My great uncle: Norbert O’Neill How he fought and died in World War II The Crossing of the Roer River, Germany; February 23, 1945

I have chosen to do this project about a particular battle in World War II. My great uncle, Norbert O’Neill, had been in this battle and had been mortally wounded. My mom has the documents and letters about my uncle. My grandfather was especially helpful as I worked to understand what that time in history was like and what his and his brother’s war experience was about.

I first went through all of the documents, letters and photographs that my mother has. All of that information had been given to her by my grandfather for safe keeping. Most of it had originally been saved by my great-grandmother; she died in 1973. The most important piece of information about my great uncle Norbert was a very long letter that one of his fellow infantryman, Joseph Capone, had written to my great grandmother in 1947. It had taken her nearly 2 years to find out who had been with Norbert at the time he had been mortally wounded. Mr. Capone had written a 3 page letter detailing the final portion of “Operation Queen” - crossing the Roer River in Germany, February 1945. He talked about how close he had been with my great uncle what his final days in battle were like.

My great uncle was a part of the 104th Division, The Timberwolves. My research took me to three important web sites: The official Army website that has information about each of it’s Divisions (www.usarc.army.mil/104thDivIT/), the National Timberwolf Association (www.104infdiv.org) and a website that chronicles the activities of the 104th including personal stories (http://members.aol.com/InfDiv104/WORLDWAR.htm). These sites are linked on the web site that I am creating. I also have printouts of the pages from these sites that I needed for reference.

These web sites provided me with the history of the Timberwolves Division. The Division had been re-activated in September 1942. In December of 1944, the Division was assigned to an area on the northern flank of the Bulge. They were to provide an active defense of the allied flank. When the Allies regained the territory and their line against the Germans, the 104th, along with several other Divisions were sent to prepare for crossing the Roer River. A map is on the website. This river, in western Germany was the first it was to cross and then it was going to cross the Rhine and meet up with the Russians who were already closing in on Berlin. The 104th Division was to have been sent back to the west coast of the U.S. to prepare for the invasion of Japan - which - was never to happen because of the dropping of the Atom Bomb.

My great uncle had fought valiantly, we are told, while helping defend the Allied flank of the Bulge. After 6 weeks of fighting, with no warm food, he and his Infantry Unit, the 415th, had been relieved for 3 days at Christmas. After those three days, the 415th along with the other units, continued fighting and taking towns, clearing the west bank area of the Roer as they positioned themselves to rehearse for the crossing of the Roer.

The Germans has destroyed the dam in order to flood the Roer valley. This caused the river to rise substantially and created a very fast moving river. The crossing had been delayed several days but rather than wait for the river to recede, they wanted to surprise the Germans by crossing a day sooner than they were expecting. It was a fierce battle, many soldiers were gunned down by the Germans who occupied ‘pill boxes’ on the east bank of the river. My great uncle managed to destroy a pill box that had killed over 30 American soldiers throughout the night of February 22nd and into the early morning of February 23rd. My great uncle had been shot up pretty bad as he was throwing the hand grenades. About a day and a half later, medics made it to him to take him back for medical care. He was shipped to a hospital in Spa, Belgium where he died about 1 week later.

I have the original telegram that had been sent to my great grandmother informing her about her son’s death and I also have letters from the chaplain and various officers that Norbert under whose command Norbert had served. He was buried in Belgium. Several years later, his body was shipped to Arlington Cemetery where he, along with others, received a military ceremony and proper burial.

During my research, I interviewed my grandfather. I wanted to know more about his brother. I found out a little about what their lives were like as kids. It wasn’t that great for many reasons - I only talk about the obvious one - being poor and not getting enough food. He talks about school and how he and his brother got along. My grandfather told me about his experience during World War II as a Marine. He was very, very lucky, when on his way to the South Pacific, he was one of 75 men out of an entire transport ship, who were allowed to get off in Panama to relieve other Marines who just wanted to get out of Panama. They had been there a long time. My grandfather was one of the Marines who helped guard the canal. Several weeks later he found out that the ship he had been on was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine - everyone had been killed. Incredible luck my grandfather had!

My grandfather and grandmother also shared pictures of the Arlington Cemetery ceremony for his brother. They told me about the ceremony - it was short, sad and sweet.

The Depression and World War II were incredibly difficult times for everyone. My family was pretty average in how they struggled, how they were fairly poor and how they all were glad to serve and work for their country.

I am fortunate to have so much memorabilia from that era. My great aunt even has original ration stamps. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to not be allowed to buy as much as you want or have as much gas as you want to drive anywhere, anytime.