Thursday, July 8, 2010

IRA THURMAN GARNTO

Interview by Johnnie Faye Taylor



GEORGIA NATIONAL GUARD,
U.S. ARMY, 8TH DIVISION,
3RD BATTALION,
121ST INFANTRY REGIMENT, COMPANY K

I.T. is the son of Ira Thomas Garnto and Laura Martin Garnto. He was raised in the Brewton Community of Laurens County, Georgia. I.T. graduated from Brewton High School in the spring of 1940.



Jobs were not easy to find in those days. After looking for a position and not finding one, I.T. decided to join the Georgia National Guard. The United States was not involved yet in the war, which was taking place in Europe.



During the summer of 1940, I.T. joined the National Guard late on a Friday. He learned that the Guard would be going to summer camp that weekend. He joined the other guardsmen as they left on Sunday for three weeks of maneuvers in Mississippi and Louisiana.



A bill was passed and signed by President Roosevelt to mobilize the Guard Unit while they were away at camp. This happened just two weeks after I.T. joined the Guard. Returning from camp, the men were given three weeks leave time before departing for their one year of regular Army training that was required of them in the mobilization bill.



On September 16, 1940, I.T. reported in and set up camp at the old fairgrounds on Telfair Street in Dublin. They were at this location for one week. They reported in on Monday morning. No equipment was issued because none was available.



The Dublin Unit of the Guards became officially part of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 121st Infantry. The 121st started out being an all Georgia Regiment.



The following Sunday, the men boarded the train in Dublin for the journey to Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The Guard train formed a part of the 1:25 PM Macon bound MD&S passenger train. Many family members and friends were at the station to see the men off on their journey. The men rode tourist sleepers as they traveled to Fort Jackson. Early on Monday morning, the men arrived at their destination.



Upon arrival at Fort Jackson, the men received their living assignments. Tents became home for nearly a year. Fort Jackson underwent major changes to accommodate the 121st Infantry Regiment and those from other areas that had also been activated on the mobilization orders of President Roosevelt.



There were so many men and no supplies for them. I.T. remembers the men were issued makeshift uniforms that were, for the most part, left over from World War I. Sometime after Christmas and in the early part of 1941, proper uniforms were finally issued to the men of Company K.



Equipment for training purposes was non- existent also. What rifles they had were World War I type 0-3 rifles. Broomsticks were substituted for rifles and stovepipes were substituted for mortar tubes during the early days of training. Sticks on wheels were called anti-tank guns while training until equipment could be obtained.



Mobile kitchens were set up to handle the tremendous buildup of personnel. Many times the men ate field rations left over from World War I. Later K-Rations became available. The K-Rations consisted of meat, dessert and a package of cigarettes.



By the summer of 1941, adequate supplies and equipment were available to the men. They had an ample amount of rifles and ammunition. Barracks were being built at the rate of three to five at the time. I.T. remembers seeing streets laid out during the day and paved that night. It was sometimes strange to wake up and see the amount of work that had gone on overnight.



The Gray Bonnets, as the 121st Infantry Regiment was known, was a unit of the 30th Division and participated in the 2nd Army maneuvers in June of 1941. Those maneuvers lasted for one month. They went to the Carolinas shortly after to participate in mock action in the 1st Army maneuvers.



About the end of the Carolina training, Company K, 121st Regiment was transferred to the 8th Infantry Division from the 30th Division where they were originally assigned.



During the fall of 1941, one man out of each company was chosen to go to the Headquarters Company, Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon. I.T. was chosen from his company and was transferred to the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon in the Regimental Headquarters. I.T. really didn't want to transfer but learned much later that the transfer was to his benefit. A.T. Coleman, Jr. of Dublin was I.T.'s company commander. He assured I.T. that it was much better to be in the I & R Platoon.



I.T. began training for his new duty. Scouting and patrolling became part of his daily routine. He learned how to gather battlefield information.



Changes continued to come for the 121st Infantry. A new commander took over in September 1941. Also, the Gray Bonnets transfer to the 8th Infantry Division was made official on November 21, 1941. More men from the 13th and 28th Regiments were added.



America's involvement in the war became a reality in December 194l with the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. It became a matter of time before I.T. and his Division would see action. Training continued.



In September 1941, I.T.'s Regiment again traveled to Tennessee for maneuvers with the 2nd Army. After maneuvers, the men were given a three-week period of rest. Motor Maintenance took place during this period of rest at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. Chiggers were a nuisance to the men while they were encamped in the Tennessee wooded area.



I.T. was in Dublin for the weekend when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He learned of the attack when he met with the other soldiers who were traveling together on the trip back to Fort Jackson. Often the Dublin natives would pay $5.00 each to someone with a car for the trip home on weekends. Usually I.T. would come home about once a month when they were at Fort Jackson.



