SGT. Frank Taylor
U.S. Army - 95th Infantry Division
105mm Artillery
France/Germany March ’43 – Nov ‘45
U.S. Army - 95th Infantry Division
105mm Artillery
France/Germany March ’43 – Nov ‘45
Frank Taylor was born on 9/18/1923 in Charleston, SC at the family home located at 67 Rutledge Ave. This was home to 4 generations of Taylors who moved from Sunderland Massachusetts. Charleston was the most prosperous city in the new country after the American Revolution with cotton, rice, Indigo and banking all drivers of the local economy. When Frank was three years old the local economy contracted. His father had been a mining engineer, but the phosphate industry moved to Florida and cotton and rice move to the Mississippi Valley. The family moved to Richmond, Virginia where his father found a job as a bookkeeper. “We lived in a wonderful neighborhood in the north side of Richmond called Ginter Park.” That is where Frank grew up as the middle brother of three boys. Frank graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School where there were only 11 grades and he headed off to college just before his 17th birthday.
Frank started Hampden-Sidney College in September 1940. With the onset of WW2 everyone was required to sign up for the draft. He was told he would be able to finish college and then be sent to Officers Candidate School but after Pearl Harbor everything was accelerated. He had to complete four years of college in three years and there was no Officer Candidate School.
Frank and his two brother both served. He recalls being told that when his mother dropped of his youngest brother it was particularly hard for her. She was crying and couldn’t speak but handed him a note. The note read, “You must go.” Frank commented on the positive attitude of the country during the war and how everyone pulled together during the war.
March 16, 1943 he entered the Army. He went to basic training at Camp Eustis and then Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at the Pennsylvania Military School in Chester, PA. He was assigned to 95th Infantry Division. There he was assigned to the artillery command center. His unit handled 3 105mm guns supporting 3,000 troops. He was responsible for making the calculations used to set the aim of the guns.
Frank and 7,500 other men boarded the troop transport, the SS Mariposa. The ship left Boston and headed for Liverpool, England. They set sail without an escort and zig-zagged their way across the Atlantic to avoid German U-boats. “This was the loneliest time of my life. I did not know a single sole for seven days.” When they arrived in Liverpool the 95th picked up their artillery and headed to Southampton to cross the English Channel. They landed on Omaha Beach around mid-August but their progress stalled due to lack of fuel. After a month, fuel arrived and the 95th headed to Metz, France.
The battle for the town of Metz is well known in the history of World War II. Metz is a city on the border of France and Germany that shares the cultures of France and Germany. When France surrendered to Germany at the beginning of WW II, Metz was annexed to Germany by Hitler. Since so many of the German troops were born in Metz the Nazi’s viewed Metz as German. The town of Metz is a medieval city that had not been captured by force since Attila the Hun. It was surrounded by forts built by Germans between 1870 and 1919. After France reclaimed the town after WW I, they allowed the forts to decay. The town was fortified by a large number of well entrenched Nazi troops under instructions from Hitler to hold the town at all costs.
The Battle for Metz began in mid-September and was marked by fierce fighting and significant casualties on both sides. Although the 105mm guns were 3 to 5 miles behind the front line, they often sent Frank to within half a mile of the front line to be sure the shells were landing where intended. That put him in the thick of the fighting. Frank recalled the first day he saw combat was October 20, 1944 in Metz. Frank also recalled seeing General Patton shortly before heading into battle. He recalled Patton saying “Kill or be killed”. The hostilities in Metz came to an end November 22nd. A German officer who surrendered said the US soldiers must have been made of iron to capture the town. Henceforth, the 95th Division became known as the Ironmen of Metz.
After the Battle of Metz, the 95th headed up to Bastogne. “I drove a jeep up to Bastogne and it was the worst winter ever. From there they headed to Salzburg and fought their way from the Maginot line to the Siegfried line, through the industrial heartland and was in Munster, Germany when the Nazi’s surrendered. It was when he was in the little town Hilltrop, outside of Munster, that he first learned of the atrocities committed by the Nazi’s. “We didn’t know much about what was going on elsewhere in the war.”
