Original Cub Document
Uploaded: 11-Dec-2020
The Cub
Vol. 51, No. 2, Jan., 1995
lir Dean & Eleanor Childs; Amy & Toby Anderson 106 Signal;
Helen & Herman Van De Bogart, 424/A
A Busy 50th Anniversary Year...
The 50th Anniversary of The Battle of the Bulge was carried off in great style by members of our organization participating with the news media and in attendance to functions such as our own December 16 Commemeration Parties all over the country. Along with many individual stories appearing in local newspapers, there were two TV films that included members of the 106th. Both were very well done. One was displayed on PBS in the American Experience Series, it included Oliver Patton and Roger Rutland, the other by ABC -Turning Point depicted the Last Christmas 1945 and included several of the 106th group that traveled to Belgium for the dedication of the new St Vith Memorial. I wish to congratulate you all for it has caused the image and story of the 106th Infantry Division to be displayed more than I can ever remember.
I was not able to attend events sponsored by the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge this last December in St. Louis. Unfortunately I was confined to a hospital and my home from Thanksgiving through Christmas by a very tough case of bronchitis. Finally after finally consuming six different antibiotics I was back in action but 35 pounds lighter. In Allb1 was within five pounds of the weight I carried when I escaped from the German
on camp in Poland and returned to my unit, the 81st Combat Engineers.
Pete House, now acting as our Adjutant, has imported the files that Kline temporarily used when he was acting as Adjutant after Boyd Rutledge's death. The interaction of Kline to House represented a real team action. Pete says he is up and running, so all business matters of the Association as well as death notices and and address changes should flow to Pete so that he can act upon your information and pass it to the various officers.
The reunion committee in Florida have things under control and we are all looking forward to a great reunion in Orlando in September. If you did not receive a packet of information from the reunion commitee, please look at the centerfold in this CUB. Kline and the committee prepared this to be used in case you did not receive the information, or where it may have been lost in the mail.
There are a couple of good stories in this CUB, along with other information. One written by Oliver (011ie) Patton, Brig. General USA (Ret), relating to the experiences of six of his West Point comrades and himself with the 106th Infantry Division in the Bulge. The other is a story written by Robert Lowry, one of our Associate members, who was a Marine in the South Pacific in World War II. He was a classmate of Eric Wood, Jr. (Princeton, Class of '42) and tells of his return to Belgium to participate in the re-dedication of the Eric Wood monument at Meyerode after it had been restored by the Reserve Officers Association of Benelux. I would like to thank the ROA on behalf of myself and all of our members for their help in seeing that the Eric Wood story and monument continue to be one that is remembered. Thank you.... Tom Riggs
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106th Infantry Association President
Thomas J. Riggs, Jr., 1994-1995
CO, 81st Combat Engineers Battalion
The CUB of the Golden Lion
"And God Said No _V?
I asked God to take away my pride, and God said, "No." He said it was not for him to take away, but for me to give up.
I asked God to make my handicapped child whole, and God said, "No." lie said his spirit is whole, his body is only temporary.
I asked God to grant me patience, and God said, "No." He said that patience is a by-product of tribula-tion, it is not granted, it is earned.
I asked God to give me happiness, and God said, "No." He said he gives blessings, happiness is up to me.
I asked God to spare me pain, and God said, "No." He said, "Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares,
and brings you closer to me."
I asked God to make my spirit grow, and God said, "No." He said I must grow on my own, but he will prune me to make me fruitful.
I asked God if he loved me, and God said, "Yes."
I asked God to help me love others, as much as he loves me, and God said, "Ah, finally, you have the idea." Claudia Minden Weisz Old llnion Reminder
I thought that as we begin this new year that the above would be most timely. I-often have I asked God for something and get a, "No." yet almost without exception, that, "No" has been to my advantage. There are many instances in God's dealing with his people when he had to say, "No." One which always stands out in my mind comes at the tune when God is leading the tribes from Egypt to the land which he had promised them.
Remember that God instructed Moses to send out scouts to look over the situation ahead and report back. All of them reported back in the negative except Joshua. The others all forgot that God was on their side and believed that the difficulties ahead were more than they could content with. God realized from this that they were not yet ready to fill the role- which he had for them and so they spent forty years in the wilderness. That was time in which the old generation could die off and the younger on. come forward. Then under Joshua's leadership --not Moses'-- they were ready to move forward with the plan which God had for them.
As we move into this new year may we constantly seek God's guiding for our lives
Father God, here us when we pray and help us to understand that when you answer, 'No" it isn't because you don't love us. Help us to understand that it is just because you do love us so greatly, that you can say, "No" when you know that what we ask is wrong for us. AMEN
2 The CUB o f the Golden Lion
Reverend Ewell C. Black Jr., Chaplain
422/A -- 106th Inf. Div. Assoc.
212 Ridge St, Bishopville, SC 29010
803-484-6861
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Front & Center ...
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SEE FRONT COVER:
To show that the Belgian people are still showing their gratitude for the United States help in World War II, the Belgium Consulate in Phoenix, Arizona honored Battle of the Bulge veterans in Arizona on October 29, 1994. The Consulate sponsored a Ambassadors Ball with a three hundred dollar per plate dinner. (veterans were not required to pay.)
There were numerous ambassadors from other countries as well as political dignitaries from Arizona.
We were pleased to learn that the members shown on the front cover, from the 106th Infantry Division, were there.
Please note the medals draped around the neck of the three men. These were given to each veteran in honor of his participation in the Battle of the Bulge.
Dean Childs reported that there were 1116veterans from the Arizona area that lre honored.
You all look beautiful, especially Eleanor, Amy and Helen. I just couldn't resist placing you on the front cover. The 106th Infantry Division Association Arizona veterans group have been very strong supporters of our association programs, like the Dec 16th meetings. We are proud of you
ADJUTANT'S Notice
Pete House, our new Adjutant tells us he is up and running now. A new computer and a roster in place.
Pete's address is on the inside cover of this CUB, along with addresses of other officers and Board members.
Direct your business matters, deaths and address changes to him. He will forward any pertinent material, eg: deaths and address changes to the editor and the treasurer. Any business matters for the Association should flow through him, he is the business manager of your Association. ANNUAL PAY MEMBERSHIP CARDS
SECOND NOTICE: This notice appeared in the Oct-Nov-Dec 1994 CUB. As directed by the annual board meeting decisions, members paying ANNUAL DUES will not receive a membership card. The expiration date of your membership will appear, and has been for a long time, on The CUB envelope. Be sure to check that label. If there are any corrections to made please notify the Adjutant, Pete House.
ADDRESS CHANGES
ARE IMPORTANT:
It costs 2.99 to retrieve a CUB that has been sent to an expired address. If you are a new "snow bird" be sure to let us know your winter address. PLEASE....
Change of Telephone Number
Ed Prewett, Past-President and Board member Ex-Officio wishes to inform of a change of telephone number.
I have corrected his number on the inside cover page, but thought I should draw your attention to it.
For those interested please change his number to 510-634-3082. Nice hearing from you Ed. I appreciated your recent letter.... John Kline
Wrong Tank on Back Cover....
The German tank on the back cover of the last CUB (Oct-Nov-Dec 1994) was not a "TIGER" it was a "PANTHER."
Found in the Ourthe River at Houffalize it was known as a P±Kampfwagen V. Probably a PANTHER Ausfiihrung A (Panther, Model A) Sd.Kfz 171. From '43 thru '45 there were 7,000 built, 6,000 were battle tanks. Nobody caught my mistake. How about you Anti-Tank boys???
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Front & Center...
49th Annual Reunion Registration papers.
All of you should by now have re-ceived your registration packet for the Sept 7-8-9 Reunion in Orlando. That is the 49th ANNUAL REUNION.
Registration packets (envelopes) were sent using BULK MAIL postage and had no guarantee of forwarding.
The nature of bulk mail is that once in a while a letter of tvvo seems to drop through the cracks somewhere along the system. If you have not received your packet contact the coinmittee at the fol-lovving address and you will receive a packet by return mail.
106th Infantry Division Reunion c10 Focal Point
2867 Stonewall Place
Sanford, FL 32773
OR
Call Dick Sparks 904-789-4694k the packet or any question on the rW ion facilities or schedule.
TOURS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE REGISTRATION FEE.
There are so many Tours and attrac-tions in the nearby Walt Disney World, EPCOT Center, Disney/MGM Studios and Disney resorts that you have a tour leaving the hotel every hour or so. The reunion committee felt that groups of you could pick your own entertainment/tour rather than have a scheduled type tour. Therefore prices for the tours was not included in this year's registration forms. REUNION AGENDA IS IN THIS CUB:
A duplicate of the master agenda for the reunion is included in the centerfold of this CUB as well as a map showing directions for you that will travel with your own transportation.
See you all there....
o
Looking for past issues
of the CUB ... From the editor
Due to a print run error I had just enough of the OCT-NOV-DEC 1994 CUBS to mail to all members. I have only one archive copy left. Could also use JUL-AUG-SEP 1994 Cub, and JUL-AUG-SEP 1993, a couple of each.
I need a few extra copies for special people. If you have read yours and wish to donate it to me, please send it. I have need for at least fifteen more.
John Kline, CUB editor
5401 U. 147th St. West
Apple Valley, MN 55124
WWII Medals Available
Many men who served in WWII re-ceived only ribbons. If you want your medals write to the following:
US Army Reserve Component Personnel & Administration Center St. Louis, MO 63132
Ask for your medals. Include a copy of the front and back of your Honorable Discharge. On your letter and on the lower left hand corner of the envelope show:
ATTN: PSE-VS
BRONZE STAR:
If you earned the Combat Infantry Badge you also are entitled to a BRONZE STAR MEDAL. This was authorized by post-World War 11 order by George C. Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff. If you are entitled to this Medal include a request in with the letter mentioned above.
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Valley Forge Military Academy Battle of the Bulge Monument
From Dr. Duncan T. Trueman, 424/AT 29 Overhill Lane
Warwick, NY 10990
On the morning of December 16, 1994 I drove from my home in New York State to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of seeing the recently dedicated Battle of the Bulge Monument at the Valley Forge Military Academy.
I had hoped that some other vets might be there, but none were in evidence.
However, at mid-morning a squad of cadets arrived at the site, where they conducted a little memorial ceremony, concluding with the cadets standing quietly for several minutes of silent prayer.
This was not done for my benefit or for the benefit of other visitors, because none were present. But the Corps of Cadets apparently do not intend to let Decem-
9s16 go by without remembering what done by a bunch of outnumbered G.I.'s in the Ardennes one winter long ago.
I hope that some of us will arrange to be present every year on December 16th -to observe the day, lay a wreath, say a prayer, greet each other - or just remember and respect our comrades.
I f any were not there this year, remember it next year. And anyone who has never seen the memorial at the Valley Forge Military Academy should not miss the opportunity to do so.
Sincerely
Duncan Front & Center ...
Anchors Aweigh -- LST 344
a letter from John Swett, 423/H
Noticed a letter in the Apr-May-Jun CUB about an LST. I was on the LST in question. here are my details.
We left Southampton about the same time as the 2nd battalion, 423rd Regiment troops. We had a majority of the battalions vehicles on our ship with only a few of us motor pool type on board to move them on and off and stand watch.
When we arrived in LeHavre the port was full, many ships at anchor awaiting turns at the dock. We dropped anchor some distance out. Early on the second or third day in port I was standing watch at the bow, this was before dawn, when we started to weigh anchor. I looked over the side as the chain was drawn up. Just as the anchor broke the surface the chain link separated and the anchor dropped to the bottom. We changed our position in the harbor and dropped the stern anchor which was attached to a cable and winch on the fantail. Normally it is used to pull an LST off the beach. The seas were rough an in less than 24 hours we heard a big bang which was the stern anchor separating. We now had no anchor and after some maneuvering our Commander decided to go back to Southampton and change LST's which we did. There was also some talk about our main engine being in bad shape so it may not have been possible to continue treading water in the LeHavre harbor anyhow.
On the second LST we crossed without incident and got up to the dock in short order. My diary indicates we left Southampton the first time on LST 344 on I December 1944 and finally arrived at the LeHavre dock on the second LST on 9 December 1944. Seems like the best food I ever had was on that LST.
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Front & Center...
Lt. Leonard Prosnick 106 RECON
A letter by Paul Thompson, 106 RECON
this letter was sent to several families by the name of Prosnick in hopes of finding information
To any person who knew Prosnick:
I am writing in hopes that you knew Lt. Leonard Prosnick of the 106th Reconnaissance Troop in the Battle of the Bulge and could lead me to his relatives.
I served under Lt. Prosnick in that battle. I haven't been active in veterans affairs or dwelt very much on my war experiences, but all the 50th Anniversary publicity on The Battle of the Bulge has brought back many memories, with it memories of Lt. Prosnick. I feel I need to tell his survivors and those that were associated with him at one time or another what a fine officer he was.
When the Germans attacked the Re-con Troop was occupying some high ground considerably east of the German border. I was manning a light machine gun in a foward position. The troop was about 30% under strength because of various losses by trenchfoot or frostbite, the result was that our lines were thin.
At considerable risk Lt. Prosnick carried messages and warned me of German movements. He kept me supplied with machine gun belts. After some 30 hours in the fox-hole he even found some food and brought it up. When he did these things he was exposing himself to German bullets. I was grateful for the ammunition because we were able to hold the Germans a better part of two days before we were overrun.
Lt. Prosnick was a brave and resourceful officer and supported his men in every possible way. I felt his loss deeply when a British bomb killed him in the rail yards at Limberg. He was admired and respected. Even though I am 50 years late I want his survivors to know this
TURNING POINT (ABC NEWS)
A letter of appreciation
by Arthur W. Potts, 424/K
Dear Gentlemen and Ladies of Turning Point
I want to express my sincere and deepest appreciation to all of you on your OUTSTANDING program, December 15, 1994. Battle of the Bulge and the 50th Anniversary of World War II's last Christmas.
I can't find words to adequately tell you how very meaningful your program was to me. David Brinkley's narration was done with such empathy - understanding and feeling - the video portrayal came to life.
On behalf of the often overlooked 106th Infantry, I especially want to express appreciation to ABC for giving due and balanced recognition to our Golden Lions for the role they played that Deli, bee 50 years ago.
I personally did not go through it. y role was not so heroic or hectic. In the aftermath my twin brother, Bill, and I were sent in as replacements. Not-withstanding, I feel a strong and bonding kinship with the men who endured that most horrendous battle of battles. Thank you for the broad and comprehensive picture from home-front to front-line!!!
I have ordered a written program transcript, but would very much appreciate you making available video tapes. I feel sure many in our 106th Infantry Division Association would treasure them.
Sincerely
Arthur W. Potts.
(Editor's note - A job well done Arthur. Let us know what you hear. Most all of the ones I know around here taped it on home video recorders. There are others that wrote, also. Hope all our members were able to catch this one.... J. Kline)
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Front & Center ...
Statement of c7ntent of
articles appearing in The CUB...
Information contained in this maga-zine is for the reading enjoyment of the members of the 106th Infantry Division Association. Articles and letters appear-ing in this publication by members are not edited for historical accuracy, they are the thoughts and beliefs of the member as he remembers the facts as he writes them.
We are not all historians, (EVEN THEY ARE NOT CORRECT AT TIMES), we are merely one of
the players in the vast experiences of our life and enjoy sharing our life and thoughts with our comrades who seem to enjoy reading our views and comments..
On different occasions, as the CUB editor, I have been accused, in writing, of furthering the lies about the facts revolv-ing around the 106th Infantry Division in Europe. (Reason: I published some facts lat a person felt was incorrect.) The same Wement was made, by the same person, when I announced that I was compiling information from the old CUBs and other sources, to write the book The CUB of the Golden Lion: PASSES in Review.
These statements were made to me in a personal letter, or in another case as comments in a personal letter to another person after which copies of the original letters were distributed to the kibitzer's "unknown mailing list." This person, an Association member, refuses to devulge, to me, his mailing list recipients in order for me to refute, correct, or argue the point. What is fair? I think a statement is in order:
The facts as I state in the last para-graph give me reason to say, "That the stories and articles published in The CUB are not the views of the 106th Infantry Division Association or the editor unless it is in reference to Association business."
John Kline. editor
A Special Letter from Dick Peterson, "I" Co., 423rd Inf.
It is a clear cold day in California. the kind that reminds me of the cold winter fifty years ago. I am addressing Christmas Cards while listening to Carols.
