Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Eli Monroe Farrell (Killed in Action)

Name	Eli Monroe Farrell
Gender	Male
Race	White
Age	21
Relationship to Draftee	Self (Head)
Birth Date	24 Dec 1918
Birth Place	Nacogdoches, Texas, USA
Residence Place	Appleby, Nacogdoches, Texas, USA
Registration Date	16 Oct 1940
Registration Place	Appleby, Nacogdoches, Texas, USA
Employer	Austin Company
Height	6 2
Weight	170
Complexion	Ruddy
Hair Color	Blonde
Eye Color	Gray
Next of Kin	James Emmit Farrell

U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

Name	Eli M Farrell
Race	White
Marital Status	Married
Rank	Private
Birth Year	1918
Nativity State or Country	Texas
Citizenship	Citizen
Residence	Nacogdoches, Texas
Education	Grammar school
Civil Occupation	Machinists
Enlistment Date	27 Sep 1944
Enlistment Place	Houston, Texas
Service Number	38551518
Branch	No branch assignment
Component	Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Source	Civil Life
Height	80
Weight	000

10th. Army, 77th. Div. 307th Infantry Regiment (United States)

Ordered into active military service 25 March 1942 and reorganized at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The regiment participated in the January 1943 Louisiana Maneuvers. In July 1943, the regiment was organized with 3,256 officers and enlisted men:

Headquarters & Headquarters Company- 111

Service Company- 114

Anti-Tank Company- 165

Cannon Company- 118

Medical Detachment- 135

Infantry Battalion (x3)- 871

Headquarters & Headquarters Company- 126

Rifle Company (x3)- 193

Weapons Company- 156

The regiment departed San Francisco on 23 March 1944 and arrived in Hawaii on 1 April. The 307th first saw combat during the liberation of Guam in July, 1944. The 307th served in the liberation of the Philippines, arriving on 23 November 1944. The 2nd Battalion was detached for duty on Samar from 30 November until 14 December. The regiment assaulted Yakabi Shima on 26 March and Company G assaulted Kuba Shima on 27 March. The regiment fought on Okinawa from 27 April though 27 June. Arrived in Japan for occupation duties on 5 October 1945 and inactivated there 15 March 1946.

The 77th Infantry Division begins a five-day offensive on Ie Shima on April 16 and American forces are successful by April 21. During this fight, Ernie Pyle is killed by a Japanese machinegun burst on Ie Shima. The 307th Infantry Regiment moved into the line on Okinawa on April 29, on the top of the Maeda Escarpment known as Hacksaw Ridge. Conscientious objector, Army Medic Desmond Doss, selflessly attends to wounded men while unarmed. For his actions, Doss becomes the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Iejima, then called Ie Shima by US military and media, was the major starting point for the Surrender of Japan. It was the home of the 413th Fighter Group which comprised the 1st, 21st and 34th Fighter Squadrons, the 345th Bombardment Group, consisting of the 498th, 499th, 500th and 501st Squadrons, along with the 548th and 549th Night Fighter Squadrons of the 7th Fighter Command. All three groups were stationed there toward the end of the war.

Hacksaw Ridge

The 307th Infantry Regiment moved into the line on Okinawa on April 29, on the top of the Maeda Escarpment known as Hacksaw Ridge. Conscientious objector, Army Medic Desmond Doss, selflessly attends to wounded men while unarmed. For his actions, Doss becomes the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

American soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division listen impassively to radio reports of Victory in Europe Day on 8 May 1945.

Shuri Castle

During the WWII Battle of Okinawa, Shuri Castle was one of the focal points of the Shuri Line, the heavily defended Japanese defensive wall that stretched across the southern part of the island. The Japanese Army established its headquarters in a labyrinth built under the castle.

The 77th Division was available, around 21 April, all three Army divisions in the line--the 7th, 27th, and 96th--were in a low state of combat efficiency because of casualties and fatigue. The Tenth Army commander felt that it was of paramount importance to relieve these divisions as far as possible in order to maintain the pressure against the Japanese. Furthermore, the full strength of the 77th would not have been available: the division had left garrison forces on the Kerama Islands and le Shima which would not be replaced immediately. General Buckner felt that any landing on the southeast coast would be extremely costly, "another Anzio, but worse." Unless a juncture between the diversionary force and the main body of his troops could be made within forty-eight hours of the landing he felt that he could not endorse the plan. A juncture within such a period of time being obviously impossible, the general's disapproval was patent.

