Never Forget Our Heroes

January 14, 1945. On that single day in the history of World War II there were 810 American casualties. One of those was my father’s cousin, Captain Gene Edward Sucharda, who was killed while commanding a tank company at the Battle of the Bulge. Approximately 19,000 American soldiers were killed in the 5 week long battle. I remember seeing Gene’s picture hanging on the wall in uniform when we visited my dad’s Aunt Claire and Uncle Edmund. At their house in Akron, Ohio, the picture was above a small table with his memorabilia laid out on it, like a small shrine. He was their only child and I, even at my young age, wondered how the parents could have gotten through something like that. His remains never even made it back to the USA. He is buried at Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupré Belgium. My youngest brother Gene was named by my parents in his honor. So many heroes are responsible for the lives we have today. Never forget! What follows is an account written by David Kasavan, a fellow soldier, for the 11th Armored Division Legacy Group:

Gene's Purple Heart & Silver Star

"The Captain (Gene Sucharda) was leading the way as he always did, when the shell came from his right flank. It must have been right in line with him, for suddenly he fell, and slumped down into the turret. The tank started burning, and Ramee gave me the order to back up quickly behind a house. I saw Cpl. Armin Stodolenak, the Captain’s gunner, got out of the tank after he looked around and saw he could help the CO or the loader, Pfc. Stan Chadwick. The bog and the driver Pfc Clarence Busch and T/4 Key both got out of the tank but not before it was hit the second time. And then suddenly our tank was hit, right in the back deck which was sticking out past our shelter. No one was hit badly, and dodging all of the mortars and artillery, we finally made it back to a house where we were later picked up.”

The Captain and Chadwick must have been killed instantly. Stodolenak had some nasty shrapnel in his hip, and he hopped into Sgt. Jones’ tank for safety and first aid. “That made six men in the tank,” Jones said, “and before long there was a knocking on the tank. We opened up and there was Pfc. Sid Meyer, loader in Cohen’s tank, so we took him too and sat him on the transmission. Then the artillery started falling in town. Lt. Brendan Burns, who was to lead us through the rest of our battles, was outside scouting around with Captain Dick McCoy, from the battalion staff. They both hopped into the tank, too, so we had a total of nine men there. Probably set some sort of record.”

David Kasavan also wrote about these events 9 days before Gene was killed:

“The Captain (Gene Sucharda) called a meeting the next afternoon on January 5th. “Men,” he said, “I want you to know what a wonderful job you did. The 41st Tank Battalion really made a good reputation fighting out there, and most of the advancing occurred when we were in the lead. I want you to know that I am proud of you. And since I have to go into combat, all I can say is that I could not ask for a finer bunch of men than you.” The company looked at the Captain. They did not say it, but they too, were proud of him. He had shown himself to be the bravest. And he had kept a cool head throughout the battle. When one of the innumerable questions that always pop up in the course of an action was referred to him, he always knew the right and logical answer. He had proved himself the best and a best fighting man we were to ever know. Little did we suspect what was going to happen on our next step into action. Sgt. Jon Jones had this to say about the CO “It seemed as if he was out of his tank more often than in it. And he would walk around when artillery was falling all over the place. If he could help it, he would go see a man rather than have that man walk out in the open to see him. Why I remember one time I was all buttoned up due to artillery fire, and I heard a knocking on my pistol port. I opened it up and there was the CO. Do you know what he was doing? He was passing out cigarette rations.”

Newspaper article about Gene's death, I believe in the Akron, Oh newspaper:

Link to David's entire 22 page article: http://www.11tharmoreddivision.com/history/c41tk_revised.htm