History of the 191st Field Artillery Battalion

The 191st Field Artillery Battalion was activated as a National Guard Unit in Tennessee in 1940.  On February 24, 1941 it was mobilized and inducted into the Army of the United States.  It went on to fight across Europe in World War II as part of Patton's Third Army.  Landing on Utah Beach in August, 1944 it participated in the breakout from Normandy, the relief of the Battle of the Bulge, and the crossing of the Rhine,  It visited the first concentration camp liberated by the Americans.  This Web Site is a history of the Battalion and the personal memories and photographs of many of its members..

Click on a link below to view its contents:
 

Interactive Map of the March of the 191st in Europe

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Click Here Access the Map

 

Interactive map

Dan R. Courtney Jr.'s Remembrances of the 191st as a Survey Officer in the Headquarters Company

 

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Photographs of Unidentified 191st Members from Robert Lichty

 

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History and Operations of the 191st Field Artillery Battalion

Battle Route of the XXII CORPS in the European Theater of Operations

"On the Way!" Memoirs of an Artilleryman in WWII By Barrett James Whiteley

 

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The Diary of Cpl. Harold E. Ammons - Camp Forrest, July, 1941 to October, 1941

Newspaper Photograph the 1971 Reunion of Battery C 

Battery C Training Photographs taken by Rupert D.Boyatt and his essay "A Soldier's World"

Group Pictures of Battery C and D - Camp Forrest Tennessee - April, 1941

Photographs of 191st Members from Robert Lichty's Scrapbook

191st Field Artillery Battalion Contacts

Email Addresses for Members of the 191st and their descendants

The 191st Between the Wars

A Photograph from the 191st is "Placed"

An M-5 Tractor is Found

Photographs from Milo John

Photographis from Corporal Omar Evans

"Tribute to an American Hero"
Barrett Whiteley's Tribute to Roberdeau Drury and the Story of Finding His Family

   

History and Operations of the 191st Field Artillery Battalion.

The book "History and Operations of the 191st Field Artillery Battalion." has been reproduced as faithfully as possible.  All line drawings were produced by 1st Lt. John Hagan, Jr. and came from the original book. Any supplementary text that has been added is in italics.

Robert Lichty's photographs and momentos are included to add a sense of the period.  Relevant historical photographs have also been added as well as links to web sites tied to the places and events that the 191st experienced.  Please enjoy this history and follow its links.
 




Battle Route of the XXII CORPS in the European Theater of Operations

(Handwritten notes indicate the  route of the 191st)


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Click on a panel to see an enlarged Map. Click here to see the entire map on one large page.

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"On the Way!" Memoirs of an Artilleryman in WWII

"On the Way!" is a first-hand account of the actions of the 191st Field Artillery Battalion written by Barrett James Whiteley,  Battery Executive Officer of C Battery until February, 1945 and then Forward Observer for C Battery until the end of the war.


The following members of the 191st are mentioned in "On the Way!"

PART ONE:  APPROACH AND ENGAGEMENT

Joe Lobato

PART TWO:  TOWARD THE RHINE

Willaford S. Swan, Howard Schimel, George J. LaHood, Edward (Jed) Jedrysiak, John Liljeberg, Roberdeau Drury, Ralph WeHunt, John Nill, Carson Scarbrough

PART THREE:  MOVING TO THE FRONT

Carson Scarbrough, Robin Smith, Bob and Virginia Drury, Charles Drury, Ralph E. WeHunt, John McElmurry, Jesse Mitchell, Newell Wilkerson, George Garner, Dick Rouser, David T. Dozier, Edward Jedrysiak, John Liljeberg, Lt. Col. Goddard

PART FOUR: COMPLETING THE JOB

Maj. Harvard P. Smith, Wayne D. McLary, Colonel Mack Goddard, Capt. Murphy

PART FIVE:  AFTER VE DAY

John Hagan, Colonel Mack Goddard

PART SIX:  REFLECTIONS

Henry Basso

AFTERTHOUGHTS

Lakes England, George Garner, Harold ("Ham") Ammons, Carson Scarbrough, Robin Smith, Johnnie England, Roberdeau Drury, jhon Liljeberg, A.T. Pumphrey, John Hagan


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The Diary of Cpl. Harold E. Ammons

Cpl. Harrold E. A mmons was among the first allotment of selectees received by the 191st Field Artillery on June 28, 1941 in its new home at Camp Forrest, Tennessee.  At the completion of its first thirteen weeks of training, the regiment underwent a grueling test inspection by headquarters Seventh Army Corps and came through with flying colors.

