Panthers Under the Rainbow: A Search for One of France's Highest Military Decorations

By William P.L. Maynard III

This is literally two books in one. Not only is this a story of the 66th Infantry in France and what happened to the men after their transfers but, the reader can get an understanding as to what it is like trying to research a family members military history.

"Panthers Under the Rainbow" gives a detailed description of how the 66th Division was formed. From its activation on April 15, 1943, training at Camp Blanding , Camp Robinson and Camp Rucker . Dates when troops from the 66th where transferred and when new recruits arrived. Finally when the 66th was alerted to be sent overseas the book covers Camp Shanks , NY . crossing the Atlantic with many depth charges being dropped to more training in England . The disaster of crossing the English Channel, combat in France with first hand accounts from veterans. The surrender of the Lorient and St. Nazaire is covered, the occupation of Germany as well as the cigarette camps in Marsailles , France . The deactivation of the Panther Division. After WWII officially ended many Pantherman did not have enough points to go home so they were transferred to occupation duty with the Famous 42nd Rainbow Division. This topic is also covered.

The 8.5x11 book was heavily researched and is printed in full color with 116 pages, both from the 66th as well as occupation duty with the 42nd. Many photos are of original documents, soldiers and places which I collected during my research. A breakdown of a WWII division, how many men in a division, regiment, battalion, platoon etc. A detailed description of the Armys "ASR Point System" and timetables to troop movements of the 66th division. Interviews with 66th Veterans. A WWII casualty listing appears in the back of the book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 7, 2008
• ISBN: 9781477180235

Book preview

Copyright © 2008 by William P.L. Maynard III. 576787

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007907569

ISBN:    Softcover     978-1-4257-9462-0

Ebook    978-1-4771-8023-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 06/28/2018

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Birth of a Division

Training of a New Division

Shipping Out

A Battle Was Brewing

The Forgotten War

Fifty Years Later

WWII Casualty Report for the 263rd Infantry

Bibliography

A Generation of Heroes

This book is

dedicated to my grandfather,

Herbert Edward Sharkey, and to the men of the 66th Black Panther Division and the 42nd Rainbow Division.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank the following individuals for their time and efforts that made this book possible. A special thanks to all the veterans (an asterisk appears before their names) for their contributions of material and sharing their experiences that aided me in my research.

Anthony Adolph, American Battle Monuments Commission, *Kermit Anderson, Margean Ashcraft, *Lenwood Ashcraft, *John Ballard, *Eldon Beckett, Jim Briggs, *Donald Butler, *Homer Bryant, *James I. Callison, *Kenneth Carpenter, *Lewis Carrol, Philippe Chapelin, Ruth Chapman, *Clinton Childress, *George Cipolletti, Fred Clinton (63rd Webmaster), *Joel L. Coffee, *Carol Coffee, *George Cramer, *Russell Demo, Lucille Donaldson, *Henry W. Dupill, Dex Fields, Charlene Fuhlendorf, *Marion D. Gerhart, *Hugo Grimm, Kimberly Handlan Hindman, *Robert W. Hindman, *Charles F. Kratzat, Lisa V. Maynard, Margaret M. Maynard, Suellen McDaniel and the RDV team, Ted McGavern, Lori Miller, *William L. Orten, *James Pettus, *Richard Ridinger, Bertrand Sciboz, Ellen Sharkey, Timothy P. Sharkey, Mary Singleton, *Revell Singleton, *Walter R. Smith, Teresa Stewart, Patricia Stone, Brandon Weigand, Thomas Weis (U-boat.net), and *Boyden Wells

This project took a tremendous amount of time and I want to give a very special thanks to my wife Lisa for her help and for understanding my need to write this book.

Photos on front Cover, WWII Rainbow Division Patch and S/Sgt. Hebert E. Sharkey

Introduction

There were panthers at one time living in the United States. 1,019 of them were from Connecticut and my grandfather was one of them. He was a Staff Sergeant with the 66th Black Panther Division. His name was Herbert E. Sharkey, son to Herbert Sharkey and Annie Smith. He was born on November 25, 1924 in Griswold, CT. and was one of five siblings. After the death of his mother, his aunt and uncle raised them in Jewett City, CT, a small mill town about a mile in size. He attended Griswold Public Schools prior to joining the U.S. Army during WWII.

