Spring, 1987 - 70th Infantry Division Association

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Seems Like Old Times By Edmund C. Arnold The Breakfast Club that meets at the crack of dawn during 70th Reunions has endorsed a concept by Paul McCoy, G/275 . Among Paul's hobbies is making hooked rugs and hangings in the Trailblazer emblem. As he worked on one that was presented at the Portland Reunion, he saw the representation of Mount Hood in our patch as a symbol of the Vosges Mountains where we fought man and weather. To him the evergreen that stands for our parent 91st (Fir Tree) Division represents the terrible Ardennes Forest and the axe, paying homage to the pioneers who opened the timberlands of Oregon also represents the 70th's trailblazing efforts in combat. The Breakfast Club has a rolling membership, depending on who had the gumption to get up in time for a 6 a.m. "meeting." But the regulars who never missed are George Barten, 2nd Bn HQ/275 , Charlie Pence, B/275, Tom Higley, C/275, and Ed Lane, a member of the current 70th in Michigan, now on detached recruiting service. They solicit your comments on the new symbolism. This is the first chance * we' ve had to run this: "Adeline and I appreciate the many thoughtful and warm holiday wishes you sent us. 70ers are the greatest. " Thus speaks Orville Ellis, immediate past president. It's Hizzoner, the * Mayor now for George Hoger, C/275 . He took over as head man of Bull Shoals, Arkansas on New Year's Day. A unique military * museum is growing in Frankenmuth, Michigan. (That, incidentally, is the town where the " Trailblazer" editor published a weekly newspaper before and after the war). The museum honors veterans of the Wolverine state. Malcolm Muszyuski, KJ276, was invited to display his uniform and medals. "I asked the director if I could include Col. Cheves' book about the battle of Wingen. Although I was in the 276th, I am mighty proud of what the 274th did there as the book recounts . He says that through the good offices of Col. Henry Van Nus II, he has received three medals to which he is entitled. (See page 2) information on how you can get your medals . Our Tech Sergeant Muszyuski also presented to the Michigan museum The Grand Cross of Homage of the Military Order of the Ardennes. Members of the Task Force Herren are eligible for membership. Send a stamped, addressed return envelope to David Laing, PO Box 1, Eden, NY 14057 for information. The basic training that Robert Lambright was given in the 725th Field Artillery stood him in good stead when he was transformed to the 91 st Div. and served in combat for 17 months and 17 days. He earned the European-African Middle East Theater medal with three battle stars and the Bronze Star as well as other medals. We suspect there's a bit of tongue in cheek when he describes his " happiest military experience" as "finding out about the Army dish, hamburger helper on toast. '' He and his wife Edith live in Nederland, Texas where he has retired as from Texaco Chemical. They have one son. Gerald Holder, A/274, * was reading his VFW magazine when he came upon a notice of a reunion of KJ275. He wrote to Tom Axelrod, who kind of honchos that group, and Tom gave him the dope about the Association . Gerry joined immediately. He hopes that someone knows about his foxhole buddy, Bonner Jones. " He came from Shepard, Texas. I have been up there twice (from his home in Sealy, Texas) but was unable to locate him." If anyone has any info, please write to Gerry at Route 3, Box 210, Sealy, TX 77474. We are particularly * happy to welcome-if belatedly-Max M. Magyar into Association membership. For Max was officially in the 70th. "My outfit was the 648 Tank Destroyer Bn, B Co. that was in support of the 70th at Forbach, Spicheren Heights and Saarbrucken. I remember talking with a couple of Trailblazers on a hill overlooking Saarbrucken. In two minutes a German machinegun opened up and damn near got us. I was 18 '/, at that time. "We had half-tracks and towed a 3-inch gun. Later we got M-36s. Our outfit wound up The Ghost Train of the Ozarks .. Not so ghostly after all The Mysterious Ghost Train of Southeast Missouri has been identified. It was Sweet Revenge by Bob Denvers, KJ274. A half-page story in the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" in the late 50s recounted the eerie tale of an