In the summer of 1940, Justin Merriman had just finished 10th grade at Marana High School when he talked his mother into lying about his age so he could join the military.
His mother’s main concern for her 16-year-old son: “Stay away from wild women.”
During the next five years and 22 days, Merriman trained as a combat engineer and fought the fascist forces that threatened to overrun Europe and North Africa during World War II.
In November 1942, Merriman disembarked in Oran, Algeria, as part of the Allied forces that invaded German-held territory in North Africa. Three months later, he fought against a major German offensive led by Gen. Erwin Rommel during the six-day Battle of Kasserine Pass.
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“We went there to stop him, which we did,” said Merriman, 91.
While in North Africa, Merriman served under Gen. George S. Patton, who he described as a “very good general.”
“He was rough,” Merriman said. “His orders were very explicit and you didn’t dare break a rule. No way.”
As a combat engineer, Merriman laid and picked up land mines, repaired bridges destroyed by the Germans, and fought at the front lines when needed. He fought in seven major battles in World War II, including five “from the bottom to the top” of Italy, he said.
His most dangerous moments came in the Battle of Monte Cassino. Cassino was a key city for Allied forces as they made their way from Sicily to Rome. Over the course of three nights, German troops situated high up on a hillside shelled and sank the boats Merriman and his fellow soldiers used to cross the Rapido River.
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“We lost a lot of infantry there and a lot of our men,” he said.
One bright side to the war was a friendship Merriman struck up with a fellow sergeant. The two spent most of the war fighting side by side, and stayed friends long after the war ended.
At one point, a land mine exploded under his friend’s foot and flung him into a river. Merriman dragged him out of the water and got him to safety, earning a Silver Star in the process.
The news of the end of the war in Europe reached Merriman in a little town in Austria near the Italian border where German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian leader Benito Mussolini used to meet. Soon after, he took a train to France and sailed to the United States on the USS West Point.
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After his honorable discharge as a sergeant in El Paso, Merriman “took my barracks bag and just slung it to one side because I didn’t want any part of that anymore,” he said. “I just had my uniform. That’s all I had when I went home. I didn’t even have a hat.”
Riding a train from El Paso to see his family in Douglas, Merriman mused about all the rites of passage he had yet to go through, such as learning how to shoot pool, dance and finding a girlfriend.
Upon arrival in the Tucson area, Merriman took a test to get his high school diploma, got married, raised two children, and spent 35 years working for the Bell Systems telephone company.
