Mon City’s highest-ranking WWII officer died a hero

This story is part of Mon Valley Sons of World War II, a series about our sons who lost their lives in service to our country during the war.

By JOHN J. TURANIN
For the MVI

Monongahela High School’s popular James Clark “Bud” Ford rose from the rank of private in the Pennsylvania National Guard to major in the U.S. Army in nine years. He earned three valor awards for his leadership in combat in France and Germany, but it was not enough for a ticket home to his wife, his hometown sweetheart.

The Ford family

James Clark Ford Jr. was born Aug. 4, 1916, to James Clark and Mary Elizabeth (née Gee) Ford in Monongahela, Pa. James Sr. and Mary married five years earlier in Marshall, W.Va., before settling in Mon City by 1912. James Sr. worked as a clerk for the local steam railroad while Mary managed the Ford family household.

Both the Ford and Gee families had deep roots in the early history of the U.S. The Ford family heritage traces back to Ireland in the 1800s, to the British colonies of New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York prior to the American Revolutionary War, and to England and Ireland before then. The Gee family roots are from the British colonies of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and prewar from Germany, England, Scotland and Ireland. Ancestors of both families settled in Western Pennsylvania.

James Jr., nicknamed “Bud,” was the last of three children born to the couple. Harriet Rosella (1912) arrived first, followed by John Paul (1914). Hydrocephalus claimed the life of John Paul when he was 6 months old. By 1920, the family was living in the home of Mary’s mother at 531 Vine St., in Mon City, where they continued living through 1930.

In the 1920s, James Sr. had a job as an insurance agent and ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat in a heavily Republican community for city council twice and the board of directors of the school district. He eventually was elected to the school board. By 1940, James Sr. had saved enough money to purchase their own home at 531 Alexander St.

Bud: Popular student, local athlete & national guardsman

As a teenager, Bud was on the local “mushball” team, a game played with a softball with a 16-inch-circumference. Also known by his middle name Clark, he was a popular, active student at Monongahela High School. He was enrolled in the general academic course, and was elected president of his class as a sophomore in 1931 and as a senior in 1933. He played on the high school football team as well as interclass basketball. He was a member of the Hi-Y, French, sophomore dramatic and boys glee clubs. Bud graduated in 1933 before his 17th birthday.

The following year brought his first taste of military service when he enlisted with Company A, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, of the Pennsylvania National Guard on Sept. 14, 1934. He was promoted to private first class in May 1936, to corporal in March 1937 and then to sergeant in July 1937. Bud decided to invest more time in a military career and attended the Bullis Academy, a military prep school in Silver Springs, Md. At the conclusion of his three-year National Guard term, he reenlisted in September 1940 and was promoted to first sergeant in January 1941.

Along with his commitment to the National Guard, Bud stayed active socially and in local athletics. He was involved in the Phi Alpha Sigma social club, where in 1935, he played for the Phi Alphas in an exhibition “donkeyball” game in which donkeys were ridden by the softball players. Bud continued his athletic pursuits by playing the positions of end in football and center in basketball for Mon City teams.

In 1938, he played alongside future Major League Baseball great Stan Musial from Donora. In February 1939, while playing basketball for Company A alongside his second cousin and good friend Charles “Cy” Carpenter, Bud made the longest basket in local history when he heaved the ball from three-quarter court.

By 1940, Bud had been hired as a salesman for the Potter-McCune Company, a wholesale grocery business in Pittsburgh. Bud moved into his own place two blocks from his employer, at 7132 Idlewild St. in Pittsburgh, where he rented a room. He had been so successful at Potter- McCune that he was promoted to branch manager.

Global war brewing

The citizens of Mon City monitored the burgeoning wars overseas. Germany had long been executing the “Third Reich” political-military strategy of its Fuhrer Adolph Hitler. They entered alliances with the like-minded leaders of Italy and Japan. By the end of 1940, Germany had invaded Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Netherlands. Pursuing its own empire-building aspirations, Italy had expanded into Ethiopia, Albania, and was invading France by 1940. Japan had assumed control over Korea from the Soviets in 1905, but by 1940, Japan had invaded China and French Indochina.

