RED BULL This monument was created to honor and recognize all military veterans from Hamilton County and specifically those citizen soldiers from its Army National Guard Company, who were a part of the Red Bull 34th Infantry Division from the division’s formation in 1917 until the Webster City Armory closed in November of 1980. The Red Bulls from Hamilton County are representative of all of this county’s citizens who have answered the call to action. The county has a long history of volunteers, militias and National Guard stretching back to 1857 and the Spirit Lake Massacre Rescue Expedition. Company E, 133rd Infantry Regiment, whose WWII combat history is portrayed on these panels, was the essence of friends, family and neighbors engaged in combat, shoulder to shoulder, for months on end. And although a similar story was played out by National Guard companies across the country during WWII - this is our story. Company E Combat History WWII

The time between WWI and WWII was filled with training for Hamilton County’s National Guard company. Company C had been reorganized into Company E during this time. In 1920 the Armory on Second Street in Webster City, was gutted by fire and rebuilt. Field training was often conducted on the Webster City Country Club golf course and according to Homer Ankrum in his book, “Dogfaces Who Smiled Through Tears”, “most of the men were indeed proud to report to their families they had again spent the day at the country club”.

In January of 1941, National Guard units across the country were federalized as the war in Europe was spreading and U.S. involvement appeared inevitable. The only surprise would be the action that would draw them into the Second World War.

Art Philbrook, of Webster City, was the last living member of the WWII On Feb. 26, 1941, Capt. Eugene Meller and 1st Lt. Mathias House, along with 2nd Lt. Donald Andrew and 2nd Lt. Kenneth Company E and was in attendance at the dedication ceremony. In the Nichols formed up the 92 men of Company E and marched them down Second Street to the Webster City train depot where a above picture Art is flanked on the left by Colonel Donahoe and on the right by Supervisor Bailey. Art passed away on December 27, 2014. coal fired locomotive was waiting to take them to for advanced combat training. Camp Claiborne, LA was a 30,000 acre training facility built on the edge of a swamp, that in the rainy season flowed into the camp. It would be Company E’s home for most of 1941. In June, Company E would lose its first soldier, Emmet Harris of Webster City, who died after an his monument was dedicated on May 23rd, 2014 by T emergency appendectomy. Hamilton County Supervisors Doug Bailey, David Young and Wes Sweedler. Col. Damian Donahoe, Commander of the 2nd unday, December 7, 1941 would bring everything into focus for the boys in Company E. As the news of the Japanese attack Brigade Combat Team, represented the 34th Infantry Division S on the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor spread through the division, trucks and supplies were assembled. That night at the ceremony. Rev. Mike Willer, a Chaplain with the 34th Company E was moved out to handle security for potential domestic targets. After Christmas they left Camp Claiborne for Infantry Division and a former Webster City minister, provided Ft. Dix, NJ to prepare for deployment in Europe. The subzero temperatures and sleeping in summer camp tents at Dix made the invocations for the ceremony. Both Willer & Donahoe were the mud of Claiborne look like paradise. recent veterans of the conflict in Afghanistan. Webster City American Legion Post 191 presented the colors.

While training in New Mexico in 1918 an insignia for the 34th Division was created by Marvin D. Cone, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa artist turned Guardsman. The red buffalo skull with a black Native American olla as a background caused German troops in WWII Italy to refer to the Americans who wore that shoulder patch as “Red Bulls”. Before the end of WWII the division nickname was made official and to this day Guardsmen from Hamilton County continue to be a part of the historic “Red Bull Division”. Before dawn on Feb. 19, 1942, on board the USS Barnett, Company E, along with 1700 other soldiers of the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, slipped out of New York Harbor for Belfast, Ireland. Their first of many camps in the European Theatre would be in the serene Irish countryside where much time would be spent in additional training. On September 22, 1942, Roland Silvers of Webster City, is officially listed as suffering a non-battle related death in the British Isles. He would be Company E’s second soldier lost. In November, the 34th would enter the war in North Africa with Company E assigned to guarding the headquarters and other critical assets. On December 6, 1942 Company E recorded its only casualty in the North African Campaign, with Pvt. Charles H. Harris of Webster City being initially listed as missing in action. He was later declared killed in action in a combined British and American Commando raid on Bizerte, Tunisia. The fledgling Col. William Darby’s Rangers and U.S. Army Commandos recruited heavily out of the Red Bulls and received advance training with the British while they were in Ireland. Volunteers to both units, including Charles H. Harris, came out of Company E.

March of 1944 found Company E on its way out of North Africa and headed for Italy to rejoin the rest of the 34th, which had been fighting its way up the Italian peninsula. After a short period in Naples, the company departed for the Anzio Beachhead at the end of March. The invasion of Anzio had been launched on January 22, 1944, with fierce fighting up and down the beachhead. By the time that Company E arrived the Germans had been pushed out of the city itself but remained in the hills and mountains above to bombard shipping in the harbor with two long range guns. The guns could also drop shells into most of the city and throughout the hillside. Company E remained in the Anzio Beachhead reserve area until mid -April, when they moved out to replace the 168th Infantry in the hills above the beachhead. It was during this time above the Anzio Beachhead, that Pvt. Edwin Lemke, who grew up on an acreage outside of Webster City and spoke fluent German, began his behind the lines exploits that made him a 34th Division Legend.

