Published: October 12, 2008 10:19 pm         

Personal stories surface

Nov. 6 event brings tales of survival to light

CUMBERLAND — It was Aug. 26, 1944, and the Allies were on the attack. In a small town in northwestern France, however, then Private First Class William J. Robertson Sr., discovered the Germans weren’t simply going to hand the war over to the Americans and their friends.

It was but one of 242 days that elements of the 29th Infantry Division spent in Normandy, northern France, Germany and central Europe. But for Robertson, of Company K, 115th Infantry Regiment, a quick series of events changed his life forever.

“Then (we) loaded on trucks and went to outskirts of Brest,” Robertson wrote in late 2000. “Our squad leader was hit in the helmet with a bullet. He was wounded and was taken back to hospital or battalion aid. I was named acting squad leader.”

Robertson never received any official recognition that he had earned that status. That’s because, seconds later, Robertson himself was wounded while in a conversation with Col. Randolph Millholland.

“When we attacked the Germans, everything broke loose,” wrote Robertson, who died in May at the age of 90. “88s, mortars, machine guns, etc. I was hit in right leg with a bullet ... left wrist and hand hit and broken; piece shrapnel went in left cheek and bled from mouth; other shrapnel wounds on legs and stomach. We had to fall back and regroup. I couldn’t walk.”

His wife of 68 years, Margaret Robertson, said it was Millholland who directed soldiers to carry her husband to a storage shed to wait for a medic.

It’s a story that Robertson didn’t share much of beyond those closest to him. Now, however, Margaret Robertson said she felt a need to share the story with Millholland’s surviving daughters, Ginnie Schry and Harlan Rice.

“He was one that didn’t want to talk,” his wife said as the Times-News visited with her in her home. “He turned down interview requests. He just didn’t want the thought of … I don’t know.”

It’s personal stories such as this that Cumberland Goes to War, a 10-day celebration and recognition of the region’s effort during World War II on both the battlefront and the homefront, relives. But it’s not one of pain anymore for Margaret Robertson, PFC Robertson’s wife of 68 years. Now, it’s partly a fond memory of her husband at a time of his life when he was at his best.

Margaret Robertson recalled that her husband was in and out of hospitals until finally discharged from a veterans hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va., on Feb. 1, 1946.

He wasn’t really rescued after seeking cover in the abandoned shed. In fact, it drew the attention of the German guns and he was hit again, this time in the left hip.

In his words, “I was bleeding … and passed out.”

His oldest son, William Robertson Jr., said “that hip gave him trouble until the day he died.”

It was said with heartfelt affection.

Robertson never let his injuries get him down. That’s probably because he had far too much to live for, starting with his wife, Margaret, whom he met skating at Crystal Park at what is now McDonald’s in LaVale. Margaret Robertson and a friend from Muncie, Ind., had decided to head out for a night on the town. William Robertson had searched for entertainment at the same spot with his brother, Kenneth Robertson.

Upon his return to Cumberland after recuperating from his injuries, William Robertson Sr. worked for the Maryland Freight Office and, admittedly, had one vice.

“Cars,” Margaret Robertson said, shaking her head with a practiced understanding that it could have been worse. “He bought a new car every three years” moving from Buicks to Pontiacs and, later, to Cadillacs.

Cumberland Goes to War begins Nov. 6. Events are scheduled around Cumberland. More information can be obtained by visiting the event Web site at www.cumberlandgoestowar.com.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.