Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

WWII soldiers reunite after 60 years

Henry Stuart and Dorris Shipp lived in Nevada County in the 1940s when World War II required their presence in Italy. Both fought several major campaigns and both left the country alive, though theyd both been injured during their service.

They had not seen each other after the war until last week, when they spent an afternoon talking about their time in Italy more than 60 years ago.

Stuart, now 91, lives in Nevada County near Prescott. Shipp lives in Memphis but his daughter, Kay Brzesky, lives in Nevada County. Brzesky said that every time she saw Stuart, hed ask about her father. Then Brzesky and Stuarts sister, Ruby Fountaine, decided it was time to get the two together. They met at Stuarts home and spent several hours looking over photos and comparing notes.

Though the two fought in many of the same battles and were attached to the same division, they werent together.

We came from Northern Italy to Southern Italy on box cars, Stuart recalls.

We did too, said Shipp.

Shipp said they were forced to stand during the entire trip, like cattle.

Their travels on those trains took three days and two nights and Stuart recalled that the train stopped often to take on more water. He said hell never forget a tunnel that was 18 kilometers long.

It was just as dark as pitch in there, he said. On the other side it seems like that was the brightest sun Id ever seen.

Stuart recalled the battle at Po Valley. He said it was kind of a walk through after others hed seen.

They recalled other wartime scenes, when comrades were killed and their own near-misses. Both said they could remember the feeling when they saw German tracer bullets. For every flare that came down, there were nine bullets sure to follow before the next flare.

There was the time Stuart was to help unload a supply of ammunition that had arrived by mule train. When the flares began arriving, Stuart left the ammunition behind and ran for cover.

They never asked me about my ammunition and I never told them, he said. It might still be sitting there.

Similarly, Shipp recalls walking around with grenades strapped to his uniform.

I was a walking ammunition dump.

And then came the atom bomb.

I didnt know what the atom bomb was or what it meant, Stuart said.

Stuart predicted there would have been tremendous loss of life had the American soldiers been forced to invade Japan.

It didnt seem fair, he said. We won the war in Germany.

Shipp said hed heard he was to be sent to China.

That fell through and I was glad of it.

Stuart said he had served in the reserves before going overseas which meant he was eligible for his five-year pay increase sooner than those who had joined at the beginning of the war. That increase was $5 per month.

And if you were on the front line getting shot at for a couple of weeks you got the badge and a $5 raise in pay, he said.

There were sacrifices. Stuart was in the hospital when he received word that his cousin and best friend had been killed in action. Stuarts daughter, just 10 months old when he was deployed, didnt recognize him when he returned.

But there were some memories that brought instant smiles to the faces of both men.

Their division was named for the Powder River in Oregon.

Do you remember the Powder River? Stuart asked. The Powder River.

Let er buck, Shipp said, completing the divisions motto.

They each saw the Leaning Tower of Pizza, recalled the kindness of some people they met in Italy and remembered the cultural habits they encountered. There was the overseas trip on the Queen Mary where they were served boiled eggs three times a day. There were the British who loved their tea. And there was, finally, the return home. Though both were injured, neither received a purple heart.

I didnt care about that, Stuart said. I just wanted the discharge.