I asked Frank if he was ever scared. He said when he was busy in combat, he never really thought about it. Unlike the lonely ride over to the UK where had a lot of time to worry. I also asked him I if he ever thought the war would end. “You kinda had a feeling it was coming. Once the breakthrough at Bastogne happened, and the movement we had, you knew they were crumbing.”
Frank talked about the high casualty rate among the infantry troops. He said had all of the advantages of being behind the shooting other than when he was a forward observer. Frank lost 5 of his best friends from Hampden-Sydney. Two died on Omaha Beach and two were shot down and one died in a psychiatric hospital from the effects of PTSD after returning from the war.
Frank remembers that when you wrote home you were not permitted to disclose your location to your family or friends. Frank talked about how his mother never knew where he and his brothers were. One night on the evening news Frank’s mother heard the announcer say, ‘the 95th Division has crossed the river into Dusseldorf’. His mother scream to his father, “Frank is in Dusseldorf!” Frank was sure that she didn’t know another city in all of Europe.
Frank and the rest of the 95th left Southampton aboard the SS Mariposa headed for Boston. There was a lot of celebrating on the trip home despite knowing the 95th was destined for the Pacific. From Boston Frank head for Camp Shelby to prepare to go to the Pacific. Fortunately, the bomb was dropped, and the war ended. Frank was discharged in November 1945.
When Frank returned home at the age of 21 two significant things happened. First, he enrolled in the University of Virginia Medical School. Second, he found all of the girls “making their debuts”. “I was going to breakfasts, lunches and dances for about two months.” Frank got a call from a friend at Hampden-Sydney and was invited to a dance. “I get the family car and go down and sure enough I tap in on this Hampden-Sydney fella dancing with this beautiful brunette. And the luckiest thing in the world she didn’t have a ride home and I offered to take her and the rest is history.” Frank and Suzie were married in 1949.
Frank enrolled in the University of Virginia Medical School in and graduated with his 72 classmates in 1950. After medical school and his internship, Frank and Suzie went to the Cleveland Clinic “at the most exciting time in medicine.” Frank recalls putting his finger inside of a human heart at a time when that was cutting edge. He received his training as an internist later returned to Virginia to go into practice with three friends in Roanoke. After several years he was approached to return to Charlottesville, VA and go into practice with a group of doctors. In 1961 Frank and Suzie headed to Charlottesville.
Frank practiced until he was 70 and you can tell he loved every minute of it. He talked about how he knew not only each patient but their entire family. “They were friends.” I asked Frank if he made house calls back in those days. “I still have my bag. I made them right up until I retired”. I told Frank he was a modern day ‘Moonlight Graham’ (a character played by Burt Lancaster in the movie Field of Dreams).
Frank and Suzie had three children and were married for 69 years before she passed away. “We were blessed.” Franks daughters and son-in-law talked about how Frank and Suzie were the center of the family and how the family always returns to Charlottesville for holidays and birthday. These days Frank enjoys 5 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren, and he keeps the family beacon shining, guiding them all back to the homestead.
After Frank retired, he kept busy and gave his time to the free clinic. He never talked about the war. Not even with his brothers. He did not keep in touch with the guys in his unit. One day a member of the rotary club asked him about the war and Frank told him he served. He asked Frank to give a presentation to the Rotary Club. With a little help from his grandchildren to prepare a PowerPoint presentation and finally talked about his service to his country. Since then, Frank has returned to Metz and touched base with some of the men in his unit.
Frank enjoys his role as the family Patriarch and still lives in Charlottesville. He attends weekly faith group meetings and enjoys spending time at the Farmington Country Club where so many family events have taken place throughout the years.
He is concerned with what he sees going on in the country today. He is concerned with the breakdown of the family unit and the breakdown of the churches and other houses of worship. He suggested that every citizen should have two years of mandatory service to the country. Military, mission work, public works. Learning to be part of something larger than yourself and being in the service of others. Great insight from someone who lived through a time when the country pulled together for the common good.
Frank may not be able to change the minds and attitudes of America today, but keeps the Beacon shining in Charlottesville and leads by example. Of course, that is what Frank and his generate did to save the world. They led by example and got the job done.
