Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol. 38, No. 3, Ed. 1, November 1984 Page: 17 of 24
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at Stroudsburg, and they "will" also
go to Orlando.
Also spoke with Dave and Grace
Gordon. The only social event on
this year's calendar for the Gor-
dons is a visit to a sister in
Columbus. The good Doc and
Grace promised to join us at
Stroudsburg and at Orlando.
Tilly and Bunny Julson sent a
note of thanks for the nice Hos-
pitality Room. That is certainly
encouraging, but most of the
credit belongs to Eddie Cotter and
Wally Poydence for the catering
and bartending and to Jack Kurtz
who provided transportation. In
her letter of Aug. 27th, Bunny
wrote that the temperature in
Minot was expected to climb to 100
and in her note of Sept. 11th, she
reported that the thermometer
was down to 53 and that winter
was just around the corner.
Walt Johnson feels sure that all
who attended the reunion had a
good time. Walt and Lou drove a
total of 3446 miles from and to
their home in Roanoke, Va., saw
some beautiful country, stopped at
Abilene, Kan., and enjoyed the
Eisenhower Center. They also
enjoyed meeting their old com-
rades and the bull sessions with
them. Walt sent a photo that is
testimony of a dedicated Hellcat
and is the epitome of the Hellcat
Spirit. It is quite possible that it
did not appear in the October issue
because of the abundance of re-
union material, but we will surely
see it in the near future. (It was in
the October issue - Editor).
Vi Foster flew from Denver to
Pittsburgh with our V.P., Jack
Boyle, next to her and with Eddie
Cotter in the window seat. The
airline offered complimentary
wine prior to take-off. Neither Vi
nor Jack are winos. On the other
hand Eddie has a fondness for the
fermented juice of the grape and
graciously assisted his companions
in disposing of the drink. The
flight attendant was quite attract-
ive and Jack persistently begged
Vi to get him one for Christmas
and preferably that particular one.
When approached, the stewardess
agreeably promised to consider
the offer and Jack was on Cloud
Nine without benefit of the air-
plane. If you know Jack you can
well imagine that the flight was
lively. Vi says that no way would
she sit between our heroes and
therefore maneuvered Jack into
the middle seat. Nevertheless she
thoroughly enjoyed the flight, the
company, and the charming stew-
ardess. The return trip was a
fitting finale to a grand reunion.
Dorothy Panach had read in the
August edition that her picture
had been published in the previous
issue. Dorothy had not seen .the
photo, searched the house unsuc-
cessfully for the July Hellcat
News, and since she could not
recall that any photos of her had
been taken, she was naturally
perplexed. She finally concluded
that they had not received the
July issue. I called Norb Bruem-
mer who obligingly sent her a copy
of the News and at last Dorothy
could see herself with Hellcats and
Hellkittens of the 152nd. Dorothy
has not given us the details of her
trip to Oberammergau and the
Passion Play except that she
enjoyed every moment of it and is
ready to return to Germany. Paul
has been busy remodelling their
son's home, a chore that he
thoroughly enjoys.
At the moment, early October,
Paul and Peg Gosser are in
Switzerland and Bill and Connie
McWorkman are in Germany. Jeff
and Louise Hill returned in July
from a tour of England and
Ireland, and it is quite likely that
Rudy and Ilse Meuser are on their
annual Pilgrimage to Der Vater-
land Vern and Virginia Wolcott
have been traveling extensively
throughout the country and there
was no answer when I called them.
Doubtlessly many more of our
Hellcats and their Hellkittens are
traveling to all corners of the globe
- a globe has corners? Anyone
traveling out of the country could
hardly have picked a better time
from a financial standpoint. The
dollar is at a 12 year high against
most foreign currencies. An excel-
lent meal in the villages around
Stuttgart, including tax and gratu-
ity, can be had for from 3 to 5
dollars. Overnight lodging with 3
meals is available at a country inn
for about $15. How about a reunion
in Heidenheim?
We received a card from Paul
and Peg dated 9/21/84. The pic-
ture is of the main street of the
village of Lungern in central
Switzerland with a church at the
end of the street and the Alps in
the background. The Gossers es-
tablished their base in the village
and made daily trips around the
country, mostly by train. Paul
wrote, "Our town is a gem. Right
in the middle of breathtaking
scenery." Then on Sept. 29 we
received Paul's letter of the 23rd.
