During all the time of each location that I mentioned above, I was continuously practicing the art of transmitting and receiving international Morse code messages. I also learned how to encode and decode messages. I had two code machines - one for encoding and one for decoding. The army had it figured that it would take the enemy 27 hours to break our code so at midnight every night, we would reset our code machines to different encoding and decoding codes.

I stayed at Fort Benning, Georgia from August 1943 to April 1944. During this time, I went with A Group to Camp Stewart, Georgia for anti-aircraft training. In April 1944, we moved to Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts for a week., then moved to Camp Shanks, New York. due to repairs to the Queen Mary.

On June 6, 1944, I boarded the Queen Mary in New York harbor and debarked at Gourock, Scotland on June 13th. Then we went by train to Tidworth Barracks in England which was the former stables for the King's horses. At Tidworth Barracks, we received all of our combat equipment and made ready for combat.         

Into action -
The call came on August 7, 1944. I loaded on a LCT (landing craft tank) and unloaded on Omaha Beach in France. My job as senior radio operator of Combat Command "'A" of 7th A.D. was to send and receive messages to insure that every unit and man in Combat Command "'A" received ammunition, food, equipment and fuel to keep moving.

The 7th A.D. assembled in France then broke out of the beachhead and spearheaded General Patton's army across France.

From August 10, 1944 to August 31, 1944, the 7th A.D. raced some 600 miles across France liberating some 150 towns and villages with a population of over 350,000.  At this time, the 7th Armored Division had traveled so fast that in the town of Verdun and surrounding area, it outstretched the supply lines and ran out of gasoline.

After waiting for 6 days to resupply the Division, it was ordered to turn toward the town of Metz, a town where the Germans had an artillery school located.
The students of the school had every foot of the land zeroed in with artillery. Despite heavy losses, the Division kept moving sometimes inch by inch until September 24 when orders came to move to Holland. The Division moved across Luxemburg and Belgium and was assigned to the First U.S. Army with a mission to open up a corridor to some units of the British Army which had been cut off by the Germans. The 7th A.D. encountered some of the bitterest fighting with fanatic and ruthless Germans that you can imagine. Despite heavy losses and counterattacks, the 7th A.D. accomplished its mission and held steadfast until the British army units under control of British General Dempsey arrived and took control of the area in Holland.

As I mentioned before, my station was the net control station of the Combat Command "A" which consisted of several companies and battalions and attached units. The radio traffic was immense and I, along with my assistants, got very little sleep due to the constant stream of messages that we had to encode and decode and transmit and receive.

After moving out of Holland, the Division spent several days repairing equipment, getting parts and other supplies. Consequently, my station was kept busy securing supplies and replacements.

Then came the Battle of the Bulge --­
On December 16, the Division got orders to move far to the south to the town of St. Vith, Belgium, which was a vital rail and road center and to hold it as long as possible. The stand and battles of 7th A.D. was recognized by General Eisenhower in a letter to General Hasbrouck, commander of the 7th A.D.

After leaving Holland, some of the units were fighting Germans around St. Vith in 12 hours. The Germans could not penetrate our lines at St. Vith and they fought around each side until they cut the Division off. About this time, I transmitted a message which I think

was the most important message that I transmitted during the war. Three German scouts were captured in my area and through interrogation they gave the information that 3 Panzer Divisions were getting ready to attack the 7th AD. positions. I received the message marked urgent - don't take time to encode - send in clear. I sent the message to higher headquarters and in the early morning hours of December 23, higher headquarters gave orders to start retreating. Snow was knee deep and some places had drifts 6 feet high. The ground was frozen which helped the movement of the vehicles. Some of the units had to fight a vicious rear guard action as the Germans had begun their attack. Every piece of artillery we had in the area was brought to fire on the advancing Germans. This action helped the Division to get across the Salm River into a safer area.

The Division had been badly hurt by the loss of many men and tanks and other vehicles in the Battle of St. Vith. The Division was supposed to move into an assembly area and get replacement for men, equipment, and material that was lost in the battle but before the Division got settled the Germans broke through our line again and the 7th AD. was ordered back into action to protect the road center at the town of Manhay. The Germans had already occupied the town. Much artillery was brought to bear on the German positions and they (the Germans) left and never came back. Prisoners said there were not enough men left to carry away the dead.

The 7th AD then had its chance to rest and get men and replacements for what had been lost.

On January 23, one month to the day after the weary warriors were ordered to withdraw from St. Vith, the 7th A.D. fought its way back into the bomb-wrecked town ofSt. Vith. The capture of St. Vith by the 7th AD  marked the virtual demise of the German winter offensive lead by General Von Rundstedt. All along the front, the Germans began to be forced back.

The 7th AD continued on to the Rhine River and was waiting to cross the Remagan Bridge when it fell in the river due to bombing damage. The 33rd Armored Engineers

hastily put a pontoon bridge across the river. The 7th A.D. crossed on the pontoon bridge and assembled in the bridge head on the other side.

On March 26, the 7th AD. went back into action and raced 148 miles in 5 days. During these 5 days, they captured 13,071 prisoners and liberated an untold number of slave laborers and prisoners of war. During these 5 days CCA of the 7th A.D. captured the great Eder Soo Dam which held back the largest water capacity in all of Europe. It had 15 generators that furnished power to the Great Ruhr Valley industrial area. On April 5, the 7th A.D. went back into action capturing several towns in the Ruhr industrial area which was bitterly defended. On April 14, CCA freed 23,000 prisoners, mostly Russian.

