Oral History Program Garth Maddock Interviewed by Paula Butterfield 1972 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Garth Maddock Interviewed by Paula Butterfield 1972 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Maddock, Garth, an oral history by Paula Butterfield, 1972, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Garth Maddock. The interview was conducted by Paula Butterfield in 1972. Mr. Maddock discusses his experiences as a G.I. during World War 2. GM: I went in the Service in March, 1941 to get my year over with. I was in the National Guards of the 222nd stationed in Salt Lake City. I was with the Medical Detachment attached to the 22nd Field Artillery. We went to San Louis Obispo (California) in the summer and spring and there I was stationed. We had our basic training in San Louis Obisno, California. We went to 'PIum', which we were to leave after being in the States for quite a few ears we went to Debarkation Port. The day that we got ready to leave on board ship Pearl Harbor broke out so they wouldn’t let us go. The ship just ahead of the on: we were on was sunk which happened to be a boat loaded with lumber. The officers that we had were National Guard Officers, fellows from the ranks around all of Utah. The Utah Unit was the unit I was with. In our particular detachment we had 16 out of 22 fellows who were returned missionaries. We had basic training off and on for 2 or 3 years. We had Cadres leave the detachment and go other areas. The cities and areas I was in during this four and a half years that I was in the Service consisted of Great Britain, Wales, France, Germany and Austria. We had a three day pass and went to Paris for three days during the war. At the time the war ended we were in Austria sitting by the side of a big, beautiful lake waiting for the war to end. When we went into Berlin we sat outside of Berlin for 3 days waiting for the Russians to catch up. We had been given instructions that the Russians and Americans would go into the city of Berlin at the same time. We had a lot of interesting experiences with regards to running out of 1 gas, having to wait for the supplies to meet us because General Patton was moving so fast across Germany. I had one occasion to meet General Patton just prior to entering into the battles when we met with him on the side of a hill by a hospital. All of the NCO's and CO’s of the 204th Field Artillery met with him and he gave us a pep talk on what we should do and what we shouldn't do. His language was out of this world. Every other word was a swear word. Those of us who were in the L.D.S. were very much ashamed of his attitude and the way he spoke. He came dressed up fit to kill with his six-shooters. His escort, who had Tommy-guns or machine guns, motorcycles. Very, very showy. He was quite the man. He used to direct the tank battles. He talked a lot about the tanks and the young fellows that were in the tank corps didn't care too much for him because they said it was their blood and his guts that forced them on to do the things that they did during the battles. The conditions in the service were sometimes bad and sometimes good according to the area that we were in. During the war in Germany we used to sleep wherever we possibly could. Sometimes we would force the people out of the houses - give them one half hour to be out of their houses. I was fortunate and had with me as my Captain, a Jewish captain who did not care too much for the German people. This was why he would give them one half hour to get out of their houses and move out into the barn and then we would put up our aid station in the house. We would visit two or three houses to see which one would be the best suited for our particular need. Once in a great while he would allow the people to stay in their home when they would show or tell us about one of their children in America who had come to America and were living in America. Then he would not ask them to leave their houses so that we could set up the aid station. We lived in pup tents part of the time. But during the 2 time we were in the service we lived in slit trenches in case of enemy attack. Oft' times we would live in barns, burned out or bombed out houses. The houses in Germany were interesting because the barns were attached to the side of the house. You step out of their bedroom or their front room right into the barn. The headquarters battery was with us most of the time. Patton’s idea was to have the artillery as close as possible to the infantry so that the infantry could be supported for a longer distance. The 55 pound Howitzer shell that would be sent with these guns could be shot great distances and in order to support the troops we had to be up close enough to the front. Therefore, very often we would receive in our areas the mortar shells from the enemy. This wasn’t too good. The troop morale was part of the time very good. Because of being moved around quite frequently we didn't have too much time to get accustomed to any particular area. Some nights we would just camp for the night and then the next morning move on. We couldn’t move fast enough to keep up with the retreating Germans. The traveled very great distances leaving small units to the side to harass and slow us up as we came along these Autobahns. The Autobahns were a big handicap for the Germans because the American troops could use the Autobahn highways