Pvt. James Mercer Hutton Jr. (June 1, 1914 – September 26, 1944)
K Company, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
by Samantha Dettman
Early Life
James M. Hutton Jr. was born on June 1, 1914, to Jennie and James Hutton Sr. in Camden County, NJ.1 Both parents came from immigrant families; James Sr.’s family hailed from Scotland and Jennie’s parents came from Ireland. The Huttons arrived in America in the 1880s, settling down in Philadelphia, PA.2 Since the eighteenth century, Philadelphia acted as an immigration hotspot because of its port and booming unskilled, low-wage industries. In the final decades of the nineteenth century, immigrants from Great Britain, including Scotland and Ireland, remained among the largest groups settling in the US as a result of an ongoing economic crisis in parts of the UK.3
In 1896, James Sr. and Jennie O’Brien married in Pennsylvania before relocating to New Jersey.4 They had seven children together: Mary (1898), Jean (1901), Viola (1902), Frank (1905), Henrietta (1909), Marjorie (1912), and the youngest, James Jr. Their father, James Sr., supported the family working in housing construction.5 At a young age, James Jr. lost his mother, his sister, Mary (1919), and his brother, Frank (1919).6 At this time, the influenza pandemic was raging, sickening one-quarter of the world population. In the United States, 25 million people got sick, and close to three percent of them perished, developing complications such as pneumonia.7 After their deaths, James Sr. and his children moved in with his parents, Henry and Mary Hutton, who lived in Lodi, NJ, a borough about twelve miles north of Newark. To support his family, James got a job as a watchman who patrolled the streets at night.8
While Henry and Mary must have helped James Sr. raise his children, they must have felt his youngest daughter, Marjorie, needed to move in with Mary’s brother Andrew Mercer and his wife, Sara. The couple lived just two blocks down the road with their son James.9 By 1920, the two eldest daughters, Jean and Viola, worked as folders in a silk mill to help provide for the household, while Henrietta and James Jr. continued their schooling.10 The silk industry took off in New Jersey around the turn of the century. The silk mills offered many immigrants hope for a better life in America. Nevertheless, mill workers did incredibly hard labor, often running multiple looms to keep up with demand. The mills required employees, including children as young as nine, to work up to seven days a week for long hours at low pay. Strikes occurred across the state; the 1913 Paterson strike became the most famous. For months, mill works struck, bringing national attention to their plight. But as the strike dragged on, the mills replaced striking workers and the police arrested nearly 2000 strikers. Defeated, families struggled to recover. The silk industry also suffered, with nearly three hundred mills and dye houses closing down. Others continued operations throughout the 1920s, but more shut down during the Great Depression of the 1930s.11
By the end of the decade, both of James Jr.’s grandparents passed away due to illnesses, with his grandfather Henry succumbing in 1925 to stomach cancer. Their deaths forced James Jr. and his father to move in with older sister Jean and her husband, James Mazzonie, paying forty dollars a month in rent, as seen here in the 1930 Census. Around the same time, at just fifteen, James Jr. stopped attending school, likely due to the family’s economic needs during the Great Depression and the legacies of labor unrest in their community.12
In 1938, at the age of twenty-four, James Jr. moved to Florida in search of new job opportunities.13 In Miami, he found a place to live as a lodger in a boarding house alongside men from around the country (KY, MI, CT, NY, ID) and Europe (Northern Ireland, Holland, and Switzerland). He worked as a golf course caddy and then in a shipyard for Paul Smith Construction Company.14 On September 16, 1940, James Jr. married Florence Offnick in the small town of Deposit, NY, about 125 miles southwest of Albany, Florence’s hometown. After their wedding, the couple settled in Miami, FL.15 They had their first and only child, James Hutton III, in 1943. Shortly after their son arrived, James Jr. joined the Army.16
Military Service