After extensive training, he was sent to Europe and fought for the liberation of France against the Germans in St. Nazaire and the Lorient Pockets in a campaign that was often referred to as the Forgotten War. During the crossing of the English Channel on Christmas Eve, one of the troop transports carrying elements of the 66th to France was torpedoed. This resulted in the loss of hundreds of men from the 262nd and the 264th Infantry. This event, though tragic often overshadowed the 263rd ‘s participation. To date, I believe this is the most complete effort to tell their story. After the surrender of Germany, S/Sgt. Sharkey was assigned to occupation duty in Austria with the 42nd Rainbow Division. For him and many men, the war was not over. Duties included patrols searching for Nazis that were hiding out and the guarding of SS prisoners. After his tour with the Rainbow Division was completed, my grandfather returned from Europe and the war, hung up his uniform and settled into civilian life. He was married on September 6, 1947 in St. Mary’s Church in Jewett City, CT to my grandmother, Ellen Agnes Wakely. Together they raised six children. He found employment at the Aspinook Mill in Jewett City and worked his way into Pfizer Corporation in Groton CT, where he retired after 25 years of service.

My name is William P.L. Maynard III. Margaret (Sharkey) Maynard is my mother and daughter to Herbert and Ellen. I grew up just a few houses down from my grandparents. I spent many of my days as a child and as an adult at their house. My family, especially my uncle and I, who by the way is just a few years older than I, always thought of my grandfather as the old soldier. Many days we would spend playing army and digging in under the crawl space of their home. I would often see my grandfather’s army coat hanging in the cedar closet in the boy’s room with his ribbons and the panther patch on the shoulder, often wondering what stories it could tell. My grandfather never spoke too much of the war. As he got older and his health started to decline he told more of what happened over there. Little did we know an award on his Ike Jacket would turn out to be one of France’s highest military decorations awarded to an allied soldier. This is the story of my search and to have men recognized for their actions. In no way is this the complete story of the 263rd Regiment’s battle history or the 232nd’s occupation history, but another chapter in the history of WWII. Through personal interviews with veterans, families and records from the National Archives, I am able to tell true stories from World War II that I believe should never be lost or forgotten. This story, though true, is not glorifying war, only honoring those who served.

Birth of a Division

During the early stages of WWII, the U.S. Army drastically increased in size. Men volunteered and were drafted into service. New divisions were formed and activated on a weekly basis. Ninety-one divisions were mobilized during the war, sixty-eight Infantry, five Airborne, two Calvary, one Mountain and sixteen Armored divisions. The majority of the divisions were sent to the European Theatre of Operations.

As early as January 1943, plans were in the works to form a new division, the 66th. Officers and NCOs (Non-commissioned officers) were chosen from the 89th Division. They had to attend three months of specialty training schools that would aid them in training a newly formed division. On April 15, 1943, Major General Herman F. Kramer accepted the division colors from General Robert C. Richardson Jr. for the newly formed 66th Division in an activation ceremony at Camp Blanding Florida. Gen. Richardson was the commander of the 7th Corp., Second Army. General Kramer was a good choice in commanding the newly formed Panther Division. He was the last U.S. candidate to be selected to attend a German war college before the outbreak of WWII. He was an observer during the Nazi invasion of Poland. In the fall of 1939, he saw the German Army in action and knew they were the best-equipped and trained army at the time. Alot of their equipment was better than what the U.S. Army had to work with. With this in mind, he set out to form The best damned division in the ETO.

Many divisions in WWII, like the 42nd Division, had a prior history of battles and heroes. The newly formed 66th Division would enter the war with no prior battle history or stories of heroic deeds and nothing written in the history books. It would be up to the men of the division to make their own history and to prove themselves in battle. They would have the opportunity before the war’s end to do just that. In the coming months, these men would have to endure a lot of training and hard work.

Training of a New Division

My grandfather, Herbert E. Sharkey, was inducted into the U.S. Army on April 1, 1943. He was in his second year of high school. Before his departure into the Army, his classmates threw him a going away party at the Griswold High School in Connecticut. He entered active service on April 8, 1943 in Hartford, CT.

image%2001.tif

Clipping of farewell party.

(Courtesy of Patricia

(Sharkey) Stone)

The 66th Infantry Division was broken down to three regiments. There was the 262nd, 263rd, and the 264th. In WWII, a U.S. Army regiment had about thirty-five hundred men, each one commanded by a Colonel. Pvt. Sharkey was assigned to the 263rd Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Company K. During his tour of duty with the Panther Division, he trained and became a Rifleman.

image%2002.tif

263rd Regt., Unit Crest.

