•

SUMMER, 1996

BlG AND BUSTED -Symboli'c of Hitler's Third Reich itself, which had only a month to live _y.Then this photo was taken, is this huge - and now useless -German railroad gun. Seven­tieth Divarty men who took it over in th~ir sector weren't very complimeqtary about the weapon. "N~t much good. No traverse," was the verdict. By this time the breech had been blown off to incapacitate it to­tally. Standing on the trophy are (from left) Pfc Max Bauer, HQ/70: Sgt. R. W. Bennett HQ/Divarty, and M/Sgt. C. D. Bolter, HQ/882. Photo by Chester Garstki.

•

--- -=--- ------

0 ,Ia:~~ ~~the big "~' ,;ght "~ but fl"t I oeed to meo­tion that this is my last "Report" to you, the Association members. When I first wrote toJou in October '94, I was apprehensive about the way things woul go during my 2-year term . Time has passed more rapidly than I expected, the anticipated challenges have ap­peared but so far most issues have been resolved in reasonable fashion (from my perspective}.

A complete review of what has taken place is impractical (Ed doesn't have space for that} but I must mention the emotional high­lights. Standing in front of the Spicheren Heights Trailblazer monu­ment on May 8, 1995 as the bands played, Old Glory and the French flag waved, the French vil-

our active regular membership for those who have poid their dues through December '95 totals about 1,700. Another 210 members are up to two years in arrears. Our goal of 2,000 members by year 2000 will be a challenge. Effort is being made to bring our membership records up to date, especially in the Honorary /Widow category. The results of a mailing by Don Lindgren indicate nearly 250 of the widows of former Trailblazers are deceased or no longer wish to receive our publications.

Many were disappointed by the outcome of the vote on a monu­ment at Ft. Benning; however the real disappointment relates to the small percentage of members who voted. The secretary and trea­surer duties have been divided to achieve a more workable arrange­ment. Formal action will be taken at Orlando. Our $12 per year dues are now due on January 1 and the mailing labels on the ''Trail-

The President's lagers cheered and over a hundred of our members applauded, many with tears in their eyes- that is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thank you for giving me that privilege as your president, and thank you, Charles Kelly, for making it happen.

Report Dale Bowlin An American tank has been moved from Giessen, Germany to the Spicheren monument area and will be displayed as part ot a museum.

Attending Mini-Reunions, corresponding with your officers and others, seeing progress on assuring that our WWII deeds will be properly recorded in libraries where future scholars and historians will have access, helping Lou Hoger publish the new Roster, experi­encing the contributions of Karl Landstrom's Resolutions and Lee Miller's Facilities Committees, enjoying the extra eight pages in Ed Arnold's ''Trailblazer" - all these have helped make this a reward­ing and satisfying time for Phyllis and me.

Our new Regional organization has shown potential although there is still more to be done to really get this concept off the ground;

The Trailblazer

is published four times a year by the 70th Infantry Division Asso­ciation and friends . Subscription: $12 annually.

Editor Edmund C . Arnold 3804 Brandon Ave., S.W. #415 Roanoke, VA 24018 (540) 776-2415

* Chester F. Garstki Lexington Square, Apt. 256 400 W. Butterfield Road Elmhurst, IL 60126 (708) 617-2589

*

blazer" will show your current dues status. Copies of an Association History Summary, put together by Cal Jones and published by Jim Hanson, will be for sale at Orlando as will packets of new Associa­tion letterhead stationery.

The 70th Division {Training} that has participated in recent bien­nial reunions is being deactivated; George and Barbara Marshall attended a recent Army Divisions Association meeting in Little Rock and obtained valuable ideas for our organization .

Two years ago Ed Arnold, in referring to the St. Louis Reunion, commented that "the days dwindle down to a precious few" ; the meaning of those words becomes more clear each time another re­union is scheduled . Months of planning and preparation for our cel­ebration at the Clarion Plaza in Orlando are building to a climax. If for some reason you have not made your travel plans, Phyllis and I urge you to do it now. We have concentrated on keeping the activi­ties simple and located in the Clarion. There are great facilities and plenty of time to visit with friends from past years and to enjoy the excitement of new friends. Space is available for small groups that want to gather in a separate meeting room . Drop me a note if you want to reserve ahead.

Opportunities are abundant for those who want to partake of the commercial entertainment in the Orlando area . Lee Miller is coordi ­nating an evening at Church Street Station.

Don and Sadako George will coordinate a Silent Auction to helf! offset the Hospitality Room expenses so bring your hobby and craft work and contribute to a worthy cause. Following the business meet­ing, Lt. Col. Keith Bonn, author of "When the Odds Were Even" will speak at the Men 's Luncheon. It all adds up to another memorable time.

Until Orlando in September­Warm regards,

Dale

Staff Artist Peter Bennet 729 LIFERS FRALEY, Almar S.

D/275

2

3031 Sir Phillips Dr. San Antonio, TX 78209 (2 10) 828-5477

Volume54 Number3 SUMMER, 1996

With the addition of four new names, the roster of Life Members now totals 729. The latest to enlist are:

ERNES, Albert F. C/274

HOLLAND, William C/275

STACHEL, William 1/276

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

' .. Reuni-on committees named to posts

Staging an affair like the biennial Reunion of the 70th Division Association takes a lot of man- (and woman-) hours of diligent labor. The smooth way Reunions proceed is due to the many volunteers working in front of and behind the scenes, before and during the days of the get-together.

Members of key committees working on the Orlando Reunion are being announced by their chairmen. Those that can't be listed in this issue will be recognized in the Fall magazine.

Calvin Jones, chairman of the Nominating Committee, is working with Henry Clark, AT, 274, 20410 Thelma Ave., Saratoga, California 95070; and George Wisdom, Sv/883, Box 546, Poplar Bluff, Missouri 6390 l.

* Don Docken, C/275, Association chaplain, is chairman of the Memorial Service Commit­tee. It consists of Harry Durkee, C/275, Les Edwards, B/274, and Edmund Arnold, HQ/70.

* Les is chairman of the Enter tainment Com-mittee. In fact, he 's the whole committee.

* Perhaps the largest committee- certainly a highly important one- is that in charge of the Hospitali ty Room. Bob (K/276) and Ruth Keeton are co-chairmen. A spacious 70 x 110-foot room will be the hub of the Reunion from Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 4, and through Sun­day.

Bob and Ruth Keeton, chairmen, K/276; Walter and Pam Cox, E/274; Ray and Anne J. Gieselman, C/275; Pete and Velma Haugen, A/ 275; Charles and Dorothy Johnson, HQ/882; R. D. and Ruth Kelly, Medic 3rd Bn/275; Ted and Ruth Kuemerosky, A/276; Stan and Dor­othy Lambert, I/275; Ray and Ann Malchow, B/276; Jack and Alice McCormick, B/884; Ray and Edna Mead, E/276; Harry and Lou Mumm, I/275; Bill and Joan Rorabaugh, C/275; John and B Skeen, l/275; Cal and Anne Wisman, 70 MP; Bill and Estelle Yates, HQ 1st Bn/274, and John and Evelyn Zybsky, Medic 3rd Bn/274.

This is just the first platoon. Names of other members will be reported in the next issue.

* Another large group facing a large job is the Registration Committee headed by Carol and Dick Brown, 0/275 , who have demonstrated their expertise on the job at earlier Reunions. To keep the desk operating for quick and pain­less registration will be: Adeline and Frak Balzano, C/275; Rose Anne and Jerry Beran, 0/275; Linda and Anthony Catalano, C/275; Pat and Ed Cloonan, D/275; Mary and Ira Coffey, A/275; and

Sadako and Don George, K/275 ; Lillian and John Haller, A/276; Winona and Ira Hatch, HQ 2nd Bn/274; Marvin Heffner, 0 /275; Pauline and Bill Hines, C/276; Dot and Jack Horan, D/ 275; Millie and Norman Johnson, A/883; and

Evelyn and Lou Klettinger, D/275; Marie and Earl Koontz, F/275; Jack Lange, 570 Signal ;

Summer 1996

Dorothy and Frank Lowry, A/276; Marcella and Ed Royce, D/275; Donna and Russell Sellman, D/275; Ruth and Al Thomas, HQ/883; Elvira and Howard Timm, D/275; Evelena and An­thony YanDeWege, D/275; Evelyn and Ryland Watts, D/275; and Margaret and George Wildi, A/275.

* The Facilities Committee will be the on-site trouble-shooters at Orlando. They'll te ll you about local facilities and services and interest­ing sight-seeing and help track down (heaven forbid!) missing luggage, etc.

Lee Miller, D/275, is chairman. His jolly crew consists of Bob Andrews, HQ/883; Bob Culbertson, D/275; Paul Connell, A/884; Harry Dickenson, l/275; Norman Hookway , l/276; Paul Kuusisto, G/275; Emilio Rojas, K/275; John Stanton, G/276; and Joseph Doyle, 1/275.

* The Souvenir Sales Committee is headed by Archie Smith, E/274, and his wife Evelyn. Mem­bers are Lolly and Bob Budnik, A/275; Madeline and Henry Clark, AT/275; Jean and Bill Donofrio , E/274; Elizabeth and Maurice Kleiman, E/274; Harda and George Spires, M/ 275; and Naomi and Willard Wolfmeyer, E/274.

The sales desk will be open Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m. and on Thursday and Friday from 9 to 5.

* The Resolutions Committee consists of chairman Karl Landstrom, HQ 3rd Bn/274; George Barten, HQ 2nd Bn/275, and Edward Sabine, M/276.

* The Outstanding Tra ilblazer Committee is chaired by Walter Cox, E/274. Members are Dean Banker, G/274; Gene Burtner, L/276; Cornelius Cremer, F/275; Paul Durbin, C/275; ChesterGarstki, HQ 70; Rex Jeffrey, F/275 , and William Pierce, C/275.

* One of the most painstaking jobs at a Reunion is arranging seating. As much as possible, people are seated with friends as they request. Table assignments are also rotated so that there is an equitable balance between up-front and farther­back tables. Committee names were not avail­able at press time and so will be reported in the next issue, the "Report from Orlando."

* One committee's work is all done well in advance. That 's the group that nominates recipi­ents of the Outstanding Trailblazer A ward. They have received suggestions from members, se­lected the men who best meet the criteria in­volved and recommend them to the Executive Board which makes the final selection. That committee had an extraordinary duty this year; it was asked to recommend the winner of the 70th Medal of Honor. This is a one-time award which will be given for unusual contributions to the welfare of the Association.

This Awa rds Committee is chaired by Walter Cox, Jr., E/274; Dean Banker, G/274;

Eugene Burtner, C/275; Cornelius Cremer, F/ 275; Paul Durbin, C/275; Chester Garstki, HQ/ 70; Rex Jeffrey, F/275, and William Pierce, C/ 275.

Famed Spot offers bargain to 'Blazers

An Orlando attraction that draws visitors from all over the world is the Church Street Station.

This is an area in downtown Orlando. with turn-of-the-century atmosphere. that is a colorful complex of dining. shopping and entertainment. The Victorian-styled Exchange Shopping Emporium has 40 unique shops to appeal to man. woman. child and animal alike. Show rooms loaded with live entertainment. include Rosie O 'Grady's, the Cheyenne Saloon. the Orchid Garden and Phineas Phogg's. They offer music ranging from ragtime to rock 'n' roll with lively stage shows. Three fine restaurants are Lili Marlene's, Crackers Seafood Bar and the Cheyenne Barbeque. There are also Commander Ragtime's Mid­way of Fun. Food and Games and Apple Annie's Courtyard.

The Facilities Committee sug­gests that this would be a great way to enjoy Thursday's open night.

The complex is open daily from 11 a.m. to 2 a .m . One ticket will admit you to all the shows. All major credit cards and traveler's checks are accepted.

Lee Miller has cooked up an interesting - and money-saving­deal- if you help him on a hurry­up project. For $21 per person you will get a round-trip from the hotel in a luxury bus and a ticket that will admit you to all the attrac­tions. It will be necessary to make reservations - by mail or phone -with Lee as soon as you read this. He is working on a tight deadline to obtain this special price. His address is PO Box 1906. Crystal River. FL 34423 and his phone is (352) 795-0676 .

• 3

Coiistitution changes proposed for action at Orlando meeting

There's always something new and interesting at Trailblazer Reunions. The Orlando meeting is no exception.

At the biennial business session, new procedures will assure that there will be adequate discussion of important issues, especially of constitutional amendments.

Until now, there has been no requirement by the constitution or by-laws that the mem­bership be notified, in advance, of amend­ments that would be presented at the meet­ing. President Dale Bowlin has appointed a Resolutions Committee, to process such proposals and other motions and notify the membership in advance. The items will be printed and included in the registration packet at the Reunion.

Take note that this story consists of two parts. The first is a journalistic report; the second is the official notice as prepared by the committee.

The Resolutions Committee is chaired by Karl Landstrom, HQ 3rd Bn/274, and includes George Barten, HQ 2nd Bn/275, and Edward Sabine, M/276. It will present four constitutional proposals and one ordi­nary motion.

1. One would define the various categories

of membership. This would make no real changes in anyone's status; basically, it spells out some conditions that have been confusing. For instance, "Honorary mem­bers" now include the widows of members as well as those people who are not 70th veterans but have been honored for their significant services to the Association. Wives will be recognized as members of the Association in the same category as widows.

Life memberships will be available only to Active and Inactive Members.

2. More substantive is a proposal to sepa­

rate the duties of the secretary-treasurer and create the posts of secretary and of trea­surer. The latter would handle all financial duties that are now performed by the assis­tant secretary-treasurer.

The Association has grown so much that one can't handle both duties on a volunteer

4

basis and the now assistant needs legal sta­tus to do the financial work.

3. The vote-by-mail procedure would be

abolished by the third proposal. This vot­ing procedure was set up by the 1992 busi­ness meeting at Louisville and has been used twice. The first time was in the Win­ter of 1994 and provided for four regional vice-presidents. The second was in March, this year, when a proposal to erect a monu­ment at Fort Benning was defeated.

4. Another adjustment without any substan­

tive changes would be made by the fourth proposal. It would make the same proce­dure apply to amending both the constitu­tion and by-laws. If it is adopted, amend­ments to either may be made at a biennial meeting by advance notification and a two­thirds majority of those voting. At the present, advance notice is not necessary. An amendment can be proposed at the meet­ing and voted upon perhaps under the con­straints oftime that precludes adequate dis-cuss ion.

* Advance notice is now not required for an "ordinary motion," any proposal other than constitutional changes, made at a Re­union meeting. This has caused some prob­lems and vexations in the past. The period of the meeting is, to all practical extent, the Saturday morning of the Reunion. It must adjourn for the men's luncheon at noon. Attempts to continue the meeting in the af­ternoon have run into schedule conflicts as regiments and other units have their own meetings.

So, the Executive Board decided, it would be more methodical if all substan­tive motions were submitted in advance to the Resolutions Committee and published in the "Trailblazer." This will make it pos­sible to set an agenda for the meeting that will assure time to discuss all motions. At at least one Reunion , a debatable proposal was made from the floor near the close of the meeting. Because of the time limit, ad­equate discussion was not possible and men on both sides of the debate were unhappy about the outcome.

It will be possible to make a motion on the floor without prior notification under the heading of "new business." Such mo­tions might quite well be stifled by the noon adjournment.

5. The fifth item is an ordinary motion that

will resurrect the proposal for a monument at Fort Benning. This proposal was defeated by a mail vote last Spring. The committee says a point of order might be raised by this motion. Some members have con­tended that a defeated motion may be re­vived only by someone who was on the winning side. The committee has taken the position that this requirement applies only when a question is reconsidered at the meet­ing where it was first voted on. In this in­stance, the committee believes, this is a new motion, not reconsideration of a previous one.

The parliamentarian at the meeting has not yet been appointed. He may well be called upon to rule on these varying points of view.

The proposal that the Resolutions Com­mittee will present may be amended by a majority vote on the floor and the exact wording may be changed before that time.

* Official notice of proposed amendments

The Resolutions Committee gives this notice that the follow­ing proposals will be presented at the Orlando Reunion business meeting.

