Wartime History of Lawrence McGartland

Lawrence was from Turtle Creek.  I drove by his house recently just to see it…I don’t think the neighborhood has changed very much. He was married and worked as a Drill Press Operator for Westinghouse. He was also his neighborhood's Air Raid Warden.

Lawrence's official Air Raid Warden identification card. I've only seen this one card of this type.

He was drafted into the Army, Infantry, at the age of 30 - quite the old man for such a thing. Lawrence entered France on Utah Beach on July 6, 1944. He was in the 8^th Infantry Division. The 8th ID experienced 266 days of combat. He was injured twice, once in the leg shortly after arrival in France and then later, in Germany, a single incident injured his back and abdomen. Both were caused by artillery shells exploding close to him (shrapnel). Additionally, he was part of the symbolic US troop movements through Paris shortly after it was freed from German control. Most importantly, he went from the lowest level of Infantry to being in charge of a platoon of soldiers very quickly...he was a Technical Sergeant/E-7 when he got out of the service. This indicates two critical factors. One, he was very good at what he did. His skills went beyond being a good Infantryman. He was also very good with his men and had leadership skills at a level that exceeded his peers. Two, this rapid advancement speaks to the nearly unimaginable conditions in which he fought and operated. Infantry leaders were wounded or killed at such a rate that leadership often transferred to the remaining ‘grunts’ who could handle it, the guys who could rise to the challenge and complete missions while overseeing the lives, welfare, and work of their men.

Lawrence’s unit participated in the liberation of the Wobbelin concentration camp in north-central Germany in May of 1945.

Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal

Combat Infantry Badge

Pre-war photo of Lawrence and his wife, Patricia. I love this photo...check out his shoes!

Notification to Patricia of Lawrence's first injury.

The Wobbelin camp shortly after liberation. Note the building numbers.

Upon returning home, this photo shows Lawrence meeting his daughter, Claudia, for the very first time.

Recently restored photo of Lawrence.

Thank you so much to Lawrence's wonderful family for allowing me to do this and I'm proud to put his history here as the first one, for now and for always. After researching Lawrence, and talking to his family, if I was one of his soldiers, I would have followed him anywhere, anytime, on any mission. Beyond that, post-war, I would have loved to have golfed with him, or played some cards with him, although he surely would have beaten me at both...I'm sure he and I would have chuckled about that over a beer or two.