Dewey Anthon Topham was born 11 October 1918 in Paragonah, Utah to George Albert (Jr.) and Della Mae Smith Topham. He had three brothers: Kenneth, Fred and Waldo, and two sisters: Glenna and Elma. His grandparents were George A and Laura Horsley Topham and Joseph S. and Annis Elizabeth Cox Smith.

Dewey attended first through eighth grades in Paragonah, and then graduated from Parowan High School five miles away. His family operated a ranch in Bear Valley during the summers, and Dewey milked cows and transported the cream to cheese factories in Parowan and Panguitch. He loved to fish and hunt, and also enjoyed attending dances.

Dewey was drafted and entered military service in January 1942. He received training in many camps throughout the United States, including Fort Lewis, Washington, Camp White, Washington, Camp Pendleton, Oregon, Fort Ord, California, Fort Hood, Texas and Camp Polk, Louisiana. His unit was sent to England in August 1944 before landing in France in September 1944.

According to his brother Waldo Topham, Dewey’s unit was Troop B of the 18th Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron. This was part of the 14th Cavalry Group of VIII Corps of the First Army. In December of 1944 Troop B was detached to the neighboring 106th Infantry. Both the VIII Corps and the 106th Infantry were deployed in a thin line of defense near the German-Belgian border in the Ardennes Forest.

On 16 December 1944 the Germans mounted a major offensive, known as the Battle of the Bulge, and the American defenses were initially overwhelmed. Thousands of Americans were taken prisoner, among them Corporal Dewey Topham.

After being marched across Germany in the dead of winter and with little food, the prisoners suffered greatly. Those unable to keep up were shot. On 13 April 1945 the prison camp where Dewey was held, identified as Stalag 4B Muhlberg, was liberated. Due to his poor physical condition, he was sent to a field hospital in Mourmalon, France. His brother Waldo was stationed 16 miles away, and was able to visit a couple of times a week.

According to Waldo, before his capture Dewey weighed about 175 pounds. In the hospital he weighed only 85 pounds. He developed complications from malnutrition and pneumonia, and was sent to a hospital in Paris, where he died on 24 June 1945.

While in the hospital, Dewey related to Waldo that while being transported to Germany shortly after capture as a prisoner of war, Dewey noticed a Bible in the roadway. He received permission from the guard to pick it up. It turned out to be Dewey’s personal Bible that he had left behind in camp several miles away. This Bible proved to be a comfort and inspiration to him during his captivity.

Memorial services honoring Corporal Topham were held in Paragonah, Utah on 8 July 1945. After initially being buried in France, the body of Corporal Topham was returned to the United States and buried in the Paragonah cemetery.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

++Sources:++

Personal History of Dewey Anthon Topham, by Waldo Smith Topham. Posted in FamilySearch.com

The U.S. Army’s Mechanized Cavalry Doctrine in World War II, a thesis written by Louis A. DiMarco, Major, USA, pages 81-83. https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a299016.pdf

The Fall of the Golden Lions, by Robert Citano, PhD. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/fall-golden-lions

Iron County Record, 25 Jan. 1945, 5 Jul. 1945. From https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/

Parowan Times, 13 Jul. 1945. From https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/

Ancestry.com

Dewey A Topham