13NOV1944 WASN'T A GOOD DAY FOR THESE SOLDIERS

On the other hand, in August, 2016, the two World War II veterans couldn’t stop toasting each other – with bottled Coca-Colas – spiked with salted peanuts.

WW II PURPLE HEART VETERANS SALUTE EACH OTHER

William Henry Long and Milton Percy Stanfield graduated in the early 1940s from Summerfield and Monticello High Schools, respectively.  Given their era, being drafted wasn’t “if,” but “when.”  They did odd jobs such as farming, driving trucks and building boats in the interim.  The interim was a bit longer in those days – high school graduation came after the 11^th grade.

Their paths did not cross before leaving to serve their country.

Long landed on Omaha Beach in mid-July, 1944.  Stanfield landed on Utah Beach a short time later.  Both joined the 315^th Infantry Regiment of the 79^th Infantry Division as replacements.

MILTON STANFIELD, BAR-MAN, 79TH ID

DOC LONG, BAZOOKA-MAN, 79TH ID

Even though they were in the same Division and Regiment -- Long as a bazooka-man in Company G, Stanfield as a BAR-man in Company E -- their paths did not cross.

Since the French language had not been taught at Summerfield or Monticello High Schools, a French dictionary would have served Long and Stanfield well.  In weeks, they had bridged, boated, waded or swam across rivers such as the Ay, Sarthe, Seine, Moselle, and Meurthe -- and liberated towns such as Flottenan, Cherbourg, La Haye de Puits, Laval, LeMans and Charmes. 

 

In a rush to reach the Franco-Belgian border, the entire 79^th Division moved 180 miles in 72 hours – they were among first American G.I.s to enter Belgium.  According to Major General Charles H. Corbett, “That was one of the fastest opposed advances by a division in the history of warfare.”

While street-fighting and house-to-house combat had been the order of the day, clearing the Foret de Parroy was quite different.  Both Long and Stanfield recall the dense woods, lack of roads, and a steady diet of mud, rain and fatigue.  They have even more unpleasant memories of the determined German defense of tanks, artillery and mortars.

Long recalls, “By that time, we had taken huge numbers of German prisoners of war.  We had to move them as we moved.  We just put a rope around them, they weren’t too interested in escaping.”

After 127 days of continuous combat -- on Tuesday, October 24, 1944 -- the 315^th Infantry Regiment paused for rest near Luneville, France.  Even during this offline period, the paths of Long and Stanfield did not cross. 

At 7 a.m., on Monday, November 13, after what must have felt like the shortest 20 days of their lives, troops of Companies G and E of the 315^th Infantry Regiment went back into the lines. 

On that fateful day, Stanfield went down first, struck in his arm, hand and leg by shrapnel, “I received a purple heart, but felt like I earned three of them – shrapnel burns skin, cuts arteries and breaks bones!”  After treatment in three Army hospitals, he returned to limited duty for the duration of the war.

Long, a bazooka-man himself, went down at 3 p.m. wounded by shrapnel from a German bazooka shell.  With severed nerves and a major artery cut in his right arm, he was wounded a second time in his other shoulder and arm when a mortar shell exploded nearby.  He was rescued after lying on the frozen battlefield for 18 hours. 

Long recalls, “The below freezing temperature and the fact I had on seven layers of clothing, turned out to be a blessing -- otherwise I would have probably bled to death before they got to me.”

With his right arm paralyzed since the war, Long asked a general if he could salute with his left hand, “He told me to stand tall and proudly salute with what I had left!”

Stanfield, now 93, returned to his Triad roots, raised his family, worked at the Sears Catalog Plant for 37 years, and retired to Madison.

William Henry Long, now 92 -- and much better known as “Doc” Long -- returned to his Summerfield roots, raised his family, and co-founded Long Brothers of Summerfield, Asphalt Paving of Greensboro and Hilco Transport Company. 

Long’s philanthropy is significant and far-reaching.  Beyond community and church, he funded a war memorial in the small French village of Ancerviller, where he was wounded in 1944. 

According to Carolina Field of Honor founder, Bill Moss, “Doc Long jump-started our capital fund-raising – we couldn’t have made it without him.”

TWO 79TH ID WW II WARRIORS MEET FOR FIRST TIME, 72 YEARS AFTER THEY
BOTH WON PURPLE HEARTS ON THE SAME DAY, ON THE SAME BATTLEFIELD
PATTY LONG HILL ARRANGED THE MEETING

Decades after landing at Normandy, the paths of Doc Long and Milton Stanfield finally crossed.  Their daughters, Patty Long-Hill and Emily Oakley, made it happen.  Two World War II foot soldiers, two men of strong faith, too long for their paths to cross, but the crossing left notes and memories -- far beyond toasting with Cokes, spiked with salted peanuts.

