A Tank Gunner's Story: Gunner Gruntz of the 712th Tank Battalion Read online

  The daily newspaper that Dad sold once ran a contest for its paper carriers. The prize was a seven day cruise to Central America, Belize and Honduras. Dad was one of eight carriers that won the trip. Stanley gave Dad $20.00 to spend on his trip. Dad had very little money to take with him and he very much appreciated the $20.00 gift. Dad spent much Mr Stanley’s largesse on a rare luxury – new clothes for himself. He bought new silk shirts for $1.00 each.

  As Dad grew older, his job selling newspapers at the racetrack led to other employment. He worked with the horse trainers and exercised the horses. Dad’s height of 5 foot 4 inches made him a little too tall to become a jockey. With all the sordid characters that hung around racetracks in the 1930s, my grandmother was not very happy with this line of work. Rather than face the wrath of his Irish mother, Dad soon sought other employment.

  1940 found Dad employed at a local factory that made corrugated cardboard boxes earning $0.35 per hour, and working nights as a bartender at Gennaro’s Bar and Restaurant in Metairie. The owner’s son was Peter Gennaro, one of Dad’s friends.

  In early 1941, Dad boasted to his family and friends how he was going to remain a bachelor, “The girl I’m going to marry isn’t born yet, and her mother is dead.” His status as a confirmed bachelor did not last very long. In May of 1941 he attended a dance, he noticed Audrey Casteix, a slender brunette about three years younger than him across the dance floor. Both worked at the box manufacturing factory and they had seen each other during work but were never formally introduced.

  I recalled Mom telling me how she and Dad met. Mom was dating another fellow at the time and attended the dance with him. Mom was sitting with some other girls when she saw Dad approaching the group. She thought to herself, “I sure hope he asks me to dance.” He did and after the dance, Dad asked if he could bring her home. Mom, however said no, she came with a date and was obligated to have him bring her. Dad asked if he could see her the following Sunday. Mom already had a date with the other fellow for that Sunday evening. Dad, however, was persistent, and Mom tentatively agreed to their first date that Sunday afternoon, provided she received parental permission.

  After securing permission to see this brash new boy, Mom saw him at work and confirmed the date. Dad arrived for Mom early that Sunday afternoon. When the afternoon was drawing to a close, Mom really didn’t want to end the date, but she had made a commitment and didn’t want to break it. When it was time to bring Mom home, mindful of the fact that she was going out with the other fellow that night, Dad said jealously, “I hope it rains all night long.” Shortly after Dad brought Mom home, the skies opened up with one of those typical New Orleans summer deluges. The streets flooded and her date for that night was cancelled. Mom and Dad dated only each other after that.

  Bride and Groom with parents of the Bride. (Author’s collection)

  Mom and Dad often double dated with Dad’s friend, Peter Gennaro. Peter was the life of the party and a remarkable dancer. In the 1950s and 1960s, Peter gained fame as a Broadway and Hollywood dancer and choreographer, winning a Tony Award in 1977. But in that summer of 1941, as twenty-two year olds, there were all carefree kids.

  By the end of summer, Dad popped the big question and on September 7, 1941, Mom’s nineteenth birthday, she received an engagement ring. They immediately began plans for a spring wedding. Little did they realize that exactly three months later, on December 7, 1941, world events would impact their lives and the lives of millions of other Americans.

  Despite America’s entrance into World War II, my parents proceeded with their wedding plans and were married on May 10, 1942. In addition to being their wedding day, it also happened to be Dad’s twenty-third birthday. The bride and groom danced their first dance to the strains of “I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time”, the popular song recorded by the Andrew Sisters in 1941.

  Prior to the wedding, Dad spent several months constructing an additional bedroom on the Gruntz family home on Bauvais Street in Metairie and the newlyweds moved in after a short honeymoon. With the number of residents now totaling nine, Dad’s paycheck was important for the household. After December 7, 1941, the defense industries began to blossom in the New Orleans area. Dad sought higher-paying employment at Delta Shipyards earning $1.00 per hour.

