Kenneth E. Lamp, 95th Division, Forward Observer

[Ron C.]

Kenneth E. Lamp, like so many of his time, has now passed away. He was just an ordinary man, like many of the ones who fought for our country during the time we call World War 2. He was from coal country in Boone County, WV. He was more than a fair high school football player, and played end for the Sherman Tide for Sherman High School at Seth, WV. His name was still in the trophy case of the school the last time I was there. It was on the team ball of the best team the school ever had at that time........maybe ever still. He might have gone on to make football even bigger in his life......one of his team mates made All American status in college and at least one played pro ball........but Ken went elsewhere. He enlisted in the U.S. Army shortly after graduation.

I first met Ken in around 1956 when he moved to my home town. I was in the U.S. Army Reserves as a senior in high school. He was a 1st LT and became my new Company Commander. His daughter was a friend of mine.....buddy type, not girl friend.....and I was at his house a lot. He was a "tough" guy.....not a bully or fighter.......but tough. He told me the stories of his service, most of which I can no longer remember. He was a forward observer for a cannon company in the 95th. He recieved 3 bronze stars, although he was put in for a silver star on one of them, and a 4th one after the war for meritorious service based on the other 3, the good conduct medal (of which he was proud), the combat infantryman's badge, and the glider wings. He also was given a battlefield commission for his constant demonstration of leadership. I do not have a copy, but I read in the old 95th "yearbook" the account of his action. It may well have gotten a much higher award in another outfit.

He stayed in the reserves, and later transfered to Special Forces......going to jump school and special forces training in his fifties. He retired as a LT COL. He followed his wife, his high school sweatheart, in death a few years ago.

When I met him, he had already burned most of the German stuff he brought back during a cleanup, he gave me his old set of ribbons, CIB, and wings. He also gave me a Luftwaffe dress dagger and a common dress bayonet......I gave those back to him several years later since I thought he might want to give them to his grandson he finally had. He didn't ask for them, but he thanked me for them and said he was going to save them for the grandson.

Ron

[Steve P]

Ron, That's a great experience and friendship to have had...Thanks for sharing mate!

[Ron C.]

I really don't remember the name of the town and etc., but I guess I should have told a little about the account of his action which I mentioned. So for those interested I will try. Like I said, I don't remember the name of the town or village, but Ken was a forward observer. He was on the highest ground he could find on one side of the village, and he was spotting fire that was being directed against the advancing Germans on the other side of the village. As they moved in closer to the village, he lost sigth of them......so the guns were blind "so to speak". In order to get a better view and direct fire more accurately, he decided to move into the village also. He sought out the tallest building he could get to and moved up on the roof......I think he said it looked like a hotel or something like that. He continued to direct fire from there gradually marching the fire toward his position, since that was the direction the Germans were heading. When they arrived in the square below him, they spotted him and opened fire at him.......he returned the fire as best he could......but they were really blasting away at him and covered the square........he couldn't maintain his position, so he called in his last co-ordinates to the fire center. They asked him if that wasn't his own position.....he said it was, but not for long and anyway that was where the Germans were. They radioed back that he would be killed, he said he was likely gone anyway and that he would do the best he could on his own........and told them to fire. He went down into the building (hotel, muncipal building or whatever) found a bathroom and dived into what he said was the biggest, thickest and heaviest cast iron bathtub he had ever seen......only to find out that someone had already used it for a commode . They found him there the next morning when his outfit took the town, which the Germans abandoned when all hell broke loose when Ken gave his last co-ordinates at told them to dump it all when he yelled fire. They went up in the building looking for his body, since they couldn't raise him on the radio. They found the radio smashed to bits, they found close to a dozen dead Germans outside the bathroom door and just inside it, they found a big old heavy cast iron tub with chunks broken in it and bullet holes all over it........and they found Ken inside of it without a scratch on him (see his old ribbons doesn't include a purple heart)........he did pretty good "on his own"; however, they wouldn't get near him....Ken said they told him he really needed a bath and laughed at him......I think he said he laughed too and told them he thought he needed more than that and he said something like "they scared the **** out of me". He said he actually wasn't that scared at the time.....he was way beyond that....he said he knew he was dead, but damned if he was going alone.......he said he had decided they had him, but he was going to make sure he took as many as he could with him. Ken was a tough guy, he wasn't a bully, but I guess I was wrong when I said he wasn't a fighter.......in thinking about it further.......he was a damned good fighter when the "chips were down". He said his platoon SGT put him in for a high award (never did say what high award), but the platoon leader down graded the request to a Silver Star........the CO said he didn't have one yet, and he wasn't going to approve a request for one until he had one. Ken got the Bronze Star again. So......with a different platoon leader and CO I have always wondered what higher award he may have gotten. Ken wasn't any different than a lot of our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers and so on who served at that time.......just a bit different task than some......but I think most would have done the same.......they were all heroes.

