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Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Thomas Eugene Atkins
Thomas Eugene Atkins was born in 1921 in the Little Chicago area of northern Spartanburg County, one of Cleve and Ruby Atkins's eight children. He grew up on the Campobello cotton farm of "Old Man (John) Brown."
PFC Eugene Atkins spent 3 years with the 32d Infantry Division in the South Pacific area during World War 2.
After American forces recaptured Manila, the Japanese commander in the Philippines, Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, retreated with 140,000 soldiers to the Central Cordillera and Caraballo mountain ranges of northern Luzon island, where he hoped to tie up United States forces needed for invasions nearer the Japanese home islands. General Yamashita's troops dug in at mountain passes guarding the Cagayan Valley, where crops could feed them for months.
The 32d Infantry Division, which was among three American Army divisions assigned to dislodge the Japanese, moved up to the mountain passes along the Villa Verde Trail, a twisting footpath.
The terrain was heavily forested, but there were enough open areas to give Japanese defenders, many hidden in caves, clear fields of fire at almost every turn.
"This was combined mountain and tropical warfare at its worst," the 32d Division's official report said.
On March 10, during one of the many attempts by the 1st Battalion, 127th Infantry, to advance beyond the crest of Hill 502, Pfc. Thomas E. Atkins of Company A, earned the Medal of Honor when, although severely wounded, he played the major role in repelling a local Japanese counterattack.
Along Luzon's Villa Verde Trail on March 10, 1945, PFC Eugene. Atkins of Company A, 127th Infantry, 32nd Infantry Division and two fellow soldiers occupied a ridgeline position outside their 1st Platoon's perimeter.
At about 3 a.m., two companies of Japanese attacked with rifle and machine gun fire, grenades, TNT charges and land mines, severely wounding Eugene Atkins and killing his two companions. Despite the intense hostile fire and pain from his wounds, he held his ground and returned heavy fire.
After the enemy attack was repulsed, PFC Thomas Eugene Atkins remained in his precarious position to repel any subsequent assaults instead of returning to American lines for medical treatment. An enemy machine gun, just 20 yards from his foxhole, vainly attempted to dislodge him. For the next 4 hours, the Japanese made successive fierce attacks, but PFC Eugene Atkins steadfastly remained in his foxhole, maintaining steady, accurate fire until each charge was repulsed.
By 7 a.m. he had fired over 400 rounds, all that he and his dead companions possessed. He had fired all three available rifles until they were inoperatly jammed. 13 Japanese soldiers lay dead in front of his position.
When PFC Atkins withdrew to secure another weapon, his platoon mates persuaded him to remain for medical treatment.
While waiting for medical treatment, Eugene Atkins noticed an enemy soldier moving within the perimeter of the aid station and he grabbed a nearby rifle, with which he shot and killed the enemy intruder. A little later, while lying on a litter, he saw Japanese soldiers moving up behind his platoon's lines. Despite his severe wounds, PFC Eugene Atkins sat up and delivered heavy rifle fire that forced the enemy soldiers to withdraw. He was then carried back to safety.
As a result of Private Atkins's action, the platoon was able to hold its lines although outnumbered. The 32d Infantry Division produced four Medal of Honor winners in its six- week ascent over the 20 miles of the Villa Verde Trail, but it took American troops until the end of June to seize the Cagayan Valley and its food supplies.
On Oct. 12, 1945, having been promoted to corporal, Thomas Eugene Atkins was among 14 servicemen who received the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman at a White House ceremony.
Medal Of Honor Citation.
Place of birth:
Campobello, South Carolina
Service/branch:
United States Army
Rank:
Corporal
Unit:
Company A,
127th Infantry Regiment,
32d Division
Battles/wars:
World War II
Citation:
Pfc Thomas Eugene. Atkins fought gallantly on the Villa Verde Trail, Luzon, Philippine Islands. With 2 companions he occupied a position on a ridge outside the perimeter defense established by the 1st Platoon on a high hill. At about 3 a.m., two companies of Japanese attacked with rifle and machinegun fire, grenades, TNT charges, and land mines, severely wounding Pfc. Atkins and killing his 2 companions. Despite the intense hostile fire and pain from his deep wound, he held his ground and returned heavy fire. After the attack was repulsed, he remained in his precarious position to repel any subsequent assaults instead of returning to the American lines for medical treatment. An enemy machinegun, set up within 20 yards of his foxhole, vainly attempted to drive him off or silence his gun.