One of my cards goes to a special family in Bad Orb. I have worshipped with them in the church from which came the bells we heard on Christmas Day 1944. One address is on Haup-strasse, the present day name of the main street in Stalag IX-A, to the house of a man who spent many Christmas. in a Russian Gulag. I have slept in his home, warm and safe, le. than one hundred yards away from the barracks where we onxce waited for death in the cold. These greetings and good wishes now go to men with whom we once tried to fight to death. They, as do we, gather this Holiday Season to marvel at the miracle of Bethlehem.
Some greetings go to former soldiers of France. They, while surviving their fifth year of capture, gave of their slim rations to help us stay alive during that bitter winter. It was truly a gift of life. No present will ever be as important to the giver or receiver.
As I listen to the beauty of the words of Silent Night, I realize Stille Nacht meant little to us as we spent Christmas Eve listening to the rattle of bombs and the sreams of our com-rades. We could have no appreciation then. of being in the land where so many Christmas traditions began. To appreciate this beautiful hymn was of little concern when we could think only about survival.
Over the years since we again found our freedom, I have found that most men are men of good will. Each Christmas with its melange of memories reminds me forcibly that the glory of the Christmas Story goes on all over the world. I pray the peace we live in today will last forever.
And let the healing continue.
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Front & Center...
It's almost over...
John Kline, editor
Dan Wascoe, Jr., Staff Writer, for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote on 15 January...
It's almost over, the long parade of 50-year remembrances of World War II. For survivors of D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and less famous events, this golden anniversary round of reunions and celebrations could be the last hurrah
For the 106th Infantry Division, it's going to be hard to beat the year of 1995. I really think it started with the 48th Annual Reunion at Fort Jackson where so many attended the place were some took their Basic Training. There is a special bond between men that are thrown together to train for their special place in history. Just as there is a special bond between POW comrades that walked miles together, or men of the 424th who continued the battle for the 106th into towns named Trois Ponts, Manhay and Spineux.
The year continued with a special group traveling together to Belgium to visit St. Vith and the re-dedication of the St. Vith Memorial and the battle area, some for the first time since they left Europe. Then on to Parker's Crossroads. All the while being followed by the ABC Turning Point TV Crew. Hopefully some of those scenes shot at St. Vith and Parker's Crossroads will eventually show up on TV. ABC did do a great job on The Last Christmas which was aired on 15 December on ABC News Turning Point.
Credit that seemed to have been lacking in past years.
Earlier in the month we were pleased to see on Public TV on The American Experience Series, scenes from the Battle of the Bulge and personal interviews with Roger Rutland, 1st Sergeant, 424/B and Retired Brig. Gen. Oliver Patton, who was a 2nd Lt in 423/F. (That reminds me 011ie, At Roanoke you asked me, "Kline, where were you when I needed you most?" Mike Company had it's hands full with Item and Lima companies, sorry Ollie...) Both Roger and Oliver did a fantanstic job during the interviews and got a lot of points across for the 106th. I also found it most interesting to see some different footage of battle scenes that I had not seen on other Bulge films.
There was also a lot of activity in different localities. I have a desk full of newspaper clippings from various where 106th men were sought out interviewed by local newspapers militray correspondents.
The 106th faired well in the Minneapolis area. I had a front page article and picture in the 13 December Star-Tribune, by corresponndent Chuck Haga who had done one on me in 1990. There wasover 100 inches of print continuing to another page. with about a half page of maps that were drawn by the Star-Trib map maker using some material I supplied.
Then on December 161 was called by the St. Paul Pioneer Press correspondent Wayne Wangstad who intervievvd me, sent a photographer and interviewed two of my referrals, Paul Thompson, 106 Recon and Phil Gerlach 424/D. The three of as had about a page, starti,,g on the front page, with maps and photos.
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Front & Center ...
On 8 December, at Fort Snelling , St. Paul, MN I was privileged to speak to 285 vets, war buffs and historians about the Battle of the Bulge.
The World War 11 History Round Table is a product of Harold Deutsch, a reknown historian in this area. It is held monthly from October to May at the Historical Museum auditorium at Fort Snelling, near the Minneapolis VMAC.
I explained the training and history of the 106th from Fort Jackson, through the Bulge. I had excellent slides to show the battle lines and division displacements. When you see it graphically, it doesn't matter whether we were spread over 27 miles or 22 miles, we were in a very exposed position.
Some people seem to forget that the 14th Cavalry was attached to our division *that was where the Germans waltzed ugh the Losheim Gap. But count all u our support, including Corps artillery, at the same time discounting those numbers on the German side.
The meeting in Nov featured the Pacific War, December the Bulge and January the story of The USS Franklin an Essex class air-craft carrier who survived terrible battle damge when she was within 100 miles of Japan. This carrier, looking like a piece of swiss cheese, made it back to the Philadelphia Ship Yards (12,000 miles) and was rebuilt. A fantastic story. Other localities featured:
The Arizona Star had a three day spread on the Bulge. 106ers featured were Henry V. Hayden, 81st/C; Herman Van DeBogart, 423/A; Winfield Rosenberg, 422/D a Jewish soldier who ended up at Berga on the Elster as a POW working in the mines. John Swett, 423/H, who was not Jewish, was also sent to Berga along with his best friend Ralph Leavitt.
Leavitt died a few days before liberation. Another 423rd Regiment man Richard Kahn was also featured, he spent time at Stalag 4-B. Richard Behr, 423rd Service Company was featured in the Arizona Republic in another article.
I hope I didn't miss any of the 106ers in these three issues - each of which was about four and one-half pages, all about the Bulge. Good job Arizona.
John McCarron, correspondent, a golf buddy of Walter E. Martin, 423/E wrote a Christmas article about Walter in the Chicago Tribune.
John Robb 422/D, our Memorial Chairman, and Paul Graham, 422nd Regiment were featured in the Meadeville News, Meadeville, PA. Interesting part of this story is that Robb and Graham have lived in the same neighborhood for 35 years and did not know that each had belonged to the 106th.
Oh yes, the Dec 16th article with Paul Thompson, Phil Gerlach and myself was also run in the Mobile Alabama Register. Dale Carver, 423/HQ A& P Platoon Leader, sent me a copy - seems that the two papers are in a syndicate and picked up the St. Paul story from the wire.
Dan Bied 422/A wrote a feature article for the Des Moines Register on 11 December. A great story - Dan has a nack of dealing with words - I've said it before I like his style... He also had one in the 10 December Burlington, IA Hawkeye
Duncan Trueman, 424/AT, see page 5, was featured in a news article 8 August, 1994 of the Middletown, NY, RECORD. You remember Duncan from the inspired speech he gave at Mount Rushmore during the 48th Annual Reunion. See page 22-24 The CUB Vol 51 - No.1 Oct-Nov-Dec 1994.
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to "piss on them" if the cold weather froze our rifle bolts. My articles also mentioned some "Golden Lion" men I didn't know. Lt. Bill Shakespeare, I pointed out, captured a German officer with battle plans in his briefcase, a nifty thing for a former Notre Dame football star to do. There was also mention of the GI who, after losing an eye, stuffed the gaping socket with sulfa powder so he could keep on fighting. I'll never know the identity of the first dead
American I saw, tangled in a barbed fence in his overcoat but without* boots, or the first dead German who, was looking up at me from a ditch. My writings about the war, etc., will probably go on as long as my Royal 440 keeps functioning and my right index fin-ger, the one used for most of my typing, stays limber.
I am, as my friend Gene Powell noted on his Christmas card, either blessed or cursed vvith an "obsession" to write. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome submitted by Richard Riggati, 423/8, 1st V.-Pres, 106th Infantry Division Associabon Dr. Matthew J. Friedman of the VA says, "Few veterans who have PTSD know they have it." Fifty years since our experiences, there are those of us who have moved a dozen times, changed jobs often, have intermittent sleep, only sleep several hours a night, are remote to our wives or children, have not told anyone of our shocking experiences, dream about dead bodies, etc., etc. PTSD has become the catch-all term for the trauma of war, the illness has been given many names over the years-combat fatigue, war neurosis, shell shock and more. PTSD is considered an anxiety disorder caused by some form of traumatic experience. This experience is called a stressor and victims tend to relive the experience over and over a '- Some of the more serious victims had for many years been ignored by the VA. "Many fo POWs suffer from PTSD," says Dr. Pat Sutker. She says studies indicate that physical deprivation, such as starvation, seems to make the likelihood of PTSD even stronger.
According to many VA experts, many WWII veterans suffering from PTSD immersed themselves in their jobs to suppress their problems. But once they retire, those long buried marks of PTSD emerge. "Retirement tends to exacerbate the symptoms," Sutker says. "As we get older, we become less able to fight off the symptoms. "Without work to focus on, all the old memories come flooding back."
At one time,psychological problems carried a stigma. Among WWII veterans there w. a reluctance to seek mental health assistance. The stigma still exists, but many are so tortured by their problems that eventually they seek help. The VA now has a strong program of medical, physical assistance available to you, not excluding compensation for these problems. If you have any of the following symptoms, you should contact your VA Center: Psychic numbing: An inability to "feel feelings."
Helplessness:Feeling powerless over ones job or life.
Depression:Intense guilt or sadness.
Aggression:Fear of crowds, suspicions of others.
Anxiety/Panic Attacks: Often intense or unexplainable nightmares, usually involving past war experiences, with sweating, shaking or screaming.
Flashbacks:Easily triggered intense reliving of a traumatic event.
Avoidance:Rejection of people, activities associated with war.
Selective Memory: Forgetting main events but remembering small details.
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THE SEVEN SAMURAI
From West Point to a German Stalag with the Class of '44 by Okyer B. Patton 2nd Lt. 423/F( '44-'45). Brig. Gen. USA (Ret.) West Point ASSEMBLY, May 1994 Permission by Association of Graduates, USMA, West Point, New York 10996On 6 June 1944 storm clouds threatened, so Major General Wilby moved the commencement ceremony under cover, and Lieutenant General Brehon Somervel I, commanding Army Service Forces, walked to the front of the stage erected in the cavernous field house. he didn't give us the old, comforting words about "bid farewell to Kaydet Gray and don the Army Blue." He hit us on the head. "This morning," he said, " Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing allied armies on the northern coast of France." Three years earlier, the Japanese had bombed America into a war that shortened our West Point stay by a year and forced Herff-Jones to change the 1945 on our class rings to 1944. Now, that war had flung American ground forces against the Germans in France, and we would join them. "Maybe not," said the sages. "It will be over by Christmas." We have heard that in every war since, but in 1944 we believed it. Forget France, we told ourselves. There's a war in the Pacific and sake for the winner. Our ground warriors scattered for a short leave on their way to more education at schools where they issued no hop shoes or red sashes: Belvoir, Sill, Riley, Davis and Hood. To Fort Benning, home of the Queen of Battle, went our infantrymen. West Point taught us things like The Calculus; Fort Benning taught as how to stay alive until you could use it. Not all bad. Weekends you crossed the Chattahoochee River to wild, free Alabama and a roadhouse
The Seven Samurai ... where you got a big cup of ice and a Coke or ginger ale for 50 cents. What else went into the cup was your choice as long as you kept it in a brown paper bag.
Monday morning you trudged into the sand hills of Georgia singing another song, one that began with "High above the Chattahoochee, near the Upatoy..." but got serious at the end: Onward ever, backward never, Follow me and die.
To the Port of Embarkation, Next of kin, goodbye.
Suddenly, the war in Europe wasn't going to be over by Christmas, and a second lieutenant of infantry in that fight had an average combat life expectancy of ten days before he was killed, wounded or missing in action.
Fort Benning cut our course to twelve weeks, but the Army didn't want us to go to war as individual replacements; after Benning we would join a division still in training in the USA. West Point had told as that in a memorandum issued in May 1944. "Tentatively," it read, this is "a list of unit and station assignments for cadets who will be commissioned in Infantry, Field Artillery and Cavalry upon graduation." Ten infantrymen of the Class of 1944 learned that they were slated for the 106th Infantry Division at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Three went elsewhere, but the remaining seven left Fort Benning the last day of September with no delay en-route: Bob Wessels, Jim Giles, Howard Richards, Kern Pitts, 011ie Patton, George Wear and Tom Lawrence. The Seven Samurai: first members of the Class of 1944 to go into combat with an infantry unit. The handwriting was on the wall by the time we got to Camp Atterbury.
"Patton," said his regimental commander, "have you an automobile?" "Yes, Sir."
"Get rid of it. Now!"
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to "piss on them" ifthe cold weather froze our rifle bolts. My articles also mentioned some "Golden Lion" men I didn't know. Lt. Bill Shakespeare, I pointed out, captured a German officer with battle plans in his brief case, a nifty thing for a former Notre Dame football star to do. There was also mention of the GI who, after losing an eye, stuffed the gaping socket with sulfa powder so he could keep on fighting. I' II never know the identity of the first dead American I saw, tangled in a barbed fence in his overcoat but without., boots, or the first dead German who, was looking up at me from a ditch. My writings about the war, etc., will probably go on as long as my Royal 440 keeps functioning and my right index finger, the one used for most of my typing, stays limber. I am, as my friend Gene Powell noted on his Christmas card, either blessed or cursed with an "obsession" to write. 0 Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome submitted by Richard Riggati, 423/B, 1st Vice-Pres, 106th Infantry Division Association Dr. Matthew J. Friedman of the VA says, "Few veterans who have PTSD know they have it." Fifty years since our experiences, there are those of us who have moved a dozen times, changed jobs often, have intermittent sleep, only sleep several hours a night, are remote to our wives or children, have not told anyone of our shocking experiences, dream about dead bodies, etc., etc. PTSD has become the catch-all term for the trauma of war, the illness has been given many names over the years-combat fatigue, war neurosis, shell shock and more.
PTSD is considered an anxiety disorder caused by some form of traumatic experience. This experience is called a stressor and victims tend to relive the experience over and over a Some of the more serious victims had for many years been ignored by the VA. "Many fo- POWs suffer from PTSD," says Dr. Pat Sutker. She says studies indicate that physical deprivation, such as starvation, seems to make the likelihood of PTSD even stronger.
According to many VA experts, many WWII veterans suffering from PTSD immersed themselves in their jobs to suppress their problems. But once they retire, those long buried marks of PTSD emerge. "Retirement tends to exacerbate the symptoms," Sutker says. "As we get older, we become less able to fight off the symptoms. "Without work to focus on, all the old memories come flooding back." At one time,psychological problems carried a stigma. Among WWII veterans there was a reluctance to seek mental health assistance. The stigma still exists, but many are so tortured by their problems that eventually they seek help. The VA now has a strong program of medical, physical assistance available to you, not excluding compensation for these problems. If you have any of the following symptoms, you should contact your VA Center:
Psychic numbing: An inability to "feel feelings." Helplessness:Feeling powerless over ones job or life. Depression:Intense guilt or sadness. Aggression:Fear of crowds, suspicions of others. Anxiety/Panic Attacks: Often intense or unexplainable nightmares, usually involving past war experiences, with sweating, shaking or screaming. Flashbacks:Easily triggered intense reliving of a traumatic event. Avoidance:Rejection of people, activities associated with war. Selective Memory: Forgetting main events but remembering small details.
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THE SEVEN SAMURAI
I extracted most of this from an article written by Ken Scharnberg printed in the American Legion magazine. Richard L. Rigatti From West Point to a German Stalag with the Class of '44 by Oliver B. Patton 2nd t.t. 423/F(.44-'45), Brig. Gen. USA (Ret.) West Point ASSEMBLY, Map 1994 Permission by Association of Graduates, USMA, West Point, New York 109960n 6 June 1944 storm clouds threatened, so Major General Wilby moved the commencement ceremony under cover, and Lieutenant General Brehon Somervel I, commanding Army Service Forces, walked to the front of the stage erected in the cavernous field house. he didn't give us the old, comforting words about "bid farewell to Kaydet Gray and don the Army Blue." He hit as on the head. "This morning," he said, " Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing allied armys on the northern coast of France." Three years earlier, the Japanese had bombed America into a war that shortened our West Point stay by a year and forced Herff-Jones to change the 1945 on our class rings to 1944. Now, that war had flung American ground forces against the Germans in France, and we would join them. "Maybe not," said the sages. "It will be over by Christmas." We have heard that in every war since, but in 1944 we believed it. Forget France, we told ourselves. There's a war in the Pacific and sake for the winner. Our ground warriors scattered fora short leave on their way to more education at schools where they issued no hop shoes or red sashes: Belvoir, Sill, Riley, Davis and Hood. To Fort Benning, home of the Queen of Battle, went our infantrymen.
West Point taught us things like The Calculus; Fort Benning taught us how to stay alive until you could use it. Not all bad. Weekends you crossed the Chattahoochee River to wild, free Alabama and a roadhouse The Seven Samurai... where you got a big cup of ice and a Coke or ginger ale for 50 cents. What else went into the cup was your choice as long as you kept it in a brown paper bag.
