Family History
Rapido River
How Julian Minor Quarles helped take down the Nazis
This is the story of my great-great Uncle Julian, others know him as Julian Minor Quarles Jr. In the photo above is him reading a story to my older sister, Taylor on the left and me on the right. I grew up always calling him my roommate because at the time he would come up from Florida and stay will us and we would always share a room. I always thought he was the coolest guy growing up and I still do. Later in his life he moved back up to Virginia and I would visit him quite frequently. I cherished every second I was with him. When still a little boy, I learned that he was a war hero. This discovery sparked a fascination with World War II. When I would read accounts of the Allies versus the Axis Powers, I was inspired to learn more about my great-great Uncle Julian’s role.
January 20, 1944, Italy
It’s the last line of defense with the lives of good men dwindling. Seems like there’s too many of them and not enough of his own. His unit doesn’t have reinforcements and the mission is becoming a disaster. His life was on the line with a German holding a hot rifle to his head. You can only imagine his fear. To never see his family again and say I love you.
Flashback to January 15, 1917 in Staunton, Virginia, and no one knows it yet, but one of the most courageous man is born. His name is Julian Minor Quarles Jr., named after his father Julian Minor Quarles. He attended Augusta Military Academy for high school and graduated as a Cadet Captain in 1935. He then attended the University of Miami and graduated in 1939.
The beginning of his military career was in Florida National Guard right after college. In 1940 he went to the Officers Reserve Corp and was called into active duty after Pearl Harbor. This is just the building of a war hero. Image this, you’re sitting at your desk one morning doing paper work and then all of the sudden you hear on the radio that Pearl Harbor was just attacked. You have to be thinking, is this really happening or what’s going to happen now? Julian Quarles did just this, he knew immediately when he heard that on the radio that he was going into active duty. This was the start of his journey into the war.
Julian Quarles was in the Italy Campaign in early 1944 and Germans collapsed on his unit on the Rapido River. This was an attempt to break through the Axis Power’s Winter Line. Good men were lost, but he fought with his life on the line. While fighting he had a German come up and hold a rifle to his head. Luckily the gun had a miss fire and Julian killed the German. After they surrendered Julian had a pile of dead Germans around him. The Germans saw this and were infuriated, they wanted to take his life for taking lives from them. A fellow soldier came running up right before they were gonna kill Julian and said it was the machine gun that killed the soldiers and not him. Somehow they believed him. Julian had his life on the line twice in just hours and was able to escape death.
Julian Quarles was put on a train and was heading to POW Camp. The lock on the train car he in was broken, so they had a chance to escape. It would be risky and difficult to do so. He told his close friend he had an idea and that was to jump off the train one night so the Germans would not be able to see them. This would be a scary risk that he wanted to take. His friend was too scared and did not want to take the risk, but someone else heard him and said he would do it with him, his name was Captain Bayne.
Put this into perspective, it’s the middle of the night, you do not know where you are and do not know what you are jumping into. You could be jumping on a bunch of rocks or off a bridge. Luckily when they jumped they jumped onto a soft spot and if they had jumped a little later then they would have fallen further down and most likely would have died.
They made their rigorous journey behind enemy lines. The country side was rough, but luckily and some help from some natives. They were behind enemy lines for 33 days, had a few close calls with Germans, but made it back safely.
Julian is in Salerno, Italy, the date is December 9, 1943, bullets are flying overhead, and Julian Quarles is behind cover. Unfortunately one of his men was out in the battle field wounded. Julian is wounded himself by a grenade, but he did not let that stop him. What would you do if you saw a good man laying on the battle field wounded and shots are still being fired in your direction?
Julian jumped the wall with two other men and ran to aid the wounded. When they jumped the wall they ran about 75 yards to the soldier and 75 yards back. This was all done under fire. Do you think you have what it takes to do this? Julian received the Silver Star Medal for his bravery.
Sometime when Julian was in Europe, Hitler announced that any escaped POW will be executed immediately. No one wanted to risk the escaped POWs so Julian was sent home immediately and this is where he will be for the rest of the war.
In 1974, Julian Quarles retired as a Full Bird Colonel after 34 years of service. He was awarded two Silver Star Medals, a Bronze Star Medal with a V for Valor and a Purple Heart Medal.
“A humble, southern gentleman”
A conversation with my father
I spent September 6–8 with my father, Fayette Thackston, at Christ School for Father-Son Weekend. I wanted to use the time with my father to learn more about my great-great uncle Julian. The weekend was fun filled with great memories that will last for a life-time. The weekend started with the Varsity Football game against Cabarrus at Fayssoux Field. Christ School came out with the victory and ended with a pleasant evening.
Saturday morning my dad and I attended the seminar that was put on by the school. It was team building exercises and a great chance for me and my dad to build our relationship even more than it already was. After the seminar we headed to Pisgah National Forest to go do Sliding Rock. That was a great bonding moment that we shared sliding down a rock into sixty degree water. We are finished the night watching college football together, which is something we both enjoy doing. We watch the primetime game, LSU at Texas.It was good being together for the big game. On our way to and from Sliding Rock we listened to the NC State game which was against Western Carolina. It was a good day to be a State fan with a 41–0 win.
Sunday came and was the last day I spent with my dad. We went to the Eucharist Service in the Outdoor Chapel. I do not think it could have been a more beautiful morning, a nice warm morning by the lake with birds chirping in the background. Together we walked around campus with him sharing his stories and experiences while he was here at Christ School. We finished the weekend with me interviewing my dad about his Great Uncle Julian. He not only gave me great information in the interview he also gave me a bunch of documents and articles that were about him. Below I have put the interview questions with his responses.
Could you please state your full name?
Fayette Quarles Thackston
Where did you grow up?
Charlotte, NC
Do you know your first memory?
