From the Progress of June 25, 2008:
By NANCY WHITAKER Progress Staff Writer Part 1 of 2 No one will ever know, unless they were there, says Orval Mullen. We marched, walked, and whatever we had to do in all kinds of weather. Orval served in WWII, was shot twice, and won five battle stars. Mullen was born to Jesse and Lovina Mullen. The family moved to the Melrose area when Orval was young. He was 20 years old when he got the letter informing him that he had been selected (drafted) to serve his country in the war. Orval had a girlfriend at the time by the name of Luella Conley. When Orval got the news that he had been drafted, he and Luella tied the knot on Oct. 24, 1942, but they didnt tell anyone. He left for training just four days later on Oct. 28. Orval took training at various bases including: Camp Benjamin Harris, Camp Atterbury, Fort Jackson and Camp Johnson in Florida. Following a leave, he headed overseas to what would become the heat of the battle. He left by ship for England on Jan. 18, 1944, and was a part of the 4th Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Regiment. Mullen got seasick on the long 11-day voyage, but safely arrived in the southern part of England where the battalion took part in training exercises. One of the training maneuvers took place at Slapton Sands. This was a big disaster mission for the Americans that was hidden in secrecy for over 40 years. Orval commented, We were at Slapton Sands to do amphibious training. We were to go out into the English Channel and do exercises to prepare us for the big invasion of Utah Beach. We had arrived on LSTs (landing ship tank) and due to a typographical error in orders, somehow the Germans found out we were there and swept in on nine swift German torpedo boats and began shooting torpedoes at us. Trapped below decks, hundreds of soldiers and sailors went down with the ships. Some leapt into the sea only to drown as they were weighted down by water-logged overcoats. German torpedoes hit three of the LSTs, and there was little time to launch any life boats. I was on a smaller craft and managed to get away, but in the end, the rampage left a total of 749 dead. It was terrible. The water along the beach turned red from the blood, noted Mullen. From there, the 4th Infantry Division left from Plymouth, England and made their way to Utah Beach. Orval was in the third wave that hit the beach. Orval was in Communications and said, Things were sure different back then. I was on top of the pole and could get shot at pretty easy. Following the invasion of Utah Beach, the 4th Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Regiment marched through rain, mud, and cold to Cherbourg on the French peninsula. Orval said, Our bed was a foxhole, a shower was a little bit of water in your helmet, and we ate rations or whatever we had. We did what we had to do. It was on June 26, 1944, that the Allied forces liberated Cherbourg and then forced their way back to St. Lo. The battle at St. Lo was one of solid shelling and fighting. Orval made his way to his foxhole, but another soldier was in it. Orval tried to get some protection, but wound up getting hit in his hip. He was bleeding from his ear, nose, and mouth but somehow managed to get up on his own and grabbed hold of a jeep. The jeep was trying to move the wounded. I was taken to a first aid station and they cleaned, dressed my wound and poured sulfur on it. Then I was taken to a tent hospital. We were flown there in a converted plane. I remember looking at all the wounded on that plane. I looked across from me and there was a man across the aisle that I thought I knew. He happened to be from Grover Hill. It was Mike Louth and he had been hit by machine gun fire. Orval was sent from the tent hospital to a hospital in England. It was there that he underwent surgery for his gunshot wound. He said, They actually had to hold me down when they cut out that burnt flesh. They had no pain killer and they took a scalpel and just began digging. I remember screaming and doing some swearing. Then I was given penicillin for the infection and was shipped out two days later to a hospital in Abergavenny, England. They operated on me again, and I wound up being in the hospital for five months. Back on the home front, Luella had found out she was pregnant following Orvals first furlough home. The news was then given that the couple had exchanged vows prior to Orval leaving for basic training. Luella has over 500 letters that Orval wrote to her during the war. Luella commented, The war was very hard on the women at home, too. We used to write letters on what was known as V mail. These are little envelopes and paper and you cant write too much on them. When Orval was injured, I got a letter from the U.S. Army every month telling me of his condition. Orval wound up being in the hospital five months and 14 days. Meanwhile, he had a son at home that he hadnt seen yet. In Part 2: The 4th Infantry, 8th Infantry Regiment help free the Jews at the Dacau concentration death camp. See the pictures that Orval took of this tragedy with a camera he took from Germany.
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Orval Mullen WWII: From the beaches to the Bulge - The Paulding County Progress