FRANKLIN W. (FRANK) DENIUS
PATRIOT, Chapter 1919
(U.S. Army, WWII, Europe) Article
March 2006
Franklin W. Denius spent his early childhood in
Athens, Texas where his family lived and where he attended public schools.
As a young teenager, he went off to Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, a
military prep school. He graduated there in 1942 and then enrolled, as a
member of the Army Program for 17 year-olds, at the Citadel in Charleston,
South Carolina. After two semesters he enlisted in the Army and entered
active duty June 3, 1943. Private Denius, after basic artillery training
was assigned to the 30th Infantry Division.
After training at various camps, the 30th Infantry Division moved to Camp
Myles Standish, Massachusetts; sailed from the Port of Embarkation in Boston
harbor on February 11, 1944, and arrived in England on February 22nd, three
months before the invasion landings in Normandy.
Frank Denius was a Fire Control Instrument
Operator assigned to a Forward Observer party in Battery C of the division’s
230th Field Artillery Battalion. The 230th Artillery was the first element
of the division to be committed in the invasion. The battalion was called
ashore to Omaha Beach, landed on D+1, June 7th, and immediately went into
action providing fire support for the 29th Infantry Division that had made
the initial assault landing against very heavy opposition the day prior.
Six
days later, Frank’s unit was back with the 30th Infantry Division providing
fire support for the 2nd Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment. From then until
the end of the war, the 30th Infantry Division would be involved in
consecutive key engagements including operations on the Vire River, the
St.-LO breakthrough, the famous stand at Mortain, the assault on the
Seigfried Line, the Battle of the Bulge, the reduction and occupation of
Magdeburg on the Elbe River; and finally, the meeting of the Russian Army at
the Elbe. Frank Denius
was there in all those places, but; that is leaping ahead of the story.
Forward observers move with the frontline infantry and, in order to adjust
artillery fire on the enemy, position themselves where they, likewise, are
exposed to observation by the enemy. They must be on high ground or
sometimes, in order to do the job right, forward of their own troops;
perhaps needless to say, but it is very dangerous work. On July 17, 1944,
when Frank’s Forward Observer party was operating forward of the lines, the
officer in charge was killed by enemy machine gun fire. While still subject
to enemy fire and at great risk to his own life, nineteen year-old Private
First Class Denius took over and called for, observed, and adjusted
artillery fire that was essential to the advancing infantry in accomplishing
the mission. He would later receive the Silver Star for his actions that
day, and he would also be promoted to Corporal and made Chief of Detail in
charge of his Forward Observer party.
By
July 24th, a tremendous Allied force had been moved across the channel from
England, but, still confined to limited space in Normandy, was poised near
St.-LO for the beginning of “Operation Cobra,” the breakout across France.
The 230th Artillery Battalion was among hundreds of units that were coiled
up along the axis of advance just behind the front lines. Lieutenant
General Leslie J. McNair, Commander, United States Ground Forces, had come
forward to observe the start of the operation and he was in the area of the
119th Infantry Regiment of the 30th Division when Heavy Bombers came over to
deliver a preparatory strike against the German defenses. Many of the bombs
fell short and more than 800 Americans were killed or wounded. Among the
dead was General McNair, the highest ranking Allied Officer killed in WWII.
Frank says, “I was only 75 yards from General McNair when he was killed.
In
Normandy two weeks later, Frank Denius
was again supporting the 2nd Battalion, 120th Infantry when they moved into
position at Mortain on August 6th. Before they had time to settle in, early
next day, the Germans launched a massive counteroffensive with 70,000
troops, determined to reach the sea and divide the Allied armies. Their
attack started by sweeping west through and past Mortain towards Avranches
and the coast.
Hill 314 (some sources identify it as Hill 317) was the dominant terrain in
the area and it lay astride the two main roads leading west out of Mortain.
Most of the infantry battalion not already positioned on Hill 314 quickly
withdrew there or else were overrun, killed or captured. The battalion
commander, executive officer and most of the staff were captured after the
battalion headquarters, which had been located in the town, had been cut off
and they were unable to reach the hill, but; a total of about 700 men of the
battalion and its attached units gathered there and consolidated their
defense of Hill 314.
