WWII – The Last Warrior
A look at the life of Brigadier General Julius Easton Slack
My Great Uncle
“General Patton, Corps and Division Commanders. 4th Armored Division C.P., England, June 1944”
This photo was taken just prior to the landing at Utah Beach on July 11, 1944. Julius is peeking out from behind, second from the right.
From Julius Easton Slack’s personal photo album
Julius Easton Slack’s Amazing Life
Julius was my great uncle on my dad’s side, the brother of my paternal grandfather. I used to rummage through his things in the attic while staying with my grandparents in Lansing, Michigan back in 1964. I asked a lot of questions, but both my father and my grandfather didn’t seem to want to talk about him.
Maybe it was because I was a little girl.
But then again, I never heard either of them mention him … to anyone.
Makes me wonder …
My uncle died in 1968. My dad never told me.
And then a few years ago, I took possession of Julius’s personal belongings.
Oh
My
Gosh!
I never met my uncle, which makes me a little sad. He and I would have gotten along very well.
I’m left with hundreds of photographs, some about which I’ve discovered a backstory through reading cryptic scrawls on the back of the photo, or pouring through military records (I have them all). Most of the images have left me floating in a never to be solved mystery, a story to be discovered, and a tale that will one day be told.
Fictitious license will be in full effect.
I’m sharing the images here.
Each section below may have a link that will take you to more images from that particular season of Julius’s life and military career. It’s not done … I will be adding more over time.
If you see anything that looks familiar, please send a note using the contact form at the bottom of the page.
Julius Arrives on the Scene in 1898
Julius Easton Slack was born November 21, 1898 in Hermansville, Meyer Township, Menominee Michigan. He was the oldest of six children born to Walter Bingham Slack and Ann Marie Harris.
Julius had four older sisters and one younger brother, my grandfather, Palmer Harris Slack. He was four years younger than Julius.
This is Julius as a little tyke, and this is the house he was born in.
If you took time to check out the home page, you know from where Julius got his love of country …
Keep it in mind as you meander through his story. Ask yourself whether Julius knew who his ancestors were. I don’t think he did, just as I didn’t until I received from a long passed aunt a handwritten family tree. It definitely got me started, but then I received Julius’s personal records, photos, and military records.
You won’t know until you look.
Knowing who has come before has really helped me understand myself, my family, and has given me great feelings of anticipation about rejoining those who await my arrival in the realm of eternity. Hopefully they all got to where I expect to be when the time comes.
West Point
Julius entered West Point on June 14, 1917, graduating November 1, 1918 before entering the Regular Army as a Second Lieutenant Field Artillery.
From the yearbook …
“Slack has had the misfortune of coming in contact too often with our Engineers and has himself been carried into the maelstrom of tenthdom. Everything he has done has been founded on the idea of theoretical background. When a man bones cavalry riding from Jeb Stuart and Stonewall Jackson and goes down to the riding hall and meets Reid and is thrown into space; when a man red as Von Moltie and Napoleon gets out into hills and loses a squad of cadets–it’s high time to change tactics. Let’s go out, Julius, and try our hand at nothing and see, also, how the masters performed it. You cawn’t gum something no one has ever done.”
Entering the Regular Army
Julius’s life seems to have been thrown into a whirlwind of travel, training, and fun assignments. After his October 1918 Cadet graduation from West Point, he was recalled with the rest of his class to serve as Student Officers, graduating from post-graduate work in September 1919.
Julius then attended Field Artillery School at Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky from October 1919 to July 31, 1920. He completed the Basic Course in October 1920 before taking his new assignment with the 6th Field Artillery group.
Julius Finds Love
He met and married Marie Sinclair Watson on April 2, 1923 in San Francisco, which seems like a good half way point between Honolulu and New York, the two places where Julius held residences at the time.
Jules and Marie with friends Polly Glover, Trixie Dean, and Duke Carlson at Camp Dix, New Jersey in 1922.
