PFC Archie Leroy Emery
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In peace sons bury fathers, but war violates the order of nature, and fathers bury sons - Heroditus
It was January 20th 1945 when my grandfather, PFC Archie Emery arrived at his new unit, the 3d Battalion of the 397th Infantry Regiment. The men he came to serve with were almost certainly thrilled to see him as he was a fresh GI from the Replacement Depot in Italy. While PFC Emery was training with Bob Dole and the other young men of the 24th Replacement Depot, the men of the 397th were slugging it out in Eastern France, fighting the Nazis in Bitche and Rimling. They were exhausted, cold and wet.
Upon arriving at the 397th the young transport specialist was allowed about 24 hours in the rear with the gear before being shipped off to the fighting in Hottviller. The real fighting started for Archie on January 26th and would not end until it would take his life in a town called Heilbronn, Germany. The name means “fully burned.”
The battle for Heilbronn was brutal house to house and sometimes room to room fighting. Morning reports would often say such things as “Have secured the dining room, sent advanced patrols into the kitchen.” The German citizens fought harder in Heilbronn than in any other German city taken. The town had recently been razed by a British bombing raid that killed one third of the city’s population, over 7,000 including children. The people of Heilbronn took that rubble and created barriers to tanks and heavy vehicles leaving the men of the 397th to walk through the brick strewn streets as targets from the surrounding hills. But the men of the 397th slowly destroyed the remaining resistance like the lava of a terrible volcano finishing Hitler’s Volstrumm on April 13th.
The battle of Heilbronn ended for PFC Emery on April 11th as he was valiantly, and without personal concern, driving his tank recovery vehicle through those treacherous streets removing obstacles out of the way of advancing forces. One of the soldiers or citizens of the town called in the fatal strike which set an artillery round over the flimsy canvass cover of his vehicle and took away everything he had, and everything he ever would have. He rests at the US National Cemetery in St. Avold France.
The march of the 3d Battalion, 397th is well documented, but my grandfather’s travels are not. His only correspondence was sent on February 15th of 1945 and only one picture of him was sent of his time in Europe. But as the old Gospel song says: He is gone but we will miss him… We will linger to caress him, when we breathe our evening prayer.
Though he died 18 years before I was born, I remain proud of him, and I love him.
Upon arriving at the 397th the young transport specialist was allowed about 24 hours in the rear with the gear before being shipped off to the fighting in Hottviller. The real fighting started for Archie on January 26th and would not end until it would take his life in a town called Heilbronn, Germany. The name means “fully burned.”
The battle for Heilbronn was brutal house to house and sometimes room to room fighting. Morning reports would often say such things as “Have secured the dining room, sent advanced patrols into the kitchen.” The German citizens fought harder in Heilbronn than in any other German city taken. The town had recently been razed by a British bombing raid that killed one third of the city’s population, over 7,000 including children. The people of Heilbronn took that rubble and created barriers to tanks and heavy vehicles leaving the men of the 397th to walk through the brick strewn streets as targets from the surrounding hills. But the men of the 397th slowly destroyed the remaining resistance like the lava of a terrible volcano finishing Hitler’s Volstrumm on April 13th.
The battle of Heilbronn ended for PFC Emery on April 11th as he was valiantly, and without personal concern, driving his tank recovery vehicle through those treacherous streets removing obstacles out of the way of advancing forces. One of the soldiers or citizens of the town called in the fatal strike which set an artillery round over the flimsy canvass cover of his vehicle and took away everything he had, and everything he ever would have. He rests at the US National Cemetery in St. Avold France.
The march of the 3d Battalion, 397th is well documented, but my grandfather’s travels are not. His only correspondence was sent on February 15th of 1945 and only one picture of him was sent of his time in Europe. But as the old Gospel song says: He is gone but we will miss him… We will linger to caress him, when we breathe our evening prayer.
Though he died 18 years before I was born, I remain proud of him, and I love him.
From the 100th Association: April 11th, 1945 Centurymen attack through the ruins of Heilbronn, Germany, on the second-to-last day of the ten-day battle for the city. Although the war was clearly lost by this stage, the remnants of several German units stubbornly defended this city on the Neckar River. The evident massive destruction was caused primarily by an RAF bomber raid on 4 December 1944, which mistakenly hit the civilian population center of Heilbronn. This deadly raid, which destroyed 80% of the city and killed 6,530 civilians (about 1,000 under the age of 10), animated the citizenry, who vigorously assisted the Wehrmacht defenders in the construction of fortifications from the rubble of their homes.
