{"id":1607,"date":"2026-10-31T17:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1607"},"modified":"2026-10-31T17:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:36:13","slug":"johnny-war-records","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1607","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Roling: wartime reports and the Army record"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>.family-topic-breadcrumb{font-size:.95rem;margin:0 0 22px}.family-topic-intro{max-width:68ch;line-height:1.7}.family-topic-menu{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(2,minmax(0,1fr));gap:14px;margin:26px 0}.family-topic-menu a{display:block;padding:18px;border:1px solid #c9cec8;border-radius:4px;background:#f5f2e9;text-decoration:none;color:#293d30;min-height:52px}.family-topic-menu strong{display:block;font-size:1.1rem}.family-topic-menu span{display:block;margin-top:6px;color:#4f574e;line-height:1.55;font-size:.95rem}.family-topic-related{border-top:1px solid #d8d2c5;margin-top:32px;padding-top:18px}.family-topic-related a{display:inline-block;margin:6px 22px 6px 0}.family-topic-breadcrumb a:focus-visible,.family-topic-menu a:focus-visible,.family-topic-related a:focus-visible{outline:3px solid #98513b;outline-offset:4px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb){max-width:960px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb)>p{line-height:1.7}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) :is(h2,h3){scroll-margin-top:24px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) a{overflow-wrap:anywhere}@media(max-width:600px){.family-topic-menu{grid-template-columns:1fr}.family-topic-menu a{padding:16px}}<\/style>\n<nav class=\"family-topic-breadcrumb\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/\">Home<\/a> \u203a <a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=7\">Roling family<\/a> \u203a Johnny Roling: wartime reports and the Army record<\/nav>\n<p class=\"family-topic-intro\">Newspaper reports, December wound and April1945 Army records; unresolved battlefield\/award discrepancies retained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"johnny-wartime-newspapers\">Wartime news from home<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two Moberly newspaper reports bring Johnny\u2019s wartime story back to his family in Salisbury. A January 9, 1945 notice identified him as Ben Roling\u2019s son and J. F. Roling\u2019s grandson. Reporting that he had been wounded in France on December 14, it also said he had been in the Italian campaign when Rome was taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On April 20, the paper reported that Ben had received word of his son\u2019s death in Germany on April 3. It remembered Johnny as a St. Joseph\u2019s School graduate who had been raised by his grandfather and Aunt Flora. It named his brother Frank, serving in the Navy; sisters Mrs. John Wagner and Mrs. Cleve Iman; and half sisters Virginia and Mary Lou Roling. <a href=\"#johnny-newspaper-sources\">Read the newspaper citations and source notes below<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A wound in December<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnny&#x27;s name appears in Company C&#x27;s December 1944 casualty list. It records him as lightly wounded in action on December 14 and gives his hometown as Salisbury, Missouri. The entry supplies a firm date for an earlier wound, although it does not say where he was hit or describe the injury.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A family account suggests that Johnny may have received more than one Purple Heart. That remains a question for the award records: a wound listing and a later death listing cannot, by themselves, tell us how many medals he received.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Company C in Germany<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 753rd Tank Battalion&#x27;s own April 1945 casualty report lists John W. Roling of Salisbury in Company C. It records that he was killed in action on April 3. That was 35 days before V-E Day, May 8, when the war in Europe ended.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company&#x27;s reports help describe the fighting around that date. By late March, its tanks had advanced through the Bergzabern area and moved on toward Wieblingen. On April 1, Company C was attached to the 253rd Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division. The following day its tanks supported infantry crossing the Neckar River.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A field medical tag preserved with Johnny\u2019s additional Army papers now adds a direct account. It records that his tank was hit by an \u201cAP gun\u201d near Bittelbronn, Germany, at 7 p.m. on April 3, 1945, and that he was killed in action. The tag identifies him with Company C, 753rd Tank Battalion. A separate entry records the tagging at Mosbach the following afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n<section id=\"approved-newspaper-additions\"><h2>Another wartime newspaper account<\/h2><p>The <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite> carried another account on January 12, 1945. It printed the message received by Johnny\u2019s aunt, Miss Flora Roling, identifying her nephew as Pvt. John William Roling and reporting that he had been slightly wounded in action on December 14 in France. The article\u2019s headline instead said Italy. That disagreement is retained here. This is another report of the December 14 wound already described above, not evidence of a separate injury.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cJohn Roling Was Wounded in Italy,\u201d <cite>Salisbury Press-Spectator<\/cite>, January 12, 1945, p. 1, family-preserved newspaper clipping. The visible quotation names France, despite the headline\u2019s Italy. The article continues below the preserved image, so no claim is made about its unseen continuation. The clipping does not establish an additional casualty event or a Purple Heart award count.