Paul E. McRill
Photo taken in February 1942 at Fort Benning, GA upon graduation from the Parachute School
NAME: Paul E. McRill
ASN: 36043789
PLACE OF BIRTH: Saint Louis, MO
DATE OF BIRTH: 08 Apr 1917
DATES OF SERVICE: 29 Jul 1941 - 00 Oct 1945
UNIT ASSIGNED:
Headquarters, Provisional Parachute Group
504th Parachute Battalion
2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Airborne Replacement Training Center
The Parachute School
CAMPAIGNS: Algeria-French Morocco, Tunisia
AWARDS: Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge with combat jump star, EAME Campaign Medal with arrowhead and campaign star, WWII Victory Medal, French 3rd Zouaves Regiment Badge
SUMMARY OF SERVICE:
29 Jul 1941 - Paul E. McRill enlisted at Chicago, IL - NARA Enlistment Reord
| ARMY SERIAL NUMBER | 36043789 | 36043789 |
| NAME | MC#RILL#PAUL#E########## | MC#RILL#PAUL#E########## |
| RESIDENCE: STATE | #1 | Undefined Code |
| RESIDENCE: COUNTY | 121 | Undefined Code |
| PLACE OF ENLISTMENT | 6120 | CHICAGO ILLINOIS |
| DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY | 29 | 29 |
| DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH | 07 | 07 |
| DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR | 41 | 41 |
| GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION | #### | Undefined Code |
| GRADE: CODE | 8 | Private |
| BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION | +I# | Undefined Code |
| BRANCH: CODE | 00 | Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA |
| FIELD USE AS DESIRED | # | # |
| TERM OF ENLISTMENT | 9 | Three year enlistment |
| LONGEVITY | ### | ### |
| SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL | 0 | Civil Life |
| NATIVITY | 75 | MISSOURI |
| YEAR OF BIRTH | 17 | 17 |
| RACE AND CITIZENSHIP | 1 | White, citizen |
| EDUCATION | 5 | 1 year of college |
| CIVILIAN OCCUPATION | 072 | Retail managers |
| MARITAL STATUS | 6 | Single, without dependents |
| COMPONENT OF THE ARMY | 7 | Selectees (Enlisted Men) |
| CARD NUMBER | # | # |
| BOX NUMBER | 1027 | 1027 |
| FILM REEL NUMBER | 5.89# | 5.89# |
05 Oct 1941 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 transferred from Headquarters Provisional Parachute Group to B Company 504th Parachute Battalion
17 Nov 1941 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: B Co, 504th PB begins parachute training at The Parachute School Class #9 at Fort Benning, GA
25 Dec 1941 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: B Co, 504th PB attended unit Christmas Dinner
26 Dec 1941 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: B Co, 504th PB Duty to Furlough for 10 days
05 Jan 1942 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: B Co, 504th PB Furlough to Duty at 6am
26 Jan 1942 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: B Co, 504th PB completes first training jumps for graduation
07 Feb 1942 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: B Co, 504th PB Hometown: Centralia, IL listed in unit album
07 Feb 1942 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: B Co, 504th PB Hometown: Centralia, IL participates in Class #9 graduation pinning ceremony and receives his parachutist badge
24 Feb 1942 - 504th Parachute Battalion is redesignated 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment
04 Mar 1942 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: E Company 503rd PIR from Duty to Hospital at 8pm
29 Mar 1942 - 2nd Bn 503rd PIR moves from Fort Benning, GA to Fort Bragg, NC
04 May 1942 - Promoted to Sergeant
20 May 1942 - President Roosevelt visits paratroops at Fort Bragg, NC
26 May 1942 - Pvt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: E Company 503rd PIR Hometown: Centralia, IL particiates in demonstration jump for Chief of Staff of the Army, General George C. Marshall and British Field Marshall Sir John Dill at Fort Bragg, NC under the command of 1st Lt. William T. Berry
01 Jun 1942 - 1800 hrs - 2nd Bn 503rd PIR arrives at Fort Dix, NJ
03 Jun 1942 - 1015 hrs - 2nd Bn 503rd PIR departs Fort Dix, NJ for Cunard Line Docks
04 Jun 1942 - 0300 hrs - 2nd Bn 503rd PIR boards the ship Queen Elizabeth
04 Jun 1942 - 1130 hrs - 2nd Bn 503rd PIR sails for England aboard the Queen Elizabeth
10 Jun 1942 - 2nd Bn 503rd PIR arrives at Glasgow, Scotland
11 Jun 1942 - 2nd Bn 503rd PIR arrives at Chilton Folait where they stay in Quonset Huts built on the grounds
00 Oct 1942 - First Lady Elenor Roosevelt visits the 2nd Bn 503rd PIR at Chilton Folait
02 Nov 1942 - 2nd Battalion 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment is redesignated 2nd Battalion 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment
08 Nov 1942 - SSgt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: E Co, 2nd Bn, 509th PIR Hometown: Centralia, IL Participated in Operation TORCH (VILLIAN) the airborne invasion of Oran, North Africa on C-47 Skytrain Aircraft SN: 41-7815, Formation No.: 25, Flight: C, Plane: 6, E Co Chalk: 6, Seat: 1, Combat Weight: 276 lbs.
