Editor’s note: World War II officially ended Sept. 2, 1945, when the Japanese signed surrender terms. We’re honoring the war’s area veterans over the next several months with these brief profiles.
Earl Robinson
Date of birth: Oct. 9, 1925
Dates of service: 1944 to 1946
Hometown: Melrose
Lives in: Clovis
Theater and location of service: European; Belgium and Germany
Branch: Army
Rank: Corporal
Unit and specialty: 84th Infantry, 335th Division, 3rd battalion, Company K, rifleman and finance
In his words: As the war was drawing to a close, one of the duties of his company was to go through the small towns and villages to end any German resistance. Most of them were marked with white flags, signaling to the allied forces that there would be no resistance. In Islesburgh, however, there were no white flags. Instead, there were large guns mounted on rail cars at the edge of town. Robinson remembers seeking cover in trenches.
“The company commander took a platoon and was trying to get to them (the Germans), they went through an open lot and then the Germans opened up on them — 14 were lost. We spent the rest of the night in those trenches.”
The men that were lost were friends. He said it was difficult to stay in the trenches and watch what was happening but there was nothing they could do.
“I was scared to death. It was not a good feeling. It’s an experience that I wouldn’t want anybody to go through. I was lucky,” he said.
World War II profiles are compiled by CNJ staff writer Sharna Johnson. Contact her at 763-6991 or by e-mail:
sharna_johnson@link.freedom.com