and travel much faster. We would stop along the road when we would hit a small pocket, take care of that group and then go on about our business. The entertainments that we had was Bob Hope and his group. He would come and we would have a stage area set up out in the open country and many times we would have to hit the ditches when the enemy airplanes would come over the top and see all of these G.I.’s listening and watching a program. Sometimes we would have them in the churches - bombed out church areas. If the church had a stage or a raised platform we would have these activities there. Our 3 church consisted of the same thing. We were fortunate in our unit to have an L.D.S. chaplain who went along with us. This was a big help to all the G.I.'s. We would have our Sunday Services whenever possible and meet with our chaplain. The interesting people that we met - we would meet very few people because we were not allowed to associate with any of the German people. That is the reason why they would have to be asked to leave their houses. We could not fraternize with them. So we didn't meet too many interesting people other than Patton on our first occasion. Transportation and communication- Transportation was done by truck. Our communication consisted of mainly radio and telephone. In our Headquarters outfit we had a group of fellows that did nothing but ran telephone lines to and from the different areas that we had to communicate with. The enemy’s morale was good except at the time when they were being chased. We had an occasion to capture eleven and twelve-year-old boys near the end of the war. These boys would be just as vicious as the old-time German soldiers. They would kill you if you turned your back on them. We had to watch them constantly. When they would capture them they'd take all the sharp objects that they had in their pockets. We'd have them bring everything they had out of their pockets and the G.I.'s would come along and take everything that was sharp so that they couldn't do harm to themselves or to anyone else that came into contact with them. The particular job that I had was in a first aid station. At which time we would take care of the wounded bandage them up only, give them shots to ease their pain and put them in an ambulance and ship them back to the rear to a Field Hospital. And if they were too bad they would take them from a Field Hospital to a General Hospital. All we would do is be with the, or close to, or with the infantry because of what Patton’s idea was to be close 4 enough to the infantry to support them for about 8 ½ miles which was the distance our 155 Howitzers would shoot. I was a Staff Sergeant, the highest rank other than the captain, who was a medical doctor in this particular unit. We were attached to the field artillery. We were attached to the field artillery. They could take us and move us any place they wanted but we stayed with the 204th Field Artillery all through the action in France and Germany. One V-E day we didn’t believe what they had told us. We sat around waiting and waiting for it to happen. It seemed like a dream because of the situation that we had been under the time we were in Europe. I had been in Europe for about a year and a half total and we were supposed to go from the Invasion Day if the first wave did not make contact with the enemy and make the proper landing then our group was to make the second invasion and we had another area to go into other than on Utah Beach and Omaha Beach where they made their landing. We landed in 30 days after the invasion so we didn't have any problems to speak of as to what the other fellows did as they went in on Invasion Day. Now we had battles. We were in the Battle of St. Lo which was a real difficult situation because the Germans had their heavy artillery and guns in a swampy area round the city of St. Lo. We were there 2 or 3 days before they finally gave up. We were in the Battle of Metz which was where they had tankers that was put there near the Maginot Line. We were there a week. We had a lot of problems because the bunkers were so heavy and thick that the shells would not penetrate them. The bombers would come in to bomb the bunkers and the 500 pound bombs would just bounce off the tankers. The best way to eliminate the problem was to use caterpillar tractors with blades on the front pushing the dirt up against the back of the bunker so that they couldn't get out and they would have to stay inside of the 5 bunker. The enemy would be left in the bunker with no way to get out because they couldn't get out the slits in the front where they were firing. The only guns that would penetrate these large bunkers would be the German 88. Some of those were captured and used on the bunkers and it would take a number of shots fired at the same elevation in order to put the hole through the bunker to do the job that was necessary. The Battle of the Bulge was missed by us by only 2 miles. There was 2 battalions of artillery left in the area where we were. The night after the Battle of the Bulge started the infantry and most of the artillery was pulled out during the darkness to go back up and to help in the Battle of the Bulge to slow the Germans down. The day that the Battle of the Bulge started was a very foggy, misty day. When we got up the next morning there was just the 2 battalions of artillery situated in this 2 mile area. The