Hello veterans and friends of the 75th Division !

In the may-issue of the "Bulgebuster", (the printed official newsletter of the 75th Division veterans association), the president, Mr. Paul Stephan, wrote about our unofficial newsline and website. (see below) To avoid misunderstandings, I have sent the president an email explaining my motives. (see below)

I thought (and still think) that it would be helpful to bring people together, that are interested in the history of the 75th Division. I didn´t and don´t want to get in trouble with the veterans association. I met a bunch of nice veterans at the reunion 1995 in Atlanta, and still have a lot of contacts to them. In fact, two of the 75th veterans visited my hometown Plettenberg, Germany, in 1997, when we had the 600 years birthday of our city, and had a lot of fun.  (see # 6 for a link to the complete story)

However, I was thinking how to act correctly and not to spoil my connections to the veterans association.

Today, I recieved an email from Rik Peirson, the son of a 75th veteran.
I knew, that it could be helpful to bring veterans together, but I was deeply touched when I read his email. I did not know, what effect to the lives of others this „bringing together“ could have. It is a little difficult for me as a german, to explain in english what I feel in this moment, but I am proud that I could help with my little newsline, and I will make any effort to do so in the future.

I do not want to put up a parallel organization to the official veterans association, but a chance for veterans and people, that are searching for the 75th Div, to meet in the Internet and to forward them to the veterans association, so they  maybe can meet their old buddys.
You will find in the end of every newsline, that I have noted the adress of the association´s president. With that information, veterans of the 75th can get in contact with the association fast and hopefully become a new member. Very often, people that found the 75th in the Internet did not realize that there is a veterans association !

Furthermore, the printed official newsletter has my permission, to print everything out of this newsline. I can reach about 100 persons with my newsline, but the printed newsletter reaches thousands. This increases the chances of somebody that is searching, to find the informations or persons he is looking for. On the other hand, I would be happy if I could recieve the printed newsletter to inform the members of the newsline about new developments and events. (see # 5 for an example) Maybe this makes them interested to become a member of the veterans association.

With email and internet as the modern form of communication, I see the following goals and possibilities:

1.) Give people, that search informations about the 75th Division, the chance to find these informations, even if our website can be only a starting point. With this starting point, there is the possibility that the memories to the 75th Div are not forgotten. Keep the stories alive !

2.) Be a forum for people, that want to get in contact with other people, to talk about one theme: The 75th Division. Let´s face it: There is little time left, that the veterans are able to exchange their memories and can tell the next generation, how it really was. Bringing them together, is a question of time. Every story, that is not shared with others now or written down, is in danger to be forgotten soon. Let´s meet !
(You will find one example of this sharing of a story in this newsletter: Historian Glenn Booker, UK, is researching the story of the Army in south Wales. See #4 for the complete story).

3.) The internet is used by millions of young people every day. Presenting the 75th Division in the internet is the chance of the veterans, to get in contact with them. One example for that is the letter of 8th grade student Dannon Schweser from Ohio. (see #2, and send more letters to him and a copy to us to publish!) If you as a veteran don´t have kids in your neighborhood, that could listen to your stories, you will find them in the Internet.

So, let´s meet people in the internet and tell them about the glorious fights of the 75th Division ! Make a printout of this newsline and take it the reunion, to pass it around to show other veterans what possibilities the internet has to offer. Tell your story so that it always will be remembered !

Stay healthy !

Greetings from Germany
Rolf G. Wilmink
 

                                          List of contents:

1.) Feedback regarding newsline No. 15   ( 30 May 1998 )
2.)  Letter from Dannon Schweser, Ohio
3.)  Something other than war
4.)  Historian Glenn Booker, South Wales, UK, searches witnesses
5.)  Open-door-days in Elsenborn
6.)   A trip to europe
7.)  The unofficial newsline and the veterans association

Last call: 1998 Reunion of the 75th Division !!!
Time:       15 - 19 July 1998
Place:      Spokane, WA, USA
(please see our homepage at www.plettenberg.de/75th for more informations !
 

                                   \\|//
                                  (o o)
----------------oOOo-(_)-oOOo------------------------------75th DIVISION online
**********************************************************************************
DON'T BE A LURKER.... GET INVOLVED... YOU ARE A MEMBER... MAKE THE MOST OF IT
**********************************************************************************
(actual count: 102 members online worldwide !)
 

