~This is the first in a series of stories this November recognizing Stoddard County veterans in honor of Veterans Day.
When J.C. Arnold graduated from Dexter High School in 1943, he went to work for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
"I shoveled chat along the track between the ties; then, we picked up the excess and distributed it," Arnold recalls.
It wasn't long, though, until Uncle Sam came calling, and in the fall of that same year, Arnold found himself at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, working as an Army vehicle mechanic. It was nearly two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and World War II was far from over.
"I really wanted to work on planes," Arnold says, "but the only way to do that was to go through pilot training and wash out.
"However, that might not guarantee me a mechanic's job," he laughs, "as there was always a chance I would be assigned as a gunner, and I didn't want that, either!"
In the fall of 1944 Arnold was deployed to northern Italy for infantry training. The men were housed on Mussolini's dairy farm, which did not offer much protection from the merciless elements of nature.
"It was cold and seemed like it was always raining," Arnold recalls. "My bed was a board across a ditch and I slept under blankets because there were no sleeping bags."
The troops took their meals outdoors at a table made from 2-by-4s and buckets.
"Many times," he says, "our food was cold and water-logged before we ever got to eat it."
After eight weeks of training, at Christmas time, his unit was sent to the 1st Replacement Depot in the mountains near the front line. The 10th Mountain Division was there looking for truck drivers and mechanics.
"The 10th was made up of many nationalities and most of the Americans were from Massachusetts, Vermont and Colorado -- places where they were familiar with skiing and mountain climbing," Arnold explains.
He says that most members of the 10th were tall, robust, athletic types and their military training had focused on climbing, skiing and the use of pack mules to move supplies and artillery. When the commanding officers realized that trucks could be used to transport, in addition to the mules, it became necessary to secure drivers and mechanics.
"Members from the 10th showed up at the Replacement Depot and when they found out I was a mechanic, they snatched me up," he laughingly recalls.
At five feet tall, with feet so small there were no overshoes to fit him, Arnold was an anomaly among most other members of the 10th.
Arnold says many of the men had never even driven a car before, so it was up to him to teach them how to drive the trucks. Each battery had two mechanics and a motor sergeant.
He was assigned to Battery A and sent north to the front lines. They left at midnight, and hit snow and ice. The convoy was forced to stop and put chains on the tires. Since there were few who had ever driven before, the mechanics had to teach the others how to fit the chains over the tires.
The 10th was trying to break through the German stronghold in the Apennine Mountains, a rugged mountain range. The offensive was called Operation Encore.
"When we had to drive at night, it was without lights so that the Germans could not see the trucks. When we were camped, we could not have fires to warm up because they would be able to see the flames.
"They had the advantage," Arnold states, "because the terrain was rugged and the Germans were able to use it to hide."
Arnold says he remembers an instance when the trucks were shelled as they drove up a mountain.
"The Germans would have their big guns hidden in caves and covered with camouflage. When we came into view, they would pull out the artillery and blast us, then hide it away again," he says.
He says it was impossible to tell where the shooters were located.
Even in the midst of war, though, Arnold says they did find some relief from the stress of battle.
"There was one little town that had a theater. When we had time off, we would go to a show, but the nearby shelling would rattle the walls," he recalls.
Arnold remembers that some of the towns would have dances in the evenings.
"The Italian allied soldiers, stationed below us, would walk up the mountain to the village, carrying their skis. When the dance ended, they would ski back down to their camp, and they would sing all the way down," he says.
He said it still makes him smile when he remembers the sound of their voices in the night.
Arnold recalls that he had several near misses during his tour of duty in Italy, but one he recalls vividly.
"Much of the time we slept outside under the trucks to avoid the shrapnel that would explode in mid-air," he says.
One night a huge shell was launched at them, and landed directly across the road from where they were sleeping.
"Luckily," he says smiling, "for some reason it didn't go off."
Operation Encore lasted from Feb. 19, 1945, until March 5. Once the troops broke through the Apennines, the Germans were forced from the safety of the mountains into the Po Valley, and from there were fleeing toward the Alps. On May 2, the Germans in Italy surrendered.
"The night before the surrender my pal Jiggs and I had gone to pick up ammo that had been left behind. When we got to where the ammunition was," he recalls, "there was a place to shower, so we took showers and cleaned up.
"Then we found out there was a dance, so we went to the dance and wound up spending the night there."
Arnold says the next morning, as they were approaching the Po River, they met several trucks with German prisoners. When they asked what was going on, they were told the Germans had surrendered.
The young soldier did not come directly home, though. He, along with five other enlisted men and an officer, were allowed to tour Europe before they shipped out. Arnold said he saw some beautiful sights, but also great devastation.
"Munich was a shambles," he recalls. "It was probably the worst city we saw."
Arnold remembers the day he arrived home from his European deployment, Sept. 2, 1945, was the day the war ended with Japan. Arnold was assigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma until his discharge from the service a short time later.
Later that year, the young veteran returned to his home town of Dudley. Three years after that, he married Genevieve Henderson in Piggott. They moved to Bloomfield where they raised their two children, Jim and Cathy. For over 40 years, Arnold owned J.C.'s Frame and Alignment Shop in Dexter.
In their later years the couple moved to Dexter, where Arnold continues to live today. He lost his beloved Genevieve in 2015.
At 93 years old, J.C. Arnold can still recall his WWII service, and is proud he was able to serve his country as he did. For his service, Arnold earned campaign stars for the Northern Apennines and for Po Valley.
He was included in the Honor Tour in 2015.