WWII veteran ‘Doc’ Matney recalls his military days
WWII veteran ‘Doc’ Matney recalls his military days
Frank Denzler | The Rushville RepublicanWWII veteran Wilbur “Doc” Matney is pictured holding a photograph of him taken during his military days.
Posted: Monday, November 10, 2014 7:00 am
Rushville Republican
Wilbur Howard “Doc” Matney was born on New Year’s Day 1922 in the rural Rush County community of Richland. He was the third eldest of 11 children and from an early age, he and his brothers and sisters were taught and schooled in the value of hard work.
“We didn’t have much, but then again, we didn’t know that because no one had much back in those days,” Matney said.
An uncle dubbed the youngster “Doc” when he was five years old and, according to Matney, the moniker stuck and very few outside of family members know his given name is Wilbur.
“I’m known as “Doc” in five counties,” he said with a laugh.
Matney’s formal education was gained at New Salem School and ended while he was in eighth grade. An injury to his father forced the 13-year-old youngster to quit school and work to help support the family.
A few years later on Dec. 1, 1942, the Rush County man was drafted into the U.S. Army. Before leaving for boot camp, Matney married the love of his life Margaret Clark on Dec. 7, 1942. There was no time for a honeymoon after the wedding as Matney began his stint in the military and was sent to Fort Chaffee, in western Arkansas, for boot camp.
Up to that point in time, Arkansas was the furthest the Rush County man had been from home, although his travels were just beginning. Following boot camp, Matney was next stationed in Tennessee for additional training before heading off Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he spent the next 12 months. In the fall of 1943, Matney was sent overseas to join the war effort.
“I was sent to Marcé, France, and then right on in to the war with our outfit in December of ‘43,” he said.
Still a young man with not a lot of worldly travel experience, he was soon to see the horror of war up close and personal.
“At times it was bad scary. I tried to keep my cool so I would know what to do when things got crazy. I did not want to get blown up or shot,” Matney said.
Both being shot at and struck by heavy artillery were real possibilities for the man from Rush County, as he had one of the more dangerous and important jobs during the war.
“I hauled gasoline. I supplied the front lines with gas. Basically was a moving target – the enemy was after me several times. I had a 50 caliber machine gun on top of the truck and both the infantry and the aircraft were afraid of that,” Matney said.
He got quiet for a moment as he looked at a list of name of soldiers he served with that did not make it back – 3,653 lives of friends and others he served with were either killed, wounded or listed as missing in action.
Most of his time driving to the front lines he was completely alone. He said he had one friend Ervin Mathews who was from the Rush County community of Arlington. Mathews had three tanks shot out from under him during the war.
“Each time he lost a tank, he would ride with me until he got another tank, but no one else would,” he said with a laugh.
One of his fuel runs he remembers well. It was a run between two small French towns to again supply the front lines with much needed fuel, only on this run, he was pursued by enemy forces seeking to blow his loaded tanker truck up. He said it was the most scared he had been during the war and, to compound matter, when he finally got to the front line, he found they only needed five gallons of gas. Matney said he was able to elude the enemy by simply idling the engine until he got far enough away.
His active war duties came to a close in November of 1945 when he came home.
“After I got to France and the war, I stayed until the war was over. I had to stay quite a while, all of us did. It took a while to get a ship to come back and pick us up,” he said.
After returning state side and following a brief stay at Camp Atterbury near Edinburgh, he returned to Rush County and worked until he was recalled for the Korean War.
Matney did not have to go overseas during the Korean War, although for six months he served his country as a Platoon Sgt. at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
When asked his thoughts of his time serving his country, he said although he had no choice, all the years later in looking back, it was an experience he will and has not forgotten. For a number of years, Matney has attended a Veteran’s Day program at Laurel School in Franklin County. A school system that provides education to many of his great grandchildren. This year will be no exception.
“I really look forward to the program at the school and I am looking forward to this year’s program,” he said.
Contact: Frank Denzler @ 765.932.2222 x106.
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Monday, November 10, 2014 7:00 am.
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