A Memorial To

Parker's Crossroads

(Baraque de Fraiture)

Ghosts of Alamo raise your herald voices

Thine heroic stand within battered fortress walls

gives life and hope to embattled men at new crossroads

where your battle cry sings out.

The brave "300", entrenched before the rushing tide

of Panzer might--relive the spirit of THERMOPOLAE, and

and like that of Houston's men allows time for friendly units

to fight another day....

Brave men of PARKER, now subdued and captive taken

lift your heads akin ---

Your noble efforts are not forsaken

For of such deeds battles are won

and ghosts rise up, shaken.

John E. McAuliffe

87th Infantry Division

Jan.6, 1997

This poem was written to honor the efforts of some 300 infantrymen, tankers ,and atrillerymen whose main units were broken up and dispersed by the attacking Germans during the first days of the battle. For two days around the 20th and 21st Dec. stragglers from these units were gathered under the direction of Major Arthur C. Parker III, Exec. Officer of the 598th FA. and formed a line of resistance at the X-shaped crossroads known as Baraque de Fraiture. The 2nd highest elevation in the Ardennes, the crossroads stood high on a windswept ground at 2,200ft elevation. The roads generally were east-west Salmchateau-La Roche highway and the major north-south routes Highway N-15 linking Bastogne, Houffalize and Liege.

Major Parker was able to scrape together 3 105 Howitzers and a few men from his 589th FA BN Service BTY, 3 halftracks of mounted quad-50s and a self propelled 37mm gun, and 2 selfpropelled assault guns. Parker refused an order to move to the rear which would have left the remaining small group with no hope of holding the crossroads.

Ptotecting the north flank of the advancing 5th Panzer Army was the newly committed 2nd SS Panzer Corps,which having circled behind St. Vith and entered Losheim Gap. It was the troops of this Corps which in June 1944 had destroyed the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane and murdered 642 of the inhabitants, including women and children,

On the 23rd Dec. after several brief encounters, the SS Panzergrenadiers now approached the crossroads and swarming all over the men of the 325 th Glider Infantry which joined in the defense overtook Baraque de Fraiture. Major Parker had been wounded 2 days earlier and losing consciousness was evacuated. Orders came down for the defenders to pull out as the men left their positions, the foxholes, and barn cellars.All the howitzers were lost as were the 2 assault guns, the AA half-tracks and the vehicles of the 87th Armored Cavalry Squadren. "The total of men who died or were captured would never be known, but of the 116 glider infantrymen of the 325th Glider only 45 got away. In tribute to the officer who first established a defense at Baraque de Fraiture, the men who survived the fight named it PARKER'S CROSSROADS".

Ref: A Time For Trumpets; Charles B. MacDonald.

Right now (Friday afternoon, February 29, 2008), the History Channel is running a few hours of Black American soldiers in WWII.

http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=det...pisodeId=264218

http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=det...pisodeId=211047

Peter Culos sent this to me. It's one of the diaries entries from his Uncle Steve.

Diary of Steve Pawlikowski (Paulson)

Saturday August 11, 1945

While downstairs in the hold putting my roll and stuff away I heard the voice over the loudspeaker say “Attention, Attention – The Japanese Government has just accepted our unconditional surrender.†A few minutes after that, the gun crews lest out with a roaring victory salute and the din was terrific. We are now waiting for official confirmation by Pres. Truman.

A grand and glorious day – even the weather is grand! After raining every day since we left Panama, the last two days have been beautiful.

The water is calm, with just a few white caps to contrast the deep blue of the pacific- fleecy white clouds make a beautiful scene background. The blue sky above and as I sit here on the little poop deck I feel that life is worth living.

After receiving the news that the war is over (all but the signing) I am impatient. We all wish the ship would turn around and head for home, which is only 8 or 9 days away, but we also know that that is almost impossible.

I am still hungry (I will be until I get home) but the wonderful thought of being home soon drives even hunger from my mind. We have pathetic breakfast that is often untouched by yours truly except for the bread and jam – usually consists of a lumpy and gruely cereal, two hard boiled eggs (often rotten), cooked prunes, sometimes dehydrated eggs (awful) and crummy coffee. Not a very pleasant breakfast by no means!

The dinner usually consists of two cheese sandwiches with one of three pieces of fruit – apple, orange, banana. Incidentally, yesterday was the first day I’ve tasted a banana in 2 or 3 years! Sometimes we have noodles with cheese or baked beans with crackers for dinner. Lately we’ve had lemonade and cooler drinks. All the way across the Atlantic we’ve had scorching hot days with scorching drinks. Supper is the best meal of the day and consists of either beef, chicken or pork with most of the trimmings. The dining room is crowded and consists of chest-high tables. You stand up while you eat – the room is hot and sweating, everybody is yelling, the tray washing boys are making a lot of noise and everything is confusion. Not a restful way to eat!

As I sit here on my little “poop†deck I see the hatch below me – it has been roped off into a boxing ring and right now, in fact all day, fellows are having those informal little bouts that help to pass the time away and we sure need something like that especially now.