Simon B. Buckner, Jr. as a Brigadier General

Looming even larger than the question of where to commit the 77th Division was that of how best to use the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions in conquering southern Okinawa. The 2d Marine Division, which had been sent back to Saipan, was scheduled to invade Kikai, north of Okinawa, in July;

By their decision General Buckner and his staff committed themselves to the alternative basic tactics of the battle for Okinawa--a frontal assault by the two corps against the Shuri line and an attempt to make a double envelopment of Shuri. The choice was a conservative one: it avoided the risks inherent in another landing under the conditions which would have attended it. It was definitely decided to bring the III Amphibious Corps from northern Okinawa and the 77th Division from le Shima. Efforts were also made to speed up the logistical preparations necessary for another general attack. Until sufficient troops and supplies should be at hand the Tenth Army would continue its attack against the second Shuri defense ring with as much force as available resources permitted. For the time being the tactical aim would be to consolidate and advance the American lines for the purpose of gaining a better position for the big attack.

MAEDA ESCARPMENT STRONG POINTS included the Apartment House and a cave-tunnel-pillow network. The Apartment House barracks area (above), just east of Nakama, was captured 5 May as the 307th Infantry, 77th Division, cleaned out reverse slope of Maeda Escarpment. Demolitions played a large part in capture of the maze of caves, tunnels, and pillboxes some 200 feet from the east of the escarpment. Great sections of the hilltop were blasted away (below), blocking cave entrances in the escarpment's face.

On 29 April the 307th Infantry of the 77th Division took over the Maeda Escarpment part of the line from the 381st Infantry, and the next morning the 306th relieved the 383d Infantry on the 96th Division left. At noon on 30 April, General Bruce, Commanding General of the 77th Division, assumed responsibility for the former 96th Division zone of action on the Corps front. The end of April also witnessed a regrouping among the Japanese units on the line. In response to the urgent orders of the Japanese commander on 26 April when the Maeda sector was threatened, the 32d Regiment of the 24th Division hurried northward to the Maeda sector but apparently did not take over front-line duty until 28 April. It then went into the middle sector between the 22d Regiment of the 24th Division on the east and the badly mauled 62d Division, which was now occupying the western third of the front.

In the 77th Division's sector the Tenth Army's attack of 11 May marked a resumption of the snail-like frontal advance on Shuri. The division's two regiments, fighting on opposite sides of a long open valley southeast of Route 5, had to coordinate more closely with neighboring divisions than with each other. The progress of the 305th on the 77th's right (west) was dependent largely on the advance of the 1st Marine Division on Dakeshi Ridge; the 306th, on the division left, worked closely with the 96th Division along high ground west and southwest of Kochi Ridge. Enemy forces facing the 77th consisted of two battalions of the 32d Regiment, 24th Division, supported by elements of four independent battalions, including a Shuri guard unit.15

The sector of the 305th Infantry was a jumble of ground extending south from Hill 187 toward Shuri. In contrast to the bold terrain features east and

northwest of Shuri, this area was a rough plateau pitted with innumerable knolls, ravines, and draws. By the middle of May the ground was even more broken by shell holes, trenches, and gaping cave mouths. Hardly a living plant was visible. The 305th pressed on, although every advance of a few yards uncovered more positions to be destroyed. The attack took a steady toll of Americans; by 15 May the 305th was fighting at about one-fourth strength.

Through the Japanese Lines to Ishimmi Ridge

Shortly before dark of 16 May 1st Lt. Theodore S. Bell, commanding Company E, 307th Infantry, took his platoon leaders up to the 2d Battalion observation post atop a coral pinnacle, pointed out Ishimmi Ridge, dimly visible in the dusk, 1,200 yards to the south, and announced that Company E had been ordered to make a surprise night attack on the ridge. In the few minutes remaining before dark the officers studied the lay of the land. A heavy machine gun section from Company H and a reinforced rifle platoon from Company C were attached to Company E for the attack. The members of the reinforced company, many of them replacements without previous combat experience, were ordered to load and lock their weapons and to fix bayonets.

Company E moved out in the dark at 0300, 17 May. Going down through the west part of the valley, the troops at 0400 reached the line of departure, where they were joined by the platoon from Company C. Fifteen minutes later the reinforced company was silently picking its way along low ground. Several gaunt trees on Ishimmi Ridge, showing dimly in the light of the frequent flares, served as guide points. Although Japanese controlled the ground, the Americans were not detected. Troops froze in their tracks whenever flares exploded overhead.

