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Geisel-Jack H. |
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My name is Adam Winegardner. My
grandfather was Jack H. Geisel and served in the 30th Division,
120th Regiment, Co. D in World War II. He was a true patriot
and a great man. Jack was a replacement and got to France
sometime in August. He passed away almost three years ago and I
am doing some research for myself and my family about his
service. He didn't talk to us much about his experiences. I
have just accomplished having his name added to the roster of
the 30th Division
I have attached his DD 214. As you may notice, he was not credited with having participated in the Battle of the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge). This is because he was in a hospital (in Paris I think) at the time recovering from a bad case of psoriasis. He was born with that skin disease and it is known to flare up when under stress. He said his skin was raw from head to toe before he asked to get it checked out. He did not return until after that battle was over. I'm not sure exactly whe
I know that years ago,
some of his buddies from the army stopped to see
him,sent letters/Christmas cards, and called him
different times after the war, but at the time I asked
him about them, he couldn't remember any names. He
could however, remember his serial number. He said they
asked you for it everywhere you went.
He told me some
stories about his time during the war.
-He told of the night before/during the crossing of the Rhine River, that he could read a letter he received from his mother from the light of all the artillery shells being fired on the enemy before the crossing. -When he received cigarettes in his rations, he traded them for candy because he didn't smoke. -He ate his thanksgiving dinner that was brought up from the rear on a roof shingle because he no longer had his mess kit. (I'm not sure what happened to it.) -He lost his toothbrush at some point and found another in a barnyard. Boiled it and used it until he got a new one. -Said they took their first showers in a month in a coal mining town. The showers were at the coal mine and were for use of the coal miners but they got to use them. He couldn't remember what town it was, but thought maybe it was Spekholzerheide, Holland. -Once they entered Germany they often found potatoes in rooms in the middle of the house. They would fry them and eat them. They also used the tablecloths for sheets.-They were being shelled (not sure when or where) but while he was digging a foxhole, he took off his long sleeved shirt because it was warm and threw it over a fence. When he went to get it back, it was rolled up in a ball with a large piece of shrapnel in the middle that burnt holes in it. He carried around that piece of shrapnel for a while then threw it out. -Almost everyone got seasick on the way over to England and it took at least ten days because they went down towards South Africa to avoid U-boats. On the way back, however, he did not get seasick because he was so happy to be going home. -He also mentioned being strafed and shelled sometimes by their own planes and artillery It wasn't until after he died that I found the pictures I have attached to this e-mail. I never got to ask him who is in the pictures with him. I have also attached his obituary.
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| Source: Everything above was found on http://www.oldhickory30th.com/ |
 Page last revised
04/04/2022James D. West Host106th@106thInfDivAssn.org www.IndianaMilitary.org |