On August 14, 1941 the Regiment entrucked for Arkansas to participate in the largest scale maneuvers ever held in the United States. Through eight weeks of the War Games the men of the 191st Field Artillery carved a name for itself. The Regiment received the following letter of commendation from Lieutenant General Ben Lear during the Maneuvers:

"With the fine esprit de corps and high state of morale which prevails in the regiment, it is destined for a high place in the History of the Army of the United States."

Cpl. Ammons' diary describes his experiences during that period of the 191st Field Artillery's history.
 

Battery C Training Photographs and the Essay "A Soldier's World"

Rupert D.Boyatt, a Tec 5 in C Battery, photographed the training and camp life of the 191st during its assignment to California from 1942 to 1944.  He sent these home to his family along with captions on the backs.  After the war he wrote a short essay entitle "A Soldier's World" for an English class.  Thanks to Vera Boyatt these photographs and his essay have been made available to this Website.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Group Pictures of Battery C and D - Camp Forrest Tennessee - April, 1941

Steve Speer has created a website for the 75th Field Artillery Brigade as part of a larger Blount County Website.  Clicking on the links to Battery C 1st Battalion 191st and  Battery D 2nd Battalion 191st at that website will take you to group pictures of the these batteries before the war and some information on many individuals.  (Note: you will have to use your Back Arrow Button to return to this page.)
 
 
 

Photographs of 191st members from Robert Lichty's Scrapbook

Robert Lichty joined the 191st around January, 1943, well after the battalion had formed and been transferred to Camp Roberts in California.  This page contains photographs that he had sent to my mother, Ruth Lichty.
 

The 191st between the Wars
 


This history describes the formation of the 191st between WWI and WWII and its reorganization after WWII.  It was send in by Cecil Burchfield.
 
 
 

Photographs from Milo John
 

Milo John was in the 191st's Serivce Batttery. These photographs were scanned and contributed by Becky Keeler, Milo's granddaughter. Since there are such a large number they have been broken into several pages.representing different aspects of the war and the 191st. Becky says of Milo John:

"My grandfather was born & raised in Vernonia, Oregon and joined the 191st July of 1943 and held the rank of T4. I've really not heard a lot of the war stories from him growing up since I was the 'baby'of the family and the only granddaughter. He would bring up an occasional short story or comment, usually funny. He also would talk about the children and how they loved chocolate. He also mentioned how cold it would get. My favorite stories though were when he would tell them and mix a little 'German' translation in there. I have a couple letters he wrote to his parents during the war that mentions his 'combat buddies'. He mentions a 'Bob' who is being transferred to another company because he only has 34 points and he hates to see him go. (September 21, 1945) He and my grandmother only had 1 child (my dad) & 2 grandchildren, however they did end up with 7 great-grandchildren and treated each of us like we were the only child on Earth. He passed away November 1997."

If you know or recognize any of the people in the photographs please contact Becky at rkeeler@samhealth.org

Photographs Taken at Camp Roberts.

Photographs Taken of the 191st in Europe

Photographs of the War

Photographs Taken in Europe After the End of the War

 

Photographs from Corporal Omer Evans
 

Omer Evans was a member of Battery C of the 191st, These photographs were contributed by David and VeNita Griffin Omer's grandson and daughter. They can be contacted at cuzie@bellsouth.net

A Photograph from the 191st is "Placed"

I received the following color photograph from Mr. Peter Patz. His letter placing this photograph of my father in Eisenbach, Germany would also date it to after June 22nd, 1945 based on a typed and hand written "Travels of the 191st Field Artillery Bn" Click on the photograhs to see more.

Our thanks to Mr. Patz.

 

An M5 Tractor is Found

My good friend John Frater and I are both very interested WWII history. His father was a photographer in the 82nd Airborne and mine was in the 191st. I have seen his father's photographs and he has seen this website. We were driving along a road in Western New York when we noticed a rusty vehicle along the side of the road that looked a lot like an M5 Tractor that towed the 191st's artillery.

John turned around and insisted that I photograph it. Sure enough, a detailed comparison with photographs from the 191st shows that it is an M5 down to almost every detail. The storage compartments along the side even look like they were built to carry large artillery shells.

