Bob Levine was an 18 year old infantryman who was wounded, captured, and had a leg amputated by a German doctor in Normandy. Bob's daughter recently posted a photo of Bob and his wife Edith on Facebook with the notation that they both survived Covid-19, and Bob was just been released after two weeks in the hospital. Way to go, Bob! Today's episode is excerpted from my 1999 interview with Bob. For more on Hill 122 check out the nine earlier episodes on the battle.
Saturday, May 30, 2020
Monday, May 25, 2020
Memorial Day: Pine Valley
Memorial Day, 2020. The 712th Tank Battalion monument in the memorial garden at the Patton Museum at Fort Knox has 100 names. The eighth name, going in alphabetical order, is Quentin Bynum, a tank driver who gave my father a lift to the front in Normandy. Quentin, whose nickname was Pine Valley, was a farmboy from Stonefort, Illinois ...
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Paris, Illinois
Russell Loop started out in the horse cavalry, became a driver in D Company of the 712th Tank Battalion and was transferred to C Company as a gunner in a medium Sherman tank just prior to the Battle of the Bulge. In this interview, he shares his experiences in 11 months of combat.
Saturday, May 9, 2020
This episode is personal
My father, Lieutenant Maurice Elson, joined the 712th Tank Battalion in July of 1944. He was wounded in Normandy and again in Germany. He died of a heart attack before I began collecting the stories of his unit, but what I learned of his brief time with the battalion launched an avalanche of stories.
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