Patsy Skirven Reihl Tells of Emotional Journey to Uncle's Grave

North Africa American Cemetery. Image courtesy of ambc.gov

 An often undiscussed aspect of World War II is the large number of American soldiers buried overseas because their bodies could not be returned to the United States. We interviewed Patsy Skirven Reihl who was directly affected by this harsh reality along with so many other families from that time period.  Her uncle, Preston Ashley, lived on a farm near Rock Hall in Kent County.  As the youngest brother in the family he was not exempt from service and after completing basic training in England was sent to join American forces during the invasion of North Africa. 

           

According to Patsy, Preston sent the family postcards that indicated he was in action around Libya.  Several months after his last postcard, however, Patsy’s grandmother received a call from the U.S. Army informing her that Preston had been killed in action in Tunisia.  The army told Patsy’s grandmother that they would try to return the Preston’s body to her but she never heard back.  Like thousands of other fallen American soldiers, Preston had been buried overseas in an American military cemetery, this one in Tunisia. 

           

Civil unrest in Tunisia made it particularly difficult for anyone from Patsy’s family to visit the grave.  However, later in life, Patsy decided she would make the trip to Tunisia to pay her respects to her fallen uncle on behalf of the entire family.  After a year of logistical troubles, Patsy and her wife departed on a cruise from Europe that would dock in Tunisia for just one day.  At the dock they were met by the head of the cemetery who drove them through the war torn areas to reach the grave.  Patsy described the trip through Tunisia and finally arriving at the cemetery: “As you rode out there it was a terrible place, just trash and junk. Then you open the gate and it was paradise. There were flowers and fountains. It was beautiful.”

           

Elijah, Patsy, and Joe.

Patsy’s long and emotionally trying journey to find her uncle’s grave was a powerful story and we were grateful she felt comfortable enough to share such a personal experience with us. The affect the war had on families sometimes goes overlooked when studying World War II which is why we were honored to help bring one of those stories to light. 

--Joseph Swit

Thomas Davis Sheds New Light On the Home Front, Black Market

As a child growing up in Chestertown in the 1940s Thomas Davis experienced the impacts that World War II had on the town firsthand.  He vividly remembers being at a radio station in Centreville with his father when the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor broke.  Soon after his father would move the family to Chestertown and took a job at the newly opened Kent Defense Plant which manufactured hand grenade parts for the war effort. 

           

While his father was doing his best to contribute to the war effort, young Thomas Davis was a paper boy and was constantly reminded of the ongoing conflict in the headlines of the papers he delivered.  Through this and the news reels shown at the movie theatre Davis was stayed informed about what was happening overseas.  He even kept a map of Europe and the Pacific in his bedroom where he would track the advancing troop movements of the Allies against the Axis powers.  I was surprised by just how closely he followed the war and how informed he was, especially at such a young age. 

           

Davis also helped shed new light on the black market in Chestertown.  We had heard that there was illegal goods being sold to circumvent the federally mandated rationing but we didn’t have specifics.  Davis told us that and his friends were exploring around the Custom House when they found a pile of illegal tires being sold behind a neighboring house.  While Davis didn’t go into further details it was still fascinating to finally get a firsthand account of what the black market, which we’d been hearing so much about, looked like.

Overall, the interview with Thomas Davis provided us with many compelling stories of life on the home front.  We came away with a much more vivid picture of what life was like in Chestertown during the tumultuous years of World War II.  

--Joseph Swit

Dickie Hudson Highlights Farmers' Experience During the War

Our interview with Dickie Hudson gave us the unique perspective of what a typical farming family in Kent County went through during the war.  While residents living directly in Chestertown were more directly affected by rationing, the Hudson family were much more secluded on their farm and didn’t see their way of life impacted too much by the new wartime restrictions.  The family was self-sufficient on the farm and therefore were not dependent on goods from town. In fact, Hudson recalls that the family only ever went into Chestertown on Saturday nights where young Dickie would use his weekly salary of 25 cents to go to the movies and buy a bag of candy.  

As farmers, Hudson says the family was exempt from some of the strict gas rationing policies and were able to get 3 or 4 more gallons per week than most Chestertown residents.  While some farmers were also exempt from the draft so that they could stay to tend the land, Dickie’s brother, Monroe, enlisted in the Marine Corps.  Luckily though, Monroe never saw combat and instead was stationed stateside where he became a flight instructor.  

Through Dickie Hudson we learned a lot about the differences between townspeople in Chestertown and local farmers during the war.  It seems that the farmers were more isolated and were not exposed to air raid drills and blackouts.  These differing experiences will be something to inquire about in future interviews.

-Joseph Swit

Mary Wood's Stories From the Homefront

During my interview with Mary Wood, I was struck by just how greatly World War II had affected her and her family.  Obviously this was true for many families during that time, but actually sitting down with someone who had lived through that chaotic time and spoke so vividly of her experiences was an enlightening experience.  Going into the interview we already knew that Mrs. Wood had been a member of the Red Cross along with her mother.  Additionally her father was a Provost Marshall in London, in charge of discipline for American forces in London and her brother served as a pilot in the Pacific.  

Before the interview we were under the impression that Mrs. Wood had spent most of the war with the Red Cross away from Chestertown but we found out that she moved to Kent County after marrying in 1942.  She and her husband started selling broiled chickens on their small farm outside of Centreville.  One of the stories I found most interesting was when she described being on plane spotting duty with her husband at 3 in the morning. 

We got our best answers when we asked her about her emotions at key points during the war.  She described in great detail her families’ reaction to Pearl Harbor and the fear and anger that was prevalent in the days after the attack.  Looking back I wished we would have probed Mrs. Wood more on the relationship between her and her father and whether the tradition of military service in her family had influenced her actions during the war.  Overall Mrs. Woods was insightful, engaging and forthright about her wartime experience and it was a pleasure to hear her memories of that tumultuous time. 

--Joseph Swit 

Archival Friday: Lt. Foley

Thomas J. Foley only spent one year enrolled at Washington College, during the 1934-35 academic year, but as a Paratrooper during World War II he was part of a legendary infantry whose ferocity and resiliency would earn them an infamous nickname.  Foley left Washington College after his freshman year in the spring of 1935 for unknown reasons.  It is unclear whether he joined the armed forces through enlistment or the draft but Foley was a member of the 504^th Parachute Infantry stationed out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  Eventually reaching the rank of 1^st Lieutenant, Foley was with the 504^th as they became the first allied forces to enter Naples in October of 1943.  

 In January of 1944 the allies were beginning their assault on Rome but first needed to capture the coastal town of Anzio, 35 miles to the south.  In what was known as “Operation Shingle”, the 504^th landed on the Anzio beachhead on January 22, 1944.

After a successfully landing and capturing the beach, the 504^th was met with heavy German and Italian resistance as they tried to advance.  Both sides established trench positions and the ensuing bloody standoff lasted for another 8 weeks.  Despite the appalling trench conditions the 504^th stood their ground and did not surrender the beach.  The 504^th’s tenacious and forceful counteracts were noted by a German soldier who described the unit in his diary:

“American parachutists...devils in baggy pants...are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can't sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere...”

Allied forces occupy a trench in Anzio similar to what Foley and his company would have experienced. Image credit: Wikipedia

The 504^th adopted the Devils nickname and continue to use it to this day.  Foley was killed sometime during the period of trench warfare on March 19th, just four days before the Devils were recalled to Naples following the German and Italian retreat from Anzio.  Foley is honored along with the other Washington College alumnus who were killed in action on a memorial in William Smith Hall. 

--Joseph Swit