Aaron Elson's Blog, page 10
August 18, 2019
Conversation With a Tank Gunner
Claude Pittman was a Sherman tank gunner in the first platoon of A Company, 712th Tank Battalion. In this conversation, he talks about a tank-to-tank duel, about fear, about coming back after being burned, about a close call, about being cooped up in a tank for days at a time, about a tanker who had combat fatigue, about humor, about liberating some American prisoners, but first, a story about going to visit a member of his company on his way home from a reunion.
August 12, 2019
Never Salute an Officer With a Cigarette in Your Mouth
Ed "Smoky" Stuever, a maintenance sergeant in the 712th Tank Battalion, never missed a reunion. He loved to bring memorabilia from his days in the Civilian Conservation Corps and the horse cavalry. As I go through the digitized files of interviews and conversations I recorded some 25 years ago, I'm finding a treasure trove of stories from Ed and many others that I'll be sharing as the podcast grows. I welcome comments and questions and even relevant audio clips that listeners would like to share.
August 6, 2019
Bellied up on a hedgerow, and other stories
Another tanker's son brought a picture taken from German documentary footage of a disabled tank with 712th markings to the 1992 reunion, hoping to find someone who could identify the circumstances and the crew. Spoiler alert: The results were inconclusive. but the nearly hourlong conversation the image sparked went in several directions that give some insight into life as a tanker in World War II. The cover photo is a generic illustration taken from the battalion's unit history.
August 2, 2019
A Tale of Two Tonsillectomies
My father joined the 712th Tank Battalion as a replacement in Normandy, but many of the battalion's original members were in the horse cavalry in California before the United States entered the war. Under the Selective Service Act, draftees were obligated to serve a year. Early in 1941 President Roosevelt asked Congress to extend the period of military service, leading to the acronym OHIO -- Over the Hill in October -- which became a popular saying among the recruits. When Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, many of those servicemen whose year was almost up, including Art Horn, who had just gotten married, found themselves in the service "for the duration," which would last almost five years. In this episode of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It, Art and Ed "Smoky" Stuever recall having their tonsils removed in a conversation both graphic and humorous.
July 25, 2019
The Runaway Tank
There's no easy way to stop a runaway Sherman tank, as Sergeant Dan Diel learned at Fort Benning in 1943. But first, an introduction to Colonel Whitside Miller, the 712th Tank Battalion's original commander who inspired an insurgency among his officers. Check out this and earlier episodes of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It.
July 16, 2019
The Death of Shorty
Marion "Shorty" Kubeczko and Ed "Smoky" Stuever were buddies in the 11th (horse) Cavalry. They remained close when the 11th was mechanized as part of the 10th Armored Division and when the 712th Tank Battalion was broken out of the division as an independent unit. Stuever was a sergeant in the battalion's Service Company, and Kubeczko was the driver of his tank recovery unit. Shorty was killed during the battle for Hill 122 in Normandy. In this episode of "War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It," Stuever describes some of those first moments of combat, and the pain of losing a friend.
July 7, 2019
This Old Horse
In this episode, Ed "Smoky" Stuever, a maintenance sergeant in the 712th Tank Battalion, shares some memories of his time in the horse cavalry in 1941 before the 11th Cavalry was transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia, as part of the cadre of the 10th Armored Division.
July 4, 2019
The Fourth of July, 1944
July 4th came a day early in 1944 with a massive artillery barrage in preparation for an assault on the Haye du Puits sector of the Normandy campaign. The 712th Tank Battalion suffered numerous casualties on its first day of combat. Lt George Tarr became the first officer in A Company to be killed. Sgt. William Schmidt was the first member of C company to be killed. In this episode, Jim Rothschadl, a gunner in C Company, talks about the meaning of the Fourth of July, and Stanley Klapkowski describes the death of Sergeant Schmidt.
June 23, 2019
Pfaffenheck, Part 3: The telegram
Identical twins Maxine Wolfe Zirkle and Madalene Wolfe Litten, in a 1993 interview, talk about the day the telegram arrived informing them of the death of their brother, Billy, in World War II. On 16 March 1945 the second platoon of Company C, 712th Tank Battalion, went to the assistance of a company of the 90th Infantry Division that was taking heavy casualties in a battle with elements of the 6th SS Mountain Division North. The platoon leader, Francis "Snuffy" Fuller, described the battle in Pfaffenheck as his "worst day in combat." He had four men killed, three wounded, and lost three tanks. You can hear more of my conversation with the Wolfe sisters at my oralhistoryaudiobooks blog
June 21, 2019
A Cow in a Tree
Normandy in World War II was not a good place to be if you were a farm animal. George Bussell, a driver in A Company of the 712th Tank Battalion, describes with wonder the sight of a cow that was blown into the air and landed in the fork of a tree. In a later interview, Joe Bernardino, also of A Company, describes what may have been the same scene, with a far more tragic twist.
