Ogren

Ogren's among first army units sent into defensive at Guadacanal
BY JOY POWERS

Merritt O. Ogren
World War II - Pacific
164th Infantry
Merritt Ogren enlisted with the National Guard, along with 27 others from Edgeley, in 1937. They trained here until February 10, 1941, when they were sent to Camp Clairborne in Louisiana to train for one year. After ten months at Camp Clairborne the group was pulled out and sent by troop train to California.

In December 1941, they arrived at the "Cow Palace," a large auction barn where they were housed for about a week before some of them were split up into groups. Merritt’s group was being sent to the 3rd Battalion Headquarters in Yumatella, Oregon for guard duty. They arrived at Hermanson, Oregon on December 24, 1941. They stopped there to spend the night in a large armory. Civilians began to arrive taking groups of the men to their homes for the Christmas Eve night. It was there that Merritt ran into some old friends that he’d known and was able to spend his Christmas Eve with them.

On March 18, 1942, Merritt and his group boarded the luxury liner "President Coolidge" heading overseas to war. They were to be part of the 1st Army Unit to be sent into defensive in Guadalcanal in World War II. They docked at Melbourne, Australia for a few days before they were put on three small Dutch schooners and sent on to New Caledonia for more war training. Merritt remembers the little schooners as "definitely not luxury like the Coolidge." Merritt said, "They weren’t very good and the food was terrible." As the ship’s crew would walk by the alleys, where Merritt’s group was, carrying fresh baked bread, they’d tip over the trays causing the bread to fall off and down into the alleys for the men to eat.

On October 5, 1942 the 3rd Battalion was sent to Guadelcanal. They landed there on the morning of October 13th. They docked the schooners, and got off the ship using rope ladders. They headed ashore and began unloading the equipment. Suddenly eight Japanese planes flew over and began bombing the beach. The attack was very close, in fact, it blew up their kitchen which was basically just across the street from the men. The men in the 3rd Battalion were ducking into foxholes and running for any type of cover they could find. The 27 men from Edgeley survived this attack, only one man from Grand Forks was killed.

The Marines had been in Guadelcanal for three weeks. They were pretty beat up. The marines loaded up the 164th and took them up to camp near the front line. The 1st and 2nd Battalions had been ahead of them. They had dug foxholes up to the front lines. The 3rd Battalion was held back for a few days as a reserve. Then they received word they had a spot to defend and were sent up to the front line.

That night the Japanese Navy pulled in wanting to take Henderson Field, an airstrip, and they started bombing. The U.S. Navy, at that time, was pretty crippled and it was up to the men to defend. As the men trudged on to hold their ground, there had been lots of barbwire twisted and stretched out in front to prevent the Japs from charging. When the Japs arrived, the machine gun fire began. They attacked and when they were unable to get through, they tried to break through another perimeter, and yet another. This went on for three to four weeks, with the men holding the Japs out.

The 3rd Battalion was then pulled out so fresh men could be brought in. They were sent to Suva, Fiji, a country in the South Pacific made up of more than 800 scattered islands. They stayed in Fiji for nearly two months. Back in civilization with stores and a really nice ballpark, Merritt and others wrote home asking their families to send them their baseball gloves and shoes. The equipment arrived rather quickly and the men began to play ball in their spare time. They even held a tournament and Merritt’s team came out winning!

Back at home Marguerite Herzer, Merritt’s girlfriend was watching the news and clipping out every article she could find relating to the 164th and other war clippings. She knew Merritt’s birthday was coming soon so she baked a cake for him and prepared it to be shipped overseas. When it arrived, Merritt’s buddy saw the package, opened it and ate the whole thing. They were kind enough though to tell Merritt how good it really was.

On December 5, 1943 Merritt’s Battalion arrived in Bougainville, Solomon Islands, entering the front lines there. Part of Merritt’s job was motorpool duty at times. Merritt remembered the time he picked up a fresh load of troops. He loaded them into the back of the truck. He could see the fear in their eyes as they got in. As they got closer to the front line, the sounds of shooting, bombs, and war grew louder. Suddenly he heard the chambers of their guns begin to click, as the men prepared themselves. When they reached the front line, Merritt opened the gate. The troops climbed out with fear in their eyes as they headed into combat. It was Bougainville that Merritt contracted malaria and spent 10 days in a military hospital. Drawings were held, pulling names out of a hat, choosing the men that would get to return home next. Merritt was finally one of the lucky ones as his name was drawn.

It was on December 1, 1944 when Merritt arrived in Jamestown, home for a furlough. On December 10, 1944 Merritt married Marguerite Herzer. Their honeymoon was spent in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where the Government had a luxury hotel to be used for veterans and their wives.

Once he was back at home, talk began that they would transfer a bunch of these men into the U.S. Air Force to make them into airplane mechanics. Merritt was transferred to Amarillo, Texas for a week and then onto two to three different schools. The mechanics thing never materialized and Merritt figured this was just their way of marking time.

After the war ended, Merritt was discharged on October 15, 1945. They returned to Edgeley where Merritt took a job working in the creamery as a butter maker for twenty years. When the creamery closed, Merritt took on a milk route, delivering milk from house to house in Edgeley and to the stores and schools in Jud, Nortonville, Monango, and farms along the route for the next 15 years. He retired from the route in 1981 and worked as the caretaker for The Village apartments for the next four years. Merritt was the caretaker for the Mount Hope cemetery for 15 years following that. Since that time he helped his wife, Marguerite, as custodian at the Wesley United Methodist Church until they gave that up about one year ago.