Local veteran groups remember Thomas B. Castles

Superior’s RSVP and Community Outreach group will honor Mineral County veterans again this year on Armed Forces Day May 20.

To honor present and past veterans, family and friends have dug through archives and interviewed relatives to find out more about the men and women who have served our country.

For the next few weeks leading up to Armed Forces Day, veterans from previous wars will be featured in an article to highlight their service. This is an excerpt from the “Castles Family Military Careers, 1983” preserved by the family with help from the Mineral County Historical Society. Thomas B. Castles served in the U.S. Army in 1942.

Thomas B. CastlesU.S. Army

Tom was in his junior year at the University of Montana majoring in Wildlife Technology and had completed the two years of basic Reserve Officers Training Corps which all male students were required to complete. Since it was wartime, Tom enrolled in the advanced ROTC program, a two year program upon completion of which the graduates would be commissioned as second lieutenants. His date of enlistment in the Army was May 22, 1942.

Eventually Tom arrived in Fort Meade, Maryland, a huge staging area from which troops were mustered for overseas duty.

Tom’s brother Bill (Irwin) was just leaving West Point, on his way to the AAF Tactical Center in Orlando Florida, when he received a card from Tom inviting him to “come down.” So, he drove to Fort Meade that afternoon. The two went visiting and eventually caught up with Jumbo (Clarence La Combe of Superior, and Alvin Wilkinson) alias Wilkie who was a chauffeur for the General, and he was sitting in the General’s car when they found him.

In 1944 Tom found himself in Belgium and Luxemburg Germany where he continued to write letters to home reassuring his loved ones that he was “still leading a good life in comparison so all was well.” Spending his first Thanksgiving not at home he describes their turkey dinner as, roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and carrots, cranberries, pie and coffee. Later they were issued two Hershey bars, one package of cookies and 3-17 cent cigars. He also reassured family that it wasn’t as good compared to what he got at home.

On December 16, 1944, began the Battle of the Bulge. On December 17, 1944 Tom was seriously wounded in action. This was the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. The surprise attack caught the American forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of any operation during the war.

On January 24, 1945 from “somewhere in England,” Tom writes of his injuries, grazed just left of the left eye, splinters in his neck, a piece in his left lung. The pieces in his neck perforated his esophagus, damaged the jugular although not severed, and one piece damaged or severed the left laryngean nerve. Tom never told his girlfriend Margie from Montana or his mom, he’d do that when he returned to the states.

Tom was eventually shipped from London on the Queen Elizabeth and arrived in New York on March 11, 1945. From there he went to Baxter General Hospital in Spokane, Washington, and from there he went to Fitzsimmons Hospital in Denver where he underwent surgery on his throat. During his recovery he obtained a pass to go home on convalescent leave and while there he married Marjorie Akin, his girlfriend from the University of Montana. When his leave expired, Marge returned to Denver with Tom and spent several months there with him.

After being hospitalized from December 17, 1944, first in Paris and than in London, New York, Spokane, and Denver, Tom was finally separated from the Army on full disability on April 1, 1946, at Fitzsimmons Hospital.

Being unable to talk, he made the choice between talking and swallowing and he chose to swallow. The Bell Telephone Company had developed an electronic voice box and Tom was the first person to use such a device.

After his discharge from the Army Tom returned to Superior and with his mother he operated the family business, the Castles Market. Quite the businessman Tom and two other investors built the Big Sky Village, a 24 hour restaurant and lounge, and because of the growth in Superior he moved the Castles Market from the north side of the river to across the street from the Mineral County jail and courthouse.

In 1965 they bought the Shryock ranch located two and a half miles east of Superior and built a new home there in 1969. The home ranch became a haven for Pigmy goats, guineas, peacocks, chickens, ducks, horses, donkeys, sheep and a rhea. Many visitors came to the farm to see the strange collection, including yearly school children who arrived by bus to visit.

In spite of his handicap of not being able to speak Tom remained active in the town in civic duties and in politics. He served on the Town Council and was president of the Mineral County Chamber of Commerce. He was an active Mason and was Master of the Superior lodge.

He served as an advisor to the Montana Highway Department. He and Tom Spangler started the first ambulance service which now serves all of Mineral County.

Tom was founding director of the First State Bank, now the Montana Bank, and served on the Board of Directors of the bank. He was an active vocal Republican and an uninhibited critic of government mismanagement.

Tom’s office in the store became the meeting place of his cronies who came to exchange their views with him. The coffee pot or hot water for tea was always available.

Two children were born to Marge and Tom, Thomas and Catherine. Tom attended the Montana School of Mines in Butte before enlisting in the army. He served in Viet Nam and was awarded the Bronze Star. In 1977 he married Gloris Price and they reside in Superior. Cathy is married to Ken Kuhl and together they own and manage Castles Market.

Tom was qualified as an Expert Light Machine Gunner and a Sharpshooter with the M1 rifle. He was qualified to wear the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He also received the American Theatre Medal, European African Middle Eastern Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and the Purple Heart.