Missing In Action

On September 2, 1944, this telegram was delivered to Paul and Margaret Emme.  The telegram alerted them that their son Jack (John P. Emme) was reported “Missing in Action”.  It was a Saturday night, and it would be a long sixteen days before they got the news confirming that Jack had been “Killed in Action” on August 7th in France.

MIA Telegram

The next day was a Sunday, and this was the front page of the Los Angeles Times.   The headline was bold and optimistic.  The photo was iconic.  It showed a large group of soldiers marching through the Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs-Élysées during a celebration of the Liberation of Paris.  The paper identified them simply as “Yanks in Paris”.   

I doubt this headline gave Margaret and Paul much comfort as they faced the possible loss of their son and I am sure they would have been surprised to discover that the soldiers on the front page of their local paper were from the 28th Infantry Division.  This was Jack’s Division.  He was serving with the 112th Regiment, 3rd Battalion, L Company.

Front Page News

This is a clearer version of the famous photograph and timeline of events in July, August and September of 1944 that impacted Jack, his family and the 28th Division.

A Clearer Picture

28th Division Timeline

When I look at this photo I am drawn to the two soldiers in the front row.  One glances over his right shoulder, while the other, a medic, looks stoically, straight ahead.  That side glance got me thinking about what thoughts must have been going through these soldier’s minds as they moved down the Champs-Élysées.

A Closer Look

The month of August was the 28th Division’s first combat experience and while the result was successful, the human cost was devastating.  Those losses had to be on the minds of these soldiers as they were transported to Versailles, given showers and clean uniforms so they could march in a parade the next day.  As they marched, row by row, regiment by regiment, company by company, I am sure they were well aware of those that were present and those that were missing.

Jack was one of those that was missing that day and before the war ended a year later, many more would be joining him.  

Jack - The Research Archive

Not everyone likes Museums, however….

My dad was a big fan of museums. Family trips to local museums filled my childhood memories with images of mummies in glass cases, woolly mammoths mired in tar pits and dark dioramas of viscous hyenas. As an adult I am still drawn to museums, but more for the storytelling. This Research Archive focuses on my dad’s brother Jack Emme and his military service. I hope the story telling will be compelling enough to bring you in for a visit.

It started with a box.

It was a box that Paul and Margaret Emme kept for many years. The box was filled with documents, objects and photos related to Jack Emme, one of their three sons. Jack, like many other young men and women, lost his life while serving in the United States Army during World War 2. That box traded hands several times, going from Paul to his son Bob (my dad) and finally to Jim (my brother). Jim took on the task of organizing, photographing and scanning the items in the box so they could be shared with the whole family as part of a digital memorial he published online in May of 2021.

Three brothers and an incomplete story

• Bob was the youngest.

My dad was thirteen in 1943. Reading through Jim’s documents reminded me of the only thing my dad ever said to me about Jack’s service.

“He had no business being in that war.”

My dad is no longer around to interpret what he meant by those words, but what it clearly communicates is a sense of frustration and loss. Those feelings resonate for me, having lost one of my own brothers suddenly and tragically just a few years ago.

• Then there was Jack.

Jack was nineteen and had just started his second year in Junior College when he enlisted. The box of documents contained a number of letters written by Jack during his military service. Those letters are personable and chatty, but unfortunately, they give very little insight into his thoughts about the war or his role in it. Here is an example from a letter he wrote to his brother Bill.

“There is a great deal I would like to tell you about the present situation, but the censors won’t permit and if I tried, I would have to write the letter over.”

• Finally, there was Bill, the oldest.

Bill was three years older than Jack and he enlisted in the Army seven months before Jack did. He had some college education, ran a business and had recently gotten married. He was quickly identified as officer material and spent most of his military career in the Transportation Corps in Fort Slocum, New York. In 1943 the T-Corps was responsible for mobilizing soldiers and materials to send overseas in preparation for the highly anticipated invasion of France. I am sure the irony was not lost on Paul and Margaret that one son’s service involved moving the other son closer to harm’s way.

Bill was not a subtle man when it came to sharing his accomplishments and the scrapbook he put together during this time was no exception. The colorful memoir documents his courtship and marriage to Dee Kramer as well as his military career and is filled with humorous handwritten notes, letters, funny photos and bar bills from promotion celebrations.

What you won’t find in Bill’s military scrapbook is any mention of his brother Jack. That doesn’t mean that the stories of Bill and Jack were not intertwined. The last page of Bill’s scrapbook was celebrating his promotion to Captain and was dated July 22, 1944. On that same day Jack was crossing the English Channel on the Devonshire heading for Omaha Beach. Sixteen short days later Jack would be killed in action near Gathemo in France.

It is telling that Bill’s scrapbook ends on that date, even though his military career was far from over. One can only assume that he lost interest in continuing with his scrapbook after his brother was killed.

