North High School Wall of Honor
Clarence Cardwell (Bud) Marchael, Jr.
Class of 1941
marchael
Research done by Claradell Shedd, Class of 1953. PAGE IN PROGRESS
Clarence C. (Bud) Marchael

Unknown when he graduated, but we think Bud graduated in the 1941North High class. He enlisted in the US Army on October 2, 1941 at Fort Des Moines, IA. At the time of his enlistment, he was single with no dependents. His service number was 20704467. Bud's next of kin was listed as Mr. Clarence Cardwell Marchael, 1069 21st Street, Des Moines, IA.

Clarence C. (Bud) Marchael
Year   Rank   Status
January, 1936   Enlisted/
Iowa National Guard
  Active in the Guard, as was his father, Captain Clarence C. Marchael, in command of Company B of the 168th Infantry, Iowa National Guard
1941 x US Army x Received five-year medal for service with the Iowa National Guard.
1941 x Graduated or left x North High School; Des Moines, IA
Oct.2,1941 x US Army/Enlisted x Enlisted at Fort Des Moines, IA.
1941 x Basic Training x *Camp Claiborne, LA
date x Enroute x To **Scotland
date x Enroute x To ***Kasserine Pass conflict, Tunisia, North Africa
April 26, 1943
x US Army/First Sergeant x Killed in action; Kasserine Pass, Tunisia, North Africa; 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division, Headquarters Platoon of A Company.
Two members of the 168th Infantry of the Iowa National Guard are Captain Clarence C. Marchael, in command of Company B, and his son, Sgt. Clarence C. Marchael, Jr., who is in Company A. Both live at 1069 Twenty-first Street Sgt. C.C. Marchael (right), spokesman for group of former North High students now members of Company A, 168th Infantry, Wednesday presented the school with four flags during a school assembly. Ozzie Morrow, North High School student council president, is seen receiving one of the gifts. (1941)
Camp Claiborne, LA   Hutment, Camp Claiborne, LA  
IA National Guard Camp Claiborne, LA Hutment, Camp Claiborne IA National Guard
**Scotland
This might have pertained to Bud... It was written by a North High grad who experienced Scotland and then was sent to Kasserine Pass, Tunisia, North Africa, just as was Clarence C. (Bud) Marchael. They may have been there together.

In late summer of 1942, we were shipped to Scotland for amphibious training at the Duke of Argyle compound of Lake Loman.This area was a real challenge to us; jagged hills, moors, and peat boggs.

The Duke’s dwelling was a castle several stories high with moats and draw bridges that we had to scale by rope after coming ashore from the landing craft.

In the fall of 1942, Churchill and Roosevelt decided to open a new front in North Africa to ease pressure off of the Russian front.  There were three major landings planned.  The operation was to be simultaneous and called “Torch” (November 8-12, 1942) at the eastern force at Algiers, central force at Oran, and western at Casablanca.  My combat regiment 168th was to be with British 78th Division and the 6th Commandos.  My troop ship left the British Isles, Glasgow, Scotland, and Greenock Bay on the Scotland Winchester Castle troop ship.  We had the 168th and 175th Field Artillery Regiments, and the 109th Engineer and 109th Medical Battalions. 

We sailed through the straits of Gibraltar by cruise ships at night. Our ships went through first as we were going to the eastern area to Algiers.  We would rendezvous with flotilla from the United States.  The next morning after entering the Mediterranean through the straits, Italian and German aircraft bombed our convoy all day long.  We lost some ships, but they lost some aircraft.  A British major told us to get our machine gun, 30 caliber, up to the top deck and lash the trail legs to the rails of the troop ship for extra anti-aircraft fire.  Lashing my gun to rails did not work because my ammo belts could not go through the breech of the gun.  It would jam, and my field of fire was very limited.  The only thing I could shoot was fish.

In reality, my squad saw action prior to our amphibious assault the morning of November 8, 1942.  In the next sequence of events, the British Navy took us to the wrong beach during the landing craft assault which in turned out to be okay because we had to silence the large guns at Fort Sidi Furoh at Algiers and only one of our objectives, the docks, downtown government buildings, and the Algiers airport. 

All objectives were reached except the harbor area where French ships were at the quays.  The Vichy French and Italians were our immediate enemy which we soon neutralized, but they blew up a ship in the harbor to block our ship from coming into unload troops and supplies.  The night of November 8, 1942, we were hit again with German and Italian aircraft, and two planes were shot down. I had my first drink of alcohol, a glass of rum, loading for the landing craft assault. This was because we were going down rope ladders in the dark with the landing craft pitching back and forth and up and down, and my whole squad was throwing up all over each other.

I was a corporal and a squad leader of about seven men.

The machine gun is a water-cooled 30 caliber. It consists of a tripod and receiver with breech block for rapid fire. Each ammunition canister has about two hundred and fifty rounds feed through the receiver by a web belt. The cartridges are usually loaded at the factory with one ball, one HE and one tracer to view if your line of fire is going where you want it to go.

My gear for my body was a cartridge belt with a first aid packet, one-quart water bottle, and cartridges for my 45 caliber revolver. I always carried at least two hand grenades hooked on my shoulder harness near my belt line. On my back was my combat pack that carried my mess kit, C-type or K-type. My half blanket and raincoat hung over my butt under my cartridge belt. On your side hung a pick and shovel for digging and chipping the ground and a gas mask with straps.

