Harlem Grad Serves His Country
Born 1921 in Richwood, Ohio, Paul Junior Mitchell graduated from Harlem High School in Center Village, OH.  He was inducted into the Army Ft. Thomas, KY, on May 16, 1944 and went through basic at Ft. McClelland, Alabama.  after a furlough with his wife and three small sons,  he went to Ft. Meads. MN in October.

On October 31, 1944, he sailed from the US and arrived in France on November 9th where he served in Patton's 3rd and 9th Army as a NCO Rifleman in northern France, then Germany and the Ardennes in Belgium.

During the Battle of the Belgium Bulge, Paul was in a fox hole 6 days with frozen toes. On December 24 while he was being taken  by ambulance the 135 miles to a hospital in Metz, France, he kept watching for the brother-in-law, Jesse Chambers who drove an ambulance for the 76th Medical Armored

unit.  He saw the unit but not his brother-in-law. After they were both discharged Paul l

Sgt. Paul Junior Mitchell
earned Jesse had been in an ambulance accident and was in the same hospital in Metz.

The family heard Paul was sent to a hospital in England the end of January.  The end of March he was taken to Stark General Hospital in Charleston, SC, and finally to Brooks General Hospital in San Antonio in Texas.
From  The Sunbury News, April 18, 1945

On April 29th, while Paul was still home on furlough, his brother Fred was killed in Germany.

He was discharged from the army on July 31, 1945 from Ft. Sam Houston in Texas.
From  The Sunbury News, Aug. 17, 1945
In 1950, Paul graduated from Ohio State University  with a degree in veterinary medicine.
Paul and his wife, Thelma Chambers Mitchell, had seven sons and a daughter.  He died in October 1994 in Macon, MO.

Many thanks to Paula  Scott, Paul's niece, for the extra information on Paul Junior.

 
Return to Fred Mitchell's Story  

(01/14/2007)