  Mom and Dad entered marriage with the same hopes and dreams of all newlyweds. Even though Dad was now married, my grandmother had been under the belief that Dad, as the oldest male wage earner in the family, would be considered head of the household and, therefore, not be susceptible to the military draft.3 But, my grandmother’s hopes to have her only son remain out of harm’s way were soon dashed and Mom and Dad’s “Apple Blossom Time” was short-lived. Six months and one day after the wedding, Dad received his Order to Report for Induction into the United States Army. His induction notice was dated November 11, 1942, the twenty-fourth anniversary of the Armistice of World War I, which prior to then had been characterized as “the war to end all wars”.

  Mom got the impression that my grandmother began to regret that the wedding proceeded so soon after the start of the war. My grandmother was convinced that the members of the local draft board took notice of Dad’s change in family status after the wedding announcement appeared in the newspaper and was announced in church. Instead of being the head of a household of eight people, he was now considered merely a young husband with only his wife as a dependent and who was capable of entering the armed forces.

  The family income suffered a severe reduction with Dad’s entry into the Army. Plans were made for Mom to move back home to her parents; several days prior to leaving for the service, Dad moved Mom, her belongings, and their bedroom set back to the Casteix home on Brooklyn Ave.

  With both Dad and Mom leaving, the crowded living quarters on Bauvais Street were becoming relatively spacious. Dad said, “Brother Felder couldn’t wait for us to get out so he could get the bedroom. I gave him my car too. I owed money on it so I told him to take it over and make payments, he could have it. A blue Chevrolet. I was a big dog going to get your Momma in that beautiful blue Chevrolet.”

  On November 28, 1942, Dad left on a train bound for Camp Claiborne near Alexandria, Louisiana. Dad’s cousin, Bill Dwyer, drove Mom and Dad to the train station, for them to say their last goodbyes before Dad officially entered the service. As the train left the station to travel west, Bill and Mom jumped in Bill’s car and drove along Airline Highway, which ran adjacent to the railroad tracks. Bill tried to keep pace with the train for as long as he could, while Dad waved to Mom from the train window, and Mom, with tears streaming from her eyes, waved to Dad from the car window.

  Upon arrival at camp, the induction personnel took notice of not only Dad’s horse riding skills but also his employment background – operating machinery at the box factory. The Army determined that he was an excellent candidate for training at Fort Benning, Georgia, where the horse cavalry units were being converted into mechanized units and trained in tank warfare. Two days after his induction, Dad was again on a train leaving Louisiana and on his way to Fort Benning, Georgia for tank training.

  CHAPTER 2

  Training for War

  If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening the axe.

  Abraham Lincoln

  The guns of World War I were silent a mere twenty-one years when war once again erupted in Europe as Germany invaded Poland in September, 1939.

  At the outset of this new European conflict, a vast majority of Americans opposed becoming involved in another European war.1 Following World War I, the United States had again turned to isolationism. The United States’ military budget dwindled and by 1939 the US Army was only the eighteenth largest in the world.

  Between September 1939 and December 1941, England was alone in the fight against Nazi Germany. Although the United States was technically a neutral country, it aligned itself with Great Britain. Emerging from the grip of the Great Depression, American industry turned to the production of war m
aterials and began furnishing supplies, materials, and weapons to the British under the Lend Lease Program. President Franklin Roosevelt referred to the United States as the Arsenal of Democracy.

  Although the public sentiment was against war, military leaders saw the war clouds on the horizon and fully believed that the United States would eventually be drawn into the war in Europe. Preparation and transformation of the military was needed. The daunting task of transforming the small US Army of 1939 into an army capable of fighting and defeating Nazi Germany fell to Gen. George C. Marshall, the US Army Chief of Staff. Marshall and a small cadre of military officials were the only experts capable of determining the size of the military needed, the number of divisions, the number and type of weaponry, and developing the logistics needed to implement it.2

  A massive reorganization of the US Army took place in early 1942, in the months before Dad entered the service. The War Department grouped units of the Army into three main elements. The Army Ground Forces (AGF), under the command of Maj.-Gen. Lesley McNair, was responsible for combat training. The Army Air Forces (AAF) directed the aviation segment. The Army Service Force (ASF) looked after supplies and supporting services.3 The Allied Powers of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union were committed to the defeat of the Axis Powers – Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy.

