Long-time inhabitants of the Twin Villages likely know Waldo Waltz as a Damariscotta native, life-long resident and small businessman.
Before settling in for a 50-plus year career at Weeks-Waltz Motors, however, Waltz spent the last months of World War II with a U.S. Army utility unit in France and Germany.
Waltz, 86, of Damariscotta, shared his memories of the war with The Lincoln County News in an April interview.
Waltz was drafted in March 1943, shortly after finishing his first year at Norwich University. The day he was drafted, Waltz got on a train in Wiscasset bound for Fort Devens, Mass. He completed basic training at Fort Belvoir, Va.
In February 1944, Pvt. Waltz landed at Liverpool, England as a member of the 1663rd Utility Unit (“a bunch of painters, carpenters and electricians”) in the Ninth Army.
Later, the Ninth Army landed at Omaha Beach, where it began its trek to Berlin.
Waltz’s unit saw limited combat. Their main purpose was to follow the headquarters unit and “repair equipment and so forth,” although they were “engaged a little bit” in the Battle of the Bulge.
Waltz did, however, get a first-hand look at the war’s devastating effect on the towns and cities of France and Germany.
On the way to Berlin, “we’d stop at different cities, camp out for a week or so, then continue on,” Waltz said.
The unit stopped in Paris for “a couple nights,” where Waltz “got a chance to walk in and see the Arc de Triomphe.”
Waltz remembers one image from the German city of Cologne with particular clarity.
The city was “completely devastated,” Waltz said, with only “one big cathedral,” the Cologne Cathedral, left intact. “They didn’t break the windows in it, with all the bombs they dropped on Cologne.”
In stark contrast to the urban desolation, Waltz remembers the pastoral beauty of the unit’s springtime journey on the Rhine River.
“The scenery was beautiful in the springtime,” Waltz said. “Everything was so green” with the occasional castle and the Alps completing the majesty of the view.
Waltz spent his last months on the continent in “bombed-out” Berlin as part of the occupation force.
“The Russians were already there,” Waltz said. “The Russians were on one side…and we were on the other but [the troops] could go across.”
Although the allies’ relationship quickly soured in the years after the war, “The Russians were friendly enough then,” Waltz said. “[There] was nothing combative about them; not in Berlin, anyway.”
A relieved Waltz returned to the U.S. in early 1945. “The best part of the trip was coming back to New York Harbor and seeing the Statue of Liberty,” he said.
Back home, Waltz joined the American Legion and, although he didn’t serve with anyone from the area, he keeps in touch with a “buddy” in Wisconsin.
“He calls every couple weeks,” Waltz said, and the friends talk about “Army things” or reminisce about times past.
“It’s been over 65 years since I’ve known him,” Waltz said. “He’s visited here and I’ve visited up there a couple, three times. We’re real close.”
Waltz went to work at the family business, Weeks-Waltz, where he spent the rest of his working days, retiring in his mid-70s.
Now, six decades later, Waltz recalls his military service as “one great adventure.”
“I wouldn’t want to do it again, but I’m glad I did it in the first place,” he said.
(An earlier version of this article, as well as the article in the May 26 print edition, mistakenly referred to Waldo Waltz as Warren “Waldo” Waltz. His full name is Waldo Walker Waltz. The Lincoln County News apologizes for the error.)