James Hutton Jr. entered the service on October 30, 1943.17 After a period of initial training, James joined K Company, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division (ID) as part of the Army’s replacement program.18 The federal government initially formed the 45th ID out of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma National Guard units on February 16, 1940. Prior to the US entering World War II, the 45th ID moved around the country as it filled out and trained.19 As casualties mounted in North Africa and the Pacific, by 1943, the Army needed to replace those killed or injured in the ranks. Those drafted, like James, trained as replacements for divisions already suffering substantial losses.20 In June 1943, the division arrived in North Africa as the Allies prepared for the amphibious assault on Sicily beginning on July 10, 1943. On September 10, the 45th ID landed on the Italian peninsula at Salerno.21
To stop a further advance after the successful Allied invasion in Sicily, the German military fortified a series of defensive lines between Salerno and Rome. While the Allies broke through some of the southern lines, the assaults proved costly. Therefore, the Allied leadership planned another amphibious assault behind the heavily fortified Gustav Line at Anzio, a seaside town on the east coast of Italy. As part of the coordinated Allied invasion, the 5th Army, which included the 45th ID, attacked on January 22, 1944. Soldiers swarmed the beaches of Anzio while other troops distracted the Germans from the Adriatic front. The high cliffs along the shore and mountainous terrain made it difficult for the Allies to break German defenses, which led to a long, four-month fight to establish a foothold behind the Gustav Line and eventually take Rome.22 James likely joined the 157th Infantry Regiment sometime during its battle to break out of Anzio. The Allies finally broke the German defenses on May 23, and the 45th ID sent its regiments to hold a crossing north of Rome, which helped to secure the city for the Allies on June 4.23
James participated in the 45th ID’s next major campaign with the 7th Army beginning on August 15, 1944. Operation Dragoon was the codename for the massive Allied invasion on the southern shores of France which became the second largest Allied amphibious landing, after Normandy. Initially, the Allies wanted the operation to coincide with the storming of Normandy in June 1944, but disagreements among leaders delayed the action. As part of the larger operation, the 3rd, 36th, 45th US Infantry Divisions and French Army B, composed mainly of men of color from the French empire, aimed to capture Toulon and Marseille, two important port cities on the southern coast.24
The 45th ID landed at St. Maxime, flanked to the northeast by the 36th ID in the Frejus Gulf and to the southwest by the 3rd ID on the St. Tropez peninsula.25 Within twenty-four hours, the troops secured the beachhead, and the 45th ID, with the 7th Army, continued pushing inland toward the north. The swift advance meant lower casualty rates but created logistical challenges with supplies not arriving fast enough to keep up with the troops. Despite gasoline and other supply shortages, the 7th Army advanced in the southeastern France with speed.26
As the 45th ID moved further inland dispersing throughout the Rhone Valley and the Alps region, the information the French Resistance (FFI) provided became increasingly valuable and vital to rapidly advance. The Germans quickly realized they could not match the speed at which the Allies were moving, which led them to destroy bridges and implement roadblocks to gain time. By August 24, James and the 157th Infantry Regiment temporarily found themselves attached to the 36th ID, working to liberate several towns and villages south of Lyon, such as Livron-sur-Drome and Montelimar, where the Germans had set up strong defensive positions.27
Once James and the 157th Infantry reunited with the other regiments of the 45th ID, it swiftly moved north. On September 1, the division set up in Meximieux, about twenty-five miles northeast of Lyon to form roadblocks along the road to Bourg-en Bresse to slow the retrieving German forces. The FFI and part of the 36th ID liberated Lyons without major resistance on September 3. The same day, while advancing toward Bourg-en-Bress, the 157th Regiment encountered heavy pushback from the Germans, who attempted to organize a defensive line in the surrounding woods, using small arms, machine guns, anti-tank fire and artillery. James and his division finally liberated Bourg-en-Bress a few days later and received high praise from the residents. While the Allies struggled to establish a firm blockade, their efforts throughout the Rhone Valley significantly weakened the German forces.28
