The FReeper Foxhole Revisits Task Force Baum - The Hammelburg Raid - April 17th, 2004

http://www.milmag.com/newsite/features/articles/hammelburg/ ^ | Herndon Inge, Jr.

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

The Hammelburg Raid

World War II in Europe was nearly over when, on 26 March 1945, Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., Commander of the famous United States Third Army, ordered a Task Force from the Fourth Armored Division comprising 294 men and 53 vehicles and composed of Sherman tanks, light tanks, 105 millimeter assault guns, halftracks and jeeps to break through the German front lines at Ashaffenburg on a strange mission. Capt. Abraham Baum was in command of the Task Force whose mission was to head for Hammelburg, 60 miles away, and liberate the American officers who were imprisoned in Oflag XIIIB and bring back as many as they could.

Articles and books have been written about Gen. Patton's abortive raid to Oflag XIIIB, (Offizierslager), an American officers' prison camp at Hammelburg, in which, it just so happened, his son-in-law Lt. Col. John Knight Waters was a prisoner. The end of the war was in sight and the American Army was fighting for every foot of ground against a defeated, but still potent, German Army composed of the troops that had escaped though the Falaise Gap after the Normandy invasion and made their way back to Germany and regrouped east of the Rhine River. In addition to the seasoned German troops who had escaped from Normandy, all able-bodied male Germans of all ages were mobilized to make the Americans pay dearly for every foot of ground taken.

Lt. Col. John Knight Waters, a West Point graduate and the husband of Beatrice Patton, Gen. Patton's daughter, had been captured in the fighting in Tunisia, North Africa, in 1943. He was a prisoner in Oflag 64 at Szubin, Poland, with several hundred American Army officers. When the Russian Army troops began to threaten northern Germany, the prisoners in Oflag 64 were marched on the road south in mid-winter. They arrived at Oflag XIIIB at Hammelburg in central Germany early in March. The group of officers from the Battle of the Bulge and other officer prisoners captured in North Africa and after the Normandy invasion were at Hammelburg, making a total of about 1,500 American officer prisoners of war in the Oflag.

I was a lieutenant in Company D, 301st Regiment of the 94th Infantry Division and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. After forced marches in blizzard weather and two freezing boxcar rides I arrived at Hammelburg about 6 March, the same day Lt. Col. Waters and the officers from Oflag 64 arrived after their forced march.

Col. Paul R. Goode, one of the Oflag 64 men who had been captured by the Germans in Normandy, became the senior American officer at Hammelburg after their arrival.

The American front lines were east of the Rhine River in mid-March and the German Army was putting up a fierce defense. Gen. Patton claimed he did not know that his son-in-law was at Hammelburg but military intelligence had indicated that the officers from Oflag 64 had arrived there.

On 26 March the Fourth Armored Division Task Force, after a fierce artillery barrage and tank battle, crossed the Main River and blasted its way through the German lines at Ashaffenburg. It headed toward Hammelburg, 60 miles inside the German lines.



We, as Kriegsgefangen, or Kriegies (war prisoners), at the Oflag were gaunt and skinny and lacked energy as we milled around the compound. On 27 March we heard the sound of tanks and artillery to the west and black clouds of smoke rose over the horizon. We knew the Americans were on their way and we were excited over the prospect of being liberated.

Task Force Baum

We saw several American tanks of Task Force Baum appear over the crest of the hill to the west of the camp firing their guns in our direction. Some German army vehicles sped ahead of them down the hill and past the prison camp. When the American Sherman tanks at the head of the column approached the compound, the prisoners went inside the buildings as the shells shrieked toward us.

Several of the lumbering American tanks appeared at the Oflag and fired their guns overhead and to each side where they expected opposition. The shells screamed through the air and the deafening explosions echoed among the buildings. Black smoke billowed up over the camp as a building was hit and soon consumed in flames.

About 1430 hours two of the big Sherman tanks broke through the double barbed wire fence, trailing the wire and uprooted fenceposts. The pavement in the street cracked under the tanks' weight.

The American tanks on the hill were still firing their cannons and shells continued to explode around the perimeter of the camp. A joyous feeling of liberation prevailed among all of the American POWs in the prison camp.



