December 7, 2009

Larue Barnes: The aftermath of Pearl Harbor: Joe Mason of Cleburne

Tomorrow, Dec. 7, marks the date that America entered World War II.

That wasn’t supposed to happen. The peace treaty after World War I had ushered in a “permanent” neutrality for our country.

But two hours of death and destruction at Pearl Harbor 68 years ago changed everything.

Seven of the eight U.S. battleships there had been either sunk or badly crippled; three cruisers and three destroyers had suffered severe damage.

Of a total 394 U.S. planes, 188 were demolished and 159 damaged.

Most important: 2.403 Americans were killed and 1,178 had been wounded.

Joe Mason, 90, of Cleburne knows first-hand how quickly America had to prepare.

He was promoted from a private in the 36th Division of the Texas National Guard to a captain in the U.S. Army within 42 months.

“I had joined the Texas National Guard in Cleburne in 1940, and then moved to Houston to attend a diesel engineering school,” he said. “I came back to Cleburne when the National Guard was mobilized in January 1941, originally for one year. That time was extended when Pearl Harbor was bombed.”

The 36th was mustered at Camp Bowie in Brownwood. Mason scored 138 on an IQ test he took while there.

“It was luck, really. A lot of the others were fed up with having to take another test, and they were just marking anything down to get through with it. I grew up with a mother who taught me to do my very best on anything I did. That made the difference, I think.”

The 36th was moved to Camp Blanding, Fla., for training. Mason was nominated for Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Okla., the artillery training camp.

On his way to Fort Sill, he made an important stop in Cleburne.

His sweetheart, Juanita Mitchell, came in from Oklahoma to the Santa Fe depot to meet him.

“I was exhausted. My troop train had been so crowded that I had to ride up in the luggage rack for about 100 miles,” he said. “There was no place to stand. As troops got off I got to come down.”

The couple married the next day, July 6, 1942, at North Anglin Street Methodist Church in Cleburne.

She moved in with his parents, and he was soon back on his way.

After graduation from OCS as a second lieutenant, Mason was sent to Brownwood to join the 987th Field Artillery Battalion as a fire director for heavy artillery.

And heavy it was.

The 987th was a heavy track-mounted artillery battalion with three batteries of 155 mm field cannon — 6-in. diameter able to fire 98 pound projectiles 11 to 13 miles.

As fire director Mason was responsible for targeting the weaponry.

“We were an independent nonattached heavy artillery unit under the direction of the First Allied Army,” he said. “We left New York Harbor on the Ile de France with all British crewmen, unescorted to a port near Glasgow, Scotland.

Then they moved us by train to a camp in South Wales not far from Bristol.

“Just before D-Day invasion we were moved to the southeast coast of England, where we boarded [landing crafts] three to four days before the June 6, 1944, invasion of Europe. We were moored in the English Channel waiting for a signal to land.”

Instead, they were temporarily assigned to assist and support a British landing on Red Beach.

Capt. Mason was awarded the Bronze Star by the British for his duties as survey officer, in a large degree responsible for the success of the work of the battalion with the British Royal Artillery in the invasion of Normandy, France.

The officer had a close call in France.

“My driver and I were alone in our jeep,” Mason said. “I was enjoying smoking my pipe as we rode along near hedgerows. The right front tire ran over a mine, and we were flipped over and thrown into a field. The jeep had sandbags all inside it, which served as air bags. We weren’t injured, but I couldn’t hear a sound for 24 hours.”

Back home in Cleburne, Juanita was caring for their young son, Kenneth, who was five months old when his father went to war.

“Kenneth and I were sitting near a photograph of Joe in a frame,” she said. “Suddenly, without any reason, the picture frame plopped over and fell off the table, with glass shattering everywhere. Later I learned that was the exact moment Joe’s jeep hit the mine.”

Mason’s unit battled through France, Belgium and Germany. His unit met the Russians at the Elbe River before VE Day on May 5, 1945, when the war ended.

Little Kenneth, at 27 months, welcomed his father home to Cleburne.

As an officer Mason was not officially discharged until 1948 but was allowed to come home and did not have to return to duty.

Joe had a 30-year career with the Santa Fe Shops as a crane operator in the mechanical department. Juanita worked 23 years at Safeway in Cleburne.

She began as a checker in August 1957 and became the trainer and supervisor of the checkers.

She recalled working all day with one young woman, teaching her to make change.

Juanita worked the next night, and the checker trainee was leaving her shift.

“She came to my car, opened my door, jerked me out, twirled me up against the building, looked me in the eyes and said, ‘I just love you! I balanced out to the penny today.’ ”

Juanita smiled and said, “I was shocked. I didn’t know what was going on. It was so sudden. But it made me feel good to know that I had helped her that much. She has advanced in retailing, and I see her often. She has been a true friend.”

The Masons had three children, Kenneth, Charlotte, and Wayne. Joe mostly worked nights, and Juanita was busy with ball games, scout troops, Rainbow Girls and DeMolay, a leadership organization for young males. Her children’s friends gathered at her house, and she enjoyed cooking and having fun with them all.

But sadness came during their time of peace.

“Within four years we lost Kenneth and Wayne, and then a grandchild,” Juanita said.

The Masons retired in 1980. They lived on a farm at Grandview from 1970-87 and at Tomball until 2004 to be near their daughter, Charlotte, until she, too, passed away.

Cleburne is now their home.

They have wonderful memories of Cleburne and of her husband’s parents, Joseph Lee Mason and Daisy Bonner Mason.

“My dad worked for over 50 years as a conductor for the Santa Fe Railroad,” Joe said. “My sister and brothers, Frances, Emmett, Howard and Bruce, and I had a permanent family pass to ride the train. When our dad was ready to retire they asked him to stay on longer to conduct the World War II troop trains, which he did.

“Joe’s mother, Daisy, was absolutely a fantasy to me,” Juanita said. “I loved her so very much. She taught me to cook. Kenneth and I were staying with them when Joe went off to OCS, and one day she asked me to go out back and drive her car around to the front.

“I told her I didn’t know how to drive.”

“Well, it’s time you learned,” her mother-in-law quickly replied.

So Juanita drove the car. She soon became the family’s favorite chauffeur.

Joe and Juanita enjoy country music, with Texas Swing as his favorite.

Juanita came from a musical family.

When Cleburne’s Randy Elmore, a world-champion fiddler, recently learned of their interest, he dropped by to play for them.

They proudly speak of their grandchildren, Leigh Ann Darilek of Magnolia and Sandra McDaniel of Cyprus, Texas, and their five great-grandchildren.

Juanita attends Granbury Church of Christ in Cleburne.

“Cleburne is home,” Joe said about moving back in 2004. “I was born on North Wilhite Street and graduated from CHS in 1938. Ms. Rilla Armstrong taught me Spanish and Ms. Mabel Warren helped me through English. I’ve always loved Cleburne people. We have the very best neighbors in the world.”

This story contains information taken from “Illustrated Story of World War II,” published by Reader’s Digest. Bob McAlister contributed to this story.

Larue Barnes may be reached at laruebarnes@yahoo.com.