Monday morning you trudged into the sand hills of Georgia singing another song, one that began with "High above the Chattahoochee, near the Upatoy..." but got serious at the end:
Onward ever, backward never, Follow me and die.
To the Port of Embarkation, Next of kin, goodbye.
Suddenly, the war in Europe wasn't going to be over by Christmas, and a second lieutenant of infantry in that fight had an average combat life expectancy of ten days before he was killed, wounded or missing in action.
Fort Benning cut our course to twelve weeks, but the Army didn't want as to go to war as individual replacements; after Benning we would join a division still in training in the USA. West Point had told us that in a memorandum issued in May 1944. "Tentatively," it read, this is "a list of unit and station assignments for cadets who will be commissioned in Infantry, Field Artillery and Cavalry upon graduation." Ten infantrymen of the Class of 1944 learned that they were slated for the 106th Infantry Division at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Three went elsewhere, but the remaining seven left Fort Benning the last day of September with no delay en route: Bob Wessels, Jim Giles, Howard Richards, Kern Pitts, 011ie Patton, George Wear and Tom Lawrence. The Seven Samurai: first members of the Class of 1944 to go into combat with an infantry unit. The handwriting was on the wall by the time we got to Camp Atterbury.
"Patton," said his regimental commander, "have you an automobile?" "Yes, Sir."
"Get rid of it. Now!"
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The Seven Samurai...
Two days later the division advance party left for Camp Myles Standish in Massachu-setts. In those days, people went to Standish for only one purpose: on 10 October the rest of the division followed, on its way to Europe. The 106th Infantry Division, activated in March 1943, had training as good as or better than any division still in the United States, but it was drained by the war overseas. Be-fore it shipped out, almost sixty percent of its enlisted men had been stripped from the division as individual replacements.
Wessels Giles Richards Pitts Patton Wear and Lawrence The Seven Samurai To replace them, the 106th received drafts from the Arrny Specialized Training Program in colleges and universities, from the Army Air Forces, replacement depots, Service Forces, as well as volunteers from antiaircraft, coast artillery and military po-lice units. Good men, but few were trained as infantrymen, and the 106th had no time to remedy that.
The three infantry regiments of the 106th were numbered the 422nd. 423rd and 424th. My friends, remember the heavy hand of your academic standing at USMA. The Seven Samurai were assigned to those regi-ments in order of their class standing: Wes-sels and Giles our intellectuals-to the 422nd; Richards, Pitts and Patton to the 423rd; Wear
and Lawrence- the goats to the 424th. Between 19 October and 17 November the division assembled in England. There was training of a sort there. Patton saw his regimental commander to answer a charge of aborting pregnant sheep when his platoon fired blanks near the local flocks. By 6 De-cember the 106th was ashore in France, assigned to First U.S. Army and attached to VIllth U.S. Corps. We were ordered to take over a sector of the line held by the veteran 2d Division. Replace them man for man. gun for gun, they said, and hurry. The 2d was going north to attack the dams on the Roer River. They left us what they called a prize: 22 miles of front just across the Belgian border in Ger-many, eight miles of it a salient sticking into the German lines along a high ridge called the Schnee Eifel. No sweat, said old hands in the 2d. This is the Ghost Front. No fight-ing. They put you here to leam your trade. it is not precisely correct to sayAk
the Seven Samurai were the fir. USMA 1944 to go into combo. We didn't go, it came to us - in the dawn of 16 December 1944 - when Hitler launched his last desperate offensive of the war.
Two divisions of German Volksgre-nadiers stormed into us, reinforced by a brigade of assault guns and some of Adolf Hitler's lesser innovations: machine guns that didn't go "bop ... bop ... bop" like ours but coughed out an awesome "br up!"; six-barrel launchers on wheels firing 150mm rockets. Coming at you, they made a noise like wet brakes, and they weren't very accurate, but when those things hit it was Apocalypse Now. All that came out of the fog at us in the dawn of December 16th. We thought they were tanks, but the things on tracks were only Sturmgeschtitze - assault guns. They looked like a tank, made a noise like a tank, and had a big cannon sticking out in front.
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When you shot at them, it annoyed them. We had gone into the line in neat order: 422nd, 423rd and 424th regiments, from north to south. On our left, in the Losheim Gap, was a squadron of armored cavalry: light tanks and armored cars. The Germans went through them like cold cream through a tin horn. A few miles to the south , they broke through on the boundary between the 423rd and 424th. On the 17th, their pincers closed around the two northern regiments. Braced by a combat command of the 9th Armored Division, the 424th fought its way back to the Our River, but one of its two Samurai, George Wear, was missing. Early on the morning of the 16th, George lost a race with a German mortar shell. He crossed the Our River in an ambulance with a "million dollar wound" that took him to a hospital in England. The 424th joined a catch-as-catch-can defense of the town of Saint Vith by elements wo armored divisions and a regiment of k 8th Infantry Division. They held Saint vs until midnight 21 December before falling back. Only one of the Seven Samurai, Tom Lawrence, had a piece of that epic fight.
The other five Samurai? Gone ducks. Bagged by the Germans with the remnants of the 422nd and 423rd Infantry Regiments who fought their way from their original positions in the Siegfried Line to a hill across the Our from the Belgian village of Schonberg. There, what was left of their regiments dropped from the rolls of the U.S. Army. One of the five didn't even make it to Schonberg. Patton's war, as described by John Eisenhower in his book The Bitter-Woods, lasted three days and took place in a triangle behind the Siegfried Line, three-quarters of a mile on each side. Wounded, he was left in an aid station tended by a volunteer medic. Sometime after Wessels, Giles, Richards and Pitts were captured by the Wehrmacht, a German soldier looked The Seven Samurai... into the basement housing the abandoned aid station and winked at Patton. "For you," he said, "the war is over." Each of the remaining five Samurai, those with the higher class standing, you remember, had his own lonely story to tell. Wessels went to a PW camp in Poland; Giles, Richards and Pitts to another at Hammelburg in northwest Bavaria; Patton toured German hospitals east of the Rhine.
About Easter of 1945, Hitler gathered thousands of POWs in a huge camp near Nuremberg in Bavaria. Expelled from a hospital in Thuringia as soon as he could walk, Patton was shipped to Nuremberg, where he was accosted by a scarecrow in a muddy overcoat and a ragged wool knit cap.
"011ie?" it asked, "You got a toothbrush, 011ie?" Two equally shabby tramps accompanied him. "You all right, 011ie?" asked one.
"Got anything to eat?" asked the other. The hygienic scarecrow was Ted Altier, USMA 1944, captured during the German drive into the Vosges Mountains of Alsace in January 1945. The other two were Samurai Jim Giles and Howie Richards. Their stay at Hammelburg had been enlivened by an American attempt to free the prisoners there. A small task force from Third U.S. Army reached the POW camp, freed the inmates briefly but was overwhelmed by a counterattack. During this wild donnybrook, Kern Pitts disappeared; no one knew where.
Giles and Richards were recaptured by a farmer with a shotgun. He turned them over to a German army sergeant who was convinced his prisoners were Russian. Leaving in Nuremberg those POWs incapable of walking, the Germans sent the remainder off on an erratic march south, deeper into Bavaria. Giles, Richards, Patton and Altier went with them. All day the prisoner column marched, halting each night in some farm village. It appeared that the
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The first few days were mightily enlivened by the U.S. Army Air Corps. They had missed the fuse factories in Furth, reduced the walled town of Nuremberg to gravel and interpreted the shabby exodus as hostile. They strafed the POWs until the outraged reaction got their attention. When it dawned on the pilots who they were strafing, they tossed out whatever they had in the cockpit that could be eaten or smoked. In those days, tobacco was socially acceptable. The threat of air attack abated, the abiding neurosis of all POWs returned. Food. There was never enough of it. The Germans issued their prisoners just enough at irregular intervals to madden and tantalize. The principal item was something they called "Kommisbrat," a vile substance. If a fragment was cut or broken from the issued chunk, a man could soak it in his jaw until it softened enough to chew and swallow. A better use was to put it in the thin, doubtful soup occasionally doled out at the halt of the march for the night.
The Gang of Four, organized for survival, was led by Howard Richards, a big man with a hunger to match. He displayed such an awesome appetite as a cadet, he was christened by his classmates, "Boodler" Richards. At every break during the march, three of the Gang scavenged for food and the fourth gathered twigs to make a fire when the column halted in the evening.
The principal item to be found beside the road in great earthen barrows was a rusty colored thing the size of a football. Cow-beets, we called them; fodder for farm animals stored in the earth to keep them from freezing in the winter. Peeled, sliced and boiled, it was marginally edible, but it had to be boiled. Raw it was impervious to man. At evening the beets were peeled, chopped, sliced or mashed, covered with water and boiled. But it usually took so long to boil that darkness overtook the process. When dark fell, the German guards threatened to shoot any man who made a light, much less a fire.
"Finish," he said . "Your President Rosenfelt
is dead. Now you make peace." It was startling news.
There was a guard by the barn and someone traded him a cigarette butt for conversation. It must have been the second or week of April 1945, and he was eager to
"Finish," he said. "Your Presi Rosenfelt is dead. Now you make peace." It was startling news. One night we caught and cooked a hen.We named her Christine. 4Christine was a turning point. After her, things seemed better. Now the guards paid more at-
tention to the rumble of artillery fire, daily closer. "Nobody try to run away now " they said. "Soon the war is over for everyone." Even the Germans seemed to have no idea where we were going. Some days we marched only a few hours. One day we did not march at all. American artillery drew closer and American planes swooped low, rocking their wings at us. Someone in the headquarters of the International Red Cross in Geneva was sending great white trucks north into Bavaria, guided to us, we supposed, by the friendly aircraft. POW parcels
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fre packed by a dozen different nations for their own men were now distributed indiscriminately to any encountered. There was canned Australian bacon, American peanut butter and French packets with big, beautiful chocolate bars.
Finally, our guards found a place to put us: another sprawling prison camp at a village called Moosberg on the Isar River. We joined thousands of men from many nations. Some had been prisoners since 1939. Some had been reduced to animals; others, in tattered uniforms, shaved daily, saluted their officers and took great care of one another. Then, an elderly German officer in clean uniform and polished boots came to the senior American POW, Colonel Paul Ryan Goode, USMA August 1917, a legendary man. Goode, it was said, was the man who cut a deal with the Germans at Nuremberg. If they would leave the sick and wounded Americans to be recovered, he would lead all who could walk in the march south. He south with a bagpipe under his arm, it was whispered that in it was a POW-made radio that brought word of what was happening in the real world. If that is not true, it ought to be. Paul Goode was a man to do things like that.
At Moosberg his legend grew. They say the German officer came to him to propose another deal. The Americans would be there in three days. If Colonel Goode would keep his men in order, the German guards would be withdrawn and he, the German commandant, would go with a flag of truce to the advancing Americans to tell them not to fire on Moosberg.
Colonel Goode must have agreed. The German guards certainly disappeared, but before the 14th US Armored Division appeared, an SS unit got into Moosberg and there was a hell of a fight. They say the elderly German officer came back, erect and soldierly, with tears in his eyes. "I apologize," he told Colonel Goode.
The Seven Samurai...
"What happens is not correct, but those people do not obey my orders."
An American tank roared into view, greeted by thousands of screaming, waving prisoners. It smashed through the barbed wire fence, and prisoners spilled.
Three of the Seven Samurai and Ted AI-tier were out of the slammer. Our war was over. Our classmate, Fred Black, appeared with the 99th Infantry Division, welcomed us back to the real world and took letters from us to be mailed home. Our liberators had more trouble with the inhabitants of the POW camp than with the SS. American troops, still fighting a war, had small patience with us. They told us to stay in the camp and behave ourselves. There was still not enough food. Richards and Patton wheedled permission to leave the camp to look for friends in passing American units. But it was not friends they sought. From door to door they went, demanding food for hungry POWs. No food, said the townsfolk. "Alles aus! Alles kaput!"
Boodler Richards dealt with that by chalking a symbol on the inhospitable door. When the worried owner asked what it meant, Boodler said it was a sign to tell freed Russian prisoners this was the house of a Nazi. Out came a sweating housewife, arms full of hidden food. In return, the housewife received grave permission to scrub the evil sign from her door. We were taken away to a great, sprawling tent camp at Saint Valery en Caux on the French coast near Le Havre to await return home. It was the camp named Lucky Strike; they were good to us there.
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We waited for promised ships and someone complained so bitterly that General Eisenhower sent a man to tell us to shut up and be patient. When troops bound for an unfinished war in the Pacific had been shipped out, there might be something to take us home.After a long time there were ships for us and we went home a little worried. Pris- The Seven Samurai... oners of war were not so popular then as they are of late and we wondered how we would be received; what people would say to us and about us.
It wasn't bad at all. We had ninety days of leave. To top that off, we learned we had been accruing first, not second, lieutenant's pay since March 1945. Home then, to joyous parents and girls we had once known. Many had married since we last saw thcm.
Our short war was over. All of the Seven Samurai came home alive, Ted Altier with us. Giles, Richards and Patton emerged from the chaos of the Thousand-Year Reich via Moosberg. Kern Pitts, lost in the uproar of the American raid at Hammelburg, had been recaptured.
Tom Lawrence won the Silver Star fighting with the 424th.
Altogether, the Seven Samurai boasted that medal, a Commendation Medal, six Purple Hearts and seven Combat Infantryman badges.
Bob Wessels ended his war in a POW camp near Potsdam. When the Russian advance scattered the guards, Bob stole a bicycle and headed west. He reached Rheims, France the day the Germans signed an un-conditional surrender in that town. He saw Kern Pitts at Camp Lucky Strike, but the medics put him in a hospital in Paris and he didn't get home until later.
The other two Samurai of the 106th Infantry Division, George Wear and "Ski-nose" Lawrence; what of them? George came out of the hospital in Eng-land to rejoin the 424th Infantry in Germany and sift through thousands of captured Ger-mans, searching for those wanted for crimes. "Ski-nose" Lawrence was the shiny side of our coin. He fought on with the 424th, the only regiment of the 106th to survive the debacle on the Our River. They joined the troops holding the north shoulder of the German offensive and in January 1945 at-tacked a little town called Ennal and were stopped cold, but the 424th wouldn't quit. The lead company stormed Enna! again, with them the regimental and division commanders: Colonel Reid and Brigadier General Perrin. They took Ennal; Reid badly wounded, Perrin fighting pistol in hand, with his infantrymen.
Tom Lawrence won the Silver Stars4)- ing with the 424th. Altogether, the Samurai boasted that medal, a Commendation Medal, six Purple Hearts and seven Combat Infantryman badges.
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Ithere are no longer Seven Samu- rai to tell these tall tales, but we call the full roll when we lift a glass to the memory of the first seven of the Class of 1944 to join the war. No matter if the five of us had more "bad time" than good. CI Eric Wood Memorial rededication...
Eric Wood monument restored by the Eric Wood grave at Henri Chapelle ,nelux Reserve Officers Association (ROA). Memorial Day flowers by Adda & Willy Rikken Flowers- Princeton Class of '42; Dr Emil Mertes, (friends of Robert Lowry and the 106th Inf. Div.) Burgermeister of Arne': ROA, Adda & Willy Rikken. Eric Wood Memo rial Rededicated by Robert N. Lowry, Associate Member 1953 to retirement in 1989 (public utility regulation, About Robert Lowry: A classmate of Eric Wood, banking. corporate and hospital law). Jr.. Princeton 1942. - Born Washington. D.C. Feb. 25, Served as member of board of directors and com- 1919; Princeton University. B.A. 1942; married Mary mittees of local hospitals and church and church-af- Dudley. former Navy nurse in the South Pacifi, in filiated organkations. 1946; two children; four grandchildren. The Europa was a North German Lloyd passenger Appointed 2nd Lieutenant A US June I. 1942 from ship, the third largest passenger ship afloat (after the Field Artillery ROTC program; commissioned 2nd Queen Mary and Queen Elimbeth ), converted at Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve July 3. 1942; Bremerhaven under the supervision of the Navy into a field artillery officer 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Ma troopship to carry troops home from Europe.
Marine Division, December 14, 1942-April 12, 1945 (par With 100 Marines, I was in charge of the security
ticipated in invasions of Bougainville [Nov. 19431, of the ship while a was undergoing conversion. On Guam [July 19441 and Iwo Jima [Feb. 19451; CO temporary assignment I made only the maiden voyage
Marine Detachment. USS Europa. Bremerhaven, Ger to the States. The ship made a few additional voyages many [.4ug.-Sept. 1945 to inactive duty Jan. 28. 1946.] Men the Maritime Commission found it to be unsafe
University of Virginia School of Law. /94-48. LL. to operate further. The Europa sank m shallow water B. 1948. Attorney, Southern Railway Companv, Wash in a storm at Lellavre in about 1946, was refloated,
ington, D.C. 1948-50; associate and partner. Turney renovated and sailed as the Libertie of the French Line & Turney, Washington. D.C. 1950-53; associate and until about 1960 when it was scrapped...
