Famous and Influential Persons 
Visiting Camp Atterbury

Mungo was wild and mean, a high-kicking fireballer with a fierce temper. He was known as a drinker, and was involved in some bizarre off-the-field incidents. He once had to be smuggled out of Cuba to escape the machete-wielding husband of a nightclub dancer with whom he'd been caught in bed. His career went downhill after he injured his arm in the 1937 All-Star Game. He won only 13 ML games over his next six seasons. Becoming a junkballer, he went 14-7 in 1945. The lifetime .221 hitter sometimes pinch-hit. In 1970 his colorful name was prominently used in a nostalgic bossa nova ballad. (JK)

Brian Donlevy

Visited Wakeman General & Convalescent Hospital, 10/1944 with "Rags" Ragland, Ann Richards, Nancy Walker, Marvin Herschman and Walter Abel.

Waldo Bruce Donlevy (as he was born) began his life in Cleveland, Ohio* on February 9th, 1901. In 1916 he joined up with General Pershing's troops in the raid on Pancho Villa as a bugler and then (lying about his age ) he was a pilot under Lafayette Escadrille in World War I. His military "training" continued with two years at Annapolis in Maryland. But he gave that career up to become an actor.

His Hollywood career actually began in New York, where he did several stage plays and a few silent films. But his "break" came in 1935 with the role of Knuckles Jacoby, the tough guy all in black, in the Edward G. Robinson film "Barbary Coast". After that Brian hardly had a year where he didn't make a film (1936 saw him in seven films)! By 1939 he had received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role of the sadistic Sergeant Markoff in Paramount's remake of Beau Geste.

General Mark Clark inspects the newly activated 28th Division at Camp Atterbury.  He remarks the 28th is "a worthy successor to the magnificent 28th Divisions that have gone before it."

On his first inspection tour of the 83rd Infantry Division last week-end, Maj. Gen. Lloyd R. Fredendall (left), new Deputy Commander of the 2nd Army, saw a demonstration of Ranger training.  Here with Maj. Gen. Frank W. Milburn, commanding geneal of the 83rd Division, he is listening to an explanation of demolition by 1st Lt. Frank Couture, Co. A, 308th Engineers. U. S. Signal Corps Photo

Maj. Gen. Lloyd R. Fredendall, new deputy commander of the 2nd Army, spent Sunday and Monday at Camp Atterbury inspecting the 83rd Infantry Division for the first time.

Hero of the American landing at Oran, Gen. Fredendall recently returned from Tunisia.  He brings to his new assignment some 42 years of Army service.

While at Atterbury, Gen. Fredendall inspected all phases of the training of troops under the command of Maj. Gen. Frank W. Milburn, commanding general of the 83rd Division.  Highlight of his visit was a demonstration of Ranger training, a project close to the heart of Lt. Gen. Ben Lear, retiring commanding general of the 2nd Army, whose desire is to have every man in the 2nd Army a Ranger.

The visit of Gen. Fredendall had a personal note, too, for his son, Maj. Lloyd R. Fredendall, Jr., is commander of the 1st battalion of the 330th Infantry.

Fredendall, Lieutenant-General Lloyd R. (1883-1963):

41     : General Officer Commanding II Corps
42     : General Officer Commanding Central Task Force, North Africa
42     : General Officer Commanding 1^st Division, North Africa
42-43: General Officer Commanding II Corps, North Africa
43     : General Officer Commander in Chief Central Defense Command
43     : General Officer Commanding 2^nd Army

In North Africa, the US II Corps under Maj. Gen. Lloyd Fredendall was supported by XII Air Support Command (ASC). The II Corps leaders clung tenaciously to the provisions of FM 31-35, which allowed ground force commanders to use airpower as they pleased.

As a result of the misuse of airpower, there was no sustained effort by tactical air units to gain air superiority over the battlefield and no coordinated campaign by fighters, tactical bombers, and strategic bombers for that purpose. The US XII ASC, instructed to support US II Corps and the French XIX Corps, saw use of its aircraft determined by the II Corps senior commanders alone. Small formations of fighters assigned to fly daylight patrols over US troops were easy prey to Axis air forces, which held largely undisputed superiority in Tunisian airspace. Aircraft attempting to provide close support in the face of enemy air superiority met similar fates. Losses of aircraft and crews grew prohibitively high. By February 1, 1943, the 33d Fighter Group, the most experienced USAAF unit, had to be withdrawn to Morocco for regrouping.

