U.S. Army veteran Fred R. Schmitz, 83, knows a little something about serving one’s country.

His time in the Ninth Army Headquarters was far from the glorified scenes of World War II with bombs exploding, dark trenches or hand-to-hand combat against the Axis powers. In fact, Schmitz didn’t even witness action, but what he did do ultimately helped the Allies win the war.

Born in Richland County, Schmitz joined the Army after high school and, after taking a placement test in 1943, was sent to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where he was assigned to the chemical warfare unit. “I didn’t have the physical stamina to be in a fighting outfit,” said Schmitz, who had a horse riding accident prior to his placement test that left him disabled.

He worked as a clerk. “We pretended that we were going down into Mexico,” he said. “We had maps of Mexico and practiced sending messages and ordering supplies and that kind of stuff.” As Schmitz gained experience, “I ended in what they called adjutant general. I ended up as a top secret messenger there in AG.”

Schmitz carried messages from one section to another in the Army. He read where the messages belonged, made copies of them and then sent them to their destinations.

The Private First Class soldier was sent to Camp Shanks, N.Y., for a brief training session before he sailed overseas on the Queen Elizabeth heading toward Scotland. “There were no fighting ships that could keep up with her,” he said.

The ship was the largest passenger ship at the time, carrying 8,000 troops when she normally held just 250 passengers. It traveled a zig zag course. “They didn’t want to stay on a straight line for fear somebody could spot them and see what direction they were going and send word to some submarines that were over a little farther.”

It took six days to travel across the Atlantic, a trip that normally took three. He waited for the train in Glasgow to travel to Bristol, England.

“While we were in Bristol, Germany, buzz bombs (V2 rockets) were falling on London,” Schmitz wrote in his life summary. “A few were shot down by Royal Air Force pilots who learned to dive on them and upset their drive control mechanism so that they fell harmlessly into the channel.”

Finally, after he and the Ninth Army waited to cross the English Channel, Schmitz set up tent in France where he and the other soldiers directed the American troops on where to go, what to do and supplied them for their journey into Europe.

From there, he traveled to the Netherlands for a brief stint during the Battle of the Bulge. “I never saw a V2 in flight until I got to [the Netherlands],” wrote Schmitz, “and there in the grey morning hours I saw the black outline of the stubby, winged craft with the fine spouting tail about as long as the plane. It was propelled in bursts of flames and sounded like a big slow motorcycle. I felt as if I were watching a big noisy witch on her way to destroy something.”

He went on to Germany after the German’s surrendered. Again Schmitz passed messages through the headquarters about traveling orders and supplies for the troops that would head to China to deal with Japan.

In 1945, Schmitz went on leave for 30 days to work on his family’s farm. He asked for an additional 15 days so he could help with the harvest, expecting he would head to China with the rest of the soldiers. He stayed. Japan surrendered.

To this veteran, the Armed Forces are so important to the state of the country. They must be respected. “Whether our troops should be in Iraq or not, the fact that they’re there, they shouldn’t be downgraded or lied about,” he said, referring to anti-military media. “We’re fighting against newspaper, radio and TV. They don’t tell us the truth. They don’t say what’s going on.”

“The liberals have a bad habit of talking the country down,” Schmitz noted. He dislikes “congressmen who consistently vote against the military.”

“[Soldiers] are noble men, and they should be honored,” he said.

This Veteran’s Day, Schmitz will remember his fellow friends and classmates who served with him in the Armed Services.

“It’s an opportunity to thank the guys who risk their lives for the sake of their country.”

reporter@sidneyherald.com