1. ARTICLE II. MEMBERS OF THE

ASSOCIATION. Strike the entire article andre­

place it with the following: Membership of the Association

shall consist of the following cat­egories.

Active members are those men who served with the 70th Infan­try Division for any period from

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

• its acfi.vatiQn, June 15, 1943, to its inactivatio~: Nov. l L 1945, and have maintained active status by paying lifetime or current annual dues.

Inactive members are former active members whose dues are two or more years in arrears. Such members may regain active status by paying lifetime or cur­rent dues and those of one year in arrears. Inactive members shall be retained on the perma­nent Roster of the Association and shall be contacted at least once in every biennium and urged to regain active status.

Auxiliary members are wives of active members and those wid­ows of deceased active members who have requested complimen­tary subscriptions to the "Trail­blazer."

Inactive auxiliary members are widows who have not re­quested complimentary sub­scriptions to the "Trailblazer."

Associate members are rela­tives and friends of men who served with the 70th Infantry Di­vision at any time during the pe­riod of June 15, 1943, to Nov. l L 1945; persons who served at any time with the 70th Infantry Divi­sion USAR and the 70th Division (Training) USAR; persons, includ­ing those in foreign countries, who are interested in furthering the aims of the Association. Such members may be admitted upon application, approval by the Ex­ecutive Board and payment of annual dues.

Honorary members are persons who have been recognized by vote of the Executive Committee for unusually valuable service in furthering the aims of the Asso­ciation.

Voting rights at meetings and in mail elections are limited to active members. Other catego­ries have all privileges of mem­bership except that of voting.

Summer 1996

2. ARTICLE V. OFFICERS AND

DUTIES. Strike out the provisions per­

taining to the office of Secretary­Treasurer and substitute the fol­lowing:

SECRETARY. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to take min­utes of the business meetings held at Reunions, maintain mem­bership lists, publish the mem­bership roster, keep on file com­mittee reports, handle member­ship correspondence and Re­union registrations, maintain the record book of the Constitution, By-laws and amendments, and secure the Association files and other properties in such manner as to assure their permanence. He shall be authorized to pur­chase the necessary supplies to perform the duties of his office. An annual gratuity of $300 shall be paid to this officer.

TREASURER. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to collect membership and issue quarterly financial reports, advise the Sec­retary when Active and Associate Members' dues become past due, handle Reunion registration fees and payment of Reunion ex­penses and provide the "Trail­blazer" editor with current mem­bership lists and mailing labels and pay all regular expenses of producing and mailing the magazine. An annual gratuity of $300 shall be paid to this officer.

Delete the provisions pertain­ing to the office of Assistant Sec­retary-Treasurer.

ARTICLE VI. EXECUTIVE COM­MITTEE.

Strike out "Secretary-Treasurer, Assistant Secretary- Treasurer," and substitute "Secretary, Trea­surer."

BY-LAWS. In By-law 3 strike out at two

places "Secretary-Treasurer" and substitute "Secretary."

3. BY-LAWS. Articles 3 and 4 are hereby re­

scinded.

4. ARTICLE VII. AMENDMENTS

TO THE CONSTITUTION. Strike the entire Article andre­

place it as follows: ARTICLE VII. AMENDMENTS. This Constitution and the By­

Laws may be amended at a Re­union of the Association by a two­thirds majority of those members present and voting, providing that the proposed amendment has been published in the "Trail­blazer" prior to its introduction for consideration.

5. The Resolutions Committee

gives notice that the following motion has been proposed by Charles L. Kelly, HQ 70, and en­dorsed by more than 30 petitions, for consideration at the Orlando Reunion:

Moved, that the Executive Committee be authorized, and is hereby directed, to provide for the erection of a monument at the National Infantry Museum, Fort Benning, Georgia, to be substan­tially identical to the 70th Divi­sion Monument at Spicheren Heights, France, to perpetuate the memory of the Division's ser­vice during World War II.

* Inducted together, friends meet in France

Clarence Fosbender, F/276, and his Hill sdale, Michigan friend John Toner, were inducted together at Detroit in August, '44. Clarence was sent to Adair and John to Camp Fanning, Texas. They were re­united when John was sent to the 70th as a replacement just before Forbach.

John died Jan. 20. His wife Helen died in 1994.

• 5

Task forees felt 10isnsed when attaehed to Divisions

It started out like so many class­reunion conversations. Classmates who hadn 't seen each other for years were eagerly filling in the missing gaps. Inevitably the reminiscences got around to the Big War.

Ralph MacNaughton, B/276, recalls, "I found that one of my school friends had been with the 45th Thunderbird Division at Wingen-sur-Moder.

"He loaned me his history book of the 79 Regiment so I could get the story from their point of view. This is what I copied from that book:

6

The 70th was good-humoredly dubbed "the American Volksturm Grenadiers" by members of the press. They did seem to have amazingly naive officers.

One of their unit commanders commended the 79th 's worst AWOL offenders because he led part of that unit a few yards for­ward - not even under fire. An­other of these regimental officers asked the RCT's staff where the 45th had picked up its equipment on its combat landing in France. His outfit had been equipped in Marseilles and the officer couldn't comprehend how the 45th had obtained its impedimenta unless it had been waiting on a dock.

Another gentleman by an act of Congress asked if the MLR had been taped so he could find it. And all these troops told the Thunder­birds that they had been warned in the USA not to heed what any­one in the 3rd, 36th or 45th Divi­sions said, as the veterans were bloodthirsty and didn't give a damn for human life.

Still, all old hands are inclined to forget that they were once be­ginners.

T HAT LAST SENTENCE should be remembered. When replacements came to Task Force Herren after

Operation Nordwind, Trailblazer "veter­ans" of a couple of weeks of combat felt

like real old-timers toward the "green" sol­diers.

The quoted book - title unknown -was written in Germany in 1945 when the rowdy Infantry language had not yet been refined by civilian life and a bit of cooling off. Rex Wilson, editor of "45th Division News" points out that the history books of both the 179th Regiment and the 45th Di­vision make no derogatory references to Task Force Herren. Thomas Riordan, an old newspaper colleague of the editor, was in a mortar squad of Co. G of the 157th Regi­ment. He points out that even the most battle-hardened outfits often had inexperi­enced officers who replaced battle casual­ties. He also notes that the 45th sustained heavy losses in Nordwind and that those could hardly be blamed on "poor training" as a few critics charged the 70th with.

As with most of the soldiers on the line, Riordan saw only a small piece of"the big picture". The 45th had many different units attached to it at various times and places and the men in the fox holes had little if any contact with them.

Other individual Thunderbirds have spo­ken well of the Herren men who fought at their side. Hy Schorr, H/274, recalls a ca­sual mention of Wingen in a conversation with a post-war acquaintance. The friend remembered the Trailblazers well and thankfully- he was among the American prisoners whom the 70th elements had freed there.

T HAT THERE WAS friction between TFH and the 45th is incontrovertible. The stress of combat, fatigue,

garbled communications among units that had no personal contacts before makes ten­sion inevitable. And the Thunderbird Divi­sion and the Trailblazers came together under the most desperate of circumstances.

The 45th had a gallant record. After vic­tory in Sicily, it had fought through the worst battles of the Italian invasion : Salerno, Cassino, Anzio and the Balfour Gap. Bill Mauldin, who began his Pulitzer­Prizewinning career as cartoonist for the 45th's newspaper, had made his characters

• 70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

the typical American Gis to whom every American soldier felt strong kinship and in many ways the 45th could represent the whole U.S.A. contingent in the ETO.

The 45th played a crucial role in the Sev­enth Army's invasion of Southern France. It crossed the Moselle and took Epinal from a stubborn foe. German forces were pushed into the middle of the Vosges and Thunderbird men occupied towns which soon became part of Trailblazer vocabulary: Ingwiller, Hagenau, Zinswiller,

iederbronn. They had taken 14, 396 Ger­man POWs by the time 1944 came to a close.

Forty-fifth men spoke for many doughboys when they updated the slogan, "Win the War in '44" to "Stay Alive in '45".

Dug in in front of the Siegfried Line, the 'Birds' sector was comparatively quiet even as all hell broke loose in the Ardennes. But as troops were drawn out of Alsace to rein­force the battered Americans in The Bulge, the 45th's lines were extended- and thinned, of course. By this time the 276th Regiment of Task Force Herren had been attached to the 45th. Other units were at­tached and by this time Thunderbird com­manded 26 Infantry battalions and 10 Ar­tillery battalions.

Operation Nordwind had begun at mid­night of the new year of 1945.

The 45th was occupying positions sev­eral miles into Germany as 1945 began but the initial momentum ofNordwind pushed them back into France. On Jan. 14, the 157th Regiment launched a counterattack. The battle raged fiercely until Jan. 20. The Thunderbird regiment's records say "While the German penetration was stopped, the regimental casualties were the heaviest of any single battle of the war. Companies C, G, I, K, Land M were almost completely wiped out, along with their forward-ob­server parties from the 158th Field Artil­lery. Other 45th units also suffered heavy losses as did the Germans."

Considered the most authoritative history is "The Fighting Forty-Fifth: The Combat Report of an Infantry Division", produced by that division's Historical Board. It is obviously written from the point of view of the 45th. For instance, it reports, "The next enemy counterattack came in the vi­cinity of Philippsbourg. Again the 45th Division beat back the attack." There is no mention of any 70th units - not quite the

Summer 1996

way the 275th remembers it. Amid the usual confusion of battle, K/

275 never received orders as the mountain­ous terrain raised havoc with radio trans­missions. Maybe this was better than re­ceiving ambiguous orders like the 275th Regiment did on Jan. 4. "Attack at 0900 hours!" Attack what? Attack whom? Attack where? Attack is what the Germans did, de­termined to take Philippsbourg, a strategic intersection of rail and highway. It was the men wearing the axehead patch who threw back wave after wave of crack SS troops - and nary a mention in the 45th History book.

Another ambiguous order: The 45th ap­proved a 275 request to pull back Compa­nies A, Band L into P-bourg. But there was a proviso, "not to weaken the line north of Philippsbourg." This could take a little bit of figuring out.

Some other omissions are noteworthy.

AN EXCHANGE which may well have been typical took place on Jan. 7. Reports on the Philipps­

bourg situation were less than accurate. The town was ours; the town wasn't ours. The

Germans were backing off; the Germans were attacking successfully. S-3 of the 275th was on the phone with the assistant commander of the 45th, reporting the re­positioning of Trailblazers at P-bourg. "Our C Company has been ordered to move for­ward but we don't know if they're in posi­tion. We're out of contact with them." That was hardly startling information; with the abominable radio weakness within the mountainous terrain, units were constantly cut off from higher and lower echelons.

But the Thunderbird general exploded. "Tell your battalion commander that C Company is not to stop until they get onto ' that hill." That hill was Angelsberg, two ridges over from Falkenberg where four days earlier, B/275 had taken a terrible loss.

"Connect me with your regimental com­mander," the 45th officer snarled.

The regimental commander had been on that job only 24 hours. He was Lt. Col. John McAleer, who was in no way respon­sible for the existing situation. He took a savage tongue-lashing but even that did not satisfy the irascible Thunderbird. "Now get

(continued on next page)

• 7

Tensions heighten ft•ietion between TF Herren~ 45th

that battalion commander out of bed! Get all his headquarters people out of bed! Lo­cate C Company and get them up on that hill! We must get the heat on these birds to do things and that must be done tonight!"

The 45th '·Journal" records their general's remarks. If McAleer had anything to say, it is not reported there.

Contact with Charlie Company was face­to-face - no crapping around with that erratic radio. Maj. John Duffie. I st Battal­ion exec, took a small detail and tracked down Baker Company. He was dutiful­but must have been exasperated - as he relayed orders from the 45th. "Double-time your men to Angelsberg!"

With snow thigh-deep, the utterly ex­hausted and hungry men had difficulty single-timing it.

Having done his duty to the chain of command. Duffie did his duty as a com­mander; he put the welfare of the men at the top of the list. He told Lt. Karl Grotheer. company commander, "If this were my company, I wouldn't move it a damn step until rations arrived.'' Scornful of the 45th's tantrums, he snorted. ··some­body just wants to pretty-up the situation map!"

Another blank in the 45th's account: Some veteran 45th men gained immedi­

ate respect for the green Trailblazers. In the heart ofWingen stood the Catholic church, which had been a bastion of German resis­tance. The next morning. Company E. 274 moved up cautiously, prepared for a hand­grenade assault. But before a shot was fired. the church doors burst open and like an avalanche. hundreds of American POWs emerged. Just how many is still being ar­gued. The Ge1mans said they had about 400 prisoners, the Americans estimated 250.

The irony was that most of them were from the I 79th Regiment of the 45th.

They had been captured three days ear­lier in the first Nordwind assault and held without food or water. There were also many Trailblazers among the liberated POWs.

Individual soldiers who fought shoulder to shoulder with Herren ·s men considered them excellent fighters. Indeed. the com­mander of the 3rd Battalion of the I 79th Regiment - a veteran of some of the bloodiest battles in Europe- paid a simple

accolade: " I sure would like to have a pla­toon of your men. They're the damndest fellows I 've ever seen in action for the first time!"

Much of the friction that roughened nerves of both 70th and 45th men seems inevitable when "orphan troops" were in­volved. There were three "task forces" in the Vosges campaign. All were the Infan­try elements of Divisions, the 42nd Rain­bow, the 63rd Blood and Fire and the Trail­blazers. In a recent communication, Ken­neth Carpenter. editor of the 42nd Association's magazine, recalls incidents that parallel almost exactly those of 70th men when they were attached to complete division~.

As task forces, a new concept that evolved as Eisenhower required riflemen -many and quickly- the three divisions had left behind the Special Troops, nota­bly the Artillery, with whom they had trained and developed strong teamwork.

Under previous practices, divisions and other units who came to the ETO were given a period of orientation, of learning the general terrain, of fine-tuning tech­niques. The three task forces were denied any such preparations. As the Battle of the Bulge hung in deadly balance, the need for battlefield replacements was intense. There was virtually no time between arriving in France and coming under the first enemy fire.

ow the new troops were commanded by strangers with whom they had no per­sonal bond to smooth relations and opera­tions. Regular division commanders natu­rally were primarily concerned more about their own men than about those who were total strangers. Because the task forces were new to the divisions they were attached to, it was assumed -quite wrong ly - that they were fresh and battle-ready. But in many cases, Trailblazer units were assigned to relieve 45th troops who had been on the line for a shorter period than the newcom­ers.

One such instance: On Jan. 22, the 274th was attached to the 45th. Immediately it was assigned to relieve the Thunderbirds' !79th Regiment north of Wingen. By this time the "fresh, new·· Trailblazers were in worse shape than the men they relieved. Although they had been on the line con­tinuously since ordwind began, the 45th men had two hot meals every day- some­thing the 70th task force could barely re­member. And although they slept in fox­holes, the 'Birds did sleep on all those nights when 70th men were moving, on foot or freezing in open trucks. And, ultimate blessing!, the 45th had mobile laundry units.

Two days later, elements of the 35th Santa Fe Division "relieved" the 274th. Some relief! Without rest, Wyoming was sent to Wimmenau to relieve other 45th units. Here again they felt they were being treated like orphans.

Instead of going on the line there, the regiment was ordered into the woods, some I ,500 yards behind the main line of resis­tance. This was contrary to both military procedure and plain old common sense. A basic combat tenet is that soldiers should

INFANTRY ICONS-The cartoon characters of Bill Mauldin of the 45th Division symbol­ized all American Gis and made them spokesmen, especially. for the Infantry.

8 70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

, _ :utazers win Wing en; 45th Thunderbirds

get the eredit

look at a map, the answer was clear. They were only a couple of miles away from the fortress of Bitche. That's where the Ger­mans had launched their Operation Nordwind. It had been a keystone in the French Maginot Line and the Germans had turned it around to make a formidable de­fense against the south. It was laden with artillery and every gun seemed to fire around the clock.

always be as widely separated as possible so that one shell could not kill several men. Now, with a whole regiment concentrated into a tight area, even a stray shell, fired blindly, could take out half a company.

