy sometime around midnight that morning as part of the 82nd's famed 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, F Company, was awarded the Silver Star for stopping a truck load of Germans from entering St. Mere Eglise sometime during June 6, but I could never prove it happened, as there is no official military record of the incident. Yet, all of the troopers mentioned in the Chillicothe Gazette and Clarksburg Star article mentioning the incident did in fact exist -- Dean's machine gun counterpart from rural Oklahoma - James Ramsey, as well as their commander Lt. John H. Dodd. Unfortunately, Dean was severely wounded July 3, 1944 and shipped home right before the division pulled off the front line in preparation of Operation Market Garden, and Lt. Dodd was vicously killed in Nijmegan, Holland during Operation Market Garden, therefore, making it possible that the Silver Star citation Dodd was planning to submit to higher ups, never happened, or was ignored by the powers at be from the division, who commonly did not award medals to paratroopers because they were --- well -- paratroopers --- and expected to fight gallantly.
So, while reviewing discharge records at the Fayette County Recorders Office in Washington Court House, Ohio one afternoon - I read that Clarksburg's PFC Harry Holloway (Corporal Holloway by the end of the war) was also awarded the Silver Star during the Normandy Campaign, which fueled my fire to learn more about this action. Excellent war stories from glider troops who landed in Normandy are priceless and excellent reads. I wanted to learn as much as possible. I purchased the 325th GIR's history book and there was a reference to Holloway receiving the Silver Star, but nothing else. His name was included in a long list of heroic soldiers who were awarded the medal. I purchased two other 82nd Airborne books, and didn't expect much, because the division was FULL of decorated heroes, as well as heroes who were amazingly "fearless" and "selfless" in action but did not receive decorations or recognition for their efforts - and again, I came up short. However, I had the U.S. Army General Order number of the official document listing Harry Holloway's Silver Star citation from his fighting in Normandy, so finally I enlisted the professional help of a guy named Tim Frank who owns a business called
Military Research Associates. For a nominal fee, Tim jumped in his car (probably) and drove over to NARA, the
National Archives And Records Administration in College Park, Maryland, and within two days pulled both Harry Holloway's and Lee Hawkins' General Orders from the United States Archives.
To say the least, I was excited. I had seen a few of these citations before, and similar morning reports, during a trip to NARA in 2002 and throughout various research efforts. Sometimes the description of action was quite large and detailed, other times it was a simple line of information. Who knew what to expect. I thought that maybe I would be lucky enough to get a cool description of Holloway jumping from the wreckage of his glider, spraying .45 rounds from his Thompson machine gun, knocking out every German in sight, to provide appropriate cover for the remainder of the men trapped inside the glider. But, of course, I should have known better -- very little was mentioned - like with many 82nd Airborne medal citations. Simply put, the division was WAY too busy to keep detailed records. Let's face it, they were surrounded and are meant to be surrounded half the time they're in battle. They have many more things to worry about than keeping well documented history records of the gallantry on the battlefield -- like their lives!. But, that's war.
So, this is what I received, which is fine with me:
Harry F Holloway: 35137022, Private First Class, 325th Glider Infantry, for gallantry in action in Normandy, France on 19 June 1944.At the least, it's SOLID proof. On the other hand, this was what Mr. Frank pulled from Lee Hawkins' record, which is actually pretty impressive and representative of the large infantry divisions during WWII and their massive support staffs to keep such records:
Technician Fifth Grade, Lee M. Hawkins, 35287991, Field Artillery, United States Army. For Gallantry in action at Maffin Bay, New Guinea on 22 June 1944. As a driver of an LVT (Armored Amphibious Troop Carrier) he made repeated trips over water, under heavy enemy artillery, machine gun, and rifle fire, landing troops and supplies on a hostile beach and evacuating the wounded.That's pretty cool -- an excellent description for future generations to enjoy. I talked to Mr. Hawkins once, about this specific experience, and oddly enough, he told me it was so rough during portions of the landings that he did in fact, have to pull out the Thompson Machine gun strapped to his LVT and let some Japanese snipers hiding in trees have it. -- You can believe it or not --- he has the Silver Star - not me. It probably really happened. At the least, we know the above listed action DID happen.
There were a few lessons and bits of research I learned from this "paid" research pull.
1. Tim Frank and Military Research Associates were very professional and performed excellent work, sending me full .PDF's of each document as soon as he received my check in the mail. The turn around was like five days! That's impressive.
2. Clarksburg's two "official" Silver Star recipients earned their medals THREE days apart and about as far away as possible from eachother on the globe (Normandy, France and Maffin Bay, New Guinea).
3. An interesting find also surfaced - while flipping through Hollway's general order and reading some of the other recipient's names --- Lt. John H. Dodd's Silver Star citation was also listed on the same General Order as Holloway. To review, Lt. John Dodd was the commanding officer of Clarksburg's Elwood Dean, who I was always told was awarded a Silver Star in Normandy as well. I didn't know Lt. Dodd was awarded a Silver Star! And it happened June 16, 1944. Maybe I have been searching the wrong date for matching stories of Elwood Dean's action in Normandy all this time -- This is exciting, and proof positive that there is always plenty more research to be uncovered!
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