Old Hickory, US 30th Infantry Division - Page 3

Slipdigit · #51 (**permalink**) June 24th, 2009, 07:46 PM

Thanks, FH. I'll copy it and send it to him.

Slipdigit · #52 (**permalink**) July 1st, 2009, 02:48 AM

Old Hickory let me borrow his division book, a sort of "yearbook" for the men of the 30th ID. The book has a good history of the division and several maps and good many pictures, but is showing it's age. It is very brittle. I will scan the maps and anything else that looks good.

Here is a picture of Old Hickory in the book, but you can't really see his face. He is lying down, denoted by the arrow.

The other men are from the left:
unknown (upper corner)
unknown (thinks he was from another outfit, only head is visible)
Goodrich Sims (with carbine)
Guy Cook (on stomach)
unknown (seated by the beer barrel)
RB Malone (lying back, hands behind head)
Wilkerson (along wall, yawning)
Sutton (along wall, chin on hand)
Unknown (looking at camera)

Guy Cook was the driver for Col Johnson of the 117th Infantry Regiment. Old Hickory does not remember why Mr Cook was there with them that day. He had been part of the Mech Cav Squadron and had been transferred.

Edit - - Re-read the caption. Apparently that was a wine barrel and not beer.

Slipdigit · #53 (**permalink**) July 1st, 2009, 02:56 AM

Field Hospital,

I forgot to print out the picture of the church to show Old Hickory. I will send a copy to his wife and let her show it to him.

FieldHospital · #54 (**permalink**) July 1st, 2009, 08:51 AM

Interesting photo. Thanks for posting.

Some things don't change - the 'caves' (wine cellars [although not usually under the house], pronounced 'cav') are just the same now. I've got a few bottles of homemade cider in mine...

Is there a pic in the book showing Col Birks?

Slipdigit · #55 (**permalink**) July 1st, 2009, 01:59 PM

I'll look tonight. There were formal portraits of the leadership of the division in the back, but I did not look at them all.

Slipdigit · #56 (**permalink**) July 1st, 2009, 02:56 PM

Here is Old Hickory's awards display.

He also served in the Alabama Army National Guard and the Alabama Air National Guard until retirement. He was called up during the Vietnam War, but thankfully stayed stateside. The European Campaign medal/ribbon has 5 stars, Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Germany.

FieldHospital · #57 (**permalink**) July 1st, 2009, 03:39 PM

Lest we forget. God bless you and your comrades Old Hickory.

Slipdigit · #58 (**permalink**) July 1st, 2009, 03:48 PM

Oh yeah, he told me yesterday that he was 21 when he was made First Sergeant. That's pretty young.

IBBARR · #59 (**permalink**) July 11th, 2009, 03:26 AM

Hello Slipdigit, It's a great thing your doing for Old Hickory. When you get a chance let Old Hickory know my Father was in the 120th Infantry 30th Division (Old Hickory). I posted on my new member forum a Christmas Greeting from 1943 from Camp Atterbury, Indiana. The 120th Infantry autograph the inside covers with there Home State. My Dad kept a record on everyone & wrote next to there names if they were O.K.,sick,shell shock,Prisoner,wounded & killed. I have his photo album from the war & mostly every picture has the names of the soldiers written on the back. It is sad seeing a smiling soldier in a picture & looking up his name from the Christmas Greeting 1943 & find out he was either wounded or killed. My Dad was 20yrs old when he went in the Army & survived 5 Major Battles & Campaigns.
1) Normandy
2) Northern France
3) Rhineland
4) Ardennes-Alsace
5) Central Europe
He was discharged 10/16/1945 at 23 yrs old. It is just amazing what these men did during WWII. I just wished I knew then (when I was 20yrs old) what I know now!

Slipdigit · #60 (**permalink**) July 11th, 2009, 03:33 AM

Thank you IBBARR, but it is a labor of love.

I'll talk to him this weekend and will relay everyone's comments. He will be happy to hear what y'all have to say, since I last talked to him.

He will going back into the hospital next week for more surgery. I don't think it will be serious, but for a man his age, I'll still worry about him.

rhs · #61 (**permalink**) July 11th, 2009, 10:11 AM

Please send OldHickory our best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery, thank you..richardS.

