[cartoonistx]

My dad was in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, the capture of the bridge at Remagen and the liberation of Burgesgarten as a First Div Army Ranger. 2 purple hearts, silver star and bronze star. Almost never spoke of it.

[archy]

My dad was in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, the capture of the bridge at Remagen and the liberation of Burgesgarten as a First Div Army Ranger. 2 purple hearts, silver star and bronze star. Almost never spoke of it.

In late 1966-'67 I was stationed with my first line outfit, the Second battalion of the 70th Armored regiment...which has the interesting distinction of being the oldest and most decorated independent tank battalion in the US Army. [Still is- they did pretty well in Desert Storm and OIF] But in the Spring of 1967, we started getting tourists dropping by out motor pool- guys who had been in the 70th twenty-plus years previously, were in Germany on vacation or business, and stopped by *to see how the old outfit was getting along.* Our battalion commander and sergeant major found out about it, and gave orders that any time one of the old hands dropped by without warning, they were to be immediately escorted to the Old Man's office, where they were invited as guests of honor to eat with us in our mess hall, were given a tour of the barracks and arms room [M14s for the Infantry then, close enough to the M1, and us tankers still used the M1911A1 .45 and M3 *Grease Gun*] and got to tour the motor pool. Though by then we were using the M60 and M60A1 tanks [Patton tanks] they were close enough to the WWII M26 Pershing that they were, again, familiar, and several got photos with them with the 1967 tank that carried the front numbers of their old WWII Sherman. In fact one guy told me what the name was of his old HQ company tank back then, and since I was in the three-tank HQ company tank section, *Hangman* became the new name for our ride. Of course those old guys were civilians, and not trained on the M60, and there were probably a lot of regulations against giving them a ride, or [heaven forbid!] letting them drive. Usually to our washrack, the fuel dump where we filled up, and back to the motor pool. We'd stick a fatigue shirt on one, show him how to use the new tanker's helmet commo switch, and off we'd go, and not once nailed by the MPs.

And a couple of times I'd ask one of them what it was like in the 70th in '44 and '44. Usually the answer was about the people: we took care of each other or real swell guys. So one time I asked a guy [gunner] about the Battle of the Bulge and Bastogne.

Cold, he said. And real busy.