Veteran Bob Wolfe enlisted in the Army when he was 18, on the day he graduated from high school. He was born in Salem, Ind., in 1930.
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OKEECHOBEE — Veteran Bob Wolfe enlisted in the Army when he was 18, on the day he graduated from high school. He was born in Salem, Ind., in 1930. He joined because his older brother, Denman was already a soldier, he said. Denman joined when Bob was only 9 years old, and he served in WWII.
Bob was sent to Fort Custer, Mich., and from there he ended up on a troop train to California. They were loaded on a ship to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, for basic training. “That was tough basic, and thank goodness it was,” he said, “because I was physically able to take care of myself. We had to double time everywhere we went. We couldn’t walk. If you left your lanai, you double timed, no matter where you went, off duty, on duty, whatever. So, we were in good physical condition.”
Soon after his training ended, the Korean conflict began. “I found myself on a flying boxcar, one of the old time cars with a Browning Automatic Rifle between my legs, going overseas. My basic was over.”
“Denman was in Japan, but I only stopped in Japan long enough to get on an LST (landing ship, tank) to go to Korea.” Bob served in the infantry with the 5th Battalion Regimental Combat Team, 24th Division. Then he was in the 179th of the 45th Division, because he put in two tours in Korea.
When Bob rotated back, Denman was in Japan, but then they sent him to Korea. When Bob got back to Korea, the brothers ended up in the same unit for a few months. Those in charge never knew the two were brothers, because the company commander asked Denman if the sergeant who had just come in was any relation to him, and he said, “I don’t even know him.” Because of the Sullivan brothers who had all been killed aboard the same ship during WWII, it was not protocol to allow brothers to serve together at that time, so the brothers kept their relationship a secret. “If he said he knew me, they would have separated us immediately, because it was still a combat zone. The only two surviving brothers of a family can’t be together. You can both be in the Army, but you can’t be in the same combat zone.” After a few months, Denman rotated back, and Bob finished out his tour.
“My first tour over there was pretty tough. It was cold, and we didn’t have enough equipment really for nothing. I think there was one sleeping bag for three people. We took turns using it. It got to about 30 below zero, and we did not have any winter equipment whatsoever. We were lucky to have a liner for our field jackets, and we had no boots outside of just leather boots. Thank goodness I took my basic training where it taught me how to survive in cold weather. If your boots are wet, you take them off and take a pair of socks you keep under your shirt no matter how dirty they are. When you change them, you put the other ones under there. You change them often, and this helps take care of your feet. We didn’t get much hot food, either. They dropped in frozen C-rations. We’d open it up, pick it up with the bayonet, drop it in our mouth and let it dissolve. When a guy got wounded, we put him on a litter and put him on a jeep and sent him down an old dirt road to the mobile surgical hospital, which was a MASH. That’s where you got your treatment, if you got any. They didn’t have enough equipment, and half the time they didn’t have anything to give you for pain,” he explained.
Bob was in Korea just about the entire time the conflict went on, he said. “I ran a lot of combat patrols. I lost some people, because I was platoon leader or patrol leader. The most scary thing there is in this world is to be on a combat patrol, and you are the point man on the patrol. Every step you take, you don’t know what’s going to happen. I tell you what, it is scary.”
Wolfe joked that he actually would have made a good Mafia hitman because of all the training he received in the service. He spent three years in a combat area, receiving a Silver Star, which is the Armed Services’ third highest award for valor during combat. He was also wounded and awarded a Purple Heart and many other combat decorations.
Master Sergeant Wolfe, nicknamed “Iron Mike Wolfe,” spent his time after combat training the new troops. He said they didn’t like him much because when he trained them, he really trained them, but he wanted his men to live. He taught basic training, scouting, patrolling, unarmed defense, hand to hand combat, and bayonet. “I taught a lot of troops, and I hope I did a good job of it, so in Vietnam they made it back home,” he said. “You never know. You just do the best you can. They sent a lot of troops over to Korea untrained, and it cost them their lives. You better well believe I wanted to make sure I trained my men to survive, even if it meant they hated me. I made a promise to myself. I wasn’t very well liked, but they was trained.”
He spent 37 years in the service.
He also shared that Dan Blocker, who played Hoss Cartwright on “Bonanza,” was on the base with him and was a great guy who would give you the shirt off his back. Bob said when he first joined the service, a trainer told him, “You can’t do nothing unless you are mentally orientated.” Bob has always believed this, saying, “If you want to get something done, first you have to make up your mind to do it.”
“At night time, the older you get, the more you remember. At night time, you wake up, and it’s on your mind. I lost three men and one was wounded on one patrol, and you wonder, was it my fault. Did I take care of them or not? Let me tell you, you talk about people having thoughts, you have them, but you’ve got to be able to separate yourself from that and come back. You can’t just lay there and think about it, because then you get in serious trouble,” he said. “Life sometimes kicks you around a little bit, but you can’t just sit down and give up.”
Denman was with the 5th Rangers on D-Day, said Bob. He passed away in February of this year at the age of 98. At the time of his death, he was Arkansas’ last surviving Army Ranger who served in WWII. Not only did he serve on D-Day, he also led the way during allied invasions in North Africa and Sicily during WWII and in Asia during the Korean War. In total, Denman served in the Army for more than 20 years. He attained the rank of sergeant first class and was awarded a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and many other combat decorations.
The brothers have one sister who is 106 years old. Until recently, she traveled the country by herself every year and was stopped by the law several times and searched for drugs, because apparently it is unusual for women in their 90s and 100s to travel across borders alone, he laughed. Her health has slowed her down a little, and she no longer does any traveling.
They had a second sister who served in the WACs (Women’s Army Corps). The family has always been a close, loving family.
“I’m the last of the Wolfes,” said Bob.
