William H. Sager, Jr. - Private U.S. Army Infantry 1944-46 WW2
Dad with his WW2 Veteran hat, close friend Inge Ruff, great grandson Edward Sager, and daughter in law Terrie Sager at Brasstown Bald, GA. May 2021 (our last visit)
Dad’s Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman Badge, and others from his service in the U.S. Army, 5th Infantry Division - Red Diamond. Great-grandson Luke Bateman, formerly USMC, now serving in USCG, has all these medals now and was going to display them in a shadow box. Willi has the memorial flag. We were very grateful to our local VFW Honor Guard for their part in honoring him at our memorial service with a 21 gun salute and nice tribute!
As we remember our military veterans on November 11, I have been thinking about our father. Bill Sager enlisted as an eighteen year old at the end of WW2 in 1944. His account of his experience in basic training is quite a unique story. This is from his 380 page typewritten autobiography he gave us in 2001 when he was 75 years old.
l'm the guy who was so happy to quit school and go in the service so I wouldn't have to study anymore. I just hated to study. So what happened when I was in the service? Well, in basic training some of it just seemed so easy - as I said I was in great physical shape so that part was easy. We had a drill sergeant who for some reason, that I'm sure the Lord knows, took an immediate dislike to me - perhaps because I was a Yankee and physically had no problem in doing anything they wanted us to do (I think this really go to him) - I’ll never know. He was about 5' 3 or 4" tall and must have weighed about 135 lbs. All of his uniforms were tailored to him which meant all of his shirts fit him like a glove. He had all the seams where you would press your shirts (three stripes down the back) sewn into his shirts. Seemed he had quite an ego too and we were the ones who were going to feed it. Don't get me wrong about what I'm going to say next - but this little drill sergeant was from the hills of Georgia - most of my dealing with anyone from Georgia was they were “hill billies” - had very little education and didn’t do much work.. (This was 50 years ago and we had gone through a depression and now were in the 2nd world war) I'm certain he too quit school, just like I had - but he probably never made it into the 6th grade. Anyway he took an immediate dislike to me and seemed to always be picking on me. One time I wasn't paying attention in one of the lectures and we were sitting outside in the hot Florida sun and I was sort of nodding off - he came up behind me (and I didn’t see him) and I did have my helmet liner on - he hit me over the head with his ever present swagger stick (this was like a conductors baton but about ½ inch in diameter and about two feel long). It made such a resounding sound that I don't think I heard anything for about three days after his blow on me helmet liner. A couple of days after that episode he was teaching us map reading and all of a sudden it dawned on me that here was this little guy who had been in the Army for about 12 years, seen combat, been wounded (badly) and was brought back from overseas so he could teach us how to stay alive when we were in combat. Here he was actually trying to help me stay alive when I went overseas. Boy was this a revelation. This wonderful little guy was helping us all to gain some knowledge so we could stay alive a little longer. What a change in attitude I had - this was now a wonderful little guy and how I studied everything that he or anyone presented to us. I even told some of the others that the little sergeant was really helping us and they'd better pay attention. I know he did a good job - I did get through my overseas experience thanks to God and a lot of other people and that wonderful little sergeant from the hills of Georgia. He still managed to pick on me when he had the chance but it didn't bother me - I loved him. The Lord just opened my eyes and I just loved him. If there had been a book about this Wonderful Sergeant I would have studied it from cover to cover.
Now Listen - about my little Sergeant, here was someone who had almost died so he could pass on what he knew and help me live. Does this sound familiar? Here was someone who had almost died so that I could live? Ever hear of someone else who not ALMOST died but who actually did die so you could live and have eternal life? Sure you have - I want to know as much as I can about that man. We all want to know as much about what He wants for us - How do we find out ? IT IS IN THE BOOK - the Bible - the Book that shows us just what He did and what He wants us to do - READ IT AND PRAYFULLY STUDY IT - HE'LL SHOW YOU.
