Shaking Family Trees: Brothers and Cousins in Arms

#52ancestors
Week 45 —Tribute to Veterans

Brothers and Cousins in Arms

— Some Never Came Home

What started out to be a blog about some of the men in my family who served during World War I, took a sharp turn when I received an e-mail from France on November 2, which reads:

“I volunteer at Epinal American Cemetery to do guided tours and today I will do a tour and we will put French and American Flags on the gravesite of Ervin Vanderpool! I always do the same to honor a soldier for the anniversary of his D.O.D. I just wanted you to know this! I was surprised to learn about his age (36) and I saw he was married with a daughter. I don't know what he did as Technical Sergeant but he is an HERO with his two Silver Stars! Thinking of him and his family this afternoon . . .”

The 48-acre Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial in France is sited above the Moselle River in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. It contains the graves of 5,254 American military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the campaigns across northeastern France to the Rhine River and beyond into Germany. The cemetery was established in October 1944 by the 46th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company of the U.S. 7th Army as it drove northward from southern France through the Rhone Valley into Germany. The cemetery became the repository for the fatalities in the bitter fighting through the Saverne Gap, and in defense of Allied positions in the Vosges region, during the winter of 1944-1945.

Epinal American Cemetery will host a Field of Remembrance beginning November 10, 2018 through November 18, 2018. Poppies will be placed at every headstone, and in front of the memorial building as a visual reminder of honor and remembrance.

Touched by this act of kindness by a stranger, I did additional research on T/Sgt. Ervin Vanderpool who was killed in action 2 November 1944 during World War II.

Search ABMC Burials and Memorial

T/Sgt. Erwin Walker Vanderpool was in Company K, 157th Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, along with his “kid brother, T/Sgt. James Otis (called Otis) Vanderpool. On 25 October 1944, their unit was involved in a bayonet fight in the woods near Housseras (France). There was bitter fighting, against strong resistance, plus horrible weather. During a battle in the Vosges Mountains near the German border, the battalion commander Felix Sparks, heard that K Company was in trouble. He rushed up a hill, only to see Otis Vanderpool on a stretcher, his leg blown off at the knee. When Sparks made it to the front, he never told Ervin Vanderpool about his brother's injury. He didn't have time. The older brother was shot in the stomach and died on the battlefield. Ironically, Erwin could have been promoted and would never have been in that battle. Officers had talked of promoting Ervin, sending him to battalion headquarters, but he refused to listen. He wouldn't accept a promotion. He wanted to stay near his brother.

Erwin and Otis were sons of Levi Franklin and Ellie Potter. A cursory look at the family of Levi Franklin Vanderpool (1880-1968) and Ellie Potter (1884-1929) reveals they had 12 children — four daughters and eight sons — born between 1903 and 1929. Three of their children did not survive to adulthood. Closer inspection reveals a patriotic family with four, and possibly five, of their sons serving during World War II.

Brothers, Ervin Vanderpool (1908-1944) and Otis Vanderpool (1919-2004) served in the Army, Company K, 157th Regiment, 45th Infantry Division.

Their brother Arthur Harrison Vanderpool (1910-1989) enlisted in the Army on 20 Nov. 1940. • Their brother Eldee Vanderpool (1917-2005) was a Tech-5 in the Army; he enlisted 6 June 1945 in California and died in a Veterans Home in Napa County, California.

Their brother Evert Odal (1922-1995) appears on a World War II draft registration on 30 June 1942 in Montrose County, Colorado. Whether he served, and if so, in what capacity, is not known.

SS Leopoldville

Fourteen Vanderpools are listed on the U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945, in a database of those buried overseas and other sources. On this 100th anniversary (11 Nov. 2018) of the end of World War I — the war to end all wars — I thank them for their service and sacrifices — may they rest in peace.

They are:

1. Marion F. Vanderpool, Seaman 2nd Class, Navy (Washington). MIA, died 23 January 1942. Honolulu, Hawaii Memorial.

2. Vane I. Vanderpool, Seaman 1st Class, U.S. Naval Reserve (Washington and Oregon). Memorial North African American Cemetery, Tunis, Tunisia.

3. Clifford S. Vanderpool, Private, Army (Nebraska), 15th Tank Battalion, 6th Armored Division. Hamm Cemetery, Hamm Luxembourg.

4. Cecil L. Vanderpool, Coxwain, Navy (Washington). KIA. Mountain View Cemetery, Lakewood, Pierce County, Washington.

5. Erwin W. Vanderpool, T/Sgt. Army (Colorado).157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. Epinal Cemetery, Epinal, France.

6. Fred A. Vanderpool, Private, Army (Tennessee). Enlisted 16 March 1944. Co E, 264th Infantry, 66th Infantry Division (nicknamed Black Panther Division). Died 24 December 1944 on the SS Léopoldville when torpedoed by U-486 in the English Channel, off Cherbourg, France. Ridgewood Cemetery, Carthage, Smith County, Tennessee.

7. Fred L. Vanderpool, Private, Army (Texas). 163rd Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division. Died 24 April 1944. Manilla America Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippine Islands.

USS Casablanca

8. John Wesley Vanderpool, Private, Army (West Virginia). Enlisted 29 December 1943. KIA in France 20 October 1944. McCloud Cemetery, Dingess, Mingo County, West Virginia.

9. Orville R. Vanderpool, Technician 5th Grade, Army (Arkansas). 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. KIA 6 June 1944 near Magneville, France. See also:

https://shakingfamilytrees.blogspot.com/2014/02/7-52-ancestors-orville-vanderpool.html

10. Payton Lafayette Vanderpool Jr., Fireman 2nd Class, Navy (Missouri). KIA at Pearl Harbor 7 November 1941. Honolulu, Hawaii Memorial (recovered).

11. Ralph Maynard Vanderpool, Sergeant, Army Air Corps (Pennsylvania). Radioman and gunner, 446th AAF Bombardment Group. KIA over Italy 20 February 1945.

12. Robert J. Vanderpool, 2nd Lieutenant, USAAF (Illinois). KIA in a B-25 crash 20 January 1945 over the Adriatic Sea.

13. Walter Vanderpool, Private, Army, 517 Parachute Infantry (New York). KIA. Sospel, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Département des Alpes-Maritimes. He was killed along with four others in the blast of a bobby-trapped house in Sospel. German engineers had rigged it with a time-delayed device. Forest Home Cemetery, Waverly, Tioga County, New York.

14. Dean Burke Vanderpool, Ensign, USNR. Commissioned in May 1943; served on the USS Casablanca in the Pacific. Died 26 June 1944 of wounds at Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington. Ewing Cemetery, Ewing, Mercer County, New Jersey.