Before their departure the Gos-
November 1984
HELLCAT NEWS
Page 17
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sers boned up on the German
language and Paul said that they
had enough confidence to go
anywhere on the Swiss trains. At
10 on the morning of the 23rd they
were scheduled to leave on a
3-hour train trip via Interlaken
and Spiez to Brig through the
Lotschental, one of the most scenic
valleys in Switzerland. At their
destination a celebration was sche-
duled with a parade of the natives
in local costumes. On the following
day they had planned to rent bikes
and to explore the trails around
the local lakes.
Paul commented on the report
in the September Hellcat News
that Able Battery fired the first
round of the Hellcat Division in
combat and that Able was referred
to as the 'senior battery'. Paul was
Exec, of Able at the time and
distinctly remembers the details.
Somebody at Div., Hqs. decided
that the artillery should fire the
first round in the division. Since
Col. Hartman was the senior Arty.
Bn. commander, the 493rd became
the senior Bn. Bill Wilson was the
ranking 493rd Battery Comman-
der and consequently Able was the
senior battery. Sgt. Massey was
the ranking section chief and his
gun was therefore selected to fire
the first round.
As Paul recalls events, the
493rd was in support of elements
of the 44th Division. Able Battery
sat around from noon to about 4
p.m. awaiting orders to fire the
historical first round. Our obser-
ver could not locate a suitable
target. Finally, late in the after-
noon, Bn. Hqs. computed the data
to drop a round in the middle of a
nearby town, Montbronn. The
memorable round was fired but
since it was unobserved, no one
knew the result. After the round
was fired, Capt. Wilson retrieved
the empty shellcase with the
observation, "someday this will be
a valuable souvenir". He gave it to
his driver, Dave Allison, for safe-
keeping. Allison put it under the
seat of his jeep and presumably
kept it there for the duration.
However, Dave had to abandon his
jeep at Herrlisheim and recovered
it a day or two later and Paul
wonders if everything was still in
the jeep. Then in May, 1945 when
the war was over, Wilson decided
to have the shell case suitably
engraved and presented it to
General Allen. Gosser surmises
that the shell case could still be in
the possession of the general's
family and if so, it would be
appropriate to have it presented to
and displayed in the Fort Camp-
bell Museum. Paul commented
further that the fellows in the
battery accused Allison of losing
the shell case and replacing it
several times. Then Paul adds.
"Who knows". One shell case is as
good as another, as long as no one
knows.
Bill Arbuckle and I were in
Montbronn that day and were
being indoctrinated into the sub-
tleties of forward observing by an
F.O. of the 26th Division. We had
trudged about 6 miles with the
infantry from Volksberg to Mont-
bronn which we approached un-
challenged until we reached the
out skirts where the Krauts had
machine guns, mortars and a
couple of half-tracks. The F.O. cal-
led for fire on the tracks and disper-
sed them. I never saw a more popu-
lar man. F.O.'s with this outfit were
like gods, second in command and
always consulted. As we were
basking in the reflected glory of
the F.O. an artillery shell suddenly
burst overhead. It snapped a wire
that struck Arbuckle. Expecting a
barrage we naturally took cover.
But no more came. Could it have
been that historic unobserved first
round fired by Able Battery. If so,
believe me, it was not unobserved.
Sorry, Paul. Mission Not Accomp-
lished.
Keith and Loretta Heinrich are
back in the lower 48 after their
yearly 5 month visit with their
daughter in Alaska. The Heinrichs
travel south to balmy Minnesota to
escape the rigorous Alaskan win-
ters. Keith was preparing to leave
on a hunting expedition in Wyo-
ming in early October.
Mel and Marie Farrand re-
turned at the end of September
from a trip to Tennessee. While
there they visited Marion and
Hannah Davenport and found
Marion sitting under a tree and
meditating. He was staring at his
lawnmower and wondering how he
could get it to cut the grass without
his help. On his lap was the Hellcat
News. The leaves are changing in
Wisconsin and Mel said that the
trees are beautiful. By now those
leaves have fallen and have to be
harvested. Hardrock promised to
get after the Downeasters and
other Yankees to go to Orlando.
Paul Johnson's address is RR#3,
Box 135, Gorham, ME 04035, Mel.
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Twelfth Armored Division Association (U.S.). Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol. 38, No. 3, Ed. 1, November 1984, newspaper, November 1984; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth410048/m1/17/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum.