Ralph Arnold Russo

Ralph Arnold Russo was a US Army soldier who served in the E Company, 2nd Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division (United States) as a mortar gunner on Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. He would reach the rank of Private 1st Class.

Childhood

7 July 1917 - Birth

Ralph Arnold Russo was born to his parents, somewhere in New Castle, Pennsylvania on 7 July.

1929 - Great Depression

In 1929 the Great Depression hit the United States. Throughout this period of economic depression, much of the people around Ralph became poor as a result of no jobs being available. People got relief from the state in the form of eggs, flowers, among other things.

Ralph's father throughout the depression was able to maintain a job and able to support his family through it. Through this, the family didn't need the government relief.

1929 to 1935

When Ralph was a young boy, people in New Castle would've been nice to each other. If him and other young boys went to a family's house, they would have fed him, and if they came to his house, his mother would've fed them.

As a teenager, Ralph was a hot-tempered kid. He got into fist fights over "nothing", sometimes being that someone said something he didn't like. Sometimes he won them, and sometimes he lost.

On his street growing up with the other boys living on it, they would play things like soft-ball, football, and sandlot, not dressed up in the uniforms for those games, but just in the clothes that they had. They got along together very very well.

Adulthood

10 July 1935

On 10 July 1935, Ralph would have turned 18 and would've became an adult. Sometime after turning 18, he got his first job at a crane company foundry in New Castle.

1935 to 1941

For about five years Ralph worked on and off at the crane company foundry. The reason he worked on and off was because of the depression. He also worked at gas stations and got pennies as payment there. He would have done anything for a 50 cent piece. He went canning for golfers for those 50 cent pieces, among other things.

When Ralph was 19, he had met a fifteen year old girl who lived on the corner of the same street, right across from where he lived . He "rocked the cradle" and fell in love with her.

During the four years in civilian life, he wrote letters to her.

On "date nights" they would go to the movies, skating rings, among other things.

5 May 1941 - Enlistment into the US Army

Ralph was drafted into the United States Army at 23 years old. Sometime before or on 5 May, Ralph went to Pittsburgh, where on 5 May he was examined and enlisted. After being enlisted, Ralph and the other recruits were shipped off to Fort Meade in Maryland. It was here that Ralph and the others would have probably joined the E Company, 115th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division, which was a National Guard unit. They thought that they were just going to be in the service for about a year.

During the first several months at Fort Meade, they went through basic training, getting up in the morning and doing exercises. After that they sent the inductees to a place in Virginia, where they stayed in tents, as well as receiving some new inductees for the company. Here, most of the basic training was done, which included doing many 20 mile hikes. After being in Virginia, they returned to Fort Meade.

Ralph would have been one of the older inductees, although some of the older ones would later get discharged because of their age.

In the army, Ralph continued to write to his love back home throughout his service.

Ralph also went into the Army into the same unit with a friend of his from New Castle.

7 December and after

On 7 December 1941, or possibly a day or two after, Ralph and the other inductees were doing manoeuvres in the Carolinas practicing warfare. They were on their way back when they heard the news about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Being in service about for about a year, they thought that they might be the ones sent to Pearl Harbor because they were in service.

5 October 1942

After some time at Fort Meade, Ralph and the 29th Division were given orders to be shipped off to England, to replace the 1st Infantry Division in its role as to protect the English from an invasion. The Division went on board the RMS Queen Elizabeth to England.

When Ralph and the others got there, they were stationed at Tidworth that had a British camp which held the 115th, and it was only big enough to hold just the 115th. The camp was where the officers of the 115th were trained. The other regiments of the 29th were stationed in Liverpool, Plymouth, and other places.Ralph personally thought that the camp was beautiful.

In England, Ralph would continue to write to his love back home.

July to September 1942

Six months after arriving in England, Ralph and the others would have learned that they were going to invade Western Europe, as they began exercises of storming beaches in England. One of the beaches of which that they exercised invading the coast was Slapton Sands. They did these exercises on Slapton Sands at least 20 times, which made Ralph and the other soldiers think that they were the ones going to invade Europe.

