Uncle Louie

[Michael Tompkins]

Remembering one of my heros today. 70 years ago today, on September 23, 1944, Louis R. Krekel of B Troop, 86th Cavalry Recon (Mechanized), 6th Armored Division, was wounded (twice) this day in France during the Brittany Campaign.

His armored car was struck twice by German anti-tank fire. Louie returned fire with his M-2 machine gun, but was wounded when the second shell struck. The first shell killed one of his companions. He and a second man, his Sgt, escaped, only to be wounded later again by mortar fire. Louie received the bronze star and purple heart during his time in France. Uncle Louie passed on July 28th, 2008. I miss hearing his stories. RIP Uncle Louie, you were definitely one of the good ones.

[SMOKEY]

:icon_salut::icon_salut:

[Michaelp]

My dad was wounded this day at Eindhoven, a few days after jumping in with the 506th.
He was repaired and reissued in time for Bastogne and finished out the war in Austria.
They were gearing up for the Pacific when Hirohito threw in the towell.
He died in a land clearing accident in 1956.

[Michael Tompkins]

Michaelp, I am sorry to hear that you lost your father at such an early age. My grandfather was with the 515th PIR during WWII. I have some pictures of his time in England and France. I have one of him hanging from the prop of a C-46. Kinda funny. Mike

[TomSudz]

His armored car was struck twice by German anti-tank fire.

Lucky thing he was in an armored car instead of a tank or he'd have been screwed.

Seriously, though, it appears your uncle had a serious set on him since he engaged a tank with a 50. Not everybody would stick around to do that so I have to ask- did he engage the tank in an "F U" gesture or was he drawing fire so that others could get away?

Michaelp, I share the other Michael's sentiment.

[emmagee1917]

He did not engauge a tank , he engauged an anti-tank gun position with the .50 .
Chris

[Michael Tompkins]

Uncle Louie told me that they were sent out to reconoiter a possible route. They stopped to get a bearing on which way to continue. Uncle Louie told me that his companion who was manning the .50 in the armored car he called "The Mule", was killed with the first volley. Louie took his place and started to return fire. Louie said that he hung one leg over the side in case he had to make a quick exit. That was his undoing. He was wounded with the second round because his leg was outside the vehicle. He and his sarge crawled from the car into the woods before it was destoyed with a third shot. Uncle Louie said that they low-crawled through the woods and into a field. It was while they were crawling through the field that they came under mortar fire and he and the sarge were wounded for the second time. He said he didn't remember much after that and wound up in field hospital.

He also told me of the time his best friend was killed when he was shot thru the head while they were sharing a foxhole together. Uncle Louie shot the soldier who'd killed his buddy and then shot others as they assaulted their position. Mike