REGARDING
S/Sgt. Charles W. Shenk (38 AIB HQ Company Supply Sgt) & Maj. Thomas Henry Wells - (38 AIB S-3, Acting Bn CO)
BOTH STILL UNACCOUNTED

The following are from Charles Shenk's 54-page IDPF (click on name to view), with PDF page references as indicated in parentheses. Names are made bold but are not bold in the original.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The dates in the 1950 statements of Capt. McAdams and Pvt. Harris are clearly one day after the actual dates. Maj. Wells was definitely killed 19 Sep 1944. The statements made 5 1/2 years after the fact seem to have been biased by some suggestion from a common source that erroneously believed that Charles Shenk was lost 20 Sep. But Shenk and Harris and McAdams all showed in the 22 Sep 1944 Morning Report as MIA as of 19 Sep, along with Clarkson (the correct spelling), and Cpl. Cochran and Pfc. Mrozowski. McAdams, Shenk, Harris and the others cut off in the town with them were all captured 19 Sep and not 20 Sep.

• 1950 Apr 18 Memo "Report of Death" (Shenk IDFP PDF pages 30-34)
  • 1945 Jul 2 request response (30) from Headquarters 38th Armored Infantry Battalion
    1. Staff Sergeant Charles W. Shenk accompanied Captain Samuel C. McAdams and Private Mack C. Harris into the town of Sillegny, France to direct artillery and mortar fire against the enemy. Upon entering a small house, Captain McAdams radioed back to this Battalion that enemy tanks (number unknown) were advancing towards the house where these men were sheltered. At that time the radio which Captain McAdams, Private Harris, and Staff Sergeant Shenk were uing for communications ceased to function.
    2. Due to fact that territory was in enemy hands, a thorough search could not be made.

  • 1950 Mar 29 Statement of Capt. Samuel C. McAdams (31)
    1. Staff Sergeant Shenk accompanied me into Sillegny, France on the afternoon of 20 [sic] September and was wounded in the legs and back by mortar fire immediately after arrival. He was lying about two (2) feet away from me when wounded. I moved him into a house and he was given first aid by a Medical Enlisted man. Several other men who had been wounded were also kept in the house as only one first aid man was with this group. It was impossible to evacuate these wounded to the rear as we were cut off by enemy tanks and ground troops.
    2. When I surrendered about 0100 hours on the morning of the 21st [sic] of September I told the Germans about the wounded and asked them to let me go into the house to help them get the wounded out. Sergeant Shenk was still alive at the time because I had talked to him a few minutes before we were captured, he had been given morphine for his pain and was placed on a door so that he could be moved easily. The Germans would not let me go with them to help with the wounded, but told me that they would be taken care of. I never saw Sergeant Shenk again.
    3. We were moved to a small village about three (3) miles away and kept in a cellar for the remaining part of the night, early the next morning we started our march to the rear and I again asked a German non-commissioned officer if they evacuated the wounded and he told me they had.
    4. Sometime during the month of April 1945 while in a prison camp in Luckenwalde, Germany I met Sergeant Milan Clarkston [sic], whose address is Box 1, Wadley, Georgia or 711 Columbia Street, Elmire, New York. Sergeant Clarkston [sic] was a member of my Company and was captured with me on the morning of the 21st [sic] of September. He told me that while in a German prison one of the Germans who had captured us recognized him and told him that the man we had on the door died. Sergeant Shenk was the only man, to the best of my knowledge, that had been placed on a door to be moved.
    5. It is my opinion that Sergeant Shenk was evacuated to a German Hospital and later died.

  • 1950 Mar 29 Statement of Private Mack C. Harris (32)
    On this date Sept. 20 [sic] - 1944 Capt. McAdams S/Sgt Shenk and myself were directing artillery & mortar fire on Sillegny, France. Capt. McAdams was inside the house, useing [sic] the radio trying to contact help or aid, (Major Wells of 38 Armd. Infm Bn.) (S/Sgt Shenk) (1st Lt. White, & a Sgt. I never knoew out of an Engineer outfit) were at the back of the house, I was at the side of the house, an enemy mortar shell hit the wall just over the heads of these men. Major Wells of 38 Armd. Inf. Bn. Hq was killed out right - 1st Lt. White & the Sgt. out of the Engineer outfit were also killed, S/Sgt Shenk was badly wounded, he was hit in the lower part of the body, the groin & stomache [sic], the wounds were severly. [sic] I helped to get him into the house, there was a medical aid man there but he had very limited sipplies. [sic] He did the best he could for S/Sgt Shenk in the way of aid - this was between 4 & 6 oclock [sic] in the evening. S/Sgt. Shenk was delirious. We did every thing possible to make him comfortable. So the Germans marched in on us some time between 11oo & 2oo oclock [sic]. We took down a door for a stretcher & took Sgt Shenk with us.
    The German marched the group for about 3 hours - about 8 or 9 miles, we finaly [sic] were herded in to a barn, there was a German Dr. he was aksing if any one was wounded. Several of the boys and my self had minor wounds, we took Sgt Shenk in a small room and the Dr. sent the rest of us up stairs, in about an hour they the groupe [sic] together again to continue our treak [sic] into Germany. So we called for S/Sgt Shenk. The Dr. said he had passed away. So we had to leave him there - I am sure all of his papers & pay book & dog tags were on him -
    I have never spoke of this before to any one, I had presumed the Germans had notified the U. S. Government.

• 1999 Jul 19 Milan "Bud" Clarkson in Phone Call with Wesley Johnston (from notes by Wesley Johnston)
  • Bud was captured at Sillegny with McAdams and the others. He did not see Maj. Wells. He was not even around him.
  • Bud was a S/Sgt in the Mortar Platoon.
  • Charles Shenk: got hurt real bad; I had to come home and tell his mother they shot him -- his back was all blowed off and we had him on a door. Chuck [Hanson] was outside and surrendered. He thought everyone inside was dead and told the Germans so. But Bud and Charlie [Shenk] were inside and did not know that Hanson had surrendered. Charlie was laying on the door, and asked Bud “Please don’t let them get us.” Bud told him “They’re not going to get us.” The Germans came inside, apparently to loot the bodies of the dead. Bud opened up on them and shot a lot of them. Then the Germans sent Chuck in. Chuck said “They’ll kill you. Come on out with me.” They carried Charlie out on the door. Then the Germans made Bud leave Shenk and took Bud nearby. One of the Germans hit Bud in the mouth and told him he had killed 6 of the Germans. The Germans took Shenk around the corner. Bud heard a couple of shots and believed they killed Shenk. He thought they may have thrown his body down a well there.
  • At this point, Bud was emotionally upset by remembering these events, saying he had never even joined the VFW because he did not want to remember. It was clear to me that he blamed himself for the Germans murdering Shenk -- which the post-war records show was not the case.
  • My post-phone call writeup, including details Bud had told me but which I had not been able to write down fast enough:
    Bud did not know Hanson had surrendered. Hanson did not know anyone was still alive in the building. [What building?] Bud had just put a clip in his submachine gun. When the Germans came in to loot the bodies, Bud opened up on them and mowed them down (his words). Then the Germans sent Hanson in. When Bud came out the Germans took him off to the side and hit him in the mouth and told him he’d killed 6 of their men after Hanson had surrendered. Bud believes the Germans murdered Shenk and threw his body down the well, but he bases this on them taking Shenk out of Bud’s sight and then Bud hearing two shots.