They Were All Young Kids

History

Elson, Aaron

Elson, Aaron C.

Military

Chi Chi Press

The stories of nine people who lived through the World War II era. These include a Red Cross girl, a rifle company captain, an infantry private, a quartermaster who survived the torpedoing of a ship during Exercise Tiger, a veteran's widow, A D-Day veteran of Omaha Beach, and two survivors of the disastrous Kassel mission bombing raid of Sept. 27, 1944, on which 25 B-24 Liberators were shot down within six minutes in one of World War II's most spectacular air battles.

9 Lives: An Oral History

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Chi Chi Pr

"Tanks for the Memories" tells the stories, in their own words, of the veterans of one of America's most distinguished "small" units in World War II, the 712th Tank Battalion. From their beginnings in the throes of the Great Depression, to their days in the horse cavalry, to their training as tankers, to 11 months on the front lines in Europe, their stories are not only powerful reading, but show how ordinary men performed extraordinary feats of courage and heroism under the deadliest of conditions.\nFrom the Publisher\nThe original "Tanks for the Memories" was published in 1994. It was a learning experience in that it was a debut work for both the author and the publisher. The production left a great deal to be desired. Perhaps the oddest thing about the book was that it had legs. People were always contacting us saying that their copy had walked on over to a friend's house and the friend gave it to somebody else to read, and now they need another copy. Because so many of those copies just walked away, the first edition has sold out. Because the author continued to record the oral histories of battalion members after the book came out, he chose to write an expanded edition, incorporating all of the original material. The result is a book that is twice as long, twice as good, and only a little more expensive.\nFrom the Author\nMy father served with the 712th Tank Battalion in World War II. When I first attended one of their reunions, in 1987, I found myself riveted as I would listen in on story after story, many of which which I soon realized these veterans didn't share with their children, and even their wives. I thought these stories would make a great book. At the time, I didn't know that I would write that book. But I think you'll find "Tanks for the Memories" to be in the greatest tradition of authors such as Studs Terkel and Stephen Ambrose.

Tanks for the Memories: Expanded Second Edition

Tanks for the Memories: The 712th Tank Battalion in World War II

On 27 September 1944, 35 B-24s of the 445th Bomb Group flew off course and lose their fighter protection. They were ambushed by between 100 and 150 German fighter planes. The ensuing battle resulted in the highest one-day losses for a single bomb group in 8th Air Force history. Forty-six years later, survivors of the battle from both sides met in Germany to dedicate a monument with the names of all the flyers who perished that day. Up Above the Clouds to Die is the story of both the battle and the closure that came decades later.

Up Above the Clouds to Die: A tragic error. An epic battle. An oral history. The Kassel Mission of 27 Sept. 1944

During the epic breakout from the Chosin Reservoir, Marine Sgt. Mathew Caruso, assigned as a chaplain's assistant, heroically saved the life of Chaplain Cornelius "Connie" Griffin at the cost of his own life. on December 6, 1950. Six days later, in New England, Mathew's son was born. Fourteen months after that, his father's Silver Star was presented to little Danny Caruso in a ceremony that made national headlines. In 1953 the Caruso Memorial Chapel was dedicated at Camp Pendleton. Two years after that, Mathew's remains were repatriated and his brother John, himself a Marine, served as his burial escort by train from San Francisco to Hartford, Connecticut. "Semper Fi, Padre" is a story of sacrifice and heroism, but it is also about the effect a death in combat, any death in combat, can have on the lives of many people.

Semper Fi, Padre: The Mathew Caruso Story

Caruso, John

On 10 July 1944, Lt. Jim Flowers led a platoon of four Sherman tanks to the aid of a battalion of infantry that was surrounded by elite German paratroopers on the summit of Hill 122 in one of the fiercest battles of the Normandy campaign. His tanks succeeded in breaking the Nazi defenses and leading a company off the hill, with the rest of the battalion to follow. Soon, however, all four tanks were knocked out, with three of them going up in flames. For Flowers, the ordeal was just beginning. Nine of the 20 crew members were killed, several wounded and two were both wounded and captured. For Flowers, the ordeal was just beginning. This is the story of that battle as told in the words of several survivors of his platoon.

