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WW II comrades reconnect at reunion
As Russ Aufderheide flips through a book of memories about World War II, he is reminded of a time when he was injured during one of his unit's stints in Europe.
Aufderheide, who is from St. Louis, Mo., was a surgeon in the U.S. Army 273rd Field Artillery Battalion. He was one of about 25 veterans who attended the 59th annual reunion for troops in the cannoneer unit this past weekend in Fort Scott. He was also a captain in the unit, but he said that he did not participate in actual combat like several of his comrades.
The irony of the moment that he was injured, Aufderheide said, was that instead of being the one to administer the treatment, he was receiving it.
"I drove over a land mine," he said. "I fractured both of my arms, my nose and my left maxilla. The nurse was X-raying me all over."
The reunion took place at the Best Western Fort Scott Inn and was attended by veterans and their families from Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota, co-organizer Jim Woody, who was also a Private First Class in the unit and trained in California, said.
Woody and his wife, Johanna, who are from Bronaugh, Mo., plan the reunion each year at a different location in the Midwest so it is easier for most of the veterans to make the trip, he said.
"We do this every year in August -- it's an annual thing," Woody said. "I had lost contact with a lot of them."
Most of the veterans and their family members arrived in Fort Scott on Friday and stayed in town until Sunday to meet up with old friends and reminisce about the good and bad times they experienced during one of the most devastating wars in U.S. history, Johanna Woody said.
"Some came in unexpected," she said.
Activities on Saturday included a trolley tour through Fort Scott on Saturday, where the veterans were also able to see the Fort Scott National Historic Site and learn more about Fort Scott's history, Jim said.
Donald Peak, an historian who also served in the 273rd and attended the reunion, has written a fictionalized narrative titled "Fire Mission" based on the actual diary of a 273rd cannoneer during the invasion of France.
Peak had copies of his book available for purchase over the weekend, as well as photographs, literature and digital video discs that Peak compiled containing thousands of memories of the unit's time serving overseas during the early to mid-1940s.
Peak, who served in the battalion's H-battery, said that nobody can be exactly sure how many troops in the unit lost their lives during the war.
"We don't really know how many people we've lost -- some died in the Battle of the Bulge," Peak said.
Also on hand was a book of photographs compiled by a soldier from California, Julian Moody. Moody snapped more than 3,000 photographs depicting events that occurred during W.W. II, and every soldier in the 273rd battalion contributed $25 each to get the book published, Peak said.
The book was very popular with the veterans over the weekend, as its contents were the subject of much discussion.
The 273rd battalion was part of the Third Army serving under Gen. George Patton and supported the First Infantry and the 4th Armored Division. Soldiers in the battalion fought in five battles -- Normandy, Rhineland, Ardennes, Northern France and Central Europe.
The unit landed on Normandy Beach on August 27, 1944, Jim Woody said.
"We trained for a year and a half before being shipped."
While browsing through the book of photographs, Aufderheide recalled a moment when he and other soldiers in the unit, while trekking through adverse weather conditions, became confused as to their location.
"The month of August was the worst with the mud," he said. "We weren't sure when we were in Germany or not."