James R. Upham of Flint, Mich., entered active duty as a member of the U.S. Army on June 29, 1943. He was originally attached to the 29th Infantry Division for a short time, and then was transferred to Company F 311th Infantry Regiment of the 78th Infantry Division.
Fierce Battle
Once in Europe, Upham was involved in a great amount of heavy combat, which led to him receiving the Bronze Star medal. Some of the fiercest fighting he endured took place in and around the German town of Kesternich. The weather in that area was brutally cold, and Upham found that his BAR rifle had frozen and would not function. But this did not stop him from bagging five German prisoners. It was during the heated battle for Kesternich that his company did a little house-to-house cleaning of Germans. Upham kicked in the door of one room, stepped inside, switched the BAR around the room menacingly, and made a loud "Brrrr" with his tongue. This did the trick, and five Germans in the room threw down their weapons and surrendered. Talk about luck!
A Purple Heart
Upham's unit continued to face heavy fighting around Kesternich, and on Dec. 20, 1944, he was awarded an Oak Leaf cluster to his first Bronze Star. On Dec. 26, 1944, he was wounded in action and received the Purple Heart.
Heroics Under Fire
On March 13, 1945, Upham faced one of his toughest challenges when he was a squad leader with the leading platoon of Company F. When direct fire from a camouflaged Panzer Mark 4 tank had cut the lead platoon off from the remainder of the company, Upham and seven others moved toward the tank. After leaving six men to cover their advance, he and one other crawled to the crest of the hill and exposed themselves to bring bazooka fire to bear on the enemy armor. Fire from the tank was shifted to the two men, and Upham and his companion remained exposed and fired two rounds at the tank and silenced it. For this aggressive and decisive action, he was awarded the Silver Star medal.
A Key Capture
Upham continued on and was with the 78th when they captured the Ludendorff bridge at the town of Remagen. The capture of this key bridge definitely doomed the Germans on the western front and shortened the war in the west. Upham continued to be a platoon leader right through to the end of the war and was discharged on Jan. 17, 1946.
Our Collection
The Michigan Traveling Military Museum is pleased to have and display the Staff Sgt. James R. Upham 78th Infantry Division grouping. It is complete with his original uniform, medals, dog tags, documents, photo album and more. It is a fitting tribute to a very brave and resourceful soldier who was involved with some of the fiercest fighting the U.S. Army faced during World War II.
