Scroll of Honor – Heyward Hunter Fellers
Into Germany
Written by: Kelly Durham
The graduation day forecast for Clemson was for mild weather with a high only in the mid-seventies, just right for the planned ceremony in the campus’s Outdoor Theater. The commencement speaker, in a sign of the times, was Major General Robert Eichelberger, the commander of the 77th Infantry Division at Fort Jackson. Eichelberger would go on to command the 8th Army during General Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific campaigns. He was one of three general officers scheduled to receive honorary degrees for distinguished service in military science and tactics on that Monday morning, May 25, 1942. Among the cadets lining up for their bachelors’ degrees was Heyward Hunter Fellers of Prosperity.
Fellers, who grew up on a Newberry County farm, majored in agronomy. He was selected for membership in Alpha Zeta, the national honor fraternity for agriculture, which he served as scribe his senior year. Fellers also served as president of Kappa Alpha Sigma, Clemson’s student chapter of the American Society of Agronomy. He was a member of the Sears Scholarship Club and completed ROTC training camp at Clemson during the summer of 1941. Like General Eichelberger, Fellers would soon be heading overseas as an officer of the United States Army. Unlike the general, who’s fighting would be with the 8th Army against the Japanese, Fellers would carry the war into Germany as an officer with the 8th Infantry Division.
One month after graduation, Second Lieutenant Fellers reported for duty at Camp Wolters, Texas, the largest infantry replacement training center in the country. After a stint at Fort Meade, Maryland, Fellers shipped overseas in August 1944.
Upon his arrival in France, Fellers was assigned to K Company of the 13th Infantry Regiment, a part of the 8th Infantry Division. The division had already liberated the port city of Brest and now turned its efforts toward closing on the French-German border. The 8th cleared Brittainy’s Crozon Peninsula in September and drove across France to Luxembourg, moving into the Hürtgen Forest in late November. The division continued to battle its way toward the east, clearing Hürtgen in late November and pushing on to the Roer River. The Roer was finally crossed on February 23, 1945 and the division reached the Rhine two weeks later, occupying positions overlooking Cologne. In early March, the 8th advanced into the Rhineland and fought its way into the Ruhr, Germany’s industrial heartland.
Even though Germany was clearly beaten, Hitler refused to surrender, calling on his troops and German civilians to make even greater sacrifices to save the Third Reich. While attacking Hitler’s holdouts in the Ruhr pocket, Fellers was killed by a German sniper on April 4. He was temporarily buried at Ittenbach, Germany and was later moved to the US military cemetery at Margraten, Holland. After the war, Feller’s remains were returned to Prosperity where, in December 1948, he was buried in the Zion United Methodist Church cemetery.
First Lieutenant Fellers was awarded the Purple Heart. He was survived by his parents and brother.
For more information about First Lieutenant Heyward Hunter Fellers see:
https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/heyward-hunter-fellers/
For additional information about Clemson University’s Scroll of Honor visit:
https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/