NOTE: In our ongoing series called, “Veteran Stories,” this week we feature Phillip W. Merchen, who served with the 5th Armored “Victory” Division in Central Europe during World War II.
Phillip Merchen was born on July 25, 1912, the second youngest child of 10 children in the Phillip H. and Dora Merchen family. Phillip grew up on his parents’ farm northwest of Crofton, attending West Blyville grade school and graduating from Crofton High School in 1931. Merchen attended the University of Nebraska from 1931 to 1932, and worked at the University Experimental Hog Station until he left his studies due to the Great Depression of the 1930s. He then worked for USDA in the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) in the corn and hog programs, earning $350, which at the time was enough to start farming on his own. He farmed with his parents and brothers until he entered the U.S. Army in March 1942. He served as a Corporal with Combat Command R, 85th Cavalry Reconnaissance, Squadron Troop D in the 5th Armored Division. He was an expert with the M-1 rifle and BAR M1918 heavy rifle.
Merchen trained in the Mojave Desert, in Tennessee and eventually at Pine Camp in New York, before shipping out to England in February 1944. While training in the desert, a friend of Merchen’s was blinded from an accident during desert warfare training. Merchen never forgot his old buddy, and even visited his friend later in life at his farm near Falls City, Neb. While in England, preparing to get into battle, Merchen recalled trading six bottles of Pepsi soda pop to a Polish soldier for one bottle of Scotch whiskey.
Merchen noted that his entire unit was made up of boys from the city. He was one of the only farmers in the unit, so he was quite popular when the unit procured a stray beef animal, because Merchen knew how to butcher the liberated critter, and was given steaks for his efforts. On July 24, 1944, about six weeks after D-Day and one day before Merchen’s 32nd birthday, the 5th Armored landed at Utah Beach. They moved into combat on Aug. 2, driving south through Coutances, Avranches and Vitre, and across the Mayenne River to seize the city of LeMans on Aug. 8. Turning north, the division surrounded Germans in Normandy by advancing to the edge of the city of Argetan on Aug. 12, just eight days before the Argetan-Falaise Gap was closed. They advanced 80 miles to capture the Eure River Line at Dreux, cleared out the Eure-Seine corridor and passed through Paris on Aug. 30. The unit spearheaded a drive through the Compiegne Forest, across the Oise, Aisne and Somme rivers, reaching the Belgium border on Sept. 2. Turning east, the 5th Armored and Merchen advanced 100 miles in just eight hours, and crossed the Meuse at Charleville-Mezieres. They liberated Luxembourg City on Sept. 10 and deployed along the German border. The 85th Reconnaissance squadron that Merchen was a part of sent a patrol across the German border on Sept. 11 to be the first Allies to cross into enemy territory. By October, they were holding defensive positions in the Monschau-Hofen sector. In late November, they entered the Hurtgen Forest and pushed the enemy back to the banks of the Roer River with heavy fighting.
During his time at Hurtgen Forest, Merchen recalled standing sentry with a buddy at daybreak near the forest and smelling fresh coffee brewing from the foxhole they shared. The two soldiers flipped a coin to see who would go get the coffee, while the other soldier headed back to the unit. Merchen lost the coin toss and headed back to the unit. Out of nowhere, an ME-109 hit their position. The plane dropped a bomb that exploded in the tree above the foxhole. Phillip jumped back into the foxhole after the bomb had exploded to find his buddy dead from tree chards that came from the explosion. Later Merchen would say, “I lost the coin toss, but I won.”
In Feb. 1945, Merchen’s unit spearheaded a drive to the Rhine, crossing the river at Wesel on March 30. They reached the banks of the Elbe at Tangermunde on Apr. 12, only 45 miles from Berlin. They moved to Klotze to wipe out the Von Clausewitz Panzer Division and drove back to the Elbe, mopping up in the Ninth Army sector on VE-Day that ended the war in Europe. Total battle casualties for the Division were 3,075, with 833 killed in action and 2,442 wounded.
After being discharged from the army in October 1945, Merchen returned home and married Mavis Douglas on Feb. 25, 1947. The couple had eight children and farmed until their retirement in 1980, producing eggs, milk, hogs and beef cattle. They were active in the community, with Merchen serving as a member of the American Legion Post 128 in Crofton and serving on the Eastern Township Board for many years. Phillip passed away in 1996. Mavis passed away in 1995. They are buried at Beaver View cemetery west of Crofton.
CONTACT US: If you or your parents, grandparents or other relatives from Crofton, living or deceased, served in the armed forces, we would like to tell your story in the Journal as part of this series. If you have a story to tell or digital photos to share, email bowview@gpcom.net with a subject line notation of “Veteran Stories” to let us know the details.