- My Dad, Lewis Armstrong, served in Company A of the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion. Like many vets of his generation, he really didn't start to discuss the war until his later years. But through those later years, we have learned some of his activities. He described to us the various stateside training sites he attended in Texas, then Kentucky. He told us about the journey across the Atlantic leading to his unit's arrival in Cherbourg in September 1944. From there, his life was geared to the battles so adequately detailed in this web site. At one point during the Battle of the Bulge, my Dad and his brother (in the infantry) were less than a mile apart, but they wouldn't learn of this information until much later. He and his brother wrote to each other during the war, reminding each other to "not forget to duck" as they closed their letters. Dad earned a Bronz Star. He told us of his unit's arrival not only at Cologne, but later in Munich and Dachau concentration camp. He said that no one should have to witness the horror of Dachau as he did. He laments that there are those folks in our society who are Holocaust deniers when he was a witness to this tragedy. He has some pictures from the war, some of the most memorable ones being the lines of thousands of German soldiers surrendering and the railway cars at Dachau. My Dad and three of his siblings served in WW II. We are thankful that all returned stateside after the war with no physical injuries. As of this writing, all four are still alive, ages ranging from 87 to 98.
