Redford ‘Red’ Littrell: US Army

Red was a son of John & Kizzie Littrell.

Red reported for service October 14, 1942, just one month after his younger brother, JD, had enlisted in the Navy. Red reported to Camp White, Oregon and served throughout the war with the 91st Recon Troop, 91st Infantry Division. He was discharged at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri on October 22, 1945.
Red was assigned to the 91st Reconnaissance (Recon) Troop, 91st Infantry Division As we try to follow the probable movements of Red, as well as engagements with the enemy, we will by necessity follow the movements and engagements of the 91st Infantry Division.
Recon was constructed for fast, mobile operations, fanning out ahead of the Armored and Infantry divisions. Its somewhat light makeup proved less useful when, as was often the case for reconnaissance units, it found itself called upon to plug gaps in the line or hold terrain that would test an infantry battalion.
While it boasted

During the 271 days of Combat the 91st Division suffered 1,576 Killed in Action, and 7,169 wounded.

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“The 91st Division was a single, coordinated fighting unit. It was the Division which captured Monticelli and Mount Calvi, and fought bitterly for Hills 840 and 844. It was the Division that advanced through rain and fog over steep and rocky terrain along the ridge line of the Apennines Mountains to the Santerno River. It was the whole Division which refused to be a holding force, but swept northward along Highway 65 and captured Futa Pass. Great credit is due to the mule pack groups who went where motors could not go; to the 791st Ordnance Company, the 91st Quartermaster Company, the 91st Signal Company, the 91st Reconnaissance Troop, who never faltered and refused to conceive of failure. Each man in the Division had acted as if he had “wanted to win the war all by himself,” and the tales of heroism and gallantry are legion. In twelve days it had reduced to nothing a year's work of thousands of impressed laborers and had decimated the best troops Hitler could put into the line against it.”

1944 "BOYS IN THE SERVICE" "Narrow Escape for Anniston Man" "With the 5th Army, Italy--Pvt. Redford Littrell of Anniston, Mo., escaped injury recently when German shells riddled the oil pan on the jeep he was using to deliver rations on the Fifth Army front in northern Italy. A member of the 91st Division's Reconnaissance Troop, Littrell had been traveling at night over a road under enemy observation to get supplies to observation post of his unit. Each night, a Jerry mortar would throw in shells. If the rations were brought up at 7 o'clock one night, the Krauts would shell the road at that hour the next night. Littrell varied his schedule, each night the Germans shelling the road at the hour he had passed the previous night. After several nights, however, the mortar shells landed nearby as Littrell was unloading his jeep. He hit the ground as shell fragments cut the air. When the shelling ceased, he discovered the shrapnel had riddled the oil pan of the vehicle."**

**Article [newspaper clipping] was contributed
by Janet Littrell~Silman, Red's daughter:

Red was a member of the 91st Division's Reconnaissance Troop, 91st Infantry Division in Italy during World War II.

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The above information is from: Military Role Call: The Littrell Family of Mississippi County, Missouri, The Littrell Family Journals Volume IV. (click here)
also:  Littrell Family Veterans Video

reposted from 2016:   102 / 149