Jakie Muscar, 14th Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division

Jakie,
My dad was also a cook in WWII. I recently have been learning more about the final days of the Remagan Bridge as dad was supposedly among the last batch of troops to cross it before it fell. Don't know much about what group dad was in. My brother also learned that most military records for this period of time was destroyed in a fire. We have a copy of his separation papers but it doesn't tell much. Dad was discharged in Sept. of 45. He served in Africa, Sicily, France, Belgium & Germany. Just wanting to learn more about his service.

 

Nice history

This years I'm going at Bastogne for the 65th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in 9th Armored and MAYBE with an M8 Armored Car and the crew in 89th Cav Recon...

 

er....nine months late, but they are superb!

 

Has anyone ever heard of a Harvey Hitch, I believe he was in the 9th AD and drove tank.

 

Here is a nice video my brother did with our grandpap who was in the 9th.

9th Armored Division

also a nice story that came out of it....

A father's battle experience unearthed

 

I have the advantage here of posting some years later.

Maneuver Center of Excellence Libraries

At this link, if you scroll down to the 2 814 numbers, you will have the after action report of the 14th tank battalion.

 

See slipdigits reply 12 above for the company structure of a tank battalion.
Although the 14th was in CCB 9th armored, The company B designation means exactly what it says.
Cecil Roberts, in an appendix to A Soldier From Texas, has listings of the 14th Tank Battalion members for the different companies. If you post your grandfather's name, I can see if it is listed, to let you decide if you want to look for a copy on Amazon.
I don't have time to look right now, but it seems like the after action reports i posted links for include lists of the silver and bronze star recipients from the battalion.

I will post a little more info about Robert's book and some other reference material as I have time over the next few days.

 

mfortney, on the chance you have notifications in your email for updates in this post, did you ever create that website?
Also, haven't had a chance to look at pictures here yet, the ones you made available on another website were too small to do much with, can you provide bigger ones on request? (upon review, most of the pictures you posted are no longer available to the thread.)

 

Roberts' book does show your grandfather in the list for the service company. Again no time to go back and verify at the moment, but the after action report may show the service company being in a different town than the headquarters company-would not have high hopes for your grandfather to be in the specific picture you mentioned.

 

The predecessors of the 14th Tank Battalion came in a rather messy and untidy sequence of events. I have absolutely no understanding of military matters and I went way over my head when I saw it. I may be able to regain access to that document and post the information here.

The beginning of the after action report has a little information.

Some additional info here:
14th Cavalry Regiment | Lineage and Honors | U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH)

 

Burial information for some of the dead from 14th Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division

14th Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division | American Battle Monuments Commission

For someone very interested in battalion history, it would probably be possible to make a list of these names and include the dates of death. The list could then be grouped by dates of death and the dates of death checked against the battalion after action report. That should allow identifying at least some of the actions in which those tankers died.

 

Memory vignettes:

Elmer Amarud, ambulance driver, 27th AIB, CCB, 9th Armored:
Our Band of Angels

S/Sgt Robert E Mertens; Service Company, 14th Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division
Ruby Kocurek is probably Rudolph Kocourek; Service Company, 14th Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division
(Names derived from Appendix in C Roberts.)
A Bulge Ghost Town, December 1944

S/Sgt Meron J Thompson; Company C, 14th Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division
(Narrative suggests Thompson was probably the tank commander.)
Leon Sobrisiki-Gunner is probably Leo J Sobieralski, Company C, 14th Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division
Lt Hugh Morrision; Company C, 1st platoon leader, 14th Tank Battalion, 9th armored Division
Tank Battalion Escapes St Vith Trap

Dee Paris, Company D, 14th Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division
(I believe Paris was a platoon leader, but am not absolutely sure of that.)
About 9th as Phantom Division
9th Armored Division fought German Armies

 

14th Tank Battalion, CCB, 9th Armored Division
14th Tank Battalion, CCA, 9th Armored Division

In earlier posts in this thread and in related posts on another site there is discussion about what combat comman 14 Tank Battalion belonged to. Maybe the reason for confusion is the answer is both.

14th Tank Battalion, CCB, 9th Armored Division, Battle of the Bulge
C.C.B. 9th Armored Division, Battle of the Bulge

14th Tank Battalion, CCB, 9th Armored Division, Ludendorf railroad bridge (Remagen)
14th Tank Battalion, Task Force Engeman, Ludendorf railroad bridge (Remagen)
See Roberts pp 66 and following for a bit.

Then:
14th Tank Battalion, CCA, 9th Armored Division, after Remagen, Ludendorf Bridge and the breakout at Erpel

"On the 23rd of March during the breakout from the bridgehead area, the 14th Tank Battalion was attached to Combat Command "A" Headquarters. We became associated with the 60th Armored Infantry and the 3rd Armored Field Artillery Batallions. We operated in this organization until the end of the war."

Roberts, p 75

 

Cecil E Roberts, A Soldier From Texas, 1978, Branch-Smith Inc, Ft Worth, TX. Memoir of a career soldier, includes his experience with 14th Tank Battalion, then his other military experience. I've read only the 14th Tank stuff. Late in the book is also a chapter about his consulting work on the film about the bridge at Remagen-he was a co-consultantant with Ken Hechler. The Russians invaded Czecholslovakia while they were filming. Synchronicity- Russians in Czech in 1945 and then again years later.

Appendix: MEMBERS; FOURTEENTH TANK BATTALION, NINTH ARMORED DIVISION; WORLD WAR II IN EUROPE

OUR HONORED DEAD
BATTALION HEADQUARTERS
MEDICAL DETACHMENT
HEADQUARTERS COMPANY
SERVICE COMPANY
"A" COMPANY
"B" COMPANY
"C" COMPANY
"D" COMPANY

(There are a few copies of this book listed on Amazon.)

(On Monday there was one copy of the Reichelt book, mentioned earlier in the thread, listed on Amazon. It is now gone.)

 

As it happens, I have a short term loan of a copy of that picture. It is going to be very difficult for you to work with because it is quite small and contains a whole lot of people. I don't know if the a photograph (vs the original negative) has a good enough resolution to scan and get a good quality "blow up" from. I don't think your grandfather will be in it. In Roberts' appendix, he lists members of the Medical Detachment, Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters company. The listing for the medical detachment shows 20 names, I count 16 speckled white helmets in the picture. I think the remaining people will be Battalion and Headquarters company staff. The person I am interested in is not in the picture-I am going to return this one to its owner without any more of my efforts on it.

 

Are you aware of any books for 9th Armored maintenance - similar to Belton Cooper's book for the 3rd Armored?

 

LIGNEUVILLE MONUMENT:

Bellevaux-Ligneuville - Monument en hommage à 8 soldats américains abattus en décembre 1944

Casper Johnson; Lincoln Abraham (Monument listing is incorrect); Clifford Pitts; Nick Sullivan were in 14th Tank Battalion

(Re: Nick Sullivan I do not know what part of the battalion he was in at the time he was killed, but early on, back in the States, Sullivan was in Co B (or its predecessor, Co E of the 14th Armored Regiment.)

 

I have a photo of my Father (Pvt Gerald K Tremmel) at Camp Funsten at Ft. Riley. He is in front of a Building with a sign that says 14 3rd HQ. He has a 9th Armored Division patch on his shoulder.
In Jun 43 he was transferred to another Unit and shipped out to N Africa. I am trying to find out what Unit he was assigned to there and then in Sicily.