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634th AAA (AW) Battery, US Army
Organisation
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Want to know more about 634th AAA (AW) Battery, US Army? There are:0 items tagged 634th AAA (AW) Battery, US Army available in our Library
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Loren George Resterhouse 634th AAA WA My father, Loren George Resterhouse, was a POW in WWII. After capture he was sent to Stalag 4B, then to 8A. He was in an Anti-Aircraft & Artillery Unit Battery D 634th AAA AW Bn First Army.
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T5. Bernard Joseph DeVorse 634th AAA Battalion, HQ Bty. 49th AAA Brigade Bernard DeVorse was my father and always entertained me as a child with his war stories. I don't remember the details clearly now but he supplied enough information to serve as the basis for my research as an adult.
He enlisted in 1939 and was posted to the 61st Coast Artillery Regiment at Fort Sheridan, IL. He went through basic training there and was ultimately assigned to the 2nd Btn. He participated in maneuvers in Arkansas and Texas during 1940 and 1941.
After the war broke out, the 61st was sent to Iceland in Feb. 1942 and remained there until July of 1943. They were sent to England in July and the 61st essentially ceased to exist in August 1943.
The 2nd Battalion became the 634th AAA (AW) Battery and was assigned to the 211th AAA group of the 49th AAA Brigade. The 211th AAA group was assigned as a reinforcement element and was landed on Utah beach on D+7.
Various assignments to other groups (11th, 14th and 16th) within the 49th Brigade followed as they moved across France, Belgium and Luxembourg until the their posting in support of the 106th infantry at St.Vith, Belgium. The HQ Battery was assigned as infantry when the Germans broke through and the 634th was ultimately given a meritorious unit citation for their defensive action around St.Vith. They later participated in the defense of the Ludendorf railroad bridge at Remagen. The 634th was the first complete AAA unit to set up on the German side of the Rhine and it was the unit's first opportunity to fire on the German Me262 Sparrow jet. shortly thereafter, the Germans surrendered and the 634th was sent home and mustered out.
Dad participated in the Normandy, Northern France, Alsace-Ardenne, Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns.
Dad earned the following awards:
- Meritorious Unit Citation (Presidential Unit Citation Now)
- Good Conduct Medal
- American Defense Service Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Europe-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 5 Campaign Stars
- World War II Victory Medal
- Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp
- French Liberation Medal
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Raymond "Smokey" Lovesee 634th Anti Aircraft Artillery Regiment Raymond Lovesee was originally the 61st Coastal Artillery and later changed to the 634th AAA AW Regiment, once in England. He served in the unit in B and HQ companies from 1939-1945 in Iceland, England, and mainland Europe. Notable engagements were Normandy D+3, the Battle of the Bulge at St. Vith, Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Ludendorf Bridge at Remagen.
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Tech5. Stanley M. Maletz Medical Detachment 634th AAA (AW) Battalion Cpl. Stanley Maletz Army record was lost in a fire in 1973.
Camp Pickett had a huge medical training unit so this is where he received his medic training.
He arrived in England on 9th of November 1943 for more training manoeuvres preparing for D Day. He landed in Normandy during the D-Day invasion on the 6th of June 1944 in the 9th wave on Omaha Beach.
In looking for what division he was with I asked the historian Stuart Robertson on the Battle Bus Tour in Normandy. Since dad was in Virginia and landed 9th wave in all probability he was with the end of the 116th Regiment, 29th division (from the Virginia, Maryland area) landing on dog red, white or green near Vierville, France. His later unit 634th Anti Artillery Aircraft division under General Omar Bradley did not land in Normandy until a few days afterwards. The 116th fought in the Battle of Normandy until November 1944.
During this time he must have been re-assigned to the 634th AAA Battalion under General Courtney Hodges. He was there for the liberation of Paris for he remembers celebrating under the Eiffel Tower.
Reading now from his diary, they fought through to St. Vith, Belgium. On 16th of December 1944, his 634th Battalion was about to be relieved for rest and relaxation (R&R) but they were assigned to assist the 106th Division near Bierolf, Belgium.
The 106th division was attacked by the Germans near Schonberg on the Schee Eiffel ridge. This was the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge. They fought on the 17th when the 422nd and 423th Battalions were surrounded and had to surrender. A group of 400 were reorganized by the 2nd Battalion ex officer Maj Albert A Quellette in the woods which had been the 2nd Battalion's assembly area.
This group attempted to move SW the following day, but were too surrounded. After destroying weapons and equipment Quellette's people surrendered on the morning of 21 December according to The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge by Hugh M Cole
Stanley was reported missing in action. The Germans marched the POWs east to Prum, Germany, then got on a train in a filthy boxcar. They walked again to Muttberg and got in another boxcar for 2 days. They arrived at Stalag 4B on New Years Eve.
He met some Polish prisoners since he could speak fluent Polish. These prisoners were captured during the revolt in the Warsaw ghetto. They treated him with food, cigarettes and Polish singing.
Since 4B was overcrowded, he was then on his way by boxcar again to Gorlitz on 13th of January 1945. He stayed in a POW camp Stalag 8A which was very close to Auschwitz concentration camp. In his diary he says "the stench from Auschwitz was foreboding".
He left on a forced march on 14th of February1945, west again through Germany for 2 months until they were liberated on 13th of April 1945 in Horsingen, Germany.
Upon release he was wearing a blanket, weighed 86 pounds and was sick with dysentery. He was in Camp Lucky Strike near Valery, France when he blacked out and woke up in a hospital.
He was diagnosed with malnutrition, gastro-enteritis, diarrhea and dysentery. In May he was ready to leave for the states when he had an attack of appendicitis and had it removed in the army hospital in Rouen. On 10th of June 1945 he went to La Harve and left for the USA on the SS Wakefield a hospital ship to Boston, arriving back in the US on 16th June 1945. He was discharged from the Army 18th of Nov 1945 weighing 145 pounds.
Stanley received the European, African, Middle Eastern Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the Victory Medal. In 2003 the POW Medal posthumously.
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T5. Dominick Rocco Trotta Bty A. 634th AAA AW Battalion Dominick Trotta Landed on Omaha Beach. He saw action in the Ardennes, Northern France, St.Vith during the Battle of the Bulge and the Central Europe Campaign in the Rhineland at Remagen.
He was wounded on 9th of March 1945 at 1300 Hrs by 88 mm shell exploding near gun position on the Southside (upriver) of the Ludendorff Bridge below the town of Erpel.
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CWO. Edward Johnson Strohm 634th AAA AW Battalion My father, Edward Strohm was in the 634th AAA AW Battalion in the Battle of the Bulge.
I have his complete diary of their operations along with photos of all the locations the unit was at. Photos of important bridges before and after being destroyed and the towns they went through along the way.
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