recounts experiences for
high school ROTC class
Soldier’s story is firsthand
account of Army life, death
George H. Waple III
Ret. Capt. George Waple
recounts experiences for
high school ROTC class
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
Before learning how to deal with the future, students in the Freehold Regional High School District’s Junior ROTC program at Colts Neck High School learned firsthand from a retired army captain what it was like to be involved in World War II.
Lt. Col. Jim Sfayer, senior naval science instructor, introduced Capt. George H. Waple III, 82, of Eatontown and told his students that Waple "can be described as a walking history book."
Waple then spoke with the students about his 24 years of service to the nation.
In the spring of 1944, Waple, then a first sergeant in the 83rd Infantry Division, shipped out of New York City on the USS George Washington to arrive shortly in Liverpool, England. Only a few weeks later, his division landed on Omaha Beach shortly after D-Day, relieving the 101st Airborne Division near Carenton, France.
Waple introduced the students to what was known as Operation Overlord.
"In 1942 and 1943, we were fighting the Germans in Africa, but President (Franklin Delano) Roosevelt and U.S. Chief of Staff Gen. (George) Marshall, (along with) Gen. (Dwight) Eisenhower, Gen. (Omar) Bradley and Gen. (Bernard) Montgomery, decided we had to have an operation going across from England to France," said Waple. "Before we made the invasion of France, Bradley made the first blunder of the operation."
Waple told the students that Bradley and his staff loaded troops on landing ship tanks and made a mock invasion near Southampton, England. German U-boats were tipped off about the practice invasion and the Allies lost 700 men.
Using maps, Waple described the routes taken by the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions as they flew into Normandy, France.
"They didn’t go straight across (the English Channel), they went around (to get to the target area)," said Waple. "It was a disaster because the Germans heard that they were gong to glide into that area. The Germans (were prepared and they ) killed a lot of men."
He explained that more than 700 ships, 4,000 landing craft and 176,000 troops were involved in the D-Day landing operation on June 6, 1944, including American, British, Canadian, New Zealand, free Polish and free French troops, as well as other Allies. The British landed at Sword Beach and Gold Beach, while the Canadians landed at Juno Beach.
Coming across the English Channel were American troops of the 1st Division, the 29th Division and the 4th Division, Waple said.
"They landed at Omaha and Utah beaches and the British landed over here (pointing to Sword Beach on the map)," said the captain. "We made it, but there were a lot of people killed."
Statistics provided by Martin K.A. Morgan, research historian, National D-Day Museum, New Orleans, La., indicate there were 6,603 American casualties during that invasion, including 1,465 killed in action; 1,928 missing in action and presumed dead; 3,184 wounded in action; and 26 taken as prisoners of war.
"I was a sergeant at the time," Waple told the teens. "My unit was still in England, and we loaded on boats at Southampton and went across on June 12."
He described the difficulty the soldiers had in getting through the 10-foot-high and 12-foot-wide hedgerows, filled with brier and brush, as they marched through Normandy, and at the same time, he said, the Germans would set up a field of crossfire from each corner of the area.
"But we made it through by virtue of the tanks," said the captain.
Waple also described the action he saw during the Battle of the Bulge.
Returning to the United States after the war in late 1945, Waple was assigned to the elite ceremonial detachment at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, and was involved in parades and honor guards in the Washington, D.C., area.
Then for a period of time, Waple was head usher for affairs of state under President Harry Truman, and was Truman’s wreath bearer at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier each Memorial Day.
"Here’s a picture of Truman and his Panama hat and brown and white shoes," he showed the students.
In August 1948, Waple was assigned to the staff of Bradley, who by now was the chief of staff of the Army, and who later became the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Jan. 12, 1952, Waple was commissioned as a second lieutenant by Bradley at the general’s Pentagon office.
Waple was then assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division in Korea, during the spring of 1952, and was in the war’s last battle as the Chinese launched attacks on his battalion.
In late 1953, he was selected to be the aide de camp to Maj. Gen. Lionel C. McGarr, 7th Infantry Division. In February 1954, his position saw him serve as an escort for Marilyn Monroe when she paid a visit to the troops.
He presented the movie star with an army jacket, which Monroe took back to the United States. Waple said he was informed several years ago that the jacket he had presented to Monroe decades earlier was eventually sold in Chicago for $30,000.
He was promoted to his final rank of captain in 1956.
During 24 years of service to his country, Waple earned the Combat Infantry Badge with Star; the Bronze Star with two Oak Leaf Clusters; the Commendation Medal with four clusters; the Good Conduct Medal with 12 years of service; and several other service medals.
Waple concluded his presentation to the ROTC students with stories from his youth and a recounting of the experiences which led up to the time when he became a soldier at the age of 17 in 1938.
Waple has written an autobiographical book, Country Boy Gone Soldiering, which is available online at www.Xlibris.com or by calling 1-888-7-XLIBRIS.