1.) Feedback regarding our newsline No. 15 ( 30 May 1998):

Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 08:33:23 -0400
From: jack & betty bray <betjak@primary.net>
subject: Address change

Good morning from Florida, USA

My name is Jack Bray and I was on your mailing list until my move about a month ago.  My old E-Mail address was betjak@primary.net, and my new  address is betjak@iline.com. Please change your records so your releases can continue.
Of particular interest is the exact location of Company A, 290th on Dec. 24, 1944 and whether anybody knew my brother, PFC Jim Bray, who was killed that day.

I'm looking forward to hearing from anybody who can give me some information.

Jack Bray
_____________________________________________________________________

From: "yuba5" <yuba5@jps.net>
subject: Jack Mistler-address
Date: Sun, 05 Jul 98 08:59:31 PDT

Rolf
       This is Jack Mistler, sending this message from my son Johns address. Will be with Allreds in Washington next week. You may send message to this address also. This address may be quicker for the time being. Hello to Anke, Doreen, and Horst.
      Hope all is well with you.
                                                Jack
 

************************************************************
2.) Letter from Dannon Schweser, Ohio, 8th grade student
TROY Jr. High School
556 Adams St.
Troy, Ohio 45373
Ph.: (937)332-6720
Fax:(937)332-6739
Marcia D. Rarick, Principal
Lee Maidment, Assistant Principal

From: Dannon Schweser c/o Mrs. Wagner
May 22, 1998

Dear Mr. Wilmink,
my name is Dannon Schweser. I am an eight grade student at Troy Junior High School in Troy, Ohio. My reading class has just finished the play "The diary of Anne Frank". Of course it would be impossible to understand the play if we didn´t have the necessary background information on World War II. As we studied the war and read the play, it became obvious to us that our present society would be very different today if Hitler had won the war.
I am thankful for the freedom that my generation has and I would like to thank you for your part in obtaining that freedom for me.
If it weren´t for the veterans of World War II, the society that I know today would probably not exist.
Thank you very much for your part in World War II. I appreciate everything you did to help, support, and defend our nation.

Many students like me sure taking the time to thank a World War II veteran for what he has done for our country over fifty years ago. Even though I don´t know you, I am glad that I have been given your name so I could write and say thank you.

Sincerely
Dannon Schweser
_________________________________________________________________

From: Jnmcdevitt@aol.com
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 18:18:30 EDT
subject: Reply to Dannon

c\o Rolf
Dear Dannon,
     Thank you so much for your letter.  I'm sure that all who read it were touched by the fact that someone so young would even think about the vets of ww 2.  As you go through life, when Memorial Day comes around think a bit about us and the things you said in your letter.  Enjoy your life and have a great time!  Thank you again, young man.  I will remember you always.

Yours truly,

ex PFC John N. "Mac" McDevitt
75th Infantry Division
******************************************************************
 

3.) "Something Other Than War"
      From: "Betty G.O'Hearn" betty@infowar.com

The following paper is one in a collection of papers from "Cyberwar 2.0:
Myths, Mysteries and Reality" by AFCEA Press. The book is being introduced today at TechNet 98 in Washington.

Preview:

"Something Other Than War", By Winn Schwartau

"As we finished the dive, the cracking sounds off AK-47 bullets met us at the surface. I didn't call that peace.  When the mortar rounds rained down around us, that was Peacekeeping. Not war."
                   US Navy Commander James K. Campbell, Mogadishu, Somalia.

Quotables

Frankly, we have little clue as to what war really is today.  Every dictionary I could lay my hands on defined war as a military conflict between nations, or within a nation, where Armies and Navies struggle for domination in the physical plane. When you're  through with Daniel Webster, though, and look elsewhere, an entirely different picture emerges.

It's a War of Words

Business is War

War is Hell

The War on Poverty

The War on Drugs

"War is the extension of politics." Anonymous
 
"War is failed diplomacy." Anonymous

"It's almost impossible to see what wars make the world safe for." Anonymous

"I love war and responsibility and excitement. Peace is going to be Hell on me."
General George S. Patton

"All wars are popular for the first 30 days."
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Author and historian.

"It is always easy to begin a war, but very difficult to stop one, since its beginning and end are not under the control of the same man." Bellum Jugurthinum, 1st Century BC

"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." General George S. Patton

"War is a series of catastrophes that result in victory." Georges Clemenceau, French statesman

"I'd like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole field to private industry." Joseph Heller, Author of Catch-22

"In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running. If you stand still, they will swallow you." William Knudsen, Jr. Chairman, Ford Motor Company

"I don't meet competition. I crush it." Charles Revlon, Chairman, Revlon.