This is Marie having a little fun on the deck of the SS Lapland in South Hampton, England. It was 1922.
Jules and Marie loved their many dogs. Here’s Jules with Chico at his quarters in Hillcrest, California in November 1920.
1928
Julius with Blondie
February 22, 1928
Battery A, 4th Field Artillery
Julius leading the procession in Laredo, Texas
Going Hollywood
1930’s
First Lieutenant Julius E. Slack, Field Artillery, was relieved from his assignment to the 4th Field Artillery and from further duty at Fort Robinson, Nebraska and proceeded to San Francisco for transport to the Panama Canal Department. While he stationed there, he became the Recreation Officer, Manager and Treasurer Motion Picture Service, and put in charge of athletic and Library activities.
Nice gig! Be sure to follow the link at the below to check out some amazing pictures of stars so famous, even I remember them!
The First Lady of Hollywood
Here’s Shirley Temple by the pool at the Dessert Inn, Palm Springs, Ca on November 21, 1937. This is one of three photos of Miss Temple in Julius’s photo album.
Hollywood Elite of the 30’s
Imagine my surprise as I flipped through the photo album, astonished by the descriptions by each photograph. Here we have Helen Hayes, Charles MacArther, and Jack Neal in Balboa CZ, in 1933.
World War II Heats Up for the U.S.
1940’s
Leaving the apparently fabulous 1930’s into the growing intensity of the war years might have been lost on Marie, but not on Julius. Marie always looks so happy in all of these photos. Here she is at the Dessert Inn in 1937.
Entering a New Phase
Julius appears to understand what’s about to happen in his life while he participates in the Army Day Parade in San Antonio, Texas on April 7, 1940.
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States (a neutral country at the time) against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States’ formal entry into World War II the next day.Â
Photograph taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island shortly after the beginning of the Pearl Harbor attack. View looks about east, with the supply depot, submarine base and fuel tank farm in the right center distance. A torpedo has just hit USS West Virginia on the far side of Ford Island (center). Other battleships moored nearby are (from left): Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee (inboard of West Virginia), Oklahoma (torpedoed and listing) alongside Maryland, and California. Â
On the near side of Ford Island, to the left, are light cruisers Detroit and Raleigh, target and training ship Utah and seaplane tender Tangier. Raleigh and Utah have been torpedoed, and Utah is listing sharply to port. Japanese planes are visible in the right center (over Ford Island) and over the Navy Yard at right. U.S. Navy planes on the seaplane ramp are on fire. Japanese writing in the lower right states that the photograph was reproduced by authorization of the Navy Ministry.
Source: Wikipedia
The Surrender of Bataan
April 9, 1942
The American surrender at Bataan to the Japanese, with 76,000 soldiers surrendering in the Philippines altogether, was the largest in American and Filipino military histories, and was the largest United States surrender since the American Civil War‘s Battle of Harpers Ferry. Soon afterwards, U.S. and Filipino prisoners of war were forced into the Bataan Death March.
Source: Wikipedia
The Battle of Bataan ended on April 9, 1942, when Army Major General Edward P. King, accompanied by Colonel Williams, surrendered to Japanese General Masaharu Homma.
Generals Wainwright and Andrus
Following the evacuation of MacArthur to Australia in March 1942 to serve as Allied Supreme Commander, South West Pacific Area, Wainwright inherited the position of Allied commander in the Philippines. Also that March, Wainwright was promoted to lieutenant general (temporary).
On April 9, 1942 the 70,000 troops on Bataan surrendered under the command of Major General Edward P. King.
On May 5th, the Japanese attacked Corregidor. Due to lack of supplies (mainly food and ammunition) and in the interest of minimizing casualties, Wainwright notified Japanese General Masaharu Homma he was surrendering on May 6.
