The Lost Ranger: A Soldier's Story

by Mehlo, Noel

  It turns out that any small piece of information, or items such as the coins mentioned above can help a researcher piece together a story that might be hidden from view. Little bits of information from the discharge papers that noted Fort Hayes and the coins led to questions and answers that helped fully develop the part of his story from his time before becoming a Ranger. This part of his story is just as important as when he was a Ranger, because his time as an Infantryman led to his selection into the Rangers.

  Figure 18: Union Station, 1945; Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri A little piece of extra trivia is that my wife is from Kansas City, Missouri, and I would find a special connection with Union Station, as my wife, kids and I find it fascinating and visit there almost every time we make it into town in order to see the Lionel displays, Union Station Science City, the nearby Crowne Center or Liberty Memorial. It is a family favorite of ours. Little did I know all these years that my grandfather passed through the place on his way to war. A 1945 photo of Union Station is in Figure 18.

  I also a received a copy of the newspaper clippings kept by his mother. These were from the East Palestine Morning Journal. His mother did not date the articles or clip the dates from the papers themselves. Unfortunately, a search of the newspaper, local library, Ohio Historical Society and Library of Congress revealed that the newspaper archive from 1943 no longer exists. The article on the left is likely from the 13th or 14th of January, 1943, while the article on the right is likely from the 14th or 15th of January 1943. The existing East Palestine Morning Journal News confirmed the loss of their archives. A photo of the clippings is in Figure 19.

  Figure 19: East Palestine newspaper, The Daily Leader, January 1943 Now is an important time to discuss part of his being lost to history. On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF).15 This fire is seen in Figure 20. No duplicate copies of these records were ever maintained, nor were microfilm copies produced. There were no indexes of the files created prior to the fire. The damage resulted in an estimated loss of 80% of all U.S. Army personnel records for soldiers discharged between November 1, 1912 and January 1, 1960. (NARA, St. Louis) As a result of this fire, S/Sgt Hull’s military personnel records were destroyed. The U.S. government has prepared a partial replacement file based on their work in recreating his file from other sources as they have slowly been doing for as many veterans as is possible over the years.

  Figure 20: Conflagration underway in 1973, Aerial View of MILPERCEN, National Archives (Photos – NARA) Fortunately for our family, S/Sgt Hull was discharged under a disability rating of 30% by the military and his medical care was turned over to the VA. The VA was copied on many of his pertinent records and these records were and are stored separately from his personnel records which were lost. His Report of Physical Examination and Induction has been located as part of his Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) records held in archive at the Federal Records Center (FRC) 0511 Dayton Storage Facility since 1974. Later in the book, the research and data sources required to develop this story will be fully described in detail, but for now it is important to keep in mind how the handwritten note shown in Chapter 1, Figure 1 is the basis for developing this lost page of history.

  This all might seem heavy on the research end, but to any veteran, or more importantly family of a veteran trying to piece together the story of their loved one, understanding this type of information is very important. It is critical to become like a detective and sift through the bits and pieces of a life that remain as tokens to the living. To understand history is to find and identify people, places and events, and provide them a proper context so that value can be assigned to them. It is through this process that understanding becomes clear. It is through methodical research that a story based in fact can be told. One might uncover truths not known or open doors for future generations to uncover and debate by looking into the past. It is possible to repeat success and avoid failure by understanding the past.

  3 THE 35TH INFANTRY DIVISION – 320TH INFANTRY REGIMENT

  After Herb Hull’s military induction and reception at Fort Hayes in Columbus, Ohio, he was shipped by train to Camp San Luis Obispo, California. The map in Figure 21 shows the Southern Pacific Rail Line coming into the town of San Luis Obispo from Los Angeles in the south and then running northeast to San Francisco. The military department constructed rail spurs in order to accommodate troop trains into Camp San Luis Obispo. It was used for the arriving and departing troops as well as for shipping in supplies (Figure 22). According to the Curator of the Camp San Luis Obispo, California State Military Museum, the Army built the rail line into the Camp to offload men in the warehouse area as seen in Figure 23. This particular route from Los Angeles to San Francisco was built in 1894 and eliminated the need for stage lines servicing the areas north over the Cuesta Grade. The map also notes the position of the California National Guard Camp that would become Camp San Luis Obispo located along State Route 1 and located 8 miles north and northwest of town. The map does not however accurately reflect the extensive building and construction taking place on the camp between 1939 and 1942 to account for federalization and housing the 10,000 troops on the growing Camp.

