ABOVE: Rev. Walter Stitt, Secretary/Treasurer
of the 3rd Armored Division Association (WWII), closes the final
national reunion on Sept. 18, 2010, in Columbus, Georgia, the
home of Ft. Benning. The closing included his favorite poem "Nothing
Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost and a heart-felt rendition
of "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You." (Video by
Vic Damon of 3AD.com Staff)
Two books compiled by Bill and Lale Ruth
of the fascinating details of 3rd Armored Div. WWII veterans
returning to their old European battlegrounds in 1992 & 1994.
Full of great text and photos! SPECIAL
NOTE: Patience please. These are 68-page & 219-page
PDF's respectively, and each about 60MB in size. Downloading
can take between 1 min. and 8 min., depending on your computer
and Internet connection.
3rd Armored Cologne video nearing
200,000 views on YouTube
Above screen-shot is from 3AD.com's video
of Spearhead's advance into Cologne, Germany, in 1945. It includes
the famous footage of a 32nd Armor Regiment Pershing tank destroying
a German Panther tank at the Cathedral Square. The video was
first posted on YouTube in January, 2007, and after reaching
100,000 views, we replaced it with an improved version with better
resolution and improved sound-track, but otherwise the same footage.
As of September, 2017, that second version had gone over 95,000
views. (Restoration, enhancement, and editing of the original
silent footage, including the adding of the music sound-track,
done by Vic Damon of 3AD.com Staff)
Sampling from 3AD.com's growing
Spearhead WWII photo archive
TOP PHOTO as used by filmmaker Ken Burns as the
opening graphic for his acclaimed WWII television documentary
"The War". The two 3AD soldiers huddled behind a Sherman
tank were Cpl. James L. Gregory (left) and T/5 Omer G. Taylor
of Hq Co, 1st Bn, 36th Armored Infantry Regiment. Both survived
the war. See caption further down for description of other photos.
SECOND FROM TOP: Sherman M4's of the 3AD's 32nd
Armor Regiment move off of Omaha Beach after disembarking LST's.
NEXT: A blast from a 155mm M-12 Self-Propelled Artillery Gun
of the 991st Field Artillery Bn, attached to the 3AD. NEXT: The
Seine River is crossed on a pontoon bridge built in one day by
the 23rd Engineer Bn. NEXT: Shermans of the 32nd AR are used
as artillery inside Germany. NEXT: A wounded German POW is treated
by 45th Medical Bn personnel after the Battle of Mons.
Battle of the Bulge, Belgium, Jan. 13,
1945: 3rd Armored Div. troops moving up to push back German forces.
Original 1945 ACME Press photo found by Jim MacClay (3AD.com
staff) in 2013 and believed to have never been published before.
Specific 3AD unit was not identified in the caption.