One time at Fort Jackson after the men had been in the field all week, they came in on Friday and almost immediately the Dublin group left to go home for the weekend. Usually nothing went on at Fort Jackson that involved them on weekends. This particular weekend was different. I.T. was on the base because he had been put in charge of cleaning the rec hall that week. On Saturday morning at Reveille a roll call was made. Companies lined up with their company commander reporting---All Present---All Accounted For. This particular weekend Lt. Shurling had to say. "Pardner, I'm having to call the roll, if you can wait. If you can't, report the whole damn company absent." Another time he had to answer with "K Company gone with the wind." The result of this incident was that everybody not there for the roll call was demoted. Many of the good men got their ranks back before long but they didn't forget the experience.



In the spring of 1942, I.T. remembers being in Florida. They were sent down to the south Florida area on guard duty. The men were placed along the coast from Miami to Key West. I.T. was positioned about two miles from Homestead, Florida. He recalls the reports of German submarines being very close to the eastern coast of the United States. The men were called back to Fort Jackson, South Carolina after about three or four weeks. When they arrived back at Fort Jackson, I.T. learned he had made corporal.



They went back to Camp Forrest, Tennessee for training. When it was time to leave Camp Forrest, I.T. and the other men traveled to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The Regiment arrived at Fort Leonard Wood on December 3, 1942. It was bitter cold and snowing when they got to their new duty station. Many men in the Infantry Regiment suffered from frost bitten hands and feet during that freezing winter. Most of the time overshoes were worn due to snow or wet ground when the snow melted. I.T. and the other Gray Bonnets remained at Fort Leonard Wood until March of 1943.



Promotions were continuing for I.T. While at Fort Leonard Wood, he made Sergeant. In spite of the extremely cold temperatures in Missouri, I.T. could appreciate the improvements since the early days of no equipment, uniforms, etc. He was actually amazed sometimes at the speed in which the troops were becoming equipped.



I.T. acquired the name of Sgt. Doggie. One day someone called him Bulldog. Some of the men picked up on that and he was to be called Doggie or Sgt. Doggie for the remainder of his time in service.



Yuma, Arizona was the next location for training. I.T. left Fort Leonard Wood in winter clothes. When he got to Arizona, it was hot during the day and cool at night. Later on it was hot during the day and night. It was becoming more and more obvious that the men were being conditioned for all types of weather extremes and physical endurance in difficult situations. The Regiment remained in the desert until August 1943. While there, I.T. was transferred to the 2nd Battalion Headquarters Company. He became Intelligence Chief while retaining the rank of Sergeant.



I.T. recalls being tired physically and being tired of the desert as they departed Arizona and returned to Camp Forrest, Tennessee. The next three months were spent preparing for movement overseas.



A transfer was again given to I.T. while at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. He became Section Chief of Communications with the 2nd Battalion Headquarters Company.



The 121st Infantry traveled by train to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on November 25, 1943. They spent about one week at Camp Kilmer prior to moving on to the Port of Embarkation at Brooklyn, New York. They sailed on December 5, 1943 for an undisclosed location in the United Kingdom. It was a rough crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was a former French Liner that had been converted to a troop ship during the earlier part of the war. Eighteen troops ships and several freighters traveled together in a convoy as they crossed the ocean. Destroyer Escort Ships provided protection for the convoy.



The ship made port in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A grateful I.T. happily debarked late in the afternoon on December 15th. The men had not seen sunshine since they left the United States. They didn't know at the time but it would be another three or four months before they would see sunshine again.



Additional training took place in Northern Ireland at several locations over the next six months. Long hikes and rigid conditioning exercises formed much of the training. One of the hikes was 45 miles over Northern Ireland's rugged terrain.



The men were tired, dirty and homesick. The climate didn't do anything to help their spirits. The prevailing attitude of most of the men was the desire to just get to the fighting area, end the war and go home.



General Patton visited the American troops in Northern Ireland during the spring of 1944. The purpose of his visit was to check the readiness of the troops for combat. I.T. remembers the marching fire demonstrations performed for the general. I.T. served as color guard during the general's visit. He stood close to the General and heard some of the language for which the general became famous. He remembers several civilian employees and Red Cross workers leaving the area when the general's language got rough.



Neither I.T. nor any of the other troops knew what the upper echelons were planning for them. However, they were all beginning to suspect that something pretty big was in store.



Two months prior to leaving Belfast, the regiment was put through a dry run. The men were ordered to quickly pack up their gear, close camp and leave the area. Carrying their full field equipment, the men marched up a gangplank. Most were wide eyed when they were marched down another gangplank and headed back to camp.



Finally orders came through for them to leave the area again. This was the real thing! Traveling aboard the USS Marine Raven, the troops left Belfast Harbor on the night of June 30, 1944. The dry run had served its purpose. The real embarkation movement from camp had gone smoothly.