The Japanese repeatedly made fierce attacks, but for 4 hours, Pfc. Atkins determinedly remained in his fox hole, bearing the brunt of each assault and maintaining steady and accurate fire until each charge was repulsed. At 7 a.m., 13 enemy dead lay in front of his position; he had fired 400 rounds, all he and his 2 dead companions possessed, and had used 3 rifles until each had jammed too badly for further operation. He withdrew during a lull to secure a rifle and more ammunition, and was persuaded to remain for medical treatment.
While waiting, he saw a Japanese within the perimeter and, seizing a nearby rifle, killed him. A few minutes later, while lying on a litter, he discovered an enemy group moving up behind the platoon's lines. Despite his severe wound, he sat up, delivered heavy rifle fire against the group and forced them to withdraw.
Pfc. Atkins' superb bravery and his fearless determination to hold his post against the main force of repeated enemy attacks, even though painfully wounded, were major factors in enabling his comrades to maintain their lines against a numerically superior enemy force.
After The War
Thomas Atkins returned home from the war in the fall of 1945 as a national hero and local celebrity and settled in his home town of Campobello, South Carolina where he eventually became a farmer.
His main goal at that time was to forget the war, buy an interest in a farm and a mule or two with the $300 he received mustering out of the Army and get straight back to farming. In a few years, he figured, he'd make enough to buy his own farm for cotton, corn, beans, peas and feed. But Eugene Atkins had earned national headlines. And spurred on by Spartanburg Herald Publisher William Townes, county residents pitched in to buy Pfc Atkins a $7,500 "Thank You Farm," 62 acres near Campobello and complete with a five-room bungalow. He and his childhood sweetheart and new bride, Vivian, accepted the farm on a rainy Wednesday at a ceremony attended by more than 3,000 people, including senators, mayors, national media representatives, and a member of President Harry Truman's Cabinet, Secretary of Agriculture Clinton Anderson.
Clinton Anderson preached the importance of soil conservation techniques, a major issue in 1945 America. Eugene Atkins and Anderson and other soil conservation officials talked of Eugene Atkins's new property as the model farm of the future. The Soil Conservation Service laid out Eugene Atkins's new farm, and as Eugene Atkins soon learned, the Soil Conservation Service planned to work with him every step of the way.
All the attention didn't ensure a successful farm, however. "Those dad-blamed soil conservation people tried to take over. I run them off with axes, hammers and everything else," he said, crinkling his bushy, grey eyebrows and giggling at the memory. "But every morning, I get up, there's a man out there sitting on my porch. I don't want nobody sitting out there on my porch telling me what I can and can't do, no how." Eugene Atkins sold the property three years later, fed up, he said, with having a bunch of agricultural bookworms telling him how to farm.
His years as a tenant farmer dealt him more tragedy. In 1953, he lost his right hand in a cotton mill. Eight years later, his 14-year-old son, Edward, died after being run over by a trailer that Tom Atkins was pulling behind a tractor. During his final years he lived on 93 acres he shares with three of his five surviving children. He still was haunted by the death of his son, his wife said, and he still avoided talking in detail about the war.
Thomas Eugene Atkins died on September 15, 1999, at his home in Inman, South Carolina. He was 78. According to his son Bobby, the cause of his death was congestive heart failure.
Thomas Eugene Atkins was buried at the Fellowship Baptist Church Cemetery in Inman, Spartanburg County, South Carolina.
Thomas Eugene Atkins is survived by his wife, Vivian; four sons, Bobby, Ansel and Allen, of Inman, and Doug, of Campobello; a daughter, Frances Crocker of Inman; two brothers, Clyde, of Chesnee, South Carolina, and Hollis, of Oakbridge, Georgia; two sisters, Lula Guffey of Duncan, South Carolina, and Pauline Mills of Inman; eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Thomas Eugene Atkins' Medal of Honor rests in the Spartanburg County Regional Museum today. Eugene Atkins said it didn't mean much to him. "I don't feel a bit better than nobody else that went over there. I never did a dang thing that nobody else wouldn't have done in my place, no siree. Just try to stay alive."
Eugene Atkins preferred to forget altogether his three years in the South Pacific. His occasional nightmares would not let him forget. His fears returned when anyone made a sudden noise around him while he slept.
He never asked his son, Doug, about his war experiences in Vietnam, because Tomas Atkins knew how he felt about recounting experiences during World War II.
To Eugene Atkins, the Memorial Day's message was a simple one. "I hope nobody else don't have to go through it no more."
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