Evening star., 1945-04-15
IA D. T.. Area Men
Named. in Dispatches
Of 9Th Army Group

Twenty-four Washington area
men are described in field dis
patches as serving in Gen. Jacob
L. Devers' 9Th Army Group which
supports the 7th Army drive into
Germany.
They are:
Corpl. Paul G. Bihlman, 1435
Montana avenue NE, member of
the 18th Field Hospital.
First 1t. Clark Hopkins, 1919 R
street NV, with the 342d Armored
Field Artillery Battalion.
Corpl. Clifford E. Herl, 1926 Fourth
street NV; Corpl. Ray H. Rice, jr.,
526 Crittendon street NV; S/Sergt.
Joseph G. Haufe, 202 Douglas street
NV, and Pvt. Norman w. Levine,
2914 Eighteenth street NV, aerial
photographer, all with the 649th
Engineer Topographic Battalion.
First 1t. Frank o. White, 4589
Macarthur boulevard NV; Pvt.
William M. Kingery. 909 Webster
street NV, and Pvt. Dale Powell
of the 344th Engineer Regiment.
1t. William F. Sargent, in COM
mand of the 539th Army Postal
Unit.
Pfc. William T. Farley, 621 South
street NV, and Sergt. Nathaniel
Gaillard, ITO Rhode Island avenue
NV, in the 4352d Quartermaster
Bakery Company.
Sergt. Donald r. Wooks, 1885
Kalorama road NV, and Pvt. Philip
j. Laton, 270O North street NV,
with the 1920 Field Artillery Bat
TALON.
Corpl. Frank E. jolly, SOB Forty
eighth street NE, in the 4O67th
Quartermaster Service Company.
Corpl. Thornton S. Sykes, ITO
Third street NE; Pfc. Jack Cooper
smith, ALL Connecticut avenue
NV, and 1st 1t. Louis B. Ruck,
ISL Franklin street NE, in the
57th Signal Battalion.
First 1t. Sigmund Meek, 472O FIT
teenth street NV, with the 697th
Field Artillery Battalion.
Pvt. Elton W. Johnson, 1919 C
street NE, in the 398th Antiair-
craft Artillery Battalion.
Pfc. Louis Menick, 14OO C street
Sc, Sergt. Gordon E. Hawkins, ITO
East Capitol street and Pfc. Will
liam T. Girton, 1915 Thirtieth street
NV, all with the 166th Medical
Battalion.
Sergt. Wilmer G. Farran, 125 Fiji
teenth street Sc, 261st Ordnance
Maintenance Company.
Wounded Get Quick Aid.
Corpl. Bihlman goes into action
when a critically wounded dough-
boy. with little hope of surviving,
I gets a swift ride to the rear. The
1lth Field Hospital and its surgical
teams, aided by physicians, nurses
and enlisted men, give the Dough-
boy a good chance for life by per-
forming major operations within
three or four miles of the front.
| 1t. Hopkins staged a daring, day
light raid on the German command
post town Of Schaffhausen.
| With instructions to take prison.
ers, inflict heavy casualties and
damage" the tanks drove into
Schaffhausen carrying infantrymen
and the 342d's observers with them.
The battalion's 105-mm. self-pro-
PEELED howitzers, located further be-
hind, fired on targets the observers
F.! picked. The raid was completed in
an hour and the American force left
with 13 prisoners.
Corpl. Herl. Corpl. Rice, Sergt
Haufe and Pvt. Levine, have helped
to turn out approximately 10,5OO,0 1000
maps in less than two years over
seas, serving immediate battle areas
and anticipating forthcoming oper-
ations in new territories. Activated
on December IS. 1941, the 649th be-
gan by printing maps of North At
rica invasion.
Build Railroad Bridges.
Construction of the two longest
Army-built railroad bridges in
France, clearance of 1ha-mile
blownup tunnel, rebuilding miles
of demolished railway tracks-these
are typical Of the large-scale engi-
neering feats of the 344th Engineer
| Regiment of which It. White. Pvt.
Kingery and Pvt. Powell are mem
bers.
! This regiment encountered one of
the most complete demolition Jobs
of the war. The Germans had
blown large hole in the bottom of
a canal that crossed over a railroad
tunnel. To clear the tunnel, they
worked "a days around the clock,
removing $4,000 cubic yards of dirt,
rock and debris and over a million
cubic feet of water. Completing
the job they installed 400 feet of
double track.
1t. Sargent commands the 539th
Army Postal Unit which operates
post Office within few miles of
the front, speeding mail to combat
troops of the 7th Army.
Although limited in personnel and
compact in equipment, the 539th
makes no departure from the stand
ard operating procedure of any we'll
regulated post Office back in the
United States, according to 1t.
Sargent.
Averaging a daily sale of stamps
and stamped envelopes in excess of
$400, the post Office has issued as
much as 100000 in money orders in
two-day period. The 539th has
changed its own address five times
in one week.
Pfc. Farley and Sergt. Gaillard
are doing their part in the 4352d
by helping to operate electric
dough mixers and oil-burning ovens
"a hours a day in blacked-out
buildings that once housed French
iron foundry.
The outfit turns out thousands
of golden loaves daily.
Among targets for the 155-mm.
howitzers of the 1920, of which
|FourNoziForts
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