VERNON "VERNIE" DEE LIEBL
(October 15, 1920,WA-September 10, 1944, France)
Vernie D. Liebl, WWII
Vernie Liebl (center) w/his brothers from left Ray and George.
His nephew, Ray Edward, is standing in front of his dad.
Methow Valley, WA circa 1940
His nephew, Ray Edward, is standing in front of his dad.
Methow Valley, WA circa 1940
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| VERNIE AS A BABY IN NEIGHBOR'S ARMS; MOM NEVA FAR LEFT; SISTER PEARL STANDING BEHIND & ELDEST BROTHER RAY IN FRONT OF PEARL.; CIRCA 1921 |
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| VERNIE W/SISTER FRANCIS AND BROTHER GEORGE AROUND 1942 |
Vernie D. Liebl, an infantryman/artillery forward observer in the 1st Battalion, 357th Infantry Regt, landed on Utah Beach. He was wounded on July 11th on the last --sixth-- day of fierce fighting outside of Beaucoudrey (Normandy) and was hospitalized in England.* He returned to the Front on July 31st when he rejoined his battalion.
On September 10th, Staff Sergeant Liebl was killed in action during the liberation of the city of Hayange, as the 90th Infantry Division ("the Tough Ombres") raced across France towards Germany. He was just shy of his 24th birthday.
Born to a colorful father, Josef Georg Liebl (1868-1946), an Austrian immigrant who left or fled his village just outside of Salzburg in 1886; hopped onto a steamer as a stowaway and jumped into the New York Bay (thus never went through the Castle Garden processing center) for fear he'd be sent back, so the family yarn goes. He somehow made his way across America, ended up in Boise, Idaho and then Washington state to try his hand at mining. He never spoke German again, nor traveled away from Washington state, where he settled, raised a family and was buried next to his wife, Neva Belle.
Vernie's mother, Neva Belle McConnell (1880-1953), was born in Kansas to an Irish immigrant father (Edward McConnell), and an American mother (Emma Barrett) of Irish and English ancestry. Her family were also ranchers in Kansas, who moved West and ended up ranching in eastern Washington.
Vernie was the baby in a large loving family with eight surviving siblings. Two brothers (Ray and George) and six sisters (Pearl, Sarah, Annie, Odyle, Francis and Hazel). His eldest sibling, Pearl, was nineteen years his senior. He was an avid horseman, marksman and rancher raised in the mountainous Methow Valley region in the Cascades.
On October 28th, 1942, Vernie volunteered to fight and signed up as a Private to serve for the duration .
Vernie's family never quite recovered from the horrific news of the war. In those days, given the number of deaths, many killed in combat were buried far away from home. Vernie was buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery, St Avold (Moselle). Plot: C Row: 24 Grave: 30.
Vernie was the baby in a large loving family with eight surviving siblings. Two brothers (Ray and George) and six sisters (Pearl, Sarah, Annie, Odyle, Francis and Hazel). His eldest sibling, Pearl, was nineteen years his senior. He was an avid horseman, marksman and rancher raised in the mountainous Methow Valley region in the Cascades.
On October 28th, 1942, Vernie volunteered to fight and signed up as a Private to serve for the duration .
Vernie's family never quite recovered from the horrific news of the war. In those days, given the number of deaths, many killed in combat were buried far away from home. Vernie was buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery, St Avold (Moselle). Plot: C Row: 24 Grave: 30.
His parents placed a marker in the Beaver Creek Cemetery in his honor, where they are buried nearby.
Vernie was awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.
Reading Vernie's letters to his sister Francis and other family members, one gets the impression of a dedicated patriot eager to free Europe from the clutches of Nazism. Cheerful, intelligent and always concerned about the welfare of his other family members, it would be remiss not to honor his memory on this 70th Anniversary of D-Day, the day the 1st battalion of the 357th infantry regiment of the 90th began landing troops, including Vernie, on Utah Beach.
