The author and the Covington Veterans Foundation offer our sincerest sympathy to the grieving family members of Korean War veteran, Captain Herb Carlisle, who died on August 26, 2023 at the age of 94.
On the 22nd of March 1945, members from the Lt. General. George S. Patton’s Third Army crossed the Rhine River into Germany close to Oppenheim. Within a week Major Don Mathews and the 933rd Field Artillery Battalion [FAB] spotted themselves on the Rhine near Mannheim. Mannheim. The 933rd was in the command under the 44th Infantry Division which was fighting the city. The city was bombarded due to fighting by German Wehrmacht forces still there.
The civilian population wanted to surrender, however they were refused by the Wehrmacht was able to killed numerous civilians who wore the white flag of surrender. The fires were sparked by the shelling in that night on March 28 as it was then that the Wehrmacht were forced to leave. Once they had left, Nikolas Quintus, a city official from Mannheim (the mayor had already left the city), made telephone contact with Major Don Mathews. The 933rd FAB Command Post and Fire Direction Center had established operations at the Kafertal Waterworks in the northern portion of Mannheim. Major Mathews was relying on the Captain Franz Steinitz MD, the medical officer of the battalion, to translate. The talks continued into on the night of August 28th, and into the morning of 29th.
After a meeting in with 44th Division commanding general, Major Mathews gave surrender conditions to Mannheim local officials. The 44 the artillery was continuing its block-by-block assault on Mannheim over the night. To stop more destruction Quintus agreed to the surrender conditions at the end of the day on 29th. The formal surrender ceremony took place as city officials crossed the river and offered bouquets of flowers for the American troops on the opposite side.
The event was the first phone agreement to surrender. It was so thrilling that the BBC declared the surrender just after the event. A bronze monument would later be erected at Kafertal Waterworks. Kafertal Waterworks building, commemorating the peaceful surrender that took place in the town. The plaque was mentioned in Part 1 that appeared in the 26th of August The Andalusia News.
Nine weeks after surrendering of Mannheim the car of a Mannheim staff with Lieutenant. General George S. Patton was involved in a collision that occurred in Mannheim’s Kafertal area of Mannheim. The general was killed due to the accident on the 21st of December 1945.
The April 1945 month was the final full month of fighting of Major Don Mathews and the 933rd FAB. He returned to the United States on the 20th of September 1945, and was relegated from the Army on March 4 in 1946. After four months in the United States at Andalusia, Mathews was offered an opportunity to be a part of in the Regular Army at the rank of Major. He agreed and was sent to be active duty on the 5th of July 1946. He was then transferred for the Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The family relocated from Oklahoma to Oklahoma and Charles was enrolled for the first time at Lawton High School. The year was 1948. Charles was graduated high school, and was enrolled in Alabama Polytechnic Institute [now Auburn Universityat the time of his graduation. Around that time Don got new business.
Mathews was appointed as an United Nations Observer to the Middle East during the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948. The conflict began as the British had ended the Mandate to Palestine in May 1948. In the same week the Israeli Declaration of Independence was published and an alliance of Arab states entered the territory on the next day.
The United Nations sent Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte to mediate a peace. On the 17th of September Major Mathews was part of the motorcade in Jerusalem taking Bernadotte to an gathering at the time that the Jewish underground group, LEHI, attacked and killed the Bernadotte. Mathews was in the vehicle directly behind the Count’s, but was not hurt.
When he returned to in the Middle East in 1949, Mathews was sent the post of Fort Benning, Georgia. The following year Mathews was granted instructions to Japan and was promoted to lieutenant. Colonel. The Colonel was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division and alerted for a transfer to Korea.
Mathews was a soldier in Korea as a member of his 3rd Infantry Division and took part in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir which took place between November and December 1950. After a few 3000 U.N. forces were surrounded by a greater Chinese Communist force, the U.N. forces were evacuated from the port of Hungnam. Mathews was one of those who participated in the evacuation.
The month of February was 1951. Mathews joined the U.N. Force that been pushing north to get to Seoul, the South Korean capital of Seoul. In the course of that mission, Mathews suffered a ruptured appendix while on the battlefield. He was taken to the clinic in Japan.
In March 1951, Mathews was assigned a new job In March 1951, Mathews was assigned a new assignment in Tokyo, Japan. When his wife accompanied his to Japan, Mathews was assigned to Okinawa. He would remain for two years in Okinawa before being assigned into Chickasha, Oklahoma, as an advisor to the Oklahoma National Guard. While there, the son of theirs Charles was transferred into the nearby town of Enid, Oklahoma, for advanced training in multi-engine aircraft. Charles earned his wings in the month of October 1953.
Mathews was subsequently assigned as an U.N. observers for his time in the Arab-Israeli War of 1956. In one instance his vehicle was struck with a footlocker, which was destroyed back of his vehicle. Mathews said that this was his most hazardous job because “Both side could shoot at you to play sport.”In 1957, Mathews was assigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, again.
The summer of 1958 saw Mathews was treated for kidney disease at Maxwell Air Force Base hospital in Montgomery, Alabama. The procedure was planned as exploratory, but it became complicated after the hospital suffered an outage of power during the procedure. In the interest of safety, doctors decided to remove the kidney. Mathews was a single kidney patient for throughout his entire life.
Mathews was in Fort Sill in late 1959 when he was given orders to France. He was appointed to be an official of the U.S. Army’s representative with France’s French Ecole de Cavalerie at Saumur, France. The school was founded to provide training for French Cavalry, but was later adapted to teach personnel from the automated Armored Cavalry. Lieutenant. Col. Mathews would have completed his military service and leave in January 1962.
Mathews with his wife moved back home to Andalusia, Alabama, and he joined his brother-in law, Ed Reid, as an insurance adjuster. Ed Reid was a prominent lawyer in the area and also owned an insurance business that was independent. Don Mathews later bought the company and named the new firm, Reid and Mathews Independent Insurance Adjusters. :
Don Mathews’ son, Major Charles B. Mathews, was a Air Force pilot and stationed in nearby Eglin Air Force Base during this period. Charles was offered an NATO post located in Brussels, Belgium in 1983. After returning home to Eglin AFB in 1987, Don and Mary relocated into Fort Walton Beach, Florida for a closer proximity to Charles. Mary passed away shortly after their move, and Don was in the retirement home Westwood.
Lieutenant. Colonel. Don Snowden Mathews died on March 2, 1993. The funeral took place at the Foreman Funeral Home Chapel in Andalusia, Alabama, on March 4. Funeral services were held by burial at Andalusia Memorial Cemetery, with full military ceremony. He is survived by an older sister, Byron (Georgia) Mathews and a son, Charles B. Mathews [Lynne]; a grandchild, Charles B. [CarlaMathews, Jr. Mathews Jr.; a granddaughter, Mary Celeste [French] Brown Four great-grandchildren.
John Vick
The information on Don Mathews was furnished to the author by his son Charles B. Mathews in the year 2019. Charles Mathews died in October 2021. Additional information was gleaned through John D. Morrison’s five volume collection “Detailed combat history of the 933rd Field Artillery Battalion in World War II .”
The article Don S. Mathews Lieutenant. Col., Army National Guard, WW II, Korea Part 2 appeared at The Andalusia Star-News.
