MY FATHER EUGENE SWEM MCREYNOLDS
Today I have put a small stamp that was issued by the United States Government in honor of Purple Heart medal winners in the box with a purple heart medal and feel that perhaps my children and grandchildren might want to know about how this all came to happen. My father Eugene Swem McReynolds was career army. He enlisted in the Army right after High School during the depression years. He thought (and rightly) that the Army would feed him and clothe him and eventually educate him. He stayed in the Army and attained the rank of Chief Warrant Officer which is the highest non commissioned rank. He was with the 757th Railway Shop Battalion in World War II and went as far as the Rhine River with the U.S. Forces. About 1945 he was near an ammunition dump in a jeep when the dump exploded and he was thrown through the windshield and sent home from France in a hospital ship.
He told my mother that the Red Cross met the ship with bottles of fresh milk that the GIs had not had for years.
He came home to Carbondale to meet me at age 11 months-see photo.
I was with my father in Murphysboro, Illinois in Veteran's Office early in the 1950's and heard with surprise the man say there-"Well, Gene, you never picked up any of your medals" My father was embarrassed by this and said, "So many did so much more than I did." The man gave my father the standard issue package of World War II medals and later I asked him about them and he was as usual quite modest and said that most of the medals were for showing up. I asked also about the Good Conduct medal and he commented that this just meant that he had attended and not done anything too terrible during the war. I see now from the records of other 757th Railway Shop Battalion members that they landed in France in July, 1944.
Later after his death, I tried for some time to get more information about his war record, but found that although his widow, my mother, got a wartime pension that the records of my father's service were burned in the St. Louis fire that destroyed M-Z of the World War II records. I had always longed to know more about my father and his service in the military. In May 2002, we read his letters from the War and found that he had a photograph in a magazine called RAILROAD AGE (see attached image from this magazine) that told about his unit. My daughter Jennie found this old magazine issue and so another piece of the puzzle fell into place. In May of 2003 I saw a purple heart for sale and didn't buy it at the antique show. Craig came home that night and found one for me on the eBay and bought it as a gift for my Mother's Day. A strange gift perhaps and yet he understands me quite well and knows how long I have tried to complete this search and how much it means to me.
Yesterday in the mail my good friends Ken Leach and Richard Peters sent me two sheets of stamps that honor the Purple Heart medal and as I said I put one in the case with the medal.
I feel now as if I have finally completed my search and my honoring of my father at this point in time and wanted to explain to my children and grandchildren exactly how this all came to pass. Your grandfather and great grandfather was a fine gentleman and served his country with honor and distinction and will always remains in my heart as such. Perhaps you can understand his personality a bit if you look at my dear husband Craig Wright Farnsworth.
written by his only child and namesake:
Helen Eugenia McReynolds Farnsworth, on the 50th anniversary of D-Day- 6 June 2004
Siblings:
James Peyton McReynolds 1909-1943 FAG #55467515
Dora Belle McReynolds 1911-1968 FAG #55467514
Alice Lucille McReynolds 1913-1979 FAG#55467871
Eugene Swem McReynolds 1915-1955, FAG #74350572
The obituary that is also posted on this site was written by his sister Lucille and appeared in the Mt. Vernon, Illinois newspaper and had some 5 errors in it from his birth date, place of birth, age at death, my name, his rank in the US Army of Chief Warrant Officer.
Today I have put a small stamp that was issued by the United States Government in honor of Purple Heart medal winners in the box with a purple heart medal and feel that perhaps my children and grandchildren might want to know about how this all came to happen. My father Eugene Swem McReynolds was career army. He enlisted in the Army right after High School during the depression years. He thought (and rightly) that the Army would feed him and clothe him and eventually educate him. He stayed in the Army and attained the rank of Chief Warrant Officer which is the highest non commissioned rank. He was with the 757th Railway Shop Battalion in World War II and went as far as the Rhine River with the U.S. Forces. About 1945 he was near an ammunition dump in a jeep when the dump exploded and he was thrown through the windshield and sent home from France in a hospital ship.
He told my mother that the Red Cross met the ship with bottles of fresh milk that the GIs had not had for years.
He came home to Carbondale to meet me at age 11 months-see photo.
