S/Sgt. William Samuel Spriggs

Biography

William Samuel Spriggs was born on November 18, 1925 in Ogdensburg, New York as the second child to Joseph J. (1898-1968) and Gertrude (Countryman) Spriggs (1898-1963) who was Canadian born. They brought up four children, Alice (1924-2014), the eldest, William 'Bill' (°1925-2016) and two younger brothers Arthur J. (°1927) and Lawrence G. Spriggs (°1928). Arthur (#42199820) served in the Army during WW2 and was in Military Police and Lawrence Spriggs was in the US Navy from 1945 until 1946. Bill and his family grew up during the Great Depression that struck the USA and the rest of the world during the 1930’s. He remembers from his childhood:

"Many children went over to the train tracks, and when the conductor said "I'm going for coffee", he was gone for an hour. Then all the kids would take coal from the trains and put it on their sleds to take it home for heat. We also went fishing and the Fish and Wildlife guy would say – ’I’m going for lunch, I’ll be back in an hour, be sure you are not here fishing when I get back or I’ll have to arrest you’. – We caught whatever fish we could and then sold them. My mother would crochet doilies and stiffen them with some kind of sugar mixture and those we sold too”. So, all the children had to support their family. But also the government supported us, they gave us flour and lard (bacon fat) and also corduroy clothing”. … Times were tough during the depression"

The bombing of Pearl Harbor brought World War Two to the doorstep of every home in America. Bill quit high school in the 10th grade at the age of 17 and volunteered to join the Army as did many young men of his age. Because of his young age his mother had to sign a written permission however. Bill’s life was about to change. After his induction into the Army (#12214900) on March 3, 1943 he entered the service on December 20, 1943 at Fort Dix, New Jersey and went to basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. Later he was transferred to Fort Meade, Maryland for further training. Bill recalls his time as a recruit

"I learned how to be a soldier. I learned infantry tactics, how to use weapons, how to fire and so many more. When training at Fort Meade in Maryland, I met a recruit from Irasburg, who had enlisted on November 16, 1943, during the height of World War II. His name was Raymond Sanville, a husband and father of two children when he entered the U.S. Army. We shared many good times leading up to our arrival in the war zone. He wasn’t just my best friend, he was probably my only friend at the time."

After training for many months Bill received orders to be shipped overseas. On June 16, 1944 he shipped out from Camp Shanks, New York and arrived in England June 27, 1944 where he was placed in a replacement depot waiting until he was needed somewhere on the battlefield. Bill spend a brief time in England based in Chester, there he was offered a chance to stay longer to train to become a glider rider, but he declined!

Military Service

First combat: Normandy and Brittany

Bill, 18 years at that time, and his friend Ray Sanville crossed the English Channel together. Each soldier wearing 85 pounds of gear on their backs, they hit the beach of Normandy, with hundreds of other replacements, on Omaha Beach.

"Because of the storms earlier in the month, we could not land anywhere else. A storm, the worst seen in the Channel in almost twenty years, destroyed the ingenious Mulberry floating docks, so we came in via landing craft jumping over the side when we got closer to the shore. However when I jumped over my heavy gear dragged me down beneath the surface and I couldn't get back up because I was not tall enough. The guy behind me was however and he grabbed my backpack and pulled me up again. I shall never forget the first day we set foot on French soil."

Bill came into the European Theatre of War early July, 1944 and was held at a replacement depot until needed by one of the many combat units in Normandy. Being a replacement he did not know when this would be or what unit he would go to war with. Eventually Bill, together with his good friend Ray Sanville joined Company C, 329th Infantry Regiment. This unit was in the vicinity of Sainteny at the time (July 23, 1944) and had suffered a great number of casualties after it's first few weeks in the hedgerows.

"As casualties left, replacements came in but no one in their new unit was looking out for them. I don't know him and don't want to know him, is what the combat veterans thought. Therefore, my initial experience as a replacement was not good, I felt isolated as none of the combat veterans wanted to talk to any of us replacements. During our time in Normandy (and the rest of Europe) we did a lot of digging! My foxhole buddy to whom I was assigned at that time (S/Sgt. Emitt Beason) was 6 feet 2 inches or so tall, I was about 5 feet 2 inches tall. I often joked that I wish I would have not been partnered with him and a shorter buddy would have been better. When I was digging a foxhole I could have done it in quick time due to my own short height. The fact that I had a taller buddy made me have to do extra work digging a fox-hole to allow for extra space needed that I was never going to use. Emmit was a good friend however and one of the bravest man I ever met. He knew no fear but sadly this got him badly wounded later during the war when he walked out onto a road covered by a German MG. He was shot through the cheeck, badly mutilating his face. I thought he was killed but later learned he survived. His jaw was gone however and he had only two teeth left.

Hedgerow fighting was also new for all our troops. With there 88mm guns and mortars , the Jerries broke the morale of the troops at different times. They used timed fire in known bivouac areas and inflected many casualties. Many soldiers were killed in their fox holes. I was also injured in France, I got hit by some shrapnel while in a foxhole and received the Purple Heart. After being send to the rear area to a field hospital, I returned back to my unit after a short time and continued with my Company to Brittany."

After Operation Cobra broke the German defences the American Forces, including the 83rd Division, were able to break out of Normandy. The 83rd continued its push towards Brittany and the medieval city of Saint Malo. It was here that Bill experienced one of his most emotional moments of the war.

"After a particularly bloody battle with firmly entrenched German forces at the outskirts of Saint Malo on August 7, 1944, I was called to the Company CP. My sergeant ordered me to search the battlefield for dead American soldiers and remove their dog tags. This was to identify the dead, information that would eventually be relayed to their families."