"Whatever is not nailed down is mine. Whatever I can pry loose is not nailed down."
Collis P. Huntington, Railroad magnate

"War would be virtually impossible if everything were on a cash basis." Anonymous

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it." W.C. Fields, American actor

"Men, all of this stuff you have heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans, traditionally, love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle.
When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble-shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball player, the toughest boxer. Americans love a winner and cannot tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost - and never will lose - a war, because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans."
                George C. Scott as George S. Patton in the movie, Patton.

"People used to go off to war, but modern science can now bring it to your doorstep." Anonymous
 

The Language of War
I got to asking myself,  "what exactly is war?" and "is our definition of war adequate to meet the challenges we face today?" I spent my teenage years watching the Vietnam War, which in international legalese, was not a war. The Korean War meets the same linguistic blockade, as does the Gulf War.
With all due respect to the tens of thousands of Americans who have made terrific sacrifices in the last 50 plus years, technically the United States has not been at war since World War II. We've had police actions, skirmishes, coalitions, and peacekeeping missions - indeed, we employ a plethora of Zieglerisms to define military intervention, military action and the death of American soldiers as anything but war. The word war has specific intent and meaning in international courts and to other nation states which we have diplomatically and politically avoided in the best interests of peace.

We sent the low flying US Air Force into Libya to bomb the bejeezus out of Khadhafi in 1986; we went into Granada and later tested the stealthy F-117's in Panama, but we haven't been at war. Thus, some of the above quotes become more poignant: if the politicians fail, and if the diplomats fail, we send in the troops - but it still isn't war. Well, if it ain't war, then, what is it?

This conundrum is not an exclusively American phenomenon, either. The Soviet War in Afghanistan. The War in Chechnya. The Chinese troops march into Tibet and the two countries get at it every so often. The Russian-Chinese border skirmishes. An examination of the history records from the last half-century will suggest peace, for lack of the formal declaration of War, yet millions of people have died during "Peace in Our Time."

Moving from Daniel Webster to a host of Thesauri, "War" offers quite a range of semantic alternatives.

Clash
Conflict
Battle
Contend
Opposition
Fight
Attack
Invade
Struggle
Hostilities
 
These terms are often bandied about as an alternative to the dreaded "War" word, but they also find themselves at home in marital dispute, corporate competition and children's games.
 
I find this a sad commentary, that while we have turned the killing machines, our soldiers and their weapons into high technology marvels, we have not similarly evolved our concepts of conflict and attempted to amalgamate the subtleties of hostility into our modern lexicon.

If that wets your whistle, go to:
http://www.infowar.com/mil_c4i/SomethingOtherThanWarRev1.html-ssi
It is impossible to place here because of graphics.

Betty O'Hearn
Assistant to Mr. Winn Schwartau
813-360-6256 Voice
813-363-7277 FAX
http://www.infowar.com
http://www.info-sec.com
**************************************************************************

4.) subject: ww2

From: GBooker316@aol.com
Date:   Tue, 9 Jun 1998 15:38:05 EDT

Sir,

I am researching the story of the US Army in south Wales, United Kingdom, during WW2. Elements of 75th Infantry division were in this area in late 1944 before going to France. I am trying to contact any veterans to perhaps share their memories/stories. Do you know other useful email addresses ? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,

Glenn Booker
Barry,
South Wales
UK
_________________________________________________________________________

From: rmsmith1924@webtv.net (Robert M Smith)
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 08:54:21 -0400
To: GBooker316@aol.com
CC: rmsmith1924@webtv.net, mkw-detective@t-online.de
subject: Wales---US Army 1944

Hello, ----This  is in response to your letter posted on the 75th Infantry Division  newsline originating  in Plettenberg, Germany, Rolf Wilmink,facilitor.

I was a member of  Antitank Company, 290th Infantry Regiment, 75th Division and was in Wales for a brief period in late 1944. The 290th Regiment embarked for Wales on 22 Oct 44 from Staten Island N.Y. aboard the U.S. Army Transport  Brazil, a converted ocean liner. The Brazil, part of a large convoy, docked at Swansea on approximately 1 Nov 44.
>From Swansea, the 290th went by rail to Porthcawl where it was stationed until 10 Dec 44  when it left for France by way of Southhampton, crossing the Channel on British ships.