I was with my father in Murphysboro, Illinois in Veteran's Office early in the 1950's and heard with surprise the man say there-"Well, Gene, you never picked up any of your medals" My father was embarrassed by this and said, "So many did so much more than I did." The man gave my father the standard issue package of World War II medals and later I asked him about them and he was as usual quite modest and said that most of the medals were for showing up. I asked also about the Good Conduct medal and he commented that this just meant that he had attended and not done anything too terrible during the war. I see now from the records of other 757th Railway Shop Battalion members that they landed in France in July, 1944.
Later after his death, I tried for some time to get more information about his war record, but found that although his widow, my mother, got a wartime pension that the records of my father's service were burned in the St. Louis fire that destroyed M-Z of the World War II records. I had always longed to know more about my father and his service in the military. In May 2002, we read his letters from the War and found that he had a photograph in a magazine called RAILROAD AGE (see attached image from this magazine) that told about his unit. My daughter Jennie found this old magazine issue and so another piece of the puzzle fell into place. In May of 2003 I saw a purple heart for sale and didn't buy it at the antique show. Craig came home that night and found one for me on the eBay and bought it as a gift for my Mother's Day. A strange gift perhaps and yet he understands me quite well and knows how long I have tried to complete this search and how much it means to me.
Yesterday in the mail my good friends Ken Leach and Richard Peters sent me two sheets of stamps that honor the Purple Heart medal and as I said I put one in the case with the medal.
I feel now as if I have finally completed my search and my honoring of my father at this point in time and wanted to explain to my children and grandchildren exactly how this all came to pass. Your grandfather and great grandfather was a fine gentleman and served his country with honor and distinction and will always remains in my heart as such. Perhaps you can understand his personality a bit if you look at my dear husband Craig Wright Farnsworth.
written by his only child and namesake:
Helen Eugenia McReynolds Farnsworth, on the 50th anniversary of D-Day- 6 June 2004
Siblings:
James Peyton McReynolds 1909-1943 FAG #55467515
Dora Belle McReynolds 1911-1968 FAG #55467514
Alice Lucille McReynolds 1913-1979 FAG#55467871
Eugene Swem McReynolds 1915-1955, FAG #74350572
The obituary that is also posted on this site was written by his sister Lucille and appeared in the Mt. Vernon, Illinois newspaper and had some 5 errors in it from his birth date, place of birth, age at death, my name, his rank in the US Army of Chief Warrant Officer.
MY FATHER EUGENE SWEM MCREYNOLDS
Today I have put a small stamp that was issued by the United States Government in honor of Purple Heart medal winners in the box with a purple heart medal and feel that perhaps my children and grandchildren might want to know about how this all came to happen. My father Eugene Swem McReynolds was career army. He enlisted in the Army right after High School during the depression years. He thought (and rightly) that the Army would feed him and clothe him and eventually educate him. He stayed in the Army and attained the rank of Chief Warrant Officer which is the highest non commissioned rank. He was with the 757th Railway Shop Battalion in World War II and went as far as the Rhine River with the U.S. Forces. About 1945 he was near an ammunition dump in a jeep when the dump exploded and he was thrown through the windshield and sent home from France in a hospital ship.
He told my mother that the Red Cross met the ship with bottles of fresh milk that the GIs had not had for years.
He came home to Carbondale to meet me at age 11 months-see photo.
I was with my father in Murphysboro, Illinois in Veteran's Office early in the 1950's and heard with surprise the man say there-"Well, Gene, you never picked up any of your medals" My father was embarrassed by this and said, "So many did so much more than I did." The man gave my father the standard issue package of World War II medals and later I asked him about them and he was as usual quite modest and said that most of the medals were for showing up. I asked also about the Good Conduct medal and he commented that this just meant that he had attended and not done anything too terrible during the war. I see now from the records of other 757th Railway Shop Battalion members that they landed in France in July, 1944.
Later after his death, I tried for some time to get more information about his war record, but found that although his widow, my mother, got a wartime pension that the records of my father's service were burned in the St. Louis fire that destroyed M-Z of the World War II records. I had always longed to know more about my father and his service in the military. In May 2002, we read his letters from the War and found that he had a photograph in a magazine called RAILROAD AGE (see attached image from this magazine) that told about his unit. My daughter Jennie found this old magazine issue and so another piece of the puzzle fell into place. In May of 2003 I saw a purple heart for sale and didn't buy it at the antique show. Craig came home that night and found one for me on the eBay and bought it as a gift for my Mother's Day. A strange gift perhaps and yet he understands me quite well and knows how long I have tried to complete this search and how much it means to me.
Yesterday in the mail my good friends Ken Leach and Richard Peters sent me two sheets of stamps that honor the Purple Heart medal and as I said I put one in the case with the medal.