invisible locomotive, bell clanging and whistle screaming, that swooped through the hamlet in the deepest night. During WW2 the main line of a railroad ran right through the town. But soon after, the main stem was moved 12 miles away, leaving only a spur to serve the local grain mill. The ghostly train was regarded as the wail of some long-forgotten engineer. The true story, as Bob eventually told it, may be less picturesque. But it is truly satisfying. While we were at Fort Leonard Wood, Bob got caught in a speed trap in this one-horse town. (It was merely exercising 4 a Constitutional right of the Ozarks: Screw the GI!) Not only was he walloped with a heavy fine, Bob was thrown in the pokey over the weekend. Like the proverbial elephant, Bob never forgot. His civilian job was as a salesman for a radio ar.d sound-systems distributor. His route brought him through his unfavorite town every so often. He rigged up his car with two large loudspeakers, pointing fore and aft. He made a record of a very fast-moving steam locomotive. He arranged it to drive through town between 2 and 3 a.m., playing his record at top decibels. The townspeople lost enough sleep and worried enough about ghost trains till Bob figured his debt had been repaid. 70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER
As remembered by BILL COLEMAN K/274 (Almost) All God's Chillun Got Shoes Neiderbrau, France, 1945: While engaged in a fire fight with the Germans in the Neiderbrau Forest, Tom Wewer our Browning automatic gunner who stood about 6 feet, 4 inches tall , weighed around 240 pounds, took a bullet through the upper leg which required a trip to the hospital. After two weeks or so we got word Tom was ready to rejoin the company. I went back to the hospital to pick Tom up , only to find they had lost Tom's shoes, size 14 or so. Tom couldn' t come back barefooted, so he had to remain in the hospital two more weeks while we had shoes flown over from the States. We got 4 pair of shoes, along with an order from Division Headquarters that we were to maintain three spare pair in stock at all times for Tom. Tom was a hell of a good soldier and one of the few men in the Army who could fire a Browning automatic rifle free-hand while standing up. in Passau, Germany, near the Australian and Czech borders. While I had several close calls, I was never wounded. I stayed in Europe 1 '12 years and came home in June of' 46. Our outfit has a reunion every year (I was host in 1985). Our last one was in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and there I heard from Capt. Crocker about the 70th Division. " Margaret Allen of * Buttzville, New Jersey, was in a doctor's waiting room when she riffled through the American Legion magazine. She saw a notice of the Portland Reunion. Her husband John E. Allen had often regaled her and their children with tales of the Trailblazers and had expressed a wish to get together with his old buddies. He never did know that the Association exists for cancer felled him in 1977. If anyone remembers him and his unit, perhaps you 'd like to drop his widow a line at Box 48 , Buttzville, New Jesey 07829. It would be greatly appreciated. He probably would * have preferred it this way. Richard Hardy, Medic/274, died of a heart attack while working in his Redlands, California garden in October. He was a dentist with the 70th and practiced ever since as a civilian. He leaves his wife Betty, two sons and a daughter and six grandchildren. A wonderful memorial * to a wonderful guy . Shirley Meshkes of Bettendorf, Iowa has donated $70 to the 70th Association in memory of her husband John, I st Bn HQ/274. This is to cover dues for veterans who are in a financial squeeze. " John would have liked this," she says, " as he was always helping someone. He cared." John had looked forward to the Philadelphia Reunion but death stepped in just before the event. At least one membership has been paid for by the memorial although, of course, no public notice will be given as to who had such need. But if you know of a case that can thus be helped, just let Alvin Thomas, seck-trez, know about it. " Being a member of * the 70th Division Association was a source of great pride to him. He considered himself lucky to have made such good friends while in the service." So writes Florence Stives as she reports the death of her Spring, 1987 husband William "Casey" Stives, HQ/274. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack on December 1. We've lost a Life Member. * George Elliott, B/884 FA, died in October. With his wife Fern he had been planning on the Portland Reunion. But just weeks before they found out that he had cancer in advanced stages. The funeral was in Liberty, Missouri. Howat:d John, a retired * colonel who had been a 70th Divarty officer in WW2, has died of cancer. He was 80. After the war he was a professor of military science at the University of Nebraska, then was a military attache in Greece. He served as an intelligence officer in the Pentagon just before his retirement in 1954. he was a West Point graduate. It won 't go down * in history. But Robert Hatz, E/275 , remembers vividly when he and his buddies laid down a mortar barrage on what they thought were advancing German troops. (Don't tell anybody: It was jackrabbits they fired on!) He also remembers the pleasures of living in a trailer home in Corvallis when he could get away from Camp Adair. He comes from Milwaukie (that's spelled right because it's Milwaukie, Oregon, right outside of Portland). He served with the 70th from its organization until April, 1946, and then put in three years in the Reserves. He was one of the many ' Blazers who were transferred to the 3rd Division and is You're needed You can brighten a comrade's day. Please do so. Dean SharriH, G/274, needs your cards and letters. Dean suffered a stroke in 1985 and recently had to have a leg removed because of acute diabetes. He was to be moved from a VA hospital to his home as this is written. His wife Audrey says that mail from Trailblazer's is Dean's best medicine. Address your messages to him at 3109 Oakmont Ave., Dayton, Ohio 45429. a member of the associations of both the 3rd and the 70th. He was a production manager for the Sego Corp. in Portland. With his wife Vicky, he has two sons and a daughter and one grandchild. Glenn Huesgen joined * the Trailblazers in Alsace, France in those bitter days of January, 1945. After combat he was transferred to the 3rd Division. He has been a jeweler in Kirkwood , Missouri. He and his wife Leona, have three daughters and five grandchildren. After 40 years separation, * Daniel Moore, H/275 , found his longlost buddy Albert Olson. Dan had a slight stroke last year but is recovering well . He's an Adair Original, joining the 70th in August of '43. His wife is the former Estelle Lambert of Scranton, Pennsylvania. One of their sons (they have two) is an Air Force captain; one of their daughters (they have two) is a registered nurse. And they have eight grandchildren. Hundreds of displaced * persons were rescued from Nazi tyranny by the 70th Division . That Trailblazers also played a part in getting these people back to their homeland is not a wellknown fact. But Stanley Butler, L/276, can attest to that from personal evidence. " Toward the end of the war, he recalls, " I was sent on special duty with 7th Army headquarters to help organize displaced persons . Team No. 105 . We had four officers and six enlisted men and worked out of Frankfurt-am Main and Wiesbaden. We started people along a route back to their native countries. " By the fall of '45 we were disbanded and sent back to our own units . When the 70th was sent back to the States, I was transferred to a Field Artillery battery for a while, then to the 143rd Infantry Division. I was discharged on Christmas Eve of 1945 at Fort Sheridan. He had been wounded and sent to the St. Avoid, France, Evacuation Hqspital. He was then sent to R&R but was called back to active duty when the Battle of the Bulge began. Stan married Marian White at Camp Adair in 1943. They have three sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren. He was a salesman with the Gardner Baking Co . of Madison , Wisconsin and is a Past Governor of the Loyal Order of Moose, Chapter, 1451 . 5
Page 1 and 2: Spring, 1987
Page 3: Seems Like Old Times By Edmund Arno
Page 7 and 8: REIMERS, Clifford H. Rt 1, Box 10 S
Page 9 and 10: s come back even a cook for a while
Page 11 and 12: 275th's Col. McAleer was concerned
Page 13 and 14: "Try to remember that time in Decem
Page 15 and 16: But there was some pimp around who

Spring, 1987 - 70th Infantry Division Association

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