War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
103 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★ - 7 ratingsAaron Elson went to a reunion of the 712th Tank Battalion in 1987, seven years after his father passed away. Aaron was so moved by the stories the veterans shared that he returned two reunions later with a tape recorder. The rest is history. Oral history.
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Episodes
The Kissless Bride, a "Late Date," and The Richest Man in Town
September 13, 2020 18:40 - 41 minutes - 56.7 MBLillian Feiler tells how she met her husband, Samuel Charles Feiler, a dentist in the 101st Airborne Division; Red Cross girl Kay Brainard Hutchins describes her romance with her second husband; and Nancy Mapes, wife of ex-prisoner of war Hal Mapes, tells how her young postwar family came to be featured in a photo spread in the Ladies Home Journal. For more about these and other stories please visit www.oralhistoryaudiobooks.com.
Forrest Dixon Part 2
September 10, 2020 01:30 - 27 minutes - 38.1 MBIn this episode of Myfatherstankbattalion, maintenance officer Forrest Dixon talks about battlefield commissions, guns, cameras, Hitler Youth, the Bridge at Remagen, Mein Kampf, a broken beer mug, the salt mine that would later be depicted in The Monuments Men, the Flossenburg concentration camp, and spark plugs. For information about previous episodes, please visit myfatherstankbattalion.com.
Forrest Dixon, Part 1
September 05, 2020 16:22 - 52 minutes - 72.2 MBAn onion farmer from Munith, Michigan, battalion maintenance officer Forrest Dixon was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for climbing into a tank whose engine was removed and singlehandedly knocking out a German tank. For more about this and other episodes, please visit myfatherstankbattalion.com.
"Those 88s Are Breaking Up That Old Squad of Mine"
August 31, 2020 02:20 - 50 minutes - 69.5 MBJim Cary and his ukelele led the annual Saturday night singalong in the hospitality room at reunions of my father's 712th Tank Battalion. He also was a company commander with two Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a story you'll want to hear. For more about this podcast, please visit myfatherstankbattalion.com
Ed Stuever Part 2: "Watch My Smoke"
August 09, 2020 00:35 - 1 hour - 113 MBIn Part 2 of this 2005 interview, maintenance Sgt. Ed "Smoky" Stuever describes with remarkable clarity events from 60 years before. These include his experiences in the veterinary detachment of the horse cavalry, chaperoning Spanky McFarland, towing trucks onto Utah Beach after their engines sputtered out, getting drunk on mirabeille (white lightning) and making his captain pull guard duty, repairing tanks at night by the light from gun flashes, and helping a German woman and her three chil...
Ed "Smoky" Stuever Part 1
July 31, 2020 12:52 - 1 hour - 99.9 MBEd "Smoky" Stuever was a fixture at reunions of my father's 712th Tank Battalion. I would sit down with him and record a couple of stories every year. In this episode, he describes growing up on a farm, trapping muskrats and catching bullfrogs, winning a 4H competition, telling time by the sun, how his hearing-impaired father called square dances, how he met his wife, and being drafted into the horse cavalry. Check out my new web site, oralhistoryaudiobooks.com
Tail Gunner Sam Part 2
July 12, 2020 01:13 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MBTail gunner Sam Mastrogiacomo shares the escapades and adventures of his months as an internee in Sweden, his youth in the tough neighborhood of South Philadelphia, and his return to Tibenham two days after the disastrous Kassel Mission. For more great interviews with World War II veterans, visit myfatherstankbattalion.com
Tail Gunner Sam Part 1
July 05, 2020 16:02 - 42 minutes - 59 MBMy father's 712th Tank Battalion didn't win the war all by themselves. They had help from above. In today's episode, we meet Sam Mastrogiacomo, a tail gunner on a B-24 who, when bullets from a German fighter plane shattered the glass of his turret, thought about his mother getting a telegram that he had been killed. For a full list of episodes and extra background, please visit myfatherstankbattalion.com. For my books and audiobooks, visit aaronelson.com. Thank you. PS: This interview was re...
