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The email from Vern Schmidt began "I have another story." Vern is 92 years old, and my interview with him is in my book "9 Lives," published almost 20 years ago, but since then Vern has dedicated himself to bringing closure to a number of stories, including "Aunt Libby's Canteen" and "Born on the Wrong Side of the Tracks," the story of Bruno Ehlich's search for the tankers who liberated him when he was a 9-year-old Hitler Youth being used to carry ammunition for a German gun crew near the end of the war.
This is the story in the email Vern sent a few days ago:
Artice C. Estep
How I found his son
This story begins on a cold wintry day, February 19, 1945 in a wooded area of the Siegfried Line in Germany during WWII. This was Hitler's Western Wall of concrete bunkers along the border of Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg & France some 400 miles in length.
Patton's 3rd Army had broken through partially but the battle was a slow struggle through all these bunkers, (pillboxes we called them). I was a rifleman in "E" Company, 358th Regiment of the 90th Division & our mission was to keep pushing the Germans eastward to the Rhine River.
On this day we were to take the high ground on this wooded hill, hoping to rout the Germans to keep them moving & disrupt their position. However, they had the advantage of knowing where we were as they had just occupied the same hill & dug one large foxhole.
Reaching the top of the hill, our squad leader ordered us to "dig in," meaning start digging foxholes to help shield us from the enemy. Roper & Wigton were paired up for the first time as my squad leader ordered me into the large German foxhole with him as I was carrying the "Walkie Talkie" radio for him to use when necessary. Within minutes a German 88 artillery shell exploded nearby, killing Roper & Wigton, who were just a short distance from me. Also killed was a machine gunner named Estep & a severely wounded buddy named Moorehead.I knew neither of these men as they were not from my squad. Our medic dragged Moorehead into our foxhole & I helped get him ready for evacuation to the rear. He had lost part of his foot & a big chunk of flesh from his thigh. This was not a good day so far.
On a return trip to Germany I visited Robert Roper's grave at Luxembourg but didn't find Wigton's.
Fast forward to the Internet in the 2000s where Wigton's brother found my name linked to him. Irving Wigton, Jr. is buried in Pueblo, Colorado & I recently visited his grave. Two of my squad leaders were also killed in battle near the Rhine River, one buried in France & the other buried in San Leandro, California which I've visited both to have closure for me as these were my buddies.
Back to machine gunner Artice C. Estep. I could not find his name in my Company "E" records, perhaps he was in another company supporting us that day with a machine gun crew of two. At our annual 90th Division reunion in July of 2015 in Fort Worth,Texas, I checked the record books that Norm Richards has obtained from the Record Center in St. Louis, Mo. In the book, titled "H" Company, on February 19th, 1945, I find the name "Artice C. Estep killed along with the name Moorehead being severely wounded. Fast forward a few weeks & Norm Richards sends me an email giving me a name "Denward Ferrel Estep" as a son of Artice Estep being 73 years of age living in West Virginia.
Now fast forward again to our local Air Force Association bi-monthly meeting here in Clovis, Calif., in October. Sitting across from me was a first time couple by the name of John & Pattie Cline from Madera. Both were extremely friendly & our conversation led to getting to know these folks like old time friends. John is a Vietnam Veteran & Patti has had a busy career as a fire-fighting office manager as well as a Genealogy person of interest. WOW, a light suddenly turned on as I thought of the name Estep, maybe Patti can help find the son for me. I shared a brief story about my Estep encounter going back 70 years & now my very recent finding the son. Patti said "give me your email address, I'll find his phone # for you. I sensed this lady knew her stuff & felt she wanted to help me.
Leaving the meeting I could hardly wait to visit my e-mail knowing that just maybe I'll be able to actually find closure to this Estep story. In a couple of days I'm on the phone with Denward Ferrel Estep! "Just call me Denny, everybody calls me that," he says. We talk for a while, he's amazed at how I found him. He tells me that I'm the first person to ever call about his father, he chokes up a bit, still finding it hard to realize that a guy on the other end of this phone line is talking about his father killed over 70 years ago who was actually there where it happened. I emphasized that I didn't want to open any wound that might upset him. He assured me that he was extremely interested in knowing about how his father was killed & thanked me for my interest & time involved to pursue this long awaited call to talk about his father.