Bud, 24, registered for the draft on its first day, Oct.16, 1940, as a 6-foot, 190-pound young man with brown hair and brown eyes. Coincidentally, Bud’s mother was doing her part that day by working as a registrar at the Mon City draft board.

Three months later, in anticipation of the U.S. joining the war overseas, the 110th Regiment was informed that it would be federalized, or incorporated into the U.S. Army, on Feb. 17, 1941.They would join 10,000 Pa. Guardsman at Indiantown Gap Training Camp on Feb. 27 for what was planned to be one year of Army training. Bud and his peers in Company A circled that date on their calendars. That day, the town held its biggest parade ever for the departing soldiers.

Four months after his arrival at Indiantown Gap, Sgt. Bud Ford was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion. Company A headed to Camp Livingston, La., for further training.

He was soon chosen for special officer training and was sent to Fort Benning, Ga., where he earned a commission as first lieutenant. He was rising in the ranks of the U.S. Army quickly.

The U.S. enters WWII

Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the U.S. military bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. The U.S. declared war on Japan, and as an ally of the Japanese Empire, Germany declared war on the U.S. But the situation changed when the U.S. Army decided to hold the 28th Infantry Division stateside to add troops and train further for eventual deployment into combat.

Throughout his Army training, Bud had been corresponding with his hometown sweetheart, Marie Judith Lazzari, a beautician at Monongahela’s Hoover Beauty Shop. They decided to marry after Bud graduated from Fort Benning. Marie traveled to Louisiana, and they shared their vows in New Orleans on March 19, 1942 In the summer of 1942, Company A joined other infantry units from around the country in Louisiana for what became known as the “Louisiana Maneuvers.” He was assigned command of Company A, and his performance earned quick recognition. He was again promoted, this time to captain, and was transferred to battalion headquarters of the 28th Infantry Division. In December 1942, Ford was detailed to the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Va., for two weeks of instruction in operations against permanent land fortifications.

On June 25, 1943, at Camp Pickett, Va., Ford was promoted to major. He was the youngest major in the 28th Infantry Division. In October, he was sent to England with battalion headquarters.

European Theater

Two months after arriving in England, Maj. Ford enjoyed a most unlikely meeting when he ran into his second cousin, Lt. Charles “Cy” Carpenter. Carpenter had just arrived, and Bud was the first person he saw. Both were delighted that they could enjoy their first Christmas Eve in England by dining together.

The 28th Infantry Division trained for the invasion of Europe. Through April, Ford was stationed with the 110th Infantry Regimental headquarters at Camp Chisledon in Wiltshire, England. They were awaiting the upcoming amphibious landings of Allied troops at Normandy, France on June 6, 1944, and would come ashore in a subsequent wave. The 28th mobilized to Southampton and Weymouth in mid-July and boarded transports bound for Normandy, landing at Omaha Beach July 19-20. The division gathered at Colombieres July 27, and moved to the outskirts of St. Lo, France, July 31.

The Division entered combat near St. Lo and came across the terrain of hedgerows and boccage. Division reports state that this terrain was never studied by the staff and the infantry had never trained for it. They had to learn as they went.

Ford was subsequently awarded the Bronze Star medal “for meritorious achievement during the period 30 July 1944 to 19 August 1944, in connection with military operations against the enemy in Normandy, France.” It would not be his last medal.

In August, the 28th Infantry pushed the retreating German troops 400 miles west from Percy to Compeigne, stopping in Paris for the city’s liberation parade. On their march eastward, they either took or occupied nearly 40 towns, not counting the numerous villages along the way.

Ford again earned recognition from his superiors when they awarded him the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster for his leadership Aug. 15, 1944, near Sourdeval, France.

“For gallantry in action against the enemy on 15 August 1944, in France. When his battalion launched an attack on Sourdeval, France, enemy small arms and artillery fire inflicted heavy casualties on the attacking force, resulting in the loss of many officers and non-commissioned officers, thereby slowing the progress of the attack. Major Ford, observing this, advanced forward under the heavy enemy fire, to the forward positions of his forces. He immediately reorganized the surviving members of the elements in his vicinity and led them in an attack on the enemy positions. His disregard for danger was an inspiration to the men he led and his initiative contributed largely to the success of the attack. He became mortally wounded in subsequent action against the enemy. The gallant leadership displayed by Major Ford reflects highest credit on him and the Armed Forces of the United States.”

