Journey across the Atlantic

On October 8, 1943, the 28th Division left the Miles Standish Deportation Center in Boston, Massachusetts, along with many other Divisions.

We were in a convoy of one hundred three ships zigzagging across the Atlantic. Our ship was the Santa Maria, a wooden ship that had been used previously as a cruise ship in the islands off of Florida.

It was very old, slow and creaky. There were 4,500 men aboard that little ship, bunks were five high. I stayed on deck the entire ten days, played poker and slid back and forth on the deck with the roll of the ship. The ocean was starting to get rough in October.

We had three cruisers, a battleship and many Navy escorts. Our ship was slow and lagged behind in the lower right hand corner of the convoy, called the “Coffin Corner,” and we were vulnerable to attack.

Major General Lloyd D. Brown traveled with the 28th Division. He was a brother-in-law of Chief of Staff General Marshall under President Franklin Roosevelt.

He never seemed to know what was going on. He never knew the location of other American troops, and he ordered the artillery to fire on our own troops. Later, he was demoted and sent back to the United States.

The war in England

We landed in Swansea, Wales, on October 18, 1943, and boarded a train to Llanelli, which was about thirty miles from Swansea.

We walked two miles to a tent city for the 103rd Battalion of Engineers. An old castle called Abber Marlis served as the Headquarters Company staff.

I was still in the motor pool. We had outside latrines, everything was in the mud and we hauled many, many loads of gravel for roads and paths. There was lots and lots of rain.

We had a Quonset hut for cooking and the dining hall. We ate a lot of brussel sprouts and mutton with tea to drink. The food was bad. Each meal was greeted by “Baa! Baas!” from the men. For Christmas we were supposed to have a “fresh” egg each. Only one out of fifteen eggs was edible, all the rest were rotten. Even the cooks felt bad. I didn’t get one.

Each Company (A, B, C) had a month at Plymouth, England, at the beach finding and clearing mines. The English had hurriedly mined the beach early in the war for fear Hitler was going to invade. They buried the mines in the sand without a map to show where they were. They were 20-pound anti tank mines, more powerful than TNT.

That’s where our first casualties began. We lost several men. I was a mine detector sweeper, one of many for that project. I always made sure I had good batteries in that mine detector.

In June 1944, we moved from our home base in Wales to South Hampton, England, ready to go across the English Channel to France. A friend and I went to London on a four day pass. I had some money I won in a poker game, and we took a one and half day tour by horse and buggy in London.

London was badly bombed by that time. Air raid sirens blew constantly. Debris was everywhere, but we did get a really good steak dinner for a price. I remembered that dinner for a long time.

I saw St. Paul’s Cathedral; a bomb went through the roof and floor and laid in a big hole in the basement, but failed to go off.

I also saw where Prime Minister Churchill resided and, of course, Buckingham Palace, the Parliament Buildings, the changing of the guard, Big Ben, the Tower of London and many other sights.

Movement to France and Belgium

The 28th Division missed D-Day by a few days. We stayed behind to back up the 29th Division in case they couldn’t hold the beach head.

Our men and equipment crossed the English Channel in small boats while they were still shelling. Shortly after we were sent over the English Channel, and the beach head was established. Our first encounter with the enemy was through the hedgerows of France around St. Lo.

Our infantry lost heavily. The German Army had a big stronghold there, and refused to give an inch. We had to have many replacements and received our first Battle Star. We ended up with five Battle Stars by the end of the war.

From then on, whenever the Division moved it was always at night. We drove through the pitch dark with no lights regardless of the weather.

We went into Belgium, and my task force liberated many towns. People were very happy to see us, the grateful looks on their faces still stay in my memories. In the small town of Mean, Belgium, that we liberated, a little old lady ran up to me and gave me a big hug. She said that I was the first American she saw and welcomed me happily. We saw so much destruction, devastation, tragedy, misery and suffering of innocent people. Whole towns were wiped out.

The 28th Division paraded through Paris, France. I drove my truck. I turned in front of the viewing stand where English Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U. S. General Dwight Eisenhower, Premier of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin and French President Charles De Gaulle sat. I had thirteen men on my truck. It was a happy time, the French people, especially the girls, stormed the trucks and soldiers.

Paris had no destruction, not one bomb was dropped. France had put up no resistance to the Nazi army. U. S. General Dwight Eisenhower was Commander-in-Chief of the European Allied Forces. He stayed very much in the background and 10,000 troops guarded and served him. Our 28th Division was under Major General Norman D. Cota at that time.

Ahead of Veterans Day, the Peshtigo Times is honoring the service of local veterans.

Harris Larsen of Oconto Falls was born into a family of 11 children near Oconto Falls. Larsen served in World War II and passed away in 2013 at the age of 93. His writings were submitted by his niece Carolyn Van Donsel.

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