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John A. Watson transcript, 1941-1945, Date accessioned: 2000-08-18

 

Summary

Creator:
Watson, John A. , 1916 - 2005
Extent:
1 folders
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], John A. Watson transcript, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/02-01-0407

Background

Scope and content:

This collection relates to MSGT John A. Watson who served with G-2, HQ company of 1st U.S. Army. He participated in the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. He landed at 0730 with advance party of Col. Dixon's staff. This collection contains an oral history transcript. This interview is part of the Reichelt Program Oral History interview program. It was conducted on 26 April 1999 by Robin Sellers at the home of Karen Watson Skilling, the veteran's daughter, in Tallahassee, FL.

Biographical / historical:

John A. Watson was born on August 24, 1916 in Ellwood City, PA. He grew up in Slippery Rock, PA. He attended Slippery Rock State Teachers College and graduated with a biology degree in 1940. He was drafted into the United States Army after graduation and, after basic training in Macon, GA, he was sent to cartography school. He was then assigned to First Army Headquarters in Governors Island, NY. He was in New York on December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked. His unit was sent to England, and it was organized in Southhampton where preparations for the D-Day landing were made. At this point he was a technical sergeant. While in England he experienced the German Blitz on London. His unit was organized in the G-2 section (military intelligence) under the supervision of Colonel Courtney Hodges (later General Hodges) and Major Benjamin Dixon (later Colonel Dixon). On June 6, 1944 he participated in the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach. He landed at 0730 with the colonel's party and was immediately confronted by a beach master who had landed at 0630. Because of the fear of the invasion failing at the beach head, he was instructed to secure the safety of the colonel and remove him from the beach. Their party was transported back to the USS Archenauer. At 1030 he received orders to reboard a landing craft to return to the beach head. After landing, he resumed his position with G-2. His unit proceeded across France. He celebrated his twenty-eighth birthday on liberation day in Paris. His unit continued east. He was present at the Battle of the Bulge. He later proceeded into Germany, and he was ordered to enter a German concentration camp to search for possible American flyers who reportedly were being held there. No Americans were found. He was also assigned by his commanding officer to supervise the surrender of a German colonel who crossed the lines at night to be taken prisoner by the US forces. He achieved the rank of Master Sergeant and was awarded the Bronze Star. After the war he returned to Slippery Rock, PA and married Gladys Irene Watson (born 1922) on December 27, 1945. He worked as a rural mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office and retired in 1971. He continued to live in Slippery Rock, but he visited his daughter Karen Watson Skilling in Tallahassee, FL. He had a son Robert J. Watson who lived in Slippery Rock near his father. He died in 2005 in Pennsylvania. His wife died in 2012. They are buried alongside each other in the public cemetery in Slippery Rock.

Custodial history:

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to all researchers.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], John A. Watson transcript, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/02-01-0407

Location of this collection:
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee
FL
32306-2047
USA