Sharkey, Claude, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana File prepared by D.N. Pardue and submitted by Inez Bridges Tate. ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ From "St. Helena Vets Remember World War II: Personal Interviews With World War II Vets", published by St. Helena Historical Association, 1995. Compiled and edited by Inez Bridges Tate and reprinted with permission. Claude Sharkey was born and grew up on a farm in the Kedron Community. He attended school at Woodland. After school, he worked as a welder at a defense plant near Shreveport. Claude was drafted into the Army on January 6, 1942 and took basic training at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. Additional training was at Camp Gordon (now Fort Gordon) near Augusta. Claude was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. While home on leave he and Miss Myrl Newell were married on December 19, 1942. Next training was at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, near Trenton. Here Myrl was able to be with him for about three months. He was sent to Camp Carabelle, Florida, west of Tallahassee and Myrl returned home. At Camp Carabelle they had amphibious training. Claude was sent overseas to England in January 1944. He remained there until D Day, June 6. He was a part of the armada that crossed the English Channel to France that the very sight of stunned the Germans. The armada totaled 5,000 vessels, 900 of them warships, carrying 174,000 troops and over 20,000 vehicles. As the landing craft began to head for the beaches, ther Germans opened fire. Claude said he was not in the first wave that hit the beach, that his outfit moved in about 9 A.M. They hit Utah beach and said the terrain was marshy, similar to south Louisiana. They met little resistance. Not so at Omaha Beach which was a narrow beach with barbed wire and mines and steep bluffs behind. These men were faced with the longest day, but as darkness fell and reinforcements and guns came in, Hitler's wall was breached. Claude had occasion to see Omaha Beach later and saw the results of this terrible fight where so many men lost their lives. Claude said they pushed inland and eight days after they landed, he was wounded. They were moving along a road and came upon a barbed wire entanglement where the road made a ninety degree turn. Here the Germans had set up a machine gun. Claude was bending, almost in a crouched position when he was struck by a bullet that cut a swath across his back about the width of your two fingers. He said the enemy had F Company penned down, he was in G Company. Several men were killed and others were wounded when he was. They received emergency treatment in the field and were returned to England for treatment and recuperation. He remained in the hospital there for two or three months. He was then determined well enough to return to his outfit. He was back in France only five days when he was wounded twice. Late that afternoon, he was in a fox hole when a large piece of shrapnel hit a tree over his head and ricocheted into the hole, hitting him on his lower chest. He was only bruised. The fol- lowing morning as they were advancing, he was hit with shrapnel again, this time on his leg. This wound was disabling and he was again sent to England for treatment. Claude was then sent back to the States, to Long Island, New York for a week, then to San Antonio, Texas for three or four months. While in San Antonio, a general order was issued stating that anyone not physically able to return to the front, would be discharged. With this order, Claude was sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, a separation center, and received his dis- charge on June 27, 1945. He received the Purple Heart with two clusters. He feels very fortunate that his wounds are not disabling. Returning to his home, he operated a dairy, a bull dozer business and later was in the mobile home business. Claude represented District V on the School Board for 16 years and four years on the Police Jury. He laughed and said he feels his situation was unique - he met with the School Board that morning, resigned and met with the Police Jury that night. He chose not to run again at the end of his term. Myrl taught school at Wood- land until her retirement. Claude and Myrl were the parents of three children, two living, and four grandchildren. Since the death of his wife, his son, wife and baby live with him. He enjoys all the grand- children. His daughter and her family live in Atlanta. Claude stays busy cutting the grass and keeping his property in good shape. He enjoys visiting in the community. -------- 25 Feb. 1944 Pvt. Claudie Sharkey is station- ed somewhere in England. Pvt. Sharkey is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Emmitte Sharkey of the Hillsdale community. He said he likes Eng- land; it is a nice place. 22 Dec. 1944 Staff Sgt. Claude J. Sharkey of Woodland community, twice wounded since he landed in France on D-Day, is recuperating at the United States Army Gen- eral hospital in England. "Sgt. Sharkey has almost com- pletely recovered from his wound," said his ward surgeoin, First Lieutenant Edward A. Ayva- zian of New York. "He is partici- pating in the hospital recon- ditioning program which is de- signed to strengthen wounded soldiers before their return to duty." First wounded by rifle fire a few days after landing in France when his unit was storming a hill near Montbury, Sgt. Sharkey re- turned to his company early in August to participate in the gen- eral route of the German army from France. "We were attacking the enemy near Mortain and were exper- iencing a heavy artillery and mor- tar barage," Sgt. Sharkey said. "During this attack I was wound- ed." After receiving medical treat- ment at his battalion aid station, Sgt. Sharkey was moved to an evacuation hospital for an oper- ation before being evacuated to England by air. Sgt. Sharkey, previously award- ed the Purple Heart, has been awarded the Oak Leaf Cluster for his second wound. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Emmett Sharkey, his wife, Myrl, and son, James Shar- key, live in theWoodland com- munity. * * *