The 'Blazers were herded into this po­tential death trap because the town of Wimmenau - a thousand yards farther back and at least a little safer - was off limits to the "fresh" Herren force. Only 45th units and the 36th Combat Engineers shared the comparative shelter of the town. (To keep the record straight, our record , it should be noted that the next day the 274th did go into the line in a fairly smooth tran­sition.)

Another three days of no rest and the regiment began another exhausting move, to Walhambach, and there be attached, still orphans, to the 35th Santa Fe Division of Patton's Third Army. But again someone "back there" changed their mind. "Hold everything!"

Leaving only a handful of 70th men to cover the retreat, the 27 4th was moved back to Obersoultzbach. That move was "Mis­erable with a capital M". The order had been given by daylight but it was dark be­fore the march actually began. Snow fell heavily and the wind whipped close to gale force. The road was frozen hard and each step sent a shock into the soldier's spine. Sheer ice made every step a hazard of bal­ance.

The worst threat, though , was from American vehicles. Everything on wheels, from jeeps to 6x6s to half-tracks to tanks, they skittered hell-bent to leave nothing for the enemy to retrieve next day. Blackout was complete and collisions were frequent. Promised transportation never materialized and the men hiked 14 agonizing miles. It was broad daylight before the men reached their destination. Without food or rest, still under orders of the 1 03rd Cactus Division, the dazed Trailblazers had to dig a second defensive line.

The 274th stayed under 1 03rd command until Jan. 21 , when it was again attached to the 45th. This reunion was happier than the earlier attachments. Both the 45th and the 70th had seen each other in action and rec-

Summer 1996

ognized true fighting men. Thunderbirds were generous in their praise of the 'Blaz­ers ' actions.

(Meanwhile the other two 'Blazer regi­ments were at St. Jean Rohrbach, in VII Corps area.)

FINALLY, FINALLY Wyoming got a little respite. But one with strings attached. Now they came under the

aegis of the lOOth Century Division and were technically in reserve in the Montbronn sector. But here they sustained the heaviest artillery fire the enemy had ever poured on. When they had a chance to

The Trailblazers found billets in little villages a mile or so behind the lines. But even there it was hard to get genuine rest. Just yards away were the positions of American artillery which also was on a round-the-clock firing mission. And if the noise didn't keep the bone-weary Gis awake, there were flares lighting up the moonless sky all night long.

"But at least the lOOth didn't shove us in the front line to give their own troops a rest," one grateful 'Blazer observed.

Edmund C. Arnold The editor is indebted to Ted Herman, K/ 276, who furnished much of the 45th's historical material.

Finally fighting men give mutual respeet

to battle allies

"General's posturing sacrifices 5 companies"

Apparently fighting the German 6th SS Mountain Division wasn ' t the only war­fare the 45th Division was waging during Operation Nordwind. That undoubtedly aggravated the handicaps under which Task Force Herren had to operate.

A recently published book, "SPARKS: The Combat Diary of a Battalion Com­mander", suggests that internecine warfare was going on between the veteran officers who had conducted the division 's victQ­ries in Italy and Southern France and re­placement commanders at the highest lev­els.

The subject of the book is Felix Sparks, then a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 157th Regiment

of the 45th. Today he is secretary of the regimental association and edits an excel­lent newsletter.

In one issue he published an unusual after-action report that he had filed with • the Inspector-General of the division on Jan. 27, 1945. The document had just been found by one of his staff after nearly 50 years. The reader gets the impression that Sparks feared he would be "cashiered" by his new commanders.

Another book contributes documenta­tion of a sort, Paul Cundiff's book, "45th Infantry CP". The author was a sergeant at Division Headquarters and seems to be writing as an eye-witness.

(continued on next page)

• 9

4Sth-feuding charged for heavy losses

Here's a paragraph that touched nerves: "While a battalion of one the

45th's regiments was cut o~ in the bloody fighting (in the Re•perts­willer area) the G-1 colonel went into the General's CP van to get his signature on a recommenda­tion for a French award . The French had specified that the award should go to an officer who held an American distin­guished service decoration. G-1 was recommending a colonel who had earlier been in charge of a surrounded baHalion. Among his acts of bravery, this colonel had gone through enemy fire on the outside of an American tank to remove wounded soldiers from the trap. It was this same officer who, with tears in his eyes and battlefield dirt on his face, had said to the general, ' If I had it to do over again, I'd go against your orders and pull the baHalion out while I could.'

"After hearing that G- 1 recom­mendation, the general looked up and calmly said ' I have a distin­guished service decoration. ' !he new general also wrote the c~ta­tion and made recommendation for a cluster to his own Distin­guished Service Cross. Over his own signature and in disregard of Army channels of communica­tion, the captain-aide then by­passed the Corps commander and took the paper to the Army com­mander. Two or three days later the Army commander appeared at langensoultzbach and in an outdoor ceremony pinned an oak leaf cluster to the general's Cross."

Several veterans asked Sparks whether the unnamed colonel and battalion were theirs. "Affirmative! " he replied.

Sparks is an outspoken man , firm i.n conviction and specific in speech. H1s newsletter explains: "That ' new general' referred to was Maj. Gen . Robert Frederick. A short time earlier he had replaced Maj . Gen. William E~gles who was wounded in action. Fredenck was a

10

Coast Artillery officer who had never served in the Infantry. During the closing stages of the Italian campaign ~e had b~en in command of the 1st Spec1al Serv1ce Force. This was disbanded after the fall of Rome and the general and his staff were without assignment. Gen. Eagle 's wound­ing left an opening that Frederick eagerly filled and he brought some of his old staff with him.

"Soon after their arrival, the Division staff was reorganized with many of the experienced officers getting the boot. Named as assistant division commander was Col. Paul Adams, formerly of the 36th Division. One of the former Special Force officers was made CO of the 2nd Battal­ion.

"That sets the stage for the disaster at Reipertswiller.

"The original attack plan was for the !57th Regiment to converge with the !80th on the ridge overlooking Mouterhous~n. My battalion was on the left flank with the !80th about a mile farther to our left. By the evening of the second day, ~y battalion reached its objective and dug m, but only after bitter fighting and heavy casualties. I discovered that none of the other battalions in the division had ad­vanced very far. I then exhorted the regi­mental commander to get things moving. The next day our I st and 2nd battalions made valiant attempts to reach my battal­ion but only G Company on the left and C on the right were able to do so. We now had five rifle companies on the line but with both flanks open. As far as I could tell the !80th hadn't moved at all."

Alarmed by the dangerous position, Sparks asked Regiment permission to ~ull back and straighten the line. A tentative OK was given but withdrawn a half hour later. Gen. Frederick had vetoed the move "because it would reveal our weakness if we withdrew." So five complete rifle com­panies and five forward observer teams were captured. Seven company command­ers and 30-some platoon leaders were lost.

After 42nd Division task force units relieved the !57th, Gen. Frederick visited Sparks' area. It was the first time the men had met. The colonel made the remarks

Combat veteran scorns new staff as incompetents

Task Force Linden of 42nd Division was also "orphan"

I have had the privilege of reading sev­eral issues of the "Trailblazer" . It is one of the best I have ever seen and certainly de­serves the honors it has received.

I recently took most of your article, "For­gotten Battle", adding segments pertaining to the 42nd and printed it in the "Rainbow Reveille". One "Rainbow" reader passed the article along to his brother who had served in the 70th but dido ' t know you had an association.

As I read your magazine I never cease to be amazed at the similarity in the expe­riences of both Task Force Herren and Task Force Linden (derived from the 42nd Rain­bow Division). While you were attached to the 45th, we were attached to the 79th Lorraine Division and received the same short shrift. I noticed the rescue of 45th men by men of the 70th . We had the same ~p~­sode with the 79th and 103rd Cactus DIVI­sion. Kenneth Carpenter Editor, "Rainbow Reveille"

about doing it over again "and a few oth­ers" and the general was mightily dis­pleased. Next day the assistan.t divi~ion commander came calling; agam a first­time encounter. "At this time," recalls Sparks, "I was frantically trying to get about 600 replacements ready for combat. With only a sprinkling of veteran officers and non-coms, the troops were new from the States. After watching for a few min­utes, Col. Adams started giving me instruc­tions on how to prepare the men for com­bat. After listening to his inane remarks for several minutes I told him, 'Colonel , if you want to command this battalion, why don 't you take it over right now? Otherwise, get out of here and leave me alone.' Without a reply he left. I had made another 'friend.' Shortly thereafter he was promoted to Brigadier General."

(Sparks himself attained that rank. Re­called to active duty during the Cuban missile crisis and eventually became com­mander of the Colorado National Guard. He also served as a Justice of that state's Supreme Court.)

Toward the final days of combat, the ' Birds' !79th Regiment captured Maj. Gen. Helmut Franz who had commanded one of the first German units the Trailblaz­ers encountered, the 256th Division.

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

From private to g eneral Blanchard career: Long, brilliant, world-wide

From the empty sleeve of a buck private in the National Guard to the four stars of the commander-in-chief of the United States Army in Europe and of NATO forces of the Central Army Group.

From a GI who enjoyed the fun of the USO to the chairman of the board of the USO.

From a 41-year Army career to heading a consulting firm that he established as a civilian.

Those are the mileposts in the life of George Blanchard, whose Trailblazer af­filiation is Company C of the 274th. He is one of the 70th men who served in Korea and Vietnam, too.

George enlisted in the Guard in 1938 and five years later was commissioned after graduating from the West Point Military Academy. Shortly after he joined the 70th at Fort Leonard Wood. He served as a unit commander at every level and - while Trailblazers insist he is an Infantryman, period- he is also a qualified paratrooper and pilot and has several academic degrees that he could attach to his name.

After moving through the ranks - in­cluding duty as assistant to the General of the Army Omar Bradley- and becoming a general officer, he held these assignments: Assistant Division Commander of the I st Cavalry Division which distinguished itself nobly, riding helicopters instead of horses in Vietnam;

Chief of Staff, I Field Force of the Army in Vietnam;

Commanding General, 82nd All Ameri­can Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina;

Commanding General, VII Corps in Eu­rope, and

Top commander of American forces in Europe and of a NATO force.

By education, training and experience, he acquired high expertise in the areas of planning and programming. This led to as­signments as executive or administrative assistant to two Secretaries of Defense. He also was director of several task forces in the administrative field.

Among such interesting accomplish­ments was implementing programs to help individual soldiers and their families in

Summer 1996

dealing with host nations when they were stationed overseas.

As if all this didn't keep him busy enough, he served on the board of Retired Officers Association and was its president and chairman. Then he did the same for the USO, becoming its president and chief op-

erating officer. He is on the board of the Atlantic Council and is a member of the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs.

Wow! And all of us can point with pride; he's

one of our boys!

DIVISION HEADQUARTERS-A lot more luxurious than the beautiful quarters the Army provided us in '43-'45 is this building which will house a thousand-and-some Trailblazers and families over Labor Day. Special rates may still be obtained if reservations are mad~ before Aug. 15. Just call the Clarion Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Florida at (407) 352-9700 and ask for the special 70th rate. Then call Don Lindgren at (360) 693-8787 and make your Reunion reservations. Do it right now- even if it's midnight as you read this, Lou won't be aw­fully mad.

•

*

11

' .. The Editor's Edmund C. Arnold

Barracks Bag

I had a complete hip replacement the end of April. Five days in the hospital, a week in re­hab and then home. Piece of cake. Three days of domesticity and - the infernal ball popped out of the socket. Back again. The second time around was a pistol, helluva lot worse than the original surgery. All this has raised cain with my editorial duties. So if you've sent me some­thing that you don't see in print, just hang on till the next issue.

Which will be a report on the Orlando Re­union.

Which is a perfect segue into (A): a reminder that there is still time to register and to get spe­cial hotel rates. I suggest you pick up the phone and call Don Lindgren at (360) 693-8787.

* Or I could have followed up with (B): One of the things that is not in this issue is sent by a 70th "old printer" who operated a press in the Korean War and produced safe-conduct passes for the orth Korean Commies that our propa­ganda warriors shot over the lines. Old fellow­printer, I have lost your name. Please identify yourself before the next issue.

* Because the stainless steel addition to my anatomy has grounded me, I had to cancel out on an accepted invitation to be the speaker at the farewell dinner of the 70th Training up in Michigan. I am absolutely desolate about that.

* With Bell Tels changing area codes and the postal laddies reassigning ZIP codes, commu­nications can get complicated. Lee Miller, D/ 275, tells us his new area code is (352) 795-0676. Lee is the on-site trouble-shooter for the Orlando Reunion and many of you will want to contact him. So please note the change and mark it in your Roster.

* This magazine is, of course, a-political and non-partisan. But I can't help observing that Bob Dole is the last Presidential candidate represent­ing our generation and our war. I wish people would remember his hard earned Purple Heart.

One who does is our own Dean Banker, G/ 274, who has been Dole's friend since schooldays in Russell , Kansas. "Time" quoted Dean in an interesting piece on the Senator's trip back home.

* "Fearless Fosdick is getting well in New Jer­sey." That 's the word from Andy McMahon, Vice-President/South.

"Fearless" is J ames Plaugic, E/276, who is recovering from a stroke and would much like to hear from his old buddies. He also needs "any­thing to read." He was named after an indomi­table detective in the "Little Abner" cartoon strip. "Jim got the title because of his bravery in

12

combat and his willingness to do anything to complete our mission ," says Andy. " He was wounded in the house-to-house fighting, charg­ing down Fochlochstrasse (now Rue Felix Barth) in Forbach. He was able to return to his 2nd Platoon for further duty in Germany."

The address: James Plaugic, Clara Maass Continuing Care Center, I Franklin Ave., Belleville, ew Jersey 07109.

* I've got good news and bad news. Good news: C heste r Gar stki is retiring. Bad news: Chester Garstki is retiring.

T he good news is that Chet and Celia are (as I write this) in the process of pack­ing up to move into a retirement complex. So they'll both be able to do what they 've never done up to now- take it easy.

Plan ahead .... 1998 Reunion site already selected

September in Minnesota is a perfect season.

And Trailblazers can enjoy it in a special way in 1998. For that's where the 70th Division will gather for the last time in the 20th Cen­tury in its biennial Reunion.

That event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapo­lis over the Labor Day weekend of Sept. 2-6. Floyd Freeman, chairman of the Time and Place Committee, and George Mar· shall, President-elect, announced the selection after an extensive search. Our Constitution requires Reunions to alternate between sites east and west of the Missis­sippi. The 1982 Reunion was held in that city and it proved to be an excellent site, easily accessible from all parts of the nation and with accommodations adequate for 70th events. The growth of Re­union attendance has demanded hotel facilities that are not avail­able in many cities.

More details will be given as the committee reports formally at Or­lando.

The bad news is that Chet has given all his photographic equipment and files of negatives to his sons. So the editor of the "Trailblazer" will no longer have access to those powerful photographs that have made this magazine a stand-out - and readers won't be able to enjoy such pictures.

Chet was the second man to join the staff of the "Trailblazer" when it was a maga­zine at Camp Adair. He and I have worked together 52 years in a wonderful partner­ship. We 've never had a sing le argument and he has, in truth, become my brother, in arms or in plowshares.

If you'd like to drop him a note of wel­come to the rocking-chair set and of thanks for his valued services to the Association and this magazine, his new address is: Lexington Square, Apt. 256 400 W. Butterfield Road Elmhurst, IL 60126 (708) 617-2589

* What a wedding present! Dick Haycock , HQ 3rd Bn//274, and his bride Barbara had married on April 28, 1951, in Toronto, Ontario. Their honeymoon was a trip to California. When they stopped over in Salt Lake City, Dick got the word that he had been recalled to active duty as of July 1. He served in the infamous "Punchbowl" in

orth Korea and was finally discharged in October, '52.

* The "Keeton Kids" just missed our last deadline with a request. Their parents Ruth and Rober t , K/276, marked their 50th wed­ding anniversary on April 28. They sug­gested that some of Bob 's old buddies might like to send congratulations. Though they ' ll be a bit late- blame that on the "Trailblazer" schedule - I know they'll be mighty welcome. Send 'em to: Karen Keeton , 4002 Westwood Northern Blvd., Cincinnati, Ohio 45211.

