CLARIS D. TALKINGTON
A HERO AMONG MEN
WWII PRISONER OF WAR
Claris D. Talkington was a most noble man. He never boasted nor did he want others to see him as anything other than the warm, honest, and hardworking neighbor next door. He was a man of excellent character, a WWII Veteran, and a WWII POW who strived to remember this nation’s Veterans every day of his life.
He served two 2-year terms as 3rd District Commander of the American Legion. He was at that time the only West Virginian to serve as 3rd District Commander and Doddridge County was honored to call him a native son.
The eldest child and son of John Harley and Eva Ethel Swiger Talkington, Claris was born on January 17, 1916, at Talkington Fork in Center Point, Doddridge County, WV. He had seven siblings. They were: Harley Bernard, Willa Lee, Clifford Cloyd, Elbert Deane, Everett Dwight, L. Duane, and Janice Lou.
He completed his eighth year of school at Center Point Grade School, then attended the West Union High School at West Union.
After graduation, he went to visit his cousin, Kenneth E. Doak, in Columbus, OH and stayed a while. It was there that he met Clara Radford Crabtree and on February 27, 1937, they were married. During this time, he worked at R E Rusk & Son. That marriage ended in divorce. No children were born of this marriage.
Claris returned home to Doddridge County where he married for the 2nd time in 1941 in Lewis County, WV. Her name was Mary Kester of Morgansville, in Doddridge County. She was his lifelong wife and the mother of his children, Karen Colleen, Byron Jon, and Marilyn Maurine.
Young Claris Talkington joined the military on March 4, 1943, where he enlisted at Fort Hayes, Columbus, OH. Standing at 5’11” tall, weighing 155 pounds with black hair and beautiful blue eyes, Claris Doak Talkington must have been a handsome soldier in that American uniform. He first served in the U.S. Army in the 106th Infantry Division, then was transferred to the 28th Division, known as the “Bloody Bucket Division.”
He was sent to the European Theatre on August 11, 1944. Eleven days later on August 22, 1944, he was wounded in action. He recovered from his wounds and continued to serve with his fellow soldiers. Little did he know that all hell was going to break out a few months later that would change his life forever.
On December 16, 1944, Sgt. Claris Talkington, and his fellow soldiers in Company A, of the 109th Regiment of the 28th Division were sent out from the town of Diekirch, Luxembourg to intercept a German patrol known to be in the area of Longsdorf. He was on the left side of the lead tank during this mission.
German artillery shells started bombarding the crew as they left the town that day. According to Robert Meyer of Belfair, WA, who was a machine gunner on the opposite side of the same lead tank as Sgt. Talkington with the 28th Division and as was written by Phyl Meyer in the “Ex-Prisoners of War” in 1992 by Phyl Meyer, “A man was in his backyard near the Sauer River asked for help. His arm had been struck by a shell and was just hanging by the skin above the elbow. A mother was holding a baby in her arms, a shell fragment had cut the child and pierced the woman’s chest.” Meyer took the time to bandage the man’s arm as best as he could, then ran to catch up with Sgt. Talkington and the rest of the company.
The article goes on to read, “As the tanks approached the fork in the road to Longsdorf, they fired at two houses and 25-30 German soldiers came running out. The company then knew this was no small patrol. Prisoners were rounded up and the wounded cared for before Company A moved on up the road. It was becoming dark as they approached the woods near Longsdorf. Suddenly, a German bazooka crew fired a round of ammunition with a blinding flash of light, hitting the front of the lead tank and miraculously missing the machine gunner walking along the right side of the tank!”
Sgt. Claris Talkington, who was walking on the left side of that same tank when it got hit with a bazooka shell, was also spared. But he was captured soon after in the nearby woods by German soldiers. The captured American soldiers were marched back behind enemy lines where they were interrogated, then marched on to Bitburg, Germany.
Sgt. Talkington said, “I was also captured on 12-18-44 up a road that went to a field on top of the hill off the main road. When they took me back to the enemy lines, they took me back past the tank and it sure was a sight I will never forget. I never knew if there were others captured that day or not.”
