It’s a light brown-colored, leather bi-fold wallet measuring 4″ inches by 5″. It contains two black and white photographs and one hand-written note.

The owner of the wallet was Haig Derderian, a corporal in the 714th Tank Battalion of the United States Army’s 12th Armored Division. He received it as a gift while overseas in France in 1945.

I found the 80-year-old wallet in my basement hidden for years in a green plastic bin. It was smashed between hundreds of papers, photographs, and documents belonging to Haig that he kept from his 3 years of service from 1942 to 1945 in World War 2.

Haig is the father-in-law I never met and I’m writing a book about his life in the service and in World War 2. I’ve collected more than a thousand pages of documents about Haig’s service in the war in 1944 and 1945 in France and Germany, plus detailed accounts on the daily movements of his tank battalion and the 12th Armored Division.

When I first opened the wallet, I saw two photographs protected by a thin plastic sleeve. I didn’t recognize either of them, but they looked like two beautiful women in old photographs.

The photo on the right had a message written in cursive ink on the lower right front side: To Haigie with love, Bedgie.

The photo on the left side also had a hand-written message on the lower right side: To Haigie, with all my love. B.

These were two of Haig’s sisters! B was his sister Beatrice and Bedgie was his sister Virginia.

When I removed the photo of B, there was a surprise inside: a hand-written note. It reads: December 1944. Haigie Dear: I hope you’ll be able to keep this picture with you at all times to remind you of my constant love and prayers with the hope that you’ll be back home – SOON! Love…as ever…B.

Haig had another sister, Suzanne, who was a star performer in the New York Metropolitan Opera. I did not find her photo inside the wallet. My wife Sue said that her dad deeply loved his sisters and they all loved him.

The Long Journey to Europe

Three months after U.S. forces stormed the beaches at Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, Haig and the rest of the 12th Armored Division would begin their own journey to the war in Europe.

In September 1944, after a lengthy train ride from the training grounds at Camp Barkeley in Abilene, TX, Haig, his Tank Battalion, and the rest of the 12th Armored Division would arrive at Camp Shanks in New York on Sept. 9th. The troops would train for another 10 days preparing to go to an unknown destination overseas, although the rumor mill started they were going to Europe because that’s where all the Armored Divisions had been heading.

At 1 am on Sept. 20th, Haig arrived in New York City at the Port of Embarkation. Haig and his battalion grabbed their heavy gear and boarded the S.S. Marine Raven, a 496-foot-long ship with a maximum capacity of 2,439 people. The Marine Raven was built that year by the Sun Ship Building and Drydock Co. in Chester, PA. After this voyage, during the war, it would eventually make 16 round-trip voyages to Europe transporting soldiers and armored vehicles.

The ships were all shapes and sizes from passenger liners carrying 5,000 troops to the convoy flagship, the General Tasker H. Bliss. Around the flagship at thousand-yard intervals in four huge columns were freighters, tankers, and transports big and small. U.S. destroyer ships escorted the massive 12th Armored Division convoy that stretched for miles.

While at sea, Haig and his fellow soldiers cleaned the armored vehicles when they weren’t reading, writing letters, or listening to records. The endless ocean was beautiful, but dry land was so much better.

One of Haig’s friends and fellow soldiers Newman Ray Milner of the 714th Tank Battalion Company B sailed together with Haig on the Atlantic. Milner talked about his experiences in an Oct. 29th, 1999 interview at Fort Mitchell, KY

The ride was pretty rough. About 2 days out we had to close the hatches. We had a pretty good dining room and kitchen. We had pepper salt shakers on the tables. About 4 days out we were on all on the bottom deck. We had boiled eggs that morning and the ocean was rough. The ship was swaying side to side and there were eggs all over the place. The mood was jolly starting off. But we got out there quite a ways and most of them were hanging over the side. But then when it smoothed down, it was a lot better. We played a lot of blackjack, cards, and poker. We thought we were going to go to Le Harve, France, but about 2 days later, they detoured us to England.

After 11 days traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, the S.S. Marine Raven arrived at Southampton Harbor in England at 6 pm Oct. 1st. The ship anchored in the harbor until 6 pm the next day.

After disembarking, troops in the 714th Tank Battalion left the ship and traveled by train and bus 50 miles to “Camp C” in England at 3 pm on Oct. 3rd. There, Haig and his fellow soldiers received orientation about where they were and — for the moment — what they would be doing.

Howard Myers, who served with Haig in the 714th Tank Battalion Company B, wrote about the train ride to Camp C in his memoir.

Once on trains, we raced through England with whistles blowing as though we couldn’t get where we were going quick enough. The trains were like those in the movies with individual little rooms. The windows were blacked out so we couldn’t see out or anyone in. About two hours before daybreak we got out of the train and walked a short distance to a camp where we ate breakfast. Then on to buses and we were on the move once again.

