By David Fleet
Editor
Ortonville-The corner of Mill and South streets, Memorial Day, 1944.
That’s where 21-year-old Army Pvt. Roy Taylor says a circus and a couple of single high school girls changed his life forever.
Taylor, 85, returned to the downtown corner to reflect on his life and recall Memorial Day 64 years ago.
A Zanefield, Ohio native, Taylor moved with his parents to the Milford area, where he joined the war effort for Briggs Manufacturing Company, constructing ball turrets for the B-17 and B-24 bombers.
With some engineering background, Taylor enlisted in the Army Corps in 1943, and while in training his parents moved to the Brandon Township area. While home on leave in May 1944, Taylor attended Memorial Day observances in the village and participated in the annual parade.
‘The night before Memorial Day, I went to the circus with my folks. We took front row seats on the bleachers. Then I went forward to the ring before the show started to talk to a clown. We struck up a conversation about the war and being in the service,? wrote Taylor in a letter.
‘During this time, two young girls took seats directly behind my folks. When I returned to my seat I was informed that the girls were talking about me. So I turned around and introduced myself to them. I then joined them and had just met my future wife. One of these girls was named Geraldine and the other was named Verda. They were senior classmates from the old Ortonville High School and had just graduated.?
‘When the show was over I walked them both home as they were staying together in town. The one I kissed goodnight was Geraldine’as it turned out, she was not to be my future wife.?
‘The next day was Memorial Day and a parade was formed up right here on Mill Street. There were two of us servicemen in town, and we were chosen to be the color guards in this parade to the cemetery. Then, after the parade I was walking down Mill Street and right in front of Hamilton’s store there was Verda, parked in her dad’s car. We greeted each other and the rest was history. That was 64 years ago. We were married a couple of months later, then I went off to war in Europe.?
Taylor returned to the Army and training and on to war.
‘In December 1944 we left from Camp Shanks, New York for Europe,? said Taylor.
‘For as far as you could see, there where ships including aircraft carriers, merchant ships, gunships in our convoy. We were under attack by German U-boats on the way over to Europe, but they never seemed to get close to my ship, which was an old cruise ship that had been converted to a troop ship.?
Taylor arrived at La Havre France in December 1944 as a member of the 16th Armor Division odograph team. During the next few months, Taylor moved across Europe behind the retreating German Army. Taylor crossed the Rhine River in Mainz, Germany on a pontoon bridge and into Nuremberg.
‘One day I was in a Jeep near Nuremberg, when a big Army truck came up from behind and blasted air horns at us. It turned out to be General Patton and he was cussing me out’I thought he was going to shoot me. He then shook his fist at me and yelled something at me,? laughed Taylor.
The war ended and Taylor stayed on with an Army survey crew.
‘We crossed into Austria, Hitler’s eagle’s nest, but by the time we got in there, the Allies had cleaned it out. It’s up on top of a mountain. It was intact, but stripped of his things.?
In the fall of 1945, Taylor was given emergency leave to return home due to the illness of his birth mother. On the way back to the United States, the war ended in Japan and a few months later, he was discharged from the Army. ‘I arrived home the day before Thanksgiving 1945,? said Taylor. ‘I took a taxi home from the bus station in Pontiac and Verda was out of the house to greet me before I was out of the taxi. It was also the first time I saw my son, Douglas, who was born in June 1945 when I was still overseas.?
Roy and Verda had eight children, 14 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. Roy worked in machine design for automobile companies and retired in 1985. The couple lived in several states until Verda’s death in 2006. Roy returned to Brandon Township where he lives today.
‘This is were I started and met my wife, and this is where I’ll end up.?
(Editor’s note: Roy Taylor is an author and adds personal reflections on his return to Ortonville. Check out his story on line:thecitizenonline.com.)