From B&O
Messenger
To
Medal
of Honor Recipient
John Charles Squires was born in Louisville,
Kentucky on May 19, 1925. In high school he participated in Army JROTC. He
continued his education through his junior year, when he left Louisville Male
High School to work for Jeffersonville Bolt & Machine Company. For reasons
related to his young age of only seventeen, he left that company and began
working as a messenger for the B&O Railroad on April 15, 1943. He worked
out of the office of J.E. Hubbard, a freight agent in Louisville. Squires was
well liked and respected by his fellow workers.
John
C. Squires worked for the B&O out of the freight office in Louisville,
Kentucky. Here is the office and inbound station, ca. 1900-1920.[B&O Railroad Museum Collection, P1.17.119-005]
|
The
B&O Railroad Employee Record for John C. Squires, noting important details
about his time with the company including rate of pay, location, and position.
[B&O Railroad Museum Collection]
|
On July 24, 1943, Squires enlisted in the Army,
following in the footsteps of his father who served in the Army during WWI. John’s
brothers, Leroy and Steven, ultimately served in the army during the war as
well. He trained as an infantryman at Fort McClellan in Alabama. The last time
he went home was on furlough for Christmas that year. On December 29 he left
for Fort Meade, Maryland. In January 1944, he embarked for Europe with Company
A, 30th Infantry, 3rd Division. Just like in his job with
the B&O, Squires served as his platoon’s messenger.
John
C. Squires, ca. 1943-1944.
[Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield
Collection]
|
The Third Division was a hardened fighting unit by
the time Squires joined them. They had been fighting since 1942, taking part in
the invasions of North Africa and Sicily. By wars end, they would have the
distinction of being the only U.S. army division to fight the enemy on all
European fronts. Along the way, the unit would suffer more than 25,000
casualties.
When Squires arrived, the division was taking part
in “Operation Shingle,” the invasion of Italy. The 30th Infantry
Regiment landed with the Third Division at Nettuno, known to the allies as
“X-Ray Beach,” a coastal village east of Anzio. Over the next few months, the
allies were largely on the defensive, fighting off German counterattacks. Just
like in the previous conflict, trench warfare became the way that the two sides
faced off against one another. Throughout these counteroffensives, the soldiers
of the Third Division held the line. The fighting reached a stalemate from
early March until April 23.
For more than a month, the allies faced off against
the Germans making little progress. In a bid to advance their position, the 30th
Infantry Regiment, launched two operations nicknamed “Mr. Green” and “Mr.
Black.” Squires, serving with the 1st Battalion, moved forward with
his platoon on the evening of April 23. His platoon began taking on heavy
artillery and mortar fire. Squires turned to his platoon commander, 2nd
Lieutenant Randolph Bracey, and said, “Lieutenant, wait here while I go forward
and see how the first platoon is making out.” Bracey agreed, as Squires
voluntarily crawled out to a forward position fifty yards ahead.
Medal of Honor Citation:
“For
conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call
of duty. At the start of his company’s attack on strongly held enemy positions
in and around Spaccasassi Creek, near Padiglione, Italy, on the night of 23-24
April 1944, Pfc. Squires, platoon messenger, participating in his first
offensive action, braved intense artillery, mortar, and antitank gun fire in
order to investigate the effects of an antitank mine explosion on the leading
platoon. Despite shells which burst close to him, Pfc. Squires made his way 50
yards forward to the advance element, noted the situation, reconnoitered a new
route of advance and informed his platoon leader of the casualties sustained
and the alternate route. Acting without orders, he rounded up stragglers,
organized a group of lost men into a squad and led them forward. When the
platoon reached Spaccasassi Creek and established an outpost, Pfc. Squires,
knowing that almost all of the noncommissioned officers were casualties, placed
8 men in position of his own volition, disregarding enemy machinegun,
machine-pistol, and grenade fire which covered the creek draw. When his platoon
had been reduced to 14 men, he brought up reinforcements twice. On each trip he
went through barbed wire and across an enemy minefield, under intense artillery
and mortar fire. Three times in the early morning the outpost was
counterattacked. Each time Pfc. Squires ignored withering enemy automatic fire
and grenades which struck all around him, and fired hundreds of rounds of
rifle, Browning automatic rifle, and captured German Spandau machinegun
ammunition at the enemy, inflicting numerous casualties and materially aiding
in repulsing the attacks. Following these fights, he moved 50 yards to the
south end of the outpost and engaged 21 German soldiers in individual
machinegun duels at point-blank range, forcing all 21 enemy to surrender and
capturing 13 more Spandau guns. Learning the function of this weapon by
questioning a German officer prisoner, he placed the captured guns in position
and instructed other members of his platoon in their operation. The next night
when the Germans attacked the outpost again he killed 3 and wounded more
Germans with captured potato-masher grenades and fire from his Spandau gun.
Pfc. Squires was killed in a subsequent action.”
Following the gallant
efforts by the 30th Infantry Regiment, the allies continued to probe
and push forward over the next month. On May 19, Squires celebrated his
nineteenth birthday in a trench with his comrades. The following day he was
promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Just three days later, Squires was killed in
action while taking part in the action around the town of Cisterna.
His parents received
notice of their son’s death in the form of a letter written by the regimental
chaplain. This notice came with the orders that they were not to publicly
disclose any details related to their son’s death. John C. Squires was initially
buried in Italy with full military honors. At some later date, Squires was
moved from Europe to a grave at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery in his
hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
On June 1, Lt. Bracey,
Squires commander, was also killed in action. In the time since the “Mr. Black”
operation, Bracey had written a formal report on Squires heroics. On October 2,
1944, John Squires was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. On October 7,
Major General Charles L. Scott presented the medal to his parents at Fort Knox.
Friends and family were in attendance in a somber ceremony that lasted only ten
minutes. Scott said of Squires, the first Kentuckian of WWII to receive the
medal, “Your son has set an example for this nation…Heroic action like this is
what leads to the inevitable defeat of our enemies.”
In 2001, John Squires
was honored once again with the unveiling of the Kentucky Medal of Honor
Memorial on the grounds of the Jefferson County Courthouse in Louisville,
Kentucky. The memorial features a six-foot statue of Squires as he would have
appeared on the night of April 23, 1944.
B&O
Railroad Employee Magazine, February
1945
[B&O Railroad Museum Collection]
|
The
grave of John C. Squires,
Zachary
Taylor National Cemetery, Louisville, KY.
[Find A Grave]
|
The
Kentucky Medal of Honor Memorial in Louisville, KY. The statue is a rendering
of Sgt. John C. Squires. [Wikimedia
Commons]
|
By Harrison Van Waes
Curator, B&O Railroad
Museum
Sources:
Hays T. Watkins Research Library & Archives,
B&O Railroad Museum
“Louisville Captor of 14 Machine Guns Wins Medal of
Honor.” Louisville Courier Journal, October 2, 1944.
MG. Untitled. March, 29, 2013. Find a Grave.
Morris, Jeff. Untitled. June 11, 2010. Find a Grave.
Quadell. KY Medal of Honor. September 29, 2004. Wikimedia
Commons.
“Sgt. Johnnie Squires First B&O Man to Receive
Congressional Medal of Honor.” Baltimore & Ohio Employee Magazine,
February 1945.
Third Infantry Division: Medal of Honor Recipients. “Squires, John C.”
Accessed May 15, 2018.
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