Posted on 12/16/2014 7:23:19 AM PST by TurboZamboni
Nearly 70 years ago, Gordon Russ died fighting for his country and was buried in a foreign field.
The St. Paul man left behind a wife, two little daughters, his parents and sisters. But in the seven decades since Russ fell during a critical and bloody battle in World War II, none of them has been to his grave.
"I would have liked to have my dad's body back here, to go visit him," said Russ' daughter, Judith Doyle, now 75. "I wish I could get out and see his grave. If I could just walk up and touch the stone it would be like touching him, which I don't remember doing."
"He's buried in a cemetery in Luxembourg. None of us have ever been there. That's the sad part," said Russ' sister, Jean Snell, 86, of Sun Prairie, Wis. "I wish we could've gone, that someone could've gone."
Over the years, Doyle, of North St. Paul, has tried to find out more about the father she never knew, how he died and why he never came home. The Pioneer Press tried to answer some of those questions.
One of the few documents Doyle has about her father is a brief newspaper clipping about his death on Jan. 8, 1945.
The 30-year-old private had been in the Army for less than a year. He had lived in the 1400 block of Ames Avenue on St. Paul's East Side. He worked as a bartender in a place called Fleischmann & Muggley's Tavern at University and Lexington Avenue.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
It seems odd that a thirty year old with children would’ve been drafted, even in WWII.
My dad was there. He said it gave a whole other dimension to the word ‘cold’.
It was very grim and depressing. How they survived, I don’t know.
God bless them all....survivors and those who did not.
“It seems odd that a thirty year old with children would’ve been drafted, even in WWII.”
The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft.
“It seems odd that a thirty year old with children would’ve been drafted, even in WWII.”
Yea, it does seem odd. My father volunteered to join the Army in 1943 at 28 years old, and had 3 kids. My oldest sister said, that my father was exempt from the draft because of his age and his children. Don’t know what the rules were back then.
My grandfather, who had three daughters and was in his early 30s, received an exemption.
He went to the Philippines
My uncle Charles Norkunas is buried in the same cemetery, and Patton is there as well.
I read the letter to Grandma by the Captain of his company, handwritten, two pages long. He was “killed by small arms fire while reducing the bulge”.
I believe the draft boards were local, so you had quite a variation on who was taken though still within the overall rules.
As the war went on, there was a need to pull in more men and a lot of guys who had been exempt earlier were called up. My grandfather had two kids, but he was ordered to report for induction. It was only after he’d gone through the whole process that they pulled out a letter from his employer saying he was doing necessary war work and sent him home. But that was the basis of his exemption, not the two kids.
For a long time they exempted fathers. It is possible her dad volunteered
After September 1942, the only volunteers were under 18 or over 38. Everyone else had to pass through the local draft board. The reason is that early in the war too many people who had critical skills (farmers, machinists, etc.) were volunteering.
Right, but if he volunteered at the draft board then he would bypass the exemption for fathers. Alternately if his kids were born after the war started the exemption did not apply.
Yes, during the last year of the war the draft boards were running out of draft-eligible men under the existing exemption rules. So, older men and men with children became eligible for the draft.
My Dad from Minnesota was there also.
Wounded by the 88’s
Age would not have been a factor; it was probably the three children. By 1943, everyone older than 17 or younger than 38 who joined was technically a draftee.
Eddie Slovik, the only US soldier shot for desertion in WW2 is another one who was initially rejected—for a petty criminal record and physical problems—who was drafted as they kept lowering the standards and was at the front that winter, though south of the Bulge, I believe. A guy who never should have been in the army. They were genuinely having trouble filling the requirements that the war was creating and the need was particularly great in the rifle companies, where most of the casualties were.
The MP’s wouldn't answer questions except to swear and shove and kick everyone out of bed and into trucks.
He said they bounced down the road all night and in the dark without ANY illumination. Someone had a bottle of Calvados and he said, they'd have been dead at the destination without it.
They got to the fight (the Bulge) tired, cold, hungry and all scrambled and mixed up. He didn't see the guys he knew and trained with. He fought with guys he didn't know and everyone was confused.
They got wise quick enough and toughed it out from there.
Yes, if the local draft board took him. There was considerable discretion at the local level, as long as the basic guidelines were followed. Also, each board had a quota to fill. If they were considerably short of filling their quota, they became tighter with exemptions, and vice versa.
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