When you make an amphibious landing, you have to wear a Mae West which is an inflatable rubber canvas belt with a sparklet cartridge to punch if the landing party land in waves way over your head or body.

Landing craft assault usually land you right near the beach, depending on the LST, LCI or submarines for special operations. At Anzio, Italy, my squad went ashore in a motorized whale boat.  I always carried the tripod with the three legs unclamped over my shoulder. My number two guy carried the receiver with the water can, and the rest of the crew carried the ammunition.  Field glasses, night watches, aiming circle, and clinometers were carried by whoever volunteers to do so. 

The first thing I ditched at the Algiers assault was my gas mask.  I forgot we all wore helmets and combat boots with side straps and buckles.  Usually these boots went to the calf of your leg.

At daylight the first few guys I saw killed were not ours.  They were British Commandos.  There were quite a few body parts on the beach sand.  I had a guy in my squad that was quite mechanical, so we knocked the window out of an electrical trolley and hoped it would take us down town and that was the case.  We saved walking five miles and for not knowing who our enemies were, it went well.  Of all the troops we confronted, most were Vichy French, Arabs and Italians.

Colonel Doyle was at my side and he was killed shot by sniper fire between the eyes on Main Street in downtown Algiers.  The shot came from a Casbah Roe house’s second balcony fifty to seventy five yards away,  so I unloaded several canisters of ammo and about 35 enemy soldiers were killed.  It looked like a cyclone had hit that balcony, with people screaming and crying and dead civilians and chickens and laundry scattered everywhere.  But war is hell and lots of innocent people die.  This was my first act of death after seeing Colonel Doyle’s shattered head around me.

After downtown Algiers was secured, they moved my company to the high ground near one of Algiers’s two airports. We were dive bombed and strafed constantly by German and Italian aircraft. They came in real low and fast dropping flares for night visibility. The gear each man carries is usually one hundred plus pounds in a machine gun crew and your personal equipment.

The British and American Navies had destroyed ten French ships and four submarines at all three landings by November 10, 1942.The Algiers, Oran, and Casablanca operation “Torch” was a success.

Christmas was planned between Algeria and Tunisia on a train our engineers ran. We continued getting lots more supplies and manpower.

We even got to see Bob Hope, Jerry Colona, and Francis Langford. They used a flatbed semitrailer for a stage. We could only go in groups due to constant air attacks. We were at Tebesa near the border of Tunisia guarding the airstrip. Then they moved us to Constantine where Cleopatra bathed in the warm mineral water coming from the ground.

We found ourselves in combat, in the same general area, as the Roman legions fought in 400 A.D. In January of 1943, my unit was assembled and trucked to jump off the area in front of Sened Station on the main rail link to all major ports of Tunisia, Bizerta, Tunis, Sfax, Sousse, and Cape Bon.  It was at this battle I killed my first Italians and Germans. We took eighteen Italian POWs.

Tunisia is a country about 160 miles east to west and 500 north to south. The main spine is the Atlas Mountains with mountain passes controlling all roadways, (wadis) rivers, and rail lines.

British Field Marshall Montgomery was driving Germans north along the coast with lots of German casualties along the way. It was imperative to close the German troop movements and supplies from the ports of Tunis. My unit fought at Faid Pass, Kasserine Pass, Fondoak and Sidi Hill 609 Bel Alis.  We were part of the II Corp under General George Patton, 1st Division, 9th Division and 3rd Division, 1st and 2nd Armored, 175th and 151st Field Artilleries, 2nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, and the 109th Engineer and 109th Medical Battalions
.
***Kasserine Pass
Upon mobilization on February 10, 1941, the 34th Division went into intensive training at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the 34th Division was chosen to be one of the first divisions sent overseas. From Louisiana, the Division was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then to Ireland for additional training. In November of 1942, the 34th took part in "Operation Torch," the Allied landing on German occupied North Africa. The Division was involved in numerous battles, such as Kasserine Pass, Fondouk Pass, Faid Pass, as well as Allied landings at Algiers and Tunis. By the time the Germans surrendered at Tunis in May of 1943, many brave men of the 34th had given their lives for their country. In Italy, the men of the 34th, also known as the Red Bull Division, were involved in the battles of Naples, Anzio, Cassino, Rome-Arno, North Apennines, and the Po Valley, where the U. S. 34th Division captured the German 34th Division to end the war in Italy.

Note: Clarence Marchael, Jr. served in the same Division as Eugene R. Brown and Fred Emerling; from the class of 1940.
Glendale Cemetery; Memorial #83676909





Clarence C. (Bud) Marchael
First Sergeant
Company A
168th Infantry Regiment
34th Infantry Division
Iowa National Guard


Combat Infantryman's Badge

Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal w/1st OLC and V (valor) device, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal
Examples: Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal w/1st OLC,
and V (valor) device, Vietnam Service Medal,
Vietnam Campaign Medal,
National Defense Service Medal
References
(1) Information was obtained from the Records on Military Personnel Who Died, were Missing in Action, or Prisoners of War as a result of the Vietnam War. This document can be found online at the National Archives and Records Administration at http://www.archives.gov/.

(2) The comprehensive list of names from North High's 1893-2018 graduation classes are from Claradell Shedd's North Des Moines High School website. The names of North High School graduates can be found online at:http://www.ndmhs.com/. Clarence C. (Bud) Marchael's 1941 class page is: http://www.ndmhs.com/pages/yearclass1941(2001.60).html.
Died 04/26/43.
Music: "Wind Beneath My Wings"
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