While in Porthcawl, Antitank Company was billited in the Miner's Rest, a quaint rest/ recuperation home for Welsh miners.  It was very close to the seashore, which the locals referred to as "The Strand"  We marched three times a day for meals, up a road which followed the beach to another larger facility which had a mess hall.  Being stationed right in the Village of Porthcawl, training was mainly in the form of long marches and physical exercises.

The amenities at the Miners Rest were few. We slept on a palliasse which was a kind of mattress cover filled with straw which we had to make up ourselves  upon arrival at the billet. Part of the Army routine was to mop the barracks floor every morning.  The Miners Rest was so ancient that the scrub water leaked through the wooden floors to the rooms below, so we were excused from further mopping details.

Social life in the Village of Porthcawl was good. It had a cinema which we frequented.  I remember seeing the classic film," Gaslight" with Ingrid Bergman, which at that time was entitled "Murder in Thornton Square" for the British audiences.   I also remember the many Pubs, and room -temperature British pints.
There was much singing in the Pubs with the locals until the Landlord called  "Time please".
One popular but bawdy song of that era was "Roll  Me Over Yankee Soldier".  I believe there was a public dance hall in Porthcawl but  my recollections of that are at this time vague.
There were also passes for visits  to Cardiff and the town of Bridgin or possibly Bridgend comes to mind.  There was also one memorable week-end pass to London. These locations had facilities for the lodging and entertainment of visiting military personnel.....A special treat for me was English fish and chips with vinegar eaten fom a newspaper cone.

If you are not bored already, I will relate one more anecdote.  While in Porthcawl, Antitank Company was ordered to  make a 25-mile march with full field equipment as a night exercise.  The march took all night, partly through the residential areas and was accompanied by much loud singing, talking and laughing by the marchers which interruped the sleep of the locals .The incident was reported to Col. Carl  Duffner, the regimental commander, who ordered Antitank Company, as punishment, to repeat the 25-mile march the next night, this time in strict silence.

Other recollections of Wales in November '44 include to beautiful countryside, green hills, almost daily rain, and the marvelous accent of the wonderful Welsh people.

Good luck to you in your search for information.

Sincerely, Rob Smith
GREETINGS  FROM  FLORIDA - U.S.A.
________________________________________________________________________

From: GBooker316@aol.com
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 17:36:16 EDT
subject: Re: ww2
 

Rolf G. Wilmink,

I have had two respondents so far.
Vielen Dank für Ihre Hilfe !

Glenn Booker

***************************************************************************

5.) OPEN-DOOR-DAYS in ELSENBORN

To: Bill Black
75hat Div

We recieved your adress from Mr. and Mrs. Schmetz from the remember Museum 39-45 of Thimiser-Clermont. The Elsenborn barracks and training area is organizing ist „Open Door“ on the 12th and 13th of September 1998.
During this „Open Door“ several events are planned such as
- Exposition of military and civilian equipment
- Civilian and military demonstrations
- Opening of the museum on the history of the „Camp Elsenborn“ (from 1890 to 1998)
- Drive with the old military vehicles
- The 1(US) Mechanized Infantry Division will participate at our „Open door“.

The history of Elsenborn is also linked to the European history, First World War, Second World War including "The Battle of the Bulge“ in which your unit took part.
Any documents or items illustrating the passage of your unit in Elsenborn is interesting for us, and we would like to ask you to get copies of these documents in order to give them their place in the museum.
We also would like to invite the veterans of your association to visit Elsenborn on the 12th and 13th September 1998. Everybody will be welcome to our barracks and it will be a unique opportunity for many of the veterans to return to the place where they took part in one of the most important battles of the Second World War. We kindly request You to publish this possibility to visit Elsenborn in the newspaper of you association.
Your point of contact in Elsenborn is major Eddy Loos
(Phone:         Office: **32-80-442105;
                     Private: **32-80-229938;
Fax:              Office: ** 32-80-44700;
                     Private: **32-80-229938)
We hope to be able to meet many of the US veterans during our Open Door-days.