Private First Class Edwin J. Lemke, DSC

On November 16th, 1944 at a rest area near Montecatini Terme, Italy, just outside of the Po River Valley, 5th Army General Mark Clark presented PFC Lemke with the U S Army Distinguished Service Cross, our nation’s second highest military Private Lemke, bottom left corner, reported award. It was reported at the dinner held that evening to honor Lemke and two that shortly after this picture was taken, other soldiers from the 133rd, who were also awarded the DSC, that when Private Private Sharkey, top center, was shot and Lemke was introduced to the General’s staff and a host of reporters assembled to killed by a German sniper, just as he reached hear the soldiers stories, he merely thanked General Clark and the reporters for the top of the stone wall. September 15th, having him to dinner, then promptly sat down and remained silent for the rest of 1944, between Pisa and the Futa Pass. the evening.

Private Lemke’s silence along with the fact that many of his behind the lines exploits were conducted alone and the death of Company E Commander Kenneth Distinguished Service Cross Nichols, confounded the later efforts of Company E comrade Homer Ankrum and high school classmate and Pulitzer Prize winning author Clark Mollenhoff to secure for Lemke the nation’s highest military decoration - the Congressional Medal of Honor. Their efforts did result in a new Army Reserve Center in Ft. Dodge, Iowa being named for him and dedicated on September 20th, 1997. His Distinguished Service Cross is displayed there along with his other awards. He passed away quietly in Webster City on September 26th, 1989.

The Distinguished Service Cross citation for Private First Class Edwin J. Lemke reads as follows:

“The President of the of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Private Edwin J. Lemke, , for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company E, 133rd “Brothers in Arms” Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces on 28 June 1944, near Castogneto, Italy. During a company advance, a leading squad was Company E suddenly fired upon from the right rear by a strong force of Germans. In the subsequent fire fight, the enemy succeeded in cutting off the squad from the remainder of circa. 1943 - 1944 the company. The company commander prepared to send a patrol to relieve the surrounded squad, but Private Lemke sought and obtained permission to attempt the task alone. Making his way along a dry river bed and through a series of ditches, he suddenly spotted a German soldier armed with a machine pistol. Private Lemke killed the German and took his weapon. Continuing his advance he observed another German and shot him with the machine pistol. Skillfully maneuvering toward the beleaguered squad, he located and killed three more enemy soldiers, to clear all enemy resistance from the rear and right rear of the squad. Finally reaching the three remaining members of the squad, he led them safely to the company. The initiative and aggressive fighting spirit displayed by Private Lemke prevented the capture of three fellow soldiers. His intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 34th Infantry Division and the United States Army.”

Headquarters, Fifth U.S. Army, General Orders No. 166 (1944) Early one morning the Company E line was jolted awake by the sound of a German machine gun in tree line, but it was too late for the forward two platoons. They were immediately cut off, surrounded, their position. It was soon realized the Germans had not penetrated the Company E line. Pvt. Lemke and captured. The tanks, with their infantry support, then advanced on to the remainder of the and his buddy Sgt. Raymond Christenson, also of Webster City, had overrun a German machine company. Company E’s withdrawal was effectively stopped by the heavy machine gun fire from the gun emplacement during the night. They brought the gun with ammunition back and were simply German tanks. Forward of most of his pinned down troops, Captain Nichols ordered an artillery returning the ammunition to the previous owners - one round at a time. strike on his own position. It was his only option to give the rest of the company a fighting chance to escape from the enemy armor and infantry who were now crossing his position and in a direct route On May 20, a coordinated attack was launched all across the hills above Anzio to break out of the to his trapped soldiers. Captain Nichols was mortally wounded in the artillery strike and 1st Sgt. beachhead and drive the Germans out of the hills and off the mountains. By the night of May 25, Charles Meyers, who had remained at his Captain’s side, was killed instantly. The German advance 1944, the breakout had been completed and Company E was up and out of the Anzio Beachhead. was disrupted by the American artillery strike, and the balance of the company was able to withdraw without further serious casualties or prisoners taken. Charles Meyers and Kenneth Nichols, both of The capture of Rome was the next objective. It was in the vicious fighting after the breakout and Webster City, would become the 5th and 6th soldiers of Company E to be lost. on the road to Rome that Company E suffered its fourth loss, Kenneth Cornett of Webster City, who was killed in action on May 30, 1944. Cecina would be taken and Pisa would fall on Sept. 2, 1944. Between Pisa and the Futa Pass, Company E would lose its final soldiers. On Sept. 15, Truman Sharkey and Donald Shelton, both of Webster By the time the 34th had arrived in Rome on June 4, 1944, the Germans had pulled out. After some City, were killed in action. Pvt. Lemke who had been with Sharkey said that he was killed by a sniper. much appreciated time off, the Red Bull was back on the move, heading North on Highway 1 towards Pisa. Although the Germans had ultimately given away Rome, the countryside, towns and cities to Four days later, Robert Patterson of Webster City was killed in action, becoming the ninth and final the North were not going to come free. Guardsman lost of the original Company E that had departed from Webster City in 1941.

