Grandfather’s War – Donald M Duwe in World War II

In the summer and fall of 1941, when my grandparents, Donald M. (1911-1980) and Itola F. (1920-1990) Duwe, were starting their married life and a new business in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, war was probably not much on their minds. There was war in Europe, of course, but that was far away. However, less than two months after they announced their ownership of The Home Bakery, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States was in the war.

Itola F. and Donald M. Duwe wedding photo – 14 June 1941

When the U.S. Army called in December 1942, Donald left his life in Sturgeon Bay behind and enlisted in Milwaukee.

For his skills as a baker, the army ranked him a T-5, or Tec-5, which allowed him to be paid at the level of a Corporal. He was assigned to the U.S. Army’s 36^th Infantry Division, 132^nd Field Artillery Battalion, Battery C., which mobilized 105mm howitzers pulled by trucks in the field. Like the rest of the 36^th Infantry Division, the 132^nd FA was mostly made up of men from Texas. The roster of the 132nd FA, Battery C. (page 135, faint but readable) shows many of its members came from Weatherford, Texas, which had a population of about 6,000 in 1940 (about 30,000 today).

 105mm howitzer artillery piece pulled by truck in Africa ca 1942-43. 

Source: Library of Congress - http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8e00437/

Here are the unit and rank patches that Donald Duwe would have worn on his uniform:

 

 Source of 36^th Inf Div nickname “T-patchers”

 Tec-5 patch

Here is a brief summary of history of the 132^nd Field Artillery’s service in World War II. For the full history of the unit, beginning with its formation in Texas in 1917, please see the link below to the Texas Military Forces Museum’s web site:

WORLD WAR II:  The Regiment was called to federal service as part of the 36th Infantry Division on 25 November, 1940 and arrived at Camp Bowie, Brownwood, on 11 Jan 1941. Reorganized 31 January, 1942, with 1st Bn becoming the 132d FA Battalion (105 mm Truck) and the 2d Bn becoming the 155 FA Battalion (105 mm Truck), trained with the 36th Division, moved to Camp Blanding, Florida and Camp Edwards, Massachusetts. At Camp Edwards, the 155th was redesignated as a 155 Howitzer Battalion, transferring its weapons to the 133d Field. The regiment departed from New York for North Africa on 2 Apr 1943.

North Africa / Salerno / Anzio / Southern France / Vosges: After staging in North Africa, the unit — assigned as direct support for the 142d Infantry, landed in the assault at Salerno 9 September, 1943 and fought the bloody battles up the boot of Italy until relieved, retrained and committed to reinforce the Anzio assault on 22 May, 1944. Later the unit made a third amphibious landing in Southern France, 15 August, 1944, and fought with the 36th during the later months of the war, ending the war on the German-Austrian border area. The unit was returned to the United States and demobilized in December, 1945 at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia.

World War II Campaign Streamers:  Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Ardennes, Alsace, Central Europe. Croix de Guerre with Palm, World War II, "VOSGES".

After the war, Donald Duwe returned to Sturgeon Bay to make another try at running a bakery. The bakery business lasted about three years, before he sold out and moved the family to Milwaukee, then to Cudahy, Wisconsin. In Milwaukee, he took up factory work, which he would perform until retirement.

Resources:  

The best place to start learning about the role of the 36^th Infantry Division in WWII is the page presented by the Texas Military Forces Museum: History of the 36th Infantry Division.   
That same web site also presents a page about the Lineage and Honors of the 132nd Field Artillery Regiment / Battalion.