There were a couple of times that Ralph was in London for air raids, where people found different places for shelter. Ralph on the other hand, didn't feel like seeking shelter, and stood out in the open, fortunately where the German planes didn't drop bombs. After the bombings, he could see the destruction that was caused by the bombs dropped by the Germans, that being destroyed buildings. He thought it was pitiful, and that he didn't want to see too many air raids. On one of these occasions, during the night, Ralph saw a yellow flash from one of the British fighter planes, to let the AA gun crews know that he's got the enemy on his sights. The machine guns from the plane were going, but it was too dark for Ralph to see whether the British plane hit the German one.

A few times Ralph experienced the Germans sending over buzz bombs as he and other Allied soldiers knew them. This Ralph was scared about from hearing it dropping, to which he would take cover in the first floor of a building. Others too immediately would seek shelter. Him and others knew when you had to be careful, that being when the noise of the motor stopped, it meant that the bomb began to drop.

End of 1943

Around a year after being in Tidworth, Ralph and the 115th would have been sent off to Launceston. It was a small town, but to Ralph the people there were very friendly.

Ralph and the others did enough training that it kept them from boredom.

Because the 29th's role was to protect against a German invasion, they were always stationed along the English Channel.

4 May to 3 June 1944

For about a week and a half to two weeks Ralph and the regiment would have left Launceston and gone to a place near the channel. This place had what was called the "Briefing area", which was guarded by guards who had orders to shoot anyone who tried leaving the camp. Inside the Briefing area, there were long tables with areal photographs showing where they were going to be during the invasion. The photographs showed where pillboxes were among other things. For that week and a half Ralph and the others were constantly studied and were explained to (from that long table) of where they were going to be, where everything was, and what they encountered.

Ralph and presumably the others were told that the divisions that they were going to face were frontline divisions that were taken off the line to rest, the 375th division. They would have also been told that Allied bombers were supposed to hit the Germans before they landed.

The generals had flipped a coin on whether the 116th or the 115th were going to go in first. Apparently the 116th won and were chosen to be the ones to first go in, then the 115th, and the 175th would go in the next day.

5 June

On 5 June, Ralph and the rest of Easy company, which was commanded by Captain Maurice Clift were loaded onto an LCI (Landing Craft Infantry). F Company and each other company boarded on their own LCIs as well. They would have probably been initially told that they were going to go that day, but then that they were told that General Eisenhower decided not to go ahead that day.

Ralph was telling himself that he hoped that he would make it.

6 June

On 6 June they would have been given the go ahead that Ralph, Easy Company, and the 115th were going to land that day.

Before leaving England, Ralph had a medic give him some Sulfanilamide. The medic said

Sure I'll give you some

He also gave him a pair of scissors and Band-Aids. Ralph wrapped them in plastic, knowing that they were going to hit the beach, and sewed these on the side of his pack behind him. There was possibly about a pound of Sulfurnilamide that he had.

When they had set out, the Captain of Easy Company's LCI had refused to bring the Company in because of the rough waters which had six foot waves. Because Ralph was a good soldier, Lieutenant Donnelly (Ralph's lieutenant) came up to him and asked him if he would volunteer to swim 400 yards where they would load machine guns and mortars on a little pontoon boat, where they would swim to the shore. Ralph said to him

Lieutenant, we'll never make it. The oceans are too high, and thats too far

The lieutenant turned around and told him

I'll go with you

Ralph then agreed to do it, however the Captain of the LCI heard the conversation and told them

No, its not possible, I'll bring you in.

The Captain then finally would have started bringing Easy Company into the Normandy beach area. Ralph personally thought that the man should have been court martialed because he refused to go in.

Ralph asked Captain Clift if he could have a Carabine and so one was given to him, but many of the other mortar gunners didn't get one, but each person including Ralph had a .45 caliber pistol.

Approx. 0800

When they landed, to Ralph it was still dusky, and around the time that they came in, the tide had come in, and so there wasn't that much beach to cross, which was to their advantage.

Being a mortar gunner, each one of them, the ammunition carrier, mortar carrier, and the others carried six shells per person on their shoulders. However the way that Ralph landed, he had water over his head, where some boats got him and the others out of there. The first thing that he encountered was an eight foot high wall of mostly gravel, but also sand. When he looked up to his right, he could see about seven to eight tanks that were abandonded. This wall was their first protection that Ralph and the others had. When he got to the top of the wall, he looked down and could see a pillbox, which started firing, and so Ralph took cover. He saw that if anyone had went over the bank, the pillbox would've open fired. Ralph them told himself

We need help

As he said that, he saw the destroyer USS Texas come up the shore line and fired three volleys which hit the pillbox right on a button. Ralph then told the others

Now we better get out of here

As him and the rest of the company went forward on the hillside, which seemed to Ralph like it was at least hundred yards high, some started to step on personnel mines, none of them knowing that they had been there. There were people in front, and people behind each person, and when the person in front stepped on a mine, the person behind him would replace him. Ralph feared stepping on one. Going up the mine field, Ralph told his ammunition carrier Steinberg or Stinney

Stinney, we're not getting any fire, there's nobody on top of there, because of one thing being that we are left of the 116th, the enemy is not gonna get surrounded.