It was almost dark when I walked through the gaping hole in the fence and up the hill. The POWs were gathered around the tanks in small groups as darkness descended. We felt we were free men once again and would soon be back in the safety of the rear areas behind the American front lines. We were a group of jubilant prisoners, but there was not much chance of fighting alongside our liberators since we were weak from our starvation diet during the past few months. Many of the freed prisoners returned to the Oflag.

As it got dark the tanks started to crank up their engines to prepare for the return to the American lines. While we were standing around, some German soldiers crept up and fired several panzerfaust rockets at the idling tanks. One tank was hit and burst into flames.

I decided to go back to the American lines with the tanks and climbed up on one of the Shermans along with five or six other former prisoners. The deck of the tank was crowded with extra tank tracks, jerricans of gasoline and water and clusters of 76mm shells. The tank drivers gunned their motors and began to move out. I felt exposed high up above the ground. As we moved out the cold wind blew in my face and I had an exhilarating and wonderful feeling of freedom.

Germans close in

None of us knew that hostile German troops were closing in on the Task Force returning to the American lines. When the German military units in the area learned that the American tank convoy was loose inside their lines they began to close in. The Germans knew the size of Task Force Baum. We had seen a small German reconnaissance plane circling overhead before the Task Force arrived at Hammelburg.

I clung to the top of the Sherman tank as it roared and pulled out of the group and became the lead tank of the column in hostile enemy territory. The column of tanks and other vehicles moved slowly through the dark woods along a narrow road until a log pile road block was spotted about 200 yards ahead.

The column stopped and the tanks ground around with much noise and confusion and headed back in the opposite direction. The Germans at the road block fired several bazooka or panzerfaust rockets at the column as we were turning around. One of the rockets swooshed by my head like a deadly Roman candle as it went past and exploded in the woods. I felt the heat and crouched down and hung on for dear life. If the round had been a few inches closer and had hit the tank all of us hanging on would have been killed.



When the column slowed down, I climbed down from my place on the lead tank and ran back about 10 or 12 tanks and other vehicles in the column and climbed up on the back of a halftrack. Two other lieutenants and I hung on and we stood on the narrow metal flange on the back. I felt relieved that I was no longer at the head of the column behind the German lines.

The column of American tanks, half-tracks and other vehicles was hit again with German rockets and panzerfausts as they turned around and headed toward the town of Hessdorf. The column with the liberated prisoners hanging on headed back to Hill 427 and a large clearing. When the convoy disbursed around a big field, a group of liberated officers milled around the tanks and halftracks that had pulled into the clearing. In the center of the clearing was a stone building and the tanks, halftracks and other vehicles formed a defensive perimeter. It was extremely cold and we could hear the sound of German tanks in the woods beyond.

Colonel Goode

After reaching the Oflag and breaking through the barbed wire and heading back to the American lines with the liberated prisoners who could climb aboard, the tanks blasted their way through the quiet countryside. Those of us who were hanging on were exhilarated and happy at being free and headed for the American lines. I hung on the back of the halftrack for several hours and was totally exhausted.



As it began to get light, Col. Paul Goode climbed up on a tank and announced that those of us who had been liberated and who wanted to stay with the task force and fight could do so, but that he was going back to the Oflag at Hammelburg.

He jumped down from the tank and produced a white sheet and started walking back toward the Oflag at Hammelburg with most of the POWs, including me, following. We walked at a rapid pace down a narrow dirt road in the open German countryside to the Oflag, now retaken by German soldiers.

Although we were weak and had not eaten or had a drink of water or slept for over 24 hours, we followed Col. Goode back toward the Hammelburg Oflag. After we had gone about a mile we heard the noise of a terrific battle taking place. The Germans surrounding the beleaguered Task Force were firing point blank at the tanks and other vehicles with everything they had. We could see columns of black smoke rising up over the trees. We trudged the 11 or 12 miles back to the Oflag and were exhausted when we got there. The German guards who had taken off when the tanks arrived had returned and reoccupied the Oflag.

At 0810 hours on 28 March the Task Force prepared to return to the American lines. On the command of Capt. Baum the tanks roared to life and began to slowly move out. The halftracks and other vehicles started up and moved in with the tanks.

Germans attack

The German tanks, tank destroyers and heavy guns cut loose with everything they had. The American tanks, halftracks and other vehicles were hit and many exploded in flames.