For
the next six days they would be cut off, surrounded, and repeatedly attacked
until they were out of ammunition and nearly defenseless, except for one
thing. From their vantage point the observers,
Frank Denius among them
could call fire missions wherever they could see the enemy and they could
see from horizon to horizon. They dealt terrible destruction on the Germans
and the counterattack to the sea failed because of it. Late on August 10th,
the Americans on the hill received an airdrop of supplies relieving the
critical shortage of ammunition and rations. However, they were out of
medical supplies and the untreated wounded were dying as a result. In one
of the most unusual happenings of the war, the 230th Artillery emptied some
of their base ejection projectiles and filled them with bandages, dressings,
sulfanilamide and morphine syrettes. On the evening of August 10th and
again on August 11th, Frank Denius
directed the shelling of his own position with the medical supply-filled
rounds. At least some of the projectiles were recovered with serviceable
contents intact, and those supplies were critically needed. Late in the
morning of August 12th, other 30th Infantry Division units reached Hill 314
and relieved the 376 survivors that were still able to walk away from the
hill. One of those survivors was Frank
Denius, who afterwards was decorated with a second
award (first oak leaf cluster) of the Silver Star with a citation that reads
in part: Sergeant Denius and his small group ……directed artillery fire from
their vulnerable post (at one point) for seventy-two hours without rest……
despite intense……direct fire from tanks, and artillery and small arms fire
directed on their position……by paratroopers, considerable armor, and large
infantry forces ……which was a contributing factor in (the defeat of) the
German effort.
In
later combat, when the 30th Infantry Division was fighting in Belgium during
the Battle of the Bulge, his Forward Observer party was again supporting the
infantry battalion. On December 22, 1944 they found themselves in the path
of a German panzer attack. Their artillery observation post was discovered
by the enemy and taken under fire by German tanks. Despite the fire that
began to fall all around him, Sergeant Denius refused to withdraw from the
post and continued “rendering artillery support” until the attack had been
repulsed. For this action, Staff Sergeant
Franklin W. Denius later received his third award
(second oak leaf cluster) of the Silver Star. He was still a teenager at
the time.
Frank was wounded during the fighting in Normandy, wounded again during the
Battle of the Bulge; and, was awarded his second Purple Heart in February
1945. After serving with his unit in the Normandy, Northern France,
Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe Campaigns, through to the end
of the war in Europe; Frank Denius
returned home with the 30th Infantry Division. He arrived in the United
States on August 25, 1945 and proceeded home to Texas where he was
discharged in San Antonio at Fort Sam Houston on October 2nd. A fourth
Silver Star was awarded to Frank after the war was over in 1945.
After leaving the Army he enrolled at the University of Texas and he has
made his home in Austin ever since. Frank graduated in 1949 and that was a
big year for him. He earned degrees in both business and law, was admitted
to the State Bar of Texas, went to work for the Austin law firm of Looney,
Clark and Moorhead, and became a Director in the Cain Foundation
(established by his uncle, Wofford Cain, a 1913 Texas A&M graduate and
former A&M regent). That year too, he married Charmaine Hooper, who was
also from an Athens, Texas family.
After nearly 30 years with the law firm, he left it to go into private
practice, where he specialized in representing utility and oil and gas
companies before the Texas Railroad Commission. Currently, he continues to
practice law, he serves as Director of the Southern Union Company and of
JPMorgan/Chase Bank), and he is President of the Cain Foundation. In his
decades of service, he has chaired or served as counsel, or in other
leadership positions on many committees, councils and boards of
corporations, of the city and state government, and of the University of
Texas and Texas A&M University; all of which institutions he served with
intense devotion. But, nowhere is his personal involvement more apparent
than it is with University of Texas Football. He goes to all the home games
and most of the away games. He faithfully attends all the football
practices as well and that once prompted Coach Mack Brown to say, “He’s made
more practices than I have.” And, his Cain Foundation donations have funded
three practice fields at the University that bear his name, but, that is
just part of it. The foundation has also provided major funding for
numerous other programs at the university as well. The fine arts,
photojournalism, Normandy Scholars Programs, and the expansion of the alumni
center, are just a few examples. Not to neglect Wofford Cain’s alma mater,
under Denius’ leadership, the Cain Foundation has also given generously to
Texas A&M University, having funded athletic facilities, several endowed
chairs, and the annual Boot and Saber Awards for the ROTC program.
Frank is a life
member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 1919 and he was
our featured speaker for the January 2003 chapter meeting. Frank and
Charmaine Denius have two children, Frank Wofford Denius and Charmaine
Denius McGill, and three grandchildren.
|
