WWII veterans tell their stories

Memorial Day is once again being observed and, although it is an official holiday to remember military veterans who have passed on, it is also a good opportunity to tell the stories of those who are still with us. Here are the tales of three World War II soldiers who grew up in Washington County.

Harold Phinney

Harold Phinney was born on February 2, 1922, the son of Sherman and Cora Phinney of Edmunds. In December of 1940, at age 18, he signed up for the draft and was called up to serve on February 20, 1941, by the U.S. Army. "Quite a few of my friends were drafted, so I went down and signed up. I had tried to join the Navy the year before, but they weren't taking any people then," recalls Phinney. "They said I was overweight. I was 5'8" and weighed 150 pounds, so that was just an excuse."

Phinney trained for over six months at Fort Bragg, N.C., and then at Fort Blanding, Florida, from December to July. "Just before we left Florida, a group of us went to Chicago for two weeks to get training with new radio equipment. There was a big difference between them and the World War I radios."

Although he was trained as a radio operator, Phinney and his superiors discovered that he was good at repairing radios, so he found himself serving with HQ Battery, 17th Field Artillery Battalion as a radio repairman. He sailed for Europe in August of 1942 aboard the converted luxury liner Orcades II and recalls that it took 14 days to travel across the Atlantic. "There were about 20 troop ships, and we were escorted by a heavy cruiser and several destroyers. There were a lot of [German] submarines around, but we never got in serious trouble."

Phinney's battalion was stationed in Liverpool, England, until November when the soldiers boarded another troop carrier, Monarch of Bermuda, and landed in Oram, Algeria, to participate in the invasion of North Africa. "The Germans were holding the place," he recalls. "We took Oram and camped south of the city 'til March." Although the weather was often cool and comfortable while he was stationed there, Phinney says, "On George Washington's birthday, I thought I'd freeze, it was so cold."

"There was action going on in Tunisia, so we went through Tunisia and got rid of all the Germans there. That took several months," remembers Phinney. "Then we participated in the invasion of Sicily."

By this time, Phinney's reputation as a talented radio repairman had spread. "I had quite the job doing the job for my outfit, but they'd come to me in small trucks loaded with equipment, in tanks and in airplanes. I probably repaired every radio they had!"

After helping to recapture Sicily, the 17th participated in the invasion of Italy. "We started just north of Naples and got up as far as Florence," says Phinney. "I spent one winter shooting at Monte Cassino."

From Italy, the radio repairman and his unit were sent to St. Tropez in southern France and then north up to Nancy before turning east to Alsace and, finally, into Germany. "We were in southern Germany, near Munich. That was the end of it."

Sgt. Phinney was awarded a number of honors, including the E.A.M.E. Campaign Ribbon with 7 Bronze Stars. He experienced 725 days in combat situations, many under heavy fire, without being wounded.

He still vividly remembers one close call while he was in Italy. "A 150 mm shell landed between my feet and didn't explode. I was talking to another guy at the time. We just flattened out on the ground."

Discharged on August 7, 1945, Phinney earned a degree in electrical engineering and was employed by Bell Aircraft in New York for many years. He also earned his master's in mathematics and worked at Boeing Aircraft in Seattle until retirement.

Harold Phinney married Waneta Ross in 1946 and had one son, Dennis, now deceased. The Phinneys enjoyed their 29' travel trailer so much, they would go out on the road for six months at a time and have visited 48 states. They now reside in Tucson, Arizona.

Howard Moore

The son of Howard and Joycena Moore of Pembroke, Howard Moore was almost 25 years old when he was drafted into the U.S. Army on November 15, 1942. He found himself serving with the Army Medical Corps as a medical technician.

He was sent first to Camp Devins in Massachusetts and then on to Camp Pickett in Virginia where he received both military and medical training. "Then I went to South Carolina to Fort Jackson with a small detachment of 15 personnel  then on maneuvers in Tennessee for one year."

Moore crossed the Atlantic in 10 days aboard a Liberty ship, and when he arrived in Europe, found himself serving with the 136th Evacuation Hospital in the West German city of Bad Kreuznach, southwest of Frankfurt. "I don't know exactly how many members were in it, but it was over 100 people, including the nursing staff and ambulance drivers," he recalls. "We were there six months, and I worked as a surgical technician in the operating room. The war was still on, and casualties were coming in from the war zone."

Moore says it's hard to say how many surgeries were performed on a daily basis at the 136th. "We worked on any type of injury that came in. Shrapnel. Head wounds. Broken bones. After a period of recuperation, [the patients] were sent to general hospitals in Europe or stateside."

Moore returned home on the Colonel George and was discharged on November 18, 1945. Although he hadn't asked to serve as a medical technician and points out, "They chose me when I was drafted," Moore says he has had regrets that he didn't stay in the medical field after his military service was over. Instead, he returned to Pembroke and worked at American Can Company in Lubec.

Howard Moore married Theresa Spear, and they were parents to Howard, Mary and George, who is deceased. He is still living in Pembroke.

Ralph Sullivan

The son of Thomas and Juanita Sullivan of Eastport, Ralph Sullivan had just turned 21 years of age when he was drafted into the U.S. Army on July 28, 1943. He was sent to Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, where he trained as a member of the 509th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Missile Battalion before going to Long Island and then to Fort Bragg, S.C. "Then our unit was separated," says Sullivan. "There were around 200 of us, and they put us in a replacement area." Eventually, Sullivan was one of about 50 soldiers separated from the replacements and placed aboard a Liberty ship on its way to France. The ocean crossing only took five days, and the vessel docked safely in Le Havre.

Attached to the 96th Chemical Mortar Battalion as a gunner/loader/mail clerk, Sullivan traveled through France, where he earned two stars, and then through Germany. The 96th ended up in the small town of Prutz, Austria. "It was in the part of Austria where it joined Italy. We took over part of Germany's 14th Army at the end of the war."

Sullivan says his battalion was waiting to return to the U.S. after the war when the members were all transferred to Graves Registration search and recovery operations. "We traveled through Europe, picking up isolated graves for burial. We'd interview the mayor or priest  someone who knew where servicemen were buried. Then we'd go where the grave was and dig it up. If the soldier was American, we'd take him to headquarters. If he wasn't American, we'd rebury the body, but not without identifying him and letting the [appropriate military authorities] know where he was."

After four or five months serving in Graves Registration, he returned to Fort Dix and was discharged on April 13, 1946. He settled in Rumford and retired from the paper mill there in 1984. He married the late Pauline Fisher in 1949, and they had a son Dennis and daughter Lisa. He is now married to Joan (Porter) Stuart and living back home in Eastport.