The German attack was well coordinated. Tank destroyers with 90mm cannons followed by German infantry converged on the surrounded vehicles. The 76mm guns on the American tanks and tank destroyers were no match for the German 90mm guns. Capt. Baum ordered all drivers not to stop at road blocks but to fight their way back to the American lines destroying anything in the way. After Capt. Baum's order to move out, the onslaught by the Germans damaged or destroyed nearly all of the vehicles. Many went up in flames as their gas tanks exploded.

Before leaving, Capt. Baum found a halftrack with a radio and he tapped out his last message to the Fourth Armored Division Headquarters in Morse Code: "Task Force Baum surrounded, under heavy fire. Request air support."

When it appeared that the situation was hopeless, the men in the Task Force and the remaining liberated officers took off into the woods and some eventually made it back to the American lines. Most were recaptured as they went through the hostile German woods and countryside.

POWs again

Those of us who followed Col. Goode returned exhausted to the deserted Oflag where we stayed for several hours before we were ordered to prepare to leave under the watchful eyes of fully-armed and equipped German soldiers.

Lt. Col. Waters, while attempting a truce with the Germans when the tanks arrived, was shot by a German guard. He was taken to the Oflag hospital and a week later after the American lines had moved up, he was evacuated to a field hospital.

The German soldiers who had returned to the Oflag were now armed and equipped for combat. They marched us the couple of miles down the steep road to the rail yards at Hammelburg where we were ordered to get in box cars and were locked in. We were targets of our own P-47 and P-51 air attacks and were given no food, water or heat. The next afternoon we arrived at Nurnburg at the heavily bomb-damaged rail yards and marched to a prison camp there.



Lt. Col. John Knight Waters remained in the Army and later became a 4-star general. He served the United States with distinction until he retired. He wrote me several years prior to his death that Gen. Patton, his father-in-law, did not know that he was a prisoner at Hammelburg when he sent the Task Force through the front lines to liberate the American prisoners.

Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., "Old Blood and Guts," was soundly reprimanded by both Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Gen. Omar N. Bradley for the abortive attack on Hammelburg and the loss of the Task Force. He told correspondents that he did not know until nine days after the Task Force reached Hammelburg that his son-in-law was among the prisoners. He produced his private diaries and said he attempted to liberate the prison camp because they were afraid that the American prisoners might be murdered by the retreating Germans. Gen. Patton later admitted: "I can say this, that throughout the campaign in Europe I know of no error I made except that of failing to send a combat command to take Hammelburg. Otherwise, my operations were to me, strictly satisfactory."

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[The Mayor]

I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. — Jeremiah 31:34

The only sure place to bury sin is at the foot of the cross.

[tomball]

Good Morning Samwolf-Snippy, and All,

Another great report to begin the day.  Having grown up in a big family, most of my relatives, friends and neighbors were participants in  World War II in one way or another. 

My next door neighbor was in the war (his part was with the Blitz) under the command of  Patton .  His name was John Speck.   He was with the tank division.  He was wounded by a grenade when pulling a buddy from a tank that got hit.  His knees and legs were never the same, but he came back home, raised a family, and worked for more than 30 years in a factory that made steel products.  Being a humble, hard-working man, he never offered his war experience unless he was asked about it.  But when asked, it was like you were talking to a living piece of history.  He and his wife were good people, and they are truly missed.

Here's to the men and women who proudly served in WW2. 

 

 

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone!

[SAMWolf]

Oooooo, snippy's gonna getcha for that. LOL!!

LOL! No she won't, she can't find me on the map. ;-)

