Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Veteran Glenn Dodge, who served as a reconnaissance specialist in Europe during World War II.
Glenn Dodge was born in October 1917, in Ogdensburg, New York. He attended college at Potsdam Normal School and graduated in 1937. Dodge became a teacher and taught students from first through eighth grade in a one-room schoolhouse in Grindstone Island, New York, which is on the St. Lawrence River by the Canadian border. He continued teaching there until he joined the Army in 1941. Dodge served with C Company, 333rd Regiment, 84th Infantry Division. After training, Dodge deployed to the European theater, where he specialized in reconnaissance. He once he led a reconnaissance party behind enemy lines and captured 18 Germans. During this mission, he was able to secure information about future operations as well as confiscate a significant number of German weapons.
One day during the Battle of the Bulge, he had taken cover in a trench as he encountered German fire. A shell ricocheted off a tree and hit his arm. The surgeon said he would never be able to bend his arm again. Fortunately, the doctor was wrong. As soon as Dodge healed, he went back to work. Despite all the danger he confronted during the war, in a September 2020 interview with WWNY-TV, he humbly said, “my experiences in World War II were just ordinary military experiences.” By the end of his active duty, he rose to the rank of first lieutenant.
When Dodge returned home, he joined the Army Reserve and resumed his teaching career. He never told his students he fought in the war, until years later when he realized the value of doing so. Dodge retired from the Army Reserve in 1967 at the rank of major and from teaching in 1973.
For years, Dodge has been active in his community of Chaumont, New York. He sets an example for others by working with organizations such as the Lyme Free Library, All Saints Church and the Chaumont Volunteer Fire Department. The fire department created the “Glenn Dodge Community Service Award” to honor others who have followed his lead in serving the community. In 2019, the State of New York inducted him into the State Senate’s Veterans’ Hall of Fame.
Dodge recently celebrated his 103rd birthday in October 2020.
Thank you for your service!
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Veterans History Project
This #VeteranOfTheDay profile was created with interviews submitted to the Veterans History Project. The project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Find out more at http://www.loc.gov/vets/.
Contributors
Writer: Michael Veronda
Editor: Julia Pack
Fact checker: Ileana Rodrigues
Graphic artist: Mohogany Bridges
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Thank you for your service Glenn Dodge.
Dear Mr. Dodge, I live in Russia and every year, when I come to the victory parade in my city, I meet many veterans of the Second World War. I listen to their stories of the horrors and hardships of war, barely holding back tears. When I was in school, I was told in history lessons that the victory in the Second World War was forged by the efforts of all the Allied countries. Thank you so much for the fact that I, and the people of my generation, live in peacetime and do not know all the horror that you have experienced. Your feat is very important to me, like the feat of any war who stood up to defend his homeland and his people against Nazism.
Thank you for your service Glenn Dodge.