Clintonville native Eugene G. Schulz spoke about his World War II experiences Thursday as the featured guest at the Clintonville Historical Society’s annual meeting.
Schulz, 92, is the author of “The Ghost in General Patton’s Third Army,” a memoir of his time with the XX Corps as part of Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army.
Schulz was an eyewitness to the first Nazi concentration camp discovered in Germany by American troops.
“Don’t let anyone tell you it couldn’t happen. I was an eyewitness to liberation of the first Holocaust,” said Schulz, who has photos he took with a camera sent to him by his father.
Schulz’s father was born in Germany. He and his wife eventually farmed in the Clintonville area. They cleared land, developed a herd of cattle, planted crops and had a flock of sheep. Eugene attended St. Martin Lutheran School and graduated from Clintonville High School with the Class of 1941. He worked for his dad as a hired man and then worked at Four Wheel Drive Auto Company until he was drafted into the Army.
While in high school, Schulz took typing class, which was not popular for boys. It gave him a special skill the Army needed. He became a clerk typist and was assigned to the IV Armored Corps. The corps sailed to England in February 1944 on the Queen Mary with 16,000 soldiers on board, completing the voyage in five days.
After training in England, the XX Corps landed on Utah Beach in Normandy. His unit was attached to Patton’s Third Army and spearheaded the drive across France, through Germany and into Austria, where they met the Russian Army on V-E Day.
Schulz said many of the school children he speaks to do not know what a typewriter is, so he has included the picture of a Smith Corona typewriter in his presentations. He also said students often don’t know anything about the concentration camps and the Battle of Normandy.
Schulz was awarded the Bronze Star medal when the war ended. He served in the Army of Occupation in Germany, then returned to the States and was discharged on Dec. 1, 1945. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study business administration. He met his wife, Eleanore, at the university.
Schulz worked as an investment research officer at the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company in Milwaukee. He and his wife reside in Milwaukee. They have five married sons and 16 grandchildren.
He said his original purpose for writing the book was to share his legacy with his grandchildren. People heard about his book and were interested in reading it, so he decided to publish the book, which is based on a diary he kept during the three years that he served with the unit. The memoirs were written through the encouragement of his grandson Benjamin Schulz.
Categories
