Celina's Greatest Heroes - Our WWII Veterans

CONNECTED TO OUR PAST

Life in Celina, Texas bustled as families bid farewell to the 1941 Thanksgiving holiday and decorated their homes in preparation for the coming Christmas season in their small farming community. On the first Saturday of December, merchants welcomed residents and visitors into their stores on the Downtown Square. Parents and grandparents from around town would meet and greet one another as they looked at clothes and shoes at Bray Dry Goods Co., picked up stocking stuffers at Allen’s Variety Store, purchased gifts for family and friends at the Celina Mercantile Co., or grabbed something to take to the evening holiday party from Malone and McKnight’s “fresh fruits, meats, and fancy groceries.” Throughout that Saturday afternoon and evening, kids were enjoying the picture show at the Ritz Theater on the Square.

The next morning, folks in Celina would wake up like any other Sunday morning and prepare to attend one of the vibrant churches in the community. Services that day would celebrate the Advent season, pointing congregants from around town toward the coming glory of Christmas. Church services would wrapup, families would hurry home for a Sunday meal, and would gather around a radio for their favorite weekend programming. However, very quickly the Sunday like any other would soon become one unlike any.

At 1:22 PM Central Standard Time, White House Press Secretary Stephen Early came across the radio airwaves and made a world-changing announcement. “The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor from the air and all naval and military activities on the island of Oahu, principal American base in the Hawaiian Islands,” he told Americans everywhere. In one moment in time, the world was transformed, this nation was shocked and horrified, and the small community of Celina sat silent, waiting to see how dramatically this new world at war would impact and forever change this community.

Dramatic, in fact, the impact would be. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war with his famous Day of Infamy Speech with the solemn promise that “this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” From that promise until the dropping of two atomic bombs on August 6th and 8th of 1945, 16 million Americans would serve in uniform in World War II to back up the president’s words.

The gut-wrenching pains of war would quickly and dramatically impact the people in Celina. Boys who wore Celina Bobcat uniforms just days before would now be in those issued by the military. Girls who cheered and played in the Bobcats’ marching band

would soon be on their way to serve. In all, dozens of young men and women who called Celina home would leave Collin County for places unknown, knowing not if they would ever return. Over 40 of their memoirs are recorded in paper volumes and online at the Celina Heritage Association. Their stories are powerful, candid, colorful, and heroic. Many of them returned to Celina to live out their years. Twenty-two never had the chance to come home; they paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Their names are forever etched on the memorial clock on the south end of the historic Square in Downtown Celina where many of their happy childhood memories were made and where they would have loved to return.

Today, The National WWII Museum in New Orleans says that, of the 16 million who served, only 167,000 survivors of the Great War are still living. Of the approximately 8,200 World War II heroes still living in Texas in 2022, only three remain in Celina—two more are reported to live just outside of town. People today walk by these veterans around town and, perhaps, never realize their profound place in our nation’s history and in the history of Celina. As Veteran’s Day approaches, their names and their stories should be illuminated. Though they would shutter at the designation, they are heroes in this community. Thankfully Bob McKnight, a Celina historian, sat down with many of Celina’s veterans from across the years and from different wars and captured and transcribed their stories. Below are edited excerpts from each of the memoirs of the three living survivors from World War II still calling Celina their home.