(Author’s Photo)

Basic Training began almost immediately for Pvt. Sharkey and the men of the Panther Division at Camp Blanding Florida. Men were taught to kill without being killed through teamwork and execution of commands. They became physically and mentally fit through plenty of individual training, exercise, marching and weapons training. Pvt. Sharkey became a crack shot with his M-1 Garand, earning the Expert Rifleman’s Badge on June 16, 1943. The training was tough for many of the men, but became easier as they became stronger. The Panther Division would train in the heat of the Florida sun at Camp Blanding until August 7, 1943. Before men boarded trains for their trip to Camp Robinson Arkansas where training would resume, they were given furloughs and many returned home for a visit.

image%2003.tif

Patch on left is early patch design that was later replaced by the design on the right when the 66th

was training at Camp Robinson. (Author’s photo)

On August 17th, advanced combat training began at Camp Robinson in Little Rock Arkansas. In the winter of 1944, the division went on maneuvers and was trained how to deal with problems that arose in the field. Simulated battles with other regiments were conducted. Live ammunition was used and on occasion, men would be wounded during these exercises. Some of the maneuvers would last days. They went from the scorching Florida sun to training in the coldest part of winter in Arkansas. After nine months of strenuous training, the 66th Division was ready for combat. Unfortunately for the division’s strength, the war department began transferring roughly 5,000 fully trained Panthermen to other divisions. This was done to replace battle casualties and to reinforce divisions that were decimated due to escalating combat in the ETO (European Theatre of Operations) and the PTO (Pacific Theatre of Operations). It basically tore the 66th Division apart. From March thru July, 1944 nearly 7,000 replacements were sent from Infantry Training Centers, Air Corps and the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP).

There were at least thirty-five divisions in WWII that were called ASTP Divisions. The 66th was one of them. ASTP members had high school diplomas with IQ’s of 115 or higher. ASTP was a military program, which put soldiers on college campuses all around the United States. They were soldiers first and students second. They studied to be specialists in anything from medicine, engineering and even scientists. Each of the thirty-five divisions received on average 1,600 ASTP soldiers and Aviation Cadets as replacements. The war department felt the war was not going to last much longer and it was more important to replace infantryman on the front lines than have soldiers sitting on college campuses. When these cadets received their letter to report for infantry duty, many were devastated. There were several reports of suicides and attempted suicides. Former Army Air Corp cadets that were training to be pilots and ASTP students found it difficult at first to adapt to the rigorous training of infantry life. It also took them time to fit in with the average soldier and NCOs of the Panther Division. There is no doubt that these men, with their high IQ’s, contributed a great deal to the performance of the division. Many ASTP Divisions fought in major battles during WWII, and the men proved to be great and irreplaceable soldiers and leaders.

Due to the fact that so many men were transferred to other divisions, the 66th had to start the training process all over again. On April 10, 1944 the division got their orders to pack up and move to Camp Rucker, Alabama to continue their training. Here the men of the division would live in six man huts and do their washing in steel helmets. There was much work to be done to get the division combat-ready after the transfers such as physical training, marches in full combat dress, weapons training, and assaults on beachheads. Men got plenty of time on the firing range learning to shoot an assortment of weapons. There was squad training, house-to-house combat and mock assaults on fortified positions. Twenty-five mile hikes were not uncommon. For the men that completed the hikes, three day passes where often given. On Sept. 1st and 2nd 1944, during one of these training sessions, S/Sgt. Sharkey was given a commendation.

image%2005.tif

Mothers Day, 1944 letter. (Author’s copy)

There was a machine gun nest and the soldiers had to figure out a way to knock out the position. Many squads that went before Sharkey’s had failed. There was an observer (umpire) and S/Sgt. Sharkey asked if a piece of woods off to the side was out of bounds. The umpire told him it was not, so S/Sgt Sharkey led his squad through this piece of woods outflanked and knocked out the machine gun nest. On September 6th, the commendation was read aloud to S/Sgt. Sharkey.

image%2006.psd

Letter of commendation to S/Sgt Herbert Sharkey (Courtesy of Timothy Sharkey)

As the training continued, specialists were brought in to give men swimming lessons. Many men in WWII drowned in lakes, rivers and while disembarking from landing craft. Swimming lessons would prove invaluable in the very near future for many of the Panthermen. After seven months of training at Camp Rucker, the division was brought back to a combat-ready status. Many Panthermen were itching to get into the war and a chance to prove themselves in combat.

Shipping Out

The