T-Sgt. Joseph E. Eble, 548 1/2 Ninth avenue, South, has been assigned to a trucking outfit of the motor transport service of the Persian Gulf command, which now has been officially dissolved, according to word from headquarters at Andimeshk, Iran.
The missions of this motor transport service have been accomplished, hence abandonment of the organization. Sgt. Ebie's unit was picked to haul war goods over the toughest and most dangerous stretch on the supply route to Russia, headquarters announced. Its drivers pushed semi-tractor trailers, six by fours, and 10-ton Mack diesels, heavily loaded with vital war supplies, from Andimeshk to Khorramabad: 155 miles of winding road over deserts and mountains. His outfit has been stationed in Andimeshk since its arrival there in July, 1943. It handled every type of rolling stock under most extreme conditions, the release stated.
Tasks of the Clintonian's company included driving across burning deserts; through blinding winter blizzards that sweep the perilous supply route on the summits of the 3,000 foot "Big Bertha"; digging trucks from snow drifts in the winter and from torrents of swollen steams that wash out the highway in the rainy season. Heavy cargo has been taken by his unit up a 45-degree mountain grade, where trucks must stop, back up, then go forward again in order to make a treacherous bend in the road and continue the trek north. Convoys have been kept moving day and night, hauling goods as fast as possible in time for the fighting armies of the Soviet Union to stop and push back Germany's Wehrmacht to her own borders.
The Persian Gulf command, under the command of Maj. Gen. Donald M. Connolly, has transported more than 4,000,000 tons of war supplies since operations began.
Sgt. Eble, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Eble, wears the Legion of Merit, "for outstanding attention to duty, resourcefulness, remarkable ingenuity in improvising equipment, without regard for his own health."
He has been in service for more than two years. Before entering the army, he worked as a mechanic at DuPont company. Sgt. Eble spent 30 days in a hospital in Iran early in 1944.
A brother, Fred M. Eble, Jr., s1-c, is serving with the navy.
Source: Clinton Herald, January 3, 1945 pg 8
Fred Moore “Freddie” Eble, Jr. was born July 28, 1925 to Fred Moore (Sr.) and Gladys Laverne Wilcox Eble. He died Jan. 6, 1975 and has a cenotaph in Clinton Lawn Cemetery, Clinton, IA.
Freddie served in World War II with the U.S. Navy 23rd Seabees.
Source: ancestry.com