James Roland “J.R.” McIlroy

United States Army

Expecting to be drafted, James Roland McIlroy, after completing five semesters at Texas A&M, volunteered for the Army in 1943. With an IQ of 125, he was sent to Camp Maxey in Paris, TX, and was then sent by the Army back to college to study Engineering in Commerce. In February of 1944, McIlroy was called back to Fort Maxie to prepare for battle. He was sent to the German – Belgian border in the Ardenne Forest. He arrived there on November 10, 1944, and dug a foxhole in the snow from where he would engage in combat for 90 days during the Battle of the Bulge. There, the Germans sent wave after wave of men, tanks, and artillery at the American forces. McIlroy said the snowy field often looked like a checkerboard of white and red—with the blood of countless soldiers spotting the battlefield. On December 17, 1944, McIlroy, a member of the 2nd Battalion, Company F, 99th Division, and a fellow soldier came face to face with the enemy. The Germans shot and killed his friend and hit and destroyed McIlroy’s rifle, yet he was able to narrowly escape through nearby woods. Over the next bitterly cold days, McIlroy would continue to engage with German troops, including fighting with bayonets in hand-to-hand combat. On January 30, 1945, McIlroy received a grazing wound from rifle fire. With the gun-battle so intense, he was pinned in place and began to freeze. By the time troops got him to the hospital, he was suffering from gangrene. After eight months in the hospital, he was finally discharged in October of 1945. McIlroy received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his valiant service. He returned home and finished his undergraduate studies at Texas A&M.

Ralph L. O'Dell

United States Army

Ralph O’Dell tried to join the Army with his friend Pete Kinney when he was 16 years old, but his father, Tom O’Dell, would not sign the papers, so he had to wait and was drafted to the Army in 1943. He was sent to Camp Callan in San Diego where he would undergo 16 weeks of training on the azimuth tracker to help in the operation and firing of the anti-aircraft artillery 40MM guns. The azimuth tracker was an early predecessor to the computer. From training, O’Dell was shipped to the South Pacific in February of 1944. He would engage in action in New Zealand, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and many islands on over to the Philippines. As a part of a “non-divisional artillery unit,” he would be sent wherever he was needed to support the Army, Navy, or Air Force. They provided support for troops by firing upon enemy aircraft and, after Leyte, they fired upon ground targets with over 100 four-pound shells per minute. These shells consisted of armor piercing, high explosives, and tracers and had a range of 6,000 yards. As the battles of World War II began to decrease, O’Dell worked at battery headquarters as a typist. He was mustered out of the Army at the age of 20. He earned the Pacific Medal, the Bronze Star, and the Meritorious Service Medal.

John G. Rothfus, Jr.

United States Army Air Corps

Johnny Rothfus entered the Army on February 1, 1944, after receiving a six-month deferment while working on the family farm. He was sent to Mineral Wells, Wichita Falls, and Laredo for basic Air Forces training. From there he went to Tucson, AZ, where bomber crews were assembled for advanced gunnery training aboard a B-24 bomber. Rothfus’ destination would be Foggia Air Force Base, Italy, as a tail gunner in a B-24 with the 98th Bomber Group, 445th Squadron. His first numbing mission would be on a railroad facility in Vienna, Austria. Most of the bombing runs he went on were against the German rail yards in Austria. He flew 18 missions during his assignment in Italy. It was on his fourth of those missions that his plane was hit by anti-aircraft shrapnel shells. They were forced to bail out and ditch their plane near Split, Yugoslavia. Thankfully, none of their tenman crew were severely injured. Once the crew had regathered, they opened their escape kits and removed the money and maps provided to each airman. The kit included $50 in US currency to use for escape purposes. The men bought various items, and Rothfus bought a scarf to take home to his wife. British soldiers in the area to help downed crews found the group and returned them to their base so they could finish out the war. He was discharged on October 30, 1945 and returned home to Celina. Rothfus earned the Air Medal with 1 Bronze Oakleaf Cluster, a Purple Heart, EAME with 1 Silver Battle Star, a Good Conduct Medal, and the Overseas Bar.

These servants and their stories still stir hearts of people in Celina today. In some way, the sacrifices they were willing to make to fulfill their sworn duty draw us away from so much of the noise that clutters our lives. These brave men left this place willing to give their all, risking their lives every day for a cause that was bigger than them, but they did it for an outcome that would provide freedom and promise for generations beyond them. They did it for the place we call Home.

“When you meet these men and hear their stories, you quickly comprehend the gravity of their service and the profound impact their sacrifices had for the betterment of society,” said U.S. Army veteran and Celina City Council member Andy Hopkins, an active leader in the local American Legion. “They served in bloody battles where friends died around them often, and they came home to Celina with 22 less than they left with. These are the greatest heroes that the Greatest Generation ever gave us.”