The sound of battle--rifle and automatic fire and the whir of artillery shells--was always around them.

The company reached Ishimmi Ridge just before dawn and began taking up positions along a 125-yard sector of the flat crest. Digging in was difficult because of the coral and rock formation. The crest of Ishimmi was hardly ten yards wide at the center but flared out on either end. The 3d Platoon moved to the left, the 2d Platoon formed the center, the platoon from Company C took the right flank, and the 1st Platoon protected the rear. Lieutenant Bell established his command post in a pocket twenty yards north of the narrow part of the ridge.

By dawn the men were in position but the enemy was still unaware of their presence. A Japanese officer and his aide, talking and laughing as they emerged from a tunnel, were killed before they noticed the Americans. The 2d Platoon found a dozen sleeping Japanese in one trench and dispatched them with bayonets and rifle fire. By 0530, however, the enemy was fully alerted. Japanese troops began to pour out of tunnels in a ridge south of Ishimmi and tried to cross the intervening valley. American machine-gun fire cut them down. Soon enemy artillery, mortar, machine-gun, and rifle fire was sweeping the bare crest, forcing the troops to lie flat in their shallow holes. The Japanese were firing from all directions, including the rear, and were delivering mortar fire even from tunnel openings along the lower slopes of Ishimmi Ridge itself.

American positions from one end to another. The dead lay in pools of blood where they fell, or were pushed from the holes to make room for the living. An aid man, although wounded himself, continued his work until his supplies were exhausted.

During the day the 307th Infantry could not reinforce the company over the fire-swept approaches, but supported the force with artillery and self-propelled guns. Cannon company weapons put direct fire on Japanese trying to storm the hill. Many American shells landed so close to the encircled troops that the men were showered with rock. The one remaining radio enabled Lieutenant Bell to pinpoint targets for support fire. Mortars and heavy machine guns also helped to break up enemy charges.

The combined fire piled up the Japanese on the slopes of Ishimmi, but their attacks continued. By midday the 2d and 3d Platoons were at half strength and the rest of the company also had suffered heavily. Realizing that he could not possibly hold his extended positions during the night, Lieutenant Bell ordered the 2d and 3d Platoons late in the afternoon to pull into the command post and form a perimeter around it. Withdrawal was difficult, for the 2d Platoon had six badly mangled men in its sector. These were placed on ponchos and dragged out sled-fashion. One casualty was killed by machine-gun fire on the way out.

During the night a rescue force tried to get through to Company E, but the Japanese ambushed it and the survivors turned back. The Americans on Ishimmi Ridge, bombarded during the night by artillery, mortars, and "buzz bombs," repelled several attempts at infiltration. Flares kept the area well lighted and enabled Company E to see the approaching Japanese. Sleep was impossible. The tired, tense men hunched in their foxholes and waited for the dawn.

U.S., World War II Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954

Name	Eli M Farrell
Gender	Male
Rank	Enlisted Man (includes Aviation Cadet or Student)
Admission Age	27
Birth Date	abt 1918
Admission Date	May 1945
Discharge Date	May 1945
Discharge Place	Not in Medical Installation Prior to Death
Military Branch	Infantry, General or Unspecified
Military Unit	3
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: Killed in action; Location: Unknown, code not applicable; CausativeAgent: None or Unknown
Type of Injury	InjuryType: Battle casualty; InjuryType2: All battle casualties, and all battle injuries not intentionally inflicted by self or another person
Service Number	38551518
Notes	None

Name	Eli M Farrell
Birth Date	24 Dec 1920
Service Number	38551518
Service Branch	US Army
Unit	A/S Inf, Co K, 307 Inf Reg
Death Date	16 May 1945
Cemetery	Libby
Cemetery Location	Nacogdoches, Texas, USA

Name	Eli M Farrell
Gender	Male
Race	White
Religion	Protestant
Cemetery Name	Texas
Disposition	According to next of kin
Service Branch	Army
Rank	Private
Service Number	38551518


	Eli M. Farrell WW2 monument Okinawa, Japan	Peace Park Memorial

PVT Eli Monroe Farrell

BIRTH: 24 Dec 1920
DEATH: 16 May 1945 (aged 24)
BURIAL: Libby Cemetery
Nacogdoches County, Texas, USA

