Earl “Tully” Tacey
World War II
Earl Tacey was born at Osmond to Green and Ella Tacey on Oct. 18, 1917, the youngest of five children. He attended school at Osmond, but left during his junior year to drive truck for Bill Moore.
Tully, as he was better known, served in the Army from Oct. 3, 1942, (his family history in the centennial book says December 1941) to March 9, 1945. According to his obituary, he served in the African and Italian campaigns, with an armored division of the Fifth Army. The family history states that, because of his skill with driving trucks and heavy equipment, he was assigned duty as a tank driver.
According to the information I found: In North Africa, Fifth Army helped civil authorities maintain law and order in French Morocco and western Algeria, and organized, equipped and trained French forces in the area, no longer under Fascist control.
However, Fifth Army’s primary mission was to prepare itself for the amphibious invasion of Italy. On Sept. 9, 1943, Fifth Army landed an invasion force on a 20-mile stretch of beach south of Salerno, Italy, becoming the first American force to invade mainland Europe.
With the objective of capturing Rome, Fifth Army pushed northward from Salerno through Naples to the German line anchored on the town of Cassino. The French Expeditionary Corps, including Moroccan and Algerian divisions, joined Fifth Army, doubling its strength. After four costly assaults known as the Battles of Monte Cassino, the Fifth Army continued onward toward Rome, linking up on the way with other Fifth Army units that had fought their way out of the coastal town of Anzio.
Fifth Army entered Rome on June 4, 1944, becoming the first allied force to liberate a European capitol from Fascist control, although it did not capture the German forces that had held the city.
Two days later, the Normandy Invasion was launched. In support of that, one of Fifth Army’s corps and the French Expeditionary Corps were withdrawn to participate in the invasion of southern France.
Germans and Fascist Italians retreated north, turning and holding their ground at the Arno River. The pursuing Fifth Army reached the Arno on July 18 and finally crossed it on Sept. 2.
In July of 1944, Earl was severely wounded — according to two different news reports, part of his leg was blown off when he stepped from his tank onto a land mine in Italy.
His leg was amputated midway between his knee and ankle, but he considered himself fortunate “that the mine did not sever the leg somewhere in the vicinity of his chin.”
Earl said the accident occurred because the mine was constructed of plastic so was not found by allied mine detectors which had preceded his tank to the front lines. He was also injured on other parts of the body by fragments blown about by the blast. Earl was decorated with the Purple Heart and one Battle Star.
I found him on a Trans World Airlines flight going from Casablanca, Morocco, to LaGuardia Airport in New York on Sept. 31, 1944. A Jan. 17, 1945, report said Corporal Tacey was fitted with a new foot at McCloskey General Hospital in Temple, TX. His mother was quoted as saying he “likes his new foot fine and refused to use crutches to learn to walk with the manmade body addition." A March news article said he was being fitted with an artificial leg. Earl was formally discharged March 9, 1945.
After the war, he worked for Theisen Brothers Construction and was employed as a construction worker for 30 years. I found it funny that on the 1950 census, the transcription of the record said his employment industry was "Cuter Fillan Motor." I looked at the actual census to find that it actually said “Caterpillar operator!” (Who transcribes these things?)
In 1946, Earl married Elaine Koppelman. They had four children: Gene, Cheryl, William and Peggy. Elaine died in 1962, and Earl later married Bernie Gregory.
Tully was an avid hunter and fisherman, according to both the family history and his obituary.
On Oct. 4, 1975, Earl became seriously ill and died just two weeks before his 58th birthday. He is buried in the city cemetery, straight up from the north gate about three-fourths of the way up the hill and right along the edge of the driveway.