* Small World Department: Ray L udwig, 1/274, attended a wedding recently in Lou­isville and fell into conversation with an­other guest. It came out that the man , E d McGill had taken basic training at Camp Adair with the 70th. He was in the first group of ' Blazers who were transferred out for duty in the Pacific. But - the way things go in the Army- he wound up with

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

the 2nd IndiaH Head Division and was in the second ~ave that landed on the Normandy beaches. But once a Trail­blazer, always a Trailblazer, and we hope he ' ll join our Association

* The World War II Memorial will be erected in Washington, D.C. on The Mall next to the Rainbow Pool. It will be on a handsome 6-acre site adjacent to 17th Street between Constitution and Indepen­dence A venues.

* Lou Hoger , our busy secretary, guesses that he hit the wrong key on his computer. He's honester than I am- I'd put all the blame on that damn machine!

Anyway, because of something, Rob­ert Schlapper, L/274, is a Life Member and has been since June, 1990. He was not so listed in the '96 Roster and Lou regrets the error. With the large numbers involved and the constant changes of address and status, maintaining the Ros­ter is a pistol of a job. It 's a wonder the errors were so few and I tip my hat to Brother Hoger.

* In the Winter issue, Tom Higley claimed one "Wally" as a C/275 man. But he couldn't remember Wally's last name. Comes now Tom Krakowiak, C/ 275, who attests and affirms: "This was probably Nils "Wally" Ramstedt. He was in Co. C and then went to Co. B -both 275- after receiving a battlefield commission. He died Aug. 18, 1995, and was listed in "Taps" in the Winter issue.

AI deadline

Just before press time, come some topics that deserve your attention- even though we can't give them all the space they deserve.

Charlie Pence, Association historian, phones to tell me that the appeal to Trailblazer widows and families of deceased 70th men to donate copies of "Ordeal in the Vosges" and "Snow Ridges and Pillboxes" has drawn a blank.

"We need copies of these books to place in permanent repositories so we can be sure the story of the 70th will never be forgotten," says Charlie. "Our members ought to consider it a patriotic duty to contribute their own book." If you have any books you'd like to place in ar­chival libraries, send them to James Hanson, 2595 Landview Circle, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23454. Jim and Charlie are teaming up on this project.

* FLASH! Orlando 70th golf tourney. Thurs., Sept. 5, International Golf Club. Fee: $45. Wanna play? Immediately call Andy McMahon, golf chairman, (803) 754-9362. Deadline is here, right now!

* It 's quite a relief to make a correction of an error I didn't make. The wrong date on a con­tributed story got things mixed up about the mini-reunion of K/274. The honest-to-gosh ac­curate, correct and definitive word comes from Tom Axelrod, editor of "Good Company:"

The 15th reunion of the company will be hosted by Charlotte Dicks at Dayton, Ohio, Sept. 19-21.

II History Honor Roll

Many Trailblazers have sent in per­sonal histories to the Military History Institute which is helping to preserve the record of the 70th Division for posterity.

This History Honor Roll pays proper respect to members who have per­formed this service to the Division by sending in their questionnaires: e Edmund Arnold, HQ/70 e Paul BurneH, C/27 4 e Paul Connell, A/884 e Don Docken, C/275 e John Evans, C/884 e Donald GoHshall, 8/27 4 e Jim Hanson, L/27 4 e Tom Higley, C/275 e Ray Hudgens, G/274 e Ed Kraus, F /27 4 e Oscar Marvin, E/275 e Ted Mataxis, HQ 2nd Bn/276 e Hy Shorr, H/274 e George White, G/276 e Write for your questionnaire- and postage-free mailing label- to Angela Lehr, Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, PA 117013-5008. You will have the satisfaction of know­ing that your personal record will be preserved for future historians - and your descendants.

The Treasurer's Report

Don Lindgren

Assistant Secretary Treasurer OPENING TOTAL BALANCE 1/1/96 RECEIPTS:

DUES: ASSOCIATES $431 REGULAR $4,681 LIFE $400

TOTAL DUES

SOUVENIR SALES:

BOOK SALES HIST. BOOKS $110 FATAL PATROL $30 BONN BOOKS $2

TOTAL BK SALES

DONATIONS: MONUMENT 100 TRAILBLAZER 25

TOTAL DONATIONS

INTEREST REFUNDS

TOTAL RECEIPTS

Summer 1996

$56,259

$5,512

$31

$142

$125

$671 $176

$6,657

EXPENSES: OFFICERS BOND COPIES & SUPPLIES POSTAGE REUNION EXPENSE SOUV. PURCH. UPS STENO TELEPHONE EXP.

TOTAL EXPENSES

TOTAL ASSOCIATION FUNDS- 3/31/96

JAN. 1, 1996 TO MAR. 31, 1996

•

-$129 -$808

-$1,761 -$107 -$120

-$29 -$98

-$213

-$3,265

$59,651

13

. •

7~ The Duekleberry Finn of the 70th

By STELVIO ZANOLLI D/276

The most unforgettable character I met during my three and a half years in the Army was Earl (Torgie) Torgeson.

Torgie was a tall, gangly, personable and athletic Norseman. Although he seemed quiet and soft-spo­ken, underneath it he was humorous, devilish, dar­ing and prankish- a free spirit who marched to his own drummer. He was loyal to his comrades but re­bellious to authority- except when the chips were down.

I first became acquainted with Torgie when I joined Dog Company of the 276th at Fort Leonard Wood from Officers Special Basic Training at Fort Benning. I had transferred my commission from Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) to Infantry.

Torgie had been brought under guard to Leonard Wood from Seattle, where he had turned himself in to the MPs there.

Torgie was a professional athlete. He had played basketball at Oregon State, but baseball was his first love. Before Pearl Harbor, he was playing baseball with Seattle of the West Coast League and was un­der option to go on to the New York Yankees. How­ever, he enlisted in the Army, was initially assigned to Special Troops and sent to Alaska to play base­ball as part of the program to provide entertainment for the troops.

H OWEVER, this diversion didn't satisfy Torgie and he asked for assignment to a live Army unit. So he was assigned to the new

70th Division at Adair, with the 2nd machine gun platoon of Co. D.

However. Torgie became impatient with the con­fusion of the early training. And, although he en­joyed the camaraderie of the unit he missed base­ball. As a result he went AWOL.

As a native of the orthwest, he was acquainted with the islands off Oregon and Washington. He made his way to one of those islands and for several months hunted and fished and pondered his future. On occasion he would venture onto the mainland and participate in a semi-pro baseball game. With the game pay he was able to buy provisions for his island existence. During all this time, however, he maintained contact with some of his buddies in Co. D, who kept him informed of what the unit was do­ing.

He heard that the Division had moved to Fort Leonard Wood in preparation for the ETO and friends warned that if he didn't come back he would be executed as a deserter. So Torgie showed up at an MP station in Seattle and turned himself in.

14

The company dispatched two non-coms, equipped with handcuffs and sidearms, to bring him back. On the railroad journey he soon persuaded them to re­move the handcuffs. There was a layover in Chi­cago before changing trains for Missouri. So he pro­posed that they go into the city to a movie. How­ever, when the movie was over, he gave them the slip. The two non-coms arrived at the station sans Torgeson and were frantical ly chasing back and forth on the station platform looking for him. Finally, as the train was about to pull out, Torgie waved to them from the window of one of the passenger cars. They joined him and thereafter the trip continued without further incident.

He was court-martialed and sentenced to the camp stockade for six months and docked two-thirds of his pay. However, he would be returned to his unit each day for training.

EACH MORNI G we would send some men to the stockade to bring Torgie to us. Each evening we delivered him back. He partici­

pated fully, and was one of the boys. At the guard house at night, however, he became

moody. He was a born leader and became an influ­ence over the other prisoners, sowing dissatisfac­tion. He became "King of the Stockade." His con­duct came to the attention of the regimental com­mander who thought Torgie was bucking for a Sec­tion 8 discharge.

The colonel vowed that Torgie would complete his training and accompany us overseas- even if it was only to use him in clearing mine fields.

Thereafter Torgie settled down. By the time we shipped out for Camp Miles Standish and the ETO he was a regular first gunner in the 2nd Machine Gun Platoon and performing well.

While spending a few days at CP-2 at Marseilles -I later learned-Torgie and some buddies slipped off into the city for some sightseeing and recreation. There they got into a fight with some French sailbrs and in the melee, Torgie injured a wrist.

In combat along the Rhine, at Wingen and there­after, Torgie was a model soldier. He was one of the stretcher bearers who, under cover of smoke shells from our mortars, carried me back from the outskirts ofWingen. I was wounded there while trying to bring a wounded German Mountain SS-er back to our lines.

Later, while I was in the General Hospital at Vittel, Torgie visited me. He had been sent there with a severe case of trench foot.

When we were protecting the pontoon bridge over

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

I .

WA8111NGro!C, A,<-. 11 ( AP,_,.....&.Iio ~-.., --eiltlooUal' .. -.., .... l :UIWoon.­

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Combat Engineers gave loyal support to Trailblazers

~,__, ........ .,. .......... MU..WWioH-Itlo•W... M ... ....._~._oiL_Ioonelltll.o

I!H :__:-t..;li~..:!"'N!I'-~~ ~~~a:_. ...... :-:. .__!Miy ..... .,..._ Both Task Force Herren and the 70th Division got solid,

loyal support from the 2755th Engineers Combat Battalion.

.... ltuoJo S. ~VW,.,.;,w..t..,._,.. ... ~ ! "'-~

THE BITTER AND THE SWEET ....

John Naumczik, K/276, had a personal experience that makes him especially admiring of those Engineers. "One of their men led me through a mine field approaching Oeting on Feb. 6, '45. He was wounded immediately by rifle fire and I was wounded after cutting through barbed wire, along with Ted Heck and Calvin Behr," John recalls .

So he was most interested when he came across a history of those Engineers. Their battalion arrived, from Marseilles, at Luneville, France on Jan. 12, '45. Stationed in Lixing-les-Avold, Remergin and Merlebach they were in direct support of TFH. They were busy preparing anti-tank gun and machine gun emplacements along the old Maginot Line and frequently some of them accompanied 275th and 276th on combat patrols.

The top headline in this April. 15, 1945 issue of "Stars & Stripes" would have been the biggest one the day before. For crossing the Elbe River to meet the Rus­sians was a major milestone in the march to vic­tory in Europe.

On Jan. 29, the day after they arrived at Merlebach, a fierce fire broke out in a building where their Co. B was billeted. Two Engineers were awarded the Soldiers medal for their bravery in fighting the fire.

The battalion remained in support of the whole Division when the Trailblazers were reunited in early February. One of their unusual jobs was painting 70th vehicles white as snow camouflage. They cleared paths through the minefields of Oeting, where one of their men won a Silver Star for refusing to be evacuated after a hand grenade got him, until the Trailblazers on that mission were safely through the mines.

But the death of President Roosevelt overshad­owed everything else in the news this day. As it did back in the States, the death brought shock and sor­row. Many soldiers wept unabashedly, as they heard the news on the Allied radio network or by the grapevine.

Our good supporters helped ferry troops across the Saar in the Trailblazers' last attack.

Torgie the Rhine near the Lorelei Rocks , I used him to lead the wine detail. They'd visit a nearby winery and bring back the beverage in a 5-gallon jerry-can to the billets. There Gis not on guard duty spent their free time. Torgie got into a fight at his billet and beat up on one of the sergeants who was "throwing his weight around." I investigated, found that Torgie had not provoked the incident and had the two make up. Throughout combat and Occupation, Torgie was an acknowledged leader among his fellows although he never wore non-com stripes. He was a peace­maker and helped me break up the occasional fights that broke out among the Gis during the monoto­nous Occupation period.

After VE-Day, Torgie coached and captained our softball team, which went undefeated in regimental competition. He then left the company to play base­ball for the 7th Army team.

Summer 1996

AFTER THE WAR, Torgie played first base for the Boston Br::.ves. They won the Na­tional League pennant the first year he was

with them. The Yankees, having heard a rumor that Torgie had been wounded in the legs in France, had dropped their option; this is how the Braves could sign him up.

Torgie was later traded to the Phillies, and still later to the Chicago White Sox. He finally ended his baseball career as a coach with the Yankees. He then married and retired to Florida where, I heard, a daughter represented that state in the Miss America Pageant.

I had occasion to visit Torgie several times in Pitts­burgh when the Braves came to play the Pirates. On one occasion we visited the parents of one of his platoon buddies who had been killed at Wingen. Torgie gave the parents a baseball autographed by all the Braves players and was happy that his buddy had been awarded a posthumous Silver Star.

Torgie, the wild but gentle Norseman. I shall never forget him!

15

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THIS IS an excerpt from a book by Elmer Martin, 1/ 275. Through a constant snowfall, he writes, the

company had moved by truck and a-foot toward the main com­bat zone in a comf>lete blackout and the darkest of nights. Stiff from cold, they stumbled into an abandoned building and tried to sleep. The men grumbled about the stones that cluttered the floor and made it hard to find a level place on which to lie. Then they found the "stones" were empty mortar shells. It was yet another reminder that a war was being fought around here.

The next day, a gray and frigid one, the men proceeded a short distance by truck again, then

16

----- . . ....

started hiking toward a village some identified (correctly) as Philippsbourg and others insisted was Wingen. Tension grew. There were attempts at humor and laughter, raucous, half-hearted, nervous. There were smiles more like grimaces. Curses grew sharper. At any moment the men would engage in their first battle. How would they react?

*** By ELMER MARTIN 1/275

We were lined up in a field and told to drop our big packs and change into combat shoes.

"Combat shoes? Hell , the snow was up to my armpits. " So I made as if I was taking off my shoepacs, which I didn ' t. If I was going to die, I'd have dry feet anyway.

It was dark by the time we lined up again on the road and took off through the town. No lights or sounds except the crunch of foot­steps on snow. Everything had a dark gray whiteness about it. Men leaning against the buildings could have been Germans ; you just couldn ' t tell.

We left the town and took the left road of the fork, past a cliff on our right , the dark mountains wit'h woods coming right down to the road's edge. On the left was a val­ley of fields with a stream winding through and a railroad on the far left. A few buildings lined the left side of the road.

By now there was no talk from the men at all , only the sounds of equip­ment banging or a curse as some­one slipped . You sort of get numb; pull yourself inside your body. You

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

.. walk, oarely , ~onscious of what is going on arounctyou . You are deep in thought- that last night at home or with your best girl. It helps you survive the cold , hunger and walk­ing.

Past two stone houses on the left is an open field ringed by woods on our right.

" Oh , God! " Everything hap­pened!!

It happened as if in slow motion. Flashes of light, to the right and right front. Screams of men! The rapid sound of burp and machine guns! The slow firing of our rifles!

You fall , jump, crumble into the ditch, trying to get as far down in it as you can. The whip-cracking of shots going overhead both from the Germans and our own men on the left of the road.

"We've had it, walked right into a frigging ambush! "

"Sergeant! Get the men firing! " "Shoot, men, shoot! " The tracers were flying every

which way. The men were firing as best they could. Lt. Cannon was try­ing to call someone on his walkie­talkie when it was shot right out of his hand .

"Hey! You on the other side of the road! Stop firing! I'm coming over. " Lt. Cannon takes off and crosses the road , tracers flying all around him. He calls back for us to get out and join him. Some men run across the road .

Sgt. Duffy says, "Martin , take the BAR; he's been hit. Give him your rifle. "

So I take the BAR and the wounded man takes off. After I fire at full automatic, I look around for ammo. The man had taken off with the magazines.

"Get out of here fast! "

I STARTED to crawl flattening out, trying to get lower into the ground every time the burp guns

cut loose. The BAR was no good. Taking it apart as best I could , I threw it all over the place. The Krauts were never going to use it on us. In the process I got tangled in a bush. I couldn ' t get loose. Every time I moved, I drew fire. I cut off my am-

Summer 1996

munition bag and gas mask. (Later I was very sorry , some jerry had a good time on the whiskey and rum I had stashed there.)