Under such a fragmented theater organization, no broad "theater view" existed. On one occasion, the II Corps commander refused a French XIX Corps request for air support, claiming that it was not his responsibility. There was little coordinated planning between II Corps/XII ASC and British First Army/RAF 242 Group. These US and British air forces not only failed to gain air superiority, but also failed to provide adequate close support.

Following the disastrous defeat at Kasserine Pass, General Patton took command of the II Corps from Major General Lloyd Fredendall in March 1943, earning promotion to lieutenant general the following month.  Fredendall was blamed for over 3,000 casualties, 3,700 captured and 200 tanks lost.

Clever ball handling and a dough defense gave the professional squad a 19-8 lead at the half; but the fighting soldiers came back strong in the second half to close the gap to five points.

Steiner of Atterbury and C. Bray of the Trotters tied for high score honors with eight points each.  The camp five scored 12 field goals to their opponent's 10; but the Negro team made 14 out of 18 free throws while the servicemen could make but five of 12, accounting for the victory.

The first visit was broadcast nation-wide.

Sgt. Joe Louis, world's champion fighter, will give an exhibition bout at the Sports Arena at Camp Atterbury on Friday, Sept. 24th.  Louis is now in a hundred-day tour of army camps.

The "Brown Bomber" will box three rounds with his old sparring partner in civilian life, Sgt. George S. Nicholson, also a heavyweight.  The two will likely "mix it up" for the soldiers of Atterbury as Joe's partner had been "taking it" for years.

The exhibition bouts at the arena will be free for soldiers and their families only.  Following the bouts the champion will give a short talk on physical fitness.

She started her professional entertaining career as a radio singer while still a teenager before signing with MGM in 1942 as a contract player. Among the programs in which she appeared was The Abbott and Costello Show. The head of MGM, Louis B. Mayer, insisted she change the "Marvel" part of her real name. She dropped her first name and kept the middle. Some of her film roles included Lost in a Harem (1944), Champion (1949), The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), and Rock-A-Bye Baby (1958). "Silver Bells" made its debut in The Lemon Drop Kid, sung by Maxwell and Hope.

Maxwell appeared twice as a singer in the second season (1955–1956) of NBC's The Jimmy Durante Show. On May 16, 1957, she guest starred on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.^[5]

In the 1961-1962 television season, Maxwell played Grace Sherwood, owner of the diner on ABC's 26-episode Bus Stop, a drama about travelers passing through the fictitious town of Sunrise, Colorado.

General McNair was the highest ranking American General to be killed in action in WW2.  He was killed by American bombs shortly after D-Day, when bad weather caused the bombers to drop their loads "blind".

Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, commanding general of the Army Ground forces and one of the Army's highest ranking officers, paid a brief visit to Camp Atterbury Friday afternoon, landing by plane at Atterbury Army Air field, here.

The Camp Atterbury public relations office stated that General McNair, who has headquarters in Washington, D. C., was on a' routine tour of inspection.

General McNair was greeted at the local airfield by Brig. Gen. Herbert P. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Division at Atterbury; Col. Richardson L. Greens, commanding officer of the Eighth Detachment of Special Troops, Second army, stationed at Atterbury; Col. W Eaton M. Modisette, Atterbury commander, and Capt. George B. Ober, commanding officer of the Air field.

General McNair was at Atterbury about one and one-half hours. 

He was accompanied by a number of staff officers. The Army Ground forces commander was commander of R. O. T. C. at Purdue university from 1924 to 1928.

Details of Mr. Patterson's visit to Atterbury were revealed by the camp public relations department Sunday.

Everything But Kitchen Sink.

The demonstration, conducted on the Camp Atterbury military reservation gave convincing evidence of the terrific firepower an American infantry battalion can put up in its own defense. Everything from .30-caliber tracer bullets to 105 mm artillery fire was thrown into the display, and at one point the undersecretary and his party were startled by a simulated shell burst only a few yards from their vantage point.

During the morning, Mr. Patterson saw the 589th Field Artillery battalion conduct a precision fire problem. In the course of which three batteries adjusted fire with the aid of an artillery liaison plane, which flew over the party while "walking" or directing the shell bursts onto the target, just visible some thousands of yards away.