On July 4, 1944, the Gray Bonnets entered the waters off the coast of Normandy. The men transferred from the troop transport to LCIs (Landing Craft Infantry) that were bobbing like corks in the rough channel waters. Many men became seasick prior to making the landing at Utah Beach.



The new arrivals were astounded at the ruggedness of the Normandy Beaches. There was evidence all around of the devastating losses the Americans had suffered just one month earlier. The LCIs had to negotiate the water between the ships sunk near the beach just the month before during the invasion. The many sacrifices made by the troops on D-Day were apparent. Respect was increased for those who successfully made it across the beach and up the cliff alive on D-Day. Sadness was experienced at the same time because of the loss of so many lives on that day.



The Americans were already about 25 miles inland from the beach when the 121st landed. The Regiment moved up behind the front line that day.



The 8th Division's first mission was to straighten a bulge that was in the front line. This was done in eight days. The Division stopped for several days.



This is when Patton's tanks were brought in and the 121st received about 30 to 40 percent replacements.



The Regiment dug in and I.T. dug a foxhole beside a hedgerow. That night, during a mortar barrage, a shell hit the hedgerow close enough to cave the foxhole in. It was a dud. Another one hit about ten feet over that one. The second one was not a dud. It cut up I.T.'s raincoat that he had spread over his foxhole to give him some protection from the rain. The shell also cut the line to his phone.



During this stop the 8th Division was assigned to Patton's 3rd Army and after much bombing the 8th Division broke through the German line. Patton's tanks headed for Paris.



I.T.'s Regiment arrived near Brest, France around September 1, 1944. A Regiment of about 5000 men was sent to take the Brest Fort. The Germans had about 30,000 men stationed at the fort to hold it. B-24s and other bombers bombed the fort often. Finally, the Germans surrendered to another unit after the 121st was assigned another mission.



About this time, I.T.'s Regiment was transferred to the 1st Army.



The Regiment continued to fight as they moved on. There was quite a fight in the Crozon Peninsula. The company commander was lost as well as the S-2 intelligence officer and the driver of the Jeep.



The acting adjutant asked if someone would take over the section after the 1st Lieutenant who had been the liaison officer was killed. I.T. began the job of acting liaison officer. On two different occasions, I.T. escorted replacement troops to the front lines while he was acting liaison officer. Two of those men were killed before they got their foxholes dug.



A rest time took place soon after the battle in the Crozon Peninsula.



The men traveled on up to Luxembourg. They arrived at the Seigfried Line where they were in a defensive position. This lasted about one month. The troops were scattered out badly. This was probably because of the need to cover as much area as possible with the available men. I.T. believes that this would have allowed Germans to come across the line if they had known it.



Around Thanksgiving, they were in the Huertgen Forest. They were given a hot meal to celebrate the holiday. That was their last hot meal for another long period of time.



I.T. was in charge of the messengers. Two men from each company were assigned to him while in the Huertgen Forest. I.T. ended up going with the Battalion Commander to the Command Post near the front lines. This was I.T.'s decision. He chose that duty rather than staying behind with someone he didn't feel he could work with very well. I.T. ended up staying with the Battalion Commander for the remainder of the war.



During the battle of Huertgen Forest, the battalion suffered many casualties. Fighting was intense. Living conditions were pretty bad also. The men lived in their foxholes and ate anything they could get in the Forest. Supplies didn't arrive when needed due to weather and battle conditions. A Presidential Citation was given to the men for their outstanding fighting during the battle in the Forest.



I.T. endured several close calls while in the Forest. Once when he was standing beside a tank, a dud hit the tank and ricocheted off. Had it been live ammunition, I.T. would not have lived to tell about the incident.



The 3rd Battalion was sent down as a reserve unit in the vicinity of the Battle of the Bulge. There had been a breakthrough and it was necessary to call in the 3rd Battalion for assistance. However, they were not committed to combat at that time.



Later on, the mission was to take a dam. I.T. recalls they tried to take it but the Germans flooded it to slow down the American's forward progress. The American troops finally took it but the time required was longer than they anticipated.



As the war went on, I.T.'s unit was called on more and more for 'cleanup'. The 1st and 3rd Armies went through Germany and left big pockets with German troops still in those areas. Those areas had to be cleaned out with the Germans leaving, being killed or becoming POWs. The Americans did lots of night work here. They suffered fewer casualties when working nights. Actually, some Germans were rounded up when the Americans went into houses in the area and got them out.



