84th Infantry Division,
334th Regiment, D & H Companies
"The Railsplitters"  Living History Group

Phone Interview with Brick Bradford, Veteran of Company H 334th Infantry

 

Interviewer MAJ Tim Scherrer

 

13 March 03

 

Brick was an officer with Company H, 334th Infantry.  He served as the Second Platoon leader, Battalion S-3 and then after the war ended, Company Commander.

 

Brick joined the 84th by choice.  He was serving as an umpire for the Louisiana Maneuvers in the summer of 1944 and he was an evaluator of the Heavy Weapons Company assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 334th Infantry Regiment, thus Company H.  He was impressed with the 84th, liked the soldiers and thought of the division as a “crackerjack” outfit.  He didn’t want to sit out the war and fell in love with the troops of the 84th, so he asked COL Truman, the Chief of Staff of the Division and cousin of then Senator Harry Truman about joining the division.  COL Truman asked for his name, rank and serial number.  The next day he got transfer orders and the Louisiana Maneuvers G-1 gave him a hard time about leaving, but he left the Maneuvers a happy man. 

 

When reporting into the 84th, COL Truman asked him where he wanted to be assigned, and he told him Second Battalion, 334th Infantry Regiment, and heavy weapons, so he got assigned to Company H.  His company commander was Captain “Jugg” Johnson.  He was called Jugg because he was a short man, 135 lbs but all muscle.  The Company XO was Lieutenant Lawrence.  His battalion commander was LTC Drum, whose father Ft Drum was named after. 

 

Their first engagement took a lot of casualties.  One mission that cost Company H a lot was one where a Platoon of Company F with a section of water cooled MGs.  They got the order down to go recon Objective Maple, which was just a goose-egg on a map.  There was no prior recon and it was raining heavily.  The result of the patrol was the loss of an entire machine gun section, including Harold Born who now lives in Bloomington, IL.

 

During the Battle of the Bulge, the 84th held the line from Hotton to Marche to Rochefort, Belgium.  In the month of December, the battalion commander was killed so Captain Johnson, the senior captain of the battalion, moved up to be the acting battalion commander.  The battalion got a bunch of new lieutenants so Johnson took Brick up to Battalion to be the S-3 Operations Officer, and moved 1LT Lawrence up to Company Commander of H.      

 

He served as 2nd Battalion S-3 through the Roer River Crossing.  A new battalion commander was sent down from G-1 for the Roer River crossing, and the new BC got wounded and the battalion command went back to Johnson.  He was present when Major Johnson was fatally wounded.  The battalion was moving forward, mainly dismounted, although brick was driving a jeep with a trailer.  Some harassment artillery struck the front of the column and hit Major Johnson.  Word got back to Brick that Johnson was his, and he took his jeep up to the site.  He said Johnson was pretty badly chewed up.  He wrapped him in blanket and put him in the jeep trailer and took him back to the aid station, but he was too far gone.  Major Johnson is buried in the US cemetery in Margraten, Holland.  Brick just recently found Major Johnson’s wife after many years of looking. 

 

Lieutenant Lawrence commanded Company H from December until the end of the war.  He was promoted to Captain at some point.  Because Lawrence was a high point man, with a family and children, he went home shortly after the war ended, and the company was given to Brick.

 

Colonel Hoy was reassigned as the European Theater recreation officer, and he took Brick with him.  Apparently Colonel Hoy had been a “big ball player” at West Point. 

 

There is much more to come with Brick..this was just from the first phone call.  Stay tuned for more information.