Exciting news! My web site, https://www.myfatherstankbattalion.com, is now live with extra information about the episodes and a unit history of the battalion. Today, we meet Bob "Big Andy" Anderson, a tank driver who was awarded three Bronze Stars in 11 months of combat. The drivers in the 712th Tank Battalion were a close-knit community with a special set of skills.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Sunday, June 14, 2020
The Company Commander
Clifford Merrill was the first of four A Company commanders. After recovering from wounds suffered in Normandy, he sat on a tribunal at the Dachau War Crimes trials, helped run a prison compound in the Korean War, and was wounded leading a convoy in Vietnam. To quote A Company veteran Sam Cropanese, "He wasn't afraid of nothin'!"
Saturday, June 6, 2020
The 4th of July on the 6th of June
The 712th Tank Battalion landed in Normandy on June 28, 1944. Twenty-two days earlier the D-Day invasion took place. In 1994, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of that historic day, I interviewed several D-Day veterans. Lou Putnoky was one of them.
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