Following the capture of Lyon and Bourg-en-Bresse, James and the 45th ID advanced northeast, traveling over 150 miles throughout September approaching the Belfort Gap.2] The city of Belfort was the easiest point of entry into Alsace without going through the Vosges Mountains. Many fleeing Germans used it as an exit point from Southern France and set up roadblocks against the Allies. The lack of supplies and fuel finally caught up to the American and French troops. For the first time since their arrival in France, the Allies’ Advancement slowed.30 This led to one of the division’s toughest battles, which began on September 14 in a group of small towns less than thirty miles from the Swiss border. German forces occupied an area connecting these towns and put up a strong fight. Nevertheless, the 45th ID pushed out the Germans, and French forces arrived to relieve the division on September 18.31
On September 11, the Allied forces coming from Normandy and the south of France finally connected west of Dijon. To unify the command structure, the forces from southern France joined the SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) and passed under Eisenhower’s command.32
Subsequently, James’s unit moved north toward the town of Epinal in the mountainous Vosges region. Situated on the banks of the Moselle River, Epinal housed a large network of roads and German communication paths. As the Germans retreated, they destroyed bridges and roads that accessed the city in an effort to slow the 45th ID’s advancement.James and his unit attacked on September 21, with the 157th Infantry surrounding Epinal on the north and south sides. For days, James and his division battled the Germans. As the other regiments advanced into Epinal, the 157th Infantry moved a few miles north to Girmont. After Epinal fell on September 25, the 157th Infantry stayed in Girmont to capture German forces retreating from the city.33
While we are not sure about the details, Pvt. James Hutton Jr. likely sustained an injury during the battle for Epinal and succumbed to his wounds on September 26, 1944; the 157th Infantry staff documented his death near the bottom of the handwritten casualty list, pictured here.34
Legacy
After James’s passing, the 45th ID fought in Operation Northwind, the last German offensive in the west. During the Battle of the Bulge, the 7th US Army had to stretch its position along the Franco-German border in Lorrain and north of Alsace, to cover sectors of troops sent to reinforce the Ardennes defenses. On December 31, 1944, the Germans took advantage of the situation and launched Operation Northwind to regain lost ground in this area. Engaged in defending the north of Alsace, the 45th ID suffered from the exceptionally harsh winter conditions and the fierce German push. In the forest of Reipertswiller, the 157th Infantry faced fierce resistance from a seasoned SS Mountain Division, resulting in the near annihilation of its 3rd Battalion and heavy losses in several companies of the 1st and 2nd Battalions. The battle in the rugged terrain led to over 600 American casualties.35 Following this heavy loss, the regiment needed to regain strength and men power and alternate between defensive positions and rest areas. In the spring, the 45th ID continued the Allied advance into Germany, discovering the horrors of and liberating thousands of emaciated prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp, north of Munich, on April 29, 1945.36
Memorials throughout Europe commemorate James and the 45th Infantry Division’s efforts. One small town, Filinano, Italy, about 100 miles east of Rome, honors the 45th ID, along with other divisions, for its efforts in Italy.37 Multiple memorials in southern France commemorate the 45th ID’s efforts during Operation Dragoon, including one in St. Maxime and Vidauban.38 In Epinal, the city memorializes the 45th ID with a stele, as seen on the picture, standing on the bank of the Moselle River.39 Memorials in the US, such as the Thunderbirds Memorial in Oklahoma, also honor the unit’s active service.40
While James lost his life far too early, his legacy carried on through the hearts of the family he created. Although James never met them, his son, James III, had three children, Dena, James, and Ray; they went on to give James and Florence six great-grandchildren. Florence never remarried. She lived a full life, spending her time gardening in her later years before passing away in 2013.41 James Hutton Jr., who posthumously earned a Purple Heart, rests among his fellow Veterans in the Epinal American Cemetery in France.42
1 “1910 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton, Clementon, Camden County, New Jersey; “U.S., WWII Draft Registration Card,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton, serial number 3527; “Birth Index,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton, Camden County, New Jersey.
2 “Henry Hutton, Lodi Man, Dies at 85,” Passaic Daily Herald (Passaic, New Jersey), December 11, 1925, Newspapers.com; “Mrs. Mary Hutton Dies After Four Days’ Illness,” Passaic Daily News (Passaic, New Jersey), June 1, 1927, Newspapers.com.
