| Donald H. Coe 120/3rd,120/AT 30th Infantry Division |
|
I was
originally assigned to Company 2nd battalion which I believe was our
company involved with Mortain........Our regimental commander was
Colonel Hammond Davis Birks.......Our Anti Tank platoon trained with 37
mm Anti-Tank guns which were switched at the time we went overseas....I
believe the 37 was used in the South Pacific and we needed more
firepower in the ETO........we had 4 Anti-Tank guns with crews of 10
men. Commander of the 2nd Army group was: General Frie (sp?)denhall.... Commanding officer of the of the 120th regiment was Colonel Birks..... C.O. of the 3rd battalion was Col Peter Ward (West Point Graduate)...... Our Hq Co CO was Captain Payne.... Anti-Tank Platoon leader was 2nd Lt James N. Salters..... Staff Sgt Ivan B. Davis.... Sgt Robert S. Moore........ Sgt Walter C. Schraeder(2 section leaders)...... Cpl Joseph Menendez....... Corporal Vanselow..... Corporal George Brooks...... Cpl James J Treml..... PFC John Lee..... PFC Julius Pierson..... PFC Martin Joyce..... PFC Eugene McPherson..... Pvt Steve Barnaby..... Pvt Sandy Newport..... Pvt Walter Schaelegal..... Pvt Walter C. Guenther....... Pvt Thierer...... Pvt. Collier..... Pvt Covert..... PFC Mathis.... Pvt Buckley........ Pvt Schwartz..... Pvt Julius....... I guarantee that all the names from Salters on down were in the Anti-Tank Platoon. From Camp Blanding we moved to Camp Forest Tennessee and went on maneuvers on Sept 1943 (2nd Army maneuvers with the 94th & 98th infantry divisions was assigned to the 94th as an umpire. In Tennessee we were around the Spencer range which is located about 35 miles from Minnersville, Tennessee. We were commended for our outstanding performance on 2nd Army maneuvers in Sept/October 1943 deemed ready for combat. Following maneuvers we went to Camp Atterbury Indiana. We left Camp Atterbury and stopped at Camp Myles Standish. Staying there about 6 days we went to Boston Harbor and boarded the USS Argentina our home for the next 10 days. On February 12th 1944 our ship and the USS Brazil and USS John Erickson set sale for Europe. Our ship did not have stabilizers. I have a description of our ships accommodations if you want it. Our first sight of land was Gourack, Scotland near Glasgow, Scotland. Disembarking in a couple days we traveled in a blacked out train to the English coast and arrived at Falphrom which is on the outskirts of of Bognor Regis. |
 Page last revised
04/04/2022James D. West Host106th@106thInfDivAssn.org www.IndianaMilitary.org |