Sees 'Enemy Attack'

After luncheon in the field the undersecretary's party was driven in jeeps to a battalion observation post, crowning a hill overlooking the valley through which an "enemy" attack was expected. The "battle" was opened by the 423rd Infantry regiment as a 100-pound charge of TNT ripped a path through a mine field. Flare signals high overhead then brought down the entire firepower of the battalion. Camouflaged riflemen and machine gunners opened up first, then mortar shells splattered into the valley and finally anti-tank cannon and howitzers, located respectively on the flanks and far to the rear, came into play. Artillery shells whistled overhead and burst with earth-shaking detonations in the field of fire.

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An Interesting Page In Our Books
Patti Page with Ralph Flannagan's band entertain hospital patients as the artists made a surprise visit to Camp Atterbury last Monday morning.

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The Camp Crier
June 02, 1945

"I Met A Hero", 
by Sgt. Elizabeth Davenport, Reception Station

The adjutant looked up from his papers and said to everyone in general and no one in particular, "Well !!  We have a man here who holds the Congressional Medal of Honor !"  Just to refresh your mind, the Congressional Medal of Honor is the nation's highest award.

Our hero had just returned from the war zone and was awaiting further orders.  Although he undoubtedly would have enough points for discharge, he would, as holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor, be automatically eligible for the coveted black and white sheet, an honorable discharge.

At last he came in, a tall youth, slightly round-shouldered, dark brown hair parted and combed smoothly down, clear blue eyes and ruddy cheeks.

After the preliminaries of military courtesy, he handed the medal to the adjutant and we gathered eagerly around to have a look at it, hoping to hear the story that went with it, and to scrutinize the lad who had so honorably served his country.  The medal was a five-pointed, bronzed star with a blue ribbon in which were woven white stars.  The boy took it from the admiring group and placed it in his shirt pocket.

While he was waiting to see the Colonel, I was lucky enough to have him sitting near my desk, so I engaged him in conversation, hoping to get first-hand, the story of his achievement.  It went something like this.

His name: Wilbun Ross, His rank: Buck Private.  His home: Stearns, Ky.  His age, twenty-two.  He was in an artillery outfit with the Third Infantry Division, and they were in the Vosges Forest near St. Dix, in France.  His company had got separated from the rest of the battalion and they were endeavoring to push the krauts back from their position.

For a day and a half, the few remaining GIs, with their Lieutenant, fought strong enemy opposition hoping to hold them off until some contact could could be made with other units.  Ross had set his machine-gun up some 200 yards in front of his outfit's position and that much closer to the enemy.  He knew the value of his ammo and was aware of the scarcity of it and didn't waste a round.  This went on for a day and a half, but no replacements nor assistance were forthcoming, and worst of all, the supply of ammunition was getting lower and lower.

Finally Ross said he would try and hold them off if the others would go in search of ammunition and reinforcements, so off they went leaving Ross alone to blaze away at the krauts who seemed to show no signs of quitting.  For seven long hours Ross held his ground, using his ammunition carefully, letting them get as close as he dared, then letting them have it full blast.

50 German Dead.

Finally his buddies returned with reinforcements and ammunition and not very far away form Ross' position there were fifty some German dead who had been the recipients of Ross' well aimed fire.

While waiting for the Colonel, Ross kept saying impatiently, "What do they want with me now!  I've got a fella waiting for me.  We want to go to town" (meaning Indianapolis).

I asked him how it felt to get back to the States.  He just raised his eyes heavenward and smiled and sighed.  Someone asked him if he liked the French girls.  He said, "They're all right.  You couldn't talk to them, though.  You just had to make signs."

I sought to get from him a sort of formula or recipe for courage and bravery, a key to what makes that sort of fellow tick.  Laughingly, I said, "How do you account for your bravery, Private Ross ?" (H had ten other awards, including the Croix de Guerre, and Purple Heart with two clusters.)

I thought of Sergeant York of the Tennessee mountains when Ross said "Oh, you get out there and you've just got to do it- that's all."

I wanted to say, "Yes, Private Ross, You;ve got to do it, but not everyone has what it takes to do it !"

So that's my story of meeting a hero.

Post Commander, Colonel James A. Murphey officially welcomes movie actress Barbara Stanwyck to Camp Atterbury as she makes personal appearances.

Youngstown, Ohio Vindicator - April 22, 1945
Terhanco, Wounded 4 Times, Keeps Away from Hospitals

Wounded four times - three times in a three-week period - First Sgt. George Terhanco, aged 32, of 546 Princeton Ave., never saw the inside of a hospital overseas.