Stinney responds

Yeah I notice

Fortunately however, due to the climate over the past few years, at least some of the mines were exposed, and Ralph and some others could step over them being careful until they got to the top, but even so many of the men were lost from the mines. Those who stepped on a mine, flew back around four or five feet.

One of such was John Fury, who stepped on a mine and lost his leg, but he survived, and would survive the war with peg legs when Ralph met him after the war

On top of the hill Ralph could see some signs that said in German

Minen

Mines

and "Beware mines".

When Ralph and the company would have advanced inland, he encountered a soldier from the 1st Division who was lying in a prone position . He then looks at Ralph and says

You fellas are either nuts, or you're brave

Ralph responds

Well either what we're nuts

They continued to advance forward when they went over a deep ravine. Ralph and the others got on top of the deep ravine, where he could see a church steeple. Having gotten on top of the ravine, the Germans retreated, and started heading for the town of Saint-Laurent, where they put up a second line of defense, a quarter to half a mile from the beach.

Sometime after being on the hill full of landmines, Ralph heard about the death of Stanley Grebens, a soldier that he knew, thinking that he was a good soldier, nice, and also big and strong. He was also from Bessemer, which was four to five miles from New Castle.

As they went inland, Ralph and the others saw only a few German casualties. As they went by them, they would stick the rifles in the ground with a helmet on top of them.

Approx. 1700

At around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Ralph and the others entered the French town (presumably the one that Ralph saw with the church steeple). The rifle platoons had already gone past the houses in the center of the town, where Ralph and the others were in the rear of the houses and began to rest. From the one that Ralph was sitting behind, he could see a row of two to three houses

Ralph sat down with a hedgerow behind him with a tree to his left, figuring that he was safe. There was the church steeple nearby as well. He sat down with his legs showing and exposed. Someone then fired a shot (possibly by just one bullet) and hit his left foot and right leg. He thought it was a sniper bullet, and then jumped over into the hedgerow. The lieutenant and other comrades come over, and the lieutenant says

Where'd the shot come from?

Ralph said

I don'k know it may have come from that steeple

As they looked at the steeple, they could tell that the navy had hit the steeple out. His comrades took off his shoes among other things and helped him getting on band-aids and put powder on the wounds. When he was shot he had pain, but after about five minutes there was no more pain. They later took him into a house where there was already some wounded soldiers who were being taken care of by a medic . Ralph saw that the medic had tears in his eyes, and he said

Whats the matter?

The medic responded

I'm out of Sulfanilamide

Ralph responded

Get somebody to go get my pack

Someone would have gotten the possibly half a pound pack of sulfurnilamine and brought it to Ralph. It would have been given to the medic, which put a smile on his face and relieved him a little.

Some stretcher bearers came in, and of all the people the medic said for Ralph to be put on the stretcher. He was put on the stretcher, and taken and set behind one of the houses. They then went back and would have taken someone else along with Ralph back down the beach. By that time the artillery and firing on the beach stopped, and so a hospital ship was made out of an LST. Already they must have planned it since there were already many beds, as well as a bulldozer having carved a hole in the aforementioned hillside where there were a bunch of doctors. The doctors checked out whether each person was going on the LST or their wounds weren't bad enough for them to go. Ralph would have been accepted by them as he went on the LST. Inside there were approximately two to three hundred wounded. On Ralph's floor of the ship alone there were at least a hundred wounded, and some were moaning and things like that, which made him sick. On the other floors of the ship there would have been doctors to take care of the wounded, but on Ralph's there were just medics.

