Brandon Twp. ? World War II Army Private Mathew Mersino claims he was just a regular soldier.
However, ask thousands of Great Britain residents enduring the relentless Nazi air-raids via the low altitude V-1, or Buzz, Bombs that terrorized their cities and perhaps his wartime duties were anything but average.
A Detroit native and 1941 Oxford High School graduate, Mersino was drafted in January 1943. He was trained at Fort Eustis, Va., Camp Pickett, Va., and Camp Davis, N.C.there he was trained on 90 mm anti-aircraft guns.
In October 1943, Mersino departed Fort Shanks, N.J. aboard the converted luxury liner-troopship Monarch of Bermuda for Liverpool, England, as part of the 405 AAA Artillery.
Mersino saw his first V-1 bomb near South Hampton as the Germans were pounding England over the English Channel with the ‘vengeance weapon,? or ‘Vergeltungswaffe? as it came to be known.
Mersino was in England and joined thousands of Allied forces when they crossed the English Channel during the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy, France.
‘We went in on June 9, D-Day plus three,? said Mersino. ‘We landed at Normandy and came in with artillery on our way to Sainte-M’re-‘glise, France. On the way, there were remains of the German army including cement pill boxes and guns left behind. One of the few advantages the Allied troops had when they landed was that the big German guns could not swing left or right enough to hit the troops. They actually shot over their heads. The beaches still had blood and remains scattered around’we did not stay there long and moved inland.?
Mersino’s gunnery group focused on the V-1 bombs destined for England as they flew over France.
‘The Germans would send those over by just aiming them west at targets. We hit 260 V-1 bombs before they could do damage,? said Mersino. ‘We were very good shots with our 90 mm gun’I don’t think we ever missed. I had the task of identifying planes by silhouettes against the sky. There was always the risk of hitting our own planes as they flew over.?
Mersino would be radioed the direction the V-1 was coming and coordinate the gunners when to fire.
The 405 AAA Artillery moved into Antwerp, Belgium and liberated the city.
‘We took German prisoners all the time. I felt sorry for many of the Germans as we took them back to the American POW camps. Many of the German prisoners spoke English and told me the German Secret Service (SS) would stand behind the German army with guns and shoot them if they ran. They were forced into combat.?
Mersino served as a guard at a German POW camp and a prisoner carved a V-1 bomber out of wood.
‘The war was over when he carved the V-1 for me,? he said.
‘After the war ended, I was stationed near Marseilles, France where they had formed a baseball team. We played lots of games there and drew fans in to watch before many went home.?
Mersino returned home to Oxford in November 1945, and married Faye Sutton on July 16, 1949 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Lake Orion. The couple raised seven children and have 24 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.