 |
Remember...Thomas Dawson Waldie Jr.
|
Thomas Dawson Waldie Jr., born February 15, 1925, in Mason County, was the oldest son of Thomas Dawson Waldie Sr. and Bonnie Mayes Waldie. 1930 and 1940 Federal Census records show that Thomas Sr. and Bonnie added two more sons to their growing family: William J. Waldie in 1930 and Donald E. Waldie in 1935. Thomas Sr. died in 1939, and Thomas Jr.'s draft registration lists his mother as Bonnie Waldie Krebs. When he registered for the draft on February 15, 1943, he listed "in school" in the space assigned to Employer's Name and Address. A death notice in the Huntington Herald-Advertiser (10 December 1944) notes that he was engaged to Miss Althea Jean Luster of Barboursville, West Virginia.
U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, state that Thomas Jr. completed three years of high school, but his death notice indicates he graduated from Point Pleasant High School with honors in 1943. On July 2 of that year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Huntington, West Virginia.
World War II had been going on in Europe for nearly four years, and the United States had been involved since 1941. But Thomas Waldie was only 18 years old when he was called to action. He was assigned to the 50th Armored Infantry Battalion, 6th Armored Division.
While few details of Thomas's early life are known, his battalion's story provides much insight into his last year. In 2007, editor Marian Deeney created a web page from a softbound booklet originally published in 1945: 50th Armored Infantry Battalion: Our Proud History. One chapter narrates the difficult situation in which the battalion found itself, the attack on Metz:
As the civilians at home prepared to go to the polls to elect into office our new Leaders, we in Malzeville assembled in column, ready to launch new assaults on the forces who would deny us our freedom.It was November 7, 1944, and for the impending operation Combat Command "B" was again divided into three separate Task Forces, one of them Task Force Wall consisting of the entire 50th Armored Infantry Battalion, with the exception of "C" Company which joined Task Force La Grew. Accompanied by a Company of Tanks, one of Tank Destroyers, a Platoon of Engineers and sections of an AAA Battery, Task Force Wall moved out of Malzeville with the mission of crossing the Seille River at Port-Sur-Seille and proceeding to an Assembly Area prepared to attack on order.
Weeks of heavy rain had turned the roads and fields into a veritable morass, and the continued downpour as this operation got underway presented extreme difficulty to the advancing armored column.
Progress was exceptionally slow and it was not until November 10, that the Task Force readied its assigned area in the vicinity of Buchy, France.
Less than ten miles to the North, the Third Army of which we were a part, had opened its attack on the Fortress of Metz. There was a strong possibility that the Combat Command, particularly Task Force Wall, might be in a favorable position to attack the flank of enemy forces withdrawing from Metz through the ever narrowing escape gap now closing under the pressure of other Divisions of the Third Army.
However, during the night orders came to attack to the Northeast, and early on the morning of November 11 the Battalion struck out on its mission. The enemy had withdrawn, leaving only small delaying forces to further slow our advance. The enemy utilized every means at his disposal to delay the column. His ground troops presented no obstacle, but his employment of mines and booby traps seriously affected our progress, already impaired by terrain that was now a sea of mud.
Eventually the column approached the village of Remilly, where "B" Company dismounted and advanced on foot, forcing entry into that village where a brief but brisk action eliminated the enemy defenders. Thirteen prisoners were taken in that encounter.
After setting up Headquarters in Remilly, "A" Company was sent to the Task Force Commanded by Lt. Colonel La Grew, and on the following day encountered exceptionally strong opposition. The Task Force however accomplished its mission, largely through the contribution of "A" Company. It was a costly adventure however, for Lieutenant Funnel was among the four men killed in that action. ("Along the Moselle," 11 November 2007, accessed 21 October 2022, http://www.super6th.org/50thAIB/50thAIBHome.html.)
Another of the four, not mentioned by name in this chapter about the drive to Moselle, would have been Pfc. Thomas D. Waldie.
Over the next week, the 50th soldiered on, so to speak, while the enemy resorted to ineffective artillery shelling. The 50th Armored Infantry Battalion booklet posits that the enemy must have noted by this time that "the sun was slowly but surely setting on his once vast and powerful military empire," but continued a type of warfare designed to wear down the Allied troops. The chapter "Along the Moselle" details the many difficulties faced by the battalion throughout the remainder of November and the early part of December, leading up to the Battle of the Bulge, where "the war's most violent fighting" took place, an encounter which it endured.
In April 1947, Mrs. Bonnie Krebs, mother of Thomas, received a letter from Brigadier General G. A. Horkan of the Office of the Quartermaster General stating that Pfc. Waldie was buried in a "temporary resting place," the U.S. Military Cemetery at Limey, France. Reassuring Mrs. Krebs that "this is a place of simple dignity, neat and well cared for," Gen. Horkan further stated that Thomas would remain there until the family requested burial in a permanent American cemetery overseas or return of his remains to the States. Thus, Thomas was brought to his final resting place in 1948. Services were held on September 19 at the Heights United Brethren Church with Rev. F. H. Capehart officiating. Pfc. Waldie was buried in Lone Oak Cemetery at Point Pleasant. In 1955, his mother applied for a military headstone for her son. Pfc. Waldie was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure, who gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Steve Halstead of Mason County, WV, and the Waldie family
October 2022
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