Some things in basic training are just unbelievable. We had M1 30 caliber rifle issued to us and we’d have them all during training. We were told to treat them VERY well and make certain that you called it your “rifle” and not a gun. The first time a recruit called his rifle a gun the sergeant got all bent out of shape and shouted in the recruits face and told him to report to him when we were dismissed. At the end of the day when we were dismissed the recruit was seen standing at attention by the Command Office with his rifle next to him and he was would first point with his finger to his rifle and say in a very loud voice, “This is my rifle” then he would point to his crotch and say, “And this is my gun”, then back to his rifle and said, “This is for killing”, then pointing to his crotch again and saying, “And this is for fun”. He went on and on like this for over an hour before he was dismissed. We all got the message.
One recruit dropped his rifle and he was forced to put it in his cot and put it under the covers while he had to sleep under the cot on the floor. This too was a real learning experience for us all and we knew we were to take exceptionally loving care of our rifles.
In basic training I always went to church although I didn't like the idea of marching in formation to go there. One more thing to get used to and after the first Sunday in Camp Blanding I learned if I didn't fall out in formation to go to church I could walk at my own pace and get there about the time the service started.
This was my very first Christmas eve and Christmas away from my family and I didn't know what to do so I took a bus into Stark, Florida, on Christmas Eve. I walked to a part of town where there were houses and families and I slowly walked past houses and I could look in and see families sitting around their Christmas tree. Perhaps I was a little homesick but some how it gave me great joy to see families, that I didn’t know, getting ready to enjoy the celebration of Christ's birth - seemed like viewing a movie only I was the one taking the pictures.
1945 after serving overseas in combat in the European Theater. He was home on furlough. He has the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Paratrooper Wings are for the Glider Corps. He was assigned to the Motor pool for that elite airborne unit at Fort Campbell, KY at 5th Div. headquarters, then called Camp Campbell.
Found out from our interpreters the Germans would see our division patches (a red diamond) and call us by a nick name I got to like “Patton’s Red Devils”.
The 5th Division had served in the XII and XX Corps, Third Army from August 3, 1944 to the end of hostilities, May 7, 1945. General George S. Patton, Commander of the Third Army, had this to say, in part, in a letter dated November 17, 1945:
"Nothing I can say can add to the glory which you have achieved. Throughout the whole advance across France you spearheaded the attack of your Corps. You crossed so many rivers that I am persuaded many of you have webfeet and I know that all of you have dauntless spirit. To my mind history does not record incidents of greater valor than your crossing of the Sauer and Rhine."
Red Diamond patch of the 5th Division on his right shoulder. With Barbara Baxter.
Another story about his service in the U.S. Army concerned an incident in Scotland on a train in Glasgow on his way to the war.
Landing in Scotland and Moving Beyond
On our last day aboard the troop ship before getting on solid land again was a nice, calm day and I was on deck as we pulled into Glasgow, Scotland. What a beautiful sight. I had only seen pictures of the area but to actually see it in person was wonderful, particularly after being out to sea for six or seven days. Seeing the vegetation coming right down to the water, oh, it was just beautiful. The Gulf stream or something caused the vegetation to look so luscious.
We docked and took our duffel bags and knapsacks and were put on trains headed to ... ? No one knew. The Army always did a good job of keeping us in the dark or perhaps they didn’t know where we were headed either. We got on the train in Glasgow and I happened to be sitting by the window and since there were a couple of people standing outside at the train station and even though it was cold, I decided to open the window. Almost immediately I made eye contact with an old Scottish man wearing a big black overcoat and an old cap and he shuffled over to me and reached up with his old weather beaten hand and I reached mine out to him. We shook hands or really he just held my hand in his for quite a while looking right at me and studying my face and then he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and said in a very firm voice in his very Scottish brogue, "Good luck to you, Yank! - God bless ya!" Then he let go of my hand as the train started moving. I was almost crying. I have always wondered how many young soldiers he held hands and encouraged them as they went off to war. It was rather obvious to me this old man was perhaps directly involved in the first world war or that he had sons and grandsons that were involved in this war. I do hope the good Lord will let me see that man again - seems any time I want I can, after all these years, still see him and hear his firm old Scottish brogue give me courage to do a job I really didn't want to do but I knew someone needed to do it.
5th Infantry Division https://www.history.army.mil/documents/ETO-OB/5id-eto.htm
Society of the 5th Division
https://www.societyofthefifthdivision.com/
Several of the books published by this society were in Dad’s library that I now have. He attended their reunions later in life and displayed the red diamond decal on his car.
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