JOHN KOEHNE -- MISSION COMPLETE

B-17 pilot, 1^st LT John Koehne, probably had a hunch the mission of April 2, 1944, would be different.  Over his combat missions to date, he had generally flown as co-pilot.  On this mission, a less experienced replacement pilot would co-pilot Ole Mose -- Koehne would pilot.

JOHN KOEHNE -- 2013 AT PENNYBYRN

Targeting a Nazi ball bearing plant and aircraft manufacturing facilities in Austria, over 500 heavy bombers rose at daybreak from the Southern tip of Italy.  According to briefing instructions, it was the 15^th Air Force’s largest mission to date.  Koehne knew from past experience, this would be a long, dangerous flight -- to bomb a fiercely defended target.  That the crews typically received double credit for missions of this sort was of little consolation.

LT JOHN KOEHNE & FAMILY 

Ole Mose was one of 19 heavy bombers that went down during ferocious aerial firefights over the target.  Many others went missing in action.

Late in the summer of 2013, from his home in Pennybyrn at Maryfield, 93-year old Koehne reminisced, “Over the target, four anti-aircraft shells exploded very close to us.  I realized we were in trouble, control cables were cut, one engine gone, and gaping holes appeared in the wings.”

We had to drop out of the formation and German fighter planes swarmed all over us.  I put it on auto pilot and went aft to inspect the ship, only to find it on fire.  I immediately ordered the crew to jump.  The entire crew made it out safely, but I had to go back to the cockpit to get my parachute.”

With his parachute on, Koehne could not clear the damaged bomb door.  “I jumped out with the parachute under my arms.  The main parachute would not open, but an auxiliary chute opened just seconds before I hit the ground!”

Due to his rapid, but unplanned descent, Koehne said, “I was the last man to jump, but the first one to hit the ground!” 

German soldiers picked up the downed airmen for interrogation and imprisonment.  Several crew members were wounded.  One died from his injuries within hours.  “He was bleeding heavily, I knew he was in bad shape.  Both Austrian farmers and German soldiers tried to care for him, but it was too late,” recalled Koehne.

Survivors of the Ole Mose crew spent the rest of the war as POWs.  After his discharge, Koehne joined the Air National Guard in St. Louis, his hometown.  Mostly through night classes, he earned a degree in economics and business administration from St. Louis University, graduating cum laude in 1955.

He became a contracting officer with McDonnell Aircraft.  His favorite McDonnell recollection was negotiating a billion dollar contract with Ross Perot.  After contractual work with the Navy in Washington, D.C., Koehne came to the Triad to work with AT & T.

He was caregiver for his wife for seven years, until she died in 1997.  They had five children.  At Immaculate Heart of Mary in High Point, he became president of the Young at Hearts group.  In 1999, he married Julia, also a Young at Heart member. 

Surely, the Young at Hearts aren’t into hazing, but Koehne has bungee jumping in his background – with filming by his wife as proof.  He explained, “It was free for me, because of my age.” 

Known as “Big Jim” in his younger days, Koehne was wheel-chair bound and in failing health at the time of our visit.  He was noticeably blessed with careful attention from his wife and other caring attendants.  Typical of so many of his generation, he was proud to have served his country and felt blessed to have lived 93 years. 

 

Koehne passed away on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 2013.  According to his obituary, he died with a cross around his neck, his wife holding one hand, his rosary in the other, and the American flag draped over his legs. 

 

An unusual looking mechanical device hung on a wall of the Koehne home.  The unusualness went away after a bit of Internet sleuthing about Ole Mose.

RECOVERED FRAGMENT OF B-17 "OLE MOSE"

Marty Upchurch, a nephew of Ole Mose’s lone fatality, is the Newsletter Editor of the 99^th Bomb Group Historical Society.   Upchurch has thoroughly researched and documented the B-17’s loss.  He has visited the crash site in Austria and talked with witnesses of the crash as well as with some who cared for his uncle before he died.

Upchurch also brought back miscellaneous pieces from the Ole Mose crash site.  They had been stored in an Austrian farmer’s barn for over 60 years.  One of those parts is an unusual looking mechanical device – it’s the one John Kuehne proudly displayed on the wall of his Pennybryn at Maryfield home.

After Koehne's death, she asked that I come by and pick up the large assortment of WW II caps he left -- most of which were new and had not been worn.  She wished them given to other WW II survivors -- that mission has been completed!