Vernie's eldest brother, Ray Elmer's only child, Ray Edward, was seven years old when his uncle was killed in France. Inspired by his uncle's service and sacrifice, Ray enlisted in the Marine Corps with his parents' permission in 1953. He saw action in Vietnam (Danang and Quang Tri Province 1968-1969) and was awarded the Purple Heart.
Ray named his only son after his uncle. Vernie Roy (Vernie's Great Nephew) also served in the USMC and did four combat tours starting with Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan and Horn of Africa/Yemen.
His youngest son, Vern Nathaniel (born in 2001) is named in honor of his Great Great Uncle Vernie.
It's with much sadness one wonders how Vernie's life would have turned out. Judging from his letters, he probably would've returned to ranching back home in a place he loved, where he'd have raised a family. So many young men like Vernie never made it home. Those who did return from World War II combat infrequently spoke about it, but many went on to live life with a sense of purpose.
May God Bless America circa 2014.
*Back in the east the 357th had entered the battle on July 5 to relieve part of the 358th. The outfit was stopped cold outside of Beau Coudray in a day-long battle but continued to trade blows there for six bitter days. Constant battering only loosened the hinges but diverted German attention to the east so that the lock on the west was picked and the portal was forced open slowly in a southeastern swing pivoted on Beau Coudray.
Source:
http://www.lonesentry.com/gi_stories_booklets/90thinfantry/
More Details on the 1st Battalion of the 357th/90th Infantry Division in France:
http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/90thdivisionfolders/mervinbooks/357TFW/357TFW.pdf
On September 10th, 2011, per tradition, Vernie Liebl and three of his fellow soldiers were honored in an annual ceremony in France:
http://blog-unp.thionville.over-blog.fr/article-2011-ceremonie-au-cimetiere-de-saint-avold-en-l-honneur-des-soldats-americains-morts-pour-la-libera-84055213.html
Excerpt:
EXCERPT From Speech (French translation) delivered by Colonel Hamilton's son:
Colonel Edward Smith Hamilton was born March 20, 1917 in Dallas (Oregon), he entered the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point in 1935, he was released in June 1939, with the rank of lieutenant.
Early 1944, he was transferred to England and appointed assistant chief of operations at the Headquarters of the 90th Infantry Division. Shortly after the landing of the 90th DI at Utah Beach on 6 and 7 June 1944, when he held the rank of captain, he was promoted on the battlefield at the head of the First Battalion of the 357th Regiment Infantry where he remained until his last day of combat. The list of battles and exploits of the unit he commands is long on the road that leads always to the east, over the fighting for the liberation of France that summer.
In early September left with his men in Meurthe-et-Moselle. Briey released on September 7, they engaged in a terrible battle on the hill of Saint-Pierremont which allowed them to advance on the Fensch. It's two days later, September 10, 1944 that the drama ends the military career of Edward Smith Hamilton occurs. As the young lieutenant colonel 27 years particpates on to an attack on the hill overlooking the vineyards of Hayange, shrapnel shatters his skull. The shine came right back at the top of the front will be extracted from his left cheek and a tear eye. He was immediately evacuated Neuchef, where he established his headquarters at the Renaissance Cafe, and there receives first aid before being taken to hospital.
The municipality of Hayange honored him by placing a plaque rue De Gaulle in memory of the eleven American soldiers killed on Sept. 10, 1944
Colonel Edward Smith Hamilton died in 2006 at his home in Annadale (USA) in Virginia, he was 89 years old.
The text read by a son of Colonel Hamilton, Hamilton Barth when returning the ashes of his father to Hayange Sunday, July 6, 2008:
It's there sixty four years, my father Edward Smith Hamilton, came to Hayange for the first time. At that time, Ed was a young man (he was then less than half my age), full of passion and energy. He came here at the height of his military skills, learned and perfected in the best military academy in the country, that of West Point in the state of New York.