When he was given this order Bill figured he’d find two or three bodies. That wasn’t the case. He found 35 of them, many grouped together in a shallow, narrow ditch. Moving from body to body removing the tags, Bill looked down at one dead soldier and realized it was his friend Raymond "Ray" Sanville.

"35 bodies lying dead on the battlefield in Brittany, including my best friend Ray, made a deep depression on me. I was still an unexperienced soldier and this was the first time such an order was given to me. Because of the shock of seeing my friend Ray and my inexperience I made a tragic mistake. Each soldier carried two dog tags with the owner’s identifying information. When a soldier is killed in combat one of the tags is retrieved from the body while the second one stays with the body to help identify it later. I was only 18 years old and took both of the tags. I had no clue I was supposed to leave one. The thought that this mistake might have been the cause of 35 soldiers reported as Missed In Action rather than Killed In Action has haunted me my entire life. Fortunately several years ago I was able to learn of Ray's fate. He was identified on the battlefield and brought back home after the war where he is still buried today. I often still think of him and all those other boys that I found on that day."

Following Ray’s death the war went on for Bill. He fought his way further across Europe. After the successful operations in Brittany, the 83rd was ordered south to the vicinity of Nantes and Angers in the Loire Valley on August 20th. While elements moved south to protect the north bank of the Loire River, the main body of the Division concentrated south of Rennes for patrolling and reconnaissance activities.

Luxemburg

The movement into Luxembourg was completed on 25 September. Taking Remich on the 28th and patrolling defensively along the Moselle. From the 1st through the 5th of October, the 83rd Division advanced in heavy combat towards the Siegfried line across the Sauer as the 329th fought the battle for Grevenmacher. On the 7th, the 329th took the city of Echternach on the Sauer River. After securing the rest of the towns west of the Moselle. The remainder of the months of October and November were dedicated to training of the new replacements and a well-deserved rest for the men. The training intensified the men were now training on fortified and fixed positions. The division used the old Maginot line fortifications to the rear of the Siegfried line. Each regiment took turns rotating off the line for training. The rest and training period at Luxembourg would not last, duty would call for the 83rd's next mission, the Hurtgen Forest.

Thanksgiving 1944

Despite the looming threat of war C Company, 329th Infantry Regiment was able to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner reminiscent of home. The dinner was held in the town hall of Berbourg, a small town in Luxembourg where C Company was stationed at that time. The men were able to enjoy turkey and ate out of plates they collected from the houses in town. Note the black-out sheets covering the windows, a reminder that the men were still at war and needed to keep their guard up. The pictures were taken by a civilian photographer who drove down from Luxembourg City for the occassion. Berbourg was the town from wich they left for training in the Maginot Line back in France.

Hurtgen Forest

On 5 December, the 83rd Division relinquished its positions along the Moselle Valley to the 22nd Infantry of the 4th Division. The 83rd was to trade places with the 4th Infantry, which was badly in need of a rest and refit. The next day they left by truck and traveled 185 miles north to the Hurtgen Forest, just southwest of Aachen to relieve the 12th Infantry. The Hurtgen Forest is about twenty miles long and ten miles wide. The forest is accented with steep gorges and winding slopes covered with thick layers of evergreens and firs. This heavy foliage made it too easy for a soldier to get lost in the woods, and many did. After a six-hour truck ride through freezing temperatures the division arrived at Gressenich, Germany at 1900 hours.

Unknown to the men of the 83rd at the time, eight divisions had lost more than of 22000 casualties in the forest during the previous two months. The Hurtgen Forest was fanatically defended by some of the most experienced troops Germany had, in an effort to push to Americans out of Germany’s doorstep. Two crack divisions of the 47th Volksgrenadiers and the 353rd Infantry Division opposed the G.I’s, even some paratroopers of the 3rd Fallschirmjager Division, were dug in just a few yards of their foxholes. The 83rd’s new mission was to hold the positions they had just taken over. With the 330th on their right, and the 329th on the left, the division settled in.

The Battle of the Bulge

On December 16th the 83rd Infantry Division was still fighting in the Hurtgen sector. Activity consisted of patrols and limited skirmishes in this sector until 22 December when the division was ordered to be relieved by the 104th Infantry division and ordered to the vicinity of Aachen, Germany as part of the Ninth army reserve. Meanwhile the German offensive continued.The 83rd was moved to reinforce the defensive positions along the northern flank of the German bulge penetration. The Division remained in this area until the 29th of December when they received additional orders to move to the vicinity of Ottre, Bihain, and Buissonville to support the 3rd Armored "Spearhead" Division.

Once again the division was ordered to fortify defensive positions. The next day the 329th started the attack. With the 2nd Armored Division on it's right flank, and the 331st on it's left, the 83rd launched it's assault to stop von Rundstedts winter offensive. The 329th's mission was to secure the ground south of the L'Homme River. The attack which started late in the afternoon caught the Germans completely by surprise. The Germans not willing to give up Rochefort that easily counterattacked all night and throughout the next day. B Company became isolated and cut off from the regiment. The Germans tried to dislodge the Americans with tanks and infantry, even so much as moving them to point blank range inside the first floor of the occupied houses. After a prolonged fight the Germans gave up and withdrew from the town. The 329th was then relieved by the 100th regiment of the British 53rd Division on 30th of December.

Post War life

As Bill was a high school drop out, he had to work here and there in some factories until he decided to go back to College. He became an electrician and owned his own television repair bussiness until he went to work for the Army Corps of Engineers when they were building the St. Lawrence Seaway. He obtained a Masters Degree in Business and before he retired, he was Assistant Administrator of the St Lawrence Seaway. Bill had three children, his oldest daughter Pamela died in 1984 and his youngest daughter Paula and his stephson Jeff lived near him in Massena, New York. On December 12, 2016, at the age of 91, my dear friend Bill Spriggs passed away. I miss him dearly.

Gallery

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