Citation: Notes on the movements of the 10th. Army taken from:

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The Flag of the Kingdom of Spain 1519 to 1821

The Spanish Flag of Castile and Leon flew over Texas for three hundred years. Spanish involvement in Texas began with Alonzo Alverez de Pineda's mapping of the Texas coast in 1519. Then, in 1542 Luis de Moscoso came to Nacogdoches and East Texas with the remnants of the Hernando de Soto expedition that had begun four years earlier in Florida. Spain's claim to Texas went back to the DeSoto-Moscoso Expedition, which claimed all of southeastern United States as Spanish Florida. Spain's occupation of Texas began in 1690 with the founding of Mission San Francisco de los Tejas on the Neches River. It continued in 1716 with the founding of six missions from the Neches River to Los Adaes in Western Louisiana, and 1721 with the founding of Presidio Nuestra Señora de Pilar de los Adaes----near present day Robeline, Louisiana. Los Adaes was the first capital of the Province of Texas. Texas was under the Spanish flag until Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821. Interestingly, the first flag used by the Spanish to claim Texas was not the familiar flag of Castile and Leon; it was a banner that had the Virgin of Guadalupe on one side and the crucified Christ on the other.

The Flag of the Kingdom of France 1685 to 1689

France's claim to a part of Texas went back to 1682, when Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Mississippi and claimed all the land in its drainage for France. For some mapmakers and politicians, this included Texas. He named this land Louisiana. La Salle came to Texas in 1685, after he accidentally sailed past his destination at the mouth of the Mississippi. He established Fort St. Louis and a French settlement on Garcitas Creek off Matagorda Bay. The settlement was ill fated from its beginning. LaSalle was murdered by his own men near Navasota in 1687, and the settlers and soldiers who remained at Fort St. Louis were killed or captured by the Indians in 1689. The Spanish found Fort St. Louis and burned it to the ground in 1690. This French intrusion into Spanish territory caused the Spanish to begin the occupation and settlement of East Texas to prevent further French invasions.

The Flag of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition 1812 to 1813

Bernardo Gutiérrez and Lieutenant Augustus Magee flew their green flag of the new Republic of Texas over the Stone Fort in Nacogdoches in August of 1812. The Republican Army of the North, as these filibusters called themselves, had come from Natchitoches to Nacogdoches to recruit and train troops with the help of Samuel Davenport. They stayed for two months, drilled an army of over five hundred men, and then marched on to capture Goliad and San Antonio. Magee died at Goliad, and his place was taken by Samuel Kemper. Kemper and Gutiérrez captured San Antonio and issued a Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Texas on April 6, 1813. This brief time of Texas Independence was over when the Spanish general Joaquín de Arredondo destroyed the remains of the Republican army at the Battle of Medina on August 18, 1813. Augustus Magee and Samuel Davenport, who were in charge of the militia in Nacogdoches, were both Irishmen. That might have governed their choice of the Emerald Green flag as the Republican army's standard.

The Flag of the Dr. James Long Expedition 1819 and 1821

Some Americans believed that Texas was part of Louisiana as claimed by LaSalle in 1682 and should have been included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. One of those was Dr. James Long of Natchez, Mississippi, who came to Nacogdoches in June of 1819. Dr. Long proclaimed himself the president of his newly declared Republic of Texas. Dr. Long's red-striped Lone Star flag flew but briefly over the Stone Fort and his Republic of Texas. The Spanish caught Long when he went to Galveston, where he was seeking the assistance of pirate Jean Lafitte. There they defeated him and his meager army and chased him back to Louisiana. Dr. Long returned to Texas with a small army in 1821 and quickly captured the poorly manned garrison at Goliad. However, he was soon under siege by Spanish troops from San Antonio, who recaptured Goliad and took him captive. Dr. James Long was taken to Mexico City, jailed, then freed, and then murdered under mysterious circumstances by a Mexican soldier.

The Flag of the Mexican Federal Republic 1821 to 1836

Spanish Nacogdoches came under the Mexican flag in 1821, when Mexico finally won its independence from Spain. Mexico, in order to prove its ownership of Texas, began settling its eastern parts with the Anglos as early as December 1821. In that year Stephen F. Austin was allowed to bring the first of his Old Three Hundred Settlers into his grant on the Brazos. Thereafter, Americans poured through Nacogdoches, the Gateway to Texas, in search of cheap land. By the time of the Texas revolution in 1836, Anglos greatly outnumbered the Spanish-Mexican population. The Mexican flag that flew over Nacogdoches and still flies over Mexico was adopted in 1825. It has three vertical green, white, and red fields of equal width. In the center of the white field is the Mexican eagle sitting on a nopal cactus holding a snake in its beak. In Mexican legend, this was a sign to the Aztecs that they had reached the land that was to be their home.