guns had been moved out at night and in the place of the guns they had tree trunks sticking out of the camouflage net areas to let the Germans know we were still there. The G.I.'s that were left had to move from one area to another all day long building fires and keeping the fires going so that the Germans wouldn't know that the front was so weak. Land mines had been placed before the other fellows left to protect certain areas that we could not cover. This was the situation in which it was a little shaky because of the very, very small number of troops that were left behind to take care of this 2 mile front area. And we were very fortunate that the Germans didn't know the situation or they could have walked right over the top of us. Transportation was done by truck. Being a field artillery, we had our trucks for our first aid station. For pulling the heavy guns we had big prime movers- 10 wheelers that pulled the large guns. All of the equipment was pulled by truck. All of the men rode in trucks. We had a ¾ ton truck and a jeep for our particular 6 first aid station. At night we would travel with no lights on- just with little tiny areas shown in the vehicles so that we could see the vehicles in front of us. The instructions and rules regarding the behavior of troops towards the natives was there was no fraternization. We could not talk to the Germans, we could not be in the same house with the Germans. They'd have to be moved out. Near the end of the war when we were in France we could be in one part of the house and the French natives could be in the other side of the house, we had to have a door between us. This was because of the troops in France, the FFI, the Free French of the Interior, were helping us in this part of the war through France. The instructions were very rigid. Everyone watched everyone else to see that there was no fraternization. Our daily routine would consist of first, in the morning, getting our breakfast, then we would have the aid station set up to take in the wounded. Sometimes we would have infantry in because we were so close to the front lines. The infantry first aid men could not take care of the casualties so they would bring them to us. Then we could send them to the rear. Often we would have sick calldepending on our location as to how many we had on sick call. If we were in barracks our sick call would be tremendous. We would have long lines of sick G.I.’s. When we were out in the field in the winter time in pup tents, in the summer time in pup tents, or sleeping out in the open we would have very, very few sick G.I.’s. The getting of souvenirs was strictly forbidden. You never knew when you would get hold of the wrong type of souvenir. Even windows, even pictures on the walls in the houses - the bombed houses- would be booby trapped. Going down the stairs into the basement one step would be booby- trapped. The coal-bins would have booby traps in them where one piece of coal touched by a shovel would explode. The dead soldiers would be booby 7 trapped. So getting souvenirs was one of the easiest and best ways that we knew of becoming killed or hurt very, very severely because of the booby-traps. The discipline was strict. During war it is possible to be shot for not doing what you’re supposed to do at the time you’re told to do it. So you do not hesitate too long in order to do the things you are asked to do. When we started through France in a convoy, driving the Germans ahead of us, the people met as out in the streets, threw their arms around us, hollered "Viva Americans'. They were thrilled to death the American people had come. When we were in Germany, the people who did not leave their cities or their homes- you could not see them. They were standing back in the shadows of the room, peering out of the windows and out of the doors through the cracks of the doors to see the Americans because they were so afraid. The situation was very touchy because they had been brainwashed as to what would happen if the American G.I.'s came into their cities. This is why they were afraid to see the G.I.’s… PB: Mr. Maddock was in Austria, just over the border from Germany when the end of the war came. Releases were given according to the number of points a soldier had accumulated during the war for such things as length of service, battles fought, and various other criteria. The soldier had to have at least 75 points. Mr. Maddock had 75 points and was sent with other G.I.’s to Camp Lucky Strike where troops were gathered before going back to the States. Here, there was a dock strike and the G.I.’s were delayed a month during which they “ate, slept, and went to movies.” From here he was sent to Newport News, Louisiana where they took classes learning to become “civilized”. He then was transferred to Fort Douglas and then home. 8 Notes: “Plum” was a code name for an area. The soldiers were never told the exact names or places so that they couldn’t give anything away. Cadres were men taken from one outfit to serve as the nucleus for a new outfit. Along with Slit Trenches the men also lived in fox holes. Mr. Maddock landed in Great Britain at the first of his European tour. Next he landed in France at a place called Utah Beach which is on the coastline of France across from the White Cliffs. He went through Germany and then at the end of the war he was waiting just across the border in Austria when the news came. 9