Horrors of war remain with World War II veteran

Staff photo by Tim Barber/ Gene "Curly" Randall South, 97, was a member of the 237th Engineering Combat Battalion who helped build a bridge, known as the Beer Bridge, over the Rhine River in Bonn, Germany.
Staff photo by Tim Barber/ Gene "Curly" Randall South, 97, was a member of the 237th Engineering Combat Battalion who helped build a bridge, known as the Beer Bridge, over the Rhine River in Bonn, Germany.

For Gene South, three years that changed the course of history have affected every day of his life since.

"I still have nightmares," the 97-year-old said from his residence in Wildwood, Georgia, where he lives with his daughter, Karen, and her family. "I wake everyone up pretty often.

"I've fought the war all over again almost every day since I came home."

South enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942, not long after the Pearl Harbor attack. He served in the 237th Engineer Combat Battalion until the end of the campaign in Europe.

"We got furloughed in 1945, and we went home before we were supposed to go to Asia," South remembered. "I waited, and the rest of my unit was getting recalled, but my orders never came. They must have forgot me."

"Best paperwork mistake of my life, I guess."

The early discharge could never diminish the accomplishments of South and his battalion.

They were there on Utah Beach on D-Day. They fought in the famous and successful Battle of the Bulge, and were part of the construction team that rebuilt the Beer Bridge under smoke screens and enemy fire in less than 10 hours. That infamous bridge got its name, South said, because the reward after completion was, you guessed it, cans of beer for the crew.

South said the 237th received the presidential citation, and members earned five bronze stars. He is grateful to former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, who awarded South his six medals 55 years after being home from the war.

(Read about other local veterans in our "21-Veteran Salute" series here)

photo Staff photo by Tim Barber/ Gene "Curly" Randall South, 97, was a member of the 237th Engineering Combat Battalion who helped build a bridge, known as the Beer Bridge, over the Rhine River in Bonn, Germany.

BIO

Name: Eugene Randall SouthAge: 97Branch of military: U.S. ArmyYears of service: 1942-1945

South was wounded in combat and still has shrapnel in his left leg.

"I know he has some shrapnel in his leg. Our brother and myself used to think it was cool to take a magnet and go up and down his upper leg moving that piece of shrapnel [for] our friends," Karen said. "Not until recently did he tell me it did make his leg sore. He just kept letting us show our friends."

South returned from the war and worked his adult life as an engineer and construction foreman across the Tennessee Valley. He worked as a foreman at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Hartsville Nuclear Plant and also was part of the construction crew that helped to build the Chickamauga Dam before he retired at age 62 after raising three kids - Karen, Diana Bowen and Eugene Randall South II.

The shrapnel buried in his left leg are far from the most horrifying things South brought home from World War II.

"I can remember hitting the beach and going across the channel," he said with a pause that could have been pride, sorrow or pain - or some of each.

"I had never been so scared. And I've never been that scared since."

Contact Jay Greeson at 423-757-6343 or jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.

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