Torpedo attack nets World War II vet a Purple Heart
SLAYTON — When Ray Goergen was drafted into the U.S. Army on Feb. 13, 1942, the military already knew how best to use the Granville, Iowa, native’s talents.
By: Julie Buntjer, Worthington Daily Globe
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- Ray Goergen nearly lost his life in a submarine attack during World War II, which claimed 40 of his fellow soldiers.
- Ray Goergen talks about a memorable night in a foxhole during World War II.
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SLAYTON — When Ray Goergen was drafted into the U.S. Army on Feb. 13, 1942, the military already knew how best to use the Granville, Iowa, native’s talents.
A graduate of the eighth grade, Goergen had gone on to vocational school in Milford, Iowa, where he received certification in mechanical work. He was 21 years old when he completed the course, and on his graduation papers, it noted that if he ever served in the military, he should be assigned mechanic duty.
Not long after that certificate was in hand, Goergen was drafted into the Army’s 12th Field Artillery Observation Battalion.
He completed his basic training in Fort Sill, Okla., and then went on for training in Camp Forrest, Tenn., and Camp Gordon, Ga., before being shipped overseas on Feb. 11, 1944.
“We got sent to England,” he said. “I was appointed to be a mechanic, and later on I got to be a motor sergeant. I was in the A Battery — in charge of 35 vehicles.”
After the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, Goergen was sent to Liverpool, where he joined hundreds of other soldiers aboard a Liberty ship, the SS H.G. Blasdel. The ship was among a fleet of transport vessels making their way through the English Channel, destined for Normandy, when a German U-boat fired a torpedo and blasted open its side.
The explosion earned Goergen his Purple Heart.
As he recounted the story earlier this week in his Slayton home, Goergen told of how the ships had to change course every half hour or so in hopes of avoiding a German submarine attack. The SS Blasdel, despite its navigational method, was struck with a force.
The torpedo hit a section of the ship where the American soldiers had kept their trucks and cars for use once they arrived at Normandy Beach. The vehicles and equipment, stored in about a 30-square-foot area, were covered with planks and tarps. Soldiers would often sit atop the storage area to play cards.
That’s what they were doing on June 29, 1944.
“We got hit in there and it blew that all out,” said Goergen. “I was on deck, so I’m still living. All the guys that was in there, on the bottom playing cards on top of that canvas, were all dead.
“We had 40 guys out of my outfit got killed — 40 guys,” he added. “I was on deck when some guy said, ‘Let’s have a cigarette,’ and that’s why I wasn’t down on the bottom.”
Goergen was struck in the head by flying debris.
“I had a fractured skull, I had my head chopped open on one side and had all my teeth knocked out,” he described. “I come to and I wondered what happened. I looked around and there was guys laying dead all over the platform on the top. All kinds of equipment was laying around even some wheels from some cars where laying up on top of the deck.
“That thing was so powerful that a bunch of guys flew overboard. They said they found them two weeks later, washed back to England. Ain’t that terrible though?” he said. “Forty guys out of my outfit, and I knew them just like a brother because we was in two years together in the Army in Fort Sill, Okla., and these other camps. I hate to think of it, but what can you do about it? I’m lucky I’m living, that’s all I got to say.”
After the attack, Goergen was taken to an evacuation hospital in Liverpool, England, where his injuries were tended to and his head was bandaged.
“I stayed in that hospital maybe a week or so — I don’t know exactly how many days,” he said.
Goergen was told he needed to wear his Army helmet off to the side of his head so that it didn’t put pressure on the bandage and prevent the wounds from healing. Then he was given the all clear to return to battle.
“Some big officer come in there and said, ‘You’ve got to go back in the service,’” Goergen said. “I said, ‘I saw enough of it,’ but he said, ‘No way, you’re a trained guy — get going!’”
Replacements were brought in to fill the posts of the 40 men, and a new group of vehicles was delivered before the group set off once more for Normandy Beach.
Fear in the field
Goergen was assigned to an observation battalion responsible for checking on where the enemy was located. After landing in France, they traveled through the country and then on to Belgium and the Netherlands.
