Gerald Vergil Myers was born on July 6, 1918 in Forest City, Missouri. Gerald was working for the Quaker Oats Company and the job he had was supervising production of food for the military. Gerald deferred twice and the third time he turned it down and was drafted.
Gerald Myers enlisted the service on May, 1944 as a draftee. He was 26, an old person at that time based on the rest of them.
Gerald took 12 weeks of basic training before going to the European Theatre of Operation (ETO). He landed in South Hampton, England, got into an English ship and the next morning he landed in Cherbourg, on the same place they did on D-Day. He stay in a tent city (two man tents), waiting for entering the Theatre of Operation. He said: "They told you that your name would appear on the bulletin board and to watch that bulletin board for your name to come up. They would post them four six times a day. You were always going to the bulletin board to see if your name was there. The third day in the afternoon, about 1:00 o’clock, my name was up there with 11 other fellas. The next morning a 6x6 truck picked the 12 of us up with a sergeant in charge of us. We rode probably six hours and we landed at Panamazon, France, just south of Pont-a-Mousson." When the truck stopped the Sgt. said, "Gentlemen, you are joining the 80th INFANTRY DIVISION". About that time there come a 1st Sgt. they said, "Fellas, you have just been assigned to Company G of 317th Infantry Regiment of the 80th Infantry Division". That was Gerald’s introduction to the 80th Infantry Division.
When a sergeant asked the group, "Is there anyone here that can fire a 60mm mortar?", Ken Mower, a friend of mine said, "Hey Myers, let’s volunteer for the mortars. We always set up at least 100 to 150 yards back of the rifle line and that’s better than being up on the line." I said, "You’re right", so we held up our hand. I stayed in the mortar section until the end of the war. That was Gerald’s assignment into the 80th Infantry Division.
Gerald Myers has his first experience in combat in October 1944, at The Battle of Sivry, France. He also participated in the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Buchenwald around April 1945. One of the worst battles he was in was on January 23, 1945. He said: "We tought the Battle of the Bulge was just about over. We were near Ringel, Luxembourg which just up the hill from the Saar River. We got orders that we were to move down the river and up over the mountain to Bourscheid. That was in the morning. There was about 12 to 16 inches of snow on the ground. That morning is was eight below zero and the wind was blowing like hell.
He receiving the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Good Conduct Medal, European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three campaign stars, WW2 Victory Medal.
Gerald Myers went in as a buck private and discharged as a sergeant on January 12, 1946 at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis.