3 Fredric M. Miller, “Philadelphia: Immigrant City,” Balch Online Resources, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, accessed July 17, 2023, http://www2.hsp.org/exhibits/Balch%20resources/phila_ellis_island.html; “A Brief History of Emigration & Immigration in Scotland: Research Guide 2,” Library Museum Archive of Archaeology, accessed July 17, 2023, https://www.johngraycentre.org/about/archives/brief-history-emigration-immigration-scotland-research-guide-2/. Other significant immigration groups include: Germany, Scandinavia, and China. Learn more at the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/rise-of-industrial-america-1876-1900/immigration-to-united-states-1851-1900/.
4 “Marriage Licenses Issued,” The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), December 8, 1896, Newspapers.com; “Henry Hutton, Lodi Man, Dies at 85,” Passaic Daily Herald.
5 “1910 U.S. Census,” entry for James Hutton; “1915 New Jersey State Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton Jr., Clementon, Camden County, New Jersey; “New York, Marriage Records, 1841-1945,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed August 30, 2023), entry for Marjorie Hutton; “Birth Index,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for Viola M Hutton.
6 “Hutton,” Passaic Daily Herald (Passaic, New Jersey), January 13, 1919, Newspapers.com; “1930 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton, Lodi, Bergen, New Jersey; “Index of Death,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for Franck Hutton, Bergen, New Jersey.
7 Jennifer d. Keene, World War I, The American Soldier Experience (Lincoln: University Press of Nebraska, 2011), 165.
8 “1920 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton, Lodi, Bergen County, New Jersey.
9 “1920 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed August 30, 2023), entry for Marjorie Hutton, Lodi, Bergen County, New Jersey; “1930 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed August 30, 2023), entry for Marjorie Hutton, Lodi, Bergen County, New Jersey; “Mrs. Mary Hutton Dies After Four Days’ Illness,”Passaic Daily News (Passaic, New Jersey), June 1, 1927, Newspapers.com
10 “1920 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton Jr., Lodi, Bergen County, New Jersey.
11 Tammy Scully, “A Silk Purse,” Skylands Visitor, published Spring 2005, https://www.njskylands.com/hssilk; Catherine A. Paul, “Paterson Silk Strike, 1913,” Social Welfare History Project, Virginia Commonwealth University, published 2017, accessed August 30, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/organizations/labor/paterson-silk-strike-1913/; “Immigrants at the Paterson Silk Mills,” Passaic County Historical Society, published July 21, 1997, https://lambertcastle.org/immigrants-at-the-paterson-silk-mills/.
12 “Mrs. Mary Hutton Dies After Four Days’ Illness” Passaic Daily News; “Henry Hutton, Lodi Man, Dies at 85,” Passaic Daily Herald; “1930 U.S. Census,” entry for James Hutton.
13 “James Hutton Listed Dead,” The Herald-News (Passaic, New Jersey), November 7, 1944, Newspapers.com.
14 “1940 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton, Miami, Dade County, Florida; “U.S., WWII Draft Registration Card,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton, serial number 3527.
15 “New York, Marriage Index, 1881-1967,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for Florence E. Offnick; “Florida, City Directories, 1822-1995,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton.
16 “1950 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton,Tompkins, Delaware County, New York; “U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records,” database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed July 10, 2023), entry for James Hutton, service number 34795336.
17 “Enlistment Records,” entry for James Hutton.
18 “Headstone Inscription and Internment Records,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed July 11, 2023), entry for James Hutton, service number 34795336.
19 Shelby Stanton, Order of Battle U. S. Army, World War II (Novato: Presidio Press, 1984), 133-134.
20 Leonard L. Lerwill, The Personnel Replacement System in the United States Army (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1954), 276; Barry M. Stentiford, “Selective Service: Before the All-Volunteer Force,” Military Review 103, no. 6 (November-December 2023): 120.
21 Stanton, Order of Battle U. S. Army, World War II, 133-134.
22 “World War II in Sicily and Italy,” Oklahoma Historical Society, accessed July 17, 2023, https://www.okhistory.org/learn/45th2; Clayton D. Laurie, “Anzio 1944,” U.S. Army Center of Military History, accessed July 17, 2023, https://history.army.mil/brochures/anzio/72-19.htm.