  Figure 21: U.S. Department of the Interior Geologic Survey, San Luis Obispo, California, Scale: 1:62500, Edition of 1942 The town of San Luis Obispo’s population soared to supply workmen in 1940 to help construct the Camp. The need for housing was so great chicken coops and garages were converted to supply the high demand for housing needs. The area was known for its agriculture and had a thriving Japanese-American population that would find themselves interred shortly after the events of Pearl Harbor. The 35th Infantry Division would play a role in this interment effort in 1942 according to many unit historians. By January, 1943 however, the unit set about the business of combat preparations.1

  Figure 22: Troop Train Approaching Camp San Luis Obispo - Camp San Luis Obispo Museum, Image 370

  Figure 23: Troop Train arriving at Camp San Luis Obispo – Camp San Luis Obispo Museum, Image 298 Herbert Hull had in his possession two garrison covers (hats), one with the 35th Infantry Division Patch adorning as shown below with his partial serial number marked inside it, and a second hat referred to as a “cover” with markings inside including his name, and association with the 320th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, Headquarters Company marked on the nametag inside the cover (Figure 24). This small bit of information scribed on the inside of his hats provided the first vital link at investigating this aspect of his service. Upon making the above linkage to the 320th Infantry

  Figure 24: Herbert Hull’s 35th Infantry Division garrison cover (author) Regiment and learning more about the unit, it was originally unknown what exact day PVT Hull arrived at Camp San Luis Obispo from Fort Hayes, Ohio. A thorough in person investigation of the records located at NARA in St. Louis revealed his unit associations within the 35th Infantry Division. Additional research through print and the internet revealed the history of the unit and provided the context for his service therein.

  Camp San Luis Obispo was founded in 1928 north of the town of San Luis Obispo, in a topography of beautiful rolling hills in central California about 200 miles northwest of Los Angeles along the Pacific coast. The post was originally named Camp Merriam, until it was renamed in 1940 when the United States Army exercised its preemptive rights and leased Camp San Luis Obispo from the State of California and occupied the facility. The image in Figure 25 is a Wartime postcard of the post. These were common during the war, and many a soldier sent them home to family and friends. The U.S. Army fully commandeered the post in 1941 after America entered World War II. The federal government enlarged the post to over 10,000 acres and used it to train half a million soldiers and 42 infantry divisions. The federal government likewise built Salinas Dam, 20 miles away to provide a dependable source of water for the base by 1943.
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  Figure 25: Camp San Luis Postcard: (public domain) Valuable information was obtained through an article about the development of Camp San Luis Obispo by Dr. Dan Kreiger entitled Camp’s Drab Look Caught First Lady’s Attention. The article indicated that the position of Camp Merriam, later to be called Camp San Luis Obispo, was important due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean and rail and highway connections to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The closeness of base to the agricultural heartland of California was also taken into consideration for a food source, as well as ample rugged landscape with which to train soldiers. For these reasons the Central Coast was picked by the War Department as a key military training area. Beginning in 1940, it was reported that the War Department secretly began the process of expansion by leasing nearby ranches to Camp Merriam to obtain rights on more acreage.2

  They began construction immediately. This effort was hampered by 36 inches of rain in 1941. Much of the rain fell in the Chorro Valley, right where the Camp was. The area was not able to naturally drain, nor were there manmade drainages constructed to be able to deal with this amount of water. This would prove a hindrance in future years. The flooding water resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in lost equipment and materials and bloated construction costs. One account stated: “We stayed in a tent area erected for construction workers and ate in a mess hall. Once on my way to eat, I stepped out of my tent into a driving rain, missed the steps and ended up knee-deep in mud.” It is also noted that ultimately, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt became distressed at the dismal appearance of the camp and personally picked out the paint scheme for the buildings on the post, selecting cream colored exterior walls and green roofs.2 The structure shown in Figure 26 is typical of the accommodations.

