Ralph K. Nelson
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
Ralph K. Nelson of Cloquet, Minnesota received a master’s degree from Yale University before he enlisted in the Army as a private on June 30, 1942.
He then attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry and was assigned to a glider infantry unit in the 101st Airborne Division.
He was a platoon leader with his unit when it went to England for training in September 1943. On June 1, 1944, he was assigned to seaborne duty with a regimental reserve unit with a mission of assisting as needed in the hardest hit areas in the D-Day landings at Normandy on June 6.
His unit landed at 6:30 a.m. at Utah Beach on D-Day. He recalls seeing about 4,000 allied ships taking part in the landings. He says he did not face direct machine gun fire but was assaulted by artillery fire and had to deal with land mines. Still, he says his landing was easier than what met those on Omaha Beach that day.
Nelson’s unit was assigned to go to St. Mere Eglise, the first French town liberated after the landings. He was assigned to the lead platoon the next day when it was assigned to attack toward Carentan. At noon he spotted German troops and radioed for support. He was holding the transmitter when a German in a hedgerow shot him in the lower right arm.
He walked to the battalion aid station, where a doctor provided first aid until he was moved to the beach for evacuation to England. He spent 70 days in a hospital in Oxford, England, He was then returned to duty in time for Operation Market Garden in Holland.
He parachuted from a glider near the town of Son at the start of the operation. Nelson is critical of British Field Marshal Montgomery, who conceived of Market Garden. He said the British commander was too cautious. ”Montgomery promised to join the American forces within 24 hours, but it took him about three days.”
Nelson spent about 70 days near the Dutch town of Vehgel, where he was wounded a second time. He was hit in the back while racing across a bridge. His wound from a small caliber bullet was treated with sulfanilimide powder and he remained in combat, though he was awarded a second Purple Heart.
His unit later crossed the Rhine River into Germany. On a patrol his platoon was attacked by a German force. He says he “called in probably a thousand rounds that day, including once requesting artillery fire that hit just 100 yards in front of our line.”
Soon after this Nelson was promoted to company commander and then made regimental intelligence officer. Two days after the Germans launched the Battle of the Bulge, his 101st Airborne and the 82nd Airborne were directed to halt the German advance. His unit was surrounded by Germans from Dec. 20-Dec. 27, 1944 .
His company, which was at half strength with only 73 officers and men, and on Christmas Day it saw 18 German tanks approaching. The company held its fire as the tanks passed. The unit’s attack resulted in all 18 tanks being destroyed. Later that day his unit took possession of 86 German troops who surrendered.
On Dec. 27, an infantry division that was part of the army of Gen. George Patton freed the 101st from the German trap. Nelson says: “I have great respect for Gen. Patton.”
In early January the Germans launched an attack and a shell fragment struck Nelson in the same arm that had been wounded at Normandy. He was treated at the battalion aid station and a hospital in Metz, Germany, before rejoining his unit in February after receiving his third Purple Heart.
After the war in Europe ended he was in training in intelligence school in preparation for an attack on Japan when the war in Asia also ended. He was discharged at the rank of captain in January 1946.
Mr. Nelson received the: Bronze Star medal with an oak leaf cluster, Purple Heart with two oak leaf clusters, Combat Infantryman Badge, Presidential Unit Citation, Belgian Fourragere (for service at Bastogne), European-African-Middle East Campaign Service Medal and World War II Victory Medal.
Nelson worked for the Wood Conversion Co. in Cloquet, Minnesota after the war and then for Blandin Co. in Grand Rapids, Minnesota before retiring in 1982.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The St. Louis County World War II Project. 218.