By June 9, Allied forces had completely surrendered. Wainwright was then held in prison camps in northern Luzon, Formosa, and Liaoyuan (then called Xi’an and a county within Manchukuo) until his liberation by the Red Army in August 1945.
Source: Wikipedia
General Wainwright Released and Received as a Hero
General Wainwright gave this signed portrait to Marie, whom I feel certain must have cherished it. I found it contained in a gold frame.
Wainwright was the highest-ranking American POW, and, despite his rank, his treatment at the hands of the Japanese was no less unpleasant than most of his men. Â
Dubbed by his men a “fighting” general who was willing to get down in the foxholes, Wainwright won the respect of all who were imprisoned with him.Â
He agonized over his decision to surrender Corregidor throughout his captivity, feeling that he had let his country down. Upon release, the first question he asked was how people back in the U.S. thought of him, and he was amazed when told he was considered a hero.Â
Source: Wikipedia
Julius Prepares
April 26, 1942
Julius standing in front of his latest quarters in San Antonio, Texas preparing to leave for VIII Army Corps, Brownwood – after their move on April 21, 1942 from Fort Sam Houston.
Julius was to leave the following Tuesday for Commanding Staff School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
XX Corps
The story of XX Corps is one that I’ve only recently become aware of. I love history, but I haven’t been a good student of WWII. The experience of researching my uncle’s life has turned out to be a real eye opener.
The following is from the Foreward of Ghost Corps: Thru Hell and High Water
XX Corps played a major role in the destruction of German armed might. Their story is about an organization of officers and men selected from all branches of the United States Army, and the establishment of highly qualified personnel that once put into motion, directed one of the most powerful fighting teams of military history.
Activated by General Walton H. Walker in the Desert Theater of Operations in California on September 5, 1942, each officer and enlisted man became imbued with a consciousness of the mission of the Corps, an awareness that grew more pronounced as the organization began to temper and acquire character.
The XX Corps battle unit accomplished an extraordinary amount in a short period of time, particularly given their precedent-setting drive against a seasoned enemy in its first engagement. Even before landing on French soil, the XX Corps had already established a track record that promised to be a great deal of trouble for German Strategists. The unit was formidable; over 90 percent of the personnel of the XX Corps HQ staff had served in an armored unit.
Assuming an outfit’s esprit de corps can be judged by its combat efficiency, the manner of its personnel, its pride and confidence, then XX Corps should have been satisfied with nothing but top position on the roster of U.S. Army units serving anywhere in the world.
XX Corps Activation and Training
Desert Theater Training Operations
XX Corps was initially activated as the IV Armored Corps in the Desert Theater of Operations, California, on September 5, 1942 by General Walton H. Walker. General Walker had been the commanding general of the 3rd Armored Division up until July of 1942.
The training regimen was demanding, taking place in the hot desert with temperatures reaching up to 125 degrees. The area was enormous, as big as the state of Pennsylvania, and filled with all kinds of unsavory creatures along the lines of centipedes, scorpions, and snakes. It was the setting that not only test men, but their machines, materials, and the strategies developing as the organization began to gel.
Photo from Ghost Corps Thru Hell and High Water
XX Corps motorcycles in the desert training center.
General Walton Harris Walker
Walton Harris Walker (December 3, 1889 – December 23, 1950) was a United States Army four-star general who served in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, where he commanded the Eighth United States Army before dying in a jeep accident. He received two Distinguished Service Crosses for extraordinary heroism in World War II and the Korean War.
Source: Wikipedia
General Walton was my uncle’s CO. The General wrote an inscription on his photo, but the years have made it indecipherable. Maybe I’ll find some forensics guru to help me lift the secret message.
There is some good news, however. I discovered a personal letter from General Walker to Julius written after the war; a letter that brought me to tears (and not only because it is the original, hand-signed). I will eventually add it to the content on this site … all things in due time and proper order. (I got that from my uncle)
Activation of XX Corps Artillery
Photo taken October 1943 in Shelby, Miss.
69th Division Artillery
General Slack, Colonel Garick, Lt. Colonel Tryfus, Major Paemet, Captain Adjest
October 1943
Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, XX Corps Artillery, is activated on 0401 Z, 21 October 1943, at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pennsylvania.
Pursuant to authority contained in radio, Headquarters Army Ground Forces, dated 8Â October, 1943, the undersigned hereby assumes command of the XX Corps Artillery.
J.E. Slack, Brigadier General, USA Commanding
Source:
Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Central Europe
XX Corps Artillery
Produced by:
Colonel Russell V. Eastman, 0-174251 … Editor
Major Robert E. Marble, 0-308123 … Asst. Editor
Captain Douglas R. Schoenfeld, 0-388032 … Asst. Editor
The Campaigns of Normandy and Northern France
Coming Soon — enjoy the rest of the stories and photos below. I am making some structural changes that will make it easier to navigate the information on the site.Â
Thanks for visiting!
Arch Bishop Francis Spellman
October 1944
Julius chats with the Arch Bishop of New York. Could he be submitting a few prayer requests for divine intervention in the coming weeks?
Francis Joseph Spellman was an American bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church. From 1939 until his death in 1967, he served as the sixth Archbishop of New York; he had previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston from 1932 through 1939. He was created a cardinal in 1946.
Source: Wikipedia
The Allied Invasion
Focusing on The Assault on Metz
The information restated in part here about the build up is excerpted from:
The Ghost Corps thru Hell and High Water: A short history of the XX Corps, U.S. Army
The author is identified as XX Corps, U.S. Army, and the document is cataloged as part of The Command and General Staff School Library, Accession Number 67644
Brigadier General Julius Easton Slack at the bulging edge of the Moselle prior to the attack on Metz.
In 1944, nearing the close of the Allied drive which had liberated most of France, the Germans in the sector facing the Third United States Army fell back behind strong defensive positions stretching roughly from Luxembourg south to the foothills of the Vosges mountains.
In the center of this defense system, serving as the pivot, was the city of Metz with its powerful ring of 43 inter-connecting forts, and the natural barriers of the swollen Moselle River and the high hills which cradled the Moselle Valley.
The XX Corps was assigned the primary mission of reducing the Metz fortifications and capturing the city.
Hitler had sent orders to the Metz commander to defend the stronghold at all cost.
General Walker struck his first blow …
for the military capital of Lorraine on September 7, 1944, with an assault crossing of the Moselle a few miles south of Metz in the vicinity of Pornot. For more than two weeks XX Corps armor and infantry pushed from the narrow bridgehead in the face of heavy artillery and machine-gun fire to inflict more than 10,000 casualties on the enemy and to smash the 17th SS Panzer-Grenadier Division.
Relentless Rains Stalled Progress … but Presented an Opportunity
The assault on the fortress city was postponed due to heavy rains and a shortage of ammunition, yet XX Corps used the time to conduct a detailed study of the Metz defenses.
They learned a great deal.
The fortifications of Metz were made up of an inner ring of fifteen forts and an outer perimeter of 28 bastions of steel and concrete. In 1941, the Germans had modernized the installations, reinforcing the forts with 210mm guns and 105mm guns placed in revolving steel turrets that could withstand fire from high velocity, direct-firing weapons. A fort typically had a single entrance and only a direct hit on a turret by at least a 500 pound aerial bomb would cause damage.
The fortress was heavily fortified with 100mm guns, and fully manned. The German units were disorganized, falling back on Metz as a rallying point.
In addition, there were in the city and out-lying defense positions three infantry divisions and remnants of the 17th SS Panzer Division. And incorporated into one of the infantry divisions were the fanatical soldiers of the VI Officer Candidate School Regiment.