Slipdigit · #62 (**permalink**) July 21st, 2009, 03:45 AM

Old Hickory is back in the hospital and had surgery today. This was a planned procedure, a follow up on his surgery from a few months ago. He is doing well at last word.

Fgrun83 · #63 (**permalink**) July 21st, 2009, 06:36 AM

glad to hear he is well, hope his condition remains that and a speedy recovery to him.

Slipdigit · #64 (**permalink**) August 6th, 2009, 02:59 PM

As I mentioned in another post, I talked with Old Hickory on the phone last night. He is much, much improved over the past few days. He has some doctor visits planned for next week and expects good reports.

I'm going to visit him at his house next week.

IBBARR · #65 (**permalink**) August 8th, 2009, 03:03 AM

Hello Slipdigit. You wrote about the Lost Battalion for Old Hickory. Thank You, My Dad (120th Infantry) was one of the survivors of Mortain. I have the newspaper article, "The Lost Battalion" I photograph. It's too big to post. I have been posting pictures on the members Gallery under IBBARR from my Dad's Photo Album.
Old Hickory said, "We were attacked. We had the higher ground on one hill [Hill 314]. The 120 Infantry had a battalion on this hill. For 5 ½ days they were surrounded. We kept hearing that we were surrounded. Well, we were on the other side of the hill holding a road block and we didn’t see a German the whole time.

The 120th lost over half their men. There were more than 500 men and more than 300 didn’t walk off of that hill. They did one of the most heroic things. The Germans knew that they could not come up that hill in day time because of our artillery. They were coming at night."
You gave me chills thinking about what my Father went through.
I hope Old Hickory is doing well!
IBBARR

fatcat · #66 (**permalink**) September 3rd, 2009, 02:52 AM

Thanks a ton to "Old Hickory". Efforts like his have helped many people understand the human side of service to their country

Slipdigit · #67 (**permalink**) September 3rd, 2009, 03:10 AM

Thanks Fat cat, for Old Hickory. He's not through yet. Keep looking later on for more.

Slipdigit · #68 (**permalink**) September 14th, 2009, 04:12 AM

I was supposed to go and talk with Old Hickory this afternoon, but he had a funeral to attend instead. We'll try again this week.

He looks good and is in good health.

Fgrun83 · #69 (**permalink**) September 14th, 2009, 05:09 AM

I am glad to hear his health is good, thanks for all the updates you do for us here slip

confliask · #70 (**permalink**) October 14th, 2009, 08:35 AM

Very much appreciate your help.

Slipdigit · #71 (**permalink**) October 14th, 2009, 03:22 PM

I spoke with Old Hickory briefly two Sundays ago. He has finished the next installment and it is at his transcriber. When she get done, it goes back to Old Hickory, then to me, for us to proofread. I hope to post in the next few weeks.

**Old Hickory** · #72 (**permalink**) November 7th, 2009, 03:26 AM

Slipdigit posting for Old Hickory

Old Hickory has gotten well and has been busy reminiscing about his warmtime experiences.

This is Old Hickory coming to you. I haven’t talked to you for a while. I wanted to tell you where we are. We had just crossed the Rhine River on a pontoon bridge on 24th day of March 1945. After crossing the Rhine River, we were waiting for orders to move out.
The Germans started sending artillery shells right on top of us. Three shells landed very near us. They were duds. They buried in the mud but never exploded. We were fortunate that day.

Finally, the 425 mile rat race from the Rhine River to the Elbe River began. This was ideal work for the Old Hickory Recon. Scouting and patrolling, we captured 485 prisoners in one day. We also captured ten 150mm howitzers artillery pieces (guns) that same day. In Reconnoitering, a town close by, the Recon lost 2 armored cars and some men (I don’t know exactly how many) in an ambush. So it was not all fun.

There were a lot of civilians in the road, a lot of German soldiers in small groups. Many were ready to surrender, but many were not. They put up a good fight a lot of times. We got the rats out of Hamelin. You know they got the rats out with the music, [but] we used a different kind of music.

We also captured the city of Brunswick. The Germans wanted to negotiate and General Harrison said that what we wanted was the troops. We didn’t care anything about the city. They refused to surrender so we gave them 30 minutes then we attacked and took the town.

