US WW2 Tanker aces...

there was a guy that was brought up a couple of months ago. his name was Pool. I can't remember too much about him except his name.

That was the guy and I believe Robert knows some information about him.

Staff Sargeant Lafayette Poole, Third Armored Division, destroyed 258 German vehicles and was twice nominated for the Medal of Honor.

There is a resin model of him available from C.D. Yoshi, the Japanese outfit.

He is not as well known as guys like Wittman because he did not wear a black uniform.

Thanks for the info Larry.
mark956

Yes, Layfayette Poole, 3rd Armor Division's 32nd Armor Regiment. The same unit I served in, but during the Gulf War it was part of the 1st Cavalry Division. We had the honor of meeting him on return from the desert. Our battalion commander's tank was named "In The Mood" in honor of Poole's WW2 Sherman tank.

He died shortly afterwards sometimes during the mid-90s (forgive me I've forgotten the year). Our battalion was redesignated to the 1st Battalion 12th Cavalry Regiment during the 1992-93 time frame, but the BC's tank was still named In The Mood.

As 3-32 Armor, we had one of the coolest regimental crests. It was a yellow shield with a red track going through it diagonally. The streamer below had the regimental motto "Victory or Death" on it.

Boy, this was hard to locate. Here is the 3rd Armored site, you have to go
to the WWII section and then the articles section to locate Poole's story.
http://www.3ad.us/
One interesting thing I read was that out of the 258 German vehicles he destroyed, 12 of them were German tanks.

Neat site Phil, thanks.

Small world Major Rob. Did Mr. Poole give you any interesting stories?

Destroying a Panther at long range. WOW!

QUOTE: Originally posted by philp One interesting thing I read was that out of the 258 German vehicles he destroyed, 12 of them were German tanks.

I assume "tank" is used in the narrowest sense of the word.

The Germans relied pretty heavily on non-tank AFV's in 1944, particularly in the time between the destruction or abandonment of so many in the early stages of the Normandy campaign and the beginning of the Bulge -- Hitler was building up his panzer reserve for the ill-advised lunge into the Ardennes.

Marders, Sturmgeschutz, Hetzers, Hanomags with teeth and other vehicles took over a large part of the armoured role. All of these were quite dangerous foes to the Sherman, particularly the numerous Stugs.

That said, I don't know exactly how his kills were parcelled out. He had the right attitude though! And he wasn't sitting there invulnerable in some 60 ton monster with six inches of armor.

Addendum: and now, having read the article, I've finally found my signature file.