The Swollen Moselle Presented a Major Obstacle
The Moselle River was normally 300-400 feet wide, but at the November 9th XX Corps assault, the river had reached almost a mile in width at certain places because of the continuous rains. There’s a photo at the top of this section showing Julius at the edge of the Moselle just prior to the attack.
General Walker, to get the forces within striking distance, brought his forces closer, sending the 90th Infantry Division north to clear Thionville and Hayange, while maintaining pressure on the German forces along the Seille River through the presence of the armory and infantry.
One of the Bloodiest Battles of the War
Maizieres-les-Metz, a few miles north of Metz and astride the highway running into the fortress city along the west back of the Moselle, became the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
The earth-shaking artillery concentration laid down by Brigadier General Julius E. Slack’s XX Corps Artillery all but pulverized the city, but failed to dislodge many of the German troops occupying positions in reinforced cellars.
The 90th Division moved in behind the barrage and after fierce house to house fighting, captured the city on 30 October, 1944.
On 9 November 1944, the attack on Metz, the Queen city of the Moselle which had withstood all attacks by military force since 451 A.D., was launched.
This is a war reel released near the end of the war. The first minute shows footage from the XX Corps assault on Metz, including several shots of Field Artillery (no pun intended).
Presentation of Awards
Pierrepont, France November 2, 1944
Presentation of awards to the 5th Field Artillery Group November 2, 1944.
Julius presents the Silver Star Medal to Chaplain (Captain) Martin C. Hoken. There are many more award presentation photos like this one in the collection, and I will add them … in due time and proper order.
Presentation of Awards by French General Dody, the Military Governor of Metz
After the victory in reclaiming Metz from the Germans, General Dody presented the French Legion of Honor Awards. The French Crois de Guerre to General Walton Walker, and the Chevalier to Julius and others involved in the attack and victory.
Walker’s XX Corps, the Field Artillery Group under the command of Brigadier General Julius Easton Slack, played a role in Patton’s dash across France in August and early September 1944, earning the sobriquet “Ghost Corps” for the speed of its advance.
Walker’s troops saw heavy fighting in France and Germany during the remainder of the war, especially at Metz, the Battle of the Bulge, and in the invasion of Germany.
Later, in the spring of 1945, XX Corps liberated Buchenwald concentration camp, then pushed south and east, eventually reaching Linz, Austria by May.Â
Source: Wikipedia
Footage of the Awards Ceremony
From the National Archives, the Review of XX Corps, Metz, France, November 1944. The initial minute or so footage is a shortened segment whosing of Eisenhower inspecting the British troops in Holland during that same timeframe. These activities occured on November 29th and 30th, 1944.
Julius can be seen in several shots and then in one particularly long shot with General Dody presenting the French Legion of Honor Award.
Thank you to Mr. John C. James who provided me with the link to download this video clip. His father was Captain William Cook James, otherwise known as Jesse James. He served as a liaison officer attached to the XV Corps before being discharged and commission as an officer. He was reattached to the XX Corps in August of 1944. Captaim James was a highly decorated soldier, earning a Bronze Star, Croix de Guerre, and a Purple Heart. Family rumors say he was also awarded the Silver Star, the story being that he swam a river under fire as part of an operation to rescue some people associated with royalty in Luxembourg.
There will be more about Mr. James’s father as the site expands.
Click here to go to the National Archives site and view the entire clip.
General Dody, Military Governor of Metz, presents the French Legion of Honor (Chevalier) to Brigadier General Julius Easton Slack at Metz, France, November 29, 1944.
For the Liberation of France
Major General Walton H. Walker, Commanding General, XX Corps presents the Silver Star to Brigadier General Julius Easton Slack at Thionville, France March 1945.
For period September 15, 1944 to December 20, 1944
If you have XX Corps stories, please send them to me if you’d like them included on this site, and if you think I might have some photos or information about someone you know, please don’t hesitate to ask.
I’ve already heard from the son of a Captain who served with XX Corps. He has shared some amazing tidbits about his father that will be added to a new section of this site.