  Figure 26: Typical tar-sided “tent” accommodations for soldiers – Camp San Luis Obispo Museum, Image PVT Hull was assigned as a member of the 320th Infantry Regiment which was part of the 35th Infantry Division. The 320th Infantry Regiment was a military unit largely made up of conscripted soldiers. A point discovered much later in the research was that from January through April of 1943, the 35th Infantry Division was assigned to the Fourth Army. This explains the inclusion of the Fourth Army patch amongst his belongings. It must have been picked up or given to him as a souvenir during his time in California. Figure 27 shows the Fourth Army patch to the left, the 35th Infantry Division patch in the middle, and the unit crest of the 320th Infantry Regiment to the right.

  Figure 27: Unit patch, Fourth U.S. Army (L), 35th Infantry Division (C) and 320th Infantry Regiment (R) Crest

  The Fourth U.S. Army, known as the “'A-Plus' Army", was one of four field armies created in the continental limits of the United States in 1932 with the purpose of: 1. Planning: to provide agencies to complete the development of war plans prepared by the War Department General Staff;

  2. Command and staff: to form higher commands prepared to take the field and execute the plans prepared;

  3. Training: to provide agencies for the conduct of command post and other suitable peacetime training exercises;

  4. Mobilization: to provide an adequate force, within the minimum of time with the maximum of training, sufficient to protect any general mobilization that may be necessary;

  5. Emergency defense: to provide a force sufficient to handle all emergencies short of general mobilization.

  The Fourth U.S. Army was activated at Omaha, Nebraska. Its mission was to protect the Pacific Coast, and served as a training army equipping and preparing about half the combat troops sent overseas during WWII. The Fourth U.S. Army oversaw the Seventh Corps to which the 35th Infantry Division was assigned in 1942. The Fourth U.S. Army became part of what was known as the Western Defense Command. PVT Hull would again find himself attached to the Seventh Corps in France. 3, 4

  When France fell in the summer of 1940 to the Nazi Blitzkrieg, President Roosevelt called for the draft as previously discussed. The act of mobilization also resulted in calling up almost a million national guardsmen resulting in their federalization. By December of 1940, the Kansas National Guard was brought up. The 35th Infantry Division was ordered into Federal Service by Executive Order 8605 on December 23, 1940. The 35th Division underwent its initial shakedown phase of training beginning in January 1941. During the Division’s conforming to the active army structure they went through a purge of older and disabled officers and men. The division participated in the famed Louisiana Maneuvers from August through September, 1941. The 35th Infantry Division received stocks of new equipment, including M1 Garand rifles prior to these maneuvers, which was odd for a National Guard unit at that time. During the time the unit became federalized, the division still retained the old 'square' structure of 4 regiments in two brigades that the United States Army utilized during World War I. After the 1941 training in Louisiana, the division was transferred to the Western Defense Command following the December 7, 1941 attack of Pearl Harbor. This resulted in the unit being stationed in California.

  In March of 1942, the 35th Infantry Division underwent “triangularization” losing two of its regiments and both brigade headquarters in order to fit the new United States Army mold of an effective combat infantry division.5 This reorganization from four to three regiments per division resulted in a reduction of soldiers from 22,000 to about 15,000 men. The thought behind the new structure was to have two of the regiments in combat at a time, while the third regiment stood in reserve to the front line forces. There were a total of sixty-six infantry divisions in World War II. In late 1942 the Division was spread along the long California coast as part of the Southern California Sector of the Western Defense Command.

