Veteran of the 458th dukw

107thcav · #1 (**permalink**) November 12th, 2009, 01:12 AM

This is Mr. Leibel he is a former member of the 458th amphibious truck company. He enlisted in the military in Feb. 1941 and after being injured in a truck accident 4 months before Pearl Harbor was given a chance to be discharged but he decided to stay in. His wounds so severe that it was'nt until 1943 that he was sent to amphibious training in South Carolina where they trained on Seeps and they were'nt worth a damn. Because they had a tendency to flood and practice was on calm waters and sometimes they still flooded. In May? of 1944 he was sent to England and later transfered to an area near Slapton sands to begin training for the invasion. It was there they were introduced to the DUKW and were schooled on what it could do and how to handle it in the water.
In June he boarded a ship headed towards Normandy when he got into his DUKW they were given orders to start the engines, deflate tires when the doors opened on the ship they went down a ramp and some of the boys because of the rush training misjudged the waves coming inside the ship and found themselves flooded. Mr. Leibel was able to gun it as the waves entered in and allowed himself to be carried out. Destination was Omaha beach his job was to shuttle a continuous supply of materials. His only description was that it was awful. The history of the 458th tells that some of the DUKW's were sunk by waves and being overloaded. "You just had to know how to hit those waves." he said. Later he got to see some of Paris was billeted in La Havre in a building that leaked like crazy. He later took part in the Elbe crossing with the 2nd armored division. For his heroics he was commended by the commanding general of the 9th U.S. army for crossing a river under heavy fire ferrying several assault units. These were orphan units of the war they were also their own bosses they would sometimes be attached to units but the comraderie was'nt there like if you served in the unit from the begining. They were in charge of maintenance which meant finding parts to building parts. Leibel and others like him wrote the book on amphibious truck operations this at the time was new untested technology. Korea and Vietnam would later learn from this as the 458th would be called up again. In the photo's Leibel is in front of the Eiffel tower in Paris and how he looks today holding his new challenge coin and wearing his hat from the 458th reunion group. Standing next to his original Ike jacket.

107thcav · #2 (**permalink**) November 12th, 2009, 11:14 PM

Here is some more snap shots of Mr. Leibel. One is taken in front of the Palace of Versailles and the other is taken a day or two after the invasion in what was once a row of buildings that are now destroyed.