Washington County Enterprise-Leader
WWII Vet Celebrates 100th Birthday
U.S. Army veteran Joseph Schneider recently celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by 100 family members and friends in Richardson, Texas. The party was attended by people from Arkansas, Maryland, Florida, Delaware, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia.
Schneider’s daughter, Mary Clayton, lives in Farmington and traveled to Texas to celebrate with her father.
Schneider was born in September 1917, in St. Joseph’s hospital in Baltimore, Md. He was raised by his grandparents when his mother’s health failed and grew up in the streets of Baltimore, playing games such as tag and stick ball.
After graduation in 1936, Schneider worked at several jobs, started attending law school and signed up for flying lessons.
But war loomed on the horizon, and the national draft was instituted in October 1940. As a young man of 24, Schneider entered the Army on Sept. 10, 1941, as a private. After basic training at Camp Mead in Maryland, he was sent to Fort Knox Kentucky and received training in Radio Maintenance and achieved the rank of T4, which was considered similar to a Sergeant.
In April of 1942 he traveled with his unit, the 6th Armored Division to Fort Chaffee, near Fort Smith, Ark. While most of his unit was then sent to Louisiana for field operations training, Joe stayed behind in Arkansas, training new recruits that had been sent directly to Fort Chaffee.
He met his wife, Eunice Brooks, and after a short courtship, they married Sept. 26, 1942. Early on Saturday, Oct. 10, 1942, Schneider left with the 6th Armored Division for the Mojave Desert in southern California.
As part of General Patton’s third army, Schneider and the boys of the 68th Tank Battalion fought in campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe. For his efforts, Schneider was awarded a bronze star, a good conduct medal, an American Defense Service Medal, and a European Service Ribbon.
Schneider’s tour of Europe came to an end as they had captured Frankfurt, Kassel and Muhlhausen, stopping near Mittwelda in April 1945, over 100 miles beyond the occupational zone boundaries assigned to the U.S.A. at the Yalta Conference.
He and Eunice first made their home in Washington, D.C., and then moved to Springdale where he went to work for Welch Foods in 1946. Two years later, he went to work for the U.S. Post Office in Springdale and retired 32 years later in 1980.
They had been married 56 years when Eunice passed away in March 1998.
He has two daughters, six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren. Schneider lives in Richardson with his daughter, Wava.