Julian Sockman, of Kanawha City, talks on May 17, 2024, about his military service. Sockman, then 101, was wounded in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge.
Parade Marshal Julian Sockman waves to the crowd on May 18, 2024, during the 64th Herbert J. Thomas Memorial Armed Forces Day Parade in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. Sockman, then 101, of Kanawha City, is a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army and was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe.
Julian Sockman holds his military commendations at his home in Kanawha City on May 17, 2024. Sockman, then 101, was wounded in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge.
Julian "Jule" Heath Sockman, 102, a longtime Kanawha City resident who was wounded in action in World War II and served as marshal of last year's Armed Forces Day Parade in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, died Saturday in Hubbard Hospice House in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
Julian Sockman, of Kanawha City, talks on May 17, 2024, about his military service. Sockman, then 101, was wounded in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge.
Gazette-Mail file photo
Sockman was one of only 196 of the 218,665 West Virginians who served in the armed forces during World War II still living, as of 2024.
A native of Marshall County, Sockman was a graduate of Moundsville High School, where future congressman and three-term West Virginia governor Arch A. Moore Jr. was a classmate, and — after graduation — a fellow U.S. Army enlistee.Ìý
Sockman served with the 2nd Infantry Division in France, Belgium and Germany, and took part in the Army's deadliest action of the war — the Battle of the Bulge — during the winter of 1944-45, in which more than 19,000 U.S. soldiers died.
Parade Marshal Julian Sockman waves to the crowd on May 18, 2024, during the 64th Herbert J. Thomas Memorial Armed Forces Day Parade in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä. Sockman, then 101, of Kanawha City, is a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army and was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe.
It was during that battle that Sockman, a radio operator who spent much of his time along the front lines traveling in a Jeep with a lieutenant, a driver and a portable radio, was wounded.
"We were 10 miles inside Germany when we came under fire from German mortars," Sockman recalled in a 2024 interview. "We were trying to take cover when a shell hit our Jeep. I wasn't in all that much pain at first, but I saw a lot of blood, so I figured I was in pretty bad shape. Next thing I knew, I was in a hospital in Paris."
Sockman was partially blinded in one eye and wounded elsewhere by numerous shrapnel fragments, four of which remained in his body for the duration of his life. He received the Purple Heart medal for his combat wounds.
Julian Sockman holds his military commendations at his home in Kanawha City on May 17, 2024. Sockman, then 101, was wounded in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge.
KENNY KEMP | Gazette-Mail
After recuperating for months at Army hospitals in England and Indiana, Sockman returned to civilian life and put his G.I. Bill education benefits to use, earning a degree in business administration from Marshall University, where he met his future wife of 50 years, Rose Ellen.Ìý
In the early 1950s, Sockman and his wife moved to ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, where he began a 33-year career with the West Virginia Division of Highways, and the couple raised two sons, Roger and Dean, in their Kanawha City home.
After retirement, Sockman was a Meals on Wheels volunteer for nearly 20 years, and he supported the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Light Opera Guild, Kanawha Players and Marshall University sports. He was the last surviving charter member of Kanawha City's Village Chapel Presbyterian Church.Ìý
CLICK HERE to follow the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Gazette-Mail and receive