Big Andy
June 21, 2020 22:59 - 58 minutes - 81.1 MBExciting news! My web site, https://www.myfatherstankbattalion.com, is now live with extra information about the episodes and a unit history of the battalion. Today, we meet Bob "Big Andy" Anderson, a tank driver who was awarded three Bronze Stars in 11 months of combat. The drivers in the 712th Tank Battalion were a close-knit community with a special set of skills.
The Company Commander
June 15, 2020 03:30 - 54 minutes - 75.5 MBClifford Merrill was the first of four A Company commanders. After recovering from wounds suffered in Normandy, he sat on a tribunal at the Dachau War Crimes trials, helped run a prison compound in the Korean War, and was wounded leading a convoy in Vietnam. To quote A Company veteran Sam Cropanese, "He wasn't afraid of nothin'!"
The 4th of July on the 6th of June
June 06, 2020 18:47 - 50 minutes - 69.1 MBThe 712th Tank Battalion landed in Normandy on June 28, 1944. Twenty-two days earlier the D-Day invasion took place. In 1994, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of that historic day, I interviewed several D-Day veterans. Lou Putnoky was one of them.
Good News Bad News
May 30, 2020 19:09 - 21 minutes - 29.2 MBBob Levine was an 18 year old infantryman who was wounded, captured, and had a leg amputated by a German doctor in Normandy. Bob's daughter recently posted a photo of Bob and his wife Edith on Facebook with the notation that they both survived Covid-19, and Bob was just been released after two weeks in the hospital. Way to go, Bob! Today's episode is excerpted from my 1999 interview with Bob. For more on Hill 122 check out the nine earlier episodes on the battle.
Memorial Day: Pine Valley
May 25, 2020 14:57 - 44 minutes - 61.1 MBMemorial Day, 2020. The 712th Tank Battalion monument in the memorial garden at the Patton Museum at Fort Knox has 100 names. The eighth name, going in alphabetical order, is Quentin Bynum, a tank driver who gave my father a lift to the front in Normandy. Quentin, whose nickname was Pine Valley, was a farmboy from Stonefort, Illinois ...
Paris, Illinois
May 16, 2020 22:06 - 1 hour - 83.8 MBRussell Loop started out in the horse cavalry, became a driver in D Company of the 712th Tank Battalion and was transferred to C Company as a gunner in a medium Sherman tank just prior to the Battle of the Bulge. In this interview, he shares his experiences in 11 months of combat.
This episode is personal
May 09, 2020 20:07 - 24 minutes - 34.5 MBMy father, Lieutenant Maurice Elson, joined the 712th Tank Battalion in July of 1944. He was wounded in Normandy and again in Germany. He died of a heart attack before I began collecting the stories of his unit, but what I learned of his brief time with the battalion launched an avalanche of stories.
How Cold Was It? The Battle of the Bulge
April 26, 2020 15:07 - 41 minutes - 57.1 MBHow cold was it in the Battle of the Bulge? It was so cold that an assistant driver from Tennessee told George Bussell that when he got home, if it was the middle of July and he thought about how cold it was, he'd go out and build a fire. The mountainous roads going into Luxembourg and Belgium were so icy that 37 and 44 ton tanks were sliding all over the place. These are a few of the many stories about the Bulge told by veterans of the 712th Tank Battalion.
Sam and Joe
April 18, 2020 23:36 - 48 minutes - 66.3 MBSam Cropanese and Joe Bernardino were members of the same crew in A Company of the 712th Tank Battalion. They were both wounded at the Falaise Gap in mid-August of 1944. I interviewed Sam in Cape Coral, Florida, in 1993, and Joe in Rochester, New York, in 1994, 50 years after the war. Their story presents a vivid picture of life and death in a tank in World War II. Warning: Contains some graphic descriptions.