  Both before and after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Allied plans called for the defeat of Germany first and then Japan. Stephen Ambrose wrote that Marshall “created the US Army of World War II with a campaign in Northwest Europe in mind. He had designed the Army to take on the Wehrmacht in France, to defeat it in battle, to drive it out of France and destroy it in the process.”4 But, in early 1942, it had been determined that it would take no less than one year to assemble the manpower necessary to accomplish this. To convert the Army’s horse cavalry units into mechanized armored divisions and create new infantry divisions by transforming civilian recruits into a fighting force would take at least a year of training. The initial assessment indicated a European invasion could not begin before 1943.

  America’s entrance into the war on two fronts, the Pacific and Europe, also highlighted the severe shortage of ships large enough to transport troops and supplies and supporting units to both combat theaters. This was a prime factor for further delaying the invasion of Europe until 1944. To alleviate the shipping problem, all military units were directed to eliminate unnecessary vehicles and excess noncombatants.

  Army officials recognized that the manpower pool in America was not limitless. Recruiting and drafting too many able bodied men from the industrial and farming sectors in the United States would adversely impact the production of needed supplies. Therefore, only eighty-nine of the originally envisioned 213 divisions were created. The relatively small US Army of 1939 would grow from 400,000 to over 8 million for the European Campaign.5 Manpower shortage was partially alleviated by American females entering the workforce.

  The logistic problems of shipping coupled with the timetable established for an invasion in Europe, forced the Army to abandoned the traditional practice of every unit bringing all of its equipment and supplies with it when it moved, particularly into battle. A different approach was utilized, in order to expedite the build-up of Allied Forces in England. In 1942 and 1943, while training of the various units was being conducted in the US, all the equipment, guns, tanks, trucks, and so on, being manufactured in the US were shipped to and stored in England. When the troops arrived in England in the months and weeks before D-Day, their training equipment was left behind in the states and the troops were issued all the new equipment that had been stockpiled in England.

  These pages: Dad’s Pass. (Author’s collection)

  The progenitor of the 712th Tank Battalion was the 11th Cavalry. On December 7, 1941, the 11th Cavalry was stationed at Camp Morena and Camp Seeley, California near San Diego. In June of 1942, in accordance with Army reorganization, the men of the 11th Cavalry transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia. On July 15, 1942, the 11th Cavalry was inactivated as a horse mounted unit, all personnel and equipment were transferred to the 11th Armored Regiment, a new vacant regiment constituted on July 11. The 11th Armored Regiment was assigned to the 10th Armored Division, which also had been activated on July 15.

  The 10th Armored Division was nicknamed the Tiger Division by Maj.-Gen. Paul Newgarden, the division’s first commander. The nickname was picked because a tiger has soldierly qualities, including being clean and neat and the ability to maneuver and surprise his prey.

  Upon arrival at Fort Benning in November of 1942, Pvt. Louis Gruntz was assigned to Company H of the 11th Armored Regiment, of the 10th Armored Division.

  From November 28, 1942, the day Dad left for boot camp, Mom, now back with her parents at the Casteix household, cried every day that Dad was gone. Dad learned that married men were allowed to live with their wives in housing off base. At Christmas time, Dad called Mom and told her to come to Columbus, Georgia.

  Mom caught a train for Georgia on Christmas Day. My maternal grandmother, Gertrude Casteix, spent all of Christmas morning ironing cotton dresses. This was Mom’s first trip away from home, but remarkably my grandmother was not upset with her youngest daughter moving out of town. My grandmother said that she never thought that she would be so happy putting her daughter on a train on Christmas Day. Now she would not have to listen to that crying all day long.

