June 20, 2001
Members of W.W.II Army troop reunite
97th Division soldiers gather in Traverse City
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
"Move forward until you get shot at, call in and report it, then run like hell!"
The modus operandi for members of a mechanized reconnaissance troop in World War II Europe was basic: do your job and you might die, don't do your job and others will die. A reconnaissance troop was the eyes and ears of an Army division headquarters, their scouting missions were usually the first contact with enemy soldiers.
The 144 members of the recon troop attached to the Army's 97th Division were no different. Sent to France in 1943, inserted into the pocket formed by the Battle of the Bulge, they jumped right into the thick of World War II at a dark hour for the Allied Forces.
They stayed together for the next three years, scouting for their division that eventually liberated portions of Czechoslovakia, France and Germany. They were even sent to Japan for a planned invasion in 1945 and later served as occupational forces.
Now almost 60 years later, the few remaining men from that troop gather annually. Year after year, they prove that some bonds, forged under fire and deepened by both victory and loss, last a lifetime.
Coming from around the country to Traverse City this year, still reflecting a spectrum of economic, social and educational backgrounds, the men quickly picked up where they left off last year - and a lifetime ago.
"We gelled, a very strong bond forms when you depend on another person for your life and they depend on you," said Gil Gordin of San Leandro, Calif., a radio operator in the war who provided the unit's mission summary above.
"You became one unit, for a lifetime," added Carson Bonn of Traverse City, this year's reunion host.
The men experienced the political divide at the end of the war and witnessed the beginning of the Cold War. They were part of the first troops into Czechoslovakia, liberating prison camps there in a country that eventually fell behind the Iron Curtain. Later, driving in to occupy Pilsen, Germany, the division was called back so the Russians could take the town.
"It was just like in Berlin, we got orders to pull back," said Joe Mercurio from western New York, an armored car driver and squad leader. "There was a lot of politics and Patton wasn't happy."
After the war in Europe ended, the division was sent to the Philippines to prepare for invading Japan. The men felt joy and relief when 'our friend Truman' dropped the atomic bombs that soon ended the war. They were scheduled to be at the forefront of the invasion and believed many would have been part of the estimated one million casualties.
"If that hadn't happened, you wouldn't be talking to us," said Pete Traelli of Pittsburgh a point man in the troop, who joined the Army just before his high school graduation.
Members of the recon troop then served as occupied forces in Aida, Japan, for up to six months before shipping home. They recalled the Japanese people's fear at first, afraid even to look at the soldiers for days because they had been told for years by their government that Americans would destroy them.
Coming home, the men got on with their lives and lost contact with one another. The idea for a reunion began with Frank and Donna Ayers of Macon, Missouri. Donna knew her husband had been in the war, but she had little information about where he served or what he did because he refused to talk about it for years.
"One Sunday we watched a show on General Patton and I looked over and Frank had tears streaming down his face," recalled Donna Ayers, whose husband died in 1987. "I said, 'You have to talk about it.'¡"
The Ayers soon decided to get the men together again, that such an important shared experience could not just be ignored or forgotten. They began searching for the men in 1963, beginning with just three addresses. Those men knew others who knew others, and slowly the list built. Finally, nine years later, the cars started coming to the Ayers' home one weekend, more cars than they expected.
"Everybody was hugging and you just couldn't imagine how it was," Ayers said. "A lot of the fellows brought their sons and daughters, they wanted their children to meet the fellows."
Even today, a handful of widows of men from the troop, including Ayers, continue to attend reunions regularly. The ties forged by the men rippled out to encompass their wives and children, whom the men credit with keeping the ties alive.
"The families all became close," Bonn said.