"I didn't want to leave my men in the lurch," the sergeant said.  "I was kinda stubborn about it."

He was wounded June 29, in France, shrapnel in hip; July 11, in France, bullet in left shoulder; July 18, in France, bullet in knee, and Dec. 10, in Germany, shrapnel in calf of right leg.

He also has a Bronze Star, Silver Star, combat infantryman badge and good conduct medal.

He got his first wound while delivering hand grenades.  "I was lugging them in one of those double mortat bags.  The the German threw in some heavy mortar.  Hot shrapnel tore into my hip.  An inch closer and it would have cut my spinal cord.

"Dig that shrapnel out," he ordered one of his men. 

"I don't have a knife," the soldier protested.

Terhanco yanked out his own bayonet and his friend dug the shrapnel out.  Terhanco then tried to carry the grenades.

"But I was bleeding to hard," he explains.  "An officer say the trail I left and ordered me back to the aid station.  I wouldn't leave it for a hospital."  Three days later he was back with his outfit.

His leg took a long time to heal and became infected several times.  It was still unhealed when he arrived at Santennyu, France.  Terhanco set up an outpost and was just 250 yards from the command post, ready to report in for the night, when he felt a sting in his shoulder.  He shrugged and kept on going.  When he walked in the post, the officers spotted a .30 caliber tracer wedged in his shoulder.

"So it was back to the aid station," he grins.  "They said 'What, again !' and cut out the bullet."

Somewhere on the other side of Santenny, Terhanco got orders to lead the company.

"I kept on until we were halfway through an orchard," Terhanco tells it.  "Then a sniper clipped off the ear of the Bazooka man beside me.  He threw down his Bazooka and ran.  I yelled at the rest to det back.  "But I felt bad.  That Bazooka was a new-style model.  I made up my mind we had to get it.  So I began sneaking up through the orchard again, crawling behind trees, my eyes peeled for the sniper.  I was practically there when the company we were supposed to meet came marching past.  A whole company tramping straight ahead and not a single shot from that sniper.  So I stopped hiding and stepped right out - and a bullet got me through the kneecap.

"I was kinda stubborn about it.  I reached again for the Bazooka.  There was another shot."

That did it.  He went back to his men, got an emergency bandage and walked on to the aid station, his knee making hard going of it.

"What the hell have you been up to ?" yelled a man on duty at the aid station.  By this time, they didn't have to question Terhanco, they knew his name, address and serial number.  He stayed there for a few days, delivering supplies in a jeep, his bad leg stuck straight out over the hood.

When Terhanco reported back to his unit, the major told him to take over as first sergeant.

Late in October, in Luxembourg, he earned the Silver Star.  They were on  the outskirts of a small town.  Blistering artillery and tank fire had disorganized the company and they were short of officers.  Terhanco took over a group of men.  Acting on their own initiative they captured one section of the town.

Terhanco says he was awarded the Bronze Star for a series of actions.

His last wound was minor.  A piece of shrapnel stuck in his leg during the battle of Huertgen Forest.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. George Terhanco Sr., Sergeant Terhanco attended Sough High School and later worked at an A & P store.  He has been in service two and a half years and overseas since April.

World Famous Trapp Family Singers to Appear at Atterbury in Sunday Night Show at Theater No. 2; Admittance Free

The Trapp Family Singers were originally scheduled to appear in the Sports Arena but the location was changed to Theater No. 2 due to its superior seating and acoustics.  The Trapp family chorus is composed of a widow, Mrs. Tanie Trapp, her five daughters and two sons, and is conducted by the family's priest and musical director, Father Franz Wasner.  Mr. Trapp died a few years ago.  Mrs. Trapp is not only a talented contralto but has become a best-seller authoress.  Her books, "The Trapp Family Singers," and "Yesterday, Today and Forever" have sold 75,000 copies.

Camp Crier
May 14, 1943

Werner Von Trapp to play father of flute on radio - Pvt Werner Von Trapp, 101th Infantry Bn., of the famous Trapp Family Choir, will headline next week's "Meet the Yank" show broadcast from Service Club No. 2 at 2115 over Radio Station WIBC.  He plays the Alto Recorder, an instrument of the Middle Ages and the father of the modern flute.  The Von Trapp family is famous throughout this country and Europe, where they have been playing concerts for a number of years.  Rupert, the elder brother, played the harpsichord with the choir and will be interviewed on the program.