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on April 17:
1573 Maximilian I duke/ruler of Bayern (Catholic League)
1586 John Ford English dramatist ('Tis Pity She's a Whore)
1676 Frederik I [van Hessen Kassel] King of Sweden (1720-51)
1741 Samuel Chase judge (signed Declaration of Independence)
1788 Joseph Gilbert Totten Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1864
1809 Philip St George Cocke Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1861
1813 Henry Washington Benham Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1884
1837 John Pierpont Morgan US banker/CEO (US Steel)
1870 Ray Stannard Baker US, journalist (Puliter Prize 1940)
1885 Karen Blixen-Finecke [Dinesen], Danish writer (Out of Africa)
1890 Art Acord Glenwood Sevier UT, western actor (Arizona Kid, Hard Fists)
1894 Nikita S Khrushchev 1st Secretary USSR (1953-64)
1897 Thornton N Wilder US, novelist/playwright (Our Town)
1911 Mikhail Botvinnik of USSR, world chess champion (1948-63)
1916 Donald Gibson British Vice-Admiral
1918 William Holden [Franklin Beedle Jr] O'Fallon IL, actor (Stalag 17, Bridge Over the River Kwai, Wild Bunch)
1923 Harry Reasoner Dakota City IA, newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC, CBS)
1927 Tadeusz Mazowiecki premier of Poland (1989-90)
1933 Monique Van Vooren Brussels Belgium, actress (Warhol's Frankenstein)
1934 Don Kirshner rock & roll producer (invented bubblegum music)
1937 Daffy Duck, Thespian
1937 Eduard N Stepanov Russian cosmonaut
1943 Roy Estrada rocker (Morthers Of Invention)
1948 Jan Hammer composer (Escape from TV, Miami Vice)
1949 John Oates New York NY,rock guitarist/vocalist (Hall & Oates-Rich Girl)
1958 Byron Cherry Atlanta GA, actor (Coy-Dukes of Hazzard)
1958 Sergei Yuriyevich Vozovikov Russian Major/cosmonaut
1961 [Norman] Boomer Esiason West Islip NY, NFL quarterback (Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets)
1976 Nadine Thomas Miss Jamaica-Universe (1997)

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Deaths which occurred on April 17:
0485 Proclus Greek mathematician, dies in Athens
0818 Bernhard I King of Italy, dies
0858 Benedict III Italian Pope (855-58), dies
1297 Willem van Afflighem Flemish poet/abbot St Truiden, dies at about 86
1679 John van Kessel Flemish painter, dies at 53
1711 Jozef I [Habsburg] emperor of Germany (1705-11), dies at about 32
1790 Benjamin Franklin US, (Poor Richard's Almanac), dies at 84
1835 William Henry Ireland forger (Shakespearean manuscripts), dies
1838 J Schopenhauer writer, dies at 71
1863 Daniel Smith Donelson Confederate General/cousin of Andrew Jackson, dies at 61
1945 Walter Model German fieldmarshal, commits suicide at 54
1960 Eddie Cochran rocker, dies in an auto accident at 21
1970 Sergei Aleksi patriarch of Russian-Orthodox church, dies at 92
1974 Frank McGee Today show host, dies of cancer at 52
1974 Vinnie Taylor rocker (Canned Heat), dies of a drug overdose
1983 Felix Pappalardi rocker (Cream, Mountain), dies
1983 Mark W Clark US General (WWII), dies at 87
1987 Dick Shawn comedian (Producers), dies on stage from a heart attack at 63
1990 Reverend Ralph David Abernathy civil rights activist, dies at 64
1992 Hank Penny country music singer, dies at 73 of heart failure
1993 Turgut Özal President of Turkey (1989-93), dies at 65
1997 Chaim Herzog President of Israel (1983-93), dies at 78