  By January, 1943, the division moved north for further training at Camp San Luis Obispo, California. The division then finalized its wartime regimental organizational structure which included the 137th Infantry Regiment (Kansas National Guard), the 134th Infantry Regiment (Nebraska National Guard), and the 320th Infantry Regiment (newly formed by draftees). In general, Army Divisions were formally activated, which is to say, be put into existence, followed by a period of filling out. The 320th Infantry Regiment went through this cycle in January 1943. During the expansion phase which came next, enlistees and draftees were brought into a unit to bring it to their full authorized strength. The unit then typically underwent a one year training cycle consisting of 17 weeks of basic and advanced training, thirteen weeks of unit training, 14 weeks of combined arms training in conjunction with large-scale exercises and 8 weeks of final training before preparing to move overseas. As part of the reorganization of the Division, and the organization of the 320th Infantry Regiment, the conscripted soldiers arriving in California in January 1943 had to undergo basic training and become a solid part of the 35th Infantry Division.6, 7, 8 PVT Hull found himself amongst these men.

  The entire division moved to Camp Rucker, Alabama and participated in the April 1943, U.S. Army, Tennessee Maneuvers, Advanced Divisional Training and Maneuvers. This Regiment had previously fought as part of the 80th Division during World War I before being disbanded in the interwar years. For the purposes of developing the 320th Infantry Regiment, Camp San Luis Obispo became what the Army referred to as a Training Center.

  “The 320th was activated at Camp San Luis Obispo, Cal., on Jan. 28, 1943. Formed from a cadre of the 131st Inf. sent from Fort Brady, Mich., and from men transferred from the 134th and 137th, the 320th became the youngest third of the triangular, streamlined the 35th Division. The outfit suffered growing pains in its training and organization, at Camp San Luis Obispo and at Camp Rucker, Ala., where it arrived April 1. In the latter Camp frequent long hikes with full packs weren’t enjoyed during the torrid Southern summers. Whenever fighting became strenuous in the European Theater of Operations (ETO), however, the boys began to put in a good word for Rucker. Still, always there would be one Joe in a breeze group to declare: “No, by Gawd! I’d sooner be here.””

  STORY OF THE 320TH INFANTRY, Published in Hameln, Germany, on D Day plus 365, June
6, 1945. 320th Public Relations Office.9 In a document held at NARA at College Park, 320th Infantry Regiment, Headquarters, General Orders No. 3 dated February 1, 1943 named the officers for the unit with Colonel Don M. Scott, Commanding. The Executive Officer was Major William Northam. The Adjutant (S-1) was Captain John Kirchner. The Personnel Officer was Captain George Jamieson. The Plans and Training Officer was Captain McGrew Harris. The Supply Officer (S-4) was Captain George Walker, Jr.10

  In a document that set up part of normal camp life for new recruits, 320th Infantry Regiment, Headquarters, General Orders No. 5, dated February 15, 1943 a guard schedule was established for Camp San Luis Obispo for the security of the post. This order established the Interior of the Guard of the Regimental for the safety and security of the Regimental Area. The Regimental Guard was set up using a fixed post system consisting of an Officer of the Day, Officer of the Guard, four non-commissioned officers, and twenty seven privates. The sentries were armed with rifles and bayonets, with eight rounds of loaded ammunition each, with instructions that no round was to be chambered while on patrol. This duty instilled discipline into the soldiers, while at the same time, provided a needed mission for the unit and post.11

  The World War II-era Obstacle Course was part of the Army’s effort to physically train and prepare recruits for the rigors of combat. The Army’s physical training regimen consisted of different activities including military drill, calisthenics, marching, rifle exercises, swimming, personal contests and group athletics. The Obstacle Course was the primary method for developing recruits abilities in running, jumping and climbing. An instructor would demonstrate the correct method for overcoming one obstacle. The unit would practice the obstacle 3 or 4 times, and then run 100 yards. This process was repeated each day on a different obstacle until all the obstacles on the course were covered. Once the unit had received training on all obstacles, the Soldiers would run the full course. As they developed proficiency, the soldiers would run the course against time, and eventually carry equipment through the course including rifles and light packs.