For those interested that is the best that I remember.....sorry I can't be more precise.

Ron

I just noticed that something got the ****, sorry I didn't know you couldn't say that.......I apologize.

[nutmeg]

Which battalion was Ken in? My father was in the artillery of the 95th , 358th HQ Company I think.

[Ron C.]

Which battalion was Ken in? My father was in the artillery of the 95th , 358th HQ Company I think.

Sorry.......I am sure he said, but I don't remember......he and his family moved away from here many years ago. He worked for United Fuel Gas Co., and got transfered by his company to Kentucky. I don't know where he worked, but he lived in Grayson, KY. I used to go visit sometimes, but I hadn't seen him since sometime in the 80s. His daughter moved to NYC, and later to Nashville, TN, lost touch with her too. I don't know since he and his wife died anything about who would have his things or even if they would know about his service. I don't even know if his grandson, never met him, got his stuff.......kept it or sold it. Ken always was very pleased to see me when I visited, and said come back anytime, but he never came back this way, wrote, called or anything.....his family would always leave us alone when he started telling his "old war stories", as they called them........didn't care to hear them. I just happened to hear in passing that he died, and his daughter later confirmed it, and sent me the picture of him that I posted....just a digital copy though. I wish I could tell you more, but I wasn't a relative and I was not privy to more.

Ron

[Don D.]

A great and colorful story. Thanks for sharing it.

[WalterB]

Ron, thank you for sharing this story. I am glad this story can be preserved and his memory kept alive.

[DennyB]

They must have changed the criteria for the Combat Infantryman's Badge at some point because I can remember former Forward Observers that had served along with infantry units when they were in Viet Nam being somewhat disgruntled that they were not eligible for the CIB even though they has been "out in the boonies with the grunts". It was their understanding that only 11B's were authorized the CIB.
I suppose several regulations were different in WW2 than in Viet Nam.

[Ron C.]

They must have changed the criteria for the Combat Infantryman's Badge at some point because I can remember former Forward Observers that had served along with infantry units when they were in Viet Nam being somewhat disgruntled that they were not eligible for the CIB even though they has been "out in the boonies with the grunts". It was their understanding that only 11B's were authorized the CIB.
I suppose several regulations were different in WW2 than in Viet Nam.