"The Iron Cross and a Three-Day Pass": Habscheid
April 12, 2020 16:50 - 26 minutes - 36.6 MBIn episode 36 of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It, Bob Rossi, Ed Spahr, Tony D'Arpino and Grayson Lamar offer their perspective on a battle that took place in Habscheid, Germany, a village in the Siegfried Line, on February 8, 1945. Warning: Graphic content.
A couple of tankers talking World War II
April 06, 2020 01:52 - 32 minutes - 44.4 MBJim Knispel and Bill Whitley joined the 712th Tank Battalion as replacements in France. This interview, at the battalion's 2001 reunion, touches upon some of the significant events in the history of the battalion's A Company. Knispel was wounded when his tank was hit by a panzerfaust in a confrontation with SS troops who were defending the town of Merkers, where vast amounts of treasure were stored in a mine that would be depicted in the movie The Monuments Men.
A tank recovery unit driver in World War II
March 28, 2020 21:42 - 1 hour - 90.9 MBIn the712th Tank Battalion's 11 months on the front lines of World War II, there were many significant events: Hill 122, the Falaise Gap, the light tank that ran over a string of mines, the battle with the 106th Panzer Brigade at Mairy, the Saar River crossing at Dillingen, the Battle of the Bulge. Tank recovery unit driver Eugene Sand was involved in all of these and more.
The Man Who Wasn't There
March 08, 2020 04:33 - 1 hour - 85.7 MBYesterday upon the stair I saw a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today I wish I wish he'd go away So begins the poem Antigonish by William Hughes Mearns, about a ghost in a village in Nova Scotia. According to theghoststory.com, it's the most famous ghost poem of all time. Who knew. Glenn Miller even performed it. In episode 32, I included audio from the driver, the assistant driver, the lieutenant and the loader of a tank that was knocked out in the Battle of the Bulge. S...
Once Upon a Tank in the Bulge
March 02, 2020 16:41 - 45 minutes - 62.3 MBAt the 1992 reunion of the 712th Tank Battalion, I sat at a table in the hospitality room with four veterans -- Jim Gifford, Ed Spahr, Bob Rossi and Tony D'Arpino -- whose Sherman tank was knocked out on January 10, 1945. They reconstructed the details of that day, and spoke about other events in the war. There is some graphic content in this episode of the War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It podcast.
"What Do You Want, To Live Forever?"
February 23, 2020 16:30 - 41 minutes - 57.9 MBIn this episode of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It, Lieutenant Jim Gifford touches upon some of the major events in the history of the 712th Tank Battalion. These include the hedgerows of Normandy, the moonlight battle with the 106th German Panzer Brigade, and the taking of Maizieres les Metz.
The Road to Falaise
February 16, 2020 01:14 - 36 minutes - 49.9 MBThe independent 712th Tank Battalion spent 311 days in combat from Normandy to Czechoslovakia, and earned a reputation as the "armored fist" of the 90th Infantry Division. This episode of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It follows Lieutenant Jim Gifford of C Company from his arrival as a replacement in Normandy to the Falaise Gap on August 18-19, 1944. Warning: This episode contains some graphic descriptions.
Valentine's Day
February 05, 2020 23:25 - 35 minutes - 48.9 MBSometimes a veteran's wife would sit in on an interview, or I'd be chatting with a couple at a reunion of my father's tank battalion, and it was only natural at some point to ask the couple how they met. These are their stories.
Lieutenant Warfield's Widow
January 20, 2020 05:11 - 33 minutes - 46.5 MBBefore Harry and Meghan, as royal scandals go, there was Princess Diana, and before Diana, there was Wallis Warfield Simpson, for whom King Edward VIII abdicated the throne. All the fuss about Meghxit got me to thinking about Lieutenant Marshall Warfield, who was a cousin of Wallis Warfield Simpson. This episode largely departs from the stories of combat and contains excerpts of my interview with Lieutenant Warfield's widow, Olga.
