Published: July 04, 2009 11:29 pm      

Memories remain fresh for World War II veteran

Arlis Sizemore spent 23 months fighting in Europe

Editor’s note: An Associated Press story last year reported that veterans of World War II are dying off at a rate of 1,000 a day. In an effort to capture their memories of that time before it’s too late, the Pharos-Tribune has joined with the Cass County Rooster Club for an occasional series. The Roosters sponsor a Salute to Veterans Gala each November, and last year a portion of the proceeds from that event went toward helping to send World War II veterans to Washington to see the memorials there.



At 85, Arlis Sizemore is still going strong.

“Whenever I can walk, I walk,” said Sizemore, who claims that keeping active contributes to his good health.

The battle-seasoned Logansport resident walks every chance he gets, eats well and enjoys the company of his wife, Evelyn.

The two married in 1964. Arlis credits Evelyn with spurring him to share the war experiences he kept bottled up for more than 20 years. To this day, his personal memories of battles in Italy, France and Germany remain vivid.

“I wouldn’t talk about it for years,” he said. “They finally got me going. That’s all I do is talk about it, ain’t it Evelyn? I want to let it out.”

Arlis was born in Kentucky and moved to Peru in the early 1940s to help build runways at Bunker Hill Naval Air Station. In 1942, the Selective Service System notified him he had been drafted. He entered service on May 6, 1943, and five months later, he was on a ship to Africa as an 81-millimeter mortar crewman in D Company in the 141st Regiment of the Fifth Army, 36th Division.

For 23 months, Arlis fought on the front lines throughout the European Theater with little reprieve. He was among the forces who dislodged the Germans atop the highpoint at Abbey Church near the Rapido River in Italy and pushed enemy troops from southern France back into Germany, where many surrendered.

Arlis remembers the sights and sounds of war. He recalls the stench of rotting bodies in the Landsberg concentration camps and the screams of wounded and dying soldiers. He witnessed many deaths while barely escaping with his own life.

Arlis said he nearly died by enemy fire multiple times. As he and many other U.S. soldiers loaded into boats in an attempt to cross the Rapido River in January 1944, the Germans unleashed a deadly attack from a nearby mountain.

“Boy, they threw a barrage in there — artillery, mortars, machine guns and everything,” said Arlis, who was among those lucky enough to retreat unscathed.

Germans killed thousands in the battle and had them pinned down. The allied forces could move only at night. They eventually crossed the river and made their way onto the mountainside where the battle ensued for 40 days. During combat, a German mortar exploded so close to Arlis, he lost his hearing for seven days.

Sometimes soldiers didn’t bathe for months as they pushed on through mountain winters and the mud of spring. Arlis said his company spent a majority of the time on the front lines lobbing mortars into enemy strongholds. There were stretches where fighting subsided or they pulled back to get supplies.

“Then we’d start right in again,” Arlis said.

Asked how he dealt with the horrors of war at such a young age, he said he wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know,” he said. “When I got a hold of some wine or anything, I’d drink it. Settle my nerves down. It was rough. Right out in the open all the time.”

For many years, Arlis wanted to forget about the war. Then Evelyn got his permission to write to his “old war buddies.” She said her husband talked on the phone for hours when he first spoke with a fellow soldier.

Since 1990, Arlis and Evelyn have been attending reunions for D Company all over the United States, but the number attending is dwindling.

“They’ve all been dying quite rapidly,” Evelyn said.

Arlis and Evelyn are making the most of their time. They have since returned to Italy, where Arlis and a group of World War II veterans were treated like royalty, Evelyn said. The couple has also been to the war monument in Washington, D.C.

At a ceremony in Indianapolis in November 2007, the government of France inducted Arlis into the knights of the French Legion of Honor for his part in helping to liberate France during World War II.

The honor, established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, is the highest award given by the French Republic in recognition of outstanding military or government service.

Arlis added the award to a long list of medals earned during battle, including a Bronze Star and a Good Conduct Medal. He wrote his account of the war in his self-published book, “Hidden Memories of World War II.”

“They got me to write that, what I could remember,” he said.

A copy is available at the Logansport/Cass County Public Library.

• Kevin Lilly is news editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at (574) 732-5117 or kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com