![]() ![]() He got to meet Roosevelt while an Army liaison officer at Fort Knox in Kentucky.HOME / ACTION GAME Play Tank Battle War Commander Online - DooDooLove I took a few hours off,” said Foster, who earned the Purple Heart. “They said, ‘Now you’ve got to take a couple days off. While most of the pieces were removed, he said, one shard couldn’t be dislodged because it would affect his vision, and it remains under the skin near his eye. In 1944, he said, an artillery shell exploded above him, blasting shrapnel into his face. But, the letter said, “when a bunch of men throw down their guns and throw their hands over their heads it is a different story.” He wrote that he stopped his men from shooting unarmed prisoners. In one, written late in the war, he wrote in bold black ink that he had once vowed that his men would take no prisoners. ![]() In the picture, white block lettering on the tank’s side reads “Dottie,” the name of his wife, who died 10 years ago after 64 years of marriage.įoster wrote his wife scores of letters during down time inside the tank. ![]() ![]() The Germans dubbed the unit the “Suicide Division” for its fierce actions in that battle. Patton Jr.įoster’s unit saw heavy fighting in northeastern France, at Herrlisheim, in early 1945 when the Germans launched an offensive called Operation Nordwind aimed at cutting off Allied supply lines. The division was attached briefly to the command of Gen. Foster was commander and platoon leader with the 2nd Platoon, Company A, 714th Tank Battalion, part of the fabled 12th Division. Army’s most widely used tank in the war - with a crew that included a commander, gunner, loader, driver and assistant driver. The plane, among rows of others, was abandoned along the side of the German highway because the Nazis lacked fuel and pilots.įoster, now with a cane and thinning white hair, points to another picture and says simply: “My tank.” Foster is smiling slightly in the photo - most likely taken in 1945 - and has his hand on the propeller. “We’re on the Autobahn there,” the veteran said, pointing to a faded picture of himself and another soldier in front of a Nazi plane. Foster shared his collection of black-and-white photos and letters home to his wife with The Baltimore Sun at his home surrounded by rolling farmland near Interstate 83. ![]()
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