Veteran’s Day passed this weekend which brings to mind one of my relatives, my Great Uncle Weldon Reynolds. I used to go to Eden, North Carolina for two weeks with my brother and sister every summer to stay with my maternal grandparents. We were fortunate because my grandmother’s brothers, Weldon, Harry and Arnold also lived in Eden and my Great Aunt Edna lived close by in Martinsville, Virginia. My Uncle Gregg also lived in Eden so we got to spend a lot of time with my Mom’s family which today are treasured memories. We would go fishing and hunting, play with cousins and get spoiled by my grandmother.

Weldon and Harry served in the Army in World War II. Harry entered the war late and was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. He was a gentle man who never liked to talk about his experiences. To this day I know very little about his service. Weldon though had a more gregarious personality and he frequently regaled us with stories from his time in World War II. We never tired of hearing those tales.

Weldon was born in Leaksville (now Eden), North Carolina on New Year’s Day 1922. He came of age in 1940 with war raging in Europe and volunteered for the National Guard in 1940. His unit was nationalized and Weldon was transferred first to Florida and then to New Jersey where he embarked on a troop transport for North Africa. The Reynolds were not wealthy and did not have a car in Weldon’s youth so when he went to Florida with the Army, it was the first time he had left his place of birth. Weldon landed with his unit in Fedala, North Africa in the early landings of Operation Torch and marched across North Africa to Bizerte where in 1943, they embarked in LSTs for Sicily.

After the Allies captured Sicily, Weldon witnessed the bloody landings in the second wave of Operation Husky at Salerno, Italy. He accomplished a rare feat a few months later participating in his fourth amphibious operation at Anzio. Weldon’s unit helped capture of Rome and with the Germans in full retreat by 1945, he ended the war in Milan. Weldon served the duration of World War II earning the American Defense Ribbon, Pre-Pearl Harbor Ribbon, the Good Contact Medal, two campaign ribbons and Five Battle Stars.

In 2001, I went to spend the weekend with Weldon and I recorded his recollections of our family—growing up in Depression Era North Carolina, his World War II service and other details of his life. The Torch Landings took place in November of 1942 so I am attaching a 2 ½ minute story Weldon told about a fateful night in North Africa in 1942 when he almost died.

To set the scene, Weldon was just issued white underwear for the first and only time in the war. It was hot and at night so the men were bivouacked in an olive grove and had stripped down to alleviate the heat. Weldon was not just tall at 6’4, he was a big man his friends fittingly nicknamed “Rock.” He had huge, powerful hands and had smoked since the age of 8 or 9 which gave his voice a distinctive timber that matched his size and demeanor. Weldon was bigger than life to me especially as a boy and every time I hear his voice it’s a reminder of listening to his stories.

Weldon felt he was lucky to survive the war uninjured and I have never forgotten his words right before the bombs fell “that night God had ahold of my hand.”

For a recording of Weldon’s memories and personal experiences involving the death of Benito Mussolini, see:

http://historyarch.com/2020/04/29/weldon-reynolds-remembers-the-death-of-mussolini/

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