World War II Honoree

Daniel Paul Ferlan

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Akron, Ohio

Honored By

Rose Ferlan & Cathine Collier

Relationship

Wife & Daughter

He was inducted into the U.S. Army on October 14, 1942 in Akron, Ohio at age 21 and 5 months, and assigned as a Private. He was sent to the reception center at Fort Hayes in Columbus, Ohio on October 28, 1942 then to Camp Atterbury, Indiana on November 1, 1942. He was assigned to the 83rd Infantry 'Thunderbolt' Division, 322nd Field Artillery Battalion, Battery B, made up of four 105MM Howitzers. It was there that he received his basic training. He became proficient with the 30-06 caliber 1903 Springfield rifle and the .30 caliber carbine. On November 23, 1942 he was promoted to Private First Class and on January 19, 1943 was promoted to Technician 5th grade. Due to his civilian background and night school clerical training, on February 16, 1943 he was assigned as Battery Clerk responsible for handling all military correspondence of the battery, including the sick book, roster assignments and typing the morning reports. He was promoted to Corporal on March 19, 1944. He left Camp Atterbury for the debarkation center in New York, New York in early April, 1944, and left the United States via Victory Ships for Liverpool, England on April 6, 1944, and arrived on April 16, 1944. They received additional training in Wales, and after two months of extensive training, he was sent to France. A terrible storm raged in the channel and the troop ships were required to sit it out at sea for a week. They finally landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, ten days after the D-Day landings. He received his initiation to combat in the Norman hedgerows south of Carentan on July 4, 1944, there in addition to his clerical duties he personally was required to assist in clearing Germans from the hedgerows. In late July, 1944 he was moved by truck into Northern France and in Early August, 1944 the Thunderbolts fought at Chateauneuf, Dinard, St. Malo, and St. Servan along the Loire River. He was moved into Luxembourg, again via truck, in late September, 1944, then back into France along the Moselle to the Siegfried Line then returned to Luxembourg. In early November the 83rd moved into the Hurtgen Forest and into Germany in early December. With the advent of Germany’s Ardennes offensive, he and his division moved into Belgium during extremely cold weather to assist in preventing the Wehrmacht from advancing to Antwerp during the Battle of the Bulge on December 27, 1944. In late January, 1945, after the offensive had been quelled, they moved on toward Germany, crossing the Rhine January 29. They then raced across Germany and by April they were near the Elbe River when Germany surrendered. He returned to France then left Europe for the United States on November 21, 1945 arriving in New York on December 1, 1945 then went to the Separation Center at Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania and was processed out of service on December 8, 1945 with an Honorable Discharge as a Corporal. He had been involved in the following battles and campaigns: Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, Central Europe. He received the following citations: Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Service Medal with Five Bronze Stars for the above campaigns, American Theater Defense Medal, WWII Victory Medal.