Marvin Fellman

ASN:O-1173942

Marvin Richard Fellman registered for the draft on July 1, 1941. Born November 15, 1919, he was from Casanovia, Minnesota.

He worked at his family grocery store while growing up and before he spent a year at Macalester College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This twenty-one-year-old was 5-7, 145 pounds with a ruddy complexion, gray eyes and brown hair.

Enlisted in the Army on April, 19, 1942, PVT Fellman received his training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Because he had some college experience PVT Fellman was immediately considered eligible for officer candidate school and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in November, 1942.

As a Second Lieutenant Officer Fellman was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and shipped out to the European Theater of Operations with the 456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion. He was then assigned and joined the A-Battery, 319th Field Artillery Group, 82nd Airborne Division as a battery officer from the 18th Replacement Depot effective June 2, 1944. LT Fellman was part of a second installment of replacement officers assigned to the 319th’s rear echelon expected to replace the officers who were casualties in the initial landings of Normandy. There he became friends with LT Joseph Mullen.

The battalion was placed in direct support of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment at 0830 hours on July 7, 1944, with 2nd LT Fellman as Liaison Officer with the 3rd Battalion. The following day he was relieved from the attachment to the battalion. The battalion remained in the same position until July 11, 1944, when he was officially relieved from combat.  

Company Morning Reports

“Company Morning Reports” were produced every morning by the individual Army units to record personnel matters. The following events (see below) were reported for 2nd LT Fellman:  

• June 5, 1944, LT Fellman was assigned to A-Battery from the 18th Replacement Depot effective June 2, 1944.

• A 5-day leave was granted to Birmingham, England at 0600 hours with a return to duty on July 30, 1944, at 2300 hours.

• While on combat duty, September 18, 1944, 2nd LT Fellman received a facial wound in action yet stayed on duty. 

• October 26, 1944, he was promoted to 1st LT effective October 18, 1944. 

• LT Fellman was assigned to and appointed Assistant Executive Officer, A-Battery on November 16, 1944.

The US Army maintained Unit Records that consisted of mostly daily journals, general orders, directives, memos and policy records. (See Below)

A November 7, 1944, unit journal (Operation Holland) reported LT Fellman on a 48 hour pass to Brussels with Staff SGT Vernon Main, PFC Frank Marshall and PFC William Bonnamy.

Following the Normandy landings 1st LT Fellman participated in four battle campaigns to include Operation Holland, Ardennes, Rhineland, Central Europe and was involved in the Berlin occupation. He was awarded 4 Bronze Battle Stars, Bronze Arrowhead for initial landing in Holland, American Theater ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, the Belgian Fourragere, Militaire Willems Orde, Presidential Unit Citation Badge with Oak Leaf Cluster, World War II Victory Ribbon, the European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Ribbon and the Purple Heart.

1st LT Fellman distinguished himself many times in combat. Gliding into Operation Holland and the ranking man in the glider he performed as the co-pilot. When the glider crash landed LT Fellman suffered a severe gash across his face, from forehead to chin. But he remained on duty.

Later, LT Fellman was assigned as forward observer to the 2nd battalions’ position at Finger Ridge, a piece of high ground followed by a “U” or horseshoe shape. The horseshoe protruded some distance towards the German positions and ran alongside the main highway leading to Mook, Holland. It commanded a large expanse of open ground to the east and south and of strategic importance as a choke point for any movement up or down the highway from Mook. The supporting fire from the 319th and the 320th forced the Germans to retreat back into the grasslands which they had attacked from and the banks of the Maas River. This allowed A-Battery to then consolidate their defense. The Germans were never able to breach the Finger Ridge position.

On the evening of September 25, 1944, near Nijmegen, Holland, LT Fellman, Captain Manning, and Captain Sartain were on a forward command post with 45 men of the 325th Glider Field Infantry battalion, surrounded by German infantry supported by tanks and flamethrowers. There, LT Fellman called for close artillery support and helped repel the attack holding their position. Fire for effect was repeated time after time to drive the attackers back. Also, two attacking enemy aircraft were shot down. The Battery fired more rounds of concentrations than in any previous day in combat, whether in Italy or France. A total of 1,142 rounds were fired.

(Above photos courtesy of the Fellman Quamme Family)

During the Battle of the Bulge LT Fellman was assigned as a forward observer to the first and third battalions. When the battalion reverted back to direct support of the 508 Parachute Infantry, Lt Fellman became the liaison to the artillery of the adjacent 87th division.

On April 2, 1945, A-Battery departed Camp Suippes on a combat mission in Germany later arriving in Cologne, Germany. LT Fellman’s forward observer team reached a factory situated on the west bank of the Rhine River and discovered it to be a Ford Motor Company facility. The Ford International Plant was massive and featured buildings several stories tall, in fact it was the most intact structure for some distance in any direction. In one of the administrative offices LT Fellman found a gold-plated cigarette lighter in a desk drawer and kept it as his personal souvenir of Cologne.

Below, 1st LT Fellman and A-Battery glider men. Photos and some content courtesy of Charlotte Sartain Provenza and Joseph Covais, author of BATTERY.

1st LT Fellman also appeared in the A-Battery group photo taken June 20, 1945 in Epinal, France.

Following hostilities and while based in Epinal, France LT Fellman and LT Mullen were badly injured in a jeep accident. LT Fellman would continue to Berlin for occupational duty with A-Battery.

Returning to the US January 2, 1946, he marched in the victory parade up Fifth Avenue in New York City (see below) on January 12, 1946.

(Above photos courtesy of the Fellman Quamme Family)

LT Fellman was discharged from the service on January 17, 1946, at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, and returned to his hometown of Pipestone, Minnesota. He later would transfer into the US Army Reserve. In his own words, he described his service to his country as a valued member of the 82nd Airborne.

“After arriving in England in March 1944, I joined the 82nd Airborne Division in June 1942 just before they flew in for the Invasion of Normandy, France. I did not go with them at that time but was flown in later in July for a month of combat.

After the 82nd Division returned to England in late July, we prepared for an airborne assault of Holland. On September 14th, we loaded into our gliders for the flight over the English Channel landing near Nijmegen, Holland. My glider crashed on landing and we got banged up – that’s where I got my Purple Heart.

After two months combat, we went to Suippes, France. From there, we went to the Ardennes Forest, Belgium, in December. Then to Cologne, Germany and later Ludwigslust, Germany, where the war ended. They sent us back to Epinal, France where we stayed until August.

At that time, we went by train in 40 and 8 boxcars to Berlin, Germany, in the Army of Occupation.

We were there until December, when we returned to France for our return to the United States. The 82nd Division paraded in New York City in early January and after that, those of us who did not want to stay in service were sent home.

I served four years in active military service during WWII.”

In October 1949, he joined the Minnesota Army National Guard as a forward observer with Battery A 151st Field Artillery. In January, 1953, he served as S-1 of the 151st Field Artillery and was promoted to Captain. He became the headquarters Commander for the 47th Infantry Division in November 1956.

Several years later promoted to Major and assigned to the Operations and Training Office. On April 18, 1966, Major Fellman was promoted to LT Colonel. He retired November 30, 1974.

On August 5, 1996, COL Marvin R. Fellman was named to the Court of Honor at Camp Ripley, Minnesota, BY ORDER OF THE GOVERNOR. (see permanent order above)

Marvin R. Fellman, 92, died September 17, 2012.

 God Bless this hero.