“They gave us credit for knocking out, I think it was 150 artillery pieces or more by Christmas because we gave (our soldiers) the position and then our artillery would fire at them,” he said. “I was in the back of the infantry, so all day long the Germans would be shooting overtop of us to get at the Americans, and the Americans would be shooting back at the Germans — boom, bang — all day long.”
When the troops arrived in Belgium, Goergen said they began a constant barrage on German troops, directing artillery all day long.
“All at once, there was 1,500 B-17 airplanes that came flying overtop of us,” he explained. “Where we were, our pants were (flailing) just like we were on a motorcycle … from the concussion of those bombs dropping.
“Those 1,500 planes went through there and I don’t think there was anything over 10 foot high left in the whole town. They just bombed the living hell out of it,” he added. “Then we kept going straight ahead after that. It was absolutely terrible.”
Goergen said they encountered a lot of “close shaves,” but they didn’t lose very many guys during combat because they were flanked by the infantry ahead of them and the artillery behind them.
Each night, as the soldiers stopped to rest, they were required to dig their own fox hole to sleep in for protection from the German fighter pilots. There was one solider, from Illinois, who was so terrified of being alone, that he offered to dig a fox hole every day if Goergen was willing to share it with him.
One night, after they had hunkered down in their hole and covered themselves up with a piece of old canvas and a few sticks, Goergen was awakened by a frightened fox hole mate who claimed a German soldier was standing atop their fox hole.
“He said, ‘Ground is falling in my face every so often. What are we supposed to do?’” shared Goergen. “I said, ‘Gosh darn, I don’t know.’”
Goergen had a flashlight, but soldiers weren’t allowed to shine them outside for fear the enemy might see the light. So, he carefully flickered the light around inside the fox hole and discovered the culprit.
“Here it was a mouse trying to get out from underneath and he was kicking ground in our face,” Goergen said with a laugh. “That’s the truth, but it scared the hell out of us at 2 o’clock in the morning because the Germans were shooting all over around us.”
Sleeping in a fox hole night after night didn’t bother Goergen — he said it was better than getting killed.
As the troops continued their trek toward Germany, they were stalled once again along the Siegfried Line between the Netherlands and Germany. It was there that Goergen and a group of soldiers took refuge in the shed of a Dutch woodcarver.
The man had very little to offer, surviving on apples and other things not taken by the German soldiers. Still, he was able to find some straw and make a soft place for the soldiers to sleep.
“He appreciated having the soldiers there,” Goergen said, adding that he remained in contact with the woodcarver for years after the war.
Brothers in battle
Goergen was one of seven siblings and one of four sons to enter World War II. His oldest brother, Joe, was married and missed the draft, and another brother, Leo, was allowed to stay home and help his parents. Emil served in the First Cavalry division in Japan, and was killed in action. Norbert and Otto were also sent to the South Pacific.
After victory was declared in Europe, Goergen and some of his fellow soldiers were sent to Austria to help guard 10,000 German prisoners. Eventually, they were turned over to another group and he was told he would be sent to Japan to continue in the war efforts there.
Until those orders came, Goergen waited it out at Camp Lucky Strike in France. It turned out to be a lucky place to stay, as before the soldiers were given orders to head to the South Pacific, victory over Japan was declared.
The men celebrated with whiskey shots offered by their battery commander.
Goergen was honorably discharged on Nov. 24, 1945, and returned home to northwest Iowa. As a result of his time in the U.S. Army, he was awarded the Purple Heart, four overseas bars and five stars for major battles — Normandy, Rhineland, Battle of the Bulge, Central European Campaign and the Siegfried Line. Five years ago, he received the Jubilee of Liberty Medal for his service at Normandy, and in 2007 he received the World War II Memorial Dedication medal.
“I still, once in a while, think about what happened (in the war),” Goergen said. During the 1980s and 1990s, a group of World War II veterans in Goergen’s unit established a reunion in Iowa. The last time they gathered was in about 1993 or 1994, he said, adding that it became too difficult for some of them to travel.
As for Goergen, well, he hopes to do a little travelling this spring as a World War II participant in the Southwest Minnesota Honor Flight. He will celebrate his 90th birthday in March.
Tags: honor flight, ray goergen, world war ii, southwest minnesota honor flight, news, veteran, veterans
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