Kansas Masonic Home residents helped win the war

WICHITA, Kan., Nov. 11, 2011 — In early June 1944, thousands of ships and 150,000 men were gathered in England, waiting for orders. One of them soldiers was 18-year-old Army Private “Luke” Lucas, who had arrived as a replacement troop fresh out of infantry training just two months before. On June 6, he was on his way to war with the First Army’s 4^th Infantry Division. 

Lucas landed on Utah Beach in waist high water. Bullets filled the air as he ran, unable to avoid the bodies already littering the beach. He had survived the initial assault. Now, his unit they faced 20 days of brutal fighting to secure their objective, 50 miles away. Their mission: drive the Germans out of Cherbourg and secure its deep-water port, clearing the way for ships to bring supplies and equipment.

“It was toe-to-toe with the Germans” through hedgerow country in France, Lucas remembers. “Those hedgerows were so thick that the enemy might be just on the other side, waiting to kill you.”

Training WAVES to be trainers

Far away from the battlefield, 23-year-old teacher Jean Courter (now Marchand) had just arrived in New York for basic training at Hunter College. She was a new enlistee in the Navy WAVES, established a year earlier — in spite of complaints from officers and others that women had no place in the Navy.

It was an exciting journey for the young woman, who gave up her teaching job to serve her country. Marchand had never traveled so far away. It was hot in June 1944, and the train windows were open. So when Marchand and the other soon-to-be WAVES arrived at the station, they didn’t look their best. Throughout their journey, the open train windows delivered soot directly to the passengers inside.

Arriving in New York, she remembers the first news she heard: D-Day had begun.

 “I felt overwhelmed, but also hopeful,” says Marchand, “that the war would turn out well.” 

After finishing basic training Marchand was sent to Florida for advanced gunnery training and then to her duty station at Lee Field, near Green Cove, Fla. She was now  ready to be a teacher again.

Her classroom was a Navy simulator, her students Navy pilots. She sat in the cockpit the pilot behind her, as she used foot pedals to maneuver the “airplane.” She taught her student how to estimate the speed and maneuverability of various enemy aircraft to zero in on the target.

When asked about her role as an instructor, Marchant says, “Well, I hate to say this, but our job was to help kill the enemy.” 

Five Bronze Stars, Bronze Arrowhead, Purple Heart

After Cherbourg, Private Lucas and his unit were ordered to help Allied troops in St. Lo. Getting to the enemy meant crossing marshlands, and the Germans were dug in on the other side. Air support was called in, and Lucas watched as hundreds of

B-17s destroyed German defenses.  He also watched as four of the bombers were shot down.

Lucas fought in other major battles after D-Day. He helped liberate Paris, following the fleeing Nazis away as the retreated from the City. He fought in the Hurtgen Forest, the battle of Montrain and the Battle of the Bulge.

In Germany’s Hurtgen Forest the shelling was ceaseless.  He was wounded by shrapnel. 

“You see,” he says, “the trees just exploded above you. “There was nowhere to go — only our foxholes.”

All together, along with fighting all along the way, Lucas was in five of six major European battles. By the end of the war, he had been awarded five Bronze Stars, a Bronze Arrowhead, and a Purple Heart.

Peace at last

At the end of the war, Lucas was with Patton’s Third Army in Munich. He came home to his family, and married his sweetheart.

In 1945, on her 24^th birthday, Specialist (Gunnery) Third Class Jean Courter became Jean Marchand, marrying a Navy sailor who, unlike many other others at her duty station, had made the WAVES feel welcome there. They were both in uniform as they said their vows, celebrating that special day — and grateful for the blessing of peace.