Hill 122 Part 9: The Turning Plow
December 25, 2019 14:09 - 43 minutes - 59.8 MBIn this episode, which concludes the series on Hill 122, Lieutenant Jim Flowers is reunited at the 1995 reunion of the 90th "Texas-Oklahoma" Infantry Division with Claude Lovett, who led the platoon that rescued him and Jim Rothschadl; and Dr. William McConahey, who treated their wounds and later wrote about Flowers in his book "Battalion Surgeon."
Hill 122 Part 8: "It says here hand to hand combat ... that's me."
December 15, 2019 18:47 - 1 hour - 85.4 MBMany podcasts have background music. In this and a couple of other episodes, the background music is provided by a radio or TV playing in the next room. It's annoying, but only a minor distraction from the compelling events being described. In Part 8 of the Hill 122 series, you'll hear from Michael Vona, Clarence Morrison and Kenneth Titman, whose tank was one of four that were knocked out in the battle. Vona gives a chilling account of hand to hand combat. For more about Hill 122, go to the...
Hill 122, Part 7: A Side Trip to Anzio
November 18, 2019 00:15 - 34 minutes - 63.5 MBWhen Myron Kiballa received the letter from his family telling him his brother Jerry was killed, he had just gotten out of the hospital after being wounded at Anzio. Reading the letter, he said, was like entering the Twilight Zone. For more of the story of Hill 122, visit aaronelson.com/the-middle-of-hell. There will be more about Hill 122 in the next few podcast episodes. First, though, let's hear about Anzio.
Hill 122, Part 6: No Man's Land
November 10, 2019 22:16 - 51 minutes - 70.6 MBIn this episode Lieutenant Jim Flowers and his gunner describe the two days and nights they spent in no man's land waiting to be rescued and fearing they wouldn't. But first, we solve the mystery of how a fellow named Rothschadl grew up on an Anishanaabe Indian reservation in Minnesota. For more on the battle of Hill 122 involving the first platoon, Company C, of the 712th Tank Battalion, check out They Were All Young Kids in print or for Kindle at amazon, or order the audio epic "The Middle...
Hill 122, Part 5: Jim Flowers' statement
November 07, 2019 23:59 - 22 minutes - 31.4 MBThis episode of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It begins with a description of a letter gunner Jim Rothschadl wrote to his younger brother from his hospital bed, and concludes with a statement Lieutenant Jim Flowers wrote from his hospital bed after being recommended for the Medal of Honor (he received the Distinguished Service Cross). There will be more from my interviews with Flowers and Rothschadl in the next episode.
Hill 122, Part 4: Survivor Guilt
November 04, 2019 05:39 - 42 minutes - 58.4 MBTank commander Judd Wiley describes a harrowing week of combat leading up to the battle for Hill 122, in which nine members of the First Platoon, Company C, 712th Tank Battalion were killed. Among them were the tight-knit crew of Wiley's Sherman tank, a day after he was injured and evacuated. For Wiley's full interview, and interviews with several survivors of the battle, check out "The Middle of Hell" in the ecommerce store at aaronelson.com, or "They Were All Young Kids" in print and for K...
Episode 21: Hill 122, Part 3: The motorcycle (kettenrad)
October 29, 2019 01:55 - 49 minutes - 68.8 MBOn July 10, 1944, four Sherman tanks of the first platoon, C Company, 712th Tank Battalion came to the rescue of a 90th Infantry Division battalion that was surrounded by German paratroopers. After breaking through the German lines and leading an infantry company off of Hill 122, the four tanks kept going. The infantry, having sustained heavy casualties, dug in at the base of the hill. Soon all four tanks were knocked out, three of them bursting into flames. In this episode, we hear from Lie...
Hill 122 Part 2: Louis Gerrard
October 22, 2019 13:10 - 50 minutes - 69.2 MBThe story of the First Platoon, Company C, 712th Tank Battalion in the battle for Hill 122 contains many universal themes that run through the stories of World War II veterans: survivor's guilt, fate, courage, heroism, irony, among others. Hill 122 Part 2 is excerpted from a 1993 interview with Louis Gerrard and his brother Jack. The gunner in Captain Jack Sheppard's tank, Lou lost an eye when his tank was hit and played dead while German soldiers searched him and took his watch. A 17-CD ora...