  Columbus, Georgia – Fort Benning

  After Mom arrived in Columbus, Georgia, Mom and Dad rented a room in a boarding house at 810 Third Avenue. Because he was married, Dad was given a daily pass to leave the base each night, provided he was back the next morning for reveille.

  Dad would ride the city bus to and from camp each morning and night. One day, one of the recruits developed measles and the whole barracks was quarantined. Dad pleaded with the sergeant to let him leave, “My wife just got in town,” he said. “I can’t leave her alone like that.” The sergeant gave Dad the OK, but told Dad not to get caught. That night, Dad boarded the bus and sat toward the rear. A few minutes later, as luck would have it, the commander that issued the quarantine order entered the bus on his way home. Dad crouched down in his seat as far as he could without looking suspicious and prayed that the commander would not notice him. Fortunately, the commander’s bus stop was before Dad’s and he exited the bus without noticing Dad.

  When several of the men noticed Dad had the opportunity to leave base every night because he was married, they soon questioned him about it. They had fiancées back home and wanted to get married and bring their wives near the base.

  While in the Army, Dad became very good friends with Sgt John R. (Richard) Williams. Although Dad was three years older than Richard, Richard out ranked Dad. Richard was born in 1922 and had enlisted in the Army on July 10, 1940, shortly after his eighteenth birthday.

  “I think plenty of the guys in the outfit thought I was a Chaplain or something because they confided in me,” Dad said. “Richard was a good friend of mine. He used to confide in me; he wanted to go home to Kentucky and get married (to Opal Rodgers).” Richard asked Dad what he thought about the idea. Dad encouraged him. “Richard came to me and said ‘How do you do it Louie, how do you get a place to stay? I want to bring Opal back with me.’ I said, ‘OK, come on back and you can get one (an apartment) right around me.’ He went home (on a furlough) and got married and he brought Opal back with him.”

  Mom, Dad, Richard and Opal were the best of friends while they lived in Columbus, Georgia, when Dad and Richard were training at Fort Benning. That friendship continued when the battalion was transferred to Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. Opal and Mom remained friends for many years after the war; they corresponded by mail and Aunt Opal came to our house in Louisiana on several occasions.6

  After several months of marriage in 1943, however, Richard and Opal, started having marital difficulties, as Dad explained, “Opal loved him, but she enjoyed making him jealous. Which was the wrong thing to d
o and that made them fight with one another. He loved her and she loved him.” But, they separated during training and although they reconciled briefly before the troops shipped overseas, their marriage was still rocky.

  Dad mentioned that while he was in training during the day, Mom found employment. When he recounted this fact, I remembered the conversation the three of us had, while looking through photographs a few days before Dad and I departed for Paris. Mom remembered her employment during 1943. “I worked most of the time, I worked a good while. I worked at Tom’s Peanuts in Columbus, Georgia. I used to catch the bus early in the morning, it was pitch black, I wasn’t scared. Now, I would die but you could do those things then.”

  Louis, Opal and Richard. (Author’s collection)

  Louis, Audrey and Richard. (Author’s collection)

  I asked both of them to describe living in a strange town without any other family members around. Dad said, “That was a romantic time of our lives – traveling.” But there was little money to do any entertaining. “I used to get $66 per month from the Army. But I had to pay room and board. Mom worked and she got a few bucks. We went to the movies and took walks.”

  Mom added, “We went to the show, we went for walks. We didn’t have any money. My Grandpa died on March 1 (1943), my mother didn’t have any money to send me train fare to come home for the funeral. She said don’t worry about it.” Mom’s grandfather was buried while she remained in Georgia.

  “It was cold.” she explained, “I stayed in a cold apartment one day. Dad had to borrow money to buy some kerosene for the heaters and lamps. And then I got sick and had to quit (my job). It was a hard life.”