This week we have followed Jim Hardesty of Hamlet from his time at Purdue University to the invasion of Germany during World War II. It is part of a story written for “Generations the Magazine,” a publication dedicated to telling the stories of those people who shaped our nation one generation at a time.
This final episode features Hardesty’s experience with the allied army as it fought the Germans in the Hurtgen Forest along the German-Belgian border.
We have been following the military career of Jim Hardesty of Hamlet this week after he was featured in the latest issue of Generations the Magazine, recounting his military experience in World War II. D-Day was June 6, and every day after that had a number attached. Hardesty landed with the 172nd Field Artillery Battalion on D-8 – June 14.
Today, however, the story focuses on the battles fought in hedgerow country.
Hedgerows were mounds of dirt covered with trees or bushes that were so thick that a tank couldn’t get through them. As the American forces worked their way through this terrain they were forced to endure a considerable cost in lives. The Germans took full advantage of these barricades. Initial attempts at fighting through these barriers consisted of American tanks charging the hedgerows. When it reached the mound it would lift up, exposing the unprotected underbelly. This unarmored part of the tank was vulnerable and, Continue reading
Generations the Magazine recently presented an article on Jim Hardesty of Hamlet, a World War II veteran. The article chronicled Hardesty’s Army service during that war, and this week WKVI is presenting excerpts from that article.
Hardesty and his group landed in Swansea, Wales, and relocated to the south of England. Hardesty detailed his travel from the states to England.
“We boarded a cargo ship to take us across the Atlantic,” said Hardesty. “It took two weeks in rough North Atlantic weather worrying about submarine attacks. Nothing much happened except being sea sick. I was never so glad to see land in my life.”