     

COMBAT MISSIONS LISTED IN NEW TESTAMENT

The vest-sized New Testament that Army draftee Elmer Jones was given in 1943 remains in pristine condition.  Perhaps tender loving care and proper storage has extended its life.  Storage was not the case during the New Testament’s earlier years – its owner took it to war with him.  

 

Via the Aviation Cadet program Jones was commissioned as a second lieutenant and navigator in the U.S. Army Air Forces.  Later in World War II he became a radar operator and joined the crew of “Double Trouble,” a B-29 Superfortress bomber operating from Guam.  The B-29 had a second name, “City of Maywood.”  Maywood, Illinois was the aircraft commander’s hometown.

1 LT ELMER JONES, GREENSBORO, NC, AND HIS WW II B-29, "DOUBLE TROUBLE"

On the front flyleaf of Jones’ military issued New Testament he dutifully recorded the names of his mother and father, “Mr. and Mrs. Arthur C. Jones, 1115 Gregory Street, Greensboro, NC.”  This entry was dated 1943. 

In retrospect, Jones could have written, “Another Glenwood boy has gone to war!”  (Glenwood is a small community within Greensboro, NC which sent an inordinate number of their finest young men into the military service -- "Glenwood Boys" were proud of their roots and the community was proud of its "Glenwood Boys.")

On April 24, 1945 Jones made another entry in his New Testament – inscribing on the blank back flyleaf, “Hacithi [Hitachi] Aircraft Factory. Visual. 15 hours 45 minutes.”  Thus was described his first combat mission against Japan.

Subsequent entries described additional bombing raids as well as several radar reconnaissance missions.  Such were the horrific days of forcing Japan’s surrender – and/or identifying potential targets for the atomic bomb if it did not.

Jones made 30 entries in his New Testament, each a descriptive line-listing of one of his B-29 missions.  World War II aviators were forbidden to keep diaries, but Jones may have argued theologically that his were entries of thanksgiving for the crew’s safety and hopefulness that the war was being shortened and lives saved with each mission.

   

The entry of June 25-26, 1945 was particularly striking, “Radar photo Hokkaido, Murotan, Otaru, Sapporo longest flight -- 23 hours.”  Hokkaido is Japan’s northernmost and second largest island.  The other locations are cities on Hokkaido. 

B-29 "DOUBLE TROUBLE" CREW THAT FLEW LONGEST MISSION OF WW II

Interestingly, the Japanese never expected a solo American bomber so far north.  The landing lights were even turned on at Sapporo, supposing the “Double Trouble” was a friendly incoming aircraft.

Just one line in Jones’ Bible, but the June 25-26 mission is recognized as the longest non-stop combat mission of World War II – 4,650 miles in 23 hours.  For this mission, he was awarded one of his two Distinguished Flying Crosses and became part of North Carolina’s contribution to aviation history.

Literary license may have been taken after a September, 1945 mission when Jones recorded his 30^th and final mission, “Tokyo buzz job.  Power show, 16 hours, 21 minutes.”  This entry was arguably an understatement.  It represented participation in the massive spectacle of air power over USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay after the surrender ceremonies were signed ending World War II.

The last page of Jones’ New Testament contained words of advice from The Gideons International organization, “Look up your chaplain at the first opportunity.  Your welfare is his first concern…”   

LT ELMER JONES' WW II NEW TESTAMENT

Sometimes referred to as Service Testaments, the first page of Jones’ New Testament is intriguing.  It is a January 25, 1941 note from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “As Commander-in-Chief I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States.

Throughout the centuries men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel and inspiration.  It is a fountain of strength and now, as always, an aid in attaining the highest aspirations of the human soul.”

Soon after World War II, Jones partnered with his uncle, who owned John Robbins Motor Company, which would later become the local GMC truck dealership.  He bought the business after his uncle died and operated it into the mid-eighties .

Recalled to active duty during the Korean War, Jones remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.  A member of Centenary Methodist Church, Elmer C. Jones passed away April 5, 2014 at the age of 89.  He was the last surviving crew-member of “Double Trouble.”

His son, Colonel Charles A. Jones United States Marine Corps Reserves (Retired) now has his father’s New Testament and obviously considers it a treasured possession.  His reflection, “My father was unable to record his final flight in the New Testament – the flight that is and always will be his longest.”  