I feel now as if I have finally completed my search and my honoring of my father at this point in time and wanted to explain to my children and grandchildren exactly how this all came to pass. Your grandfather and great grandfather was a fine gentleman and served his country with honor and distinction and will always remains in my heart as such. Perhaps you can understand his personality a bit if you look at my dear husband Craig Wright Farnsworth.
written by his only child and namesake:
Helen Eugenia McReynolds Farnsworth, on the 50th anniversary of D-Day- 6 June 2004
Siblings:
James Peyton McReynolds 1909-1943 FAG #55467515
Dora Belle McReynolds 1911-1968 FAG #55467514
Alice Lucille McReynolds 1913-1979 FAG#55467871
Eugene Swem McReynolds 1915-1955, FAG #74350572
The obituary that is also posted on this site was written by his sister Lucille and appeared in the Mt. Vernon, Illinois newspaper and had some 5 errors in it from his birth date, place of birth, age at death, my name, his rank in the US Army of Chief Warrant Officer.
Today I have put a small stamp that was issued by the United States Government in honor of Purple Heart medal winners in the box with a purple heart medal and feel that perhaps my children and grandchildren might want to know about how this all came to happen. My father Eugene Swem McReynolds was career army. He enlisted in the Army right after High School during the depression years. He thought (and rightly) that the Army would feed him and clothe him and eventually educate him. He stayed in the Army and attained the rank of Chief Warrant Officer which is the highest non commissioned rank. He was with the 757th Railway Shop Battalion in World War II and went as far as the Rhine River with the U.S. Forces. About 1945 he was near an ammunition dump in a jeep when the dump exploded and he was thrown through the windshield and sent home from France in a hospital ship.
He told my mother that the Red Cross met the ship with bottles of fresh milk that the GIs had not had for years.
He came home to Carbondale to meet me at age 11 months-see photo.
I was with my father in Murphysboro, Illinois in Veteran's Office early in the 1950's and heard with surprise the man say there-"Well, Gene, you never picked up any of your medals" My father was embarrassed by this and said, "So many did so much more than I did." The man gave my father the standard issue package of World War II medals and later I asked him about them and he was as usual quite modest and said that most of the medals were for showing up. I asked also about the Good Conduct medal and he commented that this just meant that he had attended and not done anything too terrible during the war. I see now from the records of other 757th Railway Shop Battalion members that they landed in France in July, 1944.
Later after his death, I tried for some time to get more information about his war record, but found that although his widow, my mother, got a wartime pension that the records of my father's service were burned in the St. Louis fire that destroyed M-Z of the World War II records. I had always longed to know more about my father and his service in the military. In May 2002, we read his letters from the War and found that he had a photograph in a magazine called RAILROAD AGE (see attached image from this magazine) that told about his unit. My daughter Jennie found this old magazine issue and so another piece of the puzzle fell into place. In May of 2003 I saw a purple heart for sale and didn't buy it at the antique show. Craig came home that night and found one for me on the eBay and bought it as a gift for my Mother's Day. A strange gift perhaps and yet he understands me quite well and knows how long I have tried to complete this search and how much it means to me.
Yesterday in the mail my good friends Ken Leach and Richard Peters sent me two sheets of stamps that honor the Purple Heart medal and as I said I put one in the case with the medal.
I feel now as if I have finally completed my search and my honoring of my father at this point in time and wanted to explain to my children and grandchildren exactly how this all came to pass. Your grandfather and great grandfather was a fine gentleman and served his country with honor and distinction and will always remains in my heart as such. Perhaps you can understand his personality a bit if you look at my dear husband Craig Wright Farnsworth.
written by his only child and namesake:
Helen Eugenia McReynolds Farnsworth, on the 50th anniversary of D-Day- 6 June 2004
Siblings:
James Peyton McReynolds 1909-1943 FAG #55467515
Dora Belle McReynolds 1911-1968 FAG #55467514
Alice Lucille McReynolds 1913-1979 FAG#55467871
Eugene Swem McReynolds 1915-1955, FAG #74350572
The obituary that is also posted on this site was written by his sister Lucille and appeared in the Mt. Vernon, Illinois newspaper and had some 5 errors in it from his birth date, place of birth, age at death, my name, his rank in the US Army of Chief Warrant Officer.
Gravesite Details
flat bronze marker w military rank and unit, CWO 757 Railway Shop BN TC World War II
