JIM MONTGOMERY
Age: 86
Born: April 12, 1924
Hometown: Indianapolis, Ind.
Residence: Rancho Mirage
Military branch: U.S. Army; 97th Infantry Division; 303rd Infantry Regiment, Anti-Tank Company.
Years served: March 1943-Feb. 21, 1946
Rank: Corporal
Family: Wife Iris; one child, Dr. Anne Montgomery of Spokane, Wash.; one grandchild, Ian Montgomery Nordstrom of Spokane, Wash.
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 Bob Wells of Indio.
LEARN MORE: Read about other Coachella Valley residents who served in World War II at mydesert.com/wwii.
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U.S. Army veteran Jim Montgomery rode pack mules in the Rocky Mountains, attended engineering school in North Dakota, fought the Germans on their home turf, shot down an enemy plane two days after the end of the war in Europe and spent six months in Japan on occupation duty.
Montgomery attended Arsenal Technical High School in Indiana, where mathematics and drafting classes sparked his early interest in engineering.
After graduating from high school in 1941, the 17-year-old tried to enlist in the air force and Navy during World War II but was turned down because of his eyesight.
“So I said, ‘Come and get me,'” Montgomery said, adding that he was drafted in March 1943 and sent to Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., for basic training.
“I was put in a ‘pioneer platoon,' where we built crude bridges over streams and then blew them up,” he said.
After basic, he had the opportunity to go to college for an accelerated course of study in engineering through the Army Specialized Training Program.
Montgomery was sent to North Dakota State College in Fargo, N.D., and 10 months into the program — just a few months before graduation — Congress defunded the project and the men were “dumped back into the infantry as privates,” he said.
He was sent to Camp Carson, Colo., and assigned to the 611th Field Artillery PK — “I soon found out that PK stood for mule pack,” he said.
The 611th had 75-mm howitzers that could be broken down into seven sections and carried by seven mules around the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
Several mules carried supplies and ammunition and officers rode riding mules.
“My job was to lead my assigned mule (named Turtle) on the daily 20-mile hikes from the camp to the firing range.”
The howitzer would be unloaded and assembled and Montgomery would lead four or five mules to a quiet place away from the weapon, then stretch out on a sleeping bag until dawn, when the gun crews fired a couple of rounds.
“Then we would clean the gun, feed and curry the mules, have breakfast, load out and hike back to the base,” he said. “This went on for four months. Guys at that time, we felt we should be overseas. I had to volunteer for the infantry to get out of there.”
Montgomery was sent to San Luis Obispo to join the 97th Infantry Division, which was engaged in amphibious training for the Pacific Theater.
Because of his extensive time with the 611th Field Artillery, he was made No. 1 gunner on the 57-mm anti-tank guns.
“They did not know that I never once saw the howitzers fired,” he said, laughing.
“But then the Battle of the Bulge happened and they desperately needed people,” he said. “Suddenly we were sent to Fort Bragg, N.C., and then shipped out for Europe.
“We landed in Le Havre and went by truck to cold, muddy Camp Lucky Strike in Normandy,” he said.
A week later, “We started for the Rhine (River). We had sporadic battles on the way, but the Germans were retreating most of the time. We were under artillery fire much of the time.”
They crossed the Rhine on a pontoon bridge and headed west toward Düsseldorf.
“Our 57-mm guns were useless against the (German) Tiger tanks but we fired at trucks and jeeps and half-tracks.
“The Germans were trying to make a stand in the Ruhr Valley and we did get a lot of 88-mm shells, especially at night,” he said.
“When we stopped, we would set up a perimeter guard and then dig slit trenches to sleep in. Usually, we would strike water about 12 inches down, so we would lie down on the ground until the barrage would start and then we would have to lie down in the cold water until it stopped.”
When the war in Europe was over, the men were warned that hundreds of German SS troops had sworn to go into the woods and fight to the death, he said.
“While we were on our way to the border, a German transport plane buzzed the column.”
Montgomery was given the order to shoot if the plane circled back.
Montgomery took aim with his .50-caliber machine gun as the aircraft flew back toward the troops. He hit the plane's rudder and since the pilot couldn't turn the aircraft, it landed in a field and ran into a fence.
“I fired the last shots of the war — but two days too late.”
Montgomery was sent back to the States for a 30-day leave before boarding a ship bound for the Philippines, “where we were to pick up our weapons and invade Japan,” he said.
On the way over, the war ended.
“When Japan surrendered, they didn't know what to do with us, so we wandered about the Pacific for 37 days before landing in Yokohama.”
During occupation duty, the men spent some time in Kita Fuji, located halfway up Mt. Fuji, where “It was our job to drive into the many huge caves under the mountain,” he said. “The caves were filled with weapons, ammunition, rations and machine shops.
“We realized then that if we had invaded Japan, they would have fought out of the caves all over the country. We would have lost a million men before we could win.”