PENNSYLVANIANS ENJOY CALLING NORTH CAROLINA HOME

The late night radio message from an east-bound B-17 from Tokyo was stark but calm, “I am 25 minutes from Oahu with 20 minutes of fuel.”  A second message followed a few minutes later, “Now ditching.” 

BILL MCKENZIE WAS ON BRIDGE WATCH WHEN 
A RADIO MESSAGE CHANGED THEIR ROUTE

Within minutes, air traffic controllers directed search planes and rescue ships to the anticipated crash area – an extremely remote area 65 miles west of Honolulu.

Additionally, four Navy destroyers in route to Japan via Pearl Harbor were ordered directly to the crash scene at flank speed.

Aboard the ditched B-17 was a contingent of top officers from General Douglas MacArthur’s Tokyo headquarters, including Ambassador George Atcheson Jr., Chairman of the Allied-Council for Japan.  Hand-cuffed to Atcheson’s wrist was a briefcase filled with sensitive Japan treaty information to be personally delivered to President Harry S. Truman.

The next morning, three survivors were picked up by a Coast Guard cutter after a Marine Corps fighter pilot spotted the wreckage and an overturned raft.  Navy and Coast Guard ships recovered five bodies and another sank during recovery efforts.

 

Among the four bodies never recovered was Ambassador Atcheson, a World War I veteran, 27-year Far East diplomat, and General MacArthur’s top adviser. 

Gunnery Controlman Bill McKenzie was standing bridge watch aboard the USS McKean, one of the four destroyers mentioned earlier.

USS MCKEAN DD-784

 “We were looking forward to a liberty call in Hawaii when ordered to bypass the Islands and go directly to the crash scene.  We searched for three days and nights, with specific orders to watch for a survivor or body with briefcase containing highly confidential documents.” 

McKenzie entered the Navy in June, 1946 after high school graduation in McKeesport, PA.  (McKenzie, from McKeesport, aboard the McKean, has to be a linguistic analogy of mention!)  “After the B-17 crash diversion, the remainder of my enlistment was spent on occupation duty out of Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan.  The Japanese people were very nice to us – any problems were brought on by our own troops.”

GUNNERY CONTROLMAN BILL MCKENZIE 
ENJOYS LIGHTER MOMENT AT SEA

A former high school classmate invited McKenzie to Tokyo, “We met accidently on a train.  He was an Army draftsman in the Supreme Commander’s Headquarters in the Dai-Ichi Building.  It was a memorable event for me to see General MacArthur in the flesh!”

Following his Navy discharge, McKenzie graduated from Muskingum College (now University), a United Presbyterian school in New Concord, OH.  He later earned a Master’s Degree in finance from University of Pittsburgh.

Realizing I knew less about Muskingum College than they knew about the Mississippi Southern College my wife and I attended, the McKenzies filled me in.  “John Glenn dropped out of Muskingum during World War II to become a Marine Corps aviator – on his way to earning six distinguished flying crosses and becoming the first American to orbit the earth, U.S. Senator, etc.  His dad was a New Concord plumber, and John married a Muskingum coed.  They were faithful in returning for school reunions.”

I deferred mention that Hall of Fame kicker, Ray Guy, came from our school -- punting and orbiting the earth don’t have a lot in common.

After working initially with Gulf Oil Company, Bill McKenzie spent most of his business career with US Steel Corporation, “I primarily did real estate work, which involved heavy travel all over the country.  I slept on business in all but three states!”

McKenzie’s father was a 54-year old school teacher when Bill was born, “He made $60 per month and made me promise: don’t swim in the river; don’t play in the old coal mine; don’t hop freight trains; and don’t marry a school teacher.”

In addition to his livelihood, McKenzie found his life’s mate at US Steel – the former Carol Newcome and Bill McKenzie have been married 57 years.  According to Carol McKenzie, “We have three children -- a son and daughter in the Triad -- another daughter in Texas.  At the moment, all our grandchildren are in Texas – one in high school and three in college.”

The McKenzies are pleasant and enthusiastic folks, but most pleasant and enthusiastic when sharing about their grands, “Our twin grandsons are at Southern Methodist University – one is a kicker on the football team, the other is earning two engineering degrees.  Our other grandson is a Sam Houston State University senior and hopes to become a professional golfer.  Our only granddaughter is a high school junior who is a competitive dancer.