1st Lt Quentin E Honnert’s account (Pilot of C-47 41-7815) - My ship departed Predannack and flew in formation with Capt Richard Davis to the Mediterranean. We lost the lead ship; the radio was not working; we did not have a navigator; so we remained over the sea until day break, then flew 140 miles east to Sebkra d’Oran, where we sighted C-47s on the ground. E could not contact them so we flew onto La Senia airdrome. The anti-aircraft battery fired upon us but missed. We did a 180 degree turn and passed near Tafaraoui. The anti-aircraft crews there fired at us and put small holes in the right elevator, lavatory and left auxiliary fuel tank, we flew to the west end of the Sebkra and landed with the troops because the paratroopers had already dropped.
15 Nov 1942 - SSgt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 Unit: E Co, 2nd Bn, 509th PIR Hometown: Centralia, IL Participated in Operation TORCH (VILLIAN) the airborne invasion of Youk les Bains
00 May 1943 - SSgt. Paul E. McRill ASN: 36043789 transferred to the Airborne Replacement Training Center at Camp Kunkle, Ouijda, North Africa as Intructor
00 Jun 1943 - SSgt. Paul E. McRill commissioned as 2nd Lt. while assigned to 5th Army
17 Jul 1943 - Article from Daily American Republic town paper Poplar Bluff, MO
LT PAUL McRILL OF POPLAR BLUFF, PARACHUTE TROOPS, TELLS STORY OF AERIAL OFFENSIVE IN AFRICA
Paul McRill, who was recently promoted from Staff Sergeant to Second Lieutenant in the parachute troops in Africa, has written a very interesting account of the war in Africa from the viewpoint of a men in his unit. The letter was received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. P. McRill of Cynthia street and follows in part:
"Now it can be told - my experiences in the African campaign. I flew from England the night of November 7, jumped in Africa early Sunday morning, the 8th, at the same time they were landing from the sea. Our mission was to take and hold the airport a few miles from Oran. We did."
"That same afternoon we received word that two machine gun posts were holding up the show at another airport so we loaded the planes to go get 'em, intending to land as close as was safe and work in on foot and knock them out. However, three enemy fighter planes caught us about half way there and shot us down. It was mighty bloody. My good luck was holding that day. We walked from (missing print due to censor) - 14 hours to our objective but the tanks had beat us there and cleared out all resistance except an artillery battery in the hills two or three miles away. They opened up on us about mid-morning but the Spitfires soon located and knocked them out."
"We held the field until we were relieved three days later and flown to an airport near Algiers. On Sunday, November 15, we left for Tunisia to take two more fields. This job was several hundred miles from the nearest friendly troops but in a few days we were reinforced with a company of airborne infantry and a company of halftrack 75s."
"The day we got there the real trouble started, because the Germans wanted those fields we held but we beat them to them so when they sent a plane over to investigate and we shot it down, they became mad and never a day went by from then on that we weren't strafed or bombed at least once - average about three times a day until we left Tunisia in mid February. I became an expert foxhole digger - can dig one in rocky ground with a grenade and my hands in less than five minutes."
"To continue, though, we attacked Gafsa the 22nd at dawn and took it from the German parachutists. Saw my first German there - an officer who spoke English better than I do. Nice looking kid, 22 years old, but tired of the war. They counter-attacked that afternoon and we met 'em at El Guettar, knocked out four Mark IV tanks and the others withdrew. In the meantime they were flanking us at Kasserine, so we moved all night and caught them the next morning with their pants down. Got a couple hundred Italian prisoners, a few Germans and 11 tanks. After that things were pretty quiet for a few days except for a few patrols of Germans."
"I went on a patrol to El Hamma just out of Gabes, about 100 miles in enemy territory. Almost got caught on that one."
"Our next job was Faid Pass and Sidi Buzid. Took that on December third after two days of fighting. Five of my men and I captured a German officer and 18 men there. The officer was very indignant at being forced to surrender to a mere sergeant. Especially after I made him carry his own machine gun a couple of miles and turn it over to a French outfit."
"He thought I ought to have an enlisted man carry it. I wasn't in a very good humor after going 36 hours without much food or water and no smokes, so I had to give him a lesson in military discipline."
"By the way, German cigarets aren't bad at all. Neither is there food nor lemon drops. That was our last job. Nothing but patrols all over middle Tunisia after that and ducking bomb and FW190s, until we were sent back near Algiers in February."
"Since then I've been training for the big show to come until recently when I was transferred after 20 months with one outfit to an airborne training center, teaching troops what they are going to need to know in battle. It's strictly a non-combatant job but I hope to go back into a fighting outfit when the big show starts."
"The government hasn't given me any decorations but when I look around at the old outfit and see the number missing, I realize I have the best decoration of all - a whole hide except for a couple of small nicks."
00 April or May 1944 - 1st Lt. Paul E. McRill returned to US and served at The Parachute School, Fort Benning, GA
00 Oct 1945 - Honorably Discharged
18 Jul 1948 - Paul E. McRill Hometown: Centralia, IL on Reunion LIST B
SSgt Paul E. McRill being promoted to 2nd Lt. by General Mark Clark, Commanding General 5th Army
Photo taken in North Africa shortly after receiving battlefield commission as a 2nd Lt. Note Allied Force Headquarters patch with airborne tab. This was the worn while assigned to the Airborne Replacement Training Center at Camp Kunkle, Ouijda, North Africa
1st Lt Paul E. McRill at Lawson Army Airfield, Fort Benning, GA while assigned at The Parachute School as an instructor/staff 1944
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