Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol. 38, No. 11, Ed. 1, July 1985 Page: 22 of 30
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22 JULV1985
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
association. A committee has
been established for the selec-
tion of worthy candidates for
this distinctive award and a
request was published for the
submission of the names of
suitable candidates. No nomi-
nations were received. The dead-
line for present consideration
was July 1st. Obviously it is
now too late to submit recom-
mendations of deserving Hell-
cats for the award at the '86
reunion. However, you are urg-
ed to suggest nominations for
the Blue Ribbon Award at
future reunions.
Buddy Ottenberg, as many of
you know, is a realtor in Palm
Springs, California and is try-
ing to peddle condos in that
exclusive resort. Buddy sent
some brochures describing the
dwellings. They are beautiful
and reasonably priced and
Buddy says that he will forego
his commission for anyone from
Charlie Battery and will extend
some consideration to other Hell-
cats.
Buddy enclosed an article
that appeared in the Palm
Springs Desert Sun regarding
the unveiling of a monument
honoring the U.S. soldiers who
fought in Europe and in North
Africa. The dedication took
place on V.E. Day at a desert
location known as Chiriaco Sum-
mit, the site of the now defunct
Camp Young about 30 miles
east of Indio. The monument is
a low stone pyramid, symbolic
of the triangular patches worn
by troops under General George
S. Patton. The article states
that nearly 300,000 soldiers
were trained in 10 camps spread
over 18,000 square miles of South-
ern California and Arizona and
that Patton trained 60,000 tank
corpsmen and artillerymen at
the Desert Training Center for
7 months in 1942 prior to tak-
ing them to North Africa to
face the Desert Fox, Rommel.
Plans are afoot to establish
the 'General Patton Museum'
at the site and Buddy suggests
that our Hellcat Association
investigate the advisability of
joining the establishment of the
museum and the contribution
of part of our wealth of docu-
ments and memorabilia. Copies
of the article were sent to sev-
eral influential members of our
association for consideration.
As some of Charlie Battery
and especially those of the Phi-
ladelphia area (there were 6 of
us directly from the city) know,
Buddy operated a night club in
downtown Philly. Eddie Cotter
and his wife visited us in the
early 50's and, of course, we
went into town to see Buddy
and to freeload on our former
comrade-in-arms. The principal
attraction at Buddy's club was
Julie Gibson. Julie was an
absolute doll, a gorgeous
woman, and Jack Boyle has a
poster to prove it. As I learned
today, Jack had the poster.
Somehow his bosom buddy,
Eddie Cotter, latched onto it. I
have spoken to a number of my
contemporary Philadelphians
and they are unanimous in
agreeing that Julie was the best
of her time. Incidentally she
also had a beautiful voice.
Buddy is still in touch with
Julie. She lives across the bay
from Las Vegas on the coast,
Atlantic City. I spoke with her
on the phone some time ago.
unfortunately she was commit-
ted and could not join us.
Leo Weigel called on the 17th
of May and we chatted for at
least 15 minutes. Ordette and
Jewel Higgins had visited the
Weigels and had departed to
proceed on their tour of the land
only moments earlier. While
together the Weigels and the
Higgins had spoken with Fran-
cis and Rita Beckman who live
down the road a piece - about 40
miles.
Leo has a congenital heart
defect and is retired on that
account. Many years ago his
physician predicted Leo's dem-
ise in the not too distant future.
Leo has now exceeded that life
expectancy by about 5 years.
The heart problem is hereditary
in the Weigel clan. The Weigels
have a 36 year old son in Cali-
fornia who required a 7 by-pass
heart operation. The son travel-
led to Milwaukee to one of the
few (if not the only one) sur-
geons who perform such opera-
tions, and who has had patients
from as far away as Germany;
Russia and Pakistan.
Some time ago Leo had writ-
ten George Moss, the then edi-
tor of the Hellcat News and
requested a Hellcat patch.
George obligingly published ,
Leo's request and the response
was overwhelming. Leo recalls
that one of the donors was Joe
Mielnik, unit rep of the 495th,
and Leo wishes again to thank
George and Joe and the many
others who were so considerate.
Hellcat patches are scarce and
in demand. Should anyone de-
sire one, Leo is the man to
contact.
