World War II: Call of duty

The memories came flowing back, and Palm Aire's Gus Andreone did his best to tell the story 72 years after it occurred.

It was May, 1945, and Andreone was in Germany on patrol with his 61st Armored Infantry Division of the Third Army, which was famously commanded by Gen. George S. Patton.

A staff sergeant at the time, Andreone was put in charge of his column the worst possible way ... his colonel was severely injured when he stepped on a grenade (and later killed while being transported for medical care) and his lieutenant, who lay side-by-side with Andreone in a foxhole during an attack, died when mortar shrapnel pierced his helmet.

Andreone, now 105, described how he woke up to find his lieutenant dead and then had to lead his column out of the area to join the rest of his group.

He managed to rejoin his division, but they met more resistance. Fortunately for Andreone and his fellow soldiers, one of their machine gunners wiped out a group of Germans who had gotten the jump on them with machine guns of their own.

"He took care of them," was the way Andreone described it.

A short time later, though, Andreone yelled for his men to get down. "Hit the dirt," he said, cupping his hands over his mouth and re-creating his actions of May 7, 1945. "Mortars."

Andreone managed to escape serious injury. The machine gunner, a good friend of Andreone, did not.

"Who do you think was dead in my arms?" he asked rhetorically.

As he dealt with his grief, Andreone looked into the distance to see a large group of Germans walking toward him.

"They had fired all these mortars, and then they came out," Andreone said of the enemy. "The war was over. If we could have made it through another hour, my friend would have been alive. You never know when your number is up."

Andreone, who lives at home with his 100-year-old wife, Betty, agreed to revisit the unpleasant memories approaching Fourth of July. He believes it is important younger generations hear the stories no matter how much horror is involved. "We don't hear enough of them," he said of the stories.

Best known for being the oldest living PGA golf professional, Andreone became a soldier when he was 30 in 1944, living a nice, pleasant life as an assistant golf pro in Pennsylvania. It was interrupted when he was drafted by the U.S. Army.

"When you are drafted, it's like when anyone is drafted. you accept the call," Andreone said.

After training at Fort Benning and Camp Gordon in Georgia, Andreone was shipped to France to join Patton's forces. A part of the 10th Armored Division, he joined his fellow soldiers, entering France at Cherbourg on Sept. 23, 1944. The opposition had been cleaned out by D-Day forces earlier in the year, so they met no opposition and they trained in the area at Teurtheville for a month before entering combat under Patton's direction.

The first combat was Nov. 2, 1944 at Mars-la-Tour, France. Later that month, the division faced intense fighting at Metz, which eventually fell (the first time the ancient fortress had fallen to opposing troops in 1,500 years).

"When I heard that first shell going over my head, even though I had that training,  I was looking to get myself in a safe area," Andreone said. "After while, you get adjusted to it. But some people act different when they hear that first shell.

"When you are in an armored division, you are exposed to all kinds of things that might happen. You hope you come out of it. We had a certain mission and once we completed it, we had another. We always kept moving because Patton never stopped for anything. I'm telling you, there was no stopping with that man."

As the fighting continued and Patton's forces marched into Germany, Andreone said many of the soldiers grew harder as they were exposed to war.

"After a while, you've had so many things happen to your buddies all around you ... it's such a tough thing to do," Andreone said. "These were buddies you've worked with, and trained with, and you had to let them lay there, because they couldn't move. Everyone went through that."

Andreone was responsible for a squad that included two 81mm mortars. He also was responsible for shooting smoke into an area to give his troops cover. 

Patton sent half the Third Army forces to Bastogne in Belgium during a key battle during of the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944 with the other half going to Luxembourg. Andreone was sent to Luxembourg. After the Battle of the Bulge finally went in the favor of the Allied, the 10th Armored reassembled in Metz and then raced through the German lines, capturing city after city.

It wasn't happening without pain and suffering.

In one battle, Andreone said the Germans knocked out four U.S. tanks and his group was forced to proceed on foot. The U.S. forces headed into a village which was located in a valley. German snipers had taken position above the Americans and were hammering them. Andreone found a multistoried building and headed up stairs with the hope he could locate the German snipers. Unfortunately, the Germans saw him climbing stairs in the building, which had no windows.

"They must have seen what I was trying to do," Andreone said. "They hit the upper area of the building with a shell and it blew my ears out and dazed me. It was one of those 88s. Man. Those are the same ones that took the tanks out. For a couple of weeks, I couldn't hear. It sounded like a bomb exploding, right over your head. The noise on its own can help put you out of action. Those 88s ... wham! I am telling you, it's hard to believe."

After the Germans surrendered on May 8, 1945, Andreone was sent home after his division received some rest and relaxation time. He boarded a ship and headed for New York, sailing past the Statue of Liberty.

"When I was leaving (America), it was the last thing I saw," he said. "I was hoping I could come back and see it.

"Then I did see it."

Emotion overtook Andreone and tears came to his eyes as he talked about the Statue of Liberty. He couldn't speak for a moment.

He was asked if his return was an amazing time.

"Yes," he whispered. "It was."

After landing back in the U.S., he went back to his Pennsylvania golf course and resumed his life.

"But you don't forget," he said. "You never forget the experiences you go through. I will tell you, anyone who came through that, it's just because of somebody up there (pointing at the sky). You sleep in barns, sleep on your half track, where ever you can get a rest. You keep your shoes right near you in case you have to put them on right away."

He does say he is proud of what the Third Army accomplished.

"We had a mission," he said. "It was bad people and something had to be done. To kill all the people they did in the countries they invaded, for (Hitler) to unleash that stuff, the super race, it was bad. The people who lived in Germany, I feel bad for those poor people, too, You can just imagine Germany from all the bombs and everything else. They suffered a lot, too. You left there thinking the world needs to get some common sense, hoping this never happens again."

He said he was able to keep his war memories locked away most of the time while continuing his life.

"Everything was put aside," he said. "It was about digging out so you could do your own thing. You try to forget as much as you can."

He really never forgot anything, even the number on his dog tags.

"Three, three, three, nine, four, four, one, five," he rattled off rapid fire, his eyes wide open and his face filled with pride.