Several days later he called me again to express his sincere thanks for all who made this closure possible. He couldn't believe someone would make the effort after 70 years had elapsed. Why did Patti & John Cline attend this their first time to our AFA meeting? Why did Patti sit directly across from me & why was she so friendly & showed an interest in my story? It was meant to be. Patti is a real person, she has spent almost a lifetime pulling a real WWII story out of her Dad as he's one of just a few Pear Harbor Survivors. In just a few days we will remember Pearl Harbor Day & now Patti has "The Rest Of The Story" thanks to her persistence in talking constantly with her Dad.
Thank you, Patti, you brought closure to a long overdue story about a hero who paid the full price for our Freedom.
PS: Artice C. Estep is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Visiting his grave is on my bucket list of things yet to do. My thanks to all who helped bring this story to the son of a fallen hero of World War Two.
Vern Schmidt
90th Inf. Div.
WWII
PPS: That's Vern in the banner at the top of this newsletter, in the photo top, center, on the right, next to yours truly.
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My newest book: Semper Fi, Padre
Surrounded and outnumbered by as many as 10-to-1, the men of the 1st Marine Division were battling their way out of the trap that the Communist Chinese had set for them at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. And they were fighting not only the enemy but the elements, as the temperatures plunged as far as twenty to thirty degrees below zero during the night. Sometime after midnight on December 6, 1950, Sgt. Mathew Caruso, assigned as a chaplain's assistant, and Lt. (j.g.) Cornelius "Connie" Griffin, a Catholic chaplain, were in an ambulance as the padre read the last rites to a gravely wounded Marine. Suddenly a rapid burst of machine gun fire could be heard and bullets began penetrating the ambulance. Mathew shouted "Down! Father, Down!" and in all likelihood knowing from more than two months of intense combat that the padre would continue ministering to the fallen Marine Mathew threw the chaplain to the floor of the ambulance and shielded him with his body.
Sgt. Mathew Caruso was riddled with machine gun bullets and killed. Father Griffin was wounded in the jaw and shoulder but survived. The following morning the Marines broke through to Koto-ri.
Six days later, in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, Betty Caruso, now Mathew's widow, gave birth to a son, Daniel. When Daniel was 13 and a half months old, a ceremony was held at the Groton, Connecticut, submarine base in which Mathew's Silver Star was presented to little Danny Caruso as his mother held him in her arms and Mathew's father, Michael Caruso Sr., looked on.
Two years later, after recovering sufficiently from his wounds, Chaplain Griffin oversaw the construction of the Mathew Caruso Memorial Chapel at Camp Pendleton, where Marines still worship today before being deployed to the world's many danger zones.
Meanwhile, Mathew's body was buried in a mass grave in the frozen earth at Koto-ri, in North Korea, along with the remains of some 60 other Marines and British commandos. In 1955, as part of an exchange of remains between North Korea and China on the one side, and South Korea and the United Nations on the other, Mathew's remains were repatriated. Mathew's younger brother John, who enlisted in the Marines after Mathew's death, was stationed at Camp Pendleton when he was given orders to accompany his brother's body by train from San Francisco to Hartford for a proper burial.
"Semper Fi, Padre" is the story not only of Mathew Caruso's act of heroism, which has been described in many books about the Korean War, but of the far reaching effect a death in combat -- any death in combat -- has on the lives of many people.
More information, pictures and an excerpt:
MathewCaruso.com
If you'd like to order a copy signed by the authors (myself and John Caruso),
send me an email, print and mail the
order form, or call (888) 711-8265.
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Give the gift of gab
When World War II veterans start talking, wouldn't you love to be there with a tape recorder? In many cases I was, and the result is my collection of World War II Oral History Audiobooks.
With the holidays upon us, these audiobooks make great gifts for the veteran or history buff among your family or friends, and even for yourself.
Take advantage of the 20 percent off sale on many items in my eBay store, including "The Tanker Tapes," "The D-Day Tapes" and "D-Day and the Bulge." There are even some double sets at a more cost-effective price.
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George Noorigian
(from The Kassel Conversations)
Bombardier George Noorigian was a member of Jackson Mercer's crew on the Kassel Mission. His B-24 was one of two that reached an emergency landing field at Manston, England, after the battle. The other was piloted by Bill Dewey. Dewey and George Collar were the founders of the Kassel Mission Memorial Association, now called the Kassel Mission Historical Society. For more information on the Kassel Mission, please visit kasselmission.com, and consider joining the KMHS! (If you were listening to the previous tracks, turn the volume down a little as these are somewhat louder)
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Sincerely,
Aaron Elson
World War II Oral History
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Quick Links
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