When I was three playing in the house with my brothers. A more vivid memory is when I was three and a half, going with my parents to look for a new house before we bought it.
So Julian Quarles was your great uncle? How much time/often would you spend time with Julian Quarles
When he was little he lived in Miami, FL and would see him every 3, 4 or 5 years. When Julian moved back to the Shenandoah Valley in 1998, spending a significant amount of time with him with only living an hour/two hours away.
What was your relationship like with Julian Quarles?
Thought it was a good relationship and thought the world of him. He was a quiet man, but very loving, concerned and very interested in what we were doing and spending time with us. Enjoyed the history he shared about his uncles serving in the Civil War and his father was just a boy during it. We shared a love of history, especially family history.
What was he like in person?
He had a great personality, was very easy going and laid back. Knew him better in his 70s and older, always had a smile on his face, always glad to be where he was, always enjoyed listening to stories, and hearing and listening with you, and enjoyed your company. He was also a very humble person and did not talk about his accomplishments, you had to draw some stories out of him. Great Uncle Julian was an excellent example of a humble, southern gentleman.
Can you tell me about his military career?
He was working on December 7, 1941, doing paper work and had heard the attack of Pearl Harbor on the radio. He was in the Army Reserve Officer Corp. He knew that he was going to have to report for active duty and talked about his time in Italy when he served there and where he was captured.
Believed to be on the Rapido River where his unit was pushed out under orders, but had no back up and was over run by the Germans. He had three Germans over run him and had killed two of them and one of them pulled their rifle up and pulled the trigger and the gun jammed and missed fired and he was able to shoot that German before he was shot. He won two silver stars which is quite an accomplishment.
When he was a POW he jumped off the troop train and hid out in the mountains of Italy for thirty-three days having some very close calls with Germans and the families of Italy would feed him and they would hide out in a cave. They would bring food to them and there was this boy that would cut his hair for him and when he later in the 70s and 80s traveled back to Europe, that boy was a man and he reunited with the people who had hidden him from the Germans when he was an escaped POW.
He eventually made it back across American lines and returned to service with his unit. Unfortunately, his buddy he escaped with made it back across the US lines and was later killed in action in his arms. His regret was if he didn’t jump off that train he would be in POW camp safe. He always regretted that Captain Bayne jumped with him.
Another story while they were on the troop train, Julian took out a pencil and his notebook and copied all the soldier’s name and their military ID numbers so he could report them as POWs when he escaped.
Do you have anything that was once his?
His children has sent me several items of his. Collections and items he had from the civil war, paper work, pictures, historical significance family history that he had at the time of his passing.
What’s your favorite memory with Julian Quarles Jr.?
I have a lot of them, but I would say one of my favorite memories was when we were going back into Caroline County, VA, which is north of Richmond. Took my two older children with me, and went to the old Quarles Homestead. At that time it was just a pile of bricks and an old family cemetery that was over run, but beyond that was a home that his father was born that he had never been too.
He’s in his late 80s early 90s and we’re traipsing through the woods of Caroline County and actually find the ruins of the house that his father was born in. That was very exciting and I got a brick out of the foundation for him and wrote on it so he had, in his possession, a brick from the home his dad was born.
If you had the chance what would be one more thing you would want to do with him?
I would love to sit and listen to his stories about our family when he was a young boy and the things that he remembers about the other relatives that he interacted with and visited. That’s just family history you can’t get back once it’s gone.
Can you name the awards he earned?
He earned the Purple Heart and two silver stars that I am aware of. He had several others, but would have to look back to see exactly what he won.
What was your favorite story he told you?
He had so many great stories, really enjoyed his military career. Which he stayed in the military, was in the reserves in the Judge Advocate General Corp, which was the legal corp where he was a lawyer. Several funny ones like when he was admitted to the DC bar so he could present cases in front of the Supreme Court by about how they told him his suit jacket was always be button when he was in the court room.
Another one was when he was a little boy, his sister, my grandmother, would have dates that would come over to sit and talk. They had an indoor toilet, which was very rare back in the early 1900s, he would flush the toilet and that was so embarrassing to his older sister. He got such a kick out of flushing the toilet and embarrassing his sister. Indoor plumbing was not common so when you heard that flush you knew that someone was using the bathroom. Funny how times have changed. He had a lot of funny stories like that.
How close are you with that part of the family?
They still live in Florida, the children do, mainly communicate via phone calls and email. When they travel through Virginia or back visiting, especially when they would come up and spend holidays with their father, we would see them quite frequently. In the last several years since he’s been passed away, communication has been more email. We have not traveled to Florida and they have come a few times back to Virginia and we have been able to see them then.
I’ve heard the family has an interview with him, is this correct?
The family has interviewed him, yes.
Do you mind sharing the interview?
There is a video tape of that but would have to locate it.
Reflection Questions
From the Smithsonian Guide to Oral History
How did your perception of community history change, from before the interview to now?
The history stayed about the same. What I found was very accurate except one site I found and it was just marked with the wrong person but go addition information in the interview and personal information that I would not have gotten anywhere else.
How did this project inspire you to learn more about your family and community?
Great Great Uncle Julian and I were close and he was a special person to me. His whole story and everything about him is interesting.
What were some of the challenges you faced during this project? What could you do differently in your next oral history interview?
Some challenges I faced was making sure dates were right/ the timing. I got some of it a little clearer, but would need to make sure next time to know important dates
If the roles were reversed and you became the tradition-bearer, what stories would you like to tell?
The same stories because some of those were my favorite stories that I was told. Great Great Uncle Julian and I had a good relationship.
Great-great Uncle Julian’s story is important to me because he was special to me in my life. He is a great inspiration in my life. There is not a whole lot of other people that has an awe inspiring story like his. I hope you found his story captivating like many others do.
