Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
6:07 | The men waiting in England knew something was up, then came the word that the invasion was on. Going in a month after D-Day, tank crew member Andy Carpenter joined the mad rush across France towards Germany. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Keywords : Andy Carpenter England D-Day France Germany replacement Luxembourg artillery Trier Aachen Hurtgen Forest tank mine shrapnel
Andy Carpenter, Joe Peoples and Dave Williams share their stories of crossing the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, the last standing span over the Rhine, in March of 1945.
Andy Carpenter was following the front in a replacement unit when he finally got assigned to a tank crew as a loader. They supported an infantry unit, but those men didn't necessarily want to cross a field right next to the tanks. Too tempting a target for German artillery. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
They knew a German counter-attack was coming and, when it happened, it was big. Andy Carpenter relates his experiences in a tank unit during the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. During the fight, his tank commander fell back in though the hatch, not believing what he had just seen attacking the tank. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Andy Carpenter and his crew were living in their tank. One night they were holed up on the grounds of a winery when they saw a German tank heading right for them, totally unaware of their presence. After that encounter, back at company headquarters, he learned the fate of his last tank commander, who had been evacuated with a shrapnel wound. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Tank commander Andy Carpenter crossed the Remagen bridge successfully but, when he got to the other side, a mortar shell brought everything to a halt in a deadly way. After a miserable night in a railway tunnel, he had to perform a grim task. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
When Andy Carpenter was promoted to tank commander, he got a crash course in what it takes to be a leader. As the war wound down, his unit was sent to Austria, where some of them began to train for the Pacific. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
After the Big War, Andy Carpenter joined the reserves and got married. As his first anniversary approached, he was recalled for Korea. This was a rough time with a baby on the way. But still he went to the frozen misery near the Manchurian border and became part of the epic retreat to the South. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
