World War II, Homer "Mutt" Embree

Homer “Mutt” Embree, of Sedalia, was surprised to learn soldiers weren’t at the top of the totem pole — mules were.

Embree, along with his twin brother, Omer, were among the first group of 18-year olds from Pettis County to be drafted. The twins were separated and Embree was sent to Camp Robinson, Ark., for two days. He was chosen to be sent to Fort Sill, Okla., because he was more than 6 feet tall and weighed more than 180 pounds.

When Embree got to Fort Sill, he and the other men were taken to a bunch of mules that were on a picket line. The men were told the mule in front of them was theirs and they needed to brush and clean them up.

“We had people who had never seen a mule from the east. They‘d walk up there and the mule would switch his tale ... and a lot of them got kicked,” said Embree. “Mules could sense if you were afraid of them.”

Embree had never heard of the mule pack in the Army, but quickly learned of their value.

“They always told us there, we didn’t cost the Army anything, but the mules were about $150 a piece. So, you take care of the mules before you take care of yourself,” said Embree.

Farmers sold any mule they couldn’t break to the Army. The soldiers had to break the mules and teach them how to haul a 75-mm pack howitzer.

It took six mules to carry one gun.

The men were separated in four batteries, which consisted of 20 men and 20 mules. Embree served with the 4th Field Artillery Battalion, Battery C. The mules were originally used in places where vehicles couldn’t travel.

LOADING THEM UP
Each mule was fitted with a Phillips cargo pack saddle. Certain pieces fit into each saddle and that’s how they were locked on. The gun broke down into six pieces. The barrel was the heaviest, weighing about 300 pounds.

“We always put that on the meanest and biggest mule,” Embree said.

It took four men with lifting bars to walk the equipment up over the mule. That’s the reason they had to be taller than 6 feet. As they tried to set it down, the mules usually responded by jumping about three feet in the air. Then the men would have to start all over again.

Uncooperative mules would have a twitch put on their nose to numb it. That helped some of them stand still long enough to have the equipment loaded.

Most of the mules Embree worked with were gray. The men called the meanest mule in the company the Gray Ghost. Embree said that after walking about 10 miles with the 300-pound piece of equipment, the Gray Ghost would calm down.

The men would go on daylong marches and were told to keep a rope in their hand, in case one of the mules tried to get away. Two men would lead the mule with a halter and one person held a choke rope.

Besides marches, the mules were trained to lead in a bull pen. The pen was made with slanted walls, so if the mule got to running, the men could run up the wall.

“A mule, they would hurt you any way they could. They’d kick you, bite you or if they could catch you up against a wall, they’d smash you, so you had to be careful with them,” Embree said.

Six men out of 20 from Embree’s battery were hurt by the mules, but he wasn’t one of them.

The group that trained right before Embree took their mules to Guadalcanal. By the time Embree made it to New Hebrides Islands, rubber tires had been created for the guns, so the mules were no longer needed. Vehicles took over their role.

SOUTH PACIFIC
Embree used the same gun he learned how to operate at Fort Sill in the South Pacific in its modified state. He was able to dismantle the gun in about 10 minutes. He was a gun commander for the field artillery, who stayed behind the infantrymen and shot ahead of the troops. The men later switched to the 155-mm Long Tom.

Embree got to yell, “Fire!” or “Fire at will.” Five men were needed to fire both types of guns.

Embree was one of six men who went on outpost observation duty in New Guinea. The island was small, about a mile wide and five miles long.

A small native village was on the island and they were told a Japanese outpost was on the other end.

The men set their tents up under a cliff, which was somewhat cave-like. The men could go through a tunnel and climb to a lookout tower in a tree. The men would watch for enemy planes and ships, radioing headquarters with reports.

For Embree, this was the scariest part of his service. One man had to be in the tree at all times. The men had two bag phones so they could communicate with each other; one was in the tower and the other in the tent. The bells were disconnected so the enemy wouldn’t hear them.

One night, Embree was half asleep in the tower. He heard voices at about 4 a.m. and was convinced the enemy was right below him. He was shaking until he finally realized it was his buddies trying to call him on the phone.

Later, the men were told they would be sent to Japan. Embree was sitting on the beach one night, when one of his men said the search plane above them was sending a message in code. They anxiously waited to hear what the secret message was. They were surprised when it turned out to be “The war is over.” The men double-checked with the commander and then stayed up for the rest of the night.

After being gone for three years, Embree docked into the United States on Christmas Eve. During his service, he never had an overnight pass or a furlough. He was discharged in January 1946.

Embree feels the one who really suffered was his mother. She would sit out in the yard at night and cry, because she was worried about her three sons who were in the war.

“It’s just a good feeling to know you were out there. You might not fall on a hand grenade to save a bunch, but you did things that you were proud of. I am just proud and tickled to death that all of us came back,” said Embree.