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partner, Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, San Francisco. (continued on next five pages) Eric Wood Memorial rededication...
In his book, Battle: The Story of the Bulge, John Inland writes, Them are many impressive monuments to the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes.... My favorite is on a lonely foot trail several miles from the village of Meyerode. Hem in the middle of a dense forest lies a moss-covered mound in the form of a cross the exact spot where 1st Lieutenant Eric Wood, Jr., died. Across the path is a small monument built by the people of Meyerode. On it in English in (mistaking his rank) they have chiseled, "In January 1945 died here in heroic struggles by the German Offensive Eric Fisher Wood Captain U.S. Army."
The events leading up to Wood's death have been reported in a number of publications including Toland's book and in St. Vith: Lion in the Way, the 106th Infantry Division in World War II, by Colonel R. Ernest Dupuy. Briefly stated, they are that, on December 17, 1944, the 589th Field Artillery Battalion's Battery A, of which Wood was the executive officer, was attempting to withdraw to Schur, berg. When Wood was faced with capture, he escaped into the nearby forest. On December 18th, Peter Maraite, a German-speaking Belgian seeking a Christmas tree, encountered Wood and an unidentified enlisted man. Despite the presence of German troops in the area, Maraite led them to his home in Meyerode where his wife Anna Maria and daughter Eva were. There they were fed and given shelter overnight.
It appears from statements given by the Maraites that it was Wood's intention that, if he was not able to reach the American position at St. Vith, he would wage guerrilla warfare against German supply movements through the woods of the Ommer Scheid. Subsequent reports of small arms and mortar fire, coupled with German complaints of enemy attacks in the area, suggest that Wood may have been carrying out his stated intentions. On February 25, 1945, a Graves Registration detail of the 424th Infantry, which included S/Sgt. John S. Fisher and Pvt. William F. Lucas, responded to a report of dead soldiers in the woods south easterly of Meyerode. At the location now marked by the Wood memorial cross, they found the bodies of Woolki unidentified American enlisted man, and seven German soldiers. The fact that Wood had a sum of money in his possession suggested that he had been the survivor of the encounter with the dead Germans.
Wood was subsequently buried at the American Cemetery at Henri Chapelle, Belgium, where over 8,000 other Americans who lost their lives are also interred. While there are other monuments memorializing groups of people or military units, the Wood memorial has had a special significance for many people. In addition to honoring Eric Wood as an individual, it stands as a symbol of the sacrifices of other Americans who also gave their lives in the cause of freedom, but who are not so specifically memorialized. The Wood memorial is shown as a point of interest on maps illustrating tours of the Ardennes battlefields. For some visitors it has a special significance, the extent of which is not always disclosed by any record of their visits. In at least two instances, the record left is intriguingly incomplete. In January 19904 handwritten notes on similarly lined not paper were found on the monument. The t of one reads:
To Lt. Wood May you never be forgotten David Goehring, Jr.
12-28-89
A second note, similar in appearance to the first, but bearing a later date, is longer:December 30th, 1989 With God's help, we will all remember those who died in these woods.
Some died for misguided nationalism and a madman's twisted vision.
Others died for the freedom we still enjoy today May we all work together for a world at peace and for harmony among men.
Lt. Eric F. Wood. you will remain In my memory until I die. I only hope I can justly commemorate your story Steven B. Wheeler Portland, Oregon U. S.A.
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Although the legend on the monument Eric Woo snows Wood's rank as "Captain", both Goe-hring and Wheeler refer to Wood's rank correctly as that of lieutenant. The text of each message and the use of the correct title of "lieutenant" suggests that, apart from the possibility that they had read about Woods activities in the battle, both Goehring and Wheeler knew him personally. Efforts to locate them have been unavailing.
During the summer and fall of 1994, the Belgian people celebrated their liberation by Allied forces from five years of occupation by the Germans. These events relived the joys of freedom regained, revived the memories of oppression and hardship, and prompted remembrance of and mourning for the numerous civilians who lost their lives during the battle or who were executed by the Germans. This period was also the occasion for American veterans to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of their participation in the various military campaigns. Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, wearing their unit patches or other insignia were much in evidence. Dur-
e summer, the Benelux Chapter of the e Officers Association of the United States, Department of Europe, undertook the cleaning and restoration of the Wood monument. The ROA arranged for a memorial serv-ice at the Meyerode church in conjunction with the 10 o'clock mass on Sunday, September. As the church had been badly damaged during the war, Wood's parents helped to re-pair and enlarge the church building. In addition, his father, a brigadier general on Eisen-hower's staff and an architect and builder pre-war, provided architectural services in connection with its reconstruction. The labor required was provided without charge by parishioners. In addition to members of the parish, the congregation at the memorial service on Sep-tember I 1th, estimated to have been 250 in number, included the following:
Benelux Chapter, ROA: Lt. Col. John G. Greene, AUS Ret., Chapter President; Col. Ryall, AUS; Lt. Col. Van der Straeten, AUS;
U.S. Arrny Color Guard: 5 NCOs from 80th Area Support Group, NATO/SHAPE Support Group, Chievres, Belgium; d Memorial rededication...
Air Force Junior ROTC Cadet Corps, SHAPE American High School, SHAPE, Belgium (approximately 30);
Armed Forces TV Unit, SHAPE; » Circle of Reserve Officers of Brussels: Lt. Col. Jean Yves Stocq and other officers.
Belgian Color Guard; » Dr. Emil Mertes, burgermeister of Meyrode-Amel;
Kurt Fagnoul, Gerrnan-speaking historian of the Eastern Cantons.
The following, having had an association with or interest in Eric Wood, were also pre-sent at the church service:
Ted Kiendl, former executive officer of B Battery, 589th F.A. Battalion, good friend of Wood, and vigorous defender of him in postwar controversies. Eva Maraite Kreins, daughter of Peter and Anna Marie Maraite who gave Wood shelter on the night of December 18, 1944
Adds and Willy Rikken, living at Gouvy, Belgium; Adda is Belgian, daughter of a Belgian army officer, former school teacher who began her teaching career in 1945 in a small primary school near Medell not far from the present site of the Wood monument. The Rikkens have been warm hosts and volunteer tour guides to visiting American veterans. Each Memorial Day since 1989 they have gone to the Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and placed flowers on Wood's grave.
Bob Lowry, classmate of Wood in the Class of 1942 at Princeton University and with him a member of the field artillery ROTC unit there; also, with his wife Mary, long-time friends of the Rikkens who first led them to the Wood monument in May 1989. The Lowrys came from San Francisco for the purpose of representing the Princeton Class of 1942 at the rededication ceremony.
1--
The service at the church was conducted by Fr. Albert Backes, with beautiful organ music and choir singing from the loft at the rear of the church. The Belgian color guard was sta-tioned between the high altar and the low altar. Flowers at the base of the low altar were from The CUB o f the Golden Lion 21 Eric Wood Memorial rededication...t
the Princeton Class of 1942. Since Meyerode is in one of the three German-speaking cantons which became Belgian after the Treaty of Versailles, WW 1, the service was in German. Although the sermon was not translated into English, Fr. Backes mentioned Wood in the course of it. Lt. Col. Greene, on behalf of the ROA, made brief remarks referring to Wood which were translated into German by Commandant J. Electeur.
At the conclusion of the church service, the units and individuals listed above, with a few members of the local community proceeded by car and bus to the location of the Wood monument at the side of the narrow paved road leading through the forest. The Belgian color guard formed a semicircle behind the monument, facing toward the roadway. The American color guard then passed in review. Dr. Emil Mertes, burgermeister of Meyerode-Amel, gave a brief statement in German in which he expressed hopes for continued peace and then placed a bouquet of flowers at the base of the cross. Bob Lowry, representing the Princeton Class of 1942, expressed appreciation to the Benelux Chapter of the Reserve Officers Association for arranging the memorial services and acknowledged the sacrifices and hardships endured by the armed forces and by the civilian population during the dreadful winter of 194445. He then placed flowers at the monument from the Princeton Class of 1942 accompanied by a card reading:
PRINCETON 1942 In Memory of Our Classmate and Friend Eric Fisher Wood, Jr.
who at this place, gave his life in the cause of freedom during the Battle of the Ardennes January 1945
Princeton University Class of 1942
September 11, 1994 The 106th Infantry Division Association transmitted to Lt. Col. Greene of ROA a memorial card reading:
In Memory of a Former Comrade Eric Fisher Wood Jr. 589th Field Artillery Battalion, "A" Battery Who Defended Freedom to the Last Rest in Peace, for You Have Not Been Forgotten From Your Comrades and the 106th Infantry Division Association September It, 1994
This card, laminated in plastic, was to be further encased by the ROA to protect it from the elements before being placed to remain on the monument. Adda Rikken also placed a bouquet on the monument from the Rikkens. Ted Kiendl, 589th FAB, was called upon to make some remarks, did so by reading the text of the Steven Wheeler note described above.
Fr. Backes then said a brief prayer, at the conclusion of which the rededication ceremony was completed. Although not on the previously-announced schedule of events, the units and individuals identified above then proceeded several miles to a meadow near the hamlet of Wereth for the dedication of another monument, this time
recently erected by the inhabitants of th In the late afternoon of December 17, black soldiers of the 333d Field Artillery Battalion attached to the 106th Infantry Division were captured by members of an SS unit. The prisoners were clubbed, bayoneted and shot, and left lying in the roadway.
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The newly-erected memorialat Wereth me- morializing these soldiers reads in German: Here on 12/17/44 eleven U.S. soldiers were shot by the SS The units and most of the individual participants identified above were present at this ceremony. Flowers were placed on the monument by Dr. Emil Mertes, the burgenneister; Ted Kiendl presented flowers on behalf of the Rikkens, the Lowrys and himself. A Belgian trumpeter played "Taps" and the ceremony concluded with a prayer by Fr. Backes. Most of those present then proceeded to an inn at Herresbach for lunch, following which the participants went their several ways.O Eric Wood Memorial rededication...
Adda Rikken, teft and Eva Maraite Kreins at the Meyerode Church Service 9/11/94 Color Guard at Wood Memorial.
Note one of the American officers playing TAPS on a trumpet U.S. Army Reserve officers at rededication of Eric Wood Monument VVith LJR Col RyaII; Ted Kiendl, Paris, France.
589th FAB: Robert Lowry
(the author of this story),
Lt. Col. Ven der Staeten. and Lt. Col. Greene, far right.
CUB qfthe Golden Lion 23 Eric Wood Memorial rededication...
Ted Kiendl 589th FAB, reading Steven VVbeeler's moving note which is referred to in this article. It was found
on the monument December 12, 1989.
Robert Lowry with his remarks expressing appreciation to the Reserve Officers Association of Benelux for restoring the Eric Wood rnonument, and for the sacrifices made by U.S. soldiers and the civilian population of Belgium during the winter of '44 - '45. Air Force Junior ROTC on left, Commandant J. Elec-teur at right, translating Lowry's remarks into German. On Emil Mertes, BOrgermeister of Meyerode-Emil, holding flowers, in front of the newly erected memorial to eleven black soldiers of the 333rd FAB who were killed by the SS on 12 December 1944,
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near Wereth. 49th Annual Reunion, Orlando, Sep. 7-8-9 1995
FOR THE 1995 REUNION AT ORLANDO
SEPARATE AND USE THE FOUR PAGES OF THIS CENTERFOLD Chairman John Riels, 423/HG 2Bn 626 Del Rio Street Orlando, FL 32839 (407) 859-456825
See following pages for other committee persons Art and Graphics work by Ted Slaby's daughter Claudia Umak. Registration/Finance Richard Sparks 423/HQ l&R 3180 Hanley Street Deltona, FL 32738 (904) 789-4692
See following pages for other committee persons 49th Annual Reunion, Orlando, Sep. 7-8-9 1995
FOR THE 1995 REUNION AT ORLANDO
SEPARATE AND USE THE FOUR PAGES OF THIS CENTERFOLD 06tit Daiantety Twister( (Association49th (ARRA 'Reunion - 04ando, gontda
SeptembeA 7, 8, 9, 199g gkosuotok Tasokt at ctudt TeRey ,Wodd clitgaga gaze TaeRa Ntsta, Toed° Wednesday, September 6, 1995 (For Early Bird Arrivals) 1:00-8:00 PM Preregistration 1:00-8:00 PM Hospitality Room Open Thursday, September 7, 1995
Breakfast on Your Own 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM Registmtion
9:00 AM - 10:00 PM Hospitality Roorn Open
9:30 AM - 11:30 AM Board of Directors Meeting
Lunch on Your Cwn 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Memorial Service 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Welcome Reception Dinner on Your Own Friday, September 8,1.5
7:30 AM - 9:00 AM Sit-down Breakfast & 'Past Presidents.' Breakfast 9:00 AM 12:00 PM Regis...
9:00 AM - 10:00 Pfv1 Hospitality Rcom Open
12:00 PM - 2:30 PM Men, Luncheon & Business Meeting
12:00 PM - 2:30 PM Ladies' Luncheon
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Dinner on Your Own Saturday, September 8,1995 Breakfast on Your own 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Hospitality Room Open Lunch on Your Own 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM E3oard of Directom Meeting 6:30 PM - 11:30 PM Bangu. & Dance (Cash Bar) Sunday, September 10,1995 7:30 AM - 9:30 AM Continental Breakfast & Farewell 49th Annual Reunion, Orlando, Sep. 7-8-9 1995
FOR THE 1995 REUNION AT ORLANDO
SEPARATE AND USE THE FOUR PAGES OF THIS CENTERFOLD Registration Form 106th Infantry Division Association 49th Annual Reunion September 7, 8, 9, 1995c/o Focal Point 2867 Stonewall Pl. -- Sanford, Fl. 32773
art) Vint] IMIi .S..1 Crtr
Stiff:
Cs. or Bei,
Dth Arrivi Atits1.4 Pnn..e Ruplorni 0 Yago ^ K.
Your Rsgistrstion Fee @ $90 = Ipecac Regletretion Fee @ $90 = 3 Guest's Registration Fee @ $90 = (x No. 3 Total Registration F4 (Full Payment Enclosed) = 3 ar All Feet most be received by August 6, 1995.
Mk. checks payable to: 106th INFANTRY DIVISION REUNION r Mail to: 106th Infantry Division Reunion c/n Foal Point 2867 Stonewall Pl.
Sanford, Fl. 32773
wv- For registration information Dia Sparks ... (9041 789.4692 Clot-4101m Policy: Reservations may be cancelled with full refund prior to August 6, 1995. Requests for cincellations after August 6, 1995 will be honored on a 'lands-available' bait at the be of the reunion.
Division/Public Information Ted Slaby, 423/HQ l&R 1103 Arbor Glen Circle Winter Springs, FL 32708 (407) 695-6164
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See following pages for other committee persons 49th Annual Reunion, Orlando, Sep. 7-8-9 1995
FOR THE 1995 REUNION AT ORLANDO
SEPARATE AND USE THE FOUR PAGES OF THIS CENTERFOLD General Information Grosvenor Resort at Walt Piney Worlil Villege itRuervatfew iheeld be mode by oiling the hotei directly et 1-800-624-4109. After Aogui 6, 1995, reawntions will be eonfirrnal on a specie sal refs walleillity basis. Resemtloos newt be peresteoi with I first night., deposit ($69 + 10 % tax) within. gays of making the reservation. Credit card ambers will Ise incepted, bet will be chergu , fire night', room end fox deposit et that time. Reeenitions Ismael withle fin (5) bye of wive( will forfeit the first night', deposit.The Grosvenor Is offering It's reunion rates for three days prior to and three gays after the reallon. We hope you will take Mit time to enjoy additional time in the Orlando eras.
Trivelini by Automobile IIIA mu it enclosed shaving easy scums from ell major highways. Perking, Including RY't, is free at the hotel, but time ere no hook-ups. Travelini by Air
Wend° international Airport services all major sidles:. You should contact your local travel agent for the lowest discounted fens. , Airport/Hotel Transportation 1111 Contact Cannel Tours at one level below the baggage pickup ma at Orlenlo International Airport. Shuttles lure Yet the Grosvenor on the hour. Lost it $8.50 one way.
Frs. Time Activities The committee has not scheduled any optional tows so you can be free to visit the ettractioni of your °holes. The Guest Services Desk it the hotel it reedy to assist you In melting your errangemeett.
