In 1940-41, building government structures for the War effort created a great need for experienced carpenters and contractors. Thus Mack had a part in governmental constructions in Kentucky, and Tennessee. Mack had the distinction of helping to build units at Camp Tyson, Paris, Tenn., where he later was located for training in the tactics of flying and caring for the barrage balloons used in the early stages of the War.
Mack's draft number came up first in our family. On April 4, 1942, only four months after Pearl Harbor, he began his service at Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga. (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and went to Fort Eustis, Va. for basic training. Having been in the C.C.C. camp for some years, Mack was a veteran before he entered, but such is life. After about two months of basic training at Ft. Eustis, on north side of James River between Williamsburg and Newport News, Mack was assigned to train for Barrage Balloon Training at the new facility at Camp Tyson, Paris, Tenn. Here he learned the complicated process of handling the winches and cables for the balloons which could be up to ten thousand feet high under some conditions. Power was furnished by gasoline powered motors which had to be maintained also, and atmospheric conditions had to be considered before releasing the balloons. The balloons served to make enemy aircraft fly higher if they approached them at all. Batteries of guns were also used in relation to the balloons for air defense. He was at Camp Tyson about four months, then assigned to the 311th Coast Artillery Barrage Battalion, Battery B for 14 months at Santa Monica, California, which offered some air protection for oil fields and the city of Los Angeles proper along the coast of southern California. As the threat of any attack on the continental U.S.A. diminished, Mack and some others from his unit were sent to take Military Police Basic Training at Battle Creek, Michigan. To make it worse, it was winter time; and the training was for a full four months. Mack was not one to complain but he did complain about the weather and the repeated training. Mack had earned promotions in the Barrage Balloon unit but now he was a buck private again. That was hard to take also. At home the family always checked his letters to see what rank he held, for it often changed. After his basic training in M.P. work he was assigned to the 785th M.P. Battalion with which he traveled to Camp Myles Standish, September 5, 1944 and went aboard the U.S.S. Wakefield, a huge troopship, in Boston harbor on Sept. 13, sailing two days later. Because of their faster speed such a ship could go ``full steam ahead'' and they arrived in Liverpool England on September 22, 1944. From there they went the next day to Southampton, England and boarded the U.S.S. Langley B. Castle at 1400 hours the same day to cross the English Channel. They arrived at Omaha Beach on September 24th at the provisional dock facilities but had to wait until the afternoon of the 25th to land. They landed at Cherbourg, the nearest port city rather than the provisional port at Omaha Beach. This was more than three months after D-Day (June 6) and so many men and materials were arriving that only provisional camps were available as housing. They set up tents in an orchard about three miles out of Valounge, which was about 15 miles southwest of Cherbourg, which had been taken June 20th. At this time Paris had been taken, and all of Normandy, and transportation was difficult. Cherbourg now had a working dock and the principal undersea pipeline to bring gasoline and other petroleum products directly from England to the Allies in France, hence was an extremely important port in support of the invasion of Normandy and the continuing progress of the troops. On Oct. 6 Mack went by train with some of his unit to Chartres, about 40 miles south of Paris, where they took charge of a group of German Prisioners of War and returned them to Utah Beach. Having delivered them there the Unit returned to the Orchard Camp on Oct. 10th. It was a four day mission. On the 15th of October the unit moved to Le Mans, southwest of Paris, a major rail center that the Allies had captured August 9th. A week later Mack's unit moved to Laval, about 40 miles to the west of LeMans. All of these towns are on main roads and railroads leading into Paris. Le Mans may have been Battalion Headquarters while Mack's Company was detached to Laval. Military Police performed their functions in conjunction with larger units of the Army. A Company, Platoon or Scout Car team could be assigned duties at considerable distance from their home base. For twelve months Mack was rated as a ``Scout Car Commander,'' with a rank of Sergeant after finishing his M.P. basic training. From Le Mans they could operate on missions within a hundred miles or so, depending on transportation available. Therefore the next move from Laval to Tours on the Loire River placed them at a major rail center one hundred and twenty-five miles southwest of Paris. It seems that George Patton's Command was in this sector of France during the Fall and Winter of 1944-45. It was at the city of Tours that Mack was based from Oct. 26, 1944 until Feb. 5, 1945. In January at Tours, Mack and others studied methods and means of disarming unexploded bombs and artillery shells as part of their future duties. He was a certified a ``Bomb Reconnaisance Officer.'' They moved to Chartres on Feb. 5 for eight days, then to Esch on March 15th. Esch is not noted on the map of France, but a map of adjoining Luxemburg has a town of Esch-sur-Alzette located just inside the border from France, on the Alzette River. Therefore the town could well have been called only Esch. And since the unit was on the move it may not have entered the town but was in that vicinity. The map indicates that the Third Army did enter Luxemburg, and after six weeks there Mack joined the invasion of Germany of March 28th. All the Allied Forces were just waiting for decent Spring weather to attempt to cross the Rhine River and penetrate to the heart of Germany. Patton's Third Army were in Luxemburg and Germany and their forward units found a place to cross the river by boats under cover of darkness and establish a perimeter on the eastern side of the Rhine on March 22nd. Therefore, as Mack's M.P. Battalion moved into Germany there were a lot of German prisoners to take charge of and a lot of miles to run in the six weeks remaining in the war.