The busses were loaded down so heavily that sometimes we had to get out and walk up the hills otherwise the busses wouldn’t have it. When we got out of them, we were only about 20 miles out of Southampton where we started. They were just trying to fool the enemy where we were going.

Haig and Howard Myers arrived at the same camp in Tidworth on Oct. 5th. There, they stayed with the rest of the Tank Battalion for just over a week.

That’s when Haig got some good news on Oct. 13. He was being granted a 4-day leave to go to London, England, along with 9 other members of the Tank Battalion. According to the official Morning Report, Haig and the 9 soldiers did not have an OD (olive drab colored) coat, wool socks, or wool hat. The boys were going to need to do some quick site seeing and winter clothes shopping.

After Haig and the other 9 returned to the camp, the 12th Armored Division spent the time until Nov. 11th doing maintenance on armored vehicles, preparing the supplies and weaponry.

The battalion and much of the armored division traveled 78 miles to an embarkation point at Weymouth, England, from the Tidworth Barracks, and arrived there at 12:33 am Nov. 12th. The battalion boarded the ship LST-530, which also transported U.S. troops during the Battle of Normandy on D-Day. At 6 am on Nov. 13, Haig and the 714th Tank Battalion led by Lt. Col. William J. Phelan, set sail for Le Havre, France.

Seven hours later, the ship arrived at Le Havre and anchored there for 24 hours until other troops and the armored vehicles all arrived.

Le Havre is just 90 miles away from where U.S. troops stormed the beaches at Normandy 5 months earlier. The importance of D-Day for Haig and the 12th Armored Division was that it allowed them and all other U.S. troops easy access to land in France and go toward Europe with ease and with speed.

F. George Hatt, who served with the 17th Armored Infantry Division, described the scene at Le Havre when Haig and the rest of the American troops landed. In an interview on March 2nd, 1996 with the 12th Armored Division Oral History Project, Hatt describes what he saw.

We pulled up at Le Harve. The ship pulled right up to the beach. It opened up and we drove off in a half-track. We got into a convoy. It was a terrible looking place. Oh my goodness. You can’t imagine. There were ships sunk in the harbor. The town was all torn up and everything was flattened out. First time we had seen any battle damage or war damage.

Our half track quit on us part of the way. And the convoy ran off and left us outside of Le Havre. Two Frenchmen came by — and I had been studying my little French book they’d given us. Arlo said I’ll find out where they went, so he hollers out to these guys Did you see which way that convoy went? They shrugged their shoulders, Hatt said laughing. We learned right then there was going to be a language barrier. But we did manage to catch up.

The further Haig and the rest of the 12th Armored Division traveled east through France, the tougher the road would be as they would begin encountering German resistance.

Haig and his 714th Tank Battalion Company B remained in Le Havre and set up a U.S. Army camp. In a photo of Haig playing a guitar, Haig wrote on the back of it: Camp in LeHavre made to look like one of our camps back home.

From LeHavre, Haig and his battalion would travel across France to Cropus, then Compieghe, Soissons and Bivouac and go just a few miles each day.

Then, the Tank Battalion began making long-distance hauls, traveling 80 miles to Bayon on Dec. 1st, then to Baccarat, France, then 40 miles to Rauwiller on Dec. 6th.

Sometime around when Haig was in Rauwiller, the brown wallet with the photographs of B and Bedgie would be sent in the mail to Haig. But with the battalions uncertain and unknown future travels, how would it ever end up in his hands?

After Rauwiller, the battalion continued to other French towns like Hoegthal on Dec. 18th, Gurlich on Dec. 20th and Rimling on Dec. 21st when they engaged in combat with the Germany army. After a short battle, the battalion continued moving at rapid speed through the end of December. On Dec. 31st, Haig and his battalion celebrated the New Year in Mulcey, France.

Haig remained at the Army Camp in Mulcey until Jan. 6th. But on Jan. 3rd, 1945, Haig sent a letter home. It read:

January 3, 1945. Dear Folks, I got the package today at the billets (camp) with the wallet and the photographs of B and Bedgie. I’ll hold on tightly to it and bring it back home. Things are swell. We got a half-track stuck in the mud and had a bunch of the guys push it out. That was a mess. Can’t say where we’re going. I’m on guard duty later this evening. It’s a busy place with people coming and going. That’s all for now. Write soon. Love Haig.

In six days, Haig and the 12th Armored Division would experience some of the war’s heaviest fighting in the Battle of Herrlisheim, France. While the war in Europe would end 4 months later, there was still a lot of fighting — and death — to happen.

Shortly after World War 2 ended, Haig got an honorable discharge from the United States Army in October 1945 and he made sure to bring home the wallet. Eighty years later, I found it and can tell you this story.