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 WOODWORTH SAMUEL ALEXANDER--MINCO OK.
[CRASH EXPLODE]
1966 TROMP WILLIAM L.---FENNVILLE MI.
1967 CARLTON JAMES E.---BIRMINGHAM AL.
1967 MC GARVEY JAMES M.---VALPARAISO IN.
1968 HELD JOHN W.---INDIANAPOLIS IN.
1969 DAHILL DOUGLAS E.---LIMA OH.
1969 NEWTON CHARLES V.---CANADIAN TX.
1969 PREVEDEL CHARLES F.---FLORISSANT MO.
1969 WILLETT ROBERT V. JR.---GREAT FALLS MT.
1971 GILLESPIE JOHN FRANCIS---AUSTRALIA
[LANCE CORPORAL, 8 FD AMP MISSING IN ACTION]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
0858 Benedict III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1421 Dikes at Dort Holland breaks, 100,000 drown
1492 Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find the Indies
1521 Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church
1524 Giovanni Verrazano, a florentine navigator, discovers New York Bay
1534 Sir Thomas More confined in London Tower
1629 1st commercial fishery established
1704 1st successful US newspaper; published in Boston by John Campbell
1711 Charles VI Habsburg becomes king of Austria
1793 Battle of Warsaw
1808 Bayonne Decree by Napoleon I of France orders seizure of US ships
1817 1st US school for the deaf founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc (American School for the Deaf-Hartford CT)
1824 Russia abandons all North American claims south of 54º 40' N
1839 Guatemala forms republic
1853 US Marine Hospital at Presidio (San Francisco) established
1861 Virginia become 8th state to secede
1861 Indianola TX-"Star of West" taken by Confederacy
1863 Grierson's Raid La Grange TN to Baton Rouge LA
1864 Battle of Plymouth NC
1864 Bread revolt in Savannah GA
1864 Grant suspends prisoner-of-war exchanges
1865 Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Lincoln's assassination
1869 1st pro baseball games-Cincinnati Reds 24, Cincinnati amateurs 15
1875 "Snooker" (variation of pool) invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain
1892 1st Sunday National League baseball game, Cincinnati Reds beat St Louis Cardinals 5-1
1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki signed, ends 1st Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
1905 US Supreme court judges maximum work day unconstitutional
1907 11,745 immigrants arrive at Ellis Island NY
1912 1st unofficial gold record (Al Jolson's "Ragging The Baby To Sleep")
1920 American Professional Football Association forms (NFL)
1924 Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures & Louis B Mayer Company merged to form MGM
1927 Japan's Wakarsoeki government falls/Baron Tanaka becomes premier
1930 Abkhazian ASSR established in Georgian SSR
1932 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia ends slavery
1933 Chicago Bears win their 1st NFL Game beating New York Giants 23-21
1934 The new Fenway Park opens, Washington Senators beat Red Sox 6-5
1937 Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, debut
1939 Joe Louis KOs Jack Roper in 1 for heavyweight boxing title
1939 Stalin signs British-France-Russian anti-nazi pact
1941 Office of Price Administration established (to handle rationing)
1941 British troop land in Iraq/Yugoslavia; surrender to Nazi's
1942 12 Lancasters bombs MAN-factory in Augsburg
1942 Operations begin to destroy Sobibor Concentration Camp
1943 Admiral Yamamoto flies from Truk to Rabaul
1943 SS-Lieutenant-General Jürgen Stoop arrives in Warsaw
1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden
1945 German occupiers flood Wieringermeer Netherlands
1945 Mussolini flees from Salò to Milan
1945 US troops lands in Mindanao
1946 Last French troops leave Syria (National Day)
1946 Syria declares independence from French administration
1947 Jackie Robinson bunts for his 1st major league hit
1951 New York Yankee Mickey Mantle's 1st game, he goes 1 for 4
1953 Mickey Mantle hits a 565' homerun in Washington DC's Griffith Stadium
1956 Willie Mosconi sinks 150 consecutive balls in a billiard tournament
1958 Brussel's (Belgium) World Fair opens
1960 American Samoa sets up a constitutional government
1961 1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs attempt to overthrow Castro
1964 Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2368 base)
1964 1st game at Shea Stadium, New York Mets lose to Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3
1967 Surveyor 3 launched; soft lands on Moon, April 20
1969 Czechoslovakia's Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek deposed
1969 Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F Kennedy
1969 The Band (formerly The Hawks), perform their 1st concert
1969 Bernadette Devlin elected to British House of Commons
1970 Apollo 13 limps back safely, Beech-built oxygen tank no help
1970 Paul McCartney's 1st solo album "McCartney" is released
1971 Egypt, Libya & Syria form federation (FAR)
1971 People's Republic Bangladesh forms, under sheik Mujib ur-Rahman
1972 76th Boston Marathon won by Olavi Suomalainen of Finland in 2:15:39
1974 Ted Bundy victim Susan Rancourt disappears from Central Washington State College, Ellensburg WA
1974 Moslem fundamentalists assault military academy in Heliopolis Egypt
1975 Phnom Penh fell to Communist insurgents, ending Cambodia's 5-year war
1976 National League greatest comeback, trailing 12-1 the Phillies win 18-16 in 10, Mike Schmidt hits 4 consecutive homeruns
1978 63,500,000 shares traded on New York stock exchange (record)
1978 Pulitzer prize awarded to Carl Sagan for "Dragons of Eden"
1983 1st National Coin Week begins
1983 In Warsaw, police route 1,000 Solidarity supporters
1983 India entered space age launching SLV-3 rocket
1983 Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter
1984 Libyan embassy demonstration, 1 shot dead
1986 IBM produces 1st megabit-chip
1986 Netherlands & Scilly Islands sign peace treaty (war of 1651)
1989 Polish labor union Solidarity granted legal status
1991 Railroad workers go on strike in the US
1993 Police officers found guilty of violating Rodney King's civil rights
1993 STS-56 (Discovery) lands
1997 John Bell, 115, recieves new pacemaker

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

World Grits Day
American Samoa : Flag Day (1900)
Burma : New Years
Democratic Kampuchea : Day of the Great Victory
Japan : Children's Protection Day
New York NY : Verrazano Day (1524)
Syria : Evacuation Day/Independence Day (1946)
US : National Garden Week Week Ends
National Cheeseball Day
Travel and Entertainment Books Month

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Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Anicetus, pope [150-66], martyr
Islam : New Year's Day (Muharram 1, 1420 AH)

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Religious History
1640 Reorus Torkillus, 41, from Sweden, landed at Fort Christie in Delaware, making him the first Lutheran pastor to arrive in North America.
1776 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'You have now such faith as is necessary for your living unto God. As yet you are not called to die. When you are, you shall have faith for this also.'
1833 English historian and statesman Thomas B. Macaulay declared: 'The whole history of Christianity proves that she has little indeed to fear from persecution as a foe, but much to fear from persecution as an ally.'
1920 Birth of Robert G. Bratcher, principal translator of the American Bible Society's 1966-1976 "Good News Bible" (also known as "Today's English Version").
1960 Swedish statesman and Secretary General of the U.N. Dag Hammarskjld noted in his journal "Markings": 'Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who forgives you -- out of love - - takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrifice.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"Thrift is a wonderful virtue - in an ancestor."

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What a Difference 30 Years Makes...
1970: Parents begging you to get your hair cut.
2000: Children begging you to get their heads shaved.

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New State Slogans...
North Carolina: Where Yankees stop to eat on the way to Florida.

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Male Language Patterns...
"I'm going fishing." REALLY MEANS,
"I'm going to drink myself dangerously stupid, and stand by a stream with a stick in my hand, while the fish swim by in complete safety."

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Female Language Patterns...
"That's men's work." REALLY MEANS,
"I'm going shopping. Give me your gold card."

[SAMWolf]

Morning aeronaut

Hmmm, I see a little Texan Trainer or Dauntless in that design.

[SAMWolf]

The first military jeep appeared about 1940. It was larger than the familiar vehicle that has a 1/4 ton capacity, which at the time was called a peep. The larger vehicle was soon phased out, and so the smaller one changed its name from a peep to a jeep.

Source The Maven's - Word for the Day

I've also heard that the Armored Forces in WWII used peep instead of jeep for some unexplained reason.

[SAMWolf]

Morning aomagrat.

The FLETCHER class is my favorite DD. Those five main guns make it look like it means business.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Mayor.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning tomball.

A lot of people haven't had the fortune to be able to hear first hand the stories of our Veterans. Sadly, too many don't want to hear their stories, that's not only their loss, it's a loss to our Country to npot have those stories passed on.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather.

BentFeather - - Poet

[SAMWolf]

1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden

What a day this would have been to re-enact this at Fallujah.

[SAMWolf]

1989 Polish labor union Solidarity granted legal status

[Soaring Feather]

Oh how clever you are!! I love it.

[SAMWolf]

:-)

[Samwise]

This is sending chills down me.

My cousin was a POW in WWII. He was in the Army, 42nd Rainbow division, captured in France, and was held until he was liberated by General Patton's troops.

He lost a lot of weight while he was a prisoner and was a sack of skin, but he told me that he didn't starve to death because the German soldier who guarded him sneaked extra food to him. His (the German's) son was a prisoner of the Americans, and he received mail from him. He told his father about how well he was being treated by the Americans. The grateful father reciprocated by trying to be kind to Bob.

He was able to return to the POW camp during the 1990s. He was amazed at how nice the place looked--nice little whitewashed building with flowers.

[stand watie]

GM snippy!

free dixie,sw

[Valin]

Mandatory overtime today (booo!) (remember the ecomomys in the tank)

Back tonight. Have fun, play nice, be good...well not too good.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Samwise.


Thanks for sharing your cousin's story.

The US and Brits faired fairly well as German captives compared to Russian and Polish POW's.

[SAMWolf]

Morning stand watie.

Free Dixie!