70th Infantry Division Association January, 1986

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Among my souvenirs: 1 AirplaneLots of Gls captured German bunkers, machineguns , armored cars and even tanks. Butdarn few ever captured a Nazi airplane. HowardOverton, Co. D, 276 is one of those rareones."In the closing days of the war we were atthe airfield at Aschaffenburg in Germany.Suddenly a huge Heinkel bomber landed on thestrip. The crew had heard of Ike' s guarantee ofsafe passage and flew to this strip from Denmark. They had previously been stationed herebefore the 7th Army swept through the area andforced them back."Howard joined the 70th at Epinal and thenserved with the 3rd Division. He's been retireda couple of years after 34 years with AmericanAirlines as a quality control inspector.With his wife, the former Olive Holdeman ofKansas, he has two daughters and a grandchild.He' s a 32nd degree Mason in Tulsa, Oklahoma.Who's WhatThe last retreat sounded for RonaldKellogg, 270th Eng., in Fremont, ebraska, in April. He died at the age of 63after a long battle against emphysema. Hefounded Kelly Klosures Inc. , a maker offiberglass enclosures to protect unfinishedconstruction jobs against the weather. Heretired last year as company president andbecame chairman of the board.As a charter member of Fremont Foundation,he started the renovation and preservationof the city's 87-year-old operahouse.He leaves his wife, Orleatha; a son anddaughter; his mother and four grandchildren.Emerson Myers, Btty B, Co. I,882nd FA Bn, also of Fremont, sendsalong the sad news.*The USS West Point took the 275th and276th from Camp Myles Standish to Marseillesin 1944. The crew of that gallantship is having its reunion at Charleston,South Carolina this summer. They arereprinting a history of the ship that firstappeared five years ago and was soon soldout. The price is $2 and may be orderedfrom John E. Daniel, sec-trez of the crew,3728 South Fuller,. Independence, Missouri64052. History buffs - and WestPoint passengers - take note.A national columnist*he is now. our boyTed Heck, Co. K, 275th. SyndicatedWriters Group has announced that it wassupplying Ted's weekly column on skiing.He'd never seen those wooden contraptionsuntil July, '45. He was on occupationduty in Germany. "We were playingsoftball in Oberammergau,'' he recalls,"when somebody said 'Let's goskiing.' It was summertime. We took theA no-K-ration lunchBy Wade JohnsonCo. A, 275thRay Ireland, Sam Gann and I recentlyenjoyed lunch together in an entirely differentsituation as compared to the last time we weretogether. The menu did not include either CorK rations. We first met at the Induction Center.trained and went to Europe together and wereassigned to the same replacement center inFrance. Sam and Ray were the only ones lknew at the center.On February 20. 1945 I was sent on a patrolwith my platoon of Co. A 275th to knock out aGerman pillbox in the Spicheren Forest nearSaarbrucken. At day break the next morningwe were surrounded by the German infantrysupported by seven German tanks. l was10wounded, captured and wounded twice moreby burp gun fire. The 70th Div. HQ Co.received word that we were being wiped out butgot "pinned down" and were delayed. Laterthat afternoon they recaptured that hill.After things quietened down, I recognizedRay and Sam and spoke to them. Their captainasked, " Do you know that boy?" After theyreplied, ·'yes," he instructed them to take meto the ambulance. They got a German litter outof the pillbox and carried all 175 pounds of methrough dense, evergreen forest over very hillyterrain requiring two or three hours. Theyhelped the driver place me in the upper left sideof the ambulance and before leaving they reassuredme that I would soon be heading for thered hills of North Carolina and that we wouldget together again. Ray and I visited shortlyThe story of the bomber capture ran in the"Trailblazer" of January, ' 84 . " I had thereasked for news about our company commander,then Capt. Bernard Reardon. By ahappy coincidence, after I read that account, Iturned to the new members list and , surprise!,there was Reardon's name, listed as Col. Ret. Iwrote immediately and got a fast reply."Two days later I received a phone call fromChuck Collins of Kansas City , former motorcorporal of Co. D, 276. He chatted for 45minutes. He was one of the airplane captors andhad just joined the Association. He said he'dtold the story of the capture many times but wasnever believed. I told him , 'Just show 'em the'Trailblazer' as proof."'train to Zugspitze, rented some skis andwent out into the snow in our uniforms, nofancy ski outfits. From then on l washooked." He's been a world-class skiersince that day.bourg, the Bronze Star for capturing aGerman squad in Etzling, armed only withhis pistol; the ClB and the Air Medal forimparting vital information ground-to-airduring the battle of Spicheren.after our discharges and have continued tocommunicate over the years but we could notlocate Sam.We used the telephone directories, post officesand officers of family reunions trying tolocate him. Finally after 38'/2 years l locatedhim through a friend who was a business associateof Sam's brother. I immediately visitedhim.Ray is a semi-retired farmer in Yadkinvilleand enjoys his golf game. Sam was a foremanfor a construction company; however, abouttwo years ago he was injured on the job and hadto take disability retirement. l retired June 30 oflast year from theN .C. Agricultural ExtensionService.After our delicious lunch we decided not towait 40 years before we meet again.70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER
Axe-head ArchivesThe "Milwaukee Journal" reproduced itsfront page of May 7, 1945 on the same day 40years later. In a dispatch announcing executionof provisions of the surrender of Germany, itwas noted that the 1st, 2nd, 97th, 90th, 5th,26th, 65th, 71 st, 80th , 45th and 70th Divisionswere in the line.Only three cities were still held by the Nazisas the war ended: Breslau, Dresden andChemnitz.Francis Dhein, Batty C, 88n 882 FA, sentalong the memento. He said: "I didn't reallyrecall what day the war had ended until AndyDavenport, as he often does , phoned fromRiver Edge, New Jersey, to Sheboygan, Wisconsinfor a long chat. I can't recall just wherewe were when the war ended, isn ' t thatstrange? I know we'd been out of combat forsome time and that we even had a full fieldinspection during that period. There was anorder that we were not allowed to wear thoseknit caps without our helmets. Our gunnercorporal, a rather excitable fellow, was soangry that he soaked his cap in gasoline and setfire to it. "That order was one of Gen. Patton's ridiculousedicts that soldiers, even in combat, had tobe dressed as for a parade. I saw artillerymendigging in 155s-the equivalent of digging abasement for a fair-sized house-while wearingneckties. Yet Patton-not one of my favoritepeople , obviously-wore non-regulationivory-handled pistols." A truck in which I was riding during thejump-off at Saarbrucken in March 19. 1945 ,ran over two land mines . My friends AndrewHogg and George Fetter were killed, " recallsEdward Lazar, radio operator with 570th SignalCo., until his medical discharge in May,'45.He joined the 70th at Adair after basic trainingat Camp Roberts, California. A year earlierhe had married Ida Rifkin in Philadelphia andthey have three daughters and I 0 grandchildren.Ed is president of the Ygadov JewishCommunity and of the Philly chapter of theA.L.S. Foundation." A book that any * foot soldier will appreciate"is the way Sherman Manning, Sv Co. ,276th, describes "The Gentle Infantryman"by William Young Boyd and published by St.Martin's Press , 175 5th Ave., New York, NY." It recounts battles that strongly parallel theones the 70th fought. ''The unusual occupation * of a tipple boss in acoal mining operation is that of Jacob Turnerof Caldwell, West Virginia. A Camp AdairTrailblazer since August, 1943, he later servedwith the HQ Btty , 884th FA. Later he joined ananti-aircraft outfit guarding supply trains . HeJanuary, 1986was discharged in April, 1946. Married to RuthCox of Newell, West Virginia, they have threechildren.*It was up and down for Eldon Foster, of274th's Cannon Co. He was promoted to sergeantwhen he was accepted as an air crewcadet, then reduced in rank, without prejudice,when he didn't make infantry OCS. He joinedthe service a year before Pearl Harbor andserved with artillery units at Fort Rosecrans,California and Ellensburg, Washington. Hethen came with us at Adair. He was dischargedin December, 1945. He and his wife, theformer Berniece have a son and a daughter. Ateacher and administrator for 35 years, Eldon isa member of Phi Delta Kappa, 19th CoastArtillery Assn. , National Education Assn. , andKansas Historical Assn. He lives in Wichita." My only regret is that it took me so long tolearn of the 70th Association," writes J. ~H.Satterlee. '·1 was discharged October II.1945, my ninth wedding anniversary and returnedto my Post Office job. I retired from theservice as assistant postmaster in St. Elmo.Illinois in '71 ."Then I took an 84-hour training course foremergency medical technicians and worked foran ambulance service in Altamont. I retired.EVEN IN GERMANY ...... that damn KP goes on!" So wailedPfc Sammy Gann (left) and Pvt. StanleyMonroe as they peel some good oldYankee spuds for the 1st Bn mess in the75th 275th. This was shot in April, 1945.again, in 1975 and since then have lived thegood life with a lot of traveling ...He was with the 3rd Bn M~dics. "It willinterest our friends of the medical detachmentto learn that Capt. James McKay, battalionsurgeon. retired two years ago. He and his wifeJane are zooming all over the country in their34-foot Airstream.Supporting the 70th * with Sherman tanks andhalftracks in the Rhineland campaign was the14th Armored Division, specifically the 62ndBattalion. They fought with us continously forI 0 days. got a 2-day relief and went right backinto combat. In that short time they sufferedmore casualties than they did at any time intheir long service.Of the Alsatian campaign, a military historianwrites: "Men who were there who "hadseen a lot more of this war and had fought insome of its toughest battles said that this ratedamong the very worst. One oldtimer, a veteranof many famous battles, breathed an oath, 'Iwish I were back at Anzio. ' "Jerry W. Foster, of * Cos. C and A, 275th, isan advertising manager in San Leandro, California.He was in uniform from November,'42 to June, '46 and joined the Trailblazers atAdair in March, 1944. He had been with the78th Division.He's a member of the Advertising Club andthe Commonwealth Club of San Francisco andthe Boy Scouts. A month after he came homehe married Genelle Sooman of Oakland andthey have a daughter, two sons and threegrandchildren.11
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Page 7 and 8: name "Cassidy's Hill" in honor of t
Page 9: After a small counterattack east of
Page 13 and 14: eply to acid tongues that seek to d
Page 15 and 16: FOSTER, David805 Haverhill StreetMi

70th Infantry Division Association January, 1986

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