The Flag of the Fredonia Rebellion 1826 to 1827

For a brief while, the flag that flew over Nacogdoches was the red-and-white banner of Haden Edward's thirty-seven-day Fredonia Rebellion. Edwards had obtained a grant from Mexico to settle eight hundred families in East Texas in the Nacogdoches area. Unfortunately for him, most of the land had already been settled---legally and illegally---by the early Spanish, by Indians, and by Anglo squatters. His intrusion caused such a disturbance that the Mexican government revoked his grant. Disappointed over the loss of his grant, on December 16, 1826, Haden and his brother Benjamin rode into Nacogdoches, planted their flag in front of the Stone Fort, and proclaimed the Republic of Fredonia. They had formed an uncertain alliance with the Cherokees, thus the reason for the red and white colors of the flag. The flag carried the words "Independence Freedom and Justice" and the Signatures of sixteen of the original Fredonians. The Fredonian army consisted of no more than thirty men, the Cherokees never joined them, and Stephen F. Austin raised a militia to put down the East Texas rebellion. The Fredonians gave up their cause on January 22, 1827, and retreated eastward across the Sabine.

The Flag of the Republic of Texas 1836 to 1846

Mexican Texas became the Republic of Texas after Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna on the plains of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The first official flag was a white upside-down star on a blue background with T-E-X-A-S written between the points of the star. This flag never flew. The second flag of the Republic was adopted by the first Texas congress in December 1836. It bore a single, large gold star on a blue field. This flag was the same design as the "Bonnie blue flag that bears a single star" that was so popular among the Southern troops during the Civil War. The Lone Star flag that we now use was designed by Texas Senator William H. Wharton and was officially adopted by the Senate under President Mirabeau B. Lamar in 1839. The new flag kept the white star on the blue field, but now the blue field was a vertical stripe which occupied one-third of the flag, and it was balanced by horizontal white and red stripes, on the other two-thirds. This Texas flag has been prominently displayed for over 150 years.

The Flag of the Confederate States of America 1861 to 1865

For four years, the Stars and Bars flew over Nacogdoches and Texas. After years of conflicts of interest between the North and the South over states rights, slavery, and the right of secession, the Civil War began in March of 1861. Texas seceded and joined the Confederate States of America. It sent its Texas brigades into battle, and suffered for four years with the rest of the Confederacy before General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. The most enduring of the Confederate flags during the War was the Stars and Bars with the square of blue holding a circle of the seven original seceding states. Texas was the seventh star. Because the Confederate Stars and Bars and the Union Stars and Stripes were easily confused in the heat of battle, General P. G. T. Beauregard introduced a Confederate battle flag. This was a square red flag with a white-bordered blue cross running diagonally from corners to corners. The cross contained thirteen stars representing the eleven Confederate states plus Kentucky and Missouri. This battle flag became the flag most closely identified with the Southern cause. The Confederate Stars and Bars came down in Texas after April 1863 and Appomattox, and the United States Stars and Stripes have been flying over this State ever since.

The Flag of the United States of America since 1846

On February 19, 1846, the Lone Star flag was lowered over the Texas state capitol in Austin, and the Stars and Stripes was raised. The Republic of Texas had become the State of Texas. From the beginning of the Republic in 1836, the majority of the Texians, most of whom had come directly from the States, had wanted Texas to join the Union. But many in the Union did not want Texas in the United States. Some did not want one more Southern slave-holding state, and some were afraid of causing a war with Mexico. Nevertheless, on July 4, 1845, the Texas congress voted to accept the articles of annexation offered by United States President James K. Polk, and on December 29, 1845, the congressional resolution proclaiming Texas as a state in the Union was signed by President Polk. The Old Glory that was raised above the Texas state capitol on the following February 19, 1846, had twenty-eight stars in four rows of seven stars each. Except for the four years of the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, these Stars and Stripes have since 1846 flown over the State of Texas.

Nacogdoches Texas USA

Nacogoches

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Eli Monroe Farrell (Killed in Action)

PVT Eli Monroe Farrell

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