<\/p><\/section>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Sources and research notes for this chapter<\/summary>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"johnny-newspaper-sources\">Contemporary newspapers: \u201cJohn W. Roling Injured in France,\u201d <em>Monitor-Index and Democrat<\/em> (Moberly), January 9, 1945, page 6; and \u201cJohn W. Roling Killed in Action,\u201d <em>Moberly Monitor-Index and Moberly Evening Democrat<\/em>, April 20, 1945, volume 26, number 235. The latter appears to be the front page from its masthead; no page numeral is visible. These reports were read from article crops and the corresponding page headers preserved by the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The death notice prints age 21 and grandfather \u201cJ. W. Roling\u201d; the injury notice prints \u201cJ. F. Roling.\u201d The separately qualified August 20, 1924 birth-index entry would make him 20 on April 3, 1945. Those discrepancies remain unresolved. Both reports name Ben as his father, but neither names his mother or supplies a service number. The newspaper\u2019s broad account of his upbringing does not date every household stay described in Bob\u2019s recollection. Its reference to the Italian campaign is a reported detail, not proof of Johnny\u2019s role in a particular action.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">753rd Tank Battalion, December 1944 casualty roster continuation, C Company, PDF page 281: Pvt John W. Roling, LWA, December 14, 1944, Salisbury, Missouri. The serial is partly degraded. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.36thdivisionarchive.com\/_files\/ugd\/c1ecfd_04d87a078b784dbdb26e69d325aee272.pdf#page=281\">View the original wound entry<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/achh.army.mil\/history\/book-wwii-huertgenforest-1idregtcas1630nov44\/\">Official Army terminology<\/a> expands LWA as Lightly Wounded in Action; the terminology example concerns a different unit and battle. The classification does not establish an injury&#x27;s medical details or a Purple Heart award count.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">753rd Tank Battalion, \u201cBattle Casualties for the Month of April 1945,\u201d C Company row for Pvt Roling, John W., PDF page 118. The serial is ink-blurred in this copy; his service number, 37512628, is clearly printed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com\/arcmedia\/media\/images\/28\/33\/28-3223a.gif\">separate original Chariton County Army casualty list<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.36thdivisionarchive.com\/_files\/ugd\/c1ecfd_cd7faef29c4a4f1d8aa8cf8f9def7086.pdf#page=118\">View the unit casualty report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Company C March narrative, printed pages 5\u20136\/PDF 105\u2013106; April narrative, printed pages 1\u20132\/PDF 147\u2013148. Battalion diary, printed pages 1\u20133\/PDF 120\u2013122. The April 3\/4 discrepancy is unresolved. The unit&#x27;s movements do not establish Johnny&#x27;s presence in every earlier action. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.36thdivisionarchive.com\/_files\/ugd\/c1ecfd_cd7faef29c4a4f1d8aa8cf8f9def7086.pdf#page=147\">Read Company C&#x27;s April account<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">December unit context: Company C\u2019s outstanding-action summary describes fighting at Mittelwihr and Bennwihr from December 9\u201314. The located daily narrative skips printed page 6 between PDF 286 and 287, so the December 13\u201314 daily entries cannot be read. The surviving context does not identify where Johnny was wounded. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.36thdivisionarchive.com\/_files\/ugd\/c1ecfd_04d87a078b784dbdb26e69d325aee272.pdf#page=289\">Read the company summary<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/news\/articles\/v-e-day-surrender-documents-displayed\">National Archives: V-E Day and the surrender documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unresolved battlefield episode: Company C\u2019s account describes its 1st Platoon advancing through Billigheim and Bittelbronn toward M\u00f6ckm\u00fchl on April 3. Enemy fire stopped the advance; a tank was knocked out, two crewmen were wounded and one man was killed. The killed man is unnamed. The battalion diary places an apparently matching episode on April 4. The new field medical tag independently places Johnny\u2019s fatal tank hit near Bittelbronn on April 3, but the unnamed tank in this operational account has not been conclusively matched to him.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnny\u2019s 64-page individual military casualty file is now in the family archive. It adds the correspondence and personal-property records described above.<\/p>\n<p>Additional source: John W. Roling, Medical Department Form 52b field medical tag, family-preserved photograph from the additional Army packet. The injury entry gives April 3, 1945, 1900 hours near Bittelbronn; the separate tagging entry gives Mosbach, April 4, 1700 hours. The record does not identify his tank number or crew.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<nav class=\"family-topic-related\" aria-label=\"Related pages\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=7\">\u2190 Roling family<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=875\">Johnny\u2019s story overview<\/a><\/nav>\n\n\n<script>(function(){function revealTopicTarget(){var name;try{name=decodeURIComponent(window.location.hash.slice(1));}catch(e){return;}if(!name){return;}var target=document.getElementById(name);if(!target){return;}var node=target.parentElement;while(node){if(node.tagName==='DETAILS'){node.open=true;}node=node.parentElement;}}revealTopicTarget();window.addEventListener('hashchange',revealTopicTarget);})();<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home \u203a Roling family \u203a Johnny Roling: wartime reports and the Army record Newspaper reports, December wound and April1945 Army records; unresolved battlefield\/award discrepancies retained. Wartime news from home Two Moberly newspaper reports bring Johnny\u2019s wartime story back to his family in Salisbury. A January 9, 1945 notice identified him as Ben Roling\u2019s son and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1607","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1740,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1607\/revisions\/1740"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}