Dad, Deason, Boggs, and Noble

Fathers Day is this weekend.  I’m thinking not only about Dad, but other influencers on my life.   This is the story of Dad, Deason, Boggs, and Noble…

When dad told his stories from WWII, they often involved 4 guys – dad, Jack Deason, Bob Boggs, and Noble Clevenger. We heard many stories, most of them funny, about their times together at Ft Bragg, in North Carolina, and then over in North Africa and Sicily. They were all young, full of life, and full of mischief. They were also all in B Company, of the 60th Regimental Combat Team, 9th Infantry Division. Each had his own story as the war went on.

Dad, Deason, Boggs, Noble, and some of the other Boys of Company B

Dad was wounded in Sicily and the war was over for him. After his recovery, and some additional time as an MP in North Africa, he was sent back to the States. Stationed at Camp Butner, NC, he’d get occasional passes or leaves, and liked to go to DC when he could.  

On one of those trips to DC, in early 1945, he was partying at a bar in Georgetown, when amazingly, he and Boggs ran into each other. There was much backslapping whooping, and drinking. It turned out that Boggs was severely wounded in France and eventually evacuated to the States. From Boggs, dad found out that Deason had been killed in France, and he (Boggs) had last seen Noble in France…..

Dad and Boggs continued to party and made the rounds of the bars in Georgetown. At some point in the night, they were feeling no pain, and Boggs said “I’ll be right back….” and disappeared into the crowd. It turned out they were separated, and didn’t see each other later that night, or ever again. Dad tried to locate him over the years, but only found false trails.

And Noble?    

Dad didn’t hear anything else about Noble after that night with Boggs.  The war ended in ’45. Dad met mom in the summer of ’47, and married her in May of ’50.

In July of 1950, there was a knock at my parents door and mom answered. A young couple was standing there and wanted to know if William Hall lived there.  Mom said yes, and called dad to the door, and all of a sudden there was yelling, and exclamations, and hugging, and dancing and back pounding…..It was Noble, and his new wife Myra.  

It turned out that Noble was traveling from a vacation in Wisconsin back to Southern Illinois where they lived, when they passed our home town – Ottawa. Noble thought dad had probably died in Sicily, and then remembering that dad was from Ottawa, decided to stop in and see if he could find dad’s parents to offer his condolences. He looked the name William Hall up in the phone book, and stopped off at the local VFW to see if anyone knew of dad. They then drove over to the address from the phone book, assuming it was my grandfather. Instead, he and dad saw each other for the first time since August of 1943…..

Amazingly, Noble survived the war without a scratch. After Sicily, he fought in France, and then crossed the Bridge at Remagen into Germany itself. When the European war ended in May 1945, he was near the Elbe River. Two and a half years of combat, and not a scratch…

I was born in ’55 and was named Max Noble Hall to honor Noble.  Mom, Dad, “Uncle” Noble and “Aunt” Myra remained great friends through the years and would get together several times a year at our house, or theirs.  The four of them had a close friendship that lasted a lifetime.  I learned a lot about life, and about enjoying life from all of them, but particularly from Dad and Noble.  Later, when I was at West Point, and then spending my own time in the Army, I often asked myself if I was measuring up to these men from B Company.  I feel so lucky to have known them, and hear the stories that Noble and dad would tell…..