Fighting when you are buttoned up in an armored vehicle reduces your feel of reality by at least half. Looking through a periscope, vision block, Blackberry, iPhone, or even a computer screen limits your field of vision. Getting outside these confines, opens up your imagination and overall perspective on reality.
Rather than retire in Washington, Olga (center, front) organized a visit of “Last Stand Hill” at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. Joining us were (from left) Lou DiMarco, Marv Decker, Mike Mahon, French, Hank Adams, Joyce DiMarco and Jack Pattison. With the exception of Mike, all of us were Army officers. Hank’s father had been on “Heartbreak Ridge” in the Korean War; Mike was my National War College classmate and later made Rear Admiral! We also went on a four-hour horse ride of the battlefield in 100° heat – with a big Jacuzzi and cold beer afterward at the motel.
Martin Steglich (left), Heinz-Georg Lemm and Walther-Peer Fellgiebel (right.) All sat with French at the Knight’s Cross reunion, where this picture was taken. General Lemm was Martin Steglich’s best friend. Walther’s father was General Erich Fellgiebel, who was a conspirator in the July 20 “Bomb Plot” against Hitler and who was executed on September 4, 1944. Heinz-Georg Lemm would go on to win the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, making him one of Germany’s most distinguished soldiers.
Herr Steglich was as fine a gentleman as we have ever met. Talk about adventures! While in the Demjansk Encirclement on the Russian Front, Oberleutnant Martin Steglich received orders to fly out in a transport plane to Berlin and brief Hitler on the situation in the encirclement. Apparently, the German leader did not believe the situation reports presented by the generals and demanded that a lieutenant brief what was really going on. As Desert Storm approached, Herr Steglich advised that if the enemy possessed superior support weapons, the best infantry tactic was to move quite close to the enemy, where he could not bring these assets to bear. If our own support weapons proved to be better, then we should stay further away from the enemy and destroy him at longer ranges. We did exactly that in the desert.
Almost no battle plan remains unchanged on the battlefield. Here, a haggard and dirty Major MacLean, during the attack, shows Captain Chris Lockhart some changes. A company commander then, Chris ended up a colonel, although he should have been a general officer. Let the younger officers and sergeants use their own initiative and they will often out-think you.
Advancing during Desert Storm
Our battalion was known as the Spartans. The battalion operations officer is known by the suffix 3, so then-Major MacLean went by the call sign, “Spartan 3” on the radio. I rode in the turret on the right, as the Bradley vehicle commander; Sergeant First Class Maxwell rode on the left as the gunner. He was the battalion master gunner and one of the best shots in the unit with the cannon and machine-gun. Shortly after this, we engaged and destroyed an enemy ZSU 23-4 anti-aircraft vehicle armed with four 23mm fast-firing cannons.
Marty Dempsey (left), Jack Pattison (center) and French (right), West Point Class of 1974. After the fighting in 1991, someone organized a West Point Founders’ Day dinner in Kuwait City in the house of a Kuwaiti emir. The house was more like a palace, with thick carpets, marble hallways and even gold faucets. Marty served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until he retired in 2015, while Jack owns his own business. Jack had been an enlisted soldier, before attending West Point, and had fought on “Hamburger Hill” in Vietnam, so we always listened to what he had to say.
Tom Sittnick was “Spartan 5,” the battalion executive officer. He could do more pushups in three minutes than I could in an hour. He was a hard trooper and did several tours with the Rangers. I think he may be working for the Georgia Department of Corrections now. Back then, we were naïve concerning the extent all that smoke was probably hurting us.
My father, who fought as an infantryman in World War II and won the Silver Star, Bronze Star and several Purple Hearts, said that the Combat Infantryman’s Badge was truly special. Major MacLean received his own CIB after the combat had ended on “Desert Storm.” Here, Brigadier General Paul Blackwell, the 3rd Armored Division’s senior Infantry officer and Assistant Division Commander, pins on the award. He was a huge Clemson fan.
Commander of the 3rd SS Totenkopf Division, SS-Obergruppenführer Eicke was shot down in his light observation plane and killed at Artelnoje, Russia on February 26, 1943.
