Veteran tales: Death and destruction
Edgerton veteran lucky to return home unscathed after World War IIEDGERTON — One month after Edgerton’s Art Broekhuis celebrated his 18th birthday in June 1943, he reported for duty at Fort Snelling.
By: Julie Buntjer, Worthington Daily Globe
- Broekhuis and his knife
- Nazi banner
- Broekhuis and his uniform
EDGERTON — One month after Edgerton’s Art Broekhuis celebrated his 18th birthday in June 1943, he reported for duty at Fort Snelling.
Drafted by the U.S. Army, Broekhuis was among five Pipestone County men called into action in the middle of July. There was Jeffrey Crow, a Native American from Pipestone, along with men of the last names Tobias and Veldhuizen, and Leslie Brink, a neighbor and cousin to Broekhuis.
All five were transferred to Camp Robinson, Ark., for 16 weeks of basic training in the infantry. They learned how to fire rifles, from the M-1 and carbine to the bazooka and bayonet.
They stayed in seven-man huts and because they were organized by last name, Broekhuis and his cousin — a few years his senior — shared the same bunk.
“When my basic training was over, that was about the time of the Battle of the Bulge,” said Broekhuis. “Anybody in our camp that had three weeks of training was shipped out. We just happened to have our 16 weeks in.”
Before being deployed overseas, the men received a three-day furlough, during which Broekhuis returned home to Edgerton to say farewell to his family. His dad took the news hard when he learned his boy was headed to Europe to fight the Germans.
“Dad fought in World War I — he was in Germany,” Broekhuis said. “When we left from Pipestone, he knew what I was going to face. He couldn’t say nothing — he just cried.”
Broekhuis, Brink and the rest of the men they trained with were sent to Camp Tilmer, N.J., before receiving orders to board a Victory ship headed toward France.
“All troop movements were at night, so we went on a barge out to the ship in the harbor in the dark, and when we woke up in the morning, we were out in the ocean,” he said.
The journey across the Atlantic Ocean took two weeks because of the zigzagging the ship did to avoid being spotted by German submarines, said Broekhuis. Eventually, the ship passed through the Straits of Gibraltar and landed in Marseille, in southern France.
“From there we went to Epinal, France, where we received our material for fighting,” said Broekhuis.
He was issued a carbine and his clothing, and assigned to a mortar squad.
“We were replacements for other people that got wounded or killed, or taken off the line for rest,” he said. “Of course, we walked everywhere.”
Thrust into battle
After leaving Epinal, the troops headed northward to where the action was.
“We arrived on the fire line at night, during heavy shelling,” Broekhuis said. “There was a lot of foxholes dug, so we could dive in somebody else’s foxhole.”
Shortly after their arrival on the front lines, the commanders realized U.S. troops were too exposed to the enemy and decided to move them back. In doing so, the men had to dig their own foxhole for safety.
Broekhuis took comfort in knowing that his cousin was nearby, even though Brink’s foxhole was somewhere in the woods.
That comfort was short-lived, however, as Brink was killed by German soldiers while crossing a river during their second day of battle.
It wasn’t until months later that Broekhuis learned his cousin had been reported as missing in action. The incorrect status was given to Brink’s parents because fellow soldiers failed to collect the soldier’s dog tags after the attack.
When Broekhuis referenced his cousin’s death in a letter home, the family contacted the military and the military quickly found Broekhuis.
“They got back to me and said, ‘You can’t report that someone was killed — you could get court-marshaled,” he said. “I had to find the men that laid his body on the shore to confirm that he was killed.”
Though the confirmation was eventually made, Brink’s body remained buried in a cemetery in Saint-Avold, France.
Breaking through
Broekhuis and his fellow soldiers continued in battle as they made their way toward the Siegfried Line along western Germany. There, the troops essentially came to a standstill.
“We called them pill boxes — they were forts with machine guns in them,” he said of the cement silos that kept U.S. troops from entering Germany. “When we came along these pill boxes, they were covered mostly with dirt. The shells could not bomb those things out of there.”
Eventually, planes and artillery were used to bomb the structures and allow the soldiers through.
“I remember just seeing dead soldiers laying all over the place,” Broekhuis said. “After (Gen.) Patton went through, it was just a matter of keeping up with him. Patton had the tanks.”
Broekhuis said with Patton in the lead, they marched from one town through the next to see people celebrating in the streets.
“I think they were about as happy that the war was over as we were,” he said.
After the war
Once victory was declared in Germany, Broekhuis was told that his unit would eventually be sent back into training for deployment to Japan. Meanwhile, he was assigned to aid in transport of supplies.
“First I was in Heidelberg, Germany, and then we hauled supplies off the train with a truck for a few months,” he said. “Then I was assigned to carpool with Jeeps, and we drove the officers around.”
By then, Broekhuis had been moved to Esslingen, Germany.
“We had kind of a unique thing — we had a big car in our motor pool with windows three inches thick,” he said. The car had belonged to Hermann Göring, a leading member of the Nazi Party.
Broekhuis continued to work in the motor pool until the war ended in Japan, after which he was told he could go home.
Eager to return to the United States, Broekhuis said he was looking forward to seeing the Statue of Liberty. Because he and fellow soldiers left in the dark, they didn’t get a chance to see Lady Liberty when they left New York Harbor for Europe the year earlier.
“We landed at the harbor in daylight and saw the Statue of Liberty — that was about the most exciting thing that happened to me,” Brockhuis said.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but think of the four other men from Pipestone County that had been with him when they left for war. In addition to his cousin being killed in action, the other three men from Pipestone County all sustained injuries in battle.
“I was the only one that came back without a scratch on him, so I felt really fortunate,” Brockhuis said.
After docking in New York Harbor, Brockhuis traveled to Camp Atterbury, Ind., for his honorable discharge in May 1945. From there, he boarded a bus and was brought back to Pipestone County.
Broekhuis returned to Edgerton and went to work with his dad in the trucking business.
“After a few years, I bought him out and then I trucked on my own for 30 years,” he said, adding that after he sold the business, he worked for the man that purchased it.
When Broekhuis retired from the trucking company at age 65, he accepted a new job as a bus driver for the Luverne Christian School Society. He drove bus full time for them for 15 years. Now, at age 83, he continues to serve as a substitute bus driver for the district.
In 2001, Broekhuis and his wife, Clarice, and brother, Donley Broekhuis, took part in a World War II trip through Europe, which included visits to five cemeteries where American soldiers were buried.
It was the first and only time Broekhuis visited the grave where his cousin was buried.
“It was kind of an emotional thing for me,” he said.
For his service to his country, Broekhuis was awarded the Medal of Good Conduct and earned a rifleman’s badge for successfully completing his training. He is now anxiously awaiting his next honor — the honor of joining his fellow soldiers on Southwest Minnesota Honor Flight later this spring.
Tags: honor flight, art broekhuis, southwest minnesota honor flight, world war ii, news, edgerton, veterans, snelling, army
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