By Jim Watkins
Guest Opinion
It was a scene repeated thousands of times during the war. Perhaps it was at the bus station or at Union Station in Indianapolis. It doesn’t matter. The scene would have been the same. A young man saying goodbye and departing overseas.
For anyone witnessing James Ault’s departure after his furlough it would have been particularly poignant.
Witness James, 26, shouldering his army duffle while also holding the hand of their five-year-old son Kenneth. And there, clutching their one-year-old boy, Keith, the young wife of six years, Dorothy, looking up into those sad soldier’s eyes. Time to go. It was December 1944.
No doubt traveling east to hook up with his unit for the voyage across the Atlantic, James must have recounted the events that had brought him to this point in his life.
He had tied the knot with Dorothy in July of ‘38 with Kenneth being born the following year and then Keith in ‘43. James was employed at the local sawmill and their postal address was Nashville.
In February of 1941, some ten months prior to Pearl Harbor, James dutifully registered for the draft as was required by someone of his age under the requirement of the recently passed Selective Service Act. After registering he did receive a questionnaire which he completed and returned.
Due to his age and family situation he was not immediately called into service.
Three years would pass.
By the spring of 1944 U.S. forces had undergone serious operations in the Pacific, North Africa, Sicily and Italy and with the impending invasion of France to occur soon Selective Service was digging deeper into the draft age pool.
In April, word came that James was to report for his pre-induction physical examination on May 1st in Indianapolis. James passed the physical and was officially entered into the service on June 10.
His Basic Training was conducted at Ft. Hood, TX and then it was off to Ft. Meade, Md. for his advanced training. While undergoing training at Ft. Meade the news from France looked more and more promising as the Allies moved closer to Germany. There was even talk, hopeful talk, that maybe the Germans would surrender by the end of the year.
In December Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive and the subsequent Battle of the Bulge ended that thinking. The war in Europe was going to continue into the next year and that is where James was headed.
Private Ault would be a member of the U. S. Army’s 30th Division, nicknamed “Old Hickory” in recognition of Andrew Jackson the hero of New Orleans in the War of 1812 and seventh president of the United States whose rugged fighting characteristics were always attached to the division.
The 30th was a National Guard unit. National Guard units were always unfairly looked down upon by the regular army. Future president, Harry Truman, was National Guard in World War I and distinguished himself as an artillery officer. Half the medals awarded by the British to U.S. forces in WW I went to the 30th Division. Division soldiers also earned 12 Medals of Honor. In World War II the most decorated soldier was Audie Murphy, a member of the Texas National Guard.
James fit in very well with the 30th as its soldiers were mainly from rural backgrounds excelling in mechanical skills as well as being good hunters and outdoorsmen.
By the time James hooked up with his unit they had already distinguished themselves by saving the Normandy breakout by standing firm at Mortain and later stopping Hitler’s vaunted SS tank units in the Battle of the Bulge.
By war’s end the men of the 30th had earned six Medals of Honors, 80 Distinguished Service Crosses, the nation’s second highest award for valor, and approximately 20,000 Purple Hearts for those killed or wounded in action. In addition, the division took approximately 53,000 prisoners over the course of its campaigns.
After the war, Colonel S.L.A. Marshall, the official U.S. Army historian for the European Theater of Operations (ETO), reviewed combat records for all U.S. Army infantry divisions serving in the theater and cited the 30th Division as “the outstanding infantry division in the ETO.”
This was remarkable because the 30th was a National Guard outfit, not a Regular Army unit. Initially, the Division was a formation comprised of ordinary men. Once in combat, however, the citizen soldiers of the Fighting 30th morphed into warriors. They accomplished truly extraordinary feats, never failing in their missions, and they did so with great gallantry and a degree of efficiency that was unmatched, wrote Colonel Marshall.
By late February of 1945 the last decisive battles of the war in Europe were about to be fought. For the Russians it would be the race to Berlin and that final battle. For the Allies coming in from the west it would be crossing the Roer and Rhine rivers and penetrating the German industrial heartland.
For James Ault, his Purple Heart would be earned on Feb. 25, 1945 after crossing the Roer.
The headstone of James Ault, located in Duncan Cemetery.
Submitted photo
Besides Dorothy, Kenneth and Keith, James was survived by his parents Albert and Herma (Chafin) Ault.
It is a blessing of history that books continue to be forthcoming shedding light on the many stories of World War II. Such a book is The Fighting 30th Division by Martin King, Michael Collins, and David Hiborn published in 2015 and giving us a closer look into the life of James Ault and his fellow GIs of “The Old Hickory” Division. This book was the source for much of the information contained in this article.
Jim Watkins is a Brown County Historical Society member who wrote “The Fallen,” a memorial document about young men from Brown County who never returned home from World War II. Watkins was a public school teacher for 42 years and has always been interested in learning about WWII. He can be reached at [email protected].
The cover of “The Fallen” by Jim Watkins that memorializes Brown County soldiers who never returned home from World War II. “Every fatality of war is a tragic story. The enormity of it nationwide taxes all comprehension, but when narrowed down to a little rural area of middle America one is more able to appreciate the terrible sacrifices made during that time,” Watkins said.
Submitted photo
