Richard Balmer

Richard Balmer was born in November 1921. Prior to his military service, he built condensers for battleships, a job that deferred him from the draft. Balmer did, however, voluntarily enlist in the Army Air Forces, a choice that made him the first in his family to serve.

Balmer was sent to Texas, where he was trained as a mechanic, and then on to Laredo Air Force gunnery school for training as an aerial gunner. During this time, he walked away from two separate plane crashes relatively uninjured. As part of a program in the Air Force, Balmer was then transferred to Rhode Island State University for further training. Shortly after D-Day, however, he was transferred to the infantry as a private, and was sent to Camp Pickett, Virginia for training as a foot soldier.

Due to his lack of small arms performance, Balmer was assigned to an anti-tank company as a cannoneer. In October of 1944, his unit, the 311th Infantry Regiment of the 78th Division, was sent to Great Britain on a crowded ship that was part of a convoy. The division landed in Liverpool and took a train to the south of England. In November, they were sent to Le Havre, France. At this point, Le Havre was little more than rubble, and Balmer noted that the local French citizens seemed to resent the Americans for the damage. The division was then moved by train across France closer to the frontline. Supplies were consistently plentiful, but the unit lacked military police and nurses.

The 311th arrived at the frontline on December 12th and was attached to the 8th Infantry Division during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest in Germany. While there, Balmer slept in everything from an exposed foxhole to a heavily fortified bunker. At this point in the war, the Germans were desperate and launched numerous counterattacks. Balmer remembered having to avoid booby traps, seeing Germans disguised in American uniforms, and other difficulties presented by the enemy. 

Shortly thereafter, as snow set in, the 311th was rotated to help contain the German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge. Balmer’s company experienced a surprisingly nice Christmas dinner, thanks to an accidently killed cow, despite Army rules to the contrary. He was wounded in combat at the Schwammenauel Dam in February 1945. Balmer was initially evacuated to a field hospital and then to a general hospital in Paris, and another in Belgium before being sent home. He sent a telegram to his mother, advising her that he had suffered a minor injury. This was, however, not the case; Balmer was completely disabled and would thus receive full benefits from the Veterans Administration. He remained in the Army until 1948, as the military repeatedly attempted to cure his disability. So, when Balmer married in 1947, well after the war had ended and years removed from when he had last seen action, he was still theoretically in the Army. Eventually discharged as a corporal, he was a decorated soldier. Through his service in the European theater, Balmer earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, among other medals.

Following his time in the Army, Balmer used his GI benefits to go to St. Peter’s College (now St. Peter’s University) in his hometown of Jersey City, to study accounting. Although he remained disabled, he then worked for fifteen years at Fort Monmouth. While Balmer does not usually talk about his military experience much, he was kind enough to sit down with us and talk about it.

Richard Balmer passed away at the age of 95 on October 16, 2017.