On Independence Day 70 years ago, Ernest G. “Son” King celebrated the 4th of July holiday with his wife, Helen, daughter, Melanie, and year-old son, Mike, at their home in Columbus, Georgia. The month before, there had been a bigger celebration as he returned from Germany after VE Day; the war in Europe was over. Uncle Son had been gone since September of 1943, transported by troop ship from New Jersey to Liverpool, England. His 506 PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment) became part of the 101st Airborne—the Screaming Eagles. A favorite nickname of the 506 was the” Five Oh Sink” in honor of their original commander Colonel Robert Sink.
The 506 had been organized in 1942 and trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. More than half the men wouldn’t complete basic training due in large part to a mountain named “Currahee” with daily mandatory runs of 3 miles up and 3 miles down. Son, now “Pappy” to his men, was almost 28 and had served two hitches before re-enlisting when the war started, completed all the training including Jump School at Fort Benning and Fort Bragg.
In England, the 101st would be part of a huge invasion force, the largest ever assembled and would be the muscle for the coming invasion on D-Day June 6 1944 at Normandy, France. Just after midnight, SSgt. King jumped with his “stick” of 18 men over the Cotentin Peninsular; their rendezvous point was near St. Mere-Eglise. Seven days later, he was airlifted to England for surgery to remove shrapnel inflicted when he lost a hand grenade duel with a German soldier. Meanwhile, his 506th had returned to England in July, and he rejoined them in August. In September, they would jump into Holland to join the fighting near Opheusden in an area that became known as “Hells Highway.” Here was the bloodiest fighting he had seen. At one point his company of 132 men and 5 officers was decimated by losing all the officers and had only 33 men left. Son was made acting company commander. In a few weeks, things quieted down a bit and in mid- November they were sent to Mourmelon, France for R&R and re-supply.
On December 18th, they were ordered to Belgium. A German counter offensive was pushing through the Ardennes Forest and threatened the city of Bastogne—a crossroads point that needed to be held. The 506th was transported in trucks and met GI troops retreating from the battle. They turned a few tanks around and some troops and joined the fight where the defenders became known as the “Battling Bastards of Bastogne.” They were ill-supplied with ammunition and winter clothing; thousands of troops would suffer “trench foot” and be out of action. In the forest of Ardennes, about 400 German soldiers created havoc when they impersonated American troopers. They were disguised with GI uniforms, equipment, and even dog-tags taken from dead soldiers. Their game didn’t last long, were captured and faced execution.
The 506th reached Noville about 8 miles from Bastogne and encountered bitter fighting. His words tell the situation best. “The town was burning and it was a ghostly feeling sitting there waiting for the attack we knew was coming. After daybreak, the party began to liven up. The enemy tanks became bolder and began encircling the town; but our tank division made a duck-shoot of their indiscretion. This was the only place in the whole war where I saw tanks firing point blank at each other at distances of 100 yards or less. By 1:00PM, the pressure was too great and we were cut off from the rest of the regiment. We pulled our tanks in and lined them up on the road leading to Bastogne. Then everyone who could, climbed aboard and hung on like baby opossums, and we roared out of Noville firing every weapon we had at the enemy. Talk about “cowboys and injuns.” He relates more of the trip to Bastogne which was filled with high peril but they made it to Bastogne.
Son spent Christmas in Bastogne, not a merry one with this being the coldest winter in decades for Western Europe and supplies and mail were slow in catching up, but he and his troopers endured. When the weather broke, and air support hammered the enemy, the tide turned. The Germans were pushed back and Son would go on to fight in the Rhineland; VE Day was just around the corner.
After WWII, Son made a career of the Army, with previous service he had ten years in and was half way to twenty. In 1950, he was sent to Korea with a Regimental Combat Team and spent another Christmas in a cold, foreboding country. He reached the rank of Captain in 1955 and retired in 1957 with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. He proudly wore the Bronze Star with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and numerous campaign ribbons. He was a patriot who loved his native land and loved to visit his old stomping grounds in Rehobeth and Piney Grove, Alabama. Two of his sons followed him into the Army. His oldest, Mike, retired as a Major and served in the 82nd Airborne.
The love of his life, Helen, bore him seven children and performed all of the lonely duties of a military wife. They retired to Pine Mountain Valley, Georgia and later spent their last years together in Carrollton. Helen went to Heavenly Father first, and Son joined her in 1996.
His character was molded by his widowed mother, Ruth; two grandfathers, Benjamin Napier and Zachariah King; two sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins. He was part of the Greatest Generation, although he didn’t know it at the time, who survived the Great Depression, personal hardships, wars and the task of keeping a family together. He learned that there is a quality known as perseverance that requires you to hold on just a little bit longer when you have reached the end of your rope and he was called on several times to live that human quality.
If Ernest G. King were alive today, he might be distraught yet somewhat amused at the present state of our country. He’d probably wonder if this is the country that so many have paid a high price for even with their limbs and lives. Yet I believe he would see a spark of patriotism in this generation attested to by our volunteer military men and women and their heroic deeds and those modern day patriots who still believe that this is the greatest country and never lose faith in the American Dream. He would look for what is good about this country and its people and if he looked on Independence Day, he would find it in every city, town and county as people stop to remember why we celebrate the Fourth.
