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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - Two World War II
veterans, one of whom served in the 377th Field Artillery
Regiment and the other as an artillery soldier, visited the
Spartan Brigade on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Dec. 18,
2013.
Retired Col. Jack P. Ancker and Father Norman
Elliott joined with paratroopers from the 2nd Battalion,
377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat
Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division on Malamute Drop
Zone as PFAR's men fired 105 mim Howitzer artillery guns
shortly after sunrise. The purpose of this training event
was to further validate the brigade's fires-support
capabilities and to honor soldiers who served our country
valiantly during World War II.
Paratroopers assigned to A
Battery, 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment,
4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, part of
U.S. Army Alaska, explain the operation of a M119A2 105mm howitzer
to Army Col. Jack P. Ancker, retired, left, and Father Norman
Elliott, both World War II veteran artillery officers, on Malemute
drop zone at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Dec. 18, 2013.
World War II veterans Army Col. Jack P. Ancker retired, assigned to
the 680th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, 17th Airborne Division,
a Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device recipient, and the Rev. Norman
Elliott, a first lieutenant in the 341st Field Artillery Regiment,
89th Infantry Division, visited the soldiers and shared their Army
experiences. (U.S. Air Force photo by Justin Connaher) |
Elliott, who is nearly 94, pulled a lanyard that was hooked
to one of the howitzers and fired off a round.
The
two veterans said they enjoyed visiting the troops, watching
the live-fire exercise and sharing stories about World War
II and their time in the Army.
Elliott joined the
National Guard and then the Army in 1942.
“I didn't
go to Europe until the spring of '45,” Elliott said. “The
89th Infantry Division was a regular division and then it
became converted into what was called a light division,
which was copied after a German light division. We were sent
on maneuvers to collect data on what we could do, comparing
what the German light division could or could not do. So
because of that, we were delayed from being sent overseas.
As soon as that experiment ended, we were reconverted back
into a regular division and that's when we went overseas:
landing in France and then up through Luxemburg and then
Germany.”
Elliott and his unit sat near the Czech
border about a week, unable to fire and told not to fire
unless they were sure they were firing at German soldiers
and not Russians.
“Every part of Germany I was in
became East Germany. As we moved out towards Frankfurt,
24-hours later the Russians came and occupied it.”
After the war ended, the Army offered Elliott a rare
opportunity.
“After Germany, I was one of the
fortunate ones and sent to the American Army University in
Shrivenham, England, as a student. The American Army had set
up a university at the former British officers training
place called Shrivenham and had brought top ranking
professors over from the states to teach a three months
course. I was the fortunate one from my battalion they sent.
I spent three months as a student.”
After the course,
Elliott transferred to a guard company there and stayed
another three months. After the university closed, he came
back to the states on a troop ship in April 1946.
Elliott moved to Anchorage in 1951, after completing
seminary, and eventually became the arch deacon of the South
Central Alaska Episcopal Diocese.
Elliott stayed in
the reserves until 1953 when his bishop requested that he
drop out of the reserves.
On Good Friday, March
27,1964 Elliott also was delivering a sermon to his
congregation when the Great Alaskan Earthquake began.
“During the season of lent we used to have a service
every Friday beginning at 5:15 p.m., so people could come
from their employment to be at the church,” Elliott said.
“We were talking about Jesus dying on the cross. Well,
in the gospels Matthew says ‘That's when the earth quaked'
and that is exactly when it did quake.”
Elliott
described the earthquake.
“The building rocked. It
was not a shaker,” he said. “The earthquake of '64 was a
roller. The building began to roll with the chandeliers
hitting the ceiling in rhythm. The walls came forward and
back and this went on for about two or three minutes.
Afterward we didn't have a broken window, pipe or wire. The
building was not damaged at all which was amazing, but it
had laminated beams that had withstood it.”
He
remained in Alaska to spend the next 50 years traveling and
ministering for the Episcopal church throughout the state.
Father Elliott retired in 1990 but remains active in the
community. He was recently appointed to Anchorage's military
and veterans advisory commission.
Col. (retired) Jack
P. Ancker was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, June 1, 1921. He
enlisted when he was at Purdue University in 1942.