BILL AND CAROL MCKENZIE -- 2017
(UNFORTUNATELY, BILL PASSED AWAY JUST WEEKS AFTER THIS PHOTO)

After two of their three children settled in the Triad, and after extensive travel around the world, it isn’t surprising that the McKenzies found Greensboro in 2007.  They are members of Fellowship Presbyterian Church and relatively new residents at Friends Home Guilford.

        

   

GUILFORDIAN SERVED WITH HEAVY ARTILLERY

Herman “Red” Osborne, at 90, still walks softly, but he doesn’t carry the big stick his 741^st Field Artillery unit carried during World War II.  His hair isn’t as red as it once was, but his eyes are still bright and engaging, especially when recounting his unit’s 227 days of continuous combat. 

Before being drafted in April, 1943, Osborne punched several Guilford tickets – he was born in Glenwood, lived in Colfax for a while, on a Climax tobacco farm after that, and back into Greensboro for work with J. A. Jones Construction Company until Uncle Sam called.

By his own admission, Osborne’s family was different, “In addition to my one brother and one sister, my parents raised one of my first cousins and one boy they took in from off the streets.” 

Osborne also punched several Army tickets – Fort Jackson, Camp Hood, the Tennessee Maneuvers, Camp Forrest, Liverpool, Normandy, and into the war zone. 

HERMAN OSBORNE HELPED CARRY A "BIG STICK"

“We moved 75 miles on September 14, 1944 to come in range of the enemy.  That night we surveyed our site, laid wire, positioned our guns, and at 10:30 fired our first combat round.  We had practiced a lot at Fort Jackson, and the folks in Columbia sometimes complained about the noise our guns made – but we made more noise the night of September 14 than all our practice firing combined,” recalls Osborne.

The standard light artillery piece in World War II was the 105mm howitzer, which had a 4.1 inch projectile.  Next largest piece was the 155mm howitzer, known as “Long Tom,” with a six inch projectile. 

Then there was the 203mm “big stick” of Osborne’s 741^st Field Artillery Battalion, with an eight inch projectile.  According to literature provided by Osborne, “The eight-incher could change battle fortunes in short order.  It was ideal for clearing out concentrations of enemy troops and/or defeating fortified positions.  It was the largest self-propelled artillery piece available to us at the time.”

OSBORNE'S ARTILLERY PEERS ADDED NEW MEANING TO "HEAVY ARTILLERY!"

Typically, a crew of 14 operated each gun, which could fire an average of one 200-pound projectile each minute with a range of over 11 miles.

With the enemy in retreat, the 741^st moved faster and more often.  “On April 25 we moved three times, no sooner than we set up, we took down and moved out,” says Osborne.  Other records show they took six positions in eight days, and on another occasion, moved five times in one week.

Osborne had a moment of doubt when they were ordered to cross the Moselle River on a temporary pontoon bridge, “Our guns weighed 17,000 pounds each – we gave one up for a test, but the bridge worked just fine.”

V-E Day (May 8, 1945) found the 741^st in Augsburg, Germany.  Even though Osborne’s unit had been bombed, shelled, and strafed in their foray from Normandy to Augsburg, they had suffered minimal casualties.  Sadly, one of Osborne’s favorite officers was shot by a German civilian in late April and died on May 5. 

Osborne reflected, “Even after the surrender, German soldiers were hiding out all over the place, we never knew when we would run into one, or what their disposition would be.  One cornered himself in a haystack and would not come out, but others came forward willingly to give themselves up.

We fixed up a German motorcycle retrieved from a lake.  As we rode it around town, several enemy soldiers surrendered to us.  Occupation duty wasn’t all work, Bob Hope and Jack Benny put on shows for us, plus we visited Munich, Dachau, Oberammergau, Berchtesgaden and Paris.”  

The 741^st spent the first week of August, 1945 on the firing range, ramping up for deployment to the Pacific theater for the invasion of Japan.  Even after V-J Day, the unit remained on occupation duty in Germany, returning to the states on January 6, 1946.  They wore campaign decorations for Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland and Central Europe.

Two corporals from the 741^st wrote, “A History of Charlie Battery,” quite a definitive combat journal.  Besides Osborne’s, the only other copy I could locate is in the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA.  