The Art Project

As you can see, the three brothers did not give me a lot to go on regarding Jack’s story. The box of documents was equally frustrating. A great starting point, but in many ways more like a legal file than a memoir, dominated by the kinds of official correspondence that overwhelm a family when they lose a child in service.

My mind kept drifting back to Bill’s scrapbook. It was so rich and full of life. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a similar scrapbook for Jack’s service? That thought was the seed of an idea that become this Art Project, to create a graphic memoir for Jack during his time in the Army.

Over the last four years I have been able to find some great resources to add detail to Jack’s story. Considering that the Research Archive is almost done, and the completion of the Art Project will likely be years away, I thought it would be timely to share the archive now so others can become more familiar with what Jack experienced.

Much like a museum, the Research Archive is organized into galleries, and like any museum some galleries will interest you more than others. All the galleries tell you something about Jack’s story. In many ways they tell the same story over and over, just in a different context and with different media.

I would recommend that you read the summaries first, than if you choose, click on the image to enter the gallery. The link should open on a new page, but If you get lost along the way, just click on “Jack” on the top of the page and you will get back to the main navigation area.

Gallery of Words

Click on the image above to enter the Gallery

If you like the deep dive, and words mean more to you than pictures, then this is the gallery for you. Think of it like a nature show that starts with the camera zoomed in, focused on a bug on a leaf, then the camera pulls back a bit to show you the full tree, finally it pulls all the way back to reveal the whole forest.

• Jacks Letters are the “bug on the leaf”.

Jim’s digital memorial included seven letters that were written by Jack to this Aunty Mary, Uncle John and Joanne Lindenfeld. Mary was Margaret’s sister. Terri Lauerman, Bill Emme’s daughter, had eleven more letters all written from Jack to Bill and Dee Emme and these additional letters have been added to the collection.

The collection takes you from Jack’s basic training in Texas that started in May of 1943 to his last letter written four days after landing in France in July of 1944.

• The Battalion History is “the full tree”.

This document was an incredible find. Jack was in the 112th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion. A battalion is made up of five companies, in this case HQ, I, M, L and K. Jack was in L Company.

The Battalion history is a day by day description of what was going on at the Company level during the war based on recollections from veterans that served in those companies. Some of this is tough reading, gritty and graphic, so don’t dive in here unprepared. I only included the pages that cover Jack’s time of service.

• The Divisional History is “the whole forest”.

There are excerpts from two documents here. One is called “28th Infantry Division in World War II” and was published in 1946. This focuses just on World War II. The second document is called “28th Infantry Division 125 years of Service” and was published in 2005 and covers the entire history of the Division.

Gallery of Images

Click on the image above to enter the Gallery

If you are a visual person and just reading the description of the Gallery of Words made you fall asleep, then you might consider visiting the Gallery of Images. It is made up of three galleries, “People”, “Places” and “Things”.

• People

This gallery has all the images we have of Jack organized chronologically.

• Places

The gallery is organized into three sections, USA, United Kingdom and France, and constructs a visual timeline of the places Jack visited during his 8 months of military training in the United States, his 10 months stationed in Wales and England, and 3 weeks of active duty in France. The France section is currently “Under Construction” but the rest is complete.

• Things

This gallery is a collection of 12 objects that came from various family resources. Each object comes with a back story that explains its significance and what it tells us about Jack.

Gallery of Maps

Click on the image above to enter the Gallery

If you love maps and are a fan of military history, then this is the gallery for you.

I like to think of the war effort like a city bus. That bus is running its route. At some point Jack got picked up by the bus and eventually got dropped off by it, but the bus kept going. At the time, no one knew if the bus was running on schedule or if it was even going to make it to the next stop. Military maps are a great resource to understand the bus’s route and give context to Jack’s time in France.

Jack’s active duty started at Omaha Beach just two weeks after D-Day (June 6, 1944) and was part of a key turning point in the war referred to as the “Normandy Breakout” that culminated in the Liberation of Paris (August 25, 1944). I have included ten detailed military maps from that same period of time and have added notes and highlights to explain where Jack’s division was during the time frame covered by each map.

What became clear in my research was that the 28th Division was a very inexperienced division at this time. The Normandy Breakout was a sudden and chaotic surge forward that pushed the more experienced Divisions forward and pulled the replacement troops into battle for their very first time. This resulted in both sudden advancement and great loss of life.

Going Forward

The last part of research I am working on is Jack’s time in France. I will update the Research Archive when that work is complete. The Art Project to develop a scrapbook for Jack’s service is just getting started and may take several years to complete. For those that are interested, I will post updates as that work develops .

If you visit the Galleries, feel free to dig in deep or just fly through depending on your level of interest. I promise you won’t run into any mummies or vicious Hyenas, but you should gain a deeper understanding of Jack’s time in the military.