23 Stanton, Order of Battle U. S. Army, World War II, 134.
24 French Army B became the French First Army on September 25, 1944. It operated under the command of General de Lattre de Tassigny.
25 Jeffrey J. Clarke, Southern France (Washington D.C.: Center of Military History, 2019), 7-21.
26 Cameron Zinsou, “Forgotten Fights: Operation Dragoon and the Decline of the Anglo-American Alliance,” The National WWII Museum, published August 17, 2020, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/operation-dragoon-anglo-american-alliance; Sgt. Anthony Jones, “Thunderbirds Honor 73rd Anniversary of Operation Dragoon,” U.S. Army, published August 19, 2017, https://www.army.mil/article/192510/thunderbirds_honor_73rd_anniversary_of_operation_dragoon.
27 United States Army, History of the 157th Infantry Regiment (Rifle), 4 June 1943 – 8 May 1945 (Army & Navy Publishing: Baton Rouge, LA), 102-104; Stanton, Order of Battle U. S. Army, World War II, 120.
28 The Fighting Forty-Fifth, 100-103.
29 United States Army, History of the 157th Infantry Regiment, 105.
30 Clarke, Southern France, 28
31 The Fighting Forty-Fifth, 102-105; Myron Echenberg, “‘Morts Pour La France’; The African Soldier in France During the Second World War,” The Journal of African History 26, no. 4 (1985): 364, http://www.jstor.org/stable/181655.
32 Jeffrey J. Clarke and Robert R. Smith, Riviera to the Rhine: U.S. Army in World War II European theater of Operation (Atlanta: Whiteman Publishing, 2012), 223.
33 The Fighting Forty-Fifth, 105-108.
34 “Headstone Inscription and Internment Records,” entry for James Hutton; “157th Infantry Regiment Battle Casualties, Part 2,” digital images, RICHES from the 45th Infantry Division Museum, 29, 157th Infantry, entry for James Hutton. We thank the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City for providing us with this material.
35 Christopher Miskimon, “Battle of Reipertswiller: The 157th Infantry’s Heroic Stand During Operation Nordwind,” Warfare History Network, accessed September 19, 2023, https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/battle-of-reipertswiller-the-157th-infantrys-heroic-stand-during-operation-nordwind/; “157th Combat History,” 45th Infantry Division, accessed October 2, 2023, https://www.45thdivision.org/CampaignsBattles/157thCombat.htm; “Battle of the Bulge Memorial,” Arlington National Cemetery, accessed July 9, 2024, https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Monuments-and-Memorials/Battle-of-the-Bulge#:~:text=Battle%20of%20the%20Bulge%20Memorial&text=Soldiers%20fought%20in%20brutal%20winter,single%20World%20War%20II%20battle.
36 “The Last Days of the Dachau Concentration Camp,” The National WWII Museum, published July 15, 2022, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/last-days-dachau-concentration-camp.
37 “5th Army, 34th & 45th Divisions Memorial,” American War Memorials Overseas, Inc., access August 3, 2023, https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=1325&MemID=1742.
[38] “Vidauban,” American War Memorials Overseas Inc., accessed August 3, 2023, https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/site_details.php?SiteID=1052&keyword=45%20division; “Ste. Maxime Beach,” American War Memorials Overseas Inc., accessed August 3, 2023, https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/site_details.php?SiteID=1070&keyword=45th%20division.
39 We wish to thank Marie Oury for taking the photo of the memorial in Epinal that appears here.
40 “45th Infantry Division – Thunderbird’s Memorial,” American Legion, published January 14, 2019, https://www.legion.org/memorials/united-states/oklahoma/united-states-oklahoma-45th-infantry-division-thunderbirds-memorial.
41 “Florence Hutton,” Henderson-Biedekapp Funeral Chapel, accessed August 2, 2023, https://www.hbfuneralchapel.com/obituaries/Florence-Hutton?obId=27199201.
42 “James M. Hutton Jr.,” American Battle Monuments Commission, accessed August 3, 2023, https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/hutton%3Djames-0.