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□ MEMORIALContinued from 1ANickolsagainst the Japanese. “You could tell when things were going rough for the Japs as they took it out onus,” said Nickols.He was rehabilitated in four U.S. veterans’ hospitals from the West Coast to the East Coast for the next year afterbeing freed from the prisoncamp. Before being captured with 400 others on Luzon in the Philippines, Nickols was in charge of a gasoline and ammunition supply truck. He gained the rank of staff sergeant.As it turned out, he met his future wife at one of those VA hospitals, in Indiana. Jeannette Thiele was a staff nurse at the facility. They married in September 1946 and Carl proudly talks about their six children and 15 grandchildren. All but one of the children (who has to work) will be on hand Sunday to see their father honored at the Bronze Star ceremony for 192nd Tank Co. heroes at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Club here.Nickols, who uses crutches to help him get around, is sharp mentally. He joined The Parker Pen Co. in July 1946 and worked out of the Arrow Park manufacturing facility until retiring in 1980.The thick folder of yellowed newspaper clippings detail heroics of the Janesville soldiers in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of Operations. They note that the 192nd Tank Co. distinguished Rock County nationally, and “is still a living story in the hearts of many a Rock County resident, whether he fought in Bataan or suffered and wept at home.” Company A and the Headquarters Company left Janesville on Nov. 25. 1940, for training in Fort Knox, Ky., and stayed there until August 1941 when they went to Louisianafor maneuvers.Accounts tell of the rigorous maneuvers barely ending on Oct. 29, 1941, when the 192nd sailed from the West Coast bound for the Philippines. It was part of the first National Guard force to be sent overseas during World War II. The tank battalion arrived in the Philippines on Nov. 24. 1941, only 12 days before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The units, outnumbered many times over by the Japanese, fought valiantly and are credited with buying valuable time while the United States was able to build up its fighting forces and machines in the early months of World War II.More than 15,000 thronged the streets of Janesville in April 1947 for a parade followed by a servicein which a memorial monument was dedicated to the heroic living and dead soldiers. The memorial was at the former National Guard Armory on South High Street (now the Rock County Historical Society headquarters.) The monument was later movedadjacent to the famed Doughboy statue at the Corn Exchange at North Franklin and West Milwaukee streets.At the 1947 memorial dedication, Brig. Gen. James Weaver told of the courageous and miraculous feats of the 192nd Tank Battalion and its sister unit, the 194th, “a story that is so fantastic that it is almost unbelievable.”Weaver was a member of the regular Army and commanded the the Provisional Tank Group. He also was taken prisoner in the savage fighting on the island of Bataan, which finally fell to the Japanese in April 1942.The first 192nd Tank Battalion member to be killed was Capt. Walter H. Wright, commanding Company A. He was killed on Christmas Eve of1941.This weekend’s reunion commemorates the 44th anniversary of Janesville National Guard units being called to active World War II duty.There will be a special recognition of the 192nd Tank Battalion in the form of a Bronze Star tribute. That will be the highlight of the reunion and will occur as part of the Sunday program, which starts with a social hour at noon and a 1 p.m. dinner. Nearly 200 persons, including survivors and their families and relatives of those who died are expected, according to E.J. “Doc” Sartell of Janesville, secretary-treasurer of the reunion and who has worked hundreds of hours in helping arrange the weekend events.Carl Kopischkie of Madison, who saw action with the 32nd Division during WW II and also was a prisoner of war during the Korean War, will be the main speaker for the Sunday banquet.Recognition of of the Bronze Star awards will be made by retired Brig. Gen Ray Kath of Stoughton, who entered World War II as a private and rose through the ranks to general. He was a combat veteran. Sartell, a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, also will participate in the Bronze Star ceremonies. LaVerne Huschka of Janesville is the reunion chairman.Area units included in the reunion will be: 121st Field Artillery Band (later the Americal Division Band); the 32nd Division Tank Co. (later the 192nd Tank Battalion); Company B 107th Quartermaster Tank Regiment (later Company A, 150th Light Maintenance Battalion); 32nd Division red Arrow Club and associate members.The 32nd Division Tank Co. was organized in 1924 and later became the 192nd Tank Battalion, Headquarters and A Company.Company A...192nd Tank BattalionCAPTAINS‘Fred BruniLIEUTENANTS“Albert Bartz Henry KnoxENLISTED MEN“Robert Bartz ‘Fay Balden Earl Burchard Wayne Buggs ‘John Campbell “Daniel Courtney Leo Dorsey ‘Wesley Fancher ‘Alton Goff ‘Kenneth Hatlevig ‘Raymond Hill ‘Harold Keegan‘Donald Knipschield‘Fred Krug “Dale Lawton ‘Henry Luther ‘Ralph Madison George McCarthy ‘Claude Moreland “Joseph O'Connell ‘Lewis Phillips Lloyd Richter ‘Gilbert Ryan Emil Schmidt ‘Kenneth Schoeberle “John Spencer ‘Gerald Sterken Edward Trebs Lewis Wallisch ‘DeWayne Wasson ‘John WoodKilled In action Died since war‘Walter Write‘Kenneth Bloomfield ‘LeRoy Scoville‘Donald Berger ‘Ray Balden ‘Melvin Buggs ‘John Burke ‘Willard Campbell ‘Charles Crompton Herbert Durner ‘Harold Fanning ‘Laurence Grim ‘Robert Havens ‘Robert Hubbard ‘Ronald King Forest Knox Robert Kubly ‘Lloyd Lobdell‘John Luther‘James Manogue ‘Joseph McCrea Carl Nickols Philip Parish ‘George Prueher “Boyd Riese ‘Thomas Samek ‘James Schultz ‘Donald Semrow ‘Kenneth Squire Robert Stewart ‘Jesse Tubbs ‘Ernest Walsh ‘Ivan Wilmer‘Russell Thorman ‘John Bushaw“Robert Boehm ‘Jack Bruce “Lester Buggs “Delmon Bushaw “Alva Chapman ‘Roger Dery Wesley Elmer ‘John Fox ‘Robert Harrie ‘Donald Heddleston ‘Kent Hughes ‘Paul Klitzkie ‘Leslie Krause Alfred Langley ‘Maurice Lustig ‘Harold Madison“William McAuliffe ‘Osborne McDonald William Nolan ‘Marvel Peterson“Emerson Rex“Orvis Rinehart Owen Sandmire Donald Schultz ‘Bernard Shea ‘Arnold Steen ‘Forrest Teal ‘Edmund Van Galder ‘Stanley Walsh ‘Glen White
Newspaper Details
Janesville Gazette
Janesville, Wisconsin, US
Sat, Oct 06, 1984
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 08 Jun 2022
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