OSBORNE "WALKS SOFTLY," BUT AS A GREAT AMERICAN

On November 1, 1947, Osborne married Jean Loman.  They are members of Emmanuel Wesleyan Church and have three daughters, one son, eight grands, and nine great-grands.  Osborne worked as a heating and air conditioning technician with Dick and Kirkman for 38 years.

For the record, the two other boys from the Osborne household also served in World War II – Carl Osborne as a B-24 gunner and Tommy Younts as a paratrooper.

RECRUIT TRAINING TAKES DIFFERENT TWISTS

Military stories come in various shades of interest.  The era of service has a lot to do with the shade.  Seeing that Ted Russ’ two years of peace time military service coincided with two of my rather docile four years, I couldn’t fathom his story becoming a best seller.

A sizable segment of the population would beg to differ.

The son of a Fort Bragg barber, Russ graduated from Wake Forest College in 1955 with degrees in general science and education.   He was drafted into the Army the following year.

After basic and advanced training at Fort Hood, Texas, Russ deployed to Germany.  Perhaps in recognition of his college background, he traveled from base to base as a chemical, biological and radiological inspector/instructor in the Chemical Corps of the 2^nd Armored Division.

His overseas deployment completed, Russ returned to Fort Hood where he instructed new Army inductees.  It is unknown how much an inductee from Tupelo, Mississippi remembered about his two-day training cycle on chemical, biological and radiological warfare, but Russ, his instructor, remembers the two days like yesterday.

While Russ doesn’t recall the names and times of all the soldiers he trained, he particularly remembers training Private Elvis Aaron Presley. 

TED RUSS AND HIS MOST FAMOUS TRAINEE

“We took groups of recruits out in the field for two days at the time.  It seemed that everyone in Texas knew Elvis was in recruit training at Fort Hood.  We knew he would come through our training cycle at some point.  I was quite inquisitive about how training the King of Rock and Roll would work out. 

 

Elvis was a good trainee and well-liked by his Army peers.  He took his celebrity status in stride.  He realized that learning how to use a gas mask was serious business and went through exactly the same training as all other recruits.  He asked no favors or for any special treatment,” Russ recalls.

Surely it was coincidental, but General Colin Powell also met Presley while on active duty.  According to Powell, “I saw him as Elvis Presley, the soldier – not as Elvis Presley the celebrity.”  Right.

RUSS RECALLED ELVIS PRESLEY COPED WELL WITH HIS CELEBRITY STATUS WHILE IN THE ARMY

Russ would not go so far as to say Presley was a typical Fort Hood doughboy, “His company was the only one that had gasoline-powered lawn mowers.  All other companies had push mowers – I always thought Elvis funded the gasoline mowers and the government funded the pushers.

Elvis did not perform for the public during his Army service, but his handlers released enough films and records to keep his fans in a frenzy.  Anytime his fans could get on base, long lines developed at the slightest hint of an Elvis sighting.”

Russ has several photos of Presley.  His personal favorite may be the photo of Russ and Presley together, “When we show that photo to friends, my wife always tells everyone that I am the good-looking one.”

About the time Presley deployed to Germany, Russ deployed to civilian life and returned to North Carolina, “Since I enjoyed teaching and instructing so much in the Army, I got a job teaching high school chemistry, biology and physics in Camden County, making $331 per month.”

Russ may have enjoyed teaching soldiers, but found that high school teaching wasn’t his forte, “I quit teaching and went to work for Breon Laboratories in pharmaceutical sales for ten years.”

After a stint with Key Homes in Greensboro, Russ formed Russ Realty Company in the early 1970s.  He retired in 2005.

Russ was a Baptist, but married a Methodist.  He readily admits his wife was the better salesperson – they are long-time members of West Market Street United Methodist Church. 

He and Carolyn Alston, whom he says was an avid Elvis Presley fan, were married in the Greensboro College Chapel on June 10, 1961.  They have four children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. 

TED RUSS HAD A SMILE AND HANDSHAKE FOR EVERYONE 

While Russ has carefully preserved his 56-year old photos of Elvis Presley, I was surprised he had never attended an Elvis Presley concert – or visited Graceland, “I always wanted to do both, but just never got around to it,” he says. 

Disclosure – I married an Elvis fan who owned his every record.  We have been to Graceland.  We also enjoyed Elvis’ Greensboro Coliseum concert of April 21, 1977. 