“That’s just the way it was.”
Thanks Frank, we owe you big time.
Frank Taylor was born on 9/18/1923 in Charleston, SC at the family home located at 67 Rutledge Ave. This was home to 4 generations of Taylors who moved from Sunderland Massachusetts. Charleston was the most prosperous city in the new country after the American Revolution with cotton, rice, Indigo and banking all drivers of the local economy. When Frank was three years old the local economy contracted. His father had been a mining engineer, but the phosphate industry moved to Florida and cotton and rice move to the Mississippi Valley. The family moved to Richmond, Virginia where his father found a job as a bookkeeper. “We lived in a wonderful neighborhood in the north side of Richmond called Ginter Park.” That is where Frank grew up as the middle brother of three boys. Frank graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School where there were only 11 grades and he headed off to college just before his 17th birthday.
Frank started Hampden-Sidney College in September 1940. With the onset of WW2 everyone was required to sign up for the draft. He was told he would be able to finish college and then be sent to Officers Candidate School but after Pearl Harbor everything was accelerated. He had to complete four years of college in three years and there was no Officer Candidate School.
Frank and his two brother both served. He recalls being told that when his mother dropped of his youngest brother it was particularly hard for her. She was crying and couldn’t speak but handed him a note. The note read, “You must go.” Frank commented on the positive attitude of the country during the war and how everyone pulled together during the war.
March 16, 1943 he entered the Army. He went to basic training at Camp Eustis and then Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at the Pennsylvania Military School in Chester, PA. He was assigned to 95th Infantry Division. There he was assigned to the artillery command center. His unit handled 3 105mm guns supporting 3,000 troops. He was responsible for making the calculations used to set the aim of the guns.
Frank and 7,500 other men boarded the troop transport, the SS Mariposa. The ship left Boston and headed for Liverpool, England. They set sail without an escort and zig-zagged their way across the Atlantic to avoid German U-boats. “This was the loneliest time of my life. I did not know a single sole for seven days.” When they arrived in Liverpool the 95th picked up their artillery and headed to Southampton to cross the English Channel. They landed on Omaha Beach around mid-August but their progress stalled due to lack of fuel. After a month, fuel arrived and the 95th headed to Metz, France.
The battle for the town of Metz is well known in the history of World War II. Metz is a city on the border of France and Germany that shares the cultures of France and Germany. When France surrendered to Germany at the beginning of WW II, Metz was annexed to Germany by Hitler. Since so many of the German troops were born in Metz the Nazi’s viewed Metz as German. The town of Metz is a medieval city that had not been captured by force since Attila the Hun. It was surrounded by forts built by Germans between 1870 and 1919. After France reclaimed the town after WW I, they allowed the forts to decay. The town was fortified by a large number of well entrenched Nazi troops under instructions from Hitler to hold the town at all costs.
The Battle for Metz began in mid-September and was marked by fierce fighting and significant casualties on both sides. Although the 105mm guns were 3 to 5 miles behind the front line, they often sent Frank to within half a mile of the front line to be sure the shells were landing where intended. That put him in the thick of the fighting. Frank recalled the first day he saw combat was October 20, 1944 in Metz. Frank also recalled seeing General Patton shortly before heading into battle. He recalled Patton saying “Kill or be killed”. The hostilities in Metz came to an end November 22nd. A German officer who surrendered said the US soldiers must have been made of iron to capture the town. Henceforth, the 95th Division became known as the Ironmen of Metz.
After the Battle of Metz, the 95th headed up to Bastogne. “I drove a jeep up to Bastogne and it was the worst winter ever. From there they headed to Salzburg and fought their way from the Maginot line to the Siegfried line, through the industrial heartland and was in Munster, Germany when the Nazi’s surrendered. It was when he was in the little town Hilltrop, outside of Munster, that he first learned of the atrocities committed by the Nazi’s. “We didn’t know much about what was going on elsewhere in the war.”