With their next objective, the town of Cecina in sight, Capt. Kenneth Nichols was ordered in the early On Oct. 17, 1944, nearing the Po River Valley, many Company E soldiers again found themselves morning hours of July 1 to move Company E into a flat and brushy, dry riverbed area surrounded surrounded by German armor and infantry. With the situation hopeless, Lt. James Fury surrendered by hilly higher ground. Protesting that the area was indefensible without armor support, the order his troops rather than face a slaughter. to move the company into the dry bed of the Cecina river remained unchanged. Just as the company moved out of the tree line, the clanking of enemy tanks could be heard coming down the opposite Sgt. Myrl Ray, Sgt. Alvin Fisher, Cpl. Robert Simpson and Sgt. Art Philbrook, all of Webster City, hillside. Seven enemy tanks with about two hundred infantry moved directly to the center of Company along with some forty other Guardsmen, were taken North across the Po River and ultimately to a E’s line, in a move to split the force. Captain Nichols ordered the company to withdraw back into the POW camp near Moosburg, Germany. They would stay there until April 29, 1945 when elements of Gen. Patton’s 14th Armored Division would break down the gates of the camp.

Five other Company E soldiers would also become POW’s: Raymond Christenson, Roger Groves, John Baker, Fred Wilson, and Orville Jondal, who had actually left For a good many years after the end of World War II the original members Company E in Ireland when he volunteered to join Darby’s Rangers. of Company E would gather annually in Webster City to remember the past and honor their fallen comrades. The picture below and story are from the 15th reunion, published in the Daily Freeman Journal on September What was left of the original Company E spent a cold and dangerous winter in the 21st, 1964. The picture shows Homer Ankrum placing a wreath on the Apennines Mountains. On April 29, 1945 at 9:15 AM, the German Forces in Italy World War II memorial stone located in the Boulevard of Valor on Des Moines Street in Webster City. surrendered, and on May 2 the Italian Campaign formally ended. The 34th Red Bull Infantry Division had served 517 continuous days in combat, and some elements of the Division served 611 continuous days in combat. This was more continuous days of combat than any other U.S. division in the European

Silver Star Theater of Operation during WWII.

With the end of World War II, the boys in Company E began returning home to the lives they had left. They started families, returned to old jobs, started careers Captain Kenneth O. Nichols Captain Nichols was awarded the nation’s third highest military decoration, the U.S. and went back to school. Many remained in Company E as it transitioned into Army Silver Star for gallantry in action. peace time, but some left and others moved out of Hamilton County in search of

From the 133rd Commander’s Daily Log - “Nichols, Kenneth O. “Nick” - Company new lives in postwar America. Like all of America’s combat veterans, their lives Commander (Webster City, Iowa)...It is believed Nichols was an original with the would be forever changed and they would be bound together as brothers regardless national guard. He was described as a ruggedly handsome man. Captain Nichols died of the time and distance that would separate them. from the wounds he received when an artillery shell hit the Company “E” Command Post during a German armor counter attack on Jul 1, 1944 (near Cecina). First Sergeant Charles E. Meyers was killed instantly. Captain Nichols was in bad shape Company E would continue to serve as a rifle company in the 133rd Infantry with a large shrapnel wound in his stomach. PFC. John Biggs and PFC. Herman Hermansen quickly made a litter using a field jacket and two rifles and rushed “Nick” Regiment until May 1, 1959 when Captain V.K. “Bud” Brandt, along with Second back to the 2nd Battalion aid station. Captain Sam Klein (the battalion surgeon) tried Lieutenants Bob Mertz, Virgil Grubbe and Robert Jewell, transformed the company to stabilize Nichols, but his wounds proved to be too much. The men of Company “E” into Company A, 234th Truck Battalion. were suffering from extremely low morale due to exhaustion. They had been in almost continuous combat since the Anzio breakout. The men were utterly devastated when they learned that “Nick” was dead.”

Captain Nichols was buried in the Florence American Cemetery, Florence, Italy : Plot E, Row 12, Grave 19. The information for these panels was collected from the following sources:

“Dogfaces Who Smiled Through Tears” by Homer R. Ankrum 34th Infantry Division Association PFC Edwin J. Lemke U.S. Army Reserve Center The Daily Freeman Journal Nancy Eich Kayser The Des Moines Register Iowa Army National Guard Personal reference material and recollections of Arthur C. Philbrook The Messenger Unit Historians Iowa Gold Star Military Museum Kendall Young Library Local History Collection 34th Infantry Division Stainless steel Red Bull sculpture was created by Webster City artist Tim Adams