Vera Weigel has been actively
engaged in the field of educa-
tion for all her adult life and
has travelled from Boston to
California in its pursuit. Vera
is now involved in computers.
Leo says that she will retire in
'86 but that she will always be
avid for knowledge.
Leo is active in the VFW and
in the American Legion, and
indication that his days in uni-
form are a large part of his life.
He is also an angler and claims
to have landed a record bass in
Nebraska. Leo has always been
interested in machinery and
during a lull in the exchange of
artillery with the enemy, man-
aged to resuscitate one of the
several motorcycles the battery
had liberated in Lauterbach.
After his return to his native
Kansas Leo returned to the
family garage and work shop.
In addition to vehicles of all
kinds, the Weigel Brothers re-
paired farm machinery and air
conditioning. Last September a
ladder on which he was perched
slipped and Leo damaged his
left arm so badly that he is vir-
tually one-handed. Leo hates to
ride in autos and when he must
travel, does so by plane. We
hope that you and Vera will fly
to Orlando in September, Leo.
AN ALERT TO CHARLIE
BATTERY.
Be forewarned. We have been
challenged.
Today, Saturday, June 8, we
received word that our comrade
of Baker Battery, Mel Farrand,
has accepted the wager of a
fifth of V.O. that Baker would
have more men at Orlando than
Charlie.
Our Baker Battery Buddy
thinks that we do not have a
Chinaman's Chance unless we
use political tactics. He then
immediately adds an ultimatum
to his Baker comrades to get
their 'Butts' to Orlando or find
themselves on K.P. He capital-
ized 'Butts', possibly because
they are so huge. Apropos the
use of political tactics, he has
delegated to Joe Boland the
task of bringing the Pennsyl-
vania clan, to Sarles the boys
from New York, the Western
contingent to Delgado, Ward is
to round up the cowboys, and
Walt Johnston is ordered to
canvass the Southeast. It just
occurred to me that by publish-
ing the above we are actually
aiding Mel's cause.
Our good buddy from the hin-
terlands does not know what
the initials V.O. stand for. 'Very
Ordinary' booze?, he inquires.
Possibly the liquor merchants
have not penetrated the back-
woods. Perhaps the denizens of
that region have continued the
practice so prevalent in the Pro-
hibition Era of operating their
own stills and using whatever
raw materials are endemic to
the region. Could it be that
those cow chip (Wisconsin
Frisbees) tossers have found a
new use for their most abund-
ant resource and are ferment-
ing and distilling the end pro-
duct of the dairy industry. Could
the letters 'V.O.' then perhaps
to them mean 'Vila and Obnox-
ious' or 'Very Odoriferous'?
During a science class the
teacher questioned our hero con-
cerning agronomy. Several
times in his explanation Mel
used the word 'Manure'. The
teacher chided him and said
that instead of that word he
should substitute 'fertilizer',
whereupon he replied that it
took him 10 years to learn to
say 'manure'.
In a friendlier vein Mel re-
ported that Marion and Han-
nah Davenport visited him and
Marie and naturally added to
the compost pile. Mel is still
interested in locating Vince
Huysman. It seems to me that
one of the stalwarts of Charlie
Battery, Elmer Kjellberg, had
some info about Vince. If you
do, Elmer, let me know. The
locating of Vince might possi-
bly alleviate the pain of the loss
of a jug of V.O. to our comrade.
And Mel, don't forget to bring
along a bottle of V.O. if you
cannot find it in Wisconsin, it
will be available in Florida.
SO, LET'S GO, CHARLIE
BATTERY.
Baker was always a pushover
at softball, volleyball and beer-
guzzling and should present no
problem at the Reunion. Re-
member the RAM and Charlie
Battery's marching Song - Hut,
2, 3, 4. C Battery is the best bat-
tery. The best battery is C Bat-
tery. Hut, 2, 3, 4.
Auf Wiedersehen in Orlando,
Mel and Marie.
The Americana Dutch Resort
Hotel will provide a meeting
room or hall for use as a div-
ision Hospitality Room. Pre-
sumably the room will be large
enough to accomodate the div-
ision and each unit will be
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Twelfth Armored Division Association (U.S.). Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol. 38, No. 11, Ed. 1, July 1985, newspaper, July 1985; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth410460/m1/22/?q=%22~1%22~1: 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.