As I crawled down the ditch there were men lying still. You shake them - no answer. But one asked for help. I tried to help by putting on a bandage.

"God! I hurt; can 't move my legs. Please don't leave me."

"Take it easy, buddy, the Medic is right behind me. "

"If I could only move." "Hey! You in the ditch, get the hell

over here. Keep away from the house on the left, it's zoned in. "

I felt guilty leaving the wounded man in the snow on the darkest of all the dark nights of my life. I took off my overcoat and laid it on him.

'The Medic will be here soon, buddy. He'll know how to move you. I' ll try to get help."

You take a deep breath and run

''If I die~ at least 1~11 have

dry feet~~

as fast as you can, scared that you will fall or not make it. It's good, you are behind the stone house, leaning against the wall. Breath comes fast. You gulp in as much air as you can, trying not to make noise. Two men are also leaning against the wall.

"How many left in the ditch? " "Sgt. Duffy, the Medic and one

wounded. " "Where did the rest go? Not many

came over here. " (Later after the war Ralph Morey

wrote and told me he and others of our platoon and company went into the woods by the field and were cap­tured .)

As we talked someone shot from behind us. We ducked behind some stone steps.

"Who the hell 's shooting? " No one answered.

''I'm Lt. Cannon, dammit. Who's there? "

"Wait a minute, Lieutenant; it's us,

just got out of the ditch." "We got to get the wounded out

of here. " I kicked in the cellar door where

two old Frenchmen stood shaking, scared to death. The wounded men were brought in and given first aid as best we could with patches and sulfa drugs from our belt kits.

A company runner poked his head in the doorway. "Come on , you guys, let's get the hell out of here. "

"Capt. Long can 't get artillery sup­port. They' ll be all over us soon. "

The men started out keeping be­hind the building. Down the valley, everyone stopped. The stream cut right in front of them.

"Somebody has to cross it. " "No, it just winds around. " " Find out and let's get out of

here. " More from fright and in a hurry to

get away, I went in up to my chest; it got shallower as I got to the other side.

"Hey, it bends back." "Good God, I'm all wet for noth­

ing!"

THE REST of the men were tak­ing off at a fast clip down the field to a barn and a house, and

a built-up road that crossed the fields to the railroad. The company jeep was there with a load of guns and ammunition. The driver, Lew, gave me a 45M-3 (grease gun) and some boxes of ammo. I took those and three magazines and went into the cellar of the house.

A bunch of French civilians were in there. A stove was going full blast. I took off my wet clothes and started to dry them by the stove. I wore summer underwear, long johns, summer pants, OD shirt and pants, GI sweater, combat pants, combat • jacket, gloves, wool cap, helmet, four pairs of sox (one pair to dry by body heat each day) and my good ol' shoepacs.

Everything was going along fine. I was putting on my clothes as they dried. A couple more men came in to get warm. Lew, the jeep driver, came in and said , 'The old man

(continued on next page)

• 17

. ' .. _

f) I~ I~ Jill~

' '

--·'

(continued)

/ ' .

wants everyone out, be quiet, some­thing is up."

Putting on most of my clothes, I joined the rest of the men outside between the two buildings. There, walking down the railroad, was a column of men. Soon they turned towards us coming across the fields on the raised road .

'They couldn't be Germans. It was too much of a stupid thing to do."

"Be very quiet, men, the Captain will give the order to fire."

"God, how I hope it's the goddam jerries. "

"Shut up." "We'll die tonight, Sarge, and I'll

see you in hell." "Shut up." "God, I hope they're none of

ours." 'The Captain will call out when

18

they're close." "Halt! Who the hell are you?" The column stopped. Orders were

shouted in German. All hell broke loose. The Germans were cut down as they ran.

"Hold your fire! Stop it!" No one wanted to stop firing. just pay 'em back for what they did to us.

"Stop firing!" But the men stopped only when

they ran out of ammo. What a mess! The Germans lay all

over, dark forms in the snow. Again everything was quiet. Our men were occupied with their own thoughts of the first ambush of us, and the sec­ond of them.

The snow had started to fall again. We moved back to Philipps­bourg - only about one-third of our company was left.

Observing reunion was emotional event -despite parsnips

The 9lst Division cadre that was the nucleus for the 70th included Keith Schrecengost, Sv/275. Keith ate parsnips once. Once! He hated them then and he hates them now. But he figures it was for a good cause.

Keith , who came to Adair with the 9lst Division cadre for the 70th, recalls his cu­linary sacrifice:

"One day in April, 1945, I accompanied one Corp. Reis (or maybe it was Ries , af­ter 50-some years memory of details gets a little rusty) on the mission to Frankfurt-am­Main. He wanted to find relatives there. He and his family had fled to America from Nazi persecution in the 1930's. We found a makeshift office in a damaged building in Frankfurt where a pair of young Jewish women were compiling records of former Jewish residents.

"They discovered that the three of them had attended school together many years earlier. Their reunion was happy and emo­tional and brought a big lump to my throat. We found nothing about the corporal's rela­tives but there was still hope.

"The two girls had been cooking pars­nips, all the food they had. Ries offered to trade them our C-rations. I hated even the smell of parsnips but I reluctantly agreed to the trade. (Confidentially, I would rather eat rhubarb.) The C-rations were an abso­lute feast for the girls and that made the parsnips go down just a little easier. But I've never eaten any since."

During his six years of military service, Keith served in Hawaii before Pearl Har­bor, in Korea, and the Caribbean. He got into computer-system work early on. As a civilian, he continued that work with the Office of Naval Research in Washington, D.C. and at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. He and Helen, his wife of 48 years, live in that city. "Thanks to Lou Hoger and Charlie Pence, I got my 'Trailblazer ' package in short order. I find it hard to lay down. Helen is reading it as well and my daughter and grandchildren are also interested. I never realized how little I knew about the Trail­blazers."

*

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

At Stiring .. \1\!endell

U.S. Bomber downed in Trailblazer sector

The Trailblazer sector was the graveyard for an American B-17 bomber and six members of its crew during the battle of Stiring-Wendel. Dick Haycock, HQ 3rd Bn/274, recalls hectic action in that area in March, 1945.

"Our battalion observation post was atop Kreutzberger Ridge where we had an ex­cellent view of the Simon Mine, the Metz Highway and practically all of the valley. There had been heavy fighting for three or four days. The Heinies had a pe1fect view of our OP and the entire slope of the ridge. So they kept us under constant rifle. mor­tar and artillery fire.

"The mine was a serious obstacle to our troops and to the 276th on our left flank. On March 5 I was with Col. Karl Land­strom, battalion commander. Co. L was attacking toward the mine when we got a radio call that Sgt. Henry Kuntz, a pla­toon leader, was seriously wounded and needed immediate evacuation if he were to survive. As there were no medical vehicles available, the colonel asked me to drive his

Post-Reunion trip offered

Like a cherry on the whipped cream, a post-Reunion excur­sion is being offered to make a special vacation for 70th folks.

Floyd Freeman, our resident travel agent, has lined up a 5-day cruise to the Bahamas from Sept. 9 through 13. The SS Oce­anic w il l sai l from Cape Canaveral on the Monday af­ternoon after the Reunion ends. Transportation from and to O r­lando is included in the tour package. That trip may be ex­tended w ith a 4-day package that includes visits to Disney World, Epcot and the Kennedy Space Center.

Space is limited, says Floyd, and urges early reservations. Detail s are available fro m Freeman Travel Service, 8959 California Ave .. South Gate , California 90280 or phoning (213) 567-3179.

Summer 1996

jeep down there and bring the sergeant back.

' 'WE DISCUSSED the exact route I would take: Down the Behren-Forbach road.

onto the Metz Highway, take a hard left and go to a 2-story house next to the railroad tracks. There the Medic and Kuntz would be waiting. Because the entire route was under Kraut fire, I would go as fast as pos­sible.

"I was making a wild dash down the highway when I came under intense mor­tar fire. As I pulled up to the house, I no­ticed that my spare gasoline can had been punctured by shrapnel and the gas was spraying out. I knew I had to get that jerry­can off the jeep because it would catch fire any moment. I unstrapped it and gave it a good toss, just in time. Then the Medic told me that the sergeant had died.

"When I rad ioed that to the colonel. he told me to stay till the mortar fire had died down and then come back to the CP.

"Just then another mortar barrage began. As I took cover. I looked up and saw an· other jeep stopped at the intersection of the highway. The mortars were zeroing-in on it. The jeep was winterized, with canvas curtains enclosing it. The driver was fran­tically trying to open the door to escape. I yelled to him to move the vehicle and he drove near the house. The door opened and out came a major, a captain and the ser­geant-driver. They were visibly shaken. I asked them what they were doing. They had come from Metz to look for a downed B-17. As they had been told that the front line was at the Saar River, they didn't expect enemy fire where we were. ow they could see that the line actua lly was at the railroad tracks, only 30 yards away.

' 'THESE MEN were not used to being on the front. They wanted out; the crashed bomb­

er could wait for another day. The firing cleared enough that they could take my advice and get back to Metz whi le I went to our OP.

"About a week later, when the battle line had actually moved to the Saar. I saw the wreckage of the B-17. It was between Schoeneck and Gerstweiler, next to a civilian cemetery. ext to it were six graves, the dogtags of the crew members

1t1otlter, l'ut n J{ose. on He!

But int'~ h~ ao;n ' t there to do it , at Camp A.dair membt':r or the Trailbluer dl\islon, by 5pt:cia.l pumbslon of their commandlnl' ceneral , "Ill today wtar" car-nations to celebrate )I other's day In an all-dav procram at their po~t. Here Tt':C'h 5 )turit B. Jrn.un. '' ith apparent pride and tl eli~ht, arfh:es a. fiO\\U to has m1lilar ) blou.,e.

UNIFORM OF THE DAY .... S pecial orders from Gen. John Dahlquist permitted Trailblazers to wear a carnation on their dress blouse on Mother's Day, 1944. The flowers were distributed by Division chaplains and their assistants at chapel services that Sunday. Merrit Jensen, 70 HQ

hanging from the wooden crosses. The plane had been booby-trapped by the re­treating Germans. We moved on."

Haycock was an air cadet hefore join­ing the 70th at Adair. Ajier comhat in the ETO he was a staff officer at the Potsdam Conference where Roosel'e!t. Churchill cmd Stalin made plans for post-war operations.

He pulled another half year of sen·ice in Korea. He is semi-retired as an insur­ance agent and broker. He was honored as "Man of the Year ( 197 3) by the Sacramento County Little League and is a memher of the Hall ofF a me of that mgani:ation. be­ing elected in ·st. He and his wife. Bar­bara. !i1·e in Sacramento, California.

*

19

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. "

Pfc to ·General­

Man loman-Barber to Marshall

By GUY BARBER Cannon/276

Barber to Dahlquist

In January, 1944, I began cadet basic training at Buckley Field, California, and then moved on for flight training at Stockton Field (in the same state). Before we actually started that training 58,000 of us were transferred to the Infantry. Most of them had to take Infantry training as they had been technicians in the Air Corps before becoming cadets. I had taken Infantry basic with the 9lst. So although I was just a Pfc, I was a trainer. During this time Gen. George Marshall (General of the Armies and the top American military man) came to Adair to check on our training.

I went up to him and saluted and he asked me what he could do to help me. I told him that I had a year of training on 105 howitzers before I became a cadet and asked ifl could transfer to the Field Artillery.

"Son, he said, "we need soldiers like you in the Infantry. Other men can do the job in the Artillery." We talked, mostly about my background. When we finished he put his arm around my shoulder and wished me well.

When I was then assigned to Cannon Company headquar­ters, I was never told what my job would be. So I trained with gun crews, on radio and as a forward observer. But I was told I could not be promoted as we had many, many more non­coms already than we were authorized for. (This was the predicament faced by most men who came to the 70th as fillers. The next anecdote shows how men did jobs that demanded higher responsibilities but didn't receive higher rank or pay.)

This was the time we were getting ready to go to Fort Leonard Wood and I was put in charge of a detail to go up to Fort Lewis, Washington, and get more vehicles to make the trip. I asked the colonel why I -just a Pfc- would be in charge and not some officer. He told me "Because I want you." The expedition was successful.

A few weeks before we left Adair, my wife, Janice and 10-month-old son Billy and my sister Leda, whose husband was a POW in the Philippines, came to Corvallis where the women worked in the laundry. I would go into town several nights a week to be with them. One evening about a hundred men were on the road heading to town and looking for a ride or a bus.

A big Packard marked with two stars pulled up alongside me. Gen. Dahlquist pointed to me and said, "Get in." I started to get into the front seat but he told me to come into the back with him. He asked me a lot of questions about myself and took me to the block where my wife's apartment was.

On three different occasions he picked me up and these times took me right up to the apartment. I often wondered why he chose me from all the men along the highway. Now I think it was because he remembered me going up to Gen. Marshall.

Gus and Adair go back a long way By C. G. (GUS) COMUNTZIS Sv/275

It was the afternoon of August I, I 942- yes, '42- when I first set foot on the area that would become Camp Adair. Assigned to the Special Services Officer, I was surprised to find he was an old friend whom I hadn't seen in 15 years. He didn't waste time on "Good to see you;" his first words were, "Sit down. We've got a lot of work to do."

And we did. We had to open two service clubs, two cafeterias, five theaters, two guest houses, a field house and other facilities. On top of that we were getting requests from small communities around the base. They were opening small clubs for such occasions. We found how the bureaucratic mind works. Our cafeteria seated 96. So we got 96 sets of dishes and tableware. But no one figured out that we had to have some extras to serve while dishes were being washed. So we went up to Portland and bought three 2 1/2-ton truckloads of restaurant supplies. My family was in the restaurant and theater business in Morgantown, West Virginia. So I knew what we needed.

As men arrived for the two divisions at the camp, we found a great number of professional entertainers, mostly from the east coast. So we developed a 50-minute "Tab(loid) Show" that could be expanded to a whole evening.

Organizations all around the area contributed furniture, drapery and other things for the 96 day rooms of a Division, a place where soldiers could feel a little bit like being in a home.

20

I went to OCS and became a second lieutenant. I was lucky to be assigned back to Adair and the new 70th Division. I renewed friendships with many fine Oregonians and, espe­cially, a young woman from Dallas, Oregon, who became my bride on New Year' s Eve, 1943. There were nine people present in the chapel and Division Chaplain Loren Jenkins officiated.

We had a great band that could be divided into Mattie Carbevale's rhumba group, a Dixieland band and other spe­cialties. On suggestion of Station KEX (in Portland?) we started a weekly radio station that drew requests from as far away as Alaska. We put together a Broadway-quality revue, "As You Were," that featured some of our super talent. It was so good that the national War Bond program asked us td do a tour throughout the country, promoting the sale of bonds. But Gen. Dahlquist quickly pointed out that we were an Infantry Division and our job was to mount a military campaign not an advertising campaign.

A lot of famous entertainers carne to Adair: Jack Benny's visit was a highlight. So was that of Ted FioRito and his Coca­Cola Orchestra.

* (Comuntzis stayed in service after the 70th came home and dre tours in Europe and Korea, retiring as a lieutenant colo­nel. He was active in organizing the 70th Division Associa­tion and was its first president.)