Yours faithfully,
D. Deladriere
Lieutenant-Colonel
Commanding Officer
**************************************************************************

6.) Trip to Europe

I dont know if I have mentioned it before, but if you want to read about the trip of the veterans Allred, Mistler (75th Div.) and Karr (167th Signal) to Plettenberg, Germany, go to:

http://www.sequim-gazette.com/aspecialtrip970730.htm

Mr. Horst Hassel, our webmaster, will also put this page on our website.
*******************************************************************

7.) The unofficial newsline and the veterans association

From the Bulge Buster (official newsletter of the 75th Div Veterans Association)

President´s Message

Dear Friends,

Fifty three years after WWII, we find ourselves in the fast moving information revolution and we haven´t seen anything yet. We ran a survey of the N.E.C. members during February and March of this year, 1998, in an effort to get permission to release our roster (mailing list) for promoting our 75th Division History book. During this time, I was told that our roster was on the Internet and was given the homepage adress. I checked it out and found that our roster is not on the Internet but it was available through the unofficial Homepage owner. The owner is Rolf G. Wilmink from Plettenberg, Germany. I sent him an E-Mail explaining our restriction as outlined in our Constitution and By-laws. He is complying with an acknowledgment in the 75th Division newsline #12 on 5 April 1998. The 75th Division newsline is a newsletter on the Internet that can be downloaded by anyone with computer capabilities. The Internet is new, resulting in confusion amongst some of our members when downloading 75th Infantry Division and 75th Infantry. This is like comparing apples and oranges because the 75th Infantry is a regiment of the 9th Division and they have their stories on the Internet as well. We have permission to print everything out of the Internet newsletter as long as the source is mentioned with E-mail and Internet adresses. Their newsletter is protected by the U.S. copyright law.

A Farmers Guide to Computer Lingo:
Modem: What you did in the hayfields
Keyboard: Where you hang the keys
Windows: what to shut when it´s cold
Log on: Making the fireplace hotter
Hard Drive: Getting home during the muddy season
Microchips: Calf chips not cow chips
Download: Getting the firewood off the pickup
Megahertz: What you get when you´re not careful downloading
Mouse: What the cat caught in the barn
Web: What the spider built
Byte: What you got from the mosquito

Sincerely,
Paul C. Stephan
President
_____________________________________

From: Rolf G. Wilmink, Germany
(To be published in the Bulge Buster)
 

Dear Mr. Stephan,

I have read your president´s message in the Bulge Buster, issue May 98.

Please let me explain to avoid misunderstandings:
I have bought the roster when I attended the reunion of the 75th in 1995 (Atlanta). I would not give out the roster to anyone else. I made the offer to a member of the newsline, to check my roster for him if  I can find there the adress of an old buddy that he was looking for.

I will not publish the roster, to avoid that the members get unwanted advertising (spam).
It is not, as you wrote, available from me, in any form whatsoever.

I often get by eMail questions from veterans, that are looking for other members of their former unit. I am glad when I can help to bring old friends together.
This is the only purpose why I have the roster and for what I use it.

I publish all requests in my 75th newsline and hope, that some of the readers contact the veteran that is looking for help. It would be for the good of that veteran, if the requests would also be published in the Bulge Buster, when forwarded from you as a recipient of the newsline to Mr. Warmouth. With my newsline, I can only reach about 100 veterans, a lot of them not members of your association. With your newsletter, you reach all members of the vets assn. I am sure that somebody of the readers then can help.

My goal is: Bringing friends together, that had no contact over all this years, and to inform veterans, that there is a 75th Div veterans association, where they can meet all their old friends. I already had some good results with this, as you can read in a back-issue of the newsline by Rik Peirson.

At the end of each of my newsletters, I note your adress so the readers can get in contact with you and hopefully become a new member of your association.

Please tell your members that I did not want to harm any of your members privacy.

Greetings from Germany
Rolf G. Wilmink
________________________________________________________

Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 14:01:09 -0800
From: Rik Peirson <rik@dayone.com>
subject: My Debt of Gratitude
 

Dear Rolf:

When I was little, I was completely unaware of the part the 75th played in my Father's life.  To me, at least then, the 75th was simply a patch on the arm of a man in a picture we kept on a table at home.  I came to know that he was my Dad, but knew he had been killed well before I even realized what a Dad was, or that I was missing mine.

My Dad, the man in the picture, was 1LT John Silas Sheffield Peirson, killed on Christmas Day of '44 at La Roumiere, near Bastogne, in the Battle of the Bulge.

In growing up, I was always told that so many were killed and wounded that there would be no one left to ask about it -- and I'm afraid that no one ever did.
At least not in my family.  But about a year ago, I discovered differently.