He came here with his ideals and his sense of duty, forged for his only son by a father veteran of the First World War, the war had not ended all wars. He came to Hayange in the heart of the battle, at the forefront of the fight that he and his fellow soldiers led to deport all the Germanic hordes conquered out of this great country of France.
The son of Edward Hamilton and the girls are here with you today, all filled with deep gratitude for the honor you have given to our father by giving his name to this place: PLACE OF COLONEL EDWARD HAMILTON LIBERATOR HAYANGE. My father would have wanted to be as recognized and highlighted the courage that had at that time as a result, the ultimate sacrifice of many of his comrades in arms: Albert Mmon, Vernie Liebl, Alphonse Ludwig, Donald Miller, Lawrence Peters, Richard Fern, Gabriel Poletta, Bernard White, William Minton, Rex Sprouse and Stanley Wozniczka.
They were also citizen soldiers doing their duty, patriots of the indomitable army of freedom. And Edward Hamilton, they wrote with their sweat and blood one of the great chapters of the book of freedom. If only some bodies rest in the cemetery at St. Avold in Lorraine, their souls are all here. My father was their mentor, their friend and their leader. Their lives have stopped here in this battle in September 1944, but they and their virtues are still alive.
Edward never stopped thinking about them for the rest of his life.
A dark morning of June 6, 1944, you landed on this beach a country of France to come to free us from German Yoke, we thank you from my heart for your courage and tenacity to face the enemy.
RIP.
FURTHER READING:
http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/90thDivisionFolders/mervinbooks/357/35703/35703.htm
http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/90thdivisionfolders/mervinbooks/357TFW/357TFW.pdf
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*Back in the east the 357th had entered the battle on July 5 to relieve part of the 358th. The outfit was stopped cold outside of Beau Coudray in a day-long battle but continued to trade blows there for six bitter days. Constant battering only loosened the hinges but diverted German attention to the east so that the lock on the west was picked and the portal was forced open slowly in a southeastern swing pivoted on Beau Coudray.
Source:
http://www.lonesentry.com/gi_stories_booklets/90thinfantry/
More Details on the 1st Battalion of the 357th/90th Infantry Division in France:
http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/90thdivisionfolders/mervinbooks/357TFW/357TFW.pdf
On September 10th, 2011, per tradition, Vernie Liebl and three of his fellow soldiers were honored in an annual ceremony in France:
http://blog-unp.thionville.over-blog.fr/article-2011-ceremonie-au-cimetiere-de-saint-avold-en-l-honneur-des-soldats-americains-morts-pour-la-libera-84055213.html
Excerpt:
En 1944,le 10 septembre,les soldats du 1er Bataillon du 357° Régiment d'infanterie,aux ordres du Colonel Hamilton libéraient la ville de Hayange.Durant les combats,le colonel est blessé et douze de ses hommes sont tués.Sur les douze,huit sont rapatriés aux USA et quatre sont inhumés au cimetière américain de Saint-Avold.Dans ce cimetière sont inhumées les dépouilles des 10.489 jeunes américains morts pour notre liberté.
Les quatre tombes ont été "adoptées" par la ville de Hayange,le comité du Souvenir Français et la section locale de l'UNC.
Ainsi,chaque années,des volontaires font le déplacement jusque Saint-Avold pour se recueillir et fleurir les tombes de ces quatre soldats américains.
Les quatre tombes ont été "adoptées" par la ville de Hayange,le comité du Souvenir Français et la section locale de l'UNC.
Ainsi,chaque années,des volontaires font le déplacement jusque Saint-Avold pour se recueillir et fleurir les tombes de ces quatre soldats américains.
Le 10 septembre 2011,la délégation ci-dessous s'est rendue à Saint-Avold.On y reconnait M.Michel Fries UNC et UNP Thionville,ancien du 2°BCCP,à ses côtés son épouse qui pour la circonstance est devenue porte-drapeau et en semble trés contente et le groupe d'amis qui ont tenu à participer à cette journée du Souvenir.