According to government historians, 25 men of Company A survived that particular battle; the rest were captured, killed, or wounded.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that same year, American airplanes bombed Bitburg, destroying the town. After the bombing, the prisoners were marched in the freezing snow to Wittlich, Germany where they were held in the chapel of a civilian prison until after New Years Day. By that time there were over 800 POWs in the group. They were packed into the chapel so tightly that the men had space only to lean against the wall. They had no water or food.
Sgt. Talkington and the other American POWs were held in the Wittlich prison for several days before they were marched to Limburg, Germany on the eastern side of the Rhine River to Stalag XII-A, where they were photographed before being placed in rundown unheated barracks with broken windows that were boarded up. The men were only fed one bowl of cabbage soup once a day. They had only their helmets or old cans from which to eat it.
In May 1945, Sgt. Talkington and the other POWs held there were liberated by General Patton’s 3rd Army. When Sgt. Talkington was captured, he weighed about 255 pounds. When he was liberated, he weighed 97 pounds. That fact alone speaks volumes about the starvation & and the incomprehensible conditions he and the other American POWs were forced to endure.
In June of 1994, Commander Talkington was awarded a Purple Heart plaque which was presented during the organization’s 17th Annual Convention. Members of the Mountaineer Military Order of Purple Heart Chapter #724, Kenneth Waddell, Dept. Senior Vice Commander, Lyman A. Clark Jr., Past Dept. Commander and James M. Blaylock, Vice Commander of Region IV were the presenters.
He was responsible for obtaining the gun that graces the courthouse grounds to the left of the Military Wall of Honor. The following is a description of the events which led up to the placement of the gun:
“Mr. Dennis Wolverton, a member of the Doddridge County Commission, mentioned to Claris D. Talkington, Commander of Cecil Robinson Post #25, The American Legion, it would be nice to have a Cannon or gun of some kind beside the Honor Roll on the Courthouse lawn. Commander Talkington contacted Congressman Robert B. Mollohan of the First District of West Virginia, which covers Doddridge County.
After a few weeks, an answer was received from the Congressman that he had contacted the Navy Department at Bainbridge, MD that they would give to the American Legion Post #25 a Three Pound Salute Gun. Post #25 was to pick up the gun at the Bainbridge, MD Naval Base. The papers were sent to Commander Claris D. Talkington for the gun to be picked up after the Christmas Holidays.
Commander Talkington discussed this one day with Hugh “Bud” Spencer and Mr. Spencer said he would send a truck and driver to accompany Commander Talkington to pick up the gun. Mr. Spencer asked that we try to go when he was not too busy, wo we made arrangements to go after the 1st of the year and pick the gun up and return it to West Union.
Post #25 decided this should be a joint project by American Legion Post #25, VFW Post #3408, and the AUX of American Legion Post #25, and AUX of VFW Post #3408. There was no MOPH organization formed in West Union at this time.
After the Volunteers had the gun in place, Commander Talkington turned the gun over to the Doddridge County Commission for maintenance and reports to be sent in each year, that the gun is kept in proper condition and is still on the sight made for it. The Doddridge County Commission has taken excellent care since the gun has been in place.”
More than 40 people working with the membership of the local American Legion Post #25 and its Commander, Claris D. Talkington, made this project possible. They include: Congressman Mollohan, the U.S. Navy Dept., Hugh “Bud” Spencer, brothers, Darrell, and Oral Swisher who drove the truck, Alonzo Custer, Vocational Director at the high school and his building maintenance class of 35 boys who chipped and cleaned the gun, as well as constructed the foundation and with the help of Frank McGill and G. E. Travis, mounted the gun at its present site.
Each time we look at the gun and the Wall of Honor, we should always be reminded how blessed we are to have the sacred freedom we uniquely call “American Freedom.” It is one of the greatest blessings we have, bestowed by God, and preserved by our American Soldiers, both those who have fallen and those who fought bravely and by the grace of God returned home to their loved ones and their country just as Sgt. Talkington did so many years ago.
Claris Doak Talkington died on May 19, 1995, at home here in Doddridge County at the age of 79. His wife, Mary Kester Talkington, died 3 years later on July 14, 1998. They are buried next to each other in the Center Point Cemetery among other family members who have passed on.
Thank you for your service and your sacrifice, Sgt. Talkington. Rest in Peace. May God hold you in His Holy Embrace until your loved ones can once more lovingly hold you in theirs.
God Bless.
Patricia Richards Harris