Elvis Aaron Presley died August 17, 1977.  In addition to being a good soldier, he was the best-selling recording artist of all time.

VETERAN'S STORY HAS UNUSUAL TWISTS

Among the military veterans I’ve written about, Hank Brodt may have the shortest length of service – only two years active, three years reserve. On the other hand, the months and years he spent overseas during World War II compare most favorably with other veterans. 

Hank Brodt spent all of them overseas.   

 

More precisely, his wartime experience includes time in five German concentration camps, a three-day death march without food or water, and one forced labor camp. 

In addition to being a U.S. Army veteran, Hank Brodt is a Holocaust survivor.

Post-war, he testified at trials of accused Nazi war criminals at Dachau and Bremerhaven.

Liberated by the U.S. Army’s 80^th Infantry Division on May 6, 1945, Brodt did kitchen patrol and odd jobs in the motor pool for Army occupation forces, “There wasn’t much pay involved, but I met many fine soldiers who befriended me – I learned a lot.”

After rotating back to the States, one of those soldiers sent Brodt paperwork towards visiting the United States and becoming a citizen.  Just four years after being liberated from a concentration camp, 24-year old Polish-born Hank Brodt immigrated to America.

While living in Chicago in 1950, he was drafted into the Army during the build-up for the Korean War.  Ironically, Brodt was sent to Germany, where he worked in the motor pool.

“After being discharged, I settled in New Jersey, married in 1952, and two beautiful daughters were born to my wife and me.  At this time, I have one grandson, one granddaughter, and two grand-Shelties!”

Brodt was under a year old when his father died.  As a child, he became the breadwinner for his mother.  He never saw her again after they were separated by the Germans in 1943. 

He never saw his brother again after he was drafted into the Russian Army.  “After years of searching, I did not find my brother but did eventually locate his widow.  She led me to my brother’s grave in Israel,” says Brodt.  Hank Brodt’s first wife died in 1978 and he remained single for over 20 years.

ADA AND HANK BRODT STAY BUSY WITH SPEAKING EVENTS

In 2000 Brodt married again.  Ada Brodt, who had been born in Russia, came to New Jersey in 1997.  Her father was Polish and had been taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans. 

She was college-trained as a construction engineer and worked for the Russian government, “When Gorbachev came into power, I was among a large number of people who lost their jobs and faced severe persecution.  A friend from Richmond, Virginia helped me obtain a guest visa and I later became an American citizen,” she says happily.

The Brodts moved  to High Point in 2005, they also have a home in Sparta.  They are active members of Temple Emanuel in Greensboro.

Brodt, now 90, is in high demand as a speaker and spends much of his time sharing his Holocaust experiences, “I want to tell others for the ones that didn’t make it!”  A retired carpenter, he is well-known and appreciated among Habitat for Humanity volunteers in Greensboro, where he used his carpentry skills many hours when his health was better.

Brodt makes annual excursions to Poland and Israel as part of the International March of the Living, an annual education program which brings individuals from all over the world to study the history of the Holocaust and to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate.

Greensboro businessman Don Freedman has an interesting take on the 2015 excursion.  “My son, Charlie, a high school junior, and I were looking forward to rooming together.  Instead, I was given 89-year old Hank Brodt as my room-mate. I was more than willing to help him with his baggage, but he kept offering to help me first – he is Mr. Energy!

It was an honor and privilege to travel and share rooms with Hank Brodt.  While memories were made that will last a lifetime, the timeliness is stark.  The Holocaust ended 71 years ago – the Hank Brodts of the world are becoming fewer by the day.”  

On May 5, 2016 Fort Bragg’s 18^th Field Artillery Brigade sponsored the Holocaust Days of Remembrance ceremonies – Hank and Ada Brodt were honored guests.

COL. GUY TROY USA (RETIRED) WITH ADA AND HANK BRODT
GUY IS A WW II VETERAN WHO FIRST MET HANK DURING THE WAR TRIALS

Even though he lost his family and suffered through inhumane conditions throughout his youth, “I actually consider myself extremely fortunate, “ Brodt admits. 

The U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates over two million Jews died in German concentration camps.

WWII VETERAN HAS STAYED BUSY FOR 96 YEARS

Some entered World War II feeling they were born to fly.  Others felt born to sail.  Lynn Rachel knew he was born to drive a jeep.  “They made me an ammo carrier at first, but when the opportunity to drive a jeep came up, I jumped all over it!”