Restenrants CD In addition to the re ion the Grosvenor, the Disney Village Marketplace end Pleasure Island haw a variety of fine ratieurante within easy walking distence of the hotel. The Crossroads Ville, approximately one mile sway, has witty of modestly priced eateries. Guest Service, an help you Rieke reservitiont at any of the mosey VIM,/ perk or hotel resteurents. Rennie. Registration The registration desk will be located at the Mezzanine Level et the hotel.
Other Committee Members Sam E. Davis, CO 423/HQ, Orlando, FL (407) 282-7057
Gordon Zicker, 423/HQ IS R, Port Orange, FL (904) 756-8868 28 The CUB (tithe Golden Lion
(Paul Gray Miller
mssociate Member PO Box 488, Melbourne, Ar 72556
Son of Robert G. "Bob Miller, 423/G This being the 50th anniversary of my father's involvement in World War II has caused me to reflect on it more than ever before. The recent television coverage of that war has caused me to think more about what really happened.
It finally dawned on me that the years are taking their toll on my father's comrades, thus if I could find anything out, it must be done now! So 1 began to investigate. My mother, Nobia Miller, received a Western Union telegram on January 5, 1945. 1 was seven years old, and I will always remember that awful day., The telegram stated that Private Robert G. "Bob" Miller had been missing in action sloe December 21, 1944. Mother didn't
a single word from anyone about Bob un 11 August of 1945 at which time she was informed by our government that he had been killed in action on December 18, 1944 near Radscheid, Germany. The time lapse puzzled the entire Miller family. For all of these 50 years, we have wanted to know the details of what happened. Finally, I have found them! So here is the story.
Robert G. "Bob" Miller was known in Izard County in the late 1930's and early 1940's as a rising political "star". He had served two terms as Izard County "treasurer and was finishing his second term aslz.ard County Circuit Clerk when he entered the U.S. Army after volunteering at the local draft board in Melbourne, Arkansas. He entered the U.S. Army in April of 1944 and was sent to Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, AR for his basic training as an infantryman. He was there until A Tribute to my Father...
Paul Gray Miller, Associate with his father July 23, 1944
late summer. He received a ten-day furlough to spend time at home before traveling by troop train to Fort George in Meade, Maryland. He left Little Rock at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, August 14th and arrived at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 15th. While there he visited Washington D.C. and sent us all postcards showing the historic places. He left Fort George by train on Wednesday, August 30th for Camp Atterbury, Indiana, and arrived about 10:00 a.m. on August 31st.
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At Camp Atterbury, my father became a part of the 106th Infantry Division. While he was there, Mother and I went by train to visit him. We stayed at a boarding house out oftown. I remember it very well. It was only fora few days, but the time was so precious! This was in September of 1944. He left Camp Atterbury on October 8th or 9th and traveled either by train or truck. It appears to have been more likely by truck. He was already assigned to Weapons Platoon or Fourth Platoon, A Tribute to my Father...
Company G, 423rd Regiment, 2nd Battal- ion, 106th Infantry Division. He arrived at Camp Myles Standish on October 10th and was there until October 16th. They boarded a ferry at Hoboken, New Jersey and arrived at Pier 94 on 47th Street in New York City. They were greeted there by the American Red Cross, and were treated to doughnuts, coffee, and candy bars as a band played music for them at the dock. They then boarded the Queen Eliza- beth and spent the night at the dock as they prepared to sail. They saw the Statue of Liberty as they sailed out on the Hudson River to the Atlantic Ocean on October 17th.
On the voyage across, the soldiers alter- nated shifts with twelve hours an deck and twelve hours in the staterooms below which were furnished with bunkbeds.
Baths were taken in salt water which did not lather vvell. Paperback books vvere passed out for those who wanted to read.
Dad vvrote us that he "fed the fish" only once and did not get seasick again. They were fed two meals per day, and greasy mutton stew was the main course. A blimp followed them out to sea for two days, and then they were all alone.
Dad wrote Mother practically every day from the time he was at Camp Robin-son in North Little Rock, until it became impossible to send out mail. Very often, he would also write each of us three chil-dren. Mother and Dad worked out a code so that he could send her messages indi-cating his location. She could pick the first letter of each paragraph and it would spell the name of the town that he was in at that particular time. I have every letter that he wrote. One of his letters written in early November, 1944, codes out the word "Toddington".
The ship docked on October 22, 1944 at Firth of Clyde, Scotland. Dad got off the Queen Elizabeth and boarded a train on October 24, 1944. The Red Cross a passed out doughnuts and coffee. The train made two stops enroute to Tod-dington, England where they arrived on October 25th. Coffee and doughnuts were passed out to them at each of the stops. They were quartered in quonset huts with bunkbeds.
Dad's company was shown a truckload of G.I.'s dressed up in German uniforms during this time. The German weapons were also demonstrated to them. That was when Company G realized the seriousness of the matter at hand. They left Tod-dington on December 1st by train enroute to Southampton, England and arrived the same day. At Southampton they set sail on a liberty ship manned by an English crew. Then they crawled down a rope ladder onto a landing craft called an LCI. This boat came within about 45 feet of the shore and the front end ramp lowered so that the troops could wade in to shore. This was about December 2, 1944 at Le Halt France which was a bombed-out, dese town. The troops vvere loaded into trucks and driven across France in two days to Bel-gium. The weather was such a shock to them! They cut pine branches and piled them on top of the snow so they could lay out their sleeping bags at night. It was so cold that they slept two men to a single sleeping bag to keep warm.
They arrived at a small village called Born, Belgium about December 9, 1944. We received our mail from my father for the last time while he was billeted in a home at Born with three other men. The people who lived there owned nine covvs, four pigs, and had a barn attached to the house. Dad wrote Mother and each of us three children a short letter dated December 12, 1944. Again, the secret code worked, and
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• first letter of the first four paragraphs spelled Born, so we knew where he was. About one mile from where Dad was staying was a town named Malmedy where the Germans murdered nearly a hundred American prisoners. After about two or three days in Born, Dad's company moved to the front, known as the Siegfreid line, on Friday, December 15th, at night. His unit relieved other soldiers. Things were quiet, and nothing unusual was expected from the opposition. What a shock! On the morning of December 16th, the Panzers attacked! Company G was right in the onslaught. The troops brought up three Sherman tanks, and they were all knocked out by the superior German tanks. They tried again with another Sherman tank, but it, too, was knocked out. Two ammunition trucks were blown up, and artillery shells were exploding all around our troops. Shells sometimes would explode in midair. Our troops ght back gallantly, but the Germans
them outnumbered! By Sunday, December 17th, our troops were completely surrounded. Dad was a machine gunner. That position was a "hot spot" because the machine gunners were the main targets. On the morning of December 18th, Dad's division, the 423rd, was ordered to attack the little village of Sch6nberg, Belgium. It was just like a suicide mission. Our troops were trying to blast out tanks with 30 caliber shells. There was no chance. During the day, the machine gunners were trying to hold off the Germans while Dad's unit tried to retreat. A mortar shell exploded near my father, and the concussion killed him. A medic was called for and arrived shortly in a Jeep with a red cross on it. His body was picked up then, but had no visible marks at all.
The next day, December 19th, the re- A Tribute to my Father... mainder of the entire regiments of the 423rd and 422nd surrendered. Over 7,000
men surrendered that day. The following are quotes from some of my father's comrades: Sgt. Norman J. Kolbaba said, "Bob Miller was always writing letters back home to his family. He would lay pictures of his family out on the table while he wrote the letters. We called him "the old man" because he was 34 years old, and most of as were about 21 or so. He was very strong and a leader. He was a very gun-ho soldier and patriotic. He never shirked his duty. He might have chosen a softer job had he so desired. When I saw the medic Jeep coming after he was hit, and he was lying on a stretcher on the hood, I asked the medic how he was and he told me that Bob was dead. I do not know where he was buried." George Edward Guth says, "We were on line in position with Bob as ammunition carrier and myself as messenger. One day a shell burst too close and the concussion caused Bob to lose consciousness and a short while later to pass away in a manner so frequently denied most soldiers; peacefully, quietly, and without pain. I held him in my arms and, please, believe me, he did not suffer. Bob was more to me than a friend; he was an ideal to admire. He had such a calm acceptance of life and was the kindest, most generous and thoughtful person I have ever known." During this summer of 1994, the telephone has been my instrument in getting all these dates and facts through information from Dad's comrades. This information should settle the issue.
Paul Gray Miller PO Box 488 Melbourne, AR 72556
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501-368-7329 December 16th Commemoration Parties SOth Anniversary get-togethers From 1st Vice-President Richard Rigatti The following pages show photos and reports from the December 16th Commemoration parties held throughout the United States. We wish to thank those that played a part in organizing these get-togethers for the members of the 106th Infantry Division Many of those who cannot attend the annual reunions have an opportunity through these wonderful parties to enjoy the camaraderie of their fellow veterans.
It is obvious that good will among the men and their wives and guests prevail during these events. We hope that you that did not attend a local get-together make note of the address and telephone number of this year's sponsor. Call them and join in the spirit next year when they will once again be held. If this year's sponsor is not organizing the next one, they can tell you who is.
If you would like to sponsor a get-together. Names and addresses of Association members are available from the Adjutant and/or the CUB editor. Lists of next year's parties will be listed in the Aug-Sep-Oct issue of the 1995 CUB. The Board of Directors feel that the December 16th get-togethers will, in time because of our age, supplement and later replace the annual reunions. Thank you all for participating and a special thanks to you that sponsored these events. You are special people.
Richard Rigatti, 423/B 1st Vice-Pres., 106th Infantry Division Association
113 Woodshire Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15215
From Before the Veteran's Die a book of poems by Dale Carver, 424/HQ 3Bn Where are the young lieutenants who sailed across the sea? Where are the proud young men who went across with me. Some are home now, older; some sleep beyond the sea - and all are so much humbler than ever they thought they would be.
Atlanta Area 1994
Sherod Collins, 448 Monroe Trace, Kennesaw, GA 30144 Tele: 404-928-3207 Nineteen loyal 106'ers met at the annual Battle of the Bulge dinner at Robbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Georgia on Sunday afternoon Dec. 11, 1994.
Amid much warm fellowship, these old friends celebrated the occasion, enjoyed the prime rib, and wished each other a safe return home. They even endured a short reminiscent speech by their host. Attending: Roy and Olivia Browning; Bob and Frankie Burkes; Doug and Isabel Coffey and daughter Ginny; Bill and Sandra Jenkins; Lyman and Ann Maples; Carroll Padgett and Emistine Holland; Joe and Ida May Puett; Jim and Maydean Wells; and Sherod Collins and Kathy Pratt.
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• December 16th Commemoration Parties Southem California Area - 1994
Milton Weiner, 6440 Knott Ave, Buena Park, CA 9062.1 714421-1705 We first thought of "when we were young, across the sea" at the reading My First Reunion by Dale Carver, 424/HQ 3Bn. Everyone introduced themselves starting with Colonel Cavender (CO 423rd Regiment) who was happy with another victory in the Arrny-Navy game. He is now 97 years of age. We all appreciated Dick and Lynn Erbes for bringing the Colonel from his quarters at the Air Force Facility Care Center in Riverside, California. A good time was had by all 14 -amt. In 1995 we are scheduled for December 3 at 1:00 p.m. Please write or call me to be added Ire mailing list.
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Present on December 4, 1995 were: Colonel Charles C. Cavender, 423/HQ CO; Dick & Lynn Erbes, 423/HQ; Clifford & Sarah Kincannon, 590/HQ; Joseph & Ann Litvin, 423/D, Neil Mahoney, 590/HQ; Robert & Mary Lou Marsh, 423/D; James N. & Alci Yamazalci, 590/MED and Milton Wiener & Bella Duze, 424/M Madison, Wisconsin Area - 1994
Chuck Rieck, 424/H, 7316 Voss Pkwy, Middleton, WI 53562 Tele: 608-831-6110 The Wisconsin 6th annual commemorative meeting of the Battle of the Bulge was held at CJ's East in Madison, Wisconsin on October 22, 1994. We had 38 people in attendance.
Attending were: m/m Edward Wojahn; Dr/M Eugene Rodd; m/m James Tetzlaff; m/m Bell; m/m Ray Kurth; m/m Jenny Miller; m/m Charles Puskarich; m/m Charles Siebold; Chuck Rieck; m/m Henry Wittenberg; m/m Larry Post; m/m Edward Dorn; m/m Joe Broderick; m/m Robert Kane; m/m Edward Nagle; Pete Di Benardo; Ms Nina Spenle; m/m Del Rediger; m/m Ed Podlaski; m/m Arnold Brannstrom.
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Slides were shown of past reunions. By group action, 1995's meeting will-be held in October or early November 1995, at the same place - CJ's East, in Madison, Wisconsin. December 16th Commemoration Parties December 16th Commemoration Parties Pittsburgh Area - 1994
re T. and Norma Vance, 283 Dutch Lane, Pittsburgh, PA 15236; Tele: 412-653-1724 n December 4, 1994, a group of the 106th Infantry Division Veterans, wives, friends and guests gathered at the Georgetown Centre, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to enjoy a dinner to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.
The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the singing of the Nation Anthem and God Bless America A was a moment of silence for our departed comrades of the 106th Infantry Division, during which time "TAPS" was played. We wish to acknowledge in appreciation to the following for gifts they made for the group: Mrs. Frances Jackson; Mrs. David Peters; Mrs Frances Langharn; and Dr. John B. Martin A delicious surprise birthday cake was presented by Mrs. Martin to celebrate the 77th birthday of Dr. John B. Martin.
Thanks to Pete Yanchilc for his expert photography. IN ATTENDANCE WERE twenty seven (27)members, friends and guests: John S. Collins, 422/F; Edwin & Elizabeth Huminski, 424/F; Mrs Frances Jackson; Mrs, Dolores Jones; Francis & Jean Langham, 422/L; Joseph & Viviam Maloney, 424/HQ; Francis & Helen Stepnick, 422/E; George and Norma Vance, 422/AT; James Wiggins, 331 MED/A; Pete & Diane Yanchick, 423/A; Michael & Lillian Honkus, 422/L; Dr. John B. & Pearl Martin, 422/MED; David & Jean Peters, 422/K; Richard & Patricia Rigani, 423/B; Albert & Margaret Yelochan, 422/HQ; GUESTS: Clarke M. Thomas, Senior Editor, Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Not attending, but in touch: Dr. Michael E. Connelly, 589/MED; Raymond Devaty, 423/MED; Robert Flick, 81st/C; Francis E. Gebelin, 424/M; Harry Koluezez, 423/HQ; Frank Lapato, 422/HQ; Howard Lowenberg, 423/E; John Shidemantle, 422/HQ; George F. Phillips, DIV/Hq; Robert Wesing, 423/L.
Good fellowship and warm feelings prevailed during the meeting. Everyone's participation made the get to gether a successful event.
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December 16th Commemoration Parties Detroit, Michigan Area - 1994
Russell Mayotte, 9628 CaveIle St., Livonia, MI 48150 MEN, 1ST ROW: lie Tony Rand, 589/B; Wm. LeClair, 424/CN, Russ Mayotte, 424/F; John Gillespie, 589/A; marshall Wenslow, 589/A; Paul Wayslon, 422/H MIDDLE: Harold Ortwine, 592/C BACK ROW: John Shaloub, 424/G; Bob Dashner, 422/Med; Stan Kups, 106 Sig; John Roberts, 592/C; Jam Fonda, 590/B; Harold Kuizema, 589/A; Robert Scranton, 424/K
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LADIES, 1ST ROW: Mary Lou Roberts; Pat Wenslow; Jessica Kuizema; Ruth Rand; Let Kups; Mildred Scranton; Ann Frankini; Audrey Ortwine BACK ROW: Evelyn Shaloub; Mary Jane Fonda; Jean Schulte; Shirley Gillespie; Fem LeClair December 16th Commemoration Parties New Jersey Area - 1994
Carl Messina, 926 Seymour Ave, Linden, New Jersey 07036-2942; Tele: 908-486-2927 On November 12, 1994 the New Jersey group met. There were sixty (73) people in attendance.
