Memories: Ed Roberts

Ed Roberts

An Oregon Resident
Ed Roberts Rainier, Oregon
December 11, 2000
Dear Scotty,

To give a little background to you on my Army activities after our being separated from one another, Bill Oudshoorn and I were together from the time we left Hunter Liggett until I was sent home from Germany on June 30, 1945. I was scheduled to go for the invasion of Japan, but the A-bombs were dropped before I had to go, therefore ending the war with Japan. Bill and the others remained in Germany for several more months before returning to the U.S. I was a forward observer for the artillery and my MOS number selected me for the Japan duty, so I was the only one from our unit sent home early.

After leaving Hunter Liggett Military Reservation, we were sent to Camp Butner, North Carolina, with Bill and I being assigned to Battery C, 914th Field Artillery Battalion. I was later sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to attend radio school, preparing for assignment as forward observer. While overseas I worked for the 914th with the 355th Infantry, 3 Battalion to call fire missions from the artillery. Bill, as I remember, was postal clerk in charge of incoming and outgoing mail for our unit.

In early January 1945, we were sent to Camp Myles Standish, Mass., and embarked Boston January 10th. We arrived LeHavre, France January 21st in the middle of the night, and were transported to Camp Lucky Strike where we remained until February 23rd. On that date we started moving through France, and on to Luxembourg, where we arrived March 5th.

Our unit entered combat March 12, 1945 at Trier, Germany. We crossed the Moselle River March 16th and Rhine River March 26th. We then moved through Eisenach, Germany April 6th, Arnstadt April 11th, Kahla April 14th, and then to Zwickau and the Mulde River April 18~ Our unit was close to the Czechoslovakian border where we met the Russian troops as the war ended.

V-E Day May 9, 1945 was the big event and called for a grand celebration! We were then moved to Gotha, Germany on May 12th, and I was there until June 30 when I embarked for Newport News, Virginia. We received three battle stars for Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe campaigns.

Upon leaving Newport News, Virginia, I traveled by train to Ft. Lewis, Washington and on to visit Babs at her home in Vernonia, Oregon. From there I returned to Ft. Lewis, and was sent to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, where I remained until discharged in November 1945. Babs had joined me there, so we both then went to West Virginia to spend some time with my family before returning to Oregon.

We came to Rainier in March 1946, where I found employment at the local bank. We have lived in the same town since then, believe it or not. In time, I became President and CEO of the bank, and after what seemed a lifetime retired in October 1984. During my working years, our bank merged with the Oregon Bank, headquartered in Portland, so I became Senior Vice President of our Rainier Branch, and was elected to the Board of Directors of the Portland bank, To complete the sequence, that bank merged with Security Pacific bank, after which I retired, and that bank then merged with Bank of America. This bank then merged with Nations Bank, but retained the name of Bank of America. So there have been many changes over the years, and I feel fortunate to have retired when 1 did.

My sweetheart, Babs, (Lillian Laird) and my wife of these many years, resided in Jameson House near Snell Hall when we were at OSU, as you may remember. We were married in December 1944, not long before I was sent overseas, and will celebrate our 56th Anniversary this Christmas. 1Many years of happiness, together with problems we face during life, but God has been good to us and we were blessed with two children.

Our son, Chuck, is a CPA, and our daughter, Carol, has taught high school for many years. She recently became the librarian for the school, and lives in Lebanon, Oregon, not far from Corvallis. She is the one that obtained the ASTP information, as I mentioned before.

Chuck has an office in Enterprise, Oregon, in the far eastern part of the State. He and his wife, Sheryle, lived there for many years and this past year also purchased a home in Rainier, so he does much traveling in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Sheryle now teaches Spanish and English in our local high school. They have two children, Stephanie and Andy, and both are the joy of our life! Having grown to adulthood, they have done much travel and study in foreign lands, and you can bet we are really proud of them. Stephanie has studied Spanish in Mexico and Spain, and will be going to Italy this summer to study the Italian language. Her goal is to teach English as a second language, perhaps overseas. Andy is now in China where he has been for several months, and will be returning home the 21st of this month. He is in his last year of college, majoring in computer science, with minors in math and Asian studies. Both really good kids.

Our home in Rainier overlooks the Columbia River and Longview, Washington, with the river dividing the States of Oregon and Washington. We can see Mt. St. Helens (the one which blew its top a few years ago), and Mt. Rainier, and our four acres include many Douglas fir trees and much wildlife. Babs has a difficult time trying to raise flowers, because the deer keep eating her roses and other things she cultivates. They travel through our yard most every day and bed down in the field below our house, so even though we enjoy seeing them, they are somewhat of a nuisance.

I didn't mean to include so much trivia, Scotty, but it has been many years since we have seen each other, so thought we should catch up. You mentioned the book "Scholars in Foxholes". I obtained two copies some time back from the author, having him autograph one for me and giving the other to my daughter since she had been interested in obtaining the ASTP info for me. I also received a nice letter from him. I hope some of the enclosures may be useful to you, and that some of the scanned photos may be interesting. You may keep everything I have sent.

Kindest regards,
Ed (Roberts)