Through your Newsline, and then through a succession of resulting contacts, I have come to know a number of the men of the 75th, including a few who actually knew my Dad.  Thanks to the contacts that started with the Newsline, men in and around the 75th, mostly in the 3rd Battalion of the 290th, have showered me with their time and their words of encouragement -- to send me maps and combat diaries and personal reminiscences and accounts of the battles, the food, the training, the fear, the acts of heroism, and the simple acts of kindness that seem to transpire among men in the chaos of combat.

I saw it myself in Vietnam, and it allowed me a better understanding of what happened at St. Vith and Bastogne, and at La Roumiere on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of '44.

What happened is simple.  I finally got curious, and set out to find out whatever I could, no matter how little it was.  But what really happened I could never have predicted or imagined.  Someone told me about an organization called AWON --which is the American World War II Orphans' Network, founded in Washington State by Annie Mix, whose own Father was killed in Italy in January of '45.

As it turned out, in the process of looking for information about her own Father, Annie discovered that there were something like 183,000 of us who had lost our Fathers in WWII, and that most of us shared two common circumstances.  First, we were "protected" by our families, so many of whom thought we would grow up more "normally" if the Father relationship was minimized in our lives.  As a consequence, a lot of AWON members report that even the existence of their Fathers was severely downplayed -- and sometimes disavowed altogether.
I've gotten to know one member of AWON who didn't even see a PICTURE of his Dad until he was thirty years old!

The second common circumstance is that almost all of us grew up picturing ourselves as being somehow alone, even though we had Mothers, growing up with a vague sense of abandonment, though not quite realizing why. It was a syndrome that most of our Mothers shared too, of course -- feeling somehow abandoned, and confused.  Anni Mix recently wrote a book about it, called "Lost in Victory," but that's another story.  The point is, there were so many of us who grew up feeling as though we were alone, and not realizing that there were so many thousands of us whose feelings were so much alike.

In any case, through AWON, when I realized what had happened --  that a whole generation of us, especially those who had lost our Fathers -- had been systematically discouraged from "dwelling" on a Father's death by searching for his Army buddies, I started to get curious.

Experimenting as I was with Internet search engines, and remembering the 75th patch in the picture, I put out a search -- and in about 5 seconds the URL of your unofficial 75th Division Website and Newsline appeared on my screen.

I was dumbfounded, not only that such an organization existed, but that it was based in Plettenberg, West Germany!

Rolf, you were just a few days away from a huge celebration there -- the 600th anniversary of your town -- in which several members of the 75th came over to participate.  You were clearly involved in the planning of the celebration, but you still took the time to write to a stray American who just then, after 50+ years, was finally looking for information about his father.

Here is what you have so far caused . . .

Through the Newsline, which I first saw just a year ago -- in June of '97 -- I wrote not only to you, but to two people I found on a reference list on your site – Steve Graber, whose Dad was in the 291st, and Rob Smith of Sarasota Florida.
Both of these men were extremely important in the process.

Steve gave me a short list of possible contacts, including Andy Robble (CO of K Co) and Al Roxburgh (an historian).  Andy Robble remembered my Dad, and even gave me an idea of how he died.  Al Roxburgh provided innumerable bits and pieces of the action surrounding La Roumiere (where my Dad was killed), by phone, most of it on his nickel!

Rob Smith poked around, and found out that my Dad had been in Intelligence, as the Battalion S-2 -- which was fascinating to me because I was also in Intelligence, though all the while with zero knowledge that my Dad had been in intelligence, too.

Al Roxburgh also got me in contact with Gil Nelson, who, along with Rob Smith (bless them both) independently "found" retired COL (then 1LT) Vince Geiger --who was wandering around the 75th reunion in Kansas City last August, looking for a few people he thought he might remember -- including my Dad!  Though I think he was saddened when he found out that a lot of his friends (also including my Dad) had been killed.

Rob Smith and Gil Nelson both told him about me (and my search) and they got me in contact with Vince Geiger when they all returned from Kansas City.

This got very exciting for me, and even more interesting, as I think you will see, as it turned out that there is really much more to the story, which also became apparent once I talked by phone to Vince Geiger.

First, the reason Vince had known my Dad was because, aside from their both being young Lieutenants in the 290th of the 75th (and at Fort Leonard Wood) they somehow discovered that they were both engaged to Pittsburgh girls named Betty.
And in truth, my Dad did marry my Mother, Betty (who had been Mary Elisabeth Frost), and Vince subsequently married his Betty as well, and they still live happily just outside of Pittsburgh.  But there's more.