Don Lichty 
Tribute to an American Hero

1st Lt. Drury
Barrett Whiteley's tribute to Roberdeau Drury and the story of finding his family.

Dan R. Courtney Jr.'s Remembrances

Dan Courtney wrote an autobiographry of his life for his grandchildren.  One chapter described his time in the 191st as a Survey Officer in the Headquarters Company.  The chapter and photographs have been contributed by his son Robert B. Courtney.  

Foreword

The War Before Joining the 191st

The War with the 191st

Occupation with the 191st

Photographs

Addendum

 

Photographs of Unidentified 191st Members from Robert Lichty

These are photographs that my father brought back from the war with no names or other identifiable markings. 

 


 

191st Field Artillery Battalion Contacts

The following 191st members and their families can be contacted by Email:
 

A.T. Pumphrey   pumpandangela@earthlink.net Aviation Hall of Fame

Barrett Whiteley - Battery C omanopa@comcast.net

Bob Courtney (Son of Dan R. Courtney) robertcaryl@gmail.com

Becky Keeler (Grand Daughter of Milo John - Service Battery) rkeeler@samhealth.org

David and Venita Griffin (Grandson and Daughter of Omer Evans) pebbles.174@comcast.net

Jeb and Sue Hagan (Son and Daughter of John Hagan) jebstat@aol.com

Donna Smith Sepull (Daughter of Major Harvard P. Smith) Mailuv2@aol.com

John H. (Jack) Rose - Company C  bigjohn@i-star.com

Vera Boyatt (Wife of Rupert D Boyatt - Battery C) VBoytt@aol.com

Mack Goddard Taylor (Son of Homer C. Taylor) mac6501@msn.com

Nora Burchfield  (Daughter of Cecil Burchfield - Battery C)  norabee@numail.org

Park P.(Pete) Swain (Brother of Billy Swain - Battery B) ppswan@earthlink.net

Lonnie Haffelder  (Nephew of Hays Haffelder - Battery B)  cowboydominos@yahoo.com

David Griffin (Grandson of Omer Evans - Battery C) cuzie@bellsouth.net.

Don Lichty (Son of Robert Lichty - Battery C)  d.lichty@comcast.net
 

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About this Website

My  father, Robert E. Lichty died in 1967.  He had served in the 191st during the Second World War but had never talked about his experiences.  He did leave his momentos from the war including the record of his unit, "History and Operations of the 191st Field Artillery Battalion.".  I decided that this history should be made available to the world and built this website.

Since starting this website many people have sent me information and pictures about the 191st and the website has grown tremendously. I have gotten to know many members of the 191st and their families. Many thanks to them and to all the men who served in the 191st.

I have a special thanks for Barrett Whiteley, an officer of the 191st who has contributed so much to this website and so much to the families of the members of the 191st in keeping its memories alive. He has become a good friend and the heart of this website and of the memory of the 191st.

If you have any questions or have any information to add, please contact me at d.lichty@comcast.net

Don Lichty

Site last update December 8, 2012

Additions in the Decenber 8, 2012 update:

- Added Dan R. Courtney Jr.'s Remembrances

- Added Photographs of Unidentified 191st Members from Robert Lichty

- Added Early Researh Posted on the Blountweb Blog by Barrett Whitely

- Updated Venita Griffin's email address, daughter of Omer Evans

Additions in the August 7, 2006 update:

- Added photographs from Milo John and Omar Evans

- Added A Photograph from the 191st is "Placed"

- Added An M-5 Tractor is Found

- Added a single large map of the Battle Route of the XXII Corps

- Added Milo John and Omer Evans contacts

Additions in the January 24, 2005 and May 29, 2006 updates:

 - Changed and added Contacts

Additions in the October 22, 2004 update:

 - "Tribute to an American Hero"  Barrett Whiteley's Tribute to Roberdeau Drury and the Story of Finding His Family

Additions in the February 15, 2003 update:

 - "A Soldier's World" - an essay by Rupert D. Boyatt added to Battery C Training Photographs
 - Group Pictures of Battery C and D - Camp Forrest Tennessee - April, 1941
 - Photographs of 191st members from Bob Lichty's Scrapbook

Additions in the September, 2003 update:

 -"The 191st between the Wars" - a history sent by Cecil Burchfield