Dan Hauserman (far right) was one of eight brothers. Four of the boys enlisted during WWII.
DAN M. HAUSERMAN
Age: 86
Born: April 23, 1924
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Residence: Rancho Mirage
Military branch: U.S. Army Signal Corps; 5th Army and 7th Army; 74th Signal Company Special
Years served: May 1943- December 1945
Rank: Private first class
Family: Wife Joan; six children, Susie Bellomy of Sandpoint, Idaho, Julie Perachiotti of Novato, Mary Carnell of Jackson, Dan Hauserman Jr. of Tahoe City, Calif., Tim Hauserman of Tahoe City, Calif. and Heidi Wilmott of Anchorage, Alaska; 14 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren.
About this series
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II through the end of 2010 — the 65th anniversary of the end of the war. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
Coming tomorrow
U.S. Navy veteran Ken Marts of Indian Wells.
LEARN MORE: Read about other Coachella Valley residents who served in World War II at www.mydesert.com/WWII
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Dan Hauserman was one of four brothers who enlisted in the service during World War II.
Four other brothers worked at their dad's defense plant — a steel company that made, among other military-related equipment, landing gear doors for the Navy's Corsair fighter planes.
Hauserman was the only brother to see combat — while in the U.S. Air Corps and Army.
Shipping out of Newport News, Va., on the liberty ship the William Blount, the men faced rough sailing in a leaky ship — all the way to Oran, Algeria.
Seawater poured in through a ripped seam in the bottom of the ship throughout the journey.
“We had to keep the pumps going,” he said.
The convoy of “many ships” took about 30 days “zigzagging across the Atlantic under blackout conditions with German submarines on the prowl.”
“It was very rough sailing with approximately 300 soldiers in the hold — with four to five bunks high from floor to ceiling. Most were seasick much of the time. Weather was rough and saltwater was used for sponge bathing. No showers except in officers' quarters.”
Hauserman, who at the time was a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps, was trained in aviation ordnance — ammunition supply for the air forces — at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
There, he learned how to load bombs on the planes and how to fuse and arm the huge explosives.
Once in Oran, he found there was no need for extra bodies in the aviation ordnance division.
“We got overseas and nobody could draw me out of the replacement depot for Air Force work,” he said. “There was no call for us. A group of us sat in this repo depot” for two weeks.
“There's a few snafus in the Army,” he said, laughing. “There was a lot of waiting involved in the first few weeks. The way you wait there is running up and down hills with heavy packs to stay in condition.”
There was a need for radio operators in the Army's signal corps and he and several others eagerly volunteered to join.
They were sent to a six-week training course at a radio school in Santa Maria, Italy.
After training, Hauserman was no longer in the Air Corps. He was instead a member of the U.S. Army, assigned to the 74th Signal Company Special attached to the 5th Army.
“They just moved us over — and switched (uniform) patches,” Hauserman said.
The new radio operator's first assignment was the Battle of Anzio. The group moved on through Italy and marched into Rome at its liberation.
“Next, we moved south to Salerno for training — attached to the 7th Army for an unknown invasion,” he said.
“We boarded an LST (Landing Ship Tank) and sailed in a large convoy going west, which turned out to be the invasion of southern France. Our ships hit the beach at San Rafael. There were dozens of ships each carrying hundreds of men and equipment. After approximately an hour and a half of bombardment by Air Force and Navy, we landed.
“The LST next to ours was destroyed. A German plane swooped along the beach and dropped a well-directed bomb,” he said. “Two hundred people were killed.”
Hauserman was handling radio communications between the combat engineers and infantry and, after a few days, the area was secure and the men went ashore.
They stayed on the beach for two months awaiting further assignment.
“At the beginning of our stay, our lieutenant wanted to go to Monaco to see what was happening there,” Hauserman said.
“I was asked to drive him in a jeep. It was scary wondering whether we'd meet Germans, but the streets were empty, as were the hotels and casinos. (It was) a surprise seeing Monte Carlo abandoned.”
As a radio operator, Hauserman communicated with “a complicated cell phone” strapped to his back.
“It was very heavy,” he said. “It's amazing the progress they've made now,” he said, laughing.
The troops made their way through Central Europe and across the Rhine River.
Later, moving toward Austria, the men were ordered to go up a ski lift at Mt. Zugspitze.
“We went to see if we could get a hold of the top of the mountain and establish a communication outpost,” he said.
“It was frightening as we ascended, wondering about the enemy. Fortunately, they had retreated.”