“I
was in the advanced ROTC program there,” Ancker said. “I
didn't have a draft card and I was 21. A recruiting team
came through and I enlisted because I didn't have any way to
identify myself in a saloon” he laughed.
“We were
already in World War II, so I knew I was going to be in the
Army anyway,” Ancker mused.
“After Pearl Harbor
happened the president of the university assembled the male
students and he said there would be no further extended
vacations,” recalled Ancker. “There would be one week of
between terms to allow the professors time for the grading,
so we graduated in 3 and a half years instead of four. As
ROTC students, we didn't get to go to summer camp, so we
were sent to Fort Sill to go through [officer candidate
school] because our entire program was field artillery.”
Ancker said at that time there were three different
divisions we could go to.
“They had a couple called
airborne and I didn't know what that was except it sounded
like you flew around in airplanes or something.,” he said.
“So, I volunteered to go airborne. I thought this would be
interesting. “
“It was a lot more interesting when I
got there. One, we didn't ride in any airplanes for a long
time. Two, we didn't ride in anything. When we were going
someplace, we had to run. The only time you walked was when
you slowed down to salute someone that outranked you and you
better damn well do it.”
Ancker was assigned to the
17th Airborne Division that was officially activated April
1943.
“We had about a year and a half preparation
time,” he said. “In that time we learned how to load gliders
as well as learning all the skills of the branch.
Ancker said his division commander was one of the original
parachute troops.
“[Maj. Gen. William M. "Bud" Miley]
went to Washington to ask permission to set up a special
jump school for people in our division,” Ancker said. “He
came back and announced that if anybody that was not a
qualified parachutist could take the program. I decided if
they were going to take me out and kill me by riding in a
glider, I would like to be paid for this, so I'd jump out of
the airplane and get the money. It worked out. I qualified
though, but to be honest, I wasn't physically qualified. I
was too skinny and I couldn't see well enough, but I
convinced a doctor to let me do it anyway.”
Ancker's
unit left in the fall of 1944 in a repaired cruise ship that
served as a troop transporter. After landing in England, his
unit trained and prepared for war on an old British military
post. On Christmas Eve 1944, they landed in France and ended
up in Luxemburg.
His unit never made it to Germany.
The whole division was pulled back to France for Operation
Varsity to support Montgomery ‘s crossing of the Rheine.
“Patton was already across the Rheine River at this
point,” Ancker explained.
Ancker volunteered to go to
Japan in 1947 after World War II, and stayed there for two
years and then came back to the states with the 11th
Airborne Division where he was sent to Alaska in the summer
of 1949 to go to the Arctic Warfare School.
“I got
married, then went to the advanced course at Fort Sill where
I got sick,” Ancker said. “It turned out I had tuberculosis.
I had it for three years and they didn't discover it until I
got a hole in the lung. So I spent a year in the hospital
and then they retired me on a temporary disability. I was
retired two years roughly.
Ancker eventually became
healthy and with a doctors approval, was able to join active
duty again. He taught classes at Fort Sill and Fort Knox for
two years before going to Command General Staff College. He
went to Korea for his last assignment as a field
artilleryman where he commanded two battalions. After Korea,
Ancker came back to the states again to work at the
Pentagon, where he gained the second MOS of Logistics.
Ancker served as commander of the Inventory Command Center
in Vietnam from April 1971 until April 1972. After Vietnam,
he returned to the states to take over as professor of
Military Science at New Mexico State University before
retiring the second time in 1975.
“I actually was
retired twice. Once temporarily, and then finally they told
me to go away because I was old and over age, grade and all
the other stuff they tell you to get rid of you,” Ancker
laughed.
Ancker said the Army is so different today
from his days of service.
“The terminology is the
same, but what they're using is in a different world.“
Ancker said he enjoyed his time with the Spartan
artillerymen and he hadn't had that much fun since the last
time he visited the Spartan troops two years ago.
“I
was as happy as a puppy with two tails and a big meal,” he
grinned. “It's like coming back and visiting family and I
think that's a great gift. I got the gift. I don't know
about the guys I'm visiting, but I got the gift.”
More photos available below
By USAF Justin Connaher
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2014
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