Because Vince and Betty live near Pittsburgh, and I was going to Pittsburgh anyway, in December (to see my daughter, Lindsey, graduate from Penn State on 12/19/97), Vince and Betty invited us to stop by the day after Lindsey's graduation, which we did.

Here's the real surprise, and for this, let me back up just a bit, back to the mid sixties, when I was at Penn State myself, and though the deed I'll describe was not exactly one of academic prowess, it was apparently necessary at the time (and I sure hope the statutes of limitaion have run out by now).  Along with two pledge brothers from my fraternity, I helped "relocate" a park bench from the Penn State Golf Course (late one snowy night) to our fraternity to use as a temporarily prop for the pledge formal.

But it had been such an ordeal to get it out of the ground and at least partly into the trunk of my car, and through the town of State College that we were reluctant to try to move it back.  So instead, we put it out to the side of the house by a fishpond we had, and painted a sign on it something to the effect that it had been dedicated by the class of '26 (or thereabouts).  And there the bench stayed, for at least three years -- until one day when I was a Senior, and a new pledge, who happened to be on the Penn State Golf Team, had a visit from his coach, who recognized the bench -- and our jig was up.

I'm not totally sure what happened after that, but I think it quickly became a priority for our golf team member's pledge class to return that bench, post haste.

In any case, now years later, thanks to the newsline, and through a circuitous search, I come across Vince Geiger, who it turns out, as he's giving me directions to his place for my trip East, tells me he runs a golf course.  Not only that, but when he realized that the original purpose for my trip was to see my daughter graduate from Penn State, he mentioned that his SON had gone to Penn State -- and had been on the golf team.

Are you starting to put this together?  Not only had Vince known my Dad at Fort Leonard Wood, MO in 1944, and not only had they both married Betties from Pittsburgh, but his son, Jim and I were Fraternity Brothers at Penn State, though three years apart, and oblivious to the knowledge that we were tied not only by the bench, but by our Dads.

We did attend Lindsey's graduation from Penn State in December, and with Lindsey, stopped at the Geigers on the way to Pittsburgh, drove through their beautiful golf course, were taken to lunch and were welcomed like family.

Betty was wonderful, and Vince was indescribable -- as the only living friend of my Dad's that I know.  He had planned for our visit, and he had gathered pictures of Ft. Leonard Wood that included my Dad, old base newsletters and other memorabilia.  He gave me a leather picture case (of which he had two) that were given to Officers of the 290th on Christmas of '43 -- and finally -- a red, white and blue patch of the 75th -- that now lives on the very picture of my Dad in uniform that I grew up seeing as a child.

So there it was -- the Newsline first, then the contact with Steve Graber and Rob Smith, and subsequently to All Roxburgh and Gil Nelson, then to the Kansas City Reunion, where Rob and Gil found Vince, and then we met, and have established a kinship I can't even describe.

The story has come full circle -- thanks to you, Rolf, and to the Website and Newsline that you have spent so much of yourself in providing.  I must thank you and the people of Plettenberg from the bottom of my heart.  Not just for me and my daughter, but for the many thousands who died there, and for their families and friends, many of whom have found and will yet find comfort in the human contacts about the war that your caring and persistence have allowed.

As reference to some of the above, here are four web addresses:

www.dayone.com/peirson1.html -- A series of four pages on my Dad.

www.dayone.com/rik1.html-- The Penn State Golf Course Bench.

www.dayone.com/rik2.html -- The day I met General Westmoreland.

www.west.net/~awon-- The American WWII Orphans Network Website

I didn't know I was an "Orphan" until there was AWON, as I had always thought that BOTH parents had to be dead to be truly orphaned -- but this is not the case.  Anyone who has lost even one parent to death is considered an orphan.  So if any of your Newsline readers were orphaned by the death of a 75th Infantry Divisionsoldier, please let them know about AWON, and direct them to the AWON website.  With luck, we'll welcome them just as warmly as you have welcomed me.

Meanwhile, Rolf, continued thanks for what you continue to do.

Best regards always --

    -- Rik Peirson

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Rik Peirson
Day One  ×  Santa Barbara, CA  ×  USA
Marketing, Advertising, Interactive Communications
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And in the next newsline...............

........your feedback to this newsline !!!!

Greetings from Germany
Rolf G. Wilmink
75th Inf Div WWII Veterans Association Unofficial homepage
www.mknet.de/75th
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