Tom Emme

The Easter Letter

April 9, 1944

Dear Mother & Father,

It is Easter Sunday, and you will be happy to know I made it to Mass today.  I have some time now and I am so behind in my letters, thought I would catch up.   I also included the picture I promised to send you.

This morning a line of truck’s showed up at our camp while it was still dark and we got to pick between the Catholic or Protestant service ( yes… I picked the right truck!). We were driven down to Swansea to a rugby field full of soldiers for a sunrise service. Two hours in the cold was not pleasant, but watching the sun come up over the bay made it all seem worthwhile. It made me think about the Easter’s we used to celebrate at Sacred Heart in Los Angeles. I miss you all so much!

Afterwards there was time to wander around town, but being Sunday, nothing was open. Swansea was hit hard during the Blitz and many parts of the town are still in ruins. You have to give the Welsh people credit for their courage, no time to rebuild, they just cleared the rubble off the streets and continued on with their lives.  

The Army still has me scratching my head. After six months of training in Wales we got news yesterday that we are being re-assigned and will be relocated soon. No real explanation, just something about needing a division that had completed their amphibious training, so we got the short straw.

I am not sure where we are going, but I will miss some things about Wales. Our camp is in the middle of a farm on the top of a hill, and the countryside is so beautiful. It’s just a short hike to the local pub and the people there have gotten to know us very well.  Meeting soldiers from other countries has been interesting too, like the marksmanship contest with the Welsh Home Guard ( we let them win) and the combined training with the Glasgow Highlanders ( yes, they really have bagpipes), but the highlight was at Christmas when we got to entertain all those English school children who were forced to leave their families in London. Poor kids… made me miss Corky terribly.

Plenty of things I will not miss, like fifteen mile hikes in the rain on Christmas Eve or training on the beaches with live rounds exploding overhead. I could fill another page with my thoughts about the Army and this war, but it would never get past the censors, so I better stop right here.

 I love you both. Hopefully, this will all end soon so I can get back home.

Jack

The 112th regiment was spread all over South Wales. Jack’s Company was in a British Camp that was built on a farm at Tre-glog, just outside of the village of Llansawel.

Jack described the countryside in England and Wales in one of his letters. Green and raining all the time, but training went on rain or shine.

The Black Lion Hotel was a pub in the small town of Llansawel that was a short hike from Jack’s camp. It is still in operation today.

The Assault Training Centre was located in North Devon and included extensive training for amphibious assault. Some of the remnants of the pill boxes and concrete obstacle courses still remain. Jack’s Division trained their in November 1943.

The 112th regiment sent eight of their best marksmen to have a shooting contest with the 1st Pembrokeshire Home Guard Battalion of the Welsh Regiment at Tenby. The Home Guard won the contest.

Jack’s regiment exchanged soldiers with the 15th Scottish Division that included the 56th Highland Brigade, 9th Cameronians, 2nd Glasgow Highlanders and the 7th Seaforth Highlanders.

St Helen’s Rugby and Cricket Field was where the Catholic Easter Sunrise Service was held on April 9, 1944. It is also where the demonstration american football game between the 28th Division and the 101st Airborne was held.

The Swansea Blitz occurred over three days in February 1941. Germans targeted the port city because of its shipping and nearby oil refineries. Over 230 people were killed and 7,000 lost their homes. In 1944 much of the town was still in ruins.

English children were moved from their homes in the cities into the country for their safety. Many US bases hosted parties and entertainment over the holidays for these children. Several thousand visited the 28th Division during Christmas in 1943.

Jack Emme was my dad’s brother. My dad’s nick name was Corky and he was fourteen years old in 1944. Jack was in the 28th Division, 112th Regiment, Company L. This blog post is part of a project to rebuild Jack’s service history during World War II.

This is not an actual letter from Jack but matches the tone of many of the letters he wrote while overseas. It is filled with verifiable facts about the six months he spent in South Wales.

As he describes in his letter, orders came through for Jack’s division to be reassigned the day before Easter in 1944. They were moved from the First Army to the Third Army under General George S. Patton. On April 19th, they were relocated by their own motor pool in three shifts to Ramsbury, England, which was about 150 miles away. The relocation was done in secret as part of an elaborate diversion to convince the Germans that the D-Day invasion was to be a landing at Calais instead of Normandy. It is likely that Jack’s division was added because there were no other divisions in the Third Army that had completed their amphibious training and they needed to look like an Army that was ready to invade.

 This diversion strategy was not known about publicly until after the war and created a lot of confusion for the soldiers of the 28th Division. On June 6th many felt that they had been passed over for the actual invasion and did not understand why.

Forty six days later, on July 22nd, the 28th division landed at Omaha Beach and went on to play a crucial role throughout the rest of the war. Jack was killed in action on August 7th somewhere near the road between Vire and Gathemo.

Jack - Blog

Welcome to the Jack - Blog. This blog is dedicated to content in development for “Jack - A Sodier’s Scrapbook.