Sometimes I take my accordion out and play a few songs beneath our company gathering place (the raft lights by no. 5 hatch) but I don’t feel like playing very often. Today the gun crews fired a few bursts from all guns in celebration and it brought me back to days in France and Germany – I’m afraid my nerves aren’t very good. I hope I get over it.

Since we left Marseille and except for two nites I spent in the hold I’ve been sleeping on that steel deck – my body got used to it fast because of the times we spent in foxholes way back when. I’ve been acquainted with quite a few swell guys – Shields from Pittsburg (jot an ugly gash on the head in Panama) Dezzi from Philly. Davidson from Texas who plays quite the western way. Another guy from Easy Company who plays the jazz way.

I’ve been sick a few times and didn’t do much of anything for days, but now I feel swell and can take care of myself – I’ve straightened out my personal stuff, washed my clothes, took a shower every day and shved every day. I got a baldy haircut because it is very convenient to keep clean and requires no care. I expected to go to the Philippines – right now our destination is New Guinea – hope we don’t get there! I’m thinking of the fellows who are home and envying them very much. Engineer units catch hell all around and sometimes I wish I could have been in something else. We’ve caught as much Hell as infantry, ect. outfits, but don’t get the credit.

God, I wish we go Home!

At various times during the day we receive news broadcasts via the public address system and at 8:00 in the evening there’s a program called “Relax, Jack†– music by all bands and featuring “oldiesâ€. I lay on my back look thru the ships rigging at the stars above and wish to God that we’ll be going home soon. Many songs bring back wonderful memories of peacetime days.

Sometimes Rog and I would sit along the rail in the nite time, watch the sun go down, “the flying fish†flash for the last time that day and as nite falls we look in the water and see phosphorous fish or illuminated marine life. The stars alone really shine bright and the moon promises a lot!

We’ve been pulling guard so far, but K.P. starts tomorrow and I’m a “giver outer†which speaks a lot for my cleanliness – only clean fellows are chosen to handle food and I’m glad I keep myself that way. I take a shower and shave almost every day and even tho the water is salty and gives you a clammy feeling it still keeps us clean. The weather almost every day is hot, damn hot and it is almost impossible to lie down on them – whenever they are hosed down with water they steam. We have been following the Equator all the way across which accounts for the heat.

===========

Steve's page can be found here:

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/StevePaulson.htm

I was awed by William F. Buckley from the age of 13 when "Firing Line" debuted on TV. His debates were mesmerizing - that incredible intellect & amazing vocabulary (and wit)!

Though not always in agreement with him, I certainly admired him.

Here are some of his memorable quotes:

I would like to electrocute everyone who uses the word "fair" in connection with income tax policies.

Liberals, it has been said, are generous with other people's money, except when it comes to questions of national survival, when they prefer to be generous with other people's freedom and security.

I'd rather trust the government of the United States to the first 400 people in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.

Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.

Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but they are shocked and offended to discover that there ARE other views.

There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state and self reliance.

(and my personal favorite):I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would affront your intelligence.

m2

Finding Information on the ship or the convoy you or your relative sailed overseas on can be quite a challenge. Some of the convoy records were destroyed over the years, others are buried somewhere in the National Archives on separate cards & scattered files so one needs to know the actual ship name and convoy number & sailing dates to request the files from the Archives. If your relalative embarked at the Port of New York on a certain date, the ship probly formed up with a convoy sailing out of Hampton Roads severals later so keep this in mind when trying to pin down exact dates.

There are now several websites that provide reconstructed convoy Data.

One of the best i`ve found is The Arnold Hague Convoy Database, where you can search 28,156 convoys (366,192 ship movements and is found at:

Convoy Web

Arnold Hague Convoy Database

The database contains records for many convoys that are not held in the National Archives, having been lost or purposely destroyed. Without the efforts of Arnold Hague and his co-workers, these records would have been lost forever.

Of particlur interest to this Forum, will be the convoy series that sailed to the MTO, the major ones being, WS/KMF, KMS, UGF, & UGS.

The KMF series initially carried troops and equipment to North Africa in support of Operation Torch. When the Mediterranean became accessible the destination was extended further to Alexandria and Port Said, thus replacing the WS series that previously had to sail via Capetown and Durban to reach Suez. The KMF series ran from October 1942 until the end of the war.

Note that the following convoys were cancelled.

KMF.12

KMF.14

KMF.16

KMF.21

KMF.23

The KMS series of mercantile convoy sailed from the UK to Gibraltar and onward into the Mediterranean. The series began in October 1942 but from April 1943 (KMS.13) it was combined with the OS series (UK - Freetown, Sierra Leone) detaching en route. In this database, the OS/ KMS series is divided into the UK-Gibraltar section (suffix "G") and the subsequent Mediterranean section.

There was no separate KMS.72 convoy.

The UGS series was instigated in November 1942 to support Operation Torch but continued until May 1945. The series sailed from Hampton Roads, intitially to the North African ports but from May 1943 it mainly sailed to Port Said.

UGS.1 did not sail.

The UGF series of fast convoy ran from Hampton Roads, initially to Casablanca but later into the Mediterranean, from October 1942 until the end of the war.

Links to other convoy databases where you can doublecheck or cross reference info you find:

World War II Troop Ships Home Page

http://wow.naval-history.net/

http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/