Envelope, HQ Battery, 184th AAA Gn Bn

Pfc. Ralph D. Maxwell

Private First Class
Ralph D. Maxwell

Pfc. Ralph D. Maxwell

HQ Battery - 184th AAA Gun Battalion

Ralph Davis Maxwell was born on June 20, 1922 in Columbus, Ohio to Jessie Davis and Ralph E. Maxwell. He was a graduate of Ohio State University in Agriculture and Forestry.

Ralph D. Maxwell enlisted on July 23, 1942. The Special Order nr.130 from Hq 18th Replacement Depot lists Pvt Ralph D. Maxwell #15307208 as transferred to 184th AAA Gun Battalion. During World War Two he served in Europe with HQ Battery.

On November 9, 1944, the battalion moved into its positions wich had been reconnoitered the previous day. These positions were all near the small village of Pulderbos (Zandhoven), approximately fourteen miles due east of the center of Antwerp and directly in one of the paths followed by the V-1's launched from Germany. To meet this defense problem the battery sites were in a straight line, perpendicular to the course of the Buzz Bombs, approximately 1000 yards apart.

With the arrival in this area, the 184th was relieved from attachment for operations to the IX Air Defense Command and attached operationally to the 21st Army Group directly under Antwerp X, commanded by General Clare Armstrong, which controlled all the AA battalions defending the vital port of Antwerp

On December 21, 1944, the battalion moved by motor convoy to Namur, Belgium, for the AA Defense of vital auto and railroad bridges across the Meusse River, with a secondary Anti-tank mission.

After a journey of 91 miles on January 4, 1945 from Namur, the battalion arrived in Meer, Belgium, close to the Durch border and approximately thirty miles northeast of the center of Antwerp. Hq Battery used the Town Hall for its officers and billeted the men and remaining officers in houses and tents in the village.

After the war, Ralph Maxwell spent a 32-years career with the National Park Service. He married Jane Baldwin (1924-1986) in 1953. He died on November 12, 1995 in Detroit, Michigan.