EXCERPT From Speech (French translation) delivered by Colonel Hamilton's son:
EDWARD SMITH HAMILTON
TRIBUTE TO COLONEL EDWARD SMITH HAMILTON.Colonel Edward Smith Hamilton was born March 20, 1917 in Dallas (Oregon), he entered the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point in 1935, he was released in June 1939, with the rank of lieutenant.
Early 1944, he was transferred to England and appointed assistant chief of operations at the Headquarters of the 90th Infantry Division. Shortly after the landing of the 90th DI at Utah Beach on 6 and 7 June 1944, when he held the rank of captain, he was promoted on the battlefield at the head of the First Battalion of the 357th Regiment Infantry where he remained until his last day of combat. The list of battles and exploits of the unit he commands is long on the road that leads always to the east, over the fighting for the liberation of France that summer.
In early September left with his men in Meurthe-et-Moselle. Briey released on September 7, they engaged in a terrible battle on the hill of Saint-Pierremont which allowed them to advance on the Fensch. It's two days later, September 10, 1944 that the drama ends the military career of Edward Smith Hamilton occurs. As the young lieutenant colonel 27 years particpates on to an attack on the hill overlooking the vineyards of Hayange, shrapnel shatters his skull. The shine came right back at the top of the front will be extracted from his left cheek and a tear eye. He was immediately evacuated Neuchef, where he established his headquarters at the Renaissance Cafe, and there receives first aid before being taken to hospital.
The municipality of Hayange honored him by placing a plaque rue De Gaulle in memory of the eleven American soldiers killed on Sept. 10, 1944
Colonel Edward Smith Hamilton died in 2006 at his home in Annadale (USA) in Virginia, he was 89 years old.
The text read by a son of Colonel Hamilton, Hamilton Barth when returning the ashes of his father to Hayange Sunday, July 6, 2008:
It's there sixty four years, my father Edward Smith Hamilton, came to Hayange for the first time. At that time, Ed was a young man (he was then less than half my age), full of passion and energy. He came here at the height of his military skills, learned and perfected in the best military academy in the country, that of West Point in the state of New York.
He came here with his ideals and his sense of duty, forged for his only son by a father veteran of the First World War, the war had not ended all wars. He came to Hayange in the heart of the battle, at the forefront of the fight that he and his fellow soldiers led to deport all the Germanic hordes conquered out of this great country of France.
The son of Edward Hamilton and the girls are here with you today, all filled with deep gratitude for the honor you have given to our father by giving his name to this place: PLACE OF COLONEL EDWARD HAMILTON LIBERATOR HAYANGE. My father would have wanted to be as recognized and highlighted the courage that had at that time as a result, the ultimate sacrifice of many of his comrades in arms: Albert Mmon, Vernie Liebl, Alphonse Ludwig, Donald Miller, Lawrence Peters, Richard Fern, Gabriel Poletta, Bernard White, William Minton, Rex Sprouse and Stanley Wozniczka.
They were also citizen soldiers doing their duty, patriots of the indomitable army of freedom. And Edward Hamilton, they wrote with their sweat and blood one of the great chapters of the book of freedom. If only some bodies rest in the cemetery at St. Avold in Lorraine, their souls are all here. My father was their mentor, their friend and their leader. Their lives have stopped here in this battle in September 1944, but they and their virtues are still alive.
Edward never stopped thinking about them for the rest of his life.
A dark morning of June 6, 1944, you landed on this beach a country of France to come to free us from German Yoke, we thank you from my heart for your courage and tenacity to face the enemy.
RIP.
FURTHER READING:
http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/90thDivisionFolders/mervinbooks/357/35703/35703.htm
http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/90thdivisionfolders/mervinbooks/357TFW/357TFW.pdf
