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:
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.
PROLOGUE- CHRONOLOGY
- COMBAT OPERATIONS - 1944
- COMBAT OPERATIONS - 1945
- COMMENDATION
- IN
MEMORIAM
- IT HAPPENED IN THE 191st
- ROSTER OF
THE 191st
Battle Route of the XXII CORPS in the European Theater of Operations
(Handwritten notes indicate the route of the 191st)
.
Click on a panel to see an enlarged Map.
Click here to see the entire map on one large page.
"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.
DEDICATION- EARLY RESEARH POSTED ON THE BLOUNTWEB BLOG New Content
- PART
ONE: APPROACH AND ENGAGEMENT
- PART
TWO: TOWARD THE RHINE
- PART
THREE: MOVING TO THE FRONT
- PART FOUR:
COMPLETING THE JOB
- PART
FIVE: AFTER VE DAY
- PART
SIX: REFLECTIONS
- AFTERTHOUGHTS
- PHOTOGRAPHS
& MEMORABILIA
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
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.
This history describes the formation of the 191st between WWI and WWII and its
reorganization after WWII. It was send in by Cecil Burchfield.
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
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.
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
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.
The War Before
Joining the 191st
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
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:
Additions in the October 22, 2004 update:
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