A.W. Pool
A funeral service for Clinton resident A.W. Pool, 91, local businessman and veteran of the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday in the Kiesau Memorial Chapel.
Pool died Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, at Weatherford Regional Hospital in Weatherford.
Arvil Winston “A.W.” Pool was born Jan. 31, 1924, to Charles Edward Pool and Lilly (Bass) Pool in Wilbarger County, Texas.
Raised on a farm north of Oklaunion, Texas, he enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was 16 years old and served with the 82nd Airborne Division in the European theater of operations.
On June 5 or 6, 1944 (he thought it was on the 6th, about 30 minutes before the start of D-Day), he parachuted with other members of his unit into Nazi-occupied France. The 82nd’s objective that night was the town of Ste. Mere Eglise. His entire eight-man squad made it down safely and landed close enough together to reassemble.
By daylight, thanks to the 82nd, Ste. Mere Eglise had become the first town on the western front to be liberated.
Pool’s unit, instead of moving forward, was directed to double back toward the English Channel and hit the heavily armed German beach fortifications from behind and make it a little easier for Allied troops still swarming ashore. After that, survivors from his unit were sent back to England to prepare for another mission.
In all, Pool took part in four major campaigns. On Sept. 27, 1944, he jumped into Holland, helping liberate that country and hold key Rhine River bridges that gave Allied forces a path into Germany itself.
About three months later he took part in the Battle of the Bulge, then traveled across Germany. One of his most indelible memories was stumbling onto the Wobelein Concentration Camp.
Asked in 2002 by a Clinton Daily News reporter how many men he’d killed, he answered, “Many, many. But it had to be done. A lot of people don’t know how close we came to losing our freedom. If we’d played around a little longer, the Germans would have developed the atomic bomb and we’d all been goose-stepping, I guess.”
After receiving his honorable discharge, Pool began working for Tulsa Exploration and met his soon-to-be bride, Mary Ruth Steele, in McLeansboro, Ill. They were married Sept. 21, 1946, in Morganfield, Ky.
Pool started a water well drilling company in 1952, then moved his business to the Oklahoma Panhandle in 1962. He also farmed there.
In 1980 he moved his business again, that time to Clinton, and also opened a machine shop. He continued to work every day until recently when failing health forced his retirement.
Rev. Alvin Walker will preside at the funeral with a private graveside service to be held at Texoma Cemetery in Texoma, Okla., at a later date. Kiesau-Lee Funeral Home of Clinton is in charge of arrangements.
Pool is survived by his wife of 69 years, Mary Ruth, of the home in Clinton, and three sons, Winston Pool and wife Marie, Keith Pool and wife Nancy, and Greg Pool, all of Clinton.
Other survivors include eight grandsons, Jason Pool and wife Laci, Fort Worth, Texas; Tucker Pool and wife D’Lisa and Jake Pool and wife Jessica, Weatherford; Ty Pool, Chickasha; and Chris Pool and wife Demerie, Jeremy Pool and wife Alicia, Bradley Pool, Caleb Pool, and Ethan Pool and wife Yolanda, all of Clinton. One granddaughter and her husband, Lacey and Steven Hugh of Yukon, also survive, along with 12 great-grandchildren.
Pool was preceded in death by his parents; a daughter, Christy Lynn Pool; two brothers, Edward “Bob” and Paul; and two sisters, Mattie Dozier and Janice Thompson.