14 June

For eight days Ralph remained on the LST which stayed where it was. However after the eight days the LST went back to England with all the wounded on board including Ralph. At the time, they didn't have a treatment for him at the time, gangrene began to set in in his foot, but nobody would have known what it was. His foot would have turned purple, but he personally didn't feel pain. When the LST would have arrived back in England, British doctors cleaned it, put a cast on it. They eventually sent him to a British barracks that was turned into a hospital ship.

15 to 16 June

For about one to two days Ralph stayed in this hospital ship, where it was finally discovered that he had gangrene.

June to November

For about five months Ralph would have stayed in this hospital ship and didn't return for combat.

Every morning they would come by his bed and take a look at his toe, and wouldn't say anything about it, and walk away, and over this five months Ralph noticed that the purplish and bluish color was fading away

However after those approximate five months, he was going to be sent back as a non-combattant. During the time away from his company, Ralph missed the company's men, his comrades, and so pleaded them

Please, send me back to my original company

The person or people responded

You'll never make it

Ralph pleaded again

Please

They kept disagreeing for a few days, but then Ralph was finally given permission and ordered to go back to his company.

16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945

Ralph got as far as Liège, Belgium where he and several others were waiting to go back. This was right around the time that the Battle of the Bulge was happening, where Ralph could hear the artillery shells as he got to Liège. The Germans had also landed some paratroopers on the railroad to Liège. A lieutenant or captain said to Ralph and assumeingly others

We gotta form patrols and see if we can locate those paratroopers

The Ralph and the group lead by a sergeant began their patrol, and after about six or seven miles of searching, they finally found two of them. However the patrols had no ammunition, and instead Ralph and the others were told to fix bayonets. The sergeant in charge said

What do you guys want to do? What do you do against automatics? We'll about-face

So the group turned back and would have gone back to Liège. Ralph discovered that his foot swelled up what seemed to him like a balloon. The following morning Ralph went to a medic to check his foot. He looked at it and told him

Hoo the devil sent you here

Ralph said

Please I volunteered

The plea didn't work as he sent him to a French hospital in France. There would have been a nurse, nurses, doctor, or doctors who took a look at Ralph's foot and said

We can't do anything with your right toe we got too many casualties

From there Ralph was sent back to England, and in England there would have been doctors who didn't want to do anything either, and so he was shipped to the United States.

1980

In 1980, Ralph retired. He began to have a heart problem, and went to see a doctor. The doctor told him that he would need a heart replacement. He would never get the heart transplant.

Notes

Ralph and his family had two sisters that didn't make it past 3 years each.

He had a sister named Genave (Genevieve).

He had three brothers, two of which passed away and one survived.

His brothers served in WWII but none of them went overseas.

When Ralph got back from service, he got married

Ralph misses being with the boys on his street that he got along with very well.

Ralph served as a mortar gunner.

Ralph says that in his opinion that when the 115th landed to the Germans' left, they started to retreat because they were afraid of getting surrounded.

Ralph thought that Captain Muarice Clift, in command of Easy Company, was a wonderful guy, and he thought that he went through the whole war. He thought his personality was what made him a good leader, that he was good at teaching infantry tactics. He cared for each and every one of the soldiers

Ralph is still amazed today as to how the USS Texas knew that the pillbox was even there.

Ralph said that

war is bad, there should not be any wars

The ones that Ralph knew that died he misses, and they were also very close, all looking after one another

Ralph had two children

He believes in a heaven, is obviously Christian, and has a "Blessed Mother Mary right there, she's there with me all the time"

How do you want to be remembered?

I would say as a good father, I was a good father and everything. They can always say, he was a good man, oh yeah. After you get sold you loser your temper you don't have no more temper, you have more love for people than anything else oh yes

Bibliography

Russo, Ralph Arnold (21 June 2020). "D-Day 29th Division Veteran Shares His Story (Full Interview)" (Interview). Interviewed by Rishi Sharma. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. {{cite interview}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 5 December 2022 suggested (help)

Irwin, Dan (6 June 2019). "SURVIVING D-DAY: Neshannock man took a bullet, but lived to tell his tale of the Normandy Invasion". New Castle News. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 5 December 2022 suggested (help)

"PHOTO GALLERY: Ralph Russo, D-Day veteran". New Castle News. 31 May 2019. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 5 December 2022 suggested (help)

"D-Day survivor Ralph Russo turns 100". The Herald. 13 July 2013. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 5 December 2022 suggested (help)

"NARA - AAD - Display Full Records - Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (Enlistment Records)". NARA AAD. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.