Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
, FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS— Wadneqday, December 2,1998
VETERAN from 1A
•’time, a young man had to be 21,
or have his fathers permission to
join. At that time, I did not know
about the war in Europe or the
Pacific. It was a job and an oppor
tunity to learn and travel.”
Gamer went to Fort Benning for
-|>*gic training, then to Camp
-Gordon in 1942 where he became
a "member of the 83rd Field
Artillery. “A lot of the young men
r in the military at the time could
nqt read or write,” said Garner,
‘.‘so I got a job in communication.
I started as a steel wire lineman,
twitched to board
Operator, then went
to ;radio school.
Before the war was
‘ ever, I was a com
;munic a t i o n s
sergeant in a tank
company.”
The 83rd Field
Artillery was a
horse-drawn unit.
The unit was trans
ferred to Fort
; Jackson, S.C., then
-fcrFort Sill, Okla.,
whtre the horse
drawn artillery was
disbanded. In 1941, all horse
drawn artillery was replaced by
irtpchanized units. The unit went
ip the Pacific during World War
• Garner joined a tank destroyer
jjiitjalion. Tank destroyer battal
' ions supported the infantry.
} After training at Camp Gordon,
. Gamer found himself in Northern
Ireland in October of ’43.
“We trained 25 miles from
Arflnaugh, Ireland,” said Garner.
“Gen. George Patton gave one of
‘ his classic speeches at Armaugh.
At least 5,000 soldiers were in the
. park and about that many civilians
; were on the outside of die park to
hear Patton. He had a big public
address system and everyone
beard him. His language was
rough and he kept the listeners
• ’sl’
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laughing. His speech was inspira
tional and he made us all feel any
one of us, could destroy the Nazi
military.
In May, Garner moved near
Redding, England, where the unit
continued to train.
On D-Day plus 15, or June 21,
1944, Gamer was given $2.85 in
case they needed to buy some
thing from the French. Garner
went across the English Channel
into France as a member of the
654th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
After encountering a few skir-
Garner
out of Alsace-Lorraine and was
sent to Luxembourg to support the
sth Infantry and then to Bastogne
to relieve the sth Infantry Division
at the Battle of the Bulge.
“The weather was cold,” said
Garner. “The snow was about
knee deep. We were involved in
one of the biggest tank battles in
Europe. We took a lot of hits and
we gave a lot of hits. We were
able to stop the German advance.”
After the Battle of the Bulge,
Garner and his unit were assigned
to the 9th Army and he entered
Germany.
The units crossed the Rhine at
Remagon and went into the Rohr
Valley, which was Germany’s
industrial area. From there the
units went to Holland where
everything was calm and people
mishes, Garner found
himself about 10 miles
from the German border
in Alsace-Lorraine.
“This was the first time
I encountered real bitter
fighting,” said Garner.
“The weather was cold
and the ground was
muddy. The conditions
were terrible, but we con
tinued fighting for the
months of October,
November and
December.”
At the end of
December, the unit pulled
Gen. George
Patton’s mes
sage to his
troops at
Christmas,
1944.
> ’ T J? ■vß®' SER
• Gil
r*" i i£l FLI r
were trying to repair the damage
that had been done by the war.
Garner then went back into
Germany at Aachen and on to the
Elbe River. It was early April
1945 and the Allied Armies were
told to stop so the Russians could
take Berlin.
Roosevelt and Churchill had
agreed at Yalta to let the Russians
capture Berlin.
“Two correspondents had
already gone to Berlin when we
were told not to go farther than
the Elbe River,” said Garner.
“Thousands of German soldiers
and civilians were coming to the
Elbe to surrender to the Allied
soldiers because they did not want
to be captured by the Russians.”
Looking back, Garner remem
bers how the unit would support a
unit in one area while another part
of the unit would be miles away
supporting another infantry unit.
“Because our unit was so spread
out,” remembers Garner, “we did
not do things like other battalions.
We did not have a central mess.
We ate C and K rations through
out the war.”
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Because the Army fatigues were
the same color as the fatigues
worn by the German army, the
unit had to wear-long sleeved, O.
D., or wool uniforms. “Wearing
fatigues caused a lot of Americans
to be shot by their own troops,”
said Garner. “When we wore the
O. D.s, we were much safer.”
About two weeks after the war
was over, Garner was almost
killed in a jeep wreck when the
driver ran off the road and hit a
tree. “We had to learn to slow
down,” said Gamer. “It would be
sad to get killed after the war was
over. That’s what happened to
Gen. Patton.”
Garner transferred to Camp
Gordon, Ga., and was processed
out, but in 1946, he re-enlisted in
the Air Force and served for six
years.
While in the Air Force, Garner
was stationed at six different sta
tions on permanent duty and four
different stations on temporary
duty. In 1952, he watched the
hydrogen bomb being tested off
Eniwetok Island in the Pacific.
When his enlistment in the Air
TAKE A GOOD LOOK THE MAP SHOWN ON THE
SIDE.
It dearly points out ito-you that monstrous Russia - today being
>o»ed SnviM-tussinnUftwtW*"* to subdue German* the Balkans,
W inhmtibh'n, witTlhe
help of the subjugated nation, trid with the assistance of the nighty
developed German industry ona its specialized workers - let alone
Asia's gigantic resources pF rawlrateriols and manpower - to con
ar against you. - |
RUSSIA NEEDS THMWIRD WORLOWAR, AS
AINATE THE WORLD.
'.fe' f fey? o :. fo* '* ftgHtino this
foe of Pijr?jpear'ondAme<con humanly w"th d*l
AND YOU? YOU ARE HELPING RUSSIA BY
FIGHTING AGAINST US.
Do you really want a Third World Wart Are you willing to ba kept
from home for some years to cornel Do you prefer to risk your life
in muddy trench-linesf
GET OUT OF THIS MAD WAftl
STOP FIGHTING!
Force was completed, Garner
entered the Air National Guard
where he stayed for 23 years.
In 1956, Gamer took an exam to
become an officer. Even though
he had just two years of high
school education, he passed the
exam and was commissioned.
Garner met his wife, Dorothy,
who is a native of Nebraska, while
stationed at Andrews Air Force
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmcrvof the Allied Expeditionary Force!
■i. ' V ■ V
Tbu ace about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward
whteh wgrieve etfcvcn these m»ny ttWiiTltS. The
the are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty*
loving people everywhere march with you. In company with
our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts,
you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed
peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free
world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well
trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He wiA
fight savagely.
But this is the year 19441 Much has happened since the
Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations hare in
flicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle,
man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced
their strength in the air and their capacity to wage
war on the ground. Our llpme Frontihavc gtap. us u
overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of
war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained
fighting men. The tide has turned 1 The free men of the
world arc marching together to Victor)’ I
I have full confidence in ybur courage, devotion to duty
and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than
full Victory I
Good Luck! And let ua all beseech the blessing of Al
mighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
Me filace kt find umfue r|S|
yyZ), nedidatf decQuMonb and
fai ycu t home
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This is a German
propaganda
leaflet that the
Germans shot in
artillery canisters
that burst in the air
above the
American sol
diers. The leaflets
were scattered
among the sol
diers. Since the
paper was thin
and soft, the sol
diers used them
for toilet paper.
Base near Washington, D.C. She
was working in the Army Special
Services.
In 1958, he bought a place on
Lake Lanier and he and his wife
retired and moved to Cumming in
1982.
Today he spends a lot of time
participating in the activities of
veterans organizations and read
ing mysteries.
Gen.
Eisenhower’s
message to
the American
soldiers in
June 1944
just before the
invasion of
Normandy.