We do know that Mack directed traffic for the 3rd Army on the move, and enjoyed moving them out. One story he told was that he had just arrived at a blockage of military traffic on a bridge where a truck had dropped a front wheel over the edge of the bridge and couldn't move itself in any direction. Just as he was sizing up the situation he heard a siren and an official jeep pulled up nearby. It was Gen. Patton's jeep. The General got out and walked closer, then asked, ``Who's in charge here?''
Mack responded, ``I am, sir; I have just arrived on the scene.''
``What's the problem; that this traffic is not moving?''
``A truck's steering broke and it's hung off the edge of the bridge and can't move, Sir.''
``Well, what the hell you gonna do about it?''
``I'm going to turn it over into the river to clear the road, Sir.''
The General turned to the body of soldiers standing around and said: ``You heard him, men. Get moving and throw that truck in the river and let's get this traffic moving.''
The army did move as much as fifty miles a day, taking prisoners as
they went, but not stopping to clear out all resistence as they went.
They were headed for the Elbe River and the borders of Germany on all
sides. They made contact with the Russians at the agreed upon line,
the Elbe River, town of Torgau on April 25. The Russians were already
in Berlin, and Hitler committed suicide the 30th of April. His
remaining Generals surrendered May 7th.
On May 19th Mack and the 785th Military Police Battalion left
German territory and set their faces toward the Pacific War. They
arrived at the port city of Marseilles, on the French Mediterranean
coast on May 23rd. No doubt there was a need of M.P.s there, too, as
everyone celebrated victory in Europe. But on July 6th the unit loaded
on the U.S.S. General H. W. Butner and they sailed July 7th for
Panama. They passed the Strait of Gibraltar July 9th and docked at
Cristobal, Canal Zone, Panama, on July 19th.
They passed thru the Canal on the 20th and on August 7th they
anchored at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. They stayed there one
day and on August 11th they arrived at Mog Mog and Hazel Island in
the Caroline Islands, near where the U.S. Navy now had fleet
headquarters as they prepared the final blows for the destruction of
Japan as a military power in the Pacific. The U.S.S.
General Butner stayed
here from August 11th until August 28th, when they pulled anchor to
sail to Okinawa, which had been conquered but not cleared of
Japanese between March 26 and June 30. Okinawa was to be the
major army staging area for the invasion of Japan. But after the
tragic bombings of Tokyo and other cities from March thru July the
Japanese were beginning to believe that the War was lost. The
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Aug. 6th and 9th, was
followed by V-J Day on August 15th while Mack's ship waited in the
Caroline Islands.
Mack's months on Okinawa from August 28th to Dec. 17th were
spent as Supply Sergeant and Mack was awarded another stripe to wear home.
When Sam reached Okinawa they were able to look forward to getting
back home safely and starting again. Mack was looking at marriage
but had his doubts about what Golden Azbill would think about that.
Sam encouraged him to go for it, and let the chips fall as they may.
Mack's service experience
was at the four points of the compass before he left the States--on
both coasts, and North to South. He earned the American Theater
Ribbon for his months with the Coast Artillery, the European Theater
Ribbon in France and Germany, with battle stars for the Rhineland and
Central Europe. Then he earned the Asian Pacific ribbon for that
seven week troopship ride and those months in Okinawa. He had
accumulated sixty-three points on his service record for a trip home.
Chief Petty Officer William Eugene Watlington, a first cousin on his
troopship, the U.S.S. St. Mary's, recognized Mack. Since he
was in charge of some food service and supplies, Eugene saw that Mack
was properly fed on the return trip to the U.S.A.