GREENSBORO'S LYNN RACHEL SAYS HE WAS BORN TO DRIVE A JEEP

Rachel logged a good number of stateside miles in Army jeeps, but the drive from Normandy to Austria is most memorable – the timeline of his war is marked by jeep events.

“We had to get our jeeps and trucks all fixed up before leaving the States, I must have fixed 40 flats one day!  I shouldn’t have worried, because when we got to England, I never saw so many jeeps – they were all brand spanking new!

We hiked and trained all over England, it seemed, but no one complained – we knew we were headed for the war zone soon.  In short order, I learned to drive my jeep on the wrong side of the road and to always carry a raincoat – it rained almost every day we were there.” 

   

On an LST landing craft headed to Normandy, Rachel learned about sailors, “They got upset because I didn’t tie my jeep down – I got upset because I couldn’t find any ropes or chains.  Fortunately, the seas were calm and my jeep stayed put.”

The Battle of the Bulge was on the horizon when the 99^th Infantry Division made shore.  “We convoyed 200 miles towards Bastogne.  At first, the weather was decent so we were ordered to drive with windshields down and tops off.  The order never changed, even when it rained, and then snowed – I learned that was the Army way! 

RACHEL FOUND DECK OF "RACHEL" GERMAN PLAYING CARDS IN PILLBOX

Major General Walter Lauer was our commanding officer -- he said he knew we could fight, and exhorted us to do it!”

Rachel’s division manned a 22-mile battle front under trying conditions and unfavorable odds, “The Germans stole our uniforms, weapons and even radio frequencies -- and used them all against us.”  The Germans made some advances, but the 99^th Infantry Division held their sector.

With the arrival of better weather and General Patton’s 3^rd Army, Allied forces prevailed.  The march toward Germany began.  Rachel had a marker for that too, “General Lauer stood on the hood of a jeep to tell us we did a good job and that the Germans were on the run.”  

Enemy pillboxes along the Siegfried Line were impressive to Rachel, “They were made of steel and concrete four feet thick, with steel doors like those on ships.”  Even more impressive was a deck of German playing cards he found in one of the pillboxes – engraved, “Rachel.”  He carries a “Rachel” card in his wallet to this day. 

Rachel was up close and personal with the race to the Rhine, “After Bastogne we moved north for a while before being ordered south.  After almost 300 miles we came upon the worst traffic jam I ever saw.”

The 99^th Infantry Division was the first complete division to cross the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.  Ironically, Hitler had ordered the bridge destroyed after German troops withdrew.  The bridge withstood attacks from weaponry of all sorts: mortars, mines, howitzers, rockets, and Luftwaffe bombers.  It collapsed on its own, just days after the last U.S. troops crossed.

ONLY WEST COLUMNS OF BRIDGE AT REMAGEN REMAIN -- MUSEUM UNDERNEATH.  WRITER AND WIFE VISITED SITE DURING RV CARAVAN IN 2000 

“We proceeded up the Ruhr Valley and across Germany, liberating two concentration camps and collecting over 3,000 German prisoners,” recalls Rachel.

“We were just seven miles from Austria when V-E Day was announced.  After the war, a German general said nobody fought harder than the 99^th Infantry Division.”

Before being drafted, Rachel worked at Proximity Mill – he returned to Proximity after the war and retired 40 years later.  Insisting that staying busy keeps you young, Rachel worked in maintenance at Four Seasons Mall for 27 years, retiring again in February, 2017. 

At 96, he lives by his “stay busy” mantra, “I go to the mall and walk four or five days a week.”  The day before I visited, he was busy trimming and mowing his yard.

He married Ruth Manuel in 1946; she died 15 years ago – they had one daughter, four grandchildren, and two great-grand-children.

RACHEL ENJOYS SHARING WW II MEMORIES WITH FRIENDS

Rachel and friends have met for coffee over the past 40 years.  At their bequest, on Rachel’s 95^th birthday, Congressman Mark Walker presented him a flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol, and a letter commemorating his service. 

His friends also submitted a copy of Battle Babies, a book written by General Lauer about the 99^th Infantry Division, to the Virginia Military Institute library -- Rachel has a framed letter of acceptance.