Tec 5 Donald W. Coffey
( Service number 37039596) 

Donald W. Coffey’s son Steven has kindly provided us with a service narrative for his father. This is lightly edited to remove personal family references as this narrative was written for Steven’s son and therefore was not originally destined for publication.

This narrative is valuable in giving a rich flavour of background events as well as of the man behind a service number.

Service Narrative – Donald W. Coffey

Compiled by Steven Coffey

Donald W. Coffey enlisted in the United States Army on January 8, 1941. At the time he volunteered for service, he delivered ice cream for the Hutchinson Ice Cream Division of The Borden Company in Iowa City, IA and was 22 years old. According to newspaper accounts of the period, the U.S. Government had established a mandatory one-year military training program for men under the Selective Service Act, and local draft boards were established to ensure that each county’s quotas of trainees were met. So, trainees were either obtained through the draft or through volunteers such as your grandfather.  Keep in mind that the United States was not at war at the time, but the Second World War had already begun in Europe.  

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reported in a front-page article on Saturday, January 4, 1941 that Dad and two other volunteers “will leave here for Ft. Des Moines at 4:47 o’clock next Wednesday morning”. So, you can see that news about the status of local men entering military service was of great interest to the community!

At Fort Des Moines, Dad completed his physical and was formally sworn in on January 8, 1941 as a member of the U.S. Army. From there, he was transferred to Fort Meade, South Dakota where he became a member of the Fourth Cavalry Division.  At various times in its history, the Fourth Cavalry was a Regiment, Division, or Group.  In its unit history, it was described as one of the most decorated units in the U.S. Army.  It was activated in 1855, and fought in the Indian wars, the Civil War, the Philippine insurrection, World War II, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and the War on Terrorism.“

Fort Meade, South Dakota was established in 1878 to protect settlements in the northern Black Hills. It was the home of various U.S. Cavalry units through its history, including the Fourth Cavalry.  Here is something interesting that I learned from Wikipedia while researching the history of Fort Meade:  “It was here that the "Star Spangled Banner" first became the official music for the military retreat ceremony, long before it became the National Anthem. In 1892, the post commander Colonel Caleb H. Carlton, 8th Cavalry, began the custom of playing the “Star Spangled Banner” at military ceremonies and requested that all people rise and pay it proper respect long before it became the National Anthem”.

At the time he was inducted into the Army, Dad was dating your future grandmother, Audrey Charlotte Pierce.  In early February of 1941, Mom got aboard a train in Iowa City and traveled alone to visit Dad in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which must have been seen as very adventurous in those days.

In this modern army, it just isn’t so.  In the first place, I’ve found that the great bulk of sergeants are smart gents and many have technical skills which would rate them very fat paychecks in civilian life.  And I can’t recall the number of sergeants-there have been so many-who have struck me as GOOD LEADERS and yet who seemed almost MEEK AND MILD.  Just to put the finishing touches on the disruption of the illusion that sergeants are meanies, there’s a swell comradeship between the sergeants and the men of lower rank.”

In the article, Gammack went on to quote a number of members of the unit, including your grandfather.  Gammack wrote as follows: “While Corp. Donald Coffey, 25, of Iowa City, Ia has a few unkind things to say about some of the sergeants he knew when he first entered service more than three years ago, he’s found the sergeants from civilian life “nice guys-a regular bunch of fellows”.

The remainder of the 24th Cavalry Squadron departed from Southampton, England on 14 June 1944 and landed in France in the vicinity of St. Marie Du Mont on 15 June 1944.  I believe that this means that your grandfather came ashore on Utah Beach on 15 June 1944.    He told me that, when driving his half-track ashore with Major Clark in the passenger seat, the half-track ahead of theirs struck an underwater mine and exploded.  Major Clark told Dad to go around that vehicle, and to keep heading for the beach.  So, it is clear that the beach had not yet been completely secured and all hazards removed at the time Dad landed. Dad also recalled seeing naval vessels operating in pairs with nets between them, gathering bodies from the water.

The Daily Reports of the 24th Cavalry Squadron say that the squadron was attached to the 4th Infantry Division on 16 June 1944. Dad also told me that the 24th Squadron was attached at some point to the 29th Infantry Division, which landed at Omaha Beach.  I think it is possible that the 4th and 24th Cavalry Squadrons were attached to different infantry or armored units at different times as the Allies pushed from the beachheads across Normandy in order to perform reconnaissance missions.  Dad felt that infantry commanders would often assign the cavalry units the most hazardous assignments, as “the cavalry losses would not count as part of the infantry units’ casualties.” 

Dad did not speak much about his wartime experiences, and I did not ask him enough questions about it.  He did tell about having to periodically remove remains from the tracks of his vehicle whenever he would clean his vehicle as he advanced across Normandy. 

Dad had said that he was wounded at St. Lô, France.  The unit history says that 4th Cavalry Group (again, remember that  the 4th Cavalry Group consisted of the 4th and 24th Cavalry Squadrons) was attached to the 2nd Armored Division during the battle for St.Lô.

From the 24th Cavalry Squadron’s Daily Reports from 18 July 1944:  “At 1630 the squadron Command Post received a heavy enemy artillery concentration during which one man was killed and three wounded.”

The above attack is the one in which your grandfather was wounded.  Dad said that he and another trooper were carrying a box of ammunition when a shell landed near them. Dad said that the other trooper was decapitated, and Dad was severely wounded in the abdomen.  When a medic assessed Dad’s wounds, he said “Coffey’s too far gone” and moved on to assist another wounded trooper.  Dad said “The Hell I am!” and the medic returned to help him.  Dad’s mild expletive must have gotten the medic’s attention, as I do not believe that I ever heard my father swear.  Dad said that Major Clark helped pick him up from the battlefield and Dad told the Major that he was getting his uniform all bloody as a result.  I think the Major told Dad not to worry about it.

Another account of the incident came from another member of the unit, Victor Ulwelling.  I had posted a request in the Fourth Cavalry newsletter in October 2003.  In it, I asked any members who knew Dad to write to me.  In March of the following year, I received a letter from Mr. Ulwelling which described the above incident as follows:

“Suddenly we were under heavy mortar fire. A soldier whose name was Hevron was killed and your Dad and the driver of our half-track (King) were wounded.  Several of us ran over to put your Dad and King on a Jeep.  We didn’t have an ambulance.  Anything to get them out of there as fast as possible.  And we didn’t waste any time in getting back to our foxholes, because mortar shells were still coming in.  There were no more casualties.  That is the last time I saw your Dad, although I was told later that he recuperated ok.”

Battlefield surgeons treated Dad for his abdominal wounds. He was then hospitalized in England, as reported in an unidentified Iowa or Iowa City newspaper of the day.  In the article, it said that Corporal Coffey was a recipient of a pack of cigarettes being handed out in the hospital by the Red Cross.  Dad noticed that the pack of “smokes” which he had selected from the basket had been donated by a gentleman in Solon, Iowa to whom Dad used to deliver ice cream prior to the War! What a happy coincidence!  Why were cigarettes being distributed and smoked in a hospital?  I do not know!

By his own account, Dad said that he was later evacuated back to the United States aboard the U. S. Army Hospital Ship (USAHS) St. Mihiel.    

The Hutchinson News reported in January, 1945 that Dad would be recuperating from shrapnel wounds to his spine at Winter General Hospital at Topeka, Kansas beginning on January 18th.  I do not recall Dad speaking about that hospital, but he did say that he was hospitalized at the Army hospital in Colorado Springs. It is possible that he was transferred from one facility to the other, or may have gone directly to Colorado Springs. 

Dad received the Purple Heart medal for his combat wounds.

He was Honorably Discharged from the U. S. Army with the rank of Technical Corporal on June 18, 1945.

Donald William Coffey was born September 15 1918 in Holbrook, Iowa, USA

He died on March 30 1998 in Iowa City, Iowa, USA, aged 79.

Thank you to Steven Coffey for helping us to honour his father.