Ralph A. Schallow, age 87, a resident of Terrace Estates at 1231 Eisner Avenue, died peacefully on Sunday, September 4, 2005.

He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 8, 1918, the only son of the late August and Louise Schallow. They moved to the Sheboygan area in 1924 where Ralph attended Lincoln Grade School, Central High School, and Sheboygan Business College.

Ralph enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942.

He married Frieda Wiegand in Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania on May 6, 1944. Shortly thereafter, he left to serve with the 95th Division in England, Holland, Belgium and France. His division participated in the Battle of the Bulge and he served as part of the occupation forces in Germany after VE Day. By the end of his three-and-a-half years of service to his country he had attained the rank of staff sergeant.

On his return to Sheboygan after his military service, he returned to working in the movie business, where he had started as an usher at the old Majestic Theater in 1936. Over the next many years he managed the Majestic, Wisconsin, Rex and Sheboygan theaters, as well as the Marc Cinemas. As a young boy. Ralph had attended the grand opening of the Sheboygan Theater in 1929. Towards the end of his career in the movie business, Ralph won an award as the most outstanding theater manager in 1975 for the Midwestern states.

He subsequently left the movie business to become involved in advertising sales for the WKTS radio station which he continued to do for many more years.

Ralph served on the Sheboygan Board of Education for many years. He was a member of St. John's United Church of Christ and served on the council of the church. In more recent years he was affiliated with Our Savior's Lutheran Church. He was a Life Member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and served as secretary for the local chapter for many years. After his own heart attack in 1983, he was involved in the Heart to Heart Support Group of the American Heart Association.

Ralph was predeceased by Frieda, his wife of 57 years, early in 2001. After her death, he lived for a while with his sons, Mark Schallow, Master Sergeant, USMC (Retired) in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and John Schallow, PhD., in Vancouver, British Columbia. Ralph deeply missed the community in which he has lived most of his life, however, and returned to Sheboygan in December 2001.

To his good fortune, Ralph met Charlotte Zahnow with whom he lovingly shared the last years of his life after their marriage at Our Savior's Lutheran Church on January 26, 2003. Ralph's sons deeply appreciate the love and care Charlotte gave Ralph in his final years.

In addition to his wife, Charlotte Schallow, and sons, Mark (Eleanor) Schallow and John Schallow, Ralph is survived by his stepsons, Charles (Bonnie) Zahnow of Cedarburg and Ralph (Carol) Zahnow of Middleton. As well, he is survived by one grandchild and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, September 8, 2005 at Ballhorn Chapels. Rev. Robert Steele, associate pastor of Our Savior's Lutheran Church, will officiate. A time of visitation and support will be held from noon until the time of service. Entombment will take place at Garden Terrace Mausoleum.

The family would like to express their appreciation to the staff of Hospice Advantage and Terrace Estates for their care of Ralph in the closing stage of his life.

The American infantrymen of Maj. Gen. Harry L. Twaddle's 95th Division had to be the "bravest of the brave" to move as they did in the face of heavy enemy machine gun and mortar fire down into the exposed city ('Saarlautern'), which lies like a goldfish bowl between the high ridges on either side of the Saar. This battle-tried division had crossed the Moselle to help capture Metz and was now up against the principal river between the Moselle and the Rhine. -- JOSEPH DRISCOLL, N.Y. HERALD TRIBUNE

That was written on the day before the Saar was crossed. On Dec. 3, 1944, Joe Driscoll had a bigger story, because the way the river was crossed without loss of one man was one of the war's slickest tricks.

At 0545, the first wave of the 1st Battalion, 379th Infantry slipped across the river in boats manned by Co. C, 320th Engineers. Not a shot was fired. No one slipped or got hurt. Across the river, doughs turned south toward the approach to the main highway bridge across the Saar. Here they hit a German armored car in which a radio operator was frantically pounding out a message. He was bayoneted. A second Kraut sprinted for the demolition switch on the bridge. He missed -- crumbling in his tracks, five feet short.