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

Il Korean Honor Roll

Trailblazers salute their WW2 com­rades who served in the Army during the Korean War. The list of our men who fought their second war includes: e Keith Alexander, D/276 (with 8th

Regiment of 1st Cavalry in Korea via Japan and Fort Chaffee, Ar­kansas)

e Joseph Allison, Jr., C/276 (KIA with 1st Cavalry)

e Herbert Andrews, 1/276 (battalion commander, 40th Sunshine Divi­sion)

e Richard Becker, 1/275 e Walter Cox, Jr., E/27 4 e Reginald "Dusty'' Desiderio, C/275

{Congressional Medal of Honor posthumous winner for gallantry near lpsok.)

e Paul Durbin, HQ 3rd Bn/27 4 {Inchon, 7th Sight-Seeing Division)

e Don George, K/276 (First sergeant Co. E, Shore Battalion, 370th En­gineers Boat and Shore Regiment in Panama.)

e Edward Gustely, 1/27 4 (exec officer of 3rd Petroleum Products Labo­ratory)

e James Hanson, L/27 4 e Richard Haycock, HQ 3rd Bn/27 4

(Combat Engineers in "Punch­bowl" north of 38th parallel)

e Tom Kirkpatrick, B/884 (two tours in Korea, four in Europe, one in 'Nom)

e Willie Lee, H/276, (killed in action in Korea)

e Frank Lowry, A/276 e Bonnie Parnell, A and C/275 (CO

of C/35, 25th Div., then Bn com­mander S-3)

e Harry Prusinski, F /275 (Co. K, 1st Cavalry. Then in Reserves until 1963)

e Theodore Mataxis, HQ 2nd Bn/276 (Volunteered for Korean duty and was assigned as U.N. military observer. After a year's tour in Kashmir, volunteered ag~in and became commanding officer for 17th Regiment, 7th Div.)

e H. Lynn McGuire, E/276 e Dale Mitchell, F/276 (with Logistic

Services at Camp McCoy, Wiscon­sin)

e Henry Morgan, CO 27 6 e Willie Prejean, C/27 4 (Long Bin h)

Summer 1996

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE-Peter II, that is, king of Yugoslavia. This handsome medal has just been authorized for presentation to any Allied service personnel who partici­pated in the ETO operations in WW2. Because that tortured country has been dissected by the Bosnia-Croat­Serb conflict, it can't give the medal but it may be purchased by autho­rized 70th veterans. For more infor­mation, contact Jim Hanson, U274, at (804) 496-2244.

e William Reed, L/27 4 e Eugene Regan, B/725 e Keith Schreckengost, Sv. 725 e Marion Slater, E/275 e Remo Tedeschi, HQ/Divarty e Harry Schoen, G/276 (took Regu­

lar Army commission in 1950 and served as Field Artillery Battalion S-4 and later commanded an ar­tillery battery.)

e J. T. Tucker, 1/275 e John Uhas, E/276 e Robert Vanover, L/275 (34th Engi­

neers Construction Battalion) e Tim Willis, HQ 1st Bn/27 4 {Inchon)

Vietnam Honor Roll

e Herbert Andrews, 1/276 (CO, 1st Bn 40th "Sunshine" Division)

e Richard Becker, L/275 e Walter Cox, E/27 4 {Judge Advocate

General) e Paul Durbin, HQ 3rd Bn/27 4 e John Evans, C/884 (4th Signal, X

Corps) e Edward Gustely, 1/27 4 e James Hanson, L/27 4 (1st "Big Red

One" Division) e Tom Kirkpatrick, B/884 (Command

Sergeant Major) e Frank Lowry, A/27 6 e Theodore Mataxis, HQ 2nd Bn/276

(First year: Senior Advisor to II Corps at Paku. Then deputy com­mander of 1st Bn, 1 01 st Airborne Division. On second 2-year tour was acting commanding general of Americal Division.)

e H. Lynn McGuire, E/276 {Post Of­fice and Locator)

e Henry Morgan, CO 276 (Logistics Command, Pusan)

e Eugene Regan, B/725 (HQ/268 FA -Nuclear)

e Harry Schoen, G/276 (went to 'Nom in 1962 as an advisor to the Vietnamese Army. "I was there during the first coup when President Zim and Premier Nu were killed near our headquar­ters in Cholon. Fighting was heavy in the Saigon area. Later I returned to Vietnam and was in the Tet Offensive in Sai~on.")

e Marion Slater, E/275 (HQ/KCOMZ) e J. T. Tucker, 1/275 (Command Ser-

geant-major) e John Uhas, E/276 e Sam Vaughn, B/276 (KIA) e Tim Willis, HQ 1st Bn/27 4

*

21

. ' ·-

Axe-head Archives

Good luck brought him to ' Blazer Diva rty By CHARLES JOHNSON HQ/882

Fortunate circumstances and Lady Luck followed me through basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to the 91 st Division and on to the cadre that helped train the Trail­blazer's Field artillery; was with the 70th from its start in May, 1943 to our deactiva­tion in October, 1945.

I spent my first two weeks in the Army doing KP at my induction center, Fort Sheridan, Illinois, waiting for the Quarter­master to find a jacket and boots for my lanky Iowa farmboy frame. My first break came at Fort Sill, where I showed aptitude in the direction skills during basic training.

I was promoted to staff sergeant in the 9lst, and then got to remain Stateside when I was picked for the cadre for the 70th. There l helped train our fire direction teams.

Highlight of my service was when we put all that training to the test as fire sup­port to the advancing 274th during the cap­ture of Forbach and the Saar River cross­ing.

* Tracer bullet scares 'old man' in Hagenau By DONALD CLINE A/276

It was just at dusk on a February after­noon in the Hagenau Forest. There was a lull in the action and Lt. Wagner made the rounds to check on the perimeter guards,

when he told Nathan Carpenter that he thought he saw someone deep in the trees.

"Corporal , lob a round down there into the trees and see what happens."

It just happened that Carpenter had a tracer bullet in the chamber. It hit a tree behind which a German was hiding. The bark was clipped just above his head. He started yelling "Komarade! Komarade! " and came running toward us. Still hanging on to hi s rifle, he held his hands over his head. Slipping and sliding on the slippery ground, he ran toward us at the top of the bank. I have never seen a person more scared. He was white as a sheet and couldn't stop shaking. It was funny and yet it was pathetic. The most pathetic thing was that to us, a bunch of 19- and 20-year-olds, he seemed such an old man- probably 30.

(Don went to college on the Gl Bill and taught school before becoming an indus­trial engineer. He is on the Fine Arts Coun­cil of Pinal County at Central Arizona Col­lege and on the Pueblo Art Association.)

* I was pinned down at that railroad By IVAN J . ERWIN H/276

The articles in the Fall, 1993 and Win­ter, 1994 issues about Forbach were espe­cially interesting to me. As platoon sergeant of 2nd Platoon, Co. H, I had been ordered on detached service with a section of heavy machine guns to support a rifle company of the 1st Battalion. We were pinned down

Camp Adair - ouch! Leonard Wood- ouch! 70th enjoyed both

near the railroad embankment mentioned in the "On To Saarbrucken" article, Win­ter, 1994.

I need to do some research into my record to refresh my memory of that engagement. I was wounded, along with others from my platoon and did not rejoin Co. H until July in occupation.

(Ivan joined the 70th at Adair after in­duction at Fort Leavenworth in September, 1944. He went to the 3rd and 78th Divi­sions for Occupation duty in various loca­tions in Germany, guarding POW camps until April,' 46. His civilian occupation was engineering managing for Hyster Corpo­ration. His wife Mildred died three years ago.

(He learned of the Association from a call out of the blue from Paul Fenwick, company clerk for H Co. Ivan would like to hearfrom old buddies. Write him at 2930 Lincoln Ave., Joplin , Missouri 64801.)

* Adair romance starts long, happy marriage

A Camp Adair romance ended only "When death does us part." E lton Alford, HQ Co./274, died of Parkinson 's at hi s home in Dallas, Texas on Dec. 27, '95.

Elton met Genevieve, then a student at Oregon State, at a Camp Adair dance. Their 's was a long and happy marriage as they moved all around the country. Mrs . Alford is recovering from four strokes and condolences can be sent to 2920 Forest Lane, Dallas, TX 75234.

Sure, we all griped about them. But just how bad were good old Swamp Adair and Fort Leonard Wood? Reall y?

Blanding, Florida; too rainy, like Camp Adair, Oregon '."

Gene Volz, E/276, was reading Geoffrey Perret 's book, "There 's a War To Be Won" about the 1940 problem of where to put the millions of draftees and Guardsmen who were being in­ducted into the Army. He came across thi s paragraph.

"The Army 's land rush of 194~ I left it in ownership of some of the country's worst real estate. Some sites were, as the offi­cial history describes it, ' hellishly difficult - too rocky, like Camp (sic) Leonard Wood, Missouri; too swampy, like Camp

22

As Gene counts it up: "Two out of three for our side." "Despite the fact that there is no mention of the 70th, I found

it extremely informative and one of the best in the chronicles of the U.S. Army from 1918 to 1946," he says.

Men who served in the 70th saw service in many military posts before and after their Trailblazer duties. They ought to know where our two Stateside homes rank on the " helli sh" list. Sound off!

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

-Secref"i-ve CIC gives us another "mystery" to solve

The CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps) was the most secretive unit in the 70th Di­vision. Its members - ranging from ser­geant to warrant officer to captain- wore no insignia of rank. While reporting to 70th G-2, Intelligence, it was only for detached service. Its own command post was in Paris.

The men never spoke of their activities. Others in Division Headquarters might no­tice one or two of the detachment didn't show up for a couple of days. Then they would be back without any explanation.

(One man did tell a close friend that he had spent a week behind German lines ­with no knowledge of that language.)

Now the detachment offers a very mi­nor mystery for us to solve.

After combat, CIC was charged, among other duties, with preventing sabotage, es­pecially by the dangerous young Nazi "werewolves". ear Bingen, Germany, in Trailblazer territory, the CIC discovered a huge cache of ammunition, weapons, ex­plosives and food in an abandoned mine shaft, five levels below ground.

Accompanying one detail on an inspec­tion trip were Maj. George Godfrey, Di­vision public relations officer and Chester Garstki, "Trai lblazer" staff photographer. Chet took a picture of a few of the men. One was identified as CIC Capt. John Prusinski. When the picture ran in the magazine, Jim Olsen of the detachment, reported that hi s captain was actually George McDonald . Then who was this Prusinski guy with the railroad tracks on his collar?

The 1996 Roster lists a Harry Prusinski. A letter from the editor asked whether he was the captain in question .

"Thank you for the promotion," Harry answered. "My highest rating was Master Sergeant, which I earned while in service in Korea."

So the question remains, who is Captain P.? There are suggestions that he was a company commander in the 275th. Can any reader solve this mystery. Neither George Godfrey nor Chet Garstki , whore­member the incident we ll , can pinpoint their comrade-in-exploration.

Just another CIC secret?

*

Summer 1996

BLOODY AXE BEAUTY-This handsome crest of the 278th Regiment was made by John Krochka. It was on display, along with the company guidon, when 1/276 had a mini-reunion at Roar­ing River State Park in Missouri. Eighteen, representing seven states from Pennsylvania to Cali­fornia, attended the 5-day event. The honor guard here are Rich­ard Williams, left, and Vilas Walhood.

Cal and AI continue pals

Alfred Baerwald, C/884, and I were in OCS together. We went to the 9lst together. We went to the 70th together. At school AI mentioned that he came from Lodi , Cali­fornia. Although I was from that state, too, I had never heard of Lodi but looked it up on the map and found it was not far from Stockton.

Last Fall we were returning from South­em California and spent a night in Lodi. I was pleased to find hi s name in the direc­tory but didn't succeed in phoning him that evening.

About a week after we got home in Port­land, I tried again and this time got him. He hadn't heard about our Association and was happy to hear from us . He 's a new member but I couldn't get him to put a war story into the Axe-head Archives. Calvin Jones Sv/883

* Schoen fought in three wars

A three-war Trailblazer is Paul Schoen, G/276. He accepted a commission in the Regular Army in 1950,just in time to go to Korea with the Field Artillery. Then he had a couple of tours in Vietnam that included the great Tet Offensive.

Retiring as a lieutenant colonel, he re­turned to the University of Arizona and took a Master's degree in accounting and be­came a CPA. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.

*

"Every heart beats high, As the flag passes by ••••• "

IT'S A GRAND OLD FLAG After half a century, many of the

things that were drilled into us during basic training still evoke a reflex action.

Paul Thirion noted this at the St. Louis Reunion: As the American flag was pre­sented at various functions, some men executed a smart hand salute. The in­tention was laudable; the etiquette was arguable.

Paul was bothered enough that he wrote to The Center of Military History of the Department of the Army in Wash­ington. He was answered by the refer-

ence to the "United States Code", 1970 ' edition. "When not in uniform, men should remove their headdress with the right hand holding it over the left shoul­der (so the hand will be over the heart.)

"Men without hats should salute in the same manner {right hand over heart). Women in civilian dress also salute by placing their right hand over their heart. Civilians escorting the national flag {such as at a wreath-laying ceremony) should not salute but stand at attention.)

23

Every step toward Saarbrueken was bitterly contested by foe

ByHYSCHORR H/274

The day started early- at dawn of a foggy morn­ing, damp and cold. With it started a concerted drive by the 7th Army to drive across the Saar River and link up with Patton's 3rd Army coming around from the northwest. It was Feb. 17, 1945.

The 70th Division- again a full fighting force af­ter its vicious fighting as Task Force Herren- had a formidable set of goals: Forbach, Stiring-Wendel. the high ground of Spicheren, several small villages and, finally, Saarbrucken itself, the key to the Ger­man heartland.

The 2nd Battalion of the Wyoming Regiment, the 274th, jumped off into the murky dawn. We were sup­ported by tanks of the 12th Armored Division. As we filed down the road and the big 46-ton tanks clat­tered by, I felt security and safety in their shadow. That was a brief spell, though.

As we deployed through an open field, we were caught flat-footed- with no cover whatsoever­by a vicious barrage of 88s. There was no mistaking their distinctive sound- a quick swish and a sharp crack as the shell burst.

I sprinted for a little tree, not much bigger around than a flagpole. I threw myself down behind that puny shelter and buried my nose and face into the soft damp earth and sweated it out. A shell burst about 20 yards to my right and shrapnel whined over my head. Black, acrid smoke and powder fumes blew into my face.

There were screams and frantic calls for "Medic! Medic!" One GI came running back and flopped down aimlessly near me. I thought he was hit and called to him but he only muttered incoherently.

I could see the Medics moving around and men lying here and there. With no time to dig in, we were hit hard. One man moved directly behind me and was slashed across the back and buttocks. The shell­ing let up in half an hour and we moved forward.

24

H Company was in support ofF Company attack­ing Kerbach. We moved up slowly in a series of rushes. The town was well defended and we were held up on the outskirts. The squad worked its way toward a house from which we set up a section of heavy machine guns and raked the center of the town with heavy fire. Houses were on fire and were burning fiercely. Our artillery was shelling the far end of town. I could see white phosphorous falling.

We moved toward the center of town and holed up in a house. Some 50 or so prisoners were being held there. S/Sgt. Kline asked me to assist in sepa­rating the noncoms and officers from the privates. I had a small command of the language and could make myself understood.

One tall scholarly Kraut with glasses asked me if he would be permitted to go back a ways and pick up a bag with his belongings. I said plainly, "Nein." Another German soldier had been badly wounded in the eye, face, and arm. I led him over to our Med­ics, first taking from him a bayonet in a scabbard hanging at his belt.

Presently, the attack resumed. Company H was in support of Company E and we moved slowly behind the riflemen, working our way up a steep wooded hill. We were held up and my squad rested in a shal­low trench.

I was idly watching a sergeant in charge of one of Company E's 60mm mortar squads. Suddenly white smoke seemed to be shooting out of his body and he was pulling madly at his belt. Someone yelled "Gre­nade!" and everyone scrambled about. I stared hor­rified at the sergeant writhing on the ground. Then I fell to the bottom of the trench. In seconds the gre­nade exploded. I looked up - the sergeant was on his back and two men nearby were wounded by the fragments.

We picked up our weapons and moved on. I looked back- the left hand of the sergeant moved slightly and that was all. (This was Sgt. Lehman who was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross post­humously for deliberately falling on the grenade and saving the lives of the men about him.)

We got to the top of the hill and started across a wide, open field. I was carrying two boxes of ma­chine gun ammunition and walking behind the sec­ond gunner. Suddenly, shells were bursting all about. The crack of the gun firing and the shell ex­ploding seemed to be almost simultaneous. Every­one was running for cover of the woods to our left, approximately 150 yards or so away. As I ran, I could hear the clanking of tank treads coming from over the brow of a hill to our front. We were under direct fire from tanks!

Not seeing the tanks, therefore not knowing just where the firing came from, added to the confusion. To my right two or three men went down and med-, ics immediately materialized, it seemed out of no­where, administering to them.

