Les Patterson’s Monday Morning Boost: Memories not to be forgotten

A small flag fluttering in the morning breeze marks the place of young man’s final resting place. An inscription tells a piece of his story – Purple Heart, Marine, Iraq, KIA.

A few streets away a quiet house marks the home of an old man at rest. He was once like the young man, but his story is a not so easy to tell. He turned 90 earlier this year, part of the Greatest Generation that made it home.

The young man was remembered as a hero; his mamma remembered a little boy playing army. The old man was also welcomed home as a hero; he cringed at the word.

The young man is remembered and honored for the life he gave; the old man remembers and honors the life others gave.

Both paid a price.

On this Memorial Day, let us remember both.

HYDE PARK NATIVE

I wrote the above tribute on Memorial Day 2013 as the Monday Morning Boost for that week. Many knew Michael Allred was young Marine who didn’t make it home. But most did not know who the “old man at rest” was.

His name is Linden Seamons. It’s now time for me to share a little bit of his story.

We first met Linden and his lovely wife Dorothy 17 years ago when we built our home just down the street from where he’s lived nearly his entire life. He was quite proud to be the “oldest native resident” of Hyde Park. While there were others living here older than he was, he was the oldest to have been born here and still living here.

If you browse through the Hyde Park history, you’ll see the Seamons family roots go far back. While I don’t know all the family connections, the Seamons, along with Dorothy’s family the Pursers, are both pioneer stock of Hyde Park.  

Dorothy wrote a brief history of their family in 1998 as part of a FamilySearch history project. From it and cemetery records we learn Linden’s parents, George D. Seamons (1887-1967) and Susan Mette Wardle (1883-1963), lived their entire life in Hyde Park. The same is true of Dorothy’s parents, Melvin B. Purser (1900-1985) and Lila Perkins (1902-1984).

To live your entire life in the same town just doesn’t happen that much anymore.

We want to go see the world!

I’m guessing Linden may have had some of those same yearnings as a young man, and he did get to see some of the world. As we’re about to learn, all his travels only enhanced his desire to be back home.

Linden was born in Hyde Park on January 29, 1923, the fifth of six children. He grew up and graduated from North Cache High School in 1941 where he played football. He went on to attend Utah State Agricultural College in Logan where he joined up with the Army ROTC program. With war raging in Europe and the Pacific, it wouldn’t be long before he was called to active duty.

MEMORIES NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN

To give you a small taste of Linden’s journey to battlefields of Europe, I share the following from his own words recorded in the World War II history of the 89th Infantry Division. External links are provided by me for further reading.

“… on April 5, 1943 the call to active duty was enacted and I became a basic trainee at Camp Callan near San Diego, California. After completing the thirteen-week training, I was assigned to Pasadena Junior College and later moved across the city to Loyola University at Los Angeles for ASTP [Army Specialized Training Program] courses. This was an engineering related agenda and after approximately nine months this program was discontinued and so I was, along with many others, moved to Hunter Liggett Military Reservation for training in the 89th Light Infantry Division.

“The shock of leaving university life with beds then sleeping on the ground in a wet sleeping bag after walking day and spending nights in the mountains was a real test and a wake-up call to Army life. After the 89th was reorganized to be a regular triangle division and moved to Camp Butner, North Carolina I was trained as a switchboard operator in B Battery 340th F.A. [field artillery]. This was all for preparation for overseas duty to Europe. The journey began late December 1944: first to Boston, Massachusetts, then via the boat ride to LeHarve, France; enduring the cold ride to Lucky Strike; and finally enduring the unprepared accommodations.”

Linden wrote 518 words in his recorded history of his time in World War II. Smack dab in the middle he writes 31 words to detail his actual combat experiences.

“The combat encounters, which we participated in, weren’t pleasant, but we were thankful that they were short. The experiences will never be forgotten, especially the Rhine Crossing and the Ohrdruf viewing.”

Soldiers from the Division cross the Rhine River in assault boats, 1945. By US Army, Office of War Information (OWI) - Department of Defense visual information (DVIC) [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2460976

Linden and I enjoyed talking about our varied military experiences. He elaborated at times, beyond these 31 words, in sharing some of the details and some of the memories.