He was a forward observer when he was in that village directing the fire, but he wasn't always one. He also wasn't always a corporal. He was promoted and, although I don't know all the ranks he had, he was a SSG at one time and maybe higher. As a SGT he served as a Platoon Leader, and, I think he said, at one time he was the Company Commander for a while until they got replacement officers. When I first met him in 1956, he was a 1st LT, and when he reported in to take command of the reserve outfit in my little hometown (which was an ordinance outfit), he was in his "pink and greens", as they were called, his branch insignia were the crossed rifles of the Infantry. He had also been offered a position as CO of the other reserve outfit there as well..........it was a tank company, but no tanks except at annual training. He later changed to Ordinance brass. He also changed all of the old SGTs in our outfit, and found new ones from within the ranks of the unit........guys who had been on active duty, mostly for a few years before coming back to the hometown, and every one of them had been in the active duty army in the Infantry. Although the 95th had at least one Cannon Company (I don't know how many), and I am sure they had Artillery, and other support units.......it is my understanding that it was the 95th Infantry Division. He was, I think, not in the Cannon Company for very long, but was assigned to be the forward observer, because theirs had been knocked out of commision so to speak, and I think he was assigned from the Infantry to spot and direct the fire to protect his Infantry outfit which had been assigned to take the town; therefore, I don't know about whether his CIB relects a different rule in WW2, or not. I also don't know how long he was in the ETO and what all companies he was with. I do know that the time he was a FO was only over a day and a night. I don't know how many times or days he was in combat, but a lot of it was in the Infantry of the 95th and he hit Europe with them and was in the 95th Division for the whole time he was there. You can see from his ribbons, he didn't get a Purple Heart, so he was in the fight until he came home sometime after VE day, and shortly after the war was over, I think, he was made an officer........I doubt that it was only for the FO duty he had that time. He had a lot of stories about combat though.......just wish I could remember more than just that one.......they all ran together after a while though. I also know that he didn't get the other 2 bronze stars for that FO duty either.......he only got one for it. He, I don't think, ever told me how he got the others. He had 4 bronze stars, but one came after the war for meritorious service, based on, among other things, the other 3. The ribbons I have came off his old original uniform that he wore when he came home, and stuck in the closet. When the reserves needed men, and officers, and offered to make him a 1st LT if he would come back from civilian life near the end, or after, the Korean War, he got a new uniform and ribbons that he wore as a 1st LT. I was at his house the day he pulled his old uniform out of the back of the closet and took the brass off it to put on his new one, and his new bars and new ribbons. The uniform was really beat, so were the gold bars and the 95th patch was really dirty (I have them somewhere though.....just don't know where, but at the time I only had that little small frame to take a photo out of and put the stuff in I did........I didn't want the uniform then, it was in really bad shape......damned sure wish I had taken it now though). I had already met him and his daughter, since it was the start of the new school year, and had heard some of his stories. It was when he took over command that I first met him as an officer, a few days before that he was just a friend of mine's father, who had been in the war. He knew that I was in the reserves and what unit I was in. When he put his stuff on his new tunic and tried it on he turned to me and said "well, what do you think".....I said it looked sharp. He said "Well, "Easy" (I am not sure why, except maybe because I played poker a lot, but he always did call me "Easy for Easy Money), you better look sharp too, because tonight I take over command of your reserve outfit.......and you are going to learn to be a soldier" ". I went right home and started polishing my boots for the reserve meeting, and it was a damned good thing I did too. He scared the devil out of everyone when he came through the door...........I warned them all, but they thought I was kidding. He changed 1st SGTs that first night and made a crusty grumpy old SGT who had seen lots of WW2 combat the 1st SGT, another one was put in as my platoon sgt, and he made me his orderly and I sure did learn things, but basic training later when I went on active duty seemed sort of easy in some ways, that is until I met my former Marine platoon sgt. Ken didn't stay there too long, when I came back from active duty he still lived there for some years after, but he had been promoted to CPT and had gone to another unit in another town, and the unit went down hill again. He later went into the National Guard in a new SF unit they formed as a MAJ. He took my platoon sgt with him as his 1st SGT, and wanted me to come and go to OCS and be one of his platoon leaders, but I was going to college and didn't want to have to spend all the time that the guard was subject to spending on active duty......I just wanted to finish school. So in his early to mid-50s he went to jump school and then Ranger school, and SF training. He went through with all the younger enlisted people, and they called him "Grandpa"..........and he actually was a grandfather then, but he darned near ran their legs off........he was more than a fair football player.....I know, I used to play tackle with no pads with him and a bunch of other guys on the weekends with him.........and he was a tough guy! Didn't put any punches so to speak. He used to have his daughter play with him, and darned near killed her!! She was glad I showed up......but I am not sure I was, I had a lot of bruises in those days. I think he really would like to have been a pro football player, but there was the war. He wasn't drafted.....he signed up right out of high school.

I don't think he got the CIB for being a FO, but I don't know for sure. I also think that he didn't make any glider landings. He heard about the airborne and volunteered for that, but they told him that there was another new type of outfit that they were forming and sent him to training for that instead......but he still got his jump wings later in his 50s. I think he got the CIB because he was a combat infantryman for the whole time, except maybe only one day and night, he was in the 95th.

Ron

[PerMilitaria]

Thanks for sharing! I think you are a great person who gave the items back to him so he could give them to his grandson!

Cheers,

Per.

[Ron C.]

Sometime back someone asked about his unit. I recently found some of my old records which seems to indicate that he was, at least at one time in the CANNON COMPANY of the 377TH REGIMENT, of the 95TH INFANTRY DIVISION. I hope this helps.

Ron

[Ron C.]

Thanks for sharing! I think you are a great person who gave the items back to him so he could give them to his grandson!

Cheers,

Per.

Maybe not!! I am not sure, because I heard a while ago that Ken's daughter had died also, as well as two of his other daughters (his daughter's daughter who he adopted, and her daughter....who he also adopted.....he therefore had 3 daughters....one his blood daughter who was his only child and his grand daughter, and his great grand daughter both of whom he adopted....I hope I explained it so you could understand.....it is rather confusing). His daughter (by birth) had 2 other children, one girl and one boy. I met the girl one time in Nashville, when I went down to help her mother when she was having problems with one of her husbands (who I never met and don't even know his name.....he was not the father of either of her children from her first marriage, and not the father of her first daughter, who Ken adopted); however, I never met her son....and don't even remember his name, either first or last. I also don't know Ken's one daughter's last name, when she died. I just heard sometime back that she died, and I also heard that the dagger and other stuff I gave back to him as sold.......don't know what for though, or by who. I also heard that the family had turned on him; apparently, they claimed that he had killed his wife in a mercy killing to put her out of her misery. She was in great pain and distress, but I don't know about the other part.......I just know he cared deeply for her.

So, I don't know if I did such a great thing, if they were sold for who knows what.

Ron