They Were All Young Kids: The story of Lt. Jim Flowers and the first platoon, Company C, 712th Tank Battalion, on Hill 122

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

In 1987, Aaron Elson went to a reunion of the tank battalion with which his father served in World War II. He was so moved by the stories the veterans shared among themselves but often didn't tell their families that he returned with a tape recorder. The rest is history. Oral history. Inspired by Studs Terkel and Stephen Ambrose, Elson has recorded more than 600 hours of interviews with veterans of World War II. His work has been used as source material in more than two dozen books and a dozen documentaries, some of which have appeared on the History Channel. In this collection of a baker's dozen interviews you'll meet, among others, five combat engineers talking "Saving Private Ryan"; two veterans of the fabled 1st Infantry Division, including one who may have been the first member of the division to set foot on Omaha Beach; a dental surgeon in the 4th Infantry Division who landed on Utah Beach and was wounded at St. Lo; a battalion surgeon who ran the 10th Armored Division aid station during the siege of Bastogne; a Tin Can Sailor from the crew of the USS Butler; the Ranger who almost singlehandedly sabotaged four large coastal guns during the battle for Pointe du Hoc; a paratrooper who landed in the water and joined the Rangers in scaling the Pointe; two members of the 294th Combat Engineer Battalion who were aboard the troop ship Susan B. Anthony, which struck a mine and sank in the English Channel; and an 82nd Airborne Division sergeant who who went into Normandy on a glider that crashed.

The D-Day Dozen: Conversations With Veterans of D-Day, the Huertgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge

"I had two kills and one probable. ... The second one, we always flew in different boxes. You'd have a high box, a middle box and a lower box. The lower box was kind of a Purple Heart box. The second one, we were in the low box, and the [fighter] kind of circled. I lost track of it, and it came up from underneath and made a 90-degree turn and started firing. Of course my rapid fire I think got him, but he just, just a flash of light, that's all, I couldn't tell, I blew it up. But ... after that happened, I said a little prayer, God bless the guy, he was in the war just like I was, fighting for his country, and I felt sorry for what happened. It was either him or me. Or us." John Sweren, tail gunner, flew 58 missions in a B-26 before his plane was shot down. The tail section broke apart from the rest of the plane, with him in it. Three of the six crew members were killed. John became a prisoner of war and endured the harsh conditions at Stalag Luft IV, and the even harsher conditions of the long march west across Germany near the end of the war. Oral historian Aaron Elson interviewed John over the course of two days in 2010, after the French historian Christian Levaufre brought artifacts from the remains of John's plane to the United States to present to family members of its crew. During the Great Depression, John grew up on a farm with 3,000 chickens. He felt so guilty about taking a hearty meal to school that he would go off in a corner to eat while many of the other children ate hardtack. One day he gave half of his sandwich to a friend, and the friend asked if it would be all right for him to take it home to share with his family. John's story will at times bring a tear to your eye, and at other times a smile to your face. Sometimes it will do both simultaneously. John Sweren passed away on Oct. 28, 2011. He was 89 years old. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Merry Christmas in July: An oral history interview with B-26 tail gunner John Sweren

Bob "Big Andy" Anderson, a farmboy from Prophetstown, Illinois, was drafted into the horse cavalry in 1941. In 1943 the 11th Cavalry was mechanized as part of the fledgling 10th Armored Division. The independent 712th Tank Battalion was broken out of the 10th and spent most of the war in Europe attached to the 90th "Texas-Oklahoma" Division. A tank driver, Big Andy spent 11 months in combat from Normandy, through the Battle of the Bulge, the Siegfried Line, across Germany and into Czechoslovakia. He earned three Bronze Stars and had 162 points, and thought it was a joke when an officer asked him if he wanted to go home. He said sure and was told to be ready in 15 minutes. This oral history interview, conducted at Big Andy's home in 1992, paints a portrait of combat rarely seen in documentaries and gives a glimpse into the day to day life of a tank driver, on whose skill not only the lives of his crew but the lives of the infantry to which they were attached depended.

Big Andy: A 712th Tank Battalion Interview

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