ATTENDING: (Please note additional picture on next page) Car & Alice Messina; Bob Dackermann and two sisters Viola & Barbara; William Daly; Frank & Muria! Sziber; Frank Koehler; Lou & Louise Van Essan; Dr. Malcom Silvers; Sal & Mary Grasso; A lvini Lukashok; Ephriam & Natalie Goldberg; Joseph & Dorothy Krafchik; William & Florence Melichar; John & Rose Rosalia; Duncan & Grace Trueman; Kracker avidisian & Marilyn Wolfson; Charles & Daisey Walsh; John Kultzow; Ken & Marion Schetz; La aDonna.1
• ash;William & Miriam Blaher; Dr. Harry & Betsy Baird; Charles Saxton; Irving & Rhoda ' om; Sal & Marie Scalzo; Joseph & Betty Horan; Nick & Candid Risoli; Myron & Janice 0 ._, ck; Joseph & Stella Mark; Charles Kortlang; Paul & Lucille Werkmeister; Roy & Wanda Fava; John & Stella Gallagher; Sylvester & Marie Golembiemskie; Fred & Charlotte Schiefstien; Thomas Riggs, Jr. and son Rory; Jacques & Jean Bloch; Phil Hannon; Raymond Creamer; George Call; Charles & Pauline Fehnel; Jack Middleton. (Please note additional picture on next page)
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December 16th Commemoration Parties Mt Vemon, Illinois Area - 1994
John Mikalauskis, Box 31 306 W. Blake, Benton, IL 62812 Tele: 215-626-1866 On December 10th, a group of the I 06th attended a reunion celebrating the Anniversary of tbe Battle of the Bulge at the Holiday Inn in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. An enjoyable time was had be It was decided that the 1994 Anniversary Celebration be held on December 8, 1995.
did not include picture of the ladies. There were a total of 44 members, wives and guests present. Vince Venegoni; Vic Bauswell; Gene Kelch; Pete Lauman; George Blommingburg; Bob York; Al Kopatz; John Hohenstein; Glenn Hartlieb; Kermit Steel; Ken Bryan; I larold Bratton; Stan Kuckolick; Ray Vaughn; Newton Johnson; Vic Breite; Charlie Dicus; John Mikalauskis; Ken Smith; William Cowden and Ken Bradfield
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Above - continued from previous page - New Jersey Group Phoenix, Arizona Area - 1994
Dean Childs, 245 So. 56th St, #75, Mesa, AZ 85206 Tele: 602-985-3687 Arizona had their chapter memorial meeting on December 16, 1994 with sixteen in attendance. We had a good dinner with our wives and lots of fellowship before and after.
Dean Childs thought it would be a good time to dust off his old uniform, after 50 years, and wear it again in honor of the guys that didn't make it back home.Sara Hammon from a Tucson newspaper was a 4 an 1 speaker. Her father was in the Battle of the Bulge and was a POW. She is doing several articles of
106th Inf Div in the Bulge. After evening of re-fighting the battle we are sure she had more material work with. MEN Front: Ur Henry I layden; Em Pretty; Toby Anderson; Herman Van De Bogart; John Hoag; Larry Walden. Back: John Whitehead; John Swett; Jack Waters; Dan Castillo; Ralph Hansen; John Millinger; Mike Guidice; Floyd Friend; Richard Behr; Dean Childs. WOMEN Front: Ur Sara Hammond, Tucson reporter: Ann Whitehead; Amy Anderson; Velma Hansen; Jeanne Walden Back: Dorothy Waters; Eleanor Childs; Bea Behr; Andy Hoag; Helen Van De Bogart; Barbara Hayden; Virgina Swett.
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December 16th Commemoration Parties Chicago, Illinois Area - 1994
Russell Villwock, 8560 W. Foster Ave, #510, Norridge, IL 60656 • Tele: 708-452-8628 For the past 40 years I have been gathering the former members of the 106th, from the Chicago area, for a get-together commemorating our days in Belgium during December 1944. This being the 50th year, it was more important that we again get together to remember those days. We met at the Des Plaines Elks Club in a private dining room for cocktails and a sit down dinner. The dinner and personal visits were enjoyed by all.
It seems that 50 years hasn't dimmed our memories of those days in Belgium. Some of the men related the experiences they shared or things that they remembered. It was a wonderful evening of memories of 50 years ago. Of the 60 plus letters sent to men of the Chicago area, I heard from 27. Attendees (40) w M/M Maynard Adophson; m/m Gordon Bigelow; M/M William Brankin; Antone Costa; Lacirence Costa; M/M Joseph Dallman; M/M Major Hill; Hubert Hochsetter; Frank Hohenadel; Bemard Ingersoll; M/M C. Kaplan; M/M Thomas Kapsalis; M/M Oliver Libman; Mrs. Florence Lucsay; M/M Herbert Meagher; M/M Raymond Panice; M/M/ Phillip Rosenthal; M/M Edward Rydzinski; M/M Milton Schober; M/M Marshall Streib; M/M Ted Swier; M/M/ Frank von Schwedler; Lionel! White; George Zak
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December 16th Commemoration Parties December 16th Commemoration Parties Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Area - 1994
Charlie & Nancy Datte, 591/SV, 231 Davis Ave, Clifton Heights, PA 19018 Tele 215-626-1866 On 11 December members of the Phila area gathered in our home in Clifton Heights.
Nancy and 1 want to thank each and everyone of those wonderful people for their help and for their sharing their thoughts and feelings of the last 50 years with us. It's such a beautiful time of the year. We missed Ray & Beth Smith, 591/HQ and Ernest & Sally Savage 424/HQ. We hope that all is well with them. We meet next year, same time, same place December 10, 1995. See you all in Orlando, Florida September 7-8-9. To the 591st Service Baftery - LOAD-EM UP and VE-EM OUT Orlando Sept 7-8-9.
EN seated Ur: Herb Whitehead, 81st/A; Joe Ansel, 423/AT; Herbert Albertson, 422/H; arlie Datte, 591/SV; Harvey Bradford, 424/S. Standing lir: Charley Harvey, 42/A; Stan Mojtusik, 422/G; Bob Wilson, 59 I/SV; Jack McDevitt, 81/A; Russ Hoff, 422/M; Ray Ulmer, 592/SV; Al Vitali, 424/B.
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WOMEN seated lir: Mary Ansel, Phylis Borbely; Betty Jane Harvey; Joan Hoff; Jessica (waitress); Margie Ulmer; Carol Borbely; Gladys Albertson. Standing 1/r: Nancy Datte; Anne McDevitt; Anne Bradford. Present, but not in pictures: Jim & Mary Bard 423/1; Newton & Ruth Weiss, 423/HQ December 16th Commemoration Parties Reading, Penn. 1994
John J. Gallagher, 4003 Francis St., Temple, PA 19560 TELE :215-929-2887 The Reading Memorial Dinner was held on 2 December at the Dutch Colony Inn. Our coming together brought back memories of that cold December day in 1944. Comrades related their experiences in the 106th Infantry Division and in the Battle of the Bulge. Thoughts of lost comrades, gratitude for our return and for the last 50 years. Had we not come home our children and our grandchildren would not have been born. Can you imagine that! We concluded with the writings of Father Cavanaugh of Christmas of 1944. We prayed and sang Silent Night as we remembered our scant food on Christmas 1944. Next year; Dec I at the same place, same ti* Men's photo, top to bottom Ur: Donald Showalter; Vince Sziber; Walter Shirk; J
Gallagher; Charles Date; Jack McDevitt. Sitting Ur: Carl Messina; Robert Dackennan; Fre Carr; Stanley Kowolski; Curtis Deisher; Norman Spayd (oldest 88) Women's photo standiing Ur: Anne McDevitt; Robbie Showalter; Betty Carr; Florence Deisher; Phyllis Borbely (widow of Frank); Ida, friend of Walter Shirk. Sitting Ur: Alice Messina; Muriel Sziber; Stella Gallagher; Nacy Dane; Erma Kowolski; Caroline Fratt- Phyllis Borbely's Sister-in-Law. The ladies are holding roses given in appreciation of the good care they gave us.
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BOOK REVIEW - THE LAST ASSAULT
Another Opinion on Whiting's New Book ... 1944 - The Battle of the Bulge reassessed by Charles Whiting Sarpedon Publishers, 1994by Jack Sulser, 423/F, Assoc. Pres., '92P93 The 106th Division's least favored author, Charles Whiting, who did a hatchet job on us in Death of a Division, has struck again in a book on the first week of the battle. The point of this book is not to make amends for previous insults to the men who wore the Golden Lion but, rather, to contend that Eisenhower knew the Germans would attack in the Ardennes, that he sacrificed the men of the 106th, 28th Division and 14th Cavalry Group to achieve his plan to lure the enemy into the open. To me, the author fails totally in his purpose. Although coming ten years after Charles MacDonald's Timefor Trumpets, he offers little new information, certainly nothing solid to prove his thesis. I tried to dissuade Whiting when I learned his intention in 1993. He admitted he was "flying a kite.... I'm sure something will come up once the book is published. " By asserting the claim, he hopes the proof will appear! He discounts MacDonald's contribution by showing that the Ultra decoding system produced data on the German buildup, missing the essential point that, until Hitler insisted his Ardennes plan be kept off radio, Ultra had delivered not only info on troop movements but also the plans and intentions behind them. As for the Magic intercepts of Japanese messages, MacDonald puts those proper context. Whiting complains of trouble getting records declassified at the US tional Archives and that many Magic records are still withheld. Clinton signed an Executive Order on November 10 releasing all remaining classified World War II documents at the Archives, and the State Department recently informed the National Security Agency it had no objection to release ofremaining Magic records. I am confident none of these will support Whiting.
Granted, some US commanders thought it would be a lucky break if the Germans were foolish enough to attack in the Ardennes, and Ike recognized it as an opportunity to strike the enemy in the open when it happened. But the only one who thought it was possible enough to bother planning was Patton, who had a plan ready to shift a corps northward when called upon. That is far short of Whiting's's claim that Ike knew where the enemy would attack and left that sector weak because he wanted them to breakthrough. He goes so far as to speculate whether Patton, had he lived, might have revealed Ike's "great secret." His final "evidence" is a memo Ike wrote to Secretary Paterson a year after the Bulge, advising against issuance of a "comprehensive explanation" of the Battle. He had taken a "calculated risk" that in the unlikely event of an enemy offensive in the Ardennes it "could be confined to the area east of the Meuse in which damage to us would be relatively light." The cost was clearly greater than expected, but this is hardly proof of the "evil, deceitful" scheme the author asserts.
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Even the publisher's blurb on the dustjacket does not fully endorse Whiting, saying merely "if and when all information is made available, a serious reappraisal may be required." This is not it. I will stick with MacDonald.... CI New Members Aalsburg, John 81st ENG/C 7441 Margaret Ave West Olive, MI 49460
616-399-6455 Active service 17 Mar 1943 Fort Jackson, South Carolina. from basic to discharge at Camp Atterbury, Indiana 11 Dec 1945. Carpenter, Heavy Con-struction, Field Mines and Demolition Expert. Didn't know the 106th had a reunion until I saw the ad in the Ameri-can Legion magazine.
After service went to M.S.U. Civil Engineering, then into family con-struction business. In all phases of con-struction until retirement in 1988. Widowed for two years. Antiquing, tinker, do-it-yourself and travel. Live at the most beautiful spot on the shores of LaIce Michigan. Bagley, Raymond A. 422JM 4339 Briarwood Dr Indianapolis, IN 46250
317-578-7973 Brokaw, Richard L. 424/G 8171 Drew Street Grove City, FL 34224-8909
813-697-7719 Inducted Oct 29 1943 in Bing-hamton, New York. Basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina, trans-ferred to Camp Atterbury, Indiana where I joined the 106th Division. Shipped over with the division. Sent to hospital in England with frozen feet toward the end of December, after re-lease from hospital joined the 29th Di-vision, assigned to Headquarters Division in Belgium then moved to Holland then to Frankfurt, Germany until my discharge in April 1946. at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
Attended Paul Smith's College, Paul Smith's, New York and graduated from Columbia Tech. Inst. Washington D.C. Employed by IBM at Owego, New York, retired 1986. Married to Jody Sickler on August 15, 1958, moved to Apalachin, New York where we raised three sons, Rick, Rob and Randy. Ages 34, 31, 29, lived there 25 years. Retired now and have lived in Grove City, Florida since De-cember 1987. Have been active in Lion's Club in Apalachin, currently ac-tive in Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 89 at Rotonda West. Bowling and fish-ing are my hobbies at this time.
Chatfield, Arthur L 424/E 24 Rambler Rd
Attleboro, MA 02730
508-222-4749 Discharged April 1946, Plato*, Leader, PH, grad Syracuse Univ 19311V joined Corning Glass as New England salesman, after 15 years became Gen manager of Kilburn Isotronics, Charthey, MA. retired 1993, married and have four sons all reside in the At-tleboro area.
Chiaverini, Vincent E. UNIT UNKNOWN 32 Upland Dr.
Churehv le, PA 18966-1072
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I recently learned of your Associa-tion from a friend, Ralph Grooten, who had similar experiences. We were both dropped by the Air Corps and sent to Camp Atterbury to join the 106th. I trained with them from May to August then shipped out as a replacement. I can't recall which unit I was with. I do recall it was a rifle company and the Captain was named Johnson or Johnston. Decker, Sr., Paul J. 4221E 100 E Ocean View Ave #602 Norfolk, VA 23503-1632
804-480-3009 Diefenthaler, Willard F. 422/HQ 1BN W-5606 Cty Trunk E.H.
Elkhart Lake, WI 53020
414-894-3432 My twin brother and I were drafted 7 December 1942. I went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to 101st Division, 327th Glider Infantry. My twin brother, Wilbur, went to Camp Phillips, Kansas, 919th FA, 94th Division. We were apart for three months for the first time in our twenty years of life. I was transferred to the 94th Division in March of 1943. We both went to Air Cadets at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. We were going to be fighter pilots for six
iipnths. We both were sent to the th - Headquarters, 1st battalion, 4 ndInfantryatCampAtterbury,Indiana. We went over on the Aquitania and were captured during the Bulge near St. Vith (probably Schonberg, editor). We went to Stalag 9-B on 25 December 1944. I moved to Stalag 9-A at Ziegenhain. Wilbur, my twin brother, died on 21 February 1945. he was buried in St. Avoid Cemetery, France. I was liberated by the 6th Armored on Good Friday, 30 March 1945. I went to Camp Wheeler, Georgia and trained rookies for six months until 5 December 1945 when I was discharged from Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. My wife and I enjoy going to the Stalag 9A-9B-9C Reunions. My special buddy Maynard Sexton from Lone Tree, Iowa and I displayed our special flag at the 106th Reunion in Rapid
• New Members City, South Dakota. The flag was sent to my father in 1946 from St. Avold Cemetery, France from my brother's burial ceremony. It was never removed from the box it was shipped in until we took it the the POW Convention (9A9B-9C) and shared it as we did in Rapid City.
It has 48 gold stars on the front and 47 gold stars and one white star on the back, which we think stands for the State of Wisconsin. It was indeed special to me as it covered my twin brother's coffin at the ceremony - St. Avold Cemetery, France. We were glad to share it with our World War II comrades.
Earls, Earnest H. 422/E 7495 Paul Harris Rd. Dallas, GA 30132 404-445-4043
Fox, Thurman L. 422/B PO Box 5 Sulphur Springs, TX 75483
903-885-5134 Gil Helwig, In your letter you mentioned my name was given to you by Robert Lee. I have lost contact with him. Could you give me his address?
Helmkh, Lester A. 424/HQ 2600 Belvoir Blvd Sarasota, FL 34237 813-955-3571
Huckabee, Charles W. 423/F 339 Cowell Ave Manteca, CA 95336
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I took my Basic Training in Camp Shelby, Mississippi and was transferred to Camp Atterbury. I went overseas with the 106th. After we arrived in England I was sent to the hospital for surgery. I returned to my unit in January of 1945. I think the 106th was sent back to the states in September 1945. I didn't have New Members enough points to come back with them and was transferred to the Service Company of the 32nd Armored Regt.
Huyck, Vern J. 424/C HC 46 Box Box 539 Pickford, MI 49774 906-647-2695
I was inducted march 1943 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois and discharged November 1945 at Camp McCoy, WI. I was married January 2, 1946 to Mary Lynn Rutledge. We had four children, two boys and two girls. We now have 11 grandchildren. We farmed for 20 years then sold the farm and went into the construction business with trucks, loaders, back-hoes and caterpillars. Retired five years ago. I belong to VFW Post 7958, as a Life Member, in Hessel, Michigan. I was commander for two years, 1973 and 1975. I did not receive a Bronze Star and would appreciate one.
(Editor's Note - Vem, write to the following address and request your medals. US Army Reserve Component Personnel & Administration Center St. Louis, MO 63132.
On your letter and lower left hand corner of your envelope show "ATTN: PSE-VS." You should include a photo-copy of both sides of your discharge After verification your medals will be sent. It will take a number of months for all this to happen. Good Luck...J. Kline) Jambor, John J. 422/D 2544 Grace Court Saginaw, MI 48603 517-792-1080
I was a member of the 106th when it was activated in March of 1943. I transferred to the Aviation Cadets in December of 1943 and eventually ended up as a member of the 87th Infantry Division with Patton's 3rd Army. I joined many of the 106th members as a P.O.W. I was captured on January 8, 1945 at Bonnera, Belgium and was liberated in May of 1945.