The part of the pocket of Germans that had been cut off collapsed when on April 16, a German representative came into the 7th AD. lines wanting to discuss surrender terms. In order to save time in effecting the surrender, Colonel John L. Ryan Sr. of 7th AD went to the enemy corps command post behind enemy lines as a representative of General Hasbrouck. At the corps headquarters, Colonel Ryan told the corps commander that the 7th AD. was poised to attack. He delivered the unconditional surrender terms and gave them 15 minutes to arrive at a decision. Within 7 minutes, the terms were accepted. After the acceptance of the surrender terms, the 7th AD took 20,302 prisoners.

Elements of the 7th AD. continued eastward to the city of Ludwigslust where they met little resistance before the garrison of3,000 troops surrendered.

It was from the city of Ludwigslust that L T William Knolton took his Troop B 87th Reconnaissance Squadron to meet the Russians. The troop spent 24 hours behind enemy lines and at 0925 on May 3, an element of 7th AD. made first contact with the Russians for the Americans and allied army.

On May 3 CCA and CCB drove north from the bridge head across the Elbe River and reached the shorts of the Baltic Sea. On this drive, 51,000 prisoners were captured and we were the first American units to reach this body of water. After reaching the Baltic

seashore, I was chosen to lead the color guard to raise and lower our flag on the shore of the Baltic Sea. It was a thrilling experience to see our flag proudly flying over the waters of the Baltic Sea.

After the surrender, our unit moved back away from the Baltic Sea. I was chosen to lead a guard detail to guard Hitler's yacht as some of the top officers, nurses, and WACs went for a pleasure ride on the Rhine River. We drove along the highway that followed the banks of the Rhine in vehicles With loaded guns. I was in constant touch with command post by radio. Commander General gave my company a holiday for us performing this duty.

And so after reaching the shores of the Baltic Sea, the combat course of the 7th Armored Division came to an end. This course led from Normandy to the Baltic Sea and along this course, the 7th A.D. captured 113,041 German prisoners.

Officially, the war was over in Europe and initial combat record of the 7th A.D. had been made. A glorious record that stretched for 2,260 miles over an embattled trail . . . a trail that led ftom the beaches of Normandy to the Baltic Sea.

And I am proud to have been with the 7th A.D. all of the 2,260 miles as senior radio operator for HQ and HQ Company of CCA S-4. Through the battles of all these countries there were many times when we were living from one eye blink to another due to artillery fire and harassing fire from other enemy guns.

During my army career, I received several campaign medals and a Certificate of Merit for service in France, Belgium and Holland. I was also awarded a Bronze Star medal for Service in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany.

This has been just a tip of the action that I took part in along with the millions of soldiers - some that contributed much more than I did. I would have liked to elaborate on many of the situations that I went through but time would not permit.

Through all of the battles and actions of the 7th AD., I operated the net control station of HQ and HQ Company of CCA S-4 keeping Combat Command A 7th AD supplied with their needs.

I would like to thank you all for letting me share some of my experiences with you. I would like to pay my personal tribute to the ones who lost their lives - the ones that we have gathered here to honor today.

When my service overseas was over, I came back to the United States and was discharged on October 19, 1945 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.

This concludes my presentation. Thanks again for listening.

This is an addition to my Army service that I did not have the - to include in my presentation of my experiences at the Memorial Service on May 24, 2003 at Union Church.

At Camp Polk, Louisiana, the weather forecast came in that a Blue Northerner cold wave was coming in and the 7th AD. was sent out in the forest land to test their ability to withstand very cold and bad weather. The troops were advised to prepare for a very cold night. The temperature went far below 0 degrees that night. I had only two blankets for cover. I dug a hole in the ground and raked enough pine straw to well cover the bottom of the hole and spread one blanket over it and the other blanket over it and then raked enough pine straw to cover it about 18 inches. Then I pitched my pup tent over the hole. When night came, it had begun turning cold. I crawled in between the blankets. It rained, sleeted, and snowed that night. The next morning, my tent was frozen to the ground. I stayed warm and slept through the night. It was so cold that none of our vehicles would start. No one froze to death and we stayed out there 3 days until it warmed up enough for our vehicles to start.

We stayed at Camp Polk until May when we left for Camp Coxcomb, California in the Mojave Desert. It was so hot out there that you could fry eggs in a skillet that was left in the sun during the day and at night the air would come down off the mountains and get real cold. We went through all kinds of maneuvers out there in the desert. I would like to tell about one maneuver that was supposed to happen that never happened.

We got word that a certain part of our division was going to stage a mock attack on my company. At a certain time I had a list of all the call signs and the frequencies that they operated. Before the time came for the attack, I tuned my radio sets to their frequencies and listened to their transmissions until they got nearly ready to start their attack. I then started sending messages to their commander that orders had been changed and fof them to return to their bivouac area.

They immediately started to ask for authentication. In my signal operations instructions I had the challenge and authentication for every message they would want authenticated. We exchanged messages for which I would given them the authentication sign for each message. They turned around and went back to their bivouac area. I have no idea what happened when they found out that all the messages were fake but I can imagine how they felt. Someone in my company laughed and said that is the first time one soldier ever defeated a whole army. I kept quiet and sat back and laughed.

On the troop trains from Louisiana to California and from California to Georgia, I was assigned a suite in a sleeper car and traveled in comfort. On the Queen Mary, I was also assigned a suite on the promenade deck where most of the officers stayed. I was given a button that gave me permission to go anywhere on the ship to deliver messages. It was nice to travel in comfort while most of the 12,000 soldiers were assigned to one area and could not leave except to go to eat.

This was the good part. Now I will mention two of the bad things that happened along the way in my army career. At Fort Benning, Georgia, I was sent to Camp Stewart, Georgia for anti-aircraft training. I was given a lunch to eat on the way back to Fort Benning which contained an orange. We got back late at night and I put the orange in my locker. The next day, we had an inspection and they found the orange in my locker and gave me K.P. duty for a weekend.