Floyd W. Shely Jr.
35664454
K company, 331st Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division
July 21, 1922 - August 1, 2016
Floyd W. Shely Jr.
35664454
K company, 331st Infantry Regiment
83rd Infantry Division
Awards and decorations
Biography and Wartime Service
Floyd William "Bill" Shely Jr. was born on July 21, 1922, in Anderson, Kentucky to the late Gippie Shouse and William Floyd Sr. Shely. He enlisted on October 8, 1942 in Cincinnati, Ohio and served as an Infantryman and runner in K Company, 331st Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division.
After the war he married Lorene Knight and they had three daughters. He was a member of Glensboro Christian Church where he was a Deacon, Treasurer of Salt River Men's Fellowship, and attended Adult Sunday School Class. He was a former employee of Ford Motor Company where he worked in Quality Assurance. Floyd Shely Jr. of Lawrenceburg, husband of 70 years to Lorene Knight Shely, died Monday, August 1, 2016 at his residence. He was burried with full military honors at the Best Cemetery, Anderson County, Kentucky. Beside his wife Lorene, Mr. Shely is survived by three daughters, Phyllis (Steve) Villines, of Ocean Springs, Mississipi, and Lisa (Jim) Shouse and Martie (Bruce) Chittum, both of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.
I had the honor and pleasure of meeting him at the 69th Anual Reunion of the 83rd Division Association when we visited Fort Knox
The following recollection is taken from 'Soldier's Stories Volume I' by Myra Miller
I started my Army adventure in October of 1942. I went to Camp Attterbury, Indiana which was the home of the 83rd Division. We did our training, marching, target practice, long hikes - got in good physical shape - then went to Tennessee for maneuvers. After that, we went to Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky and then on to Camp Shanks, New York where we boarded a ship to England, and from there to Omaha Beach, France.
We relieved the 101st Airborne Division and held a defensive position until the 4th of July 1944. That was our first experience of real combat. We fought our way through France into Luxembourg, which we liberated. We stayed there about four weeks, then on to the Hurtgen Forest, where we had a rough time. The weather was cold and we suffered from frost bite. We stayed in the Roer Valley several days and then received orders to move out.
One morning, we hiked to our trucks near a house. There were big shrubs and we decorated the biggest one for a Christmas tree - we hung anything we could find on it - it looked so good to us. As soon as we were loaded, the Germans shelled our tree. I believe they could have killed a lot of us but they waited until we got out of the way - after all, it was December 25th. We were headed for the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and on the way, we had Christmas dinner. Sure tasted good to a country boy far from home.
The invasion of France wass the beginning of the end of World War 2 in Europe. I was a part of the division that participated in five campaigns - Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe. Our route took us from Omaha Beach through France, Luxembourg, Belgium and across the Elbe River into Germany - a total of 1500 miles in distance and more in casualties.
I'll never forget what we did.
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