Finally we moved into the wooded area, the shell­ing continued. Then apparently our artillery zeroed in on them for the grinding of gears could be heard as they moved their positions under fire. We dug in nevertheless, still receiving tree bursts as darkness fell.

The sound of tanks in the distance, the dreaded crack of the 88s, and the helpless feeling of being caught in the open field with no cover was a terrify­ing experience, not soon to be forgotten.

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

• ' Higley:s history

finds new home One of the finest collections of

Trailblazer memorabilia is that of Tom Higley, C/275. And he has assured himself that it will be properly preserved. He has given it all to the Historical Institute.

He put out a comprehensive news letter for his company for many years and its files alone would make a dandy book. And he had it in mind to put together a book so he gathered memoirs from many sources. Unfortunately, he is having trouble with his eyes and that project became impossible.

His is a good example for other Trailblazers to follow. The Institute has become the official repository for 70th archives and can guaran­tee safe storage and tender. loving care. The Institute will even pay the postage for such materials. Simply request a mailing label from Angela Lehr, Historical Service Coordinator: Military History Institute. Carlisle Barracks. Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013-5008.

* Legendary Willie ran out of time during Korea war

When Charles "Rob" Burt, H/276, en­rolled the name of Willie Lee, of the same outfit, on the Korean Honor Roll, he re­called a man who was a company legend.

Willie, a Regular Army man, came to Camp Adair with the 9lst cadre and was platoon sergeant for a machine gun platoon. His proficiency with the 30 cal. water­cooled MG awed the company. He also set a record for losing a whole arm-length of stripes, becoming a buck private and then ascending the ladder again. It didn't mat­ter what his rank was or wasn't, though, he always led the MG platoon. "Willie never saw a crap game he didn't like," recalls Rob, and his mastery of the ivories was epic.

E.B. "Big Luke" Williams, also a cadre man and 1st Sgt. of Co. H, was Willie 's mentor. They were both Texans and had served together at Fort Bliss there. Big Luke told Rob that "Willie was a wild little devil"

Summer 1996

HEADQUARTERS

306ih. LOGI?JICAL COM

~

MORTAR MASTER-Dale Mitchell (left) was called back for service during the Korean War. He was assigned as a mortar instructor at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin with the 306th Logistical Command.

and regularly had to be taken behind the barracks for "a little attitudinal adjustment."

In Korea, life expectancy for a machine gunner or BAR man was 12 minutes. That time ran out for Willie at Inchon. But when­ever H-men get together, you can be sure another Willie tale will be told.

* Military funeral honors Schwope

As two inches of snow fell and the ther­mometer on Jan. 22 never rose above 10 degrees, a 21-gun salute rang through the grave stones of Fort Snelling (Minnesota.) National Cemetery. It was the funeral of William Schwope, B/884.

Ernest Richards recalls a couple of epi­sodes when Bill, the runner between the battery and battalion, had a bit of trouble with his jeep. "Theding, France, was our

first combat posi tion. Although by the time we reached there by train , the heavy rain had stopped, it created so much mud that our trucks were bogged down. The guns had to be moved into position by sheer man­power alone. The mud was so deep that even walking was a chore.

"I bumped into Schwope at the motor pool and he told me his Jeep was stuck in the mud. In the black night we trudged to find it. Sure enough, the 4-wheel-drive was in mud up to its axles. Covered with mud, wet, tired and hungry, we decided to leave the rescue attempt to the next morning.

"At Petite Roselle, I again bumped into Bill in a total blackout. This time, he told me, he had run his Jeep into a tank trap. The Engineers had bridged the trap with a set of ramps about 2 feet wide. In the dark­ness, Schwope missed the tracks and wound up in the trap. Again we waited till morn­ing to extricate it.

"I believe Bill was the first Life Mem­ber of our battery."

* Panzerfaust takes heavy 276 toll

That infernal Panzerfaust put Joseph Miller, A and K/276, in the hospital on Feb. 20, 1945. But he was lucky at that- the man right next to him was killed.

"We had come down off a hill .near Forbach where we had been observing the enemy. Part of our platoon moved to the rear, leaving me, with the first and second scouts in position. The Germans came at us from the front and we opened fire with our M-1 s. They took cover and then let loose with two blasts from the Panze1faust. One hit just above me on the wall of a build­ing and I was wounded. The second was a direct hit on my second scout and killed him.

"I was taken to a hospital in Southern France for 30 days and then returned to the company at St. Goar. There we guarded the pontoon bridge over the Rhine.

"Hundreds and hundreds of tanks crossed over it. It was an impressive sight!" ,

After combat he served with the Judge Advocate's division and also with HQ of American forces in the ETO, both in Frank­furt-am-Main , in the vast I.F. Farben com­plex that had been very deliberately spared by bombers so that Eisenhower could use it after combat. He served in two process­ing camps in England, too, before return­ing home more than a year after VE-Day.

He now lives in Sebring, Florida with his wife Mary.

• 25

Gun or· howitzer? American or German Does it go BANG?

Have those exotic Artillery terms con­fused a poor Infantry editor again?

Robert Utterback, HQ/883, calls attention to a photograph that ran on page 25 of the Winter issue. "I'm not sure," he says, "what type of artillery piece is shown but I don't believe it is anything that the 70th Division used. The 882nd, 883rd and 884th all had 1 05 mm howitzers. The 725th had 155 mm howitzers. The pictured weapon seems to be a 'gun' rather then a 'howitzer'.

"I don't believe that this was a pic­ture of a 70th unit unless the Division was using captured German artillery or had borrowed it from another Ameri­can unit, which is very unlikely. Maybe some other member of Divarty may prove me wrong, but I doubt it."

So again the editor asks that anyone who can shed more light on the subject to sound off.

* 'Blazers = snow; Snow= 'Blazers?

There must be something about snow and Trailblazers!

Edward Klim was too young to en joy our winter sports in the Vosges in '45, but he is president of the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association. He's a new

Always. • •

Associate Member and a "new Trailblazer". After two years in the Army, starting with basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1971, he joined the 70th Division in Fraser, Michigan and was training officer for Co. A of the 1st Brigade for six years. He was promoted to company commander for three years and became director of the Leader­ship Academy at 70th HQ in Livonia, Michigan. He was operations officer and public information officer to make it 20 years of service and is still in uniform.

* Everything changed in half a century -except loyal ties

It was a grim group of men in a grim situation. Their captain, Bill Schmied, was severely wounded and a small cordon sur­rounded him and fought off repeated Ger­man attacks up the infamous Falkenberg heights. Late that night Company B/275 climbed to the top of the mountain and hid among the stones there.

For five days they held out- no food , no water, no medical supplies and ammo practically gone, too. As the temperature fell to 2 degrees, the wounded captain and his men suffered sorely and some men died. Finally the enemy overcame and the Baker men became prisoners of war.

Half a century passed before that small group got back together again. It was at the Virginia mini-reunion at Richmond. This time the faces were broad with smiles, the

belts were tightened by fi ne food, it was warm and cozy. But one thing had not changed: The bonds of brotherhood were as strong as ever. Trailblazers are truly brothers.

* "I was in that trench in Oeting Raids" memory is recalled By GEORGE WHITE G/276

My memory jogged after 50 years, am sure I was in that very ditch that Tip Tipton told about in his story on the Oeting Raids in the Winter issue of the 'Trail­blazer '.

It was in the pre-dawn of Feb. 7, 1945, and I was holding down the right flank of the 3rd Squad of the 3rd Platoon of G Company at the bottom of a hill. The trench was filled with melted snow water and mud. My BAR was fouled by the mud and it jammed every time I squeezed the trigger. Our position was overrun by an avalanche of counterattacking German troopers. That ended my career as a com­batant and began the ordeal of existing in a German POW cage.

(George reports that he has filled out and returned his questionnaire for the Military History Institute. He found that his memory was rusty after half a century but it was worthwhile to spend the time and effort on making sure that his per­sonal history is permanently recorded.)

The Infantry bears heaviest battle losses

The Infantry has been called The Queen of Battles. It is also the victim of battles. Just how the riflemen bear the brunt of combat and its casualties has been reported by the "VFW" magazine.

were attached in Alsace, is o. 6 on the list of heavy losses: 4,080 KIA and 14,441 wounded in action.

With 834 combat deaths and 2,713 wounded, the 70th Di­vision ranks 45th in losses.

There were 68 combat divisions in the European Theater in WW2; Infantry, airborne, armored and mountain divisions. They suffered 78% of all the casualties sustained by the Army in the ETO.

The Infantry was only 14% of the Army's ETO strength but it suffered 70% of all battle casualties. In an Infantry di­vision, riflemen made up 68% of its manpower. But they ac­counted for 95% of its casualties.

For their time on the line, Trailblazers - as Task Force Herren and as the complete 70th Division- suffered heavy casualties as it took the full force of Operation Nordwind. Many divisions with whom 'Blazers fought were among the most heavily battered. The 3rd, Rock of the Marne, Division -to which many 70th men transferred after combat- took the heaviest ETO losses: 5,558 dead and 28,766 wounded. The 45th, Thunderbird, Division to which Trailblazer units

26

It is difficult to make precise comparisons of losses, how­ever, because of the vast difference in combat time. The 3rd, for instance, went into action in November, 1942 in Sicily, fought in the bitter battles of Cassino and Anzio, through 'the whole operation in eastern France and through to Munich. On the other extreme, the 13th Airborne Division came to the ETO on Feb. 6, 1945 and never was deployed in combat.

The 10 divisions who suffered the most casualties are the 3rd; 4th Ivy; 29th, Blue and Gray, that suffered horribly on D-Day: 9th; 1st, Big Red One; 45th; 90th Tough 'Ombres; 36th, Texas, which was commanded by the Trailblazers ' origi­nal CO, Gen. John Dahlquist; 83rd Ohio, and 30th Old Hickory. Trailblazers fought with or near more than half of these.

The typical Infantryman served 200 days on the line be­fore reaching the breaking point.

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

A/27 4 earns distinetion few have ever attained

By EDMUND ARNOLD A/274-70 HQ

Inspecting the guard detail of an Infantry division is a solemn military ceremony. "Inspection" is more symbolic than inquisitorial and the Officer of the Day accepts. pro forma. the men as qualified for the heavy responsibility laid upon them. Never does a detail fail such inspection.

Well. almost never. For I have the dubious distinc­tion that few. if any. living Trailblazer can equal. I was a member of a guard detail that was actually rejected by the Officer of the Day.

It was about the third Saturday afternoon of basic training at Camp Adair and the barracks were nearly empty. The wonders of Corvallis. Albany and Portland had lured most members of Company A. 274th.

It had suddenly dawned on our first sergeant that we were supposed to furnish the guard for the week­end. Near panic. he burst into the room and "volun­teered" a detail that included me.

I had never had a rifle in my hands; we were short of M-ls and I carried a wooden rifle. But that was really no problem; for I was designated as no less than "corporal of the guard" and was given a .45 pistol. But it was just as alien to me; I had never even owned a BB gun as a boy.

We were given history's hastiest course in mili­tary ceremony and marched off to the parade grounds in front of Division Headquarters. We drew up in an approximately straight line and in an ap­propriate military posture. Now the OD was about to inspect us to make sure that we were capable of guarding the security of the Republic.

There was more than a little fumbling as rifles were inspected. All seemed immaculately GI. But when one private was asked the serial number of his weapon he replied. "I don't know."

"You don't know," screamed the inspecting cap­tain. That number was supposed to be incised so deeply in your cerebellum that you could mutter it under deep anesthesia. "Why don't you know?"

"Because it ain't my gun. captain. They just give it to me a couple minutes ago." That was true. Our top kick had just grabbed off the rack and distrib­uted weapons at random. Fortunately the next couple of men had their own weapons and the of­ficer was slightly placated.

Now it was my turn for "Inspection arms!" I had been shown how to hold the pistol pointing

skyward at shoulder height and how to pull the slide to expose its innards to prying eyes. As I executed that procedure. a spring exploded out of the pistol. sailed high in the air and landed where rich Oregon dust swallowed it.

Summer 1996

Within moments. a half dozen officers and men were on their hands and knees looking for that in­fernal spring -which, as far as I know. still lies buried in Benton County topsoil.

The final blow came when not a single man knew the General Orders which would dictate our conduct while the safety of the entire Camp Adair lay in our inept hands.

In exasperation. the Officer of the Day announced that we were unfit for guard duty and we slunk back to the barracks in disgrace.

The First Sergeant, apprised by the grapevine of this ultimate humiliation, was now frantic. This time he asked for genuine volunteers. promising a series of weekend passes for those who were willing to lay down their lives for God and country - and ser­geant. In a patriotic fervor. and implicit faith in the honorable promise of a genuine non-commissioned officer. I volunteered.

This time I was demoted to private of the guard and given a genuine M-1 rifle to carry. This did not disintegrate under inspection and from Saturday evening to Monday morning we guarded our en­campment with fidelity and quiet bravery. We were proud to announce that no enemy had the temerity to send even a reconnaissance patrol against us.

We turned over our vital duties to a new guard detail with the hope that we had redeemed the honor of Company A. But today 53 years later. there still is a pang of shame that I was on the only Trailblazer detail - and perhaps the only one in the whole United States Army- that had been turned down as unfit for guard duty. (It also bothers me that I never did get that promised weekend pass.)

Battle streamers added to 70th flag

The 70th Division flag will be decorated by three battle streamers, Ardennes­Alsace, Rhineland and Central Europe. when it is presented at ceremonies at the Orlando Reunion.

The Association has just bought the streamers. The flag itself is the personal property of Bob Crothers, vice-president/ West. But he has generously loaned it for use at all Reunions, many minis and the dedicatory rites in France last year.

27

' ' .

Old soldiers just fading away

In national cemeteries where white crosses stand like a forest, in small town graveyards where ancestors lie buried, on foreign posts, the plaintive strains of "Taps" is heard every day of the year. Those once-endless ranks of American servicemen and women are thinning.

Of the 4.7 million Americans who wore the uniform in World War 1, only 1 0,500 remained at the beginning of 1996.

Almost half of the men and women in service during "our war", WW2, have departed. There were 16.5 million in the ranks 50 years ago. Today there are 7.8 million living.

The Korean War, five years af­ter "the Big War" ended, had 6.8 million in uniform. Of that group, 4.5 million are still with us.

In the comparatively recent Vietnam War, 8.3 veterans are alive today from the original force of 9.2 million.

Total living veterans number 26.5 million. Many of them, of course, served during peacetime. All served in the 20th Century. For the last veteran of the Spanish­American War - the last in the 1800s - died in 1992 at the age of 106. He was among the 392,000 who served in that cam­paign.

Solemn compatriots cite glorious feat of ex-sergeant

The following citation was authorized by men of the Bloody Axe Regiment gath­ered in solemn convocation in Louisville in the Year of Our Lord, 1992.

Albert L. Riedl has distinguished him­self as the first 70th Division soldier to destroy a tank. While stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, he did singlehandedly en­gage and destroy a 40-foot tan~ which. he perceived to be a threat to h1s sleepm.g comrades, with a four-round burst from his BAR (Browning automatic rifle).

Unfortunately, the tank held 40,000 gal­lons of water supplying the fort! For this

28

action, T/Sgt. Riedl was awarded the rank of Private with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereunto. Interviewed by inter­ested parties from the U.S. Offic~rs Co~s, regarding his motivation for t.h1s actiOn, Pvt. Riedl stated, "It seemed hke a good idea at the time!"

Pvt. Riedl later distinguished himself in combat with the same fine Cajun fighting qualities that he had exhibited St_at~wide, and received a battlefield commiSSion to the rank of Second Lieutenant! In the in­tervening years, modesty has prevented Riedl from taking full credit for the Fort Wood shootout, so his F Company com­rades assure him full credit for this action. In further recognition of his accomplish­ment, the United States Army is present­ing Riedl with a statement of charges for one water tower at $40,000 plus accrued interest!

* Buck private to looie in same company is Meyers' saga

Still busily working is Jacob Meyers, Jr., L/274. He owns a trucking business and had a variety store and sandwich shop.