The star of the show was the Battalion commanding officer, Lt. Col. Tobias R. Philbin, of Clinton, Massachusetts. He and Col. Robert L. Bacon, of Harlingen, Texas, the 379th commanding officer, hatched the scheme which, on paper, didn't have the proverbial snowball's chance in hell on succeeding -- then Col. Philbin went along to make sure it did. Among other things, he took care of the Germans heading for the switch.

At 0721, Col. Philbin's men hit the bridge and began cutting all demolition wires. They were nine minutes to the good. German engineers were on their way to blow the bridge. The German schedule was set for 0730.

By the time 320th Engineers had located 6,000 pounds of explosives, the enemy realized what was happening to his prize bridge. All hell broke loose from every machinegun and pillbox within range. Germans splattered mortar shells after losing the initial counterthrust. Heavy artillery cut loose to pulverize the bridge.

Meanwhile, 3rd Battalion, 379th, had renewed its attacks at Saarlautern and reached the south side of the bridge. Both ends of the crossing were secure, but nobody felt much like using it for a while. Although the bridge was a hot spot for more than a month, every Joe in the Victory Division got to cross it sooner or later.

It was the only bridge across the Saar in this area. That's why the 95th needed it -- intact.

The operation won a nod from the War Department when Under-Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson told a press conference:

"The 95th Division performed with great distinction in taking, intact, the Saarlautern bridge."

On both flanks, the 377th and 378th were mopping up final pockets of resistance to the Saar. The river was the front line in the division zone. While 377th took Wallerfangen, 378th swept Lisdorf, a Saarlautern suburb.

This was the way it had been at Metz, where the 95th and the 5th Divisions shared the history-making reduction of the bristling fortress. This was the way it had been in the push to the Saar and subsequent fighting in the Siegfried Line. The 95th Joes were living up to their name -- Victory Division.

The 95th jumped off for the Saar on Nov. 25th. Troops instinctively knew the goal. The German border was about 25 miles to the east, and the whole team was looking forward to the day when it could write "inside Germany" on letters home.

Beyond stretched the Siegfried Line, an obstacle which everyone knew would be tougher to crack than Metz forts. No one was disappointed.

The 377th Infantry, under Col. Fred Gaillard, of Greenville, Tex., spearheaded the division's main effort. The 378th held the right flank with the 379th in reserve. The going was mild but still no walkaway that first day. Dough-feet met nothing heavier than mortar fire, and the division moved its line forward four miles, chewing up 12 towns.

Resistance merely seemed light because of veterans like Pfc. Willie Bishop, of Jacksonville, Fla., Co. E., 377th Infantry runner. He was advancing with the lead platoon across an open field when the Krauts opened up with mortar and machinegun fire. With his commanding officer and others wounded, Bishop took over. He crawled back to direct the company away from the zeroed-in area, then returned to give first aid to his commanding officer. Next, Bishop reported the company's position and called for artillery and mortar support. He stuck around to observe shell bursts, called in corrections, then asked for a smoke screen.

When the smoke screen came over, he evacuated the seriously wounded, and led others to safety behind a knoll. After reporting to the battalion commander, he rejoined his outfit. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

The next day, the two regiments pushed ahead, bothered as much by mined roads and fields, blown bridges, and culverts as by sporadic mortar fire and scattered machinegun nests. Withdrawing Germans used concrete emplacements of the Maginot Line as temporary shelter, but there was no sign of a stand in this once-powerful string of fortifications.

Although resistance stiffened, the division grabbed Valmunster, Velving, Eblange, Bettange, Remelfang, Bouzonville, Tromborn, Alzing, Chateau Rouge, Oberdorf, Coume, Flack and Varsberg during the third day of the fresh offensive.

The big day came on Nov. 28th. Shortly after midnight, 377th patrols crossed the German border. At 0945, Co. F blasted Krauts from Leidingen, a village squarely astride the French-German border. By day's end, the 377th had added six more German towns to its list -- Bedersdorf, Ittersdorf, Guerstling, Ihn, Kerlingen, and Rammelfangen.

Advancing troops looked for boundary markers along the road. Germany didn't look any different than France. The people didn't look different either. They had been pushed back and forth between the two nations so long that both languages came naturally. The 95th merely muttered, "We're in Germany," and went on fighting.