Hill 122 Part 1
October 18, 2019 15:16 - 43 minutes - 59.2 MBThe destruction of the First Platoon, Company C, on July 10, 1944 -- four tanks knocked out, three of them "flamers"; nine of 20 crew members killed, several wounded, two captured -- was a defining moment in the history of my father's tank battalion. Lieutenant Jim Flowers would be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross after leaving parts of both legs "on a piece of bloody French real estate." The next few episodes of the War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It podcast will include inter...
Episode 18: The Kassel Mission Part 2: George Collar
September 30, 2019 06:34 - 1 hour - 118 MBIn this episode of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It, we take a detour from the hedgerows of Normandy and the banks of the Moselle River, and hitch a ride on a B-24 into the dangerous skies above Germany. This interview was recorded in 1999 and there is some background noise on portions of the tape. Running time: An hour and 25 minutes.
The Kassel Mission, Part 1
September 23, 2019 11:37 - 39 minutes - 54.8 MBWhile visiting a village in Germany where my father's tank battalion lost several men near the end of the war in Europe, I learned of a spectacular aerial battle that took place in the area. Sept. 27, 2019 is the 75th anniversary of that battle.
The Barroom Brawl
September 12, 2019 15:40 - 25 minutes - 34.4 MBPhenix City, Alabama was off limits, but that didn't stop tankers and paratroopers from going there. Tank driver George Bussell and tank commander Reuben Goldstein took part in a brawl at Ma Beachie's, an iconic establishment in a city described in a government report as the "wickedest city" in America. But first, a couple of anecdotes about a friendly fire incident and a mad gunner, both of which will be elaborated on further in future episodes of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It.
The Patton Episode
August 29, 2019 18:57 - 23 minutes - 32.1 MBMany veterans of my father's 712th Tank Battalion had stories about General George S. Patton, also known as "old Blood & Guts." The 712th, attached to the 90th Infantry Division, was part of Patton's vaunted Third Army. It was not uncommon to hear a veteran quote a Patton speech almost word for word more than 45 years later. As for his language, Arnold Brown, a rifle company commander in the 90th, said it best. His company was bringing up the rear on a road march, and had acquired several st...
Conversation With a Tank Gunner
August 19, 2019 04:04 - 23 minutes - 32.3 MBClaude 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.
Never Salute an Officer With a Cigarette in Your Hand
August 13, 2019 01:02 - 19 minutes - 27.3 MBEd "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 s...
Bellied up on a hedgerow, and other stories
August 06, 2019 14:38 - 57 minutes - 79.7 MBAnother 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.
A Tale of Two Tonsillectomies
August 02, 2019 12:49 - 19 minutes - 27.3 MBMy 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 a...
The Runaway Tank
July 26, 2019 05:36 - 23 minutes - 32.3 MBThere'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.
The Death of Shorty
July 16, 2019 13:43 - 33 minutes - 46.1 MBMarion "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 K...
This Old Horse
July 07, 2019 19:32 - 19 minutes - 27.2 MBIn 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.
The Fourth of July, 1944
July 04, 2019 21:25 - 6 minutes - 10.1 MBJuly 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 d...
Pfaffenheck, Part 3: The telegram
June 23, 2019 17:02 - 14 minutes - 20 MBIdentical 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 ...
A Cow in a Tree
June 21, 2019 10:34 - 7 minutes - 10.6 MBNormandy 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.
Pfaffenheck, Part 2
May 30, 2019 17:50 - 48 minutes - 67.4 MBOn 16 March 1945 the second platoon of Company C, 712th Tank Battalion, fought a battle in Pfaffenheck, Germany, in what Lieutenant Francis "Snuffy" Fuller called "my worst day in combat." His platoon lost four men killed, three wounded, and had three tanks knocked out. In this episode Aaron Elson, whose father served in the 712th, presents accounts of the battle from several of its participants.