"I was with Company L from buck pri­vate to lieutenant. I had worked up to 1st Platoon sergeant and became its leader when our sergeant was wounded. After re­ceiving a battlefield commission, I returned to L Company but this time as an off1cer.

I stayed with L until the war ended, then came home on points, escorting prisoners of war. I ended up as acting CO of a train­ing battery at Camp Fanning, Texas. This all has been a great experience no money could buy. But I really wouldn't want to do it over again."

Jake and his wife Shirley live in Read­ing, Pennsylvania.

Exciting? You had to be there By JACK LANGE 570 Signal

My favorite war story. Working in the Division Headquarters

at the teletype machine was not terribly exciting. So one day (a Sunday, I think) Wayne Gatterman, company clerk; Jack Vreeland, decoder; Laurel Ziemer of the Message Center and I went for a walk in Forbach after the fighting had moved far­ther out.

Pacific Americans fought bravely in many wars

Paul Chong, E/275, sent me a most in­teresting book, a report prepared for the observance of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Week.

It tells a fascinating story, beginning with the arrival of the various ethnic groups we today call Asian Americans. ("Oriental", a long-used term, seems to have fallen out of favor.) Chinese and Japanese immigrants came in the 19th Century and had a hard life. They were banned from owning land and consigned to the most menial jobs. "W_e recall those Chinese work gangs who bmlt the cross-continental railroad, for instance. Koreans didn't come here until after the turn of the century and many fled the harsh Japanese occupation of their cou~O:Y· .

The United States freed the Phihppmes from harsh Spanish government and Fili­pinos have had a special relationsh_ip to America. Many came- or went- Via the sugar fields of Hawaii. Each ethnic gr?up took part in wars starting with the Spamsh­American conflict in 1898 when the U.S.A. incorporated the famous Philippine Scouts into the American Army and the Navy ac­cepted their enlistments. Hawaiians ha~ a generally warm relationship with Amenca long before theirs became the 50th .state.

The famous Nisei who fought 111 Italy wrote a gallant history and each of the Pa­cific groups suffered heavy casualties.

There doesn't seem to have been a no­table number of men of Pacific heritage in the 70th Division. A cursory inspection of the 1996 Roster shows names like James Kauanui, Robert Yup, Harry Gee, Yen K. Hom and Gene Lim, that seem to indi­cate a Pacific heritage.

It would be interesting if we could get a fairly accurate count of such men. They and their buddies are urged to submit names to the editor.

None of us had fired our carbines so far in the war, so we decided to create SOIT)e excitement by shooting at empty shell cas­ings left piled up outside the town.

Then we went back to our quarters to clean our weapons. Doesn't sound excit­ing now but it surely did then. We needed the change.

The four of us have remained close friends all these years. Of course with the exception of Jack Vreeland who passed away about eight years ago. Jack'_s ~ido":" Helen is continuing the friendship 111 his stead.

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

Salisbury looking for man he aided

" I snapped my buddy 's backpack into mine and led him out of a Vosges valley where he suffered shell-shock. I haven ' t heard from him since- but I'd sure like to." So recalls Richard Salisbury, I/274.

"I was camping in Florida and in con­versation with a neighbor there, I found out we lived only 9 miles from him in Marion, Michigan. I also found out about the 70th Association and signed up." (And who was the recruiter? Identify yourself!)

Dick joined the 'Blazers at Wood and went to the 3rd Division for Occupation. He has retired after working as a farmer, truck driver and gas-field worker.

Those inquiry cards that Lee sends out -"Are you the Joe Jones who was with the 70th Division?"- paid off again when the answer came back from Dale Amstutz, Sv/275th.

ON THE DOTTED LINE-Thirteen thousand times Division Chaplain Loren Jenks signed a let­ter of welcome to men as they joined the 70th Division at Camp Adair. Just

to make sure he doesn't run out of work. his assistants bring him more autograph material. They're Sgt. Jo­seph Laboda (left) and T/5 Fordyce Waldo.

After basic at Camp Haan, California, Dale came to the 70th with the group of ASTP-ers from Brigham Young University in Utah. After discharge he went to Purdue University and got a mechanical engineer­ing degree. He worked six years for Gen­eral Electric and then was an agent for Amstutz Insurance Agency in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Retired, he lives in aples, Florida with his wife Monzelle.

* Hanson volunteers aid in obtaining decorations

Trailblazers who have not received medals for which they are eligible, will welcome the aid that Jim Hanson, L/274, has volunteered.

Jim, who is Virginia state coordinator, says: "I believe that most 70th men are authorized at least the following medals: The ETO ribbon with Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Eu­rope campaign stars; Occupation medal with Germany clasp; World War II Victory Medal; Bronze Star, if you have been awarded the combat Infantryman Badge or Combat Medical Badge; any other U.S. medals for which you have the a copy of the orders that are shown on your discharge papers but haven't yet been presented.

If you believe you were awarded a decoration such as the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal , etc., but do not have a copy of the orders, contact me and I will assist you in getting the documents and the medal. If you have lost your discharge papers, I will help you get a replacement. I will also help you get replacements of medals you have received but have lost."

Send your request - with a stamped, self-addressed enve­lope- to Jim Hanson, 2595 Landview Circle, Virginia Beach,

Summer 1996

Virginia 23454. You may phone him at (804) 496-2244 or fax him at (804) 496-3543.

"Some governments have authorized medals for American personnel who participated in the liberation of Europe. Because of the huge number of people eligible, these governments can't assume the cost. But they may be purchased.

" I believe that most of our men are eligible for at least several of the following French awards: Cross of Volunteer Combat­ants, French Commemorative Medal , Liberation of France ' Medal, Cross of Lorraine Medal, Colmar coat of arms shoulder patch and/or lapel pin and the Prisoner of War Cross.

"Belgian decorations include Service to the Kingdom of Bel­gium Medal, Commemorative Medal and Medal of Volunteer Service.

"Just authorized is the Yugoslav War Cross. Most of these decorations are available in regular size or as miniatures."

This is a big job Jim has volunteered for and the Association owes him a huge vote of thanks. Veterans are reminded that al­though they personally may not want such decorations, it is highly probable that their family does. American medals may be re­quested posthumously by the veterans family.

29

' ' New

Members NEW MEMBERS

AMO, John N. HC 1, Box 77, Bay Rd. Manitowsh Wtr. WI 54545 C/270 Eng - Leone Phone: 715-543-8486

BAERWALD, Alfred P. 719 Costa Dr. Lodi, CA 94240 C/884 FA- Ruth Phone: 209-369-2535

BARHAM, Lloyd G. 333 Lk Howard Dr. NW-111A Winter Haven, FL 33880 E/276- Joan Phone:941-293-6688

BUTTE, William C. 1091 Ivy WayNE Keizer, OR 97303 70 Band - Barbara Phone: 503-390-1731

CASTILLO, Edemencio A. 200 W. Avenue N San Angelo, TX 76901 HQ/2 Bn/274- Rosa Phone: 915-653-7309

CLINE, William M. 56091 Cline Rd. Barnsville, OH 43713 A/884 FA Phone: 614-757-2235

COUNTERMAN, Stanley D. 42 Elizabeth St. Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 H/274- Madelyn

CURNUTT, Ralph R. 2511 Lawell St. Napa, CA 94558 AT/275 - Lorraine

DRAKE, John T. 421 Sunblest Blvd. So. Dr. Fishers, IN 46038 F/275- Bobbie

30

DUKE, Douglas E. 244 N. Main St. Wellsville, NY 14895 HQ/1 Bn/276- Celia

EISSLER, Benjamin B. 94 Union Ave. So. Delmar, NY 12054 F/275 -Esther

FOLTZ, Donn P. 405 N. Main St. No. Baltimore, OH 45872 HQ/2 Bn/276

HAMILTON, 0. Richard 2673 Sequoia Terrace Palm Harbor, FL 34683 E/275 Phone: 813-734-540

HENSLEY, Joseph M. 8213 Old Oaks Dr. Springfield, VA 22152 1/275 - Hilma

HINMAN, Howard 1219 Fidlers Green San Jose, CA 95125 C/276 Phone: 408-279-3877

JONAS, Fred 4525 Fawn Lake Dr. Bethel, MN 55005 A/370 Medics

KINNISON, William B. 8721 Hillview Dr. Meridian, MS 39305 H/276 - Lunell Phone:601-681-6614

NIEDZIALEK, William 388 E. 323rd St. Willowick, OH 44095 E/276

ROTHCHILD, Dale E. R.R. 1, Box 58 Mankato, KS 66956 70 Recon- Twila Phone: 913-378-3663

SCIOLI, Michael A. 4 Bonaventure Dr. Rockledge, Fl 32955 M/276- laura Phone: 407-632-5490

SCRITCHFIELD, Harold J. HCR 2; Box 2090 Shell Knob, MO 65747 H/275 Phone: 417-858-3361

SIMPSON, Paul W. 300 Doncaster Dr. lrmo, SC 29063 F/276- Betty Phone: 803-781-6743

SMITH, David E. 877 Rainbow Rd. Advance, NC 27006 1/275 -Alma Phone: 919-998-4473

STEBAR, Joseph 10 N. Spring St. Ansonia, CT 06401 G/274 Phone:203-736-9124

STEINMANN, Roland L. 1095 Sunnycrest Dr. Waukeska, WI 53186 D/276- Lucille Phone: 414-786-7308

STONE, Guy E. P.O. Box 4806 Lago Vista, TX 78645 B/275 Phone: 512-267-1824

TARR, Homer I. 155 Front St. Franklin, PA 16323 -Dorothy Phone: 814-432-4245

WELCH, Armon B. 2718 Sweetgum Pasadena, TX 77502 SV /276 - Judy

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Dixon, Steven K. 1107 Timberline Dr. Valdosta, GA 31602 grandson of Kelley Dixon (deceased) C/270th Engrs

Graham, David L. 7121 Davis Rd. Hilliard, OH 43026 Nam vet

Horan, Don 248 Crown Rd. Boonton, NJ 07005 brother of Jack (D/275)

Klim, Edward J. 9374 W. Scenic Ln. Laingsburg, Ml 48848 70th Div (Trng)

Long, Robel L. 7820 Ivanhoe Affton, MO 63123 29 Div

Roby, Neal 0. 13240 Greenberry Ln. Clarksville, MD 21 029 nephew of Peter Bennet (Hq 2nd Bn/276)

Saunders, Richard D. 11 09 Ivanhoe Rd. Tallahassee, FL 32312

Tjeltveit, Glenn J. 840 Montana Dr. Reno, NV 89503

Zynsky, John M. 2524 S. Crystal St. Aurorae, CO 80014 son of John M. (Med/274)

ROSTER CHANCES

BROOKE, Colburn M. 4835 E. Cholla St. Scottsdale, AZ 85254 l/276 - Eileen

BUCHANAN, Loren R. 917 Acker Pkwy. De Forest, WI 53532 B/275 FA- Kathleen Phone: 608-846-3424

DICKEY, Richard H. Rt. 3, Box 397 Stanley, VA 22851 A/270 Eng- Helen Phone: 540-778-5403

HAUGE, Edwin P. 8710 Gardner Rd. Fox Rvr. Grove, IL 60021 Hq/DIVARTY- Anna Phone: 847-639-4870

HENSLEY, Joseph M. 8213 Old Oaks Dr. Springfield, VA 22152 1/275- Hilma Phone: 703-451-1680

HERMANCE, Nelson F. 55 Walden Pond Dr. Nashua, NH 03060 HQ/725 FA Phone: 603-594-8640

HOLLOWAY, Kenneth H. 5828 Landridge Dr. Lexington, KY 40514 B/725 FA- Nell Phone: 513-376-2705

JOHNSON, Harry G. 313 E. 2nd St., Apt. 3 Redwood Falls, MN 56283 C/276 - Pearl Phone: 507-637-2447

JOHNSON, Ralph E. 206 NE Bordner Dr. Lees Summit, MO 64086 HQ/884 FA- Joanna Phone: 816-246-9145

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER

JOHNSTON, Harry V. LARSON, Ralph L. ROGERS, John R. 9613 145th Ave. 3790 Park South Box 81401 Forest Lake, MN 55025 Topeka, KS 66609 Las Vegas, NV 891 03 AT/275- Ruth 1/274 M/276 - Josephine Phone:612-464-3234 Phone: 913-267-2584 Phone: 702-248-2723

KNAPP, Hilman MINER, Charles P. SBROCCO, Mario 106 Bennett Ave. 4272 s. us 301' #311 30 Nagel Place Macon, MO 63552 Bushnell, FL 33513 Geneva, NY 14456 M/276- Betty L/275 A/276 Phone:816-385-4472 Phone: 352-568-0783 Phone:315-789-8872

KUCMEROSKY, Theodore L. POWELL, Walter W. SELZER, Jack H. 15 Trout Lake Dr. 3720 Chellow Rd. 5241 Lakefront Blvd., Eustis, FL 32726 Richmond, VA 23225 Apt. C

Members are urged to add names and make changes of address in their 1996 Rosters. The next new and revised Roster will be published prior to the 1998 Reunion.

SHAW, David STURGILL, Franklin 13012 Woodburn 741 Skyview Dr. Hagerstown, MD 21740 Chilhowie, VA 24319 L/275 L/276 - Wadie

Phone: 703-646-8831 SMITH, Edgar L. 943 Mt. Airy Dr. TORGE, Herman Johnstown, PA 15904 144 Deer Trail E/275- Helen Eaton, OH 45320 Phone: 814-266-1856 C/883 FA- Carol Lee

Phone:513-456-3228 STEBAR, Joseph P.O. Box 105 ZIEMER, Laurel W. Ansonia, CT 06401 N4526 Riverview Rd. G/274 Shawano, WI 54166

A/276- Ruth AT/275- Betty Delray Beach, FL 33484 Phone: 203-736-9124 570 Signal Phone: 904-357-1034

ADAMS, Raymond E. 8089 N. US Hwy 277 San Angelo, TX 76905 F/274 Died February 9, 1996

DIXON, Kelley E. C/270 Eng Died December 5, 1967

HAMILL, Woody W. 1321 N. 79th Street Lincoln, NE 68505 AT/274 Died April 22, 1996

JOHNSON, Charles W. 3821 Barberry Circle Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494 HW/882 FA Died April 15, 1996

McCAUSLIN, Clive 6894 Park Blvd. joshua Tree, CA 92252 HQ/275

Summer 1996

G/274- Eleanor Phone:609-822-0528

O'CONNOR, Edward M. 8350 112th St. N. #11 Seminole, FL 34642 M/274 Died April 5, 1996

OLIVER, Bertram B. 10435 Durness Drive St. Louis, MO 63137 B/270 Eng Died january 5, 1996

SMITH, Earle T. 2315 White Oak Drive Valdosta, GA 31602 F/276 Died january 20, 1996

SWOPE, William F. 2651 Arbor Drive St. Paul, MN 55110 B/884 FA Died january 22, 1996

Phone: 715-526-9838

WADE, Leonard G. 1774 - 150th Ave. San Leandro, CA 94578 1/275 Died September, 1991

WATSON, Norman E. 111 Monument Circle Indianapolis, IN 46204 B/884 FA Died October 7, 1994

TAPS PARK, Norman j. 13014 Venice Loop NE Bainbridge Is, WA 9811 0 HQ/70th Died March 25, 1996

TONER, john F. 204 East jonesville, Ml 49250 F/276 Died june 20, 1995

WICKHAM, Herbert F. Cape Girardeau, MO HQ 1st Bn/274 Died March 9, 1996

• 31

70th Division Assn. Edmund C. Arnold 3804 Brandon Ave., SW #415 Roanoke, VA 24018

32

LOGGING A LODGE . ... Building a sturdy and handsome log lodge was a training project of the 270th Engineers. They felled the trees, dressed the logs and raised the walls. It's

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT- 1310 RICHMOND, VA.

n Postage Guaranteed and AC:rclress Correction requested

believed that this exercise took place southeast of Camp Adair and was not on the reservation. No other details of this project are known and the editor in­vites all Engineers to tell us about their efforts.

70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER