HomeMy WebLinkAbout761st Tank Battalion
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR'S
father, F. L. "AI" Alcindor,
in uniform in the 16th
Battalion, Field Artillery
Replacement Center, Fort
Bragg, North Carolina.
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)
KAREEM'S PARENTS. 1943. Al Alcindor always said that meeting Cora
was the high point of his time in the army. (AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)
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LEDNARD "SMITTY" SMITH,
wearing the uniform and
insignia of the 761 st Battalion.
(COURTESY LEONARD SMITH)
2nd LIEUTENANT IOHN Roosevelt
"Jackie" Robinson, while serving in
the 9th Cavalry, the famed "Buffalo
Soldiers," before his transfer to the
761 st. (COURTESY RACHEL ROBINSON)
LEONARD SMITH AND comrad
(COURTESY LEONARD SMITH)
r
!
LEONARD SMITH AND comrades in the 761st training in the U.S.
(COURTESY LEONARD SMITH)
HEADQUARTERS COMPANY, 761 sl Tank
Battalion, Camp Claiborne, 1943.
(COURTESY LEONARD SMITH)
LEONARD SMITH AND comrades in the 761st training in the U.S
(COURTESY LEONARD SMITH)
HEADQUARTERS COMPANY, 761 sl Tank
Battalion. Camp Claiborne, 1943.
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10 H N Roosevelt
while
1 h......UJuJUn
SMITH
and
Battalion
(COURTESY LEONARD SMITH)
LEONARD TTY"
wearing the uniform
insignia of the 761 st
"SM
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DOG COMPANY, 76151 Tank Battalion, checking equipment before leaving
England to go into combat. (U.S. ARMY PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PATTON
MUSEUM, FORT KNOX, KY)
76151 FIELD OFFICERS (from left to
Headquarters Company commandi
McHenry, Charlie Company comrr
Lieutenant James Lightfoot, the 81
(U.S. ARMY PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PATIO
TANK COMMANDER Harvey Woodard assessing terrain, Nancy,
France, November 1944. (U.S. ARMY PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PATTON
MUSEUM, FORT KNox, KY)
II
I,
76151 FIELD OFFICERS (from left to right) Captain Ivan Harrison,
Headquarters Company commanding officer; Captain Irvin
McHenry, Charlie Company commanding officer; and 2nd
Lieutenant James Lightfoot, the 81 MM Mortar Platoon Leader.
(U.S. ARMY PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PATTON MUSEUM, FORT KNox, KY)
A TANK FROM Able Company of the 761st Tank
Battalion, crossing the Seille River on November 9,
1944. (U.S. ARMY PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PATTON MUSEUM,
,
FORT KNox, KY)
THE REMAINS OF four German Panzers and two 761st Sherman tanks
after fierce fighting on November 19, 1944, in an open field between
Guebling and Bourgaltroff. (COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
CAPTAIN GARLAND
~DOC~ Adamson,
M.D. (COURTESY OF
THE NATIONAL
ARCHIVES)
PRIVATE EUGENE
HAMILTON guarding the
tank park of the 761 st
Battalion following the
war, January 1946.
(U.S. ARMY PHOTO COURTESY
OF THE PATTON MUSEUM,
FORT KNOX, KY)
GENERAL GEORGE
PATTON awarding
a Silver Star to
Private Ernest A.
Jenkins. (U.S. ARMY
PHOTO COURTESY OF
THE PATTON MUSEUM,
FORT KNox, KY)
<< _,. _.,/ IiIII
t~-~'-.
."e
PRIVATE EUGENE
HAMILTON guarding the
tank park of the 761 st
Battalion following the
war, January 1946.
(U.S. ARMY PHOTO COURTESY
OF THE PATTON MUSEUM,
FORT KNox, KY)
THE
LEONARD SMITH. TODAY.
(COURTESY LEONARD SMITH)
,...,
Charlie Company moved two
Forest with elements of the 328tb
outskirts of Munster. The 761st's.
shell the town. The infantry and (
encountering a range of concea
tions. The tanks spread out to p
positions in the town as the infa
Smith's "Cool Stud" tank and M
the rest. As they passed throl
strafed the tanks with abandon.
abled, unable to move. The Aml
ing insupportably high casualtie
By nightfall the Americam
Germans controlled the area 1
tanks were immobilized just in~
of the crewmen would make a
fire. The men-including, for (
ened to sleep. The only reason
cannons were still working and
run up within range and toss
a standoff. But the tankers \\
Panzerfaust and antitank gur
Sherman tanks was a prioril)
could come at any moment, \\
could do about it. To keep thl
Sherman crews talked
throughout battle. Though ~
that would reveal their objec
be listening, tank units dev
selves through the day with
slang from the streets of Ne
GI profanity, a frequent use
LEONARD SMITH AT
a cemetery in the
Netherlands, visiting
the grave site of a fallen
comrade.
(COURTESY LEONARD SMITH)