I asked Frank if he was ever scared. He said when he was busy in combat, he never really thought about it. Unlike the lonely ride over to the UK where had a lot of time to worry. I also asked him I if he ever thought the war would end. “You kinda had a feeling it was coming. Once the breakthrough at Bastogne happened, and the movement we had, you knew they were crumbing.”
Frank talked about the high casualty rate among the infantry troops. He said had all of the advantages of being behind the shooting other than when he was a forward observer. Frank lost 5 of his best friends from Hampden-Sydney. Two died on Omaha Beach and two were shot down and one died in a psychiatric hospital from the effects of PTSD after returning from the war.
Frank remembers that when you wrote home you were not permitted to disclose your location to your family or friends. Frank talked about how his mother never knew where he and his brothers were. One night on the evening news Frank’s mother heard the announcer say, ‘the 95th Division has crossed the river into Dusseldorf’. His mother scream to his father, “Frank is in Dusseldorf!” Frank was sure that she didn’t know another city in all of Europe.
Frank and the rest of the 95th left Southampton aboard the SS Mariposa headed for Boston. There was a lot of celebrating on the trip home despite knowing the 95th was destined for the Pacific. From Boston Frank head for Camp Shelby to prepare to go to the Pacific. Fortunately, the bomb was dropped, and the war ended. Frank was discharged in November 1945.
When Frank returned home at the age of 21 two significant things happened. First, he enrolled in the University of Virginia Medical School. Second, he found all of the girls “making their debuts”. “I was going to breakfasts, lunches and dances for about two months.” Frank got a call from a friend at Hampden-Sydney and was invited to a dance. “I get the family car and go down and sure enough I tap in on this Hampden-Sydney fella dancing with this beautiful brunette. And the luckiest thing in the world she didn’t have a ride home and I offered to take her and the rest is history.” Frank and Suzie were married in 1949.
Frank enrolled in the University of Virginia Medical School in and graduated with his 72 classmates in 1950. After medical school and his internship, Frank and Suzie went to the Cleveland Clinic “at the most exciting time in medicine.” Frank recalls putting his finger inside of a human heart at a time when that was cutting edge. He received his training as an internist later returned to Virginia to go into practice with three friends in Roanoke. After several years he was approached to return to Charlottesville, VA and go into practice with a group of doctors. In 1961 Frank and Suzie headed to Charlottesville.
Frank practiced until he was 70 and you can tell he loved every minute of it. He talked about how he knew not only each patient but their entire family. “They were friends.” I asked Frank if he made house calls back in those days. “I still have my bag. I made them right up until I retired”. I told Frank he was a modern day ‘Moonlight Graham’ (a character played by Burt Lancaster in the movie Field of Dreams).
Frank and Suzie had three children and were married for 69 years before she passed away. “We were blessed.” Franks daughters and son-in-law talked about how Frank and Suzie were the center of the family and how the family always returns to Charlottesville for holidays and birthday. These days Frank enjoys 5 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren, and he keeps the family beacon shining, guiding them all back to the homestead.
After Frank retired, he kept busy and gave his time to the free clinic. He never talked about the war. Not even with his brothers. He did not keep in touch with the guys in his unit. One day a member of the rotary club asked him about the war and Frank told him he served. He asked Frank to give a presentation to the Rotary Club. With a little help from his grandchildren to prepare a PowerPoint presentation and finally talked about his service to his country. Since then, Frank has returned to Metz and touched base with some of the men in his unit.
Frank enjoys his role as the family Patriarch and still lives in Charlottesville. He attends weekly faith group meetings and enjoys spending time at the Farmington Country Club where so many family events have taken place throughout the years.
He is concerned with what he sees going on in the country today. He is concerned with the breakdown of the family unit and the breakdown of the churches and other houses of worship. He suggested that every citizen should have two years of mandatory service to the country. Military, mission work, public works. Learning to be part of something larger than yourself and being in the service of others. Great insight from someone who lived through a time when the country pulled together for the common good.
Frank may not be able to change the minds and attitudes of America today, but keeps the Beacon shining in Charlottesville and leads by example. Of course, that is what Frank and his generate did to save the world. They led by example and got the job done.
“That’s just the way it was.”
Thanks Frank, we owe you big time.