Kerin, Carl J. 424/D PO Box 739 Port Hadlock, WA 98339
206-385-2836 King, John E. 106 MP R8slwasOf:V71 4214.
800-371-3155
Detroit, Michigan was my home town. Entered service on March 10, 1943. Served on 5th Corps Headquarters unit. Went on replacement and ended up in the 106th MP Platoon. Discharged October 12, 1945. married vember 26, 1946, four children an grandchildren. Have been a Florida resident since June 1955.Lee, Harris G. ASSOCIATE 588 245th St
Osceola, WI 54020-5839
715-294-2812 The other day there was an article on the front page of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about John Kline, the editor of your CUB magazine. I was in the Battle of the Bulge as a member of the 737th Tank Battalion attached to the 5th Infantry Division. Our unit came to Normandy in the first days of July 1944 and at the start of the Bulge we were in Germany east of Nancy just beyond the town of Sarreguemines. From there we went on an all night march up to Eternach and Diekirk area.
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New Members went on an all night march up to Eternach and Diekirk area. Through the years I have read about the Bulge in many books and periodicals, including the history of the 106th Infantry Division. I was never able to reconcile some of the writing about the 106th with the fact that your division was given a 25 to 27 mile front in difficult terrain, versus the Army standard of 4-5 miles. It seems like that was a serious error by the higher command. I have never known a 106th soldier, so seeing John Kline's article I telephoned him and we had such a pleasant talk. I was happy to talk to him and tell him how I felt about your brave division.
Please send me a copy of the CUB he Golden Lion: Passes in Review.
Wt regards to all you 106' ers.
MacElwee, Paul T. 422/C 185 Dewart St Shamokin, PA 17872
717-645-1422 My Basic Training was at Camp Blanding, Florida. Joined the 106th at Camp Atterbury. Was assigned to "C" Company and assigned as No. 1 scout in a rifle squad. Went overseas with the division, up to the line at ST. Vith and was captured on 21 December 1944. Ten days later after walking and riding box-cars we reached Stalag 4-B at Miihlberg on the River Elbe. At one time I was sent with 150 GI's to a Kommando where we were required to work in a plant of the Middledeutsch Steel Company from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and reverse hours on a night shift.
We complained that it was a violation of the Geneva Convention, but no one listened to us. We eventually returned to Stalag 4-B and was there when the camp was liberated by Russian troops at the outset of May 1945. Within two to three days the Russian took us the the German city of Riesa where we awaited our return to American hands. Pastorfield, James M. ASSOCIATE 19433 Dawson Creek Place Walnut, CA 91789 818-810-5114
Rundle, Donald G. 423/F 17611 Walnut Trail
Chagrin Fall, OH 44023
800-892-6126 I would appreciate whatever literature you might have available. Schymanski, Arthur W. 424/HQ 404 Avenue A Horsham, PA 19044-2004
215-675-1510 Served with the I&R Platoon from Fort Jackson to Camp Atterbury. Went to Liverpool and SouthHampton before joining the 79th Infantry Division as a Scout in Normandy. We (the 79th) served with the 1st Army in Normandy with Patton's 3rd Army from St. Lo breakthrough with general Patch's 7th Army in Alsac Lorraine, with General Montgomery's 9th Army to the Rhine River crossing. At the war's end we were just north of Pilsen, Czeck.
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I was discharged as a Sgt., 315th Int. Oper. N.C.O. After discharge spent a short time at Temple University. Married Anna had two children, Stephan and Anita and three grandchildren. New Members Worked many years for a large Pennsylvania oil company, retired as a service supervisor. Still work part-time to keep busy. My hobbies are collecting American Cows, miniature vehicles. God willing I will see you in Orlando in September.
Smoler, Irwin C. 424/B 87 Spier Rd Scarsdale. NY 10583
Join the division at Camp Atter-bury July 1944, completed sniper school at Camp Atterbury, promoted to Pfc on the boat as we crossed the Atlantic. By the evening of December 16th I threw away the '03 with the scope and picked up an M-1 from a casualty. Entered the battle as a Pla-toon Runner and Company Sniper. Appointed squad leader of the 1st squad in late December and promoted to Sergeant in January. Did consider-able amount of patrolling during the battle, as patrol leader. On the last pa-trol before the regiment was relieved brought in, along with two other mem-bers of my squad, seven German PW's from behind the Siegfried Line. Left the division from St. Quentin, France in late March to attend 0.C.S.at ground Forces Training Center Foun-tain Bleau, France. Commissioned 2nd Lt. in may 1945. Served in the Army of Occupation until July 1946 with the 355th M.P. Battalion guarding ration and supply trains in the E.T.O. Last mission was to command an ammunition train from Munich over the Brenner Pass to Leg-horn in Italy. This was during the de-veloping crisis over Trieste, Italy. Discharged as a 1st Lt at Fort Dix in
August 1946. Received B.S. in textile Engineering from Lowell Technological Institute. Lowell, Mass. (GI Bill) now Univ of Mass, Lowell.
Married Elsie B. Rubenstein in January 1950, we have three children, Frederic 43, Michael 40 and one daugh-ter Arlene 37. retired early 1994 from Wicker Park, an apparel manufacturing company located in New York, Illinois and Alabama. After 46 years of service retired as Pres.ident and Chief Operat-ing Officer. Ward, Wendell L. 422/L 21156 Kux Road Long Beach. MS 39560
601-452-4373 Basic Training at Fort Benning in fall of '43. ASTP Auburn until April 1944. When I joined the division*, Camp Atterbury. Wounded and Mr tured on 23rd December 1944. Marched to Limburg, Germany with 1,600 other GI's. Shipped by rail to Stalag 4-B then to an Arbeit Kommando near Dresden (Bad Scandau, I believe) for about six vveeks during the "Rape of Dresden" Back to Miihlberg Stalag 4-B and liber-ated Apri123, 1945.
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LATE ARRIVALS
• Skardon, Hooper A Associate 210 Oakwood Ct Greenville, SC 29607-5832303-288-0959 I would like a copy ofthe Oct-NovDec CUB which has the story by Gatens and Hill. I was with my father, Alvin Skardon, on that trip.
(Editors Note = Al Skardon -590/B, has sponsored his son, Hooper, as an Associate member. He says, "Hooper is deeply interested in the history of the 106th and went to St. Vith with me for the 50th Anniversary Celebration." --Hooper, You will see reference on page 4 of this issue, where I am asking for copies of the Oct-Nov-Dec 1994 CUB. Due to an underprint (quantity) by the printer my supply is exhausted. Sorry - If I accumulate a few I will send you one... J. Kline) Smithburger, James M 424/I PO Box 163 Chalk Hill, PA 15421
412-439-6182 pI am widowed with two children. I as returned in late December with frozen feet.
(Editor's Note - Jim sent along a nicely written article of himself that was published in the Catholic Accent on December 22, 1994. Nice picture of an 18 year old soldier, a simple, but effective map of the situation as pertained to the regiments and a half page of print. Nice going Jim, space does not permit using all the news articles I received for the 50th Anniversary of the Bulge... J. Kline) Bean, Ralph L. 423/HQ 3Bn 5400 N. La Casita Dr Tucson. AZ 85718
I was contacted by Donald Cooley 423rd HQ 1Bn who was an acquantance of mine when we were in the 1st Bn in the Bulge. He informed me of the existence of the Association which I had been unaware of. At any rate "Better late than Not." My Summer address is 8 Mayflower Rd, Hallowell, New Members ME 04347. I am looking forward to The CUB.
Racster, John R. 422/H 1750 Oakmont Dr. SE Cullman, AL 35055
205-734-9281 Here is my check for three years membership. I have also included dues for my wife. "H" Company, 422nd was my unit until I was separated from them by the Wermacht. Information as to the existence of the Association came from Joe Massey, 422/C.
Smith, Rachel ASSOCIATE 14575 NE 21st St. Box 60 Silver Springs, FL 34488
My husband, Lt. Allen G. Smith, who died July 1986, was an officer in "D" Company, 424th Combat Infantry Regiment. See picture below.... Lt Allen G. Smith, 4241D Oct 17 1922 -July 9 1986
• The CUB of the Golden Lion 49 Misc Pictures and Informatiot will be calling you to ask you about the name lists that you have. There are 21 names on the fist that I am sending you. The commander of 424/D, Dr. Robert Preucel just passed away in January. He joined recently and was enthusiastic about the Association. Good Luck - I know you will be hearing from some of your husband's comrades. Thanks for the order showing your husband's transfer to the 424th.. J. Kline) New Members I attended the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, in St. Louis, MO on 17 December. I sat at a table with Ken Bryan, 423/HQ 1 Bn, who is from Alton Illinois. He gave me the details and address of the 106th Infantry Division Association.
My husband was a replacement officer (2nd Lt.), joing the 424th on about 19-20 December. He died 7/9/86 after heart surgery. I am interested in keeping his name connected with his outfit in hopes of finding some of his friends.
(Editor's Note - Rachel, How nice it is to hear from you. I know the men of 424/D are happy to find one of their comrades, even after death. Hopefully you will hear from some of them. I called Marion Ray, who has been aggresive in getting 424/D men to join the Association. He Paquette, Wilbert F. DIV ARTY 28931 Bestc St Clair Shores, MI 48081
810-776-4609 Bigelow, Gordon G. 81st ENG/A 2032 So. 1 1th Ave Maywood. R. 60153-3114
708-344-5590 Our Russ Villwock, 106 SIGNAL brought up another new member. Thanks Russ and especially thanks to you Gordon.
End of New Member Section • Col. C. C. Cavender
Commander
423rd Regiment
The picture was taken
at the Southern
California Dec 16
Commemoration Party
Sony Colonel
didn't have room on
page 33 for your
photo.
The Colonel lives in
an Air Force
Special Care Center
Riverside, California.
At age 97 he is the
oldest surviving
officer of the
106th Combat Infantry
Division.
The CUB of the Golden Lion -II George Strong, 423rd Headquarters Returns to St Vith Letter from Geroge Strong, 423/HQ akJohn, when I called you to thank Wfor placing me in touch with Henri HANNON, Liege, you asked for infor-mation about the trip I shared with my son Howard and Erik, our thirteen year old grandson. The three of us met HANNON at the St. Vith Hotel. He took us down every road between Schonberg, Bleialf and Buchet. I could not recognize the area of the 423rd Regimental Head-quarters. We left the car and walked in the woods near Schonberg. It was interest-ing, but gave me an eerie feeling to see the foxholes and artillery dug-outs. The day was comfortable but, my mind keep seeing vvind, snow and mud. Two days later af'ter viewing the beautiful cemetery at Henri Chapelle, we met Henri's family and two other couples. All of them own GI World War II vehicles. Howard, Erik and I were in-vited to ride in the 50th Anniversary parade in Liege. We rode to the c.enter of Liege in their two weapons carriers and joined a line of GI vehicles owned by Belgians wearing GI uniforms.
We passed in front of the Belgian King and Queen.
I was told that America must be remembered so that Belgian children vvill know the importance of how they were freed by the Americans, and that freedom is not "FREE."
We could not have planned all the things that happend. We thank you for helping us locate HANNCN. We are so ever grateful to Henri HANNON and his family and friends for including us in their celebration of the 50th Anniversary 0
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More to come later, my baskets are overflowing... The CUB of the Golden Lion 423rd Anti-Tank Company at the 48th Annual Reunion L/R John Murphy Harvey Swartz Glen Kennedy Walter Hiltbrand with Joe Ansel in front..
Herb Clark, 422/CN and friends visiting the Eric Wood Memorial.
Ikr Anne marie Simon and Karl Noel both from Eupen, Belgium and Mary Luepke and Herb All 424 Cannon except Ortwine.
Ur William LeClair, Harold Ortwine (592/C) Robert Glower Oliver Libman and Patrick Henry In MRrnorg Of...
David S. Emmert 424/HQ 834 Monroe Ave, Hagerstown, MD 21740 Phyllis, David's wife writes, "It is my sad duty to inform the Association of the death of my husband. He died on 6 December 1994 after suffering a massive heart attack.
"He had been in Johns Hopkins in February, he was doing fine until August, when he had another attack. He was flown to Hopkins by helicopter. On returning his condition worsened. "He was one of the lucky ones who made it through the Battle of the Bulge.
Our local paper interviewd David the day before he died.With our permission they printed it on 16 December. "We both enjoyed the CUB magazine and the few reunions that we did attend. I would like to continue receiving the CUB magazine.
"Best wishes to all of you and success in future reunions. Sincerely, Phyllis Emert." (It should be noted that Dave's picture appears in the photograph section in back of St. Vith: Lion in the Way. About the ninth page of pictures. It is captioned, "Smilin' through the Bulge. Pvt David S. Emmert, Headquarters Company, 424th Infantry, keeps his chin up near St. Vith."
LTC Charles Nietman USA (Ret) 423/HQ 1Bn 2028 Cameron Rd Huntsville, AL 35802
Charles, age 75, died January 1, 1995. Burial was with full military honors in Park Hill fittery in Columbus, Georgia. Prior to joing the 106th he had been in combat in the Pacific. twited to go to OCS and was assigned to the division shortly before going overseas. Charles, a retired lieutenant colonel, served in the Army for 33 years. He was a prisoner of war in World War II and served in Korea and two tours in Vietnam. He was a member of the American Legion, National American Legion, VFW, DAV, Retired Officer's Association and the local chapter of the American ExPOW's.
Survived by his wife, Edna, a daughtenn Catherine N. Pullen of Huntsville, and a sister, Dorothy N. Magee of Middleburgh, N.Y. Dr. Robert Preucel 424/D 1147 Norsan Rd, Gladwyne, PA 19035 Dr. Robert Preucel died January 8, 1995. Marion Ray, 424/D and others from that unit attended his memorial.
He was the commanding officer of 424/D. He was wounded during the 2nd day of the battle, near Winterspelt. He was taken prisoner twice. He was left alone and crawled until he found an American ambulance. While in the back of the ambulance with two other wounded soldiers, the Germans captured hint again. Seeing no able bodied men, the Germans left them and they made their way back to an aid station.
Survived by his wife , Ruth, a son Robert Jr, a son William and a daughter Ruth. Dr. Preucel was prominent in his chosen profession. He was the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.
He recently joined the Association and was thrilled to be, once again, in contact with his 424/D men... Flay they rrz5t in PRaeR...
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Bivouac ... at the Grosvenor Resort Walt Disney World Village Lake Buena Vista, FL 1-800-624-4109 Hey 106er's...we'd have a roarin' time in Orlando! 0 0 O The C UB The official publication of the 106th Infantry Division Association, Inc 1994 -- 1995
Membership fees include C. susbscription Association membership 01/10/95 1,650 members, President Thomas J. Riggs, Jr.
Past-President Edward A. Prewett 1st Vice--Pres Richard L. Rigatti 2nd Vice-Pres Major Hill Treasurer Sherod Collins Adjutant Pete House Historian Sherod Collins CUB Editor John Kline Chaplain Rev. Ewell C. Black, Jr.
Memorials Chairman.... Dr. John G. Robb Atterbury Memorial Rep 0 Paul Men Membership Chairman Gilbert Helwig Scholarship Chairrnan... Jerome Eisenman Ex-Officio Board Member Send editorial matter and photos to: John P. Kline -- CUB Editor 5401 U. 147th St. W6i=e4Vey, MN 55124-6637
Business matters, deaths, address changes to: Pete House -- Adjutant 5662 Chflon Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32211
904-724-8316 Memorial matters and inquiries to: Dr John G. Robb -- Memorial Chairman 238 Devore Dr., Meadville, PA 16355
814-333,364 Membership dues, Memorial Fund contributions and Historical items to: Sherod Collins -- Treasurer 448 Monroe T47.412,8emsz, w, GA 30144
The Life Membership fee is payable one time only, with no annual dues thereafter.
Life Membership $ 75.00
Life Auxiliary $ 15.00
Life Associate $ 75.00
For those choosing to pay Annual dues, pay by July 1 each year. (July 1 to July 1 term) Annual Membership $10.00
Annual Auxiliary $ 2.00
Annual Associate $10.00
Make checks payable to "106th Infantry Division Association?'
