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| Patch with 809th Emblem |
I have written before about Uncle Carl who passed at 93 in May. As a reminder, here is Carl, January 1944, a young soldier training on desert techniques in California prior to departure for Europe. They were uncertain where they would be sent so the tank destroyers were prepared for all terrains and climates. Once I asked him how he ended up in the tank destroyers unit and he would not tell me much, but said he was training men to shoot. He was a sniper and a great shot, a skill developed from boyhood hunting with his father. His skills landed him in the headquarters unit. He never talked to me too much about his war years. There is a story that when he returned he had something from the 809th with the emblem and when I saw it, I started to cry and fuss, the image upset me, well it does look vicious, but it was a bad time on earth. My grandmother would have none of that upsetting me so that emblem was removed from my sight and to be truthful I never remember seeing it, but I remember the story. Later when I was a teenager, Uncle Carl told me he had a necklace set aside for me someday. I forgot all about it but found it stashed with his WWII memorabilia after he passed, a small gold medallion with that 809th logo, marked, "for Patty when she gets older." But, this is about the tank destroyers. I shuffled through the suitcase of documents and photos and memorabilia I have yet to sort, looking for the information.
Wikipedia says that .. "The 809th Tank Destroyer Battalion was a battalion of the United States Army active during the Second World War. The battalion was activated on 18 March 1942, and remained in the United States until November 1944, when it was moved to the United Kingdom. It arrived in France on 20 January 1945, equipped with M18 Hellcat tank destroyers. It was attached to the 8th Armored Division on 9 February, and fought in the crossing of the Roer. On 20 March, it was attached to the 79th Infantry Division, crossing the Rhine on the 27th, and was then attached to the 95th Infantry Division for the fighting around the Ruhr Pocket in April before being returned to the 8th Armoured on 13 April. During this month, it converted to M36 Jackson tank destroyers. In late April it saw action in the Harz Mountains, finishing the war in central Germany." This coincides with many photos from Carl and with a card he once sent his mother from the "Thundering Herd" which was the 8th Armored Division.
Below is a poster that measures 9 inches by 14 inches about the tank destroyers. It is not readable in the photo so I scanned the poster in two parts to share here.
The top part of this poster is:
The bottom of the poster, notice the reference to Oldsmobile, General Motors:
Again courtesy of Wikipedia..."Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory. When it was phased out in 2004, Oldsmobile was the oldest surviving American automobile marque, and one of the oldest in the world, after Daimler and Peugeot. The closing of the Oldsmobile division presaged a larger consolidation of GM brands and discontinuation of models during the company's 2009 bankruptcy reorganization."
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| 1934 Oldsmobile from GM Archives |
It was interesting to be reminded how industry catered to the war effort as did the entire country. But this post is about the tank destroyer battalion. I have a large narrow , 11 inch by 24 inch framed photo from 1942 of the men in the 809th headquarters battalion but I cannot figure how to get it posted other than photographing it in parts. Perhaps the man's uncle is in this photo. The glass is cracked and so this is something I will be having reframed at sometime to hang in the patriotic room. Meantime, my Sepia blog pals may be able to provide some advice, guidance as to how I can capture the photograph to share with the nephew searching for his uncle's story. Evidently his uncle died in 1956 in an accident and was not in touch with the men of the 809th who had their first reunion in 1960 in Chicago; I was not able to find his name on any of the rosters in Carl's files.
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| 809th Headquarters Battalion, March 1944, Camp Robinson, Arkansas |
The 809th traveled all through Europe. I remember Uncle Carl telling me that they were everywhere which is why he had no desire to ever return. The last item identifies the places where my Uncle went with his battalion; I have his canteen onto which he meticulously and carefully engraved the name of each place beginning with his initial training.
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| Stations of the 809th Headquarters Battalion |
More about this next week or so...... as usual visit the Sepia Saturday Host Site by clicking on the title to this post above. See what others in the international community are sharing this week to coincide or not with Alan's suggested theme.