During September, the 28th advanced another 300 miles through France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, destroying 137 enemy fortifications and capturing 1,360 German POWs. The division then encountered the Siegfried Line, a nearly 400 milelong string of over 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps between the border of Germany and France/Belgium. After days of battle, they broke through into Germany.

The month of October was mostly spent in aggressive patrolling, training and reorganizing, occasionally being relieved by other units. They were preparing for their next operation. At some point during the previous four months, Ford was assigned command of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, of the Division’s 109th Infantry Regiment.

November started off aggressively. The 28th Division launched an allout attack in the area of the Hurtgen Forest in what would become known as the Battle of Schmidt. The town of Schmidt, Germany, was an important objective as it rested on a ridge overlooking the Schwammenauel Dam on the upper Roer River. The dam could be blown up by the Germans in order to isolate the attacking troops by a rush of flood waters. Schmidt was also an important throughway for German supply transports, and, being at the rear of the main Siegfried Line, offered a critical potential front line for the U.S. forces against their enemy.

Ford’s 109th Regiment began the attack northward at 9 a.m. Nov. 2 to protect the division’s left flank, while the 122th Regiment would make the main attack three hours later. Medium tanks and anti-tank guns would accompany the offensive. The weather was cold, but not freezing, with a heavy mist hanging over the forest, exacerbating the morass of mud that clogged vehicles and boots. But the moist air soon gave way to snow.

The Germans counterattacked Nov. 4-6. The fighting was relentless, and the Battle of Schmidt did not go well for the 28th ID.

On Nov. 8, Ford’s battalion was ordered to send one company into the western end of Vossenack, with the remainder of the battalion to Germeter. While reconnoitering in Vossenack, Maj Ford was struck in the back by shell fragments from artillery fire. He did not survive. The 28th ID lost 59 men that day. Of those, Ford was the only officer.

By the end of the Battle of Schmidt Nov. 8, “the action of the 28th ID had developed into one of the bloodiest and most costly division actions in the whole of World War II.” The total losses for the division exceeded 5,000 in November 1944. The town of Schmidt was not taken by Allied forces until February 1945.

For his leadership during the battle of Hurtgen Forest, Major Ford was awarded the Silver Star medal: “For gallantry in action against the enemy in the Hurtgen Forest, Germany on 2 and 3 November 1944. When an attack was temporarily halted by enemy small arms, mortar and artillery fire, Major Ford quickly reorganized the men of his battalion and inspired them to gain their objective. In spite of enemy mortar and artillery fire, Major Ford assisted in establishing defensive positions to hold the newly gained territory. During the following night he personally led medics in collecting and evacuating the dead and wounded over a treacherous route fraught with enemy patrols. Major Ford vigorously fought off an enemy counterattack the next morning and narrowly escaped capture when the Germans penetrated to the battalion observation post. Fighting his way to a friendly rifle company Major Ford assisted in repelling fierce enemy attacks until relieved by elements of another battalion. He became mortally wounded in subsequent action against the enemy. Major Ford’s gallant leadership, reflects great credit on him and the Armed Forces of the United States.”

James Clark ‘Bud’ Ford, remembered

Maj. James Ford was initially buried at American Military Cemetery No. 1 in Henri Chapelle, Belgium, on Nov. 10, 1944. Both Ford and his cousin Carpenter were posthumously feted by the Monongahela Elks with the Elks Medal of Valor that December. Carpenter was eventually transported back to Mon City for final burial at Monongahela Cemetery in December 1947 under the federal government’s Return of the War Dead program.

John J. Turanin is a retired Western Pennsylvanian and grandson of the Mon Valley. His new book is “Tin Men Steel Soldiers: The price paid in WWII by a Pennsylvania mill town: True stories of the lives and losses of 82 men is about Monessen, PA.” John is one of hundreds of volunteers with the nonprofit organization Stories Behind The Stars who are writing memorial stories for every one of the 421,000 U.S. service members and 31,000 Pennsylvanians who lost their lives during WWII. Those interested in joining the effort are encouraged to visit www.StoriesBehindTheStars.org.