Willard Simpson of Franklin Grove served in the United States Army from 1943-1946 and fought in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe during World War II.

Simpson, 101 years old, is one of the last World War II veterans living in the area. He grew up on a farm in Plainfield, Illinois and was drafted into the Army at age 19. On Dec. 1, 1943, he was inducted into the Army and put on a train to Bend, Oregon, where he underwent 16 weeks of training as a combat engineer.

“A lot of it was infantry, but most of it was about building bridges and how to lay minefields,” Simpson said. “I got through that and they shipped me to California. I was there for about two months. I thought I’d be going to Japan and the Pacific Theater. And then they put me on a train back east to New Jersey, where I boarded the Queen Mary. I went by the Statue of Liberty and said goodbye to it, hoping I’d come back. We sailed to England and arrived there in July 1944.”

After a few months of work at the first base post office helping with government mail, Simpson was put on a duck across the English Channel on Jan. 1, 1945 and landed at the front of the war.

About a week after that, he was put in the 28th Infantry Division, in charge of a trailer with tools and equipment, such as mine detectors. His specialty became finding mines. In early January, he became involved in the Battle of the Bulge.

“It was pretty bad,” Simpson said. “We got through it. We always slept in tents. It was a cold winter. We lost some men, but a lot of it was from the cold weather. Toes were the first body part that froze. I was lucky enough to get through it.”

After the Battle of the Bulge, Simpson was sent to the Rhein River with direction to build a pontoon bridge across it into Berlin, Germany. He and his fellow servicemen watched planes fight overhead. Simpson and company never got into Berlin, as the war ended in April and the treaty was signed in May.

He worked on picking up and disposing mines until July, when he came back to the U.S. on a French ship. Upon his entry back into New York, he saw the Statue of Liberty again.

“The song ‘You’re a Grand Old Flag’ says ‘We almost lost World War II,’” Simpson said. “And we almost did. What would it have been like if we lost and we had to come home? People would have frowned on us. And it was close.”

After spending 45 days on leave back in Plainfield, Simpson was sent back to New Jersey to a military hospital to finish out his service. There he was in charge of three German prisoners, who would do work like cleaning and snow clearing. Simpson made friends with the prisoners and would often play cards with them. He was discharged from the service and came home on March 1, 1946.

Simpson called serving his country “an honor” and said it was hard to leave his family. He returned home to more than them. Nine months after he came home, he married his wife, Maxine, who he wrote letters to during the war.

“Before I left I met a girl,” Simpson said. “I told her there was no way my mother could write to me like I wanted her to. The girl was a neighbor to my parents and said she would write to me when I was in the service. We wrote pretty faithfully throughout my service. When I came home, we got together and got married. We were married 72 years until she passed away in 2019.”

While traveling around the country and abroad during his service, Simpson often thought about farming like he did back home. He would look at land across the U.S. or how farming was done in Europe. He had a chance to go to Paris after the war, but he chose not to. All he wanted to see was farmland.

“When I found out the war was over, I was the happiest person in the world,” Simpson said. “I couldn’t wait for the day that I got on a ship to come back to the U.S.”

After getting out of the Army and coming home, Simpson worked on oil wells and in a factory for a while. One day he came home and told his wife that he wanted to be a farmer. He went north looking for farm work, and found it in Milledgeville.

Simpson then became friends with a banker and started looking for a farm for himself, which he found in Franklin Grove.

“I bought my farm here and grew it over the years and I worked it and have lived here ever since,” Simpson said. “Farming has changed. It’s a different way of doing things now. My philosophy was to try to get by with what I had. Instead of a 12-row planter, if you can get it done with a six-row planter with some extra hours, do that. I wanted to save money. It isn’t what you make, it’s what you save.”

Simpson has been an American Legion member since he got out of the service in 1946. He’s been involved with the Franklin Grove American Legion since moving to the area. He goes to area schools for Veterans Day each year.

“I’ve had a wonderful life,” Simpson said. “I don’t think it could be any better. I have a wonderful woman named Pauline Cultra that takes care of me. I have the best farm tenants I could ask for in Colwell Farms. That’s what makes it easy. They’re right here to help me. I’m 101 years old. I never would have believed you if you told me when I was 20 in the war that this was the way my life would turn out.”

Honoring our American Hero is a feature on local veterans that runs twice a month in the Rochelle News-Leader. To submit a veteran or service member for consideration, please email Jeff Helfrich at jhelfrich@shawmedia.com.