Dec 19, 2008
Remembering the Friendships

I really enjoyed the latest additions to the website, especially the one about Colonel Wade Gatchell and the horse cavalry.  I served in Colonel Gatchell's Combat Command Reserve (CCR) headquarters all during the Tenth Armored Division's training in Georgia, maneuvers in Tennessee, and battles in Europe.  I was a radio operator in a half track and worked in four hour shifts around the clock, four hours on and eight hours off.  I was fortunate enough not to get wounded in spite of heavy incoming German artillery fire on several occasions, especially when we were surrounded in Crailsheim, Germany for several days around Easter time in 1945. 

I was able to stay in touch with Colonel Gatchell all these years up until his final days in San Diego.  He was a real good officer and gentleman with a mind sharp as a tack.  Another man in our headquarters who still lives in San Diego area is my half track driver, Edward Ebbert.  He was wounded about two weeks before the war ended but he survived in spite of a small piece of shrapnel he still carries somewhere inside his body.

It is the friendships that we made during those days of wartime hell that we do appreciate the most and which remain enduring for all of our lives. 

During a recent telephone call with our Western Chapter Secretary, Phil Burge, I told him that I was doing a speaking engagement to two men's clubs.  I am showing the DVD disc that we all received from the National organization of the Tenth Armored Veterans Association.  It is being received with a great deal of interest, especially during this time of year when we know that the Battle of the Bulge took place right around Chistmastime in Belgium 64 years ago.  I found that Gene Patterson's new book about the Division is very helpful in putting together my talk.

I wish you the very best for this Holiday Season and  the coming New Year and I extend those wishes and prayers to all the veterans of "The Greatest Generation" that we served with.
- Leo (Lee) Curtis