NEW YORK CITY, NY, Sept. 13, 1947 — Thirty-year-old Haig Derderian from Appoline Street in Detroit entered the glamorous Commodore Hotel on a warm summer day wearing a dark suit and he had an extra step in his walk that day. He was meeting up with his good friends Robert Hunt and Hurschel DeHart. Once they met, they likely went up to the hotel bar and grabbed a beer.
They were ready to reconnect and talk about the war.
It was the 1st annual stateside reunion of the 12th Armored Division and a couple thousand former soldiers from battle-hardened tank battalions, armored infantry divisions, field artillery and engineering divisions were there to celebrate the war they helped win from 1942-1945 in central Europe. Together, they saw blood, guts, victory, and the horrors of war from liberating 11 Prisoner of War camps in Landsberg, Germany.
The three men served with the 714th Tank Battalion, Company B. Robert and Hurschel fought battles together against the Germans in the steel belly of their Sherman tank; Haig repaired the damaged tanks and drove a Half-Track armored troop transport throughout France and Europe.
They all got injured in the war, came home with Purple Heart Medals, and lived to tell about it. This night, though, wasn’t about the battle scars. It was about the fond memories they made together. They likely tipped their first drink back among the clatter of the bar and started reminiscing right away.
80 years later, my wife, Sue, and I are heading to Abilene, TX, July 15-18 to attend the final 80-year reunion of the 12th Armored Division. Sue and I are the other bookend to Haig’s on the bookshelf of life. He attended the first reunion and many, many others in between. I’ve attended the last 2 reunions, Sue attended one with me last year, one in 1983 in Nashville with her dad when she was 15, and one in Louisville in the late 1970s.
The 12th Armored Division Association is making this year’s reunion the last because the few Hellcat soldiers who remain (less than 10 of almost 17,000) can no longer travel to the reunions. Years ago while still in their 30s and 40s, the Hellcats wrote in the bylaws that future generation Association members should stop the reunions once veterans could no longer attend.
Last year, Bill Georgov of the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion, was the sole veteran to attend the reunion in Nashville. Meanwhile, 4 widows (Hellkittens) of veterans did attend. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and hanging with Bill Georgov at the last two reunions and while he may have the body of a 100-year-old, he is as witty as they come. In the times I’ve seen Bill, he’s always smiling, cracking jokes, and making people laugh. He was the first 12th Armored Division veteran and Association member who I met when I landed in St. Louis 2 years ago. I rode with his daughter Luisa on a bus from the airport to the reunion.
The first reunion in New York occurred Sept. 13-14 at the Hotel Commodore. Two big social events included a $20 cocktail party at the Commodore with a dinner dance in the Grand Ballroom in the infamous Hotel Astor. Department of the Army Brig. Gen. Raymond McLain gave an address. There also was a floor show and dancing to a 10-piece orchestra.
While we won’t have an orchestra with a 10-piece band and a floor show in Abilene, I have created a playlist that I plan to play in the background — very unlikely as grand as the orchestra, but it’s the best I can do.
What Sue and I are looking forward to the most during the reunion is what her dad wanted 80 years ago — to connect with friends. Over the past couple years, we’ve met great friends at the reunions and while traveling to Germany and France while doing research for the book that I’m writing about Haig.
In the past couple of years that I’ve attended reunions, attendance was around 75 people — mostly sons, daughters, nephews, nieces of the veterans. This year, around 220 people are attending the final reunion.
This will be epic. For attendees, the Association has planned the unit dinner and formal banquet, plus tours of the 12th Armored Division Museum in Abilene. The hospitality room is always the big hit where attendees can grab a soda, snacks and adult beverages — mostly adult beverages, though! The room is also where attendees reconnect with friends and family and relive stories that their fathers told them about the war.
Why Abilene, Texas? That’s where Camp Barkeley was located during the war and where the 12th Armored Division trained.
The U.S. Army constructed Camp Barkeley with barracks, a mess hall, and training grounds on almost 77,000 acres. More than 80,000 men were trained there during the war. Today, Camp Barkeley is overcome by the earth and vegetation and absent of any resemblance to a former World War 2 training ground — except for 1,000 acres that Angel and Dr. Norm Poorman of the United Rescue Alliance bought several years ago to preserve.
Angel and Norm will take Sue and I on a tour of the former grounds of Camp Barkeley on Wednesday, July 15, to see the ruins and what they have preserved. It will be an incredible experience seeing where Haig and the 12th Armored Division trained more than 80 years ago before they were sent overseas to fight.
Of 20 chapters in my book, the final reunion is the final chapter. In my entire experience of writing this book about Haig, I’ve grown so close to the father-in-law I never met and this will be an incredible ending. And Sue and I have grown so close to members of the Association
While it’s the last chapter of the book, perhaps it’s a new beginning with friends of the Association.
Thank you to the 12th Armored Division men who fought for our country to defeat the Nazi aggression in World War 2, for liberating thousands of PoWs in Landsberg camps, and being the greatest generation ever.