WW II BAR-MAN, WWII BAZOOKA-MAN, & PEACE-TIME MARINE
MILTON STANFIELD, DOC LONG, HARRY THETFORD
16AUGUST2016

   

 

  

SEARS SATISFIED MILTON STANFIELD

AND VICE VERSA

Milton Stanfield and his fourth grade buddies at Monticello School found it exciting to watch smoke rise from a large fire over the horizon not far from their school.  “Even though they told me later in the day the smoke had come from my house, I was not prepared for what I saw as I stepped off the school bus -- all that remained of our home were the three chimneys, all else was ashes.”

STANFIELD HAS VIVID MEMORIES
OF WW II AND SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO.

The Stanfields rebuilt on their 97-acre tobacco farm.  Milton Stanfield finished school at Monticello.  After a brief farming deferment from the draft, he was off to Army boot camp at Fort McClellan, Alabama, in March, 1944.  

By July, 1944, he had joined Company E, 315^th Regiment of the 79^th Infantry Division in France as a replacement BAR-man. 

BAR-MAN MILTON STANFIELD DURING WORLD WAR II

The Monticello Stanfields were notified in November, 1944 that their son was missing in action.  Shortly afterwards, a telegram informed them he had been killed in action.

“That was a huge mix-up – actually, I was wounded by shrapnel on November 13, 1944 and spent time in three different hospitals.  At one point, they came through the wards and ordered all of us who could walk, back to the lines.  Our Battalion Doctor sent me right back to the hospital, but I was finally able to go back on limited duty by January 25, 1945. 

My folks sent me a nice package of goodies for Christmas, 1944.  I received it in August, 1945 – all the Mr. Goodbars had worms in them,” recalls Stanfield.

Stanfield remembers V-E Day well, “There was more shooting going on that day than on most days when the war was going on – thank the Lord, they weren’t shooting at people anymore!”

Even though he prefers to be known as a “numbers guy,” he is good with words as well.  He can call up most of the French towns his regiment fought through, and the French liquors they sampled – “I can pronounce them but didn’t care for the taste at all!”

The ships on which he sailed over 70 years ago are on the tip of his tongue, “I went over on the USS West Point and came back on the SS Erne Pyle Victory Ship.  We were in rough seas quite often.  I never got seasick, but went over large expanses of water not wanting a thing to eat.”

MILTON STANFIELD JUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF HIS COMBAT
INFANTRYMAN BADGE AND PURPLE HEART

With his two sons in the service, Percy Stanfield sold the farm and moved his wife and three daughters to Madison, where he worked as a tobacco buyer and operated a bowling alley. 

After being discharged in 1946, Milton Stanfield farmed and worked in the bowling alley.  He may have looked around for a wife as well.  “I met Trevia Joyce on a blind date to the Moravian Easter Sunrise services in Winston-Salem – we were married in October, 1947.”

Stanfield admits to good timing, “The Sears Mail Order Plant in Greensboro was the only job in town during those days – I started there in 1948 and retired in 1985.”  He built a home on Textile Drive in Greensboro, “It cost $5600, but that included $100 for an extra lot.  The payments were $27.68 per month.”

Fair disclosure – 93-year old Stanfield did not talk from notes during our meeting at Subway in Summerfield -- but his daughter, Emily Oakley, kept us on track.

Trevia Stanfield inherited family land in Madison, where she and her husband built a home after his Sears retirement.  She died in 2007 – they had been married 60 years.  They had two children, five grands, and 13 great-grandchildren. 

When asked what he does every day, Milton Stanfield replied, “Absolutely nothing!”  Emily Oakley reminded him that he goes to Hardees every day of his life and spends hours of quiet time with Sudoku – numbers guy, remember?  In addition to trips to Conyers, Georgia to visit his son Larry, and his family, Stanfield attends quarterly meetings of the Sears Catalog Order Plant Retiree Club in Greensboro. 

He doesn’t have to spend much time washing and waxing his 1988 Chevrolet Caprice Classic because he keeps it garaged, “I special ordered that car from the Chevrolet dealer in King, North Carolina.  I had to wait two months for it to come in because I wanted cruise control.”  He also special ordered his 1997 Chevrolet S-10 pick-up, “I wouldn’t have anything but a six-cylinder!” 

I haven’t verified this, but Stanfield shared with me that dew causes more harm to automotive finishes than does the sun.

STANFIELD SAYS HE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING ALL DAY
HIS DAUGHTER SAYS HE GOES TO HARDEES EVERY DAY

Stanfield remains a member of Friendship United Methodist Church, a 150-year old mainstay of the Monticello community – whose property adjoined the Stanfield land.