World War II Honoree

James Joseph Mulligan

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Hazel Park, Michigan

TIME IN THE MILITARY STARTED SHORTLY AFTER GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL AND 18TH BIRTHDAY. INDUCTED INTO THE U.S. ARMY; BASIC TRAINING AT CAMP BLANDING IN FLORIDA. UPON COMPLETION OF BASIC TRAINING, SENT TO FORT MEADE IN MARYLAND TO GO OVERSEAS AS A REPLACEMENT IN THE INFANTRY. SENT TO THE 103RD DIVISION IN TEXAS THAT WAS PREPARING TO GO TO EUROPE. THE TROOP SHIP LEFT NEW YORK ON OCTOBER 6, 1944 AND LANDED IN MARSEILLES, FRANCE ON OCTOBER 20. CAMPED OUTSIDE OF MARSEILLES FOR A SHORT TIME AND THEN MOVED UP TO THE FRONT LINES. HIS DIVISION RELIEVED THE 3RD DIVISION IN THE MIDDLE OF A VERY DARK NIGHT. FOUGHT WAY THROUGH ALSACE, FRANCE, THROUGH THE VOSGES MOUNTAINS, THE MAGINOT-LINE AND THE SIEGFRIED LINE INTO GERMANY. ENCOUNTERED GERMAN TANKS, ARTILLERY, MORTARS, AIRPLANES AND INFANTRY. ON ONE OCCASION, WERE ATTACKED BY THE GERMANS AT SCHILLERSDORF, FRANCE AND TOOK A LOT OF CASUALTIES. A BITTERLY COLD WINTER, SPENT A GOOD SHARE OF TIME IN FOXHOLES. AFTER SURVIVING THE COLD WINTER AND THE PERIOD OF THE BULGE, THE WHOLE FRONT PUSHED OFF TOWARDS GERMANY ON MARCH 15, 1944. AT THAT TIME, WAS THE FIRST SCOUT FOR THE COMPANY. ON MARCH 22ND AS THEY WERE ADVANCING THROUGH A FOREST NEAR BOBENTHAL, GERMANY, HE WAS FIRED UPON BY A GERMAN SNIPER. AFTER SEVERAL SHOTS, HE WAS HIT BY THIS SNIPER AND WAS SENT TO A FIELD HOSPITAL TEMPORARILY AND THEN ON TO A GENERAL HOSPITAL IN DIJON, FRANCE. THE WOUND DID NOT HEAL PROPERLY, SPENT ABOUT 20 MONTHS IN DIFFERENT ARMY HOSPITALS, THE LAST ONE BEING PERCY JONES.