When I.T. arrived in Cologne, he found a burned out city. Incendiary bombs had been dropped on the city. The results were just shells of buildings left. The city had once been home to 1,000,000 Germans but only about 25,000 were still living there. Those Germans still in Cologne were living in cellars. Germans were still across the river and were firing at the Americans from that location. While in Cologne, Emory Scarborough of Dublin was killed. Emory had received a battlefield commission after the battle in the Huertgen Forest.



After the cleanup in Cologne, the American troops began working their way to the city of Schwerin. On the way to Schwerin, tanks and tank destroyers were in a convoy with the foot troops riding on them. The Battalion Commander was behind the 1st tanks and I.T. was behind him in a Jeep. The convoy traveled about 50 miles that day. As they neared Schwerin (near the Baltic Sea), a German Captain came riding out to meet them in a German car. He wanted the commander to go with him. I.T. remembers following the German officer to a castle. They went inside passing Germans with guns pointed at them as they entered. A German Lt. General was inside. He wanted a higher-ranking American officer to surrender his troops to but the Colonel (Battalion Commander) would not agree to that. He insisted the German Lt. General surrender to him.



Finally, the German Lt. General did surrender a corp of troops to the colonel. The next two or three days, 244,000 Germans marched in to give themselves up. When I.T.'s Regiment added up their accomplishments, a total of 286,000 Germans had surrendered to them.



While in the Baltic Sea area, I.T. thought he might enjoy a swim in the sea. It didn't take him long to decide the water was just too cold to swim.



Living quarters after the German surrender improved considerably for the troops. At first, they slept in confiscated houses. Later, they went to a school building where cots were provided for them.



When the war was over in Europe, I.T. went back to France. He had earned 93 points. Eighty-five points were required for return to the States and discharge. Those men who did not have the necessary points for discharge were to go back to the States and train for further assignment in the Pacific. They were allowed to leave Europe first because of their priority status. I.T. and the other men eligible for discharge were held up in France for 30 days waiting for transport back to the States.



I.T. returned to New York on a Liberty ship. The ship had taken a load of wheat to Europe and still had wheat scattered all over it. The ocean crossing took 14 days. While in the chow line on the ship, a radio message said the Japanese were just about ready to surrender. Everything got very quiet in the dining room all of a sudden. Just as suddenly, an excitement was in the air all over the ship.



As the ship approached the New York port, I.T. went out to see the Statue of Liberty. He waited and waited to see it but never did. Someone finally told him they had passed the Statue about 4 AM. He was sorry he missed the sight.



The Debarkation Center held surprises for the men's homecoming. Betty Grable and Joe Lewis were there to welcome the men home. I.T. remembers eating a steak that was served to the returning troops.



I.T. came south again via train. He spent one night on the train en route to Camp Gordon, Georgia. He spent another night at Camp Gordon while being processed. I.T. was discharged at Camp Gordon, Georgia on August 14, 1945. He was awarded several medals including five Combat Stars, Combat Infantry Badge, Good Conduct and others.



The 121st Infantry Regiment had served the United States well from before the U.S. involvement in the war to the end of World War II. Several young men from Dublin who had served with I.T. were killed during the long war. Among those killed were Howard Brantley, Zollie Tindol and David G. Daniels, Jr.



The Regiment was made up of three battalions, a headquarters unit and a band with a total of approximately 5000 men. Replacement troops were added twice with approximately 60-70 people added per company each time. There were 1002 killed, 903 of those were killed in action and 89 eventually died of their wounds. Several thousand more men were injured but survived the horrors of the war.



Those men leaving France without enough points for discharge did not have to go to the Pacific after all. The Japanese had surrendered while I.T. was at Camp Gordon, Georgia being discharged.



I.T. returned home and started looking for a job. He worked on a bread truck for about six months, and then he went to work at Georgia Plywood Mill for another six months. A grocery store was his next place of employment. He worked at the grocery store for about 18 months.



A job became available at the post office. I.T. took the job and started to work as a substitute mail carrier for six years. He was given an inside position of clerk next. He held that position both at the downtown post office (7 yrs.) and the main post office until he retired after 31 years of service with the post office. During that time he was acting postmaster for a five or six month period of time.



After his retirement, I.T. received the contract for a post office unit at the VA Center in Dublin. He held that contract for seven and one half years. The VA Center postal unit was open four hours each day to serve the patients, workers and visitors to the VA.



I.T. married Edith Malcom on November 3, 1949. The couple has one daughter, C. Annette Garnto Chambers, who lives in Macon, Georgia with her family. Edith and I.T. are proud grandparents to Lindsay and Laura.



The 121st Infantry Regiment holds a reunion each year on the closest Sunday to September 16th. The Garntos attend as often as possible.



I.T. and Edith are active members of Jefferson Street Baptist Church. I.T. joined that church in 1946 and has been a member ever since. He serves as a deacon.



He is president of the Woodmen of the World #189. I.T. has served as president for five or six years.

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