Edward A. Prewett 424/B Ex-0Mcio ('95) 7831 Lone Tree W;r4.6Br3en4r21, CA 94513-2109
Joseph Gross 59I/C (.95) 7782 Topaz Lalc:4,1,,Sa4.1:iego, CA 92119
Joseph Massey 422/C (.95) - Box 780, Remlap, AL 35133 205-681-1701
Herbert F. Meagher 422/M (.95) 708470-2553 18228 Montana Ct., Orland Park, IL 60642
O. Paul Merz 422/SV (.95) 1344 Norfolk i.ri,11,14i_ariz ;Allis, IN 46224
Gilbert Helwig 423/M (.96) 2006 Ontario,Rd, #541;1:14., MI 49120
Jerome Eisenman 423/HQ 3BN 5 C%) 227 Buena Vist4a./5^1113y.City, CA 9401
Richard Li Rigatti 423/B ('96) Woodshir07....irigh, PA 15215
William K. Rowan 424/K ('%) 213 Country Tou4b1d7,117teol:y, NC 28150
Major H. Hill 424/B 36750 N. Kerwin Dr., Ingleside, IL 60041 (.97) 708-587-7807
Lyman C. Maples, 422/K 608 Wilki. St, Dalton, GA 30720 ('97) 706-278-2533
Dr. Richard W. Peterson, 423/I ('97) 1285 Rubensteirt,616f2f.biy2113e Sea, CA 92007
Edwin CRIIITIV2458,4R24ocitwood, PA 15557-9223
Alan W. Jones, Jr, 423/HQ IBn (.98) 703-781-3629
9100 Belvoir Woo. Pkwy #233, Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060
William Malone, 423/8 (.98) 3911 Thackery Drive, Nashville, TN 37207
Thomas J. ft6iFrisjeTtErkg/olvace (.98) 40,42,4110 .'"2"6
John N. Swett, 423/H (.98) 602-722-6016 10691 E. Northcrest Dr, Tuscon AZ 85748
Levene Weigel, 422/H (.98) 407-255,671 1380 Democracy Ave., Melboume, FL 32940
Nth"' 4311.u4tIgIcrowzgg.enver, co 80235.99)
Lloyd J. Diehl, 423/H (.99) 609-589-2030 R3 Box 212 365 Chapel Hghts Rd. Sewell NJ 08080
John A. Gregory, 424/E C99) 4624 Ashton Dr., Sacramento, CA 95864 916-481-3353
Art Van Moorlehem, 423/B C99) 2. W. Birch St., Arlington, SD 605-983-5827
HONORARY Board Member Col. Joseph Matthews 422/HQ (Life) 4706 Western Blvd. Raleigh, NC 27606
Index for: Vol. 51 No. 2, JAN, 1995
Index for This Document
106th Div., 52, 53106th Inf. Div., 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 35, 38, 41, 44, 51, 56, 58, 63
106th Inf. Div. Assn., 1
106th Infantry Division Association, 3, 8, 10, 17, 30, 35, 41, 58, 63
106th MP Plt., 55
106th Rcn. Trp., 8
106th Sig. Co., 1, 59
14th Cav., 13, 52
14th Cav. Gp., 52
1st Army, 56
1st U.S. Army, 20
28th Inf. Div., 52
2nd Inf. Div., 20
333rd FAB, 32
3rd Army, 55, 56
422/K, 44, 63
422/M, 44, 45, 50, 63
422nd Inf. Regt., 13
422nd Regt., 13
423/Hq 1 BN, 58
423rd AT Co., 62
423rd Inf., 10, 21
423rd Inf. Regt., 10, 21
423rd Regt., 7, 13, 38, 42, 59
423rd Svc. Co., 13
424/A, 1, 7, 13
424/C, 45, 55
424/D, 12, 55, 58, 62
424/E, 53, 64
424/G, 45, 53
424/I, 58
424th Cbt. Inf. Regt., 58
424th Inf. Regt., 25, 27, 62
424th Regt., 21
589th FA, 27, 30, 32
589th FA BN, 27, 30, 32
5th Inf. Div., 55
6th Armd., 54
79th Inf. Div., 56
7th Army, 56
81st Cbt. Engr., 1, 2
87th Inf. Div., 55
8th Inf. Div., 21
94th Div., 54
99th Inf. Div., 24
9th Armd. Div., 21
Aalsburg, John, 53
Albertson, Gladys, 51
Alsace, 21
Amel, 29, 30
American Cemetery, 27, 29
Anderson, Amy, 48
Anderson, Toby, 1, 48
Aquitania, 54
Ardennes, 7, 27, 52
Ardennes Battle, 27
Ardennes Battlefield, 27
Bad Orb, 10
Bagley, Raymond A., 53
Baird, Dr. Harry & Betsy, 46
Bard, Mary, 51
'Battle
the Story of the Bulge', 27
Battle of the Ardennes, 30
Battle of the Bulge, 1, 3, 7, 8, 12, 13, 27, 29, 41, 43, 44, 47, 48, 51, 52, 55, 58, 62
Bavaria, 21, 23
Bean, Ralph, 58
Bean, Ralph L., 58
Behr, Bea, 48
Behr, Richard, 13, 48
Belgium, 1, 3, 12, 27, 29, 32, 40, 49, 53, 55, 62
Benelux, 1, 29, 30, 32
Berga, 13
Bied, Dan, 13
Bigelow, Gordon G., 59
Black, Rev. Ewell C., 2, 63
Black, Rev. Ewell C., Jr., 63
Blaher, Miriam, 46
Bleialf, 59
Bloch, Jacques & Jean, 46
Born, 26, 38, 40
Born, Belgium, 38
Bougainville, 26
Bradfield, Ken, 47
Bradford, Harvey, 50
Brankin, William, 49
Bremerhaven, 26
Brenner Pass, 57
Brokaw, Richard L., 53
Brussels, 29
Bryan, Ken, 47, 58
Buchet, 59
Burkes, Bob & Frankie, 41
Call, George, 46
Camp Atterbury, 16, 18, 37, 38, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57
Camp Atterbury, IN, 16, 18, 37, 53
Camp Blanding, FL, 56
Camp Lucky Strike, 25
Camp Myles Standish, MA, 20, 38
Camp Phillips, KS, 54
Camp Shelby, MS, 55
Camp Wheeler, GA, 54
Carr, Betty, 51
Carver, Dale, 13, 41, 42
Cavanaugh, Father, 51
Cavender, Col., 42
Cavender, Col. C. C., 59
Cavender, Col. Charles C., 43
Chatfield, Art, 53
Chatfield, Arthur, 53
Chiaverini, Vincent E., 53
Childs, Dean, 3, 48
Childs, Eleanor, 1, 48
Clark, Herb, 62
Co. G, 423rd Regt., 38
Coffey, Doug & Isabel, 41
Collins, John S., 44
Collins, Sherod, 41, 63
Connelly, Dr. Michael E., 44
Cooley, Donald, 58
Costa, Antone, 49
Creamer, Raymond, 46
Dallman, Joseph, 49
Datte, Nancy, 50, 51
Davis, Sam E., 36
Death of A Division, 52
Diefenthaler, Willard, 54
Diefenthaler, Willard F., 54
Diehl, Lloyd J., 64
Div. Arty, 59
Dresden, 57
Dupuy, Col. R. Ernest, 27
Earls, Earnest H., 54
Egypt, 2
Eisenhower, Gen., 25
Eisenhower, John, 21
Eisenman, Jerome, 63
Elbe, 56
Emmert, David S., 62
Ennal, 25
Eupen, 62
Eupen, Belgium, 62
Fagnoul, Kurt, 29
Fava, Roy & Wanda, 46
Fehnel, Pauline, 46
First Reunion, 42
Firth of Clyde, 38
Firth of Clyde, Scotland, 38
Flick, Robert, 44
France, 10, 16, 18, 20, 25, 32, 38, 54, 57
Frankfurt, 53
Frankfurt, Germany, 53
Frankini, Ann, 46
Ft. Bragg, NC, 54
Ft. Dix, NJ, 53
Ft. Jackson, SC, 12, 13, 53, 56
Ft. Sheridan, IL, 55
Furth, 23
Gallagher, John & Stella, 46
Gallagher, John J., 51
Gallagher, Stella, 51
Gebelin, Francis E., 44
Geneva, 23, 56
Geneva Convention, 56
Gerlach, Phil, 12, 13
Germany, 25, 36, 55, 57
Gillespie, John, 45
Gillespie, Shirley, 46
Goldberg, Natalie, 46
Goode, Col., 24
Gouvy, 29
Gouvy, Belgium, 29
Grasso, Mary, 46
Greene, Col., 30, 32
Gregory, John A., 64
Gross, Joseph, 63
Guth, George Edward, 40
Haga, Chuck, 12
Hammelburg, 21, 25
Hannon, Phil, 46
Hartlieb, Glenn, 47
Hayden, Henry V., 13
Helwig, Gil, 54
Helwig, Gilbert, 63
Henri Chapelle, 26, 27, 29, 59
Herresbach, 32
Hill, Maj., 49, 63
Hill, Maj. H., 63
Hiltbrand, Walter, 62
Hitler, Adolf, 20
Hoag, John, 48
Hoff, Russ, 50
Hohenadel, Frank, 49
Hohenstein, John, 47
Holland, 41, 53
Houffalize, 3
House, Pete, 1, 3, 63
Huckabee, Charles W., 54
Huyck, Vern, 55
Huyck, Vern J., 55
Isar River, 24
Italy, 57
Iwo Jima, 26
Johnson, Newton, 47
Jones, Alan W., 63
Kelch, Gene, 47
Kennedy, Glen, 62
Kerin, Carl J., 55
Kiendl, Ted, 29, 30, 32
King, John E., 55
Kline, J., 9, 55, 58
Kline, John, 3, 5, 10, 12, 55, 56, 63
Kline, John P., 63
Koehler, Frank, 46
Kolbaba, Sgt. Norman J., 40
Koluezez, Harry, 44
Kommando, 56, 57
Korea, 62
Kortlang, Charles, 46
Kuizema, Harold, 45
Kuizema, Jessica, 46
Lapato, Frank, 44
Lauman, Pete, 47
Leavitt, Ralph, 13
LeHarve, 24
LeHavre, 7
Libman, Oliver, 49, 62
Liege, 59
Limberg, 8
Limburg, 57
Limburg, Germany, 57
Linden, 46
Lion In the Way, 27, 62
Liverpool, 56
Lorraine, 56
Losheim, 13, 21
Losheim Gap, 13, 21
Lowenberg, Howard, 44
Lucas, William F., 27
Lucky Strike, 24, 25
Lucsay, Florence, 49
MacDonald, Charles, 52
MacElwee, Paul T., 56
Malmedy, 40
Manhay, 12
Maples, Lyman & Ann, 41
Maples, Lyman C., 63
Maraite, Eva, 29, 32
Maraite, Peter, 27
Marsh, Mary Lou, 43
Marshall, George C., 5
Martin, Dr. John B., 44
Martin, John B., 44
Martin, Pearl, 44
Massey, Joe, 58
Massey, Joseph, 63
Matthews, Col. Joseph, 64
Mayotte, Russ, 45
Mayotte, Russell, 45
McDevitt, Jack, 50, 51
Meagher, Herbert, 49
Meagher, Herbert F., 63
Medell, 29
Memorials, 63
Mertes, Dr. Emil, 29, 30, 32
Merz, O. Paul, 63
Messina, Carl, 46, 51
Meuse, 52
Meyerode, 1, 27, 29, 30, 32
Meyrode, 29
Middleton, 43
Middleton, Jack, 46
Mikalauskis, John, 47
Miller, Bob, 36, 40
Montgomery, Gen., 56
Munich, 57
Myles Standish, 20, 38
Nietman, Ltc Charles, 62
Normandy, 55, 56
Nuremberg, 21, 23, 24
Ortwine, Audrey, 46
Ortwine, Harold, 45, 62
Our River, 21, 25
Ourthe, 3
Ourthe River, 3
Padgett, Carroll, 41
Panice, Raymond, 49
Paquette, Wilbert, 59
Paquette, Wilbert F., 59
Paris, 25, 32
Paris, France, 32
Patton, George, 16, 18
Patton, Oliver, 1, 12
Patton, Oliver B., 18
Perrin, Brig. Gen., 25
Peters, David, 44
Peters, Jean, 44
Peterson, Dick, 10
Peterson, Richard W., 63
Phillips, George F., 44
Pilsen, 56
Poland, 1, 21
Potts, Arthur W., 8
Powell, Gene, 15, 17
Prewett, Ed, 3
Prewett, Edward A., 63
Prosnick, Lt. Leonard, 8
Puett, Joe & Ida May, 41
Purple Heart, 25
Puskarich, Charles, 43
Queen Elizabeth, 38
Queen Mary, 26
Racster, John R., 58
Radscheid, 36
Radscheid, Germany, 36
Rand, Ruth, 46
Rand, Tony, 45
Ray, Marion, 59, 62
Reid, Col., 25
Reunions, 54
Rheims, 25
Rheims, France, 25
Rhine, 21, 56
Rhine River, 56
Rieck, Chuck, 43
Rigatti, Richard, 41
Rigatti, Richard L., 18, 63
Riggs, Thomas, 46
Riggs, Thomas J., 1, 63
Riggs, Thomas J., Jr., 1, 63
Riggs, Tom, 1
Rikken, Adda, 30, 32
Rikken, Adda & Willy, 26
Rikken, Willy, 26, 29
River Elbe, 56
Robb, Dr. John G., 63
Robb, John, 13
Roberts, John, 45
Roberts, Mary Lou, 46
Roer, 20
Roer River, 20
Rosenberg, Winfield, 13
Rowan, William K., 63
Rundle, Donald G., 56
Rutland, Roger, 1, 12
Rutledge, Boyd, 1
Rydzinski, Edward, 49
Saxton, Charles, 46
Schnee Eifel, 20
Schober, Milton, 49
Schonberg, 21, 54, 59
Schymanski, Arthur, 56
Schymanski, Arthur W., 56
Scranton, Mildred, 46
Scranton, Robert, 45
Shaloub, Evelyn, 46
Shaloub, John, 45
Shirk, Walter, 51
Siegfried Line, 21, 57
Slaby, Ted, 34, 35
Smith, Allen G., 58
Smith, Ken, 47
Smith, Rachel, 58
Smithburger, James, 58
Smoler, Irwin, 57
Smoler, Irwin C., 57
Southampton, 7, 38
Southampton, England, 38
Sparks, Dick, 5
Sparks, Richard, 34
Spayd, Norman, 51
Spenle, Nina, 43
Spineux, 12
St. Avoid, 54
St. Avold, 54
St. Quentin, 57
St. Quentin, France, 57
St. Vith, 1, 12, 21, 27, 54, 58, 59, 62
'St. Vith - Lion In The Way', 27, 62
St. Vith Memorial, 12
Stalag 4-B, 13, 56, 57
Stalag 9-A, 54
Stalag 9-B, 54
Stalag III-A, 36
Stalag IX-A, 10
Streib, Marshall, 49
Strong, George, 59
Sulser, Jack, 52
Swett, John, 7, 13, 48
Swier, Ted, 49
Sziber, Muriel, 51
Sziber, Vince, 51
The Battle of the Bulge, 1, 8, 52
Thompson, Paul, 8, 12, 13
Toddington, 38
Treaty of Versailles, 30
Trieste, 57
Trieste, Italy, 57
Trois Pont, 12
Trois Ponts, 12
Trueman, Duncan, 13
Trueman, Duncan T., 7
Trueman, Grace, 46
Valley Forge Military Academy, 7
Van De Bogart, Helen, 48
van De Bogart, Herman, 1, 48
van Moorlehem, Art, 64
Vaughn, Ray, 47
Versailles, 30
Veterans Of The Battle Of The Bulge, 1, 29
Vietnam, 62
Villwock, Russ, 59
Villwock, Russell, 49
Vitali, Al, 50
Von Schwedler, Frank, 49
Vosges Mountains, 21
Walden, Jeanne, 48
Walden, Larry, 48
Walnut Ridge, Ark, 54
Walsh, Daisey, 46
Ward, Wendell, 57
Ward, Wendell L., 57
Weigel, Levene, 64
Weiner, Milton, 42
Wells, Jim & Maydean, 41
Wereth, 30, 32, 33
West Point, 1, 16, 18
Wheeler, Steven B., 28
White, John, 48
Whiting, Charles, 52
Wiener, Milton, 43
Winterspelt, 62
Wojahn, Edward, 43
Wolfson, Marilyn, 46
Wood, Eric, 1, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 62
Wood, Eric Fisher, 27, 30
Wood, Eric Fisher, Jr., 30
Wood, Eric, Jr., 1
Wood, Lt., 27
Wood, Lt. Eric, 27
Wood, Lt. Eric F., 28
Yelochan, Margaret, 44
York, Bob, 47
Zak, George, 49
Zicker, Gordon, 36
Ziegenhain, 54