During this trip, the Recon captured an ordinance plant. There were many different objects there of military importance. One was the largest artillery weapon, gun, that I’ve ever seen. I could stand up in the breech of it, turn my head down and stand straight up where the shell went. One end of the barrel was carried by one freight train and the breech and all were carried by another freight train. This was a huge weapon. There was a large box of Longines watches, which was German issue. There were many bags of silk and rayon that they made parachutes with. We saw many parachutes there also.

On this trip, we had a half track that broke down with a brake problem. I had to stay with it. I kept a man with me. We hid the half track in a barn behind a farm house. There was an older lady at the farm house. They left us K Rations for one day, but didn’t come back for 2 days. We were hungry and this German lady knew we were hungry. She killed a pet rabbit and cooked it. That was the best smelling food I’ve ever seen. When she got it cooked, she fixed a plate and handed it to me. I handed it back to her, and told her to eat it first, because I was afraid to take something unless she would eat it too. She laughed and took it and ate it. Then we ate it too. She didn’t give us any trouble and we didn’t give her any trouble.

On the third day, they returned with some food and parts to repair the half track. We repaired it and went in and thanked the German lady for her kindness and she hugged us and wished us well. Then we left.

**Old Hickory** · #73 (**permalink**) November 15th, 2009, 09:48 PM

Slipdigit posting for Old Hickory:

This trip at this time was just wild. We were going day in and day out. We traveled over 425 miles. We were crisscrossing and going from one platoon to another. Most of it was really fun.

Old Hickory is still scouting and patrolling. The division moved about 35 or 40 miles this day lead by the Recon. Resistance was light, mostly small arms and panzerfaust. A panzerfaust was a type of weapon that Germans used to knick out armor with.

Most of this was coming from road blocks and most of the towns were not defended. A record number of prisoners was taken this day, 2500 by the division 280 by the Recon.

On this drive, different things happened every day. One night in my section, ten men hid our vehicles behind a large building. We had four German prisoners. We had tied their hands and feet. We heard a number of Germans marching up the road. A trench knife was put to each prisoners’ throat and they were told not to make any noise. They didn’t. The company of Germans marched by. Lying down on the 2nd floor, looking out of a window, I could have spit on them. I didn’t.

One day in a small village, an SS officer put up a white flag, like he was going to surrender, but he didn’t. It was a trick. The Germans captured most of that platoon. Some got away. The whole Recon came back to this village and got out men back and captured the Germans and destroyed the village.

One of my best friends, his name was Harold Works, told me time and time again, that he was going to live to the war was about over, then he was going to get killed. He was killed on April 12, 1945 and the war was over on May 8, 1945. He had a pair of good German binoculars he had taken off a German officer. He said he was going to give them to me. He had them around his neck when he was killed, but I couldn’t take them.

We stopped one evening at a German school house. In this house were 25 young Jewish women, who had run away from a concentration camp. They didn’t have clothes, some had only sacks to cover them. The next morning, we found 2 trailers nearby. The Germans told us they belonged to a circus. We broke them open and one of them was filled with women’s clothing. We turned the Jewish women loose in there and they dressed themselves up!

German soldiers continued to give up. We crossed the Elbe River, but were stopped and ordered to go back to the other side to Magdeburg, where we waited for 8 to 10 days for the Germans. During this time, more Germans wanted to give up before the Russians got there. We also guarded a chocolate factory and a meat storage plant, which was under the ground. There were many stacks of cured hams there. The hams were good but so salty, you had to soak them for many hours before you could cook them to eat them. But, we ate some of them anyway.

The Russians finally got there after we waited for them for 8 to 10 days. The war was over on May 8. There were no celebration where we were. We wondered what was in store for us. I’ll talk to you later about what happened after the war.

Slipdigit · #74 (**permalink**) November 15th, 2009, 09:53 PM

I talked with Old Hickory today at church. He tells me he is remembering little instances from earlier that he would like to add. As time permits, we will get those committed to paper (or computer) and I will insert the stories where they belong and make a post outlining where it is. I also have some letters sent by various commanding officers to the men of the the 30th Infantry Division that he has asked that I post.

Old Hickory will be making a Honor Flight in April. He is looking forward to it.

LRusso216 · #75 (**permalink**) November 15th, 2009, 10:47 PM

Jeff, thanks for providing this service. The stories are priceless and deserve to be recorded and preserved. I hope you are keeping them safe ina format other than here. Looking forward to more from OH. I hope he enjoys his honor flight.