One day on a warm Sunday afternoon, sitting on the plush sofas in his living room, Linden opened up and briefly shared one such experience. When he finished, he gently looked at me for several moments, his soft eyes brimming with tears.

“I’ve never told anyone about that,” he quietly uttered.

Some memories, he told me, are best not shared.

I had heard of the Rhine Crossing but had no idea of the incredible struggle that left “29 men killed, 102 wounded and 146 men missing in action.”

“The river is about 300 yards wide here. On the trip across they met point – blank, grazing fire just above the water from machine guns and 20 mm antiaircraft weapons. The defenders had ignited a number of river barges on the St. Goarshausen side, thus lighting up the river clearly and the vulnerable assault boats on it. Also, German artillery, mortar and 88mm fire fell on the west shore. There were no friendly artillery preparations for the attack was planned as a surprise. To this day, survivors recall this scene – as one from hell.”

If the Rhine Crossing was a scene from hell, I do not know how to describe the Ohrdruf Viewing. Suffice it to say, I will never be the same simply after reading about it. I cannot fathom what Linden must have felt.

MINISTRY, MUSIC, MURDER

Ohrdruf was founded around the year 724 as the site of the “first monastery in Thuringia, dedicated to Saint Michael.” in 1695, the beautiful little village became the new home and musical training ground of a young ten year old Johann Sebastian Bach. Then nearly 250 years later, Ohrdruf would be one of the sights of the worst atrocities ever committed by mankind.

View of Camp Ohrdruf including a watchtower, barracks, and barbed wire fencing. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2503704

Labeled a work camp by the Nazis, the prisons at Ohrdruf were forced to build roads, tunnels, and railways. They were worked to death, their emancipated bodies piled up in a shed, and then buried in massive graves. It’s estimated 7,000 people died as a result being worked to death or were murdered.

Ohrdruf was the first Nazi concentration camp liberated by U.S. Forces.

The Ohrdruf Viewing Linden talks about was exactly that, a viewing of the atrocities. First it was the soldiers of the 89th Infantry Division, one of which was Linden, witnessing such horrible things as they liberated the camp. Then the generals came, including Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said he visited Ohrdruf, “…deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’”

Then the German civilians of the town of Ohrdruf were brought inside the liberated camp to see exactly what the Nazi were doing. The Mayor and his wife, after their visit, returned home and killed themselves.

RETURNING HOME

Linden came home from Germany, finally leaving military service on April 8, 1946, “three years and three days after induction.”

A lot happened to Linden in those three years and three days. Many things were good, like his character and discipline being more refined. Other things, like the Rhine Crossing and Ohrdruf Viewing, were those memories he may have hoped to forget but neve could.

Life went on for Linden Seamons. He and Dorothy were married on August 9, 1944, while he was on furlough before heading to Europe. They enjoyed 72 “happy years” together, raised four daughters and have 15 grandchildren, 40 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.

Linden found a career working as a purchasing manager at Thiokol Logan Manufacturing. After he retired, he enjoyed keeping his yard manicured and raising vegetables. His favorite pastime was rototilling.

He was served in his church in the Hyde Park 2nd LDS Ward and was involved with the local Lions Club and town board.

GOODBYE TO A HERO

Linden did more than just come home from war. He came home and made a difference. He would argue it wasn’t anything special, “just doing what a man did.”

It may not have been anything special to the world. But to five generations of the Seamons family, his Hyde Park neighborhood, and those of us who honor the Greatest Generation for bearing the burdens of war, Linden Seamons was a spectacular man.

And a hero.

That hero passed away on March 8th at the age of 94. Last Wednesday I said a final goodbye. I wanted to give him a sharp salute as my final act of respect. Instead, I softly held his hand and simply said, “See you in Heaven.”

Have a great Monday! Thanks for letting me share.

Les Patterson

p.s. Take 13 minutes today to simply remember those who had to remember things never to be forgotten.