Seeking Information: 754th Tank Battalion

Of course, you are right, Pacifist. Well done. My first thought was that it was the 129th. However, I wasn't positive and thought maybe my personal interest in the 129th had affected my recollection. I was also did not have time to do the necessary checking as you did.

Here's a page from the book Armored Thunderbolt which shows the photo with a similar caption to the one you described. And the photo from page 377 of CARTWHEEL... (ref. to post #19 above).


View attachment 21413


It is amazing how many blogs, forums, and other websites have wrong info regarding these photos. I have seen the soldiers ID'd as Americal Division in Jan 1944, Marines on Palau, etc.

Capn, though he may have not gotten the Regiment right, he did have the right Division and branch of service. Lucky Legs II may very well have supported the 145th and/or 148th at times during the War. It's not surprising if 20+ years later, he got that one detail wrong. IMO, that letter is a treasure, just as much as the photos and other mementos that you have. Thank you for sharing them here.

 

This is great stuff, really interesting reading. By the way, nice new profile pic Tommy .

 

Thanks. As much as I like the TD patch, it was time to mix it up a bit.

I found another photo of the infantry & tank attack on Bougainville which identifies the soldiers as 129th Infantry. The armor unit is not identified, but is almost certainly the 754th.

View attachment 21440

 

TD resized your pic. Considering the Sherman has a number 3 on it and a helmet hanging off the turret I'd say 95% chance it was Lucky Legs II again.

 

It's come to my attention that my photos I placed within my "replies" have lost their links to PhotoBucket (my previous image storage site). Not of my doing, but Photobucket has had a change of "policy" where it requires a "fee" to use an uploaded image from their site if its used on "third party websites", like WW2Forum. They want $300.00 for my ability to use their site to hold images!?! Sorry, I won't pay their ransom!!

I've since gone to another storage site and can now relink the few photos I've used to these replies again. Because of a "time limitation" regarding edits to replies from this forum (you can't edit your replies after a certain amount of time), I'll add my images in the following posts.

 

That's it for now. Just a couple of images that needed to be relinked.......and this was the only way to do it!

I'm glad a fellow reader of this forum PM me, asking about the images. His interest was regarding his Grandfather who was with the 754th during WWII. I'm glad to be of help

 

Yeah, I had the same problem. When I got the message from PB as to what they were going to do, I asked them to close my account and told them to go pound sand. Fortunately, I had kept copies of all the photos I had uploaded to PB so I wasn't completely SOL. I will never use another image hosting service.

 

Hello TD-Tommy again.....been a long time since I last was here! New computer, new image hosting site, I forgot about relinking my images here.
I decided to keep my "account" with Photobucket........I've kept all my images by other means too. I want my images to stay on their server site until they rot!! Taking up space is my best answer to them!!

 

Here its 2020 and I just found this site.. If u r still here pls reply, my dad was in 654 Tk Bat, Co C....have one postcard from New Caledonia to my mom. Anyone out there knows anything 754th Tk Bat, pls reply.

 

I am new and just joined July 2020, my dad was in 754th Tk Bat Co C, .. so if there is any info out there, would ,like t know

 

Hello Frank S, obviously I've not been on this site in a while....just found your post of July, but better late than never!

If your father was sending postcards from New Caledonia then he, like my dad, went over with the Battalion or soon thereafter. I don't know how much you may know about the 754th, their post war "Battalion Association", or their history, but I may be able to help. Thomas Howard had written several pieces of literature based on his daily diary and those writings may very well be in public domain by now. I've never had to look for them since Tom and dad were close, but they might be available at military libraries? "754 Tank Battalion, Our Proud History 1940-1946"; "All to this end, The road to and through the Philippines"; or "A Compilation of Extractions from History with Geographic Implications" are some of his works. All based on his experiences with the 754th and his view of the world war in conflict.

The 754th shipped out for parts unknown January, 1942 from New York harbor. They had trained at both Fort Knox Ky, then assembled at Pine Camp, Watertown NY. Dad eventually became the Platoon Staff Sargent for 3rd Platoon, Company A, so he and your dad may very well have known each other. Their over seas trip took them West not East as expected, landing in Melbourne Australia 27th February 1942, then off to Noumea Harbor, New Caledonia. The following is from the 754th Tank Battalion Memorial Dedication at Fort Knox June, 15th, 1995:



This plaque is on the back of the above memorial outside the George Patton Museum at Fort Knox:

A list of their stations and warfare:



During the ceremony, Lt. Col Donald Stevenson of Fort Knox spoke these words:

“You were one of the first units to respond to this nation's call to overseas duty. You trained for winter warfare but battled the enemy in hot humid Pacific islands. Your adaptability and flexibility in the heat of battle set you apart and above the rest. The 754th deactivation was at Seoul, Korea on 31 December 1946”

The unit received various commendations from commanding generals under whom it served. The decorations received are as follows.

One Presidential Unit Citation, United States
One Presidential Unit Citation, Philippine islands
One Legion of Merit
Two Silver Stars
Twenty Bronze Stars
Seventy-six Purple Hearts

It's important to note the 754th took a role in the Korean Theater after WWII.

I hope this helps.

 

The man in the first in second picture is my great grandfather he is in the far right in the first picture and the middle in the second. If anyone has anything in the way of info I would really appreciate it , my grandfather would love to know more

 

I'm once again slow in reading this thread, and just found Tom Wimmmer's post. I'm suspecting Tom you have a good idea who your Great-grandfather was since you recognized him from the photo, at least someone reading this thread has. I've sent you a Personal Message on your Profile Page of this forum if you wish to contact me further or respond to this thread. I'll try to follow it better. Yes, I have info about your Great-Grandfather and the 754th.

One thing I will point out, Dad's tank had a flame thrower attached to it during the Luzon invasion in the Liberation of the Philippines. This was no small gesture by the crew to accept the responsibility of the weapon. All of the crew had to volunteer to accept the flame thrower before it was mounted. The flammable fuel and the high-pressure oxygen bottle used for propellant had to be placed inside the cramped quarters of the Sherman....between the driver and bow gunner. The crew had to acknowledge that the tank was extremely lethal to the enemy, which gave the enemy extra pressure to eliminate the threat over other tanks. Plus, the hazards involved in having a firebomb installed inside the tank warranted for the entire crew to volunteer. Your Great-Grandfather was one of those.