The deeper the 95th penetrated into Germany, the harder Krauts fought. The Germans were going all out to cover their main withdrawal back across the Saar. On Nov. 29th, the two regiments rocked under ten counterattacks, six of them in the Falck area. One of the roughest was the tank-infantry scrap at St. Barbara. When the 377th's 1st Battalion finished, the town was leveled. The division now was near enough the Siegfried Line to retaste artillery -- from 88s up.

As November faded, division elements could look down from the high ground near Oberlimberg, Duren and St. Barbara and see the Saar. Across its banks, in towns and villages, farmhouses, fields, and woods, were the guts of the German West Wall.

Activated: 15 July 1942. Overseas: 10 August 1944. Campaigns: Northern France, Rhineland, Central Europe. Days of combat: 151. Distinguished Unit Citations: 1. Awards: MH-1 ; DSC-11 ; DSM-1 ; SS-752; LM-15; SM-19 ; BSM-4,281 ; AM-162. Commanders: Maj. Gen. Harry L. Twaddle commanded the division throughout its entire life in World War II. Returned to U. S.: 29 June 1945. Inactivated: 15 October 1945.

The 95th Infantry Division arrived in England on 17 August 1944. After receiving additional training, it moved to France, 15 September, and bivouacked near Norroy-le-Sec, 1-14 October. The Division went into the line, 19 October, in the Moselle River bridgehead sector east of Moselle and South of Metz and patrolled the Seille River near Cheminot, repulsing enemy attempts to cross the river. On 1 November, elements went over to the offensive, reducing an enemy pocket east of Maizieres. On the 8th, these units crossed the Moselle River and advanced to Bertrange. Against heavy resistance, the 95th captured the forts surrounding Metz and captured the city, 22 November. The Division pushed toward the Saar, 25 November, and entered Germany on the 28th. The 95th seized a Saar River bridge, 3 December, and engaged in bitter house-to-house fighting for Saarlautern. Suburbs of the city fell and, although the enemy resisted fiercely, the Saar bridgehead was firmly established by 19 December. While some units went to an assembly area, others held the area against strong German attacks. On 2 February 1945, the Division began moving to the Maastricht area in Holland, and by 14 February, elements were in the line near Meerselo in relief of British units. Relieved, 23 February, the 95th assembled near Julich, Germany, 1 March. It forced the enemy into a pocket near the Hitler Bridge at Uerdingen and cleared the pocket, 5 March, while elements advanced to the Rhine. From 12 March, the 95th established defenses in the vicinity of Neuss. Assembling east of the Rhine at Beckum, 3 April, it launched an attack across the Lippe River, 4 April, and captured Hamm and Kamen on the 6th. After clearing the enemy pocket between the Ruhr and the Mohne Rivers, the Division took Dortmund, 13 April, and maintained positions on the north bank of the Ruhr.

Assignments in the ETO

27 July 1944: XIII Corps, Ninth Army. 28 August 1944: XIII Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group. 5 September 1944: III Corps. 10 October 1944: XX Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group. 29 January 1945: VIII Corps. 5 February 1945: Ninth Army (attached to the British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group. 13 February 1945: Ninth Army (attached to the British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group, but attached for operations to the British VIII Corps of the British Second Army. 20 February 1945: XIX Corps, Ninth Army (attached to the British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group. 26 February 1945: XIII Corps. 30 March 1945: XIX Corps. 31 March 1945: XXII Corps, Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group. 2 April 1945: XIX Corps, Ninth Army (attached to British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group. 4 April 1945: XIX Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group. 9 April 1945: XVI Corps.

Nicknames: Victory Division; also, the OK Division. Shoulder patch: Monogrammatic red "9" and a white Roman "V" on a blue elliptical background. Association: 95th Infantry Division Association, 30 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. Publications: History of the 95th Infantry Division; by unit members; Albert Love Enterprises, Atlanta 2, Ga.; 1947. Pictorial Review; by unit members; Albert Love Enterprises, Atlanta 2, Ga. ; 1944. Bravest o f the Brave; Stars and Stripes; Paris, 1945.