July 7, 2024 • 39 mins
The 299th Combat Engineer Battalion was the only combat engineer unit to land on both Omaha and Utah beaches during the D-Day invasion. Some of the engineers landed before any other allied soldiers set foot on the beaches earning them the nickname “First on Omaha”. Chief Warrant Officer James W. Tucker was among them. His daughter Jean joins us to share more about the “Famous 299th”.
James commanded a group of eight armored tractors whose mission was to clear obstacles and open paths off the Normandy beaches. One third of the Combat Engineer Battalion that landed on Omaha beach was killed missing or wounded. For their heroic efforts that day, they would be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.
Tucker was also assigned the somber job of creating the first American cemetery in Normandy. There were so many bodies on the beaches that the equipment could not land without driving over the bodies of their fellow soldiers. Tucker used a bulldozer to dig a mass grave while still under fire and he and his comrades “stacked the bodies like cordwood.” These remains were eventually relocated.
Members of the 299th would fight and build their way across Europe to the heart of Germany.
Jean was so inspired by her father’s stories she has become a passionate advocate for their history. She single handedly manages their website and is continuously tracking down photos and stories from the families of members of the 299th Combat Engineers. Family or living members of the Battalion are encouraged to contact Jean through their website.
Jean and I also spend a great deal of time discussing the importance of recording these stories and history of generations that are rapidly passing away. She also regularly interacts with the “descendants” of this famous group – the 299th Brigade Engineer Battalion currently headquartered at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Jean also shares an intriguing story of the “spat” between the Army and the Navy over who should have responsibility for clearing obstacles on the landing beaches. They eventually agreed that any obstacles that were visible at high tide they would be the Army’s responsibility.
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(00:04):
We all owe them, but very few of
us know them.
They are the men and women of our
military and first responder communities,
and these are their stories.
American Warrior radio
is on the air.
(00:25):
Ladies and gentlemen
american Warrior.
Ben b Garcia
and Orleans tuning in via new affiliate, WGS09
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The allied forces who landed upon the beaches
of Normandy on 06/06/1944
were the largest invasion are armada known to
human history.
Among them were members of the only combat
(01:09):
engineer you had to land on both Omaha
and Utah beach. Some of the engineers landed
before any other allied soldiers set foot on
the beach earning them the name first on
Omaha. 1 third, that battalion that Lan on
Omaha was killed missing or wounded.
For their Her heroic efforts, the 2 90
ninth Combat engineer Battalion would be awarded the
presidential Unit citation. They would continue to fight
(01:29):
and build their way to the heart of
Germany contributing to the defeat of the Nazis.
Joining us today to tell the story the
famous 2 99 and what's being done to
preserve their memories is Jeannie Tucker, who has
a personal connection to the organization, Jeanne welcome
to American Warrior Radio. Thank you for having
me. Tell us about this personal connection times
too. Well, I can tell you, I was
(01:49):
raised in a military family.
My early years were hearing about my father's
time at war. I came along much later
in their lives. They had lost a child
when they were stationed overseas, and they very
purposely had another, and I'm very grateful for
that.
So I was privy to
see my father's uniforms hearing about the war,
(02:09):
his war experience. My mother was a very
active military wife. So there were always things
she was doing to reach out to the
troops My brother also got into the Air
Force and was intelligence, Russian linguist. And so
it was always around me. I had a
great appreciation. And my father was the head
of the H and S for the 2
90 ninth combat engineers that went in on
(02:32):
Omaha Beach. He converted tractors into heavy armored
obstacle removing do for the beach and received
a bronze star for that. And through the
years, I had great respect for the military
for the fact that my mother got me
involved when I was very, very little. I
saw her sending things off to the troops.
In Vietnam. And I wanted to participate, but
I was little. And at the time, I
(02:53):
was sag actors actress. I was doing Tb
commercial work just because I enjoyed it. And
my mom wasn't a stage mom at all,
and she said, you know what? Let's have
you write letters and send pictures to the
man. Let's cheer them up. And tell you're
how old? I would. 5 5 years old
or so. Yeah.
And so she started having me write letters.
And I wrote letters and sent pictures, and
it was just a fantastic way for me
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to reach out and feel like my voice
mattered, I could help. I could do something.
And oh my gosh, I started getting back
all kinds of amazing dolls and letters back
from the men. And I have those to
this day in a book, and through the
years look them up on the wall, and
I have now found 1 in Texas alive,
which makes me very happy. But that early
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point in my life where my mother let
me be a part of that.
Made me appreciate it so much more so
through the years.
I heard my dad's stories. He wasn't a
brag at all, but I was lucky to
have a father that did speak about the
war and told me some of those stories.
Unfortunately, Dad died in 19 83. And after
(03:55):
he passed away. We got the Internet around,
and I thought, you know what? I'm gonna
go try to find some of his men.
I wanna see if any of those men
are alive.
And that started this whole searching for the
2 90 nines, the men. They were having
reunion I found. I went to the reunion.
I was able connect with them,
and they needed my help. They needed somebody's
(04:16):
help they could put together the website, gather
the information. They're archive, for instance, or photographer
at that time and person managing the history
was 88 when I met him. And so
they needed assistance. They needed a younger generation
to help. I tell you 1 thing... And
you are... Where you say that you're very
fortunate to have a a father who did
speak so often with so many input some
(04:36):
of the older veterans we have on American
Warrior radio. It's almost when they know that
they're in those last
few months, maybe of their life that they
finally start to open up in And that's
understandable. It's it's... Obviously, they saw some terrible
things. I tell you, Gene, if I was
ever joined the military. The combat engineer really
appeals to me because their job was basically
twofold full to build stuff and to blow
(04:57):
stuff up. And that sounds like an awful
lot of fun me.
Right? And have salute. So when they were
landing on Utah in Omaha beach, it was
their job to tear stuff up. It was
their job to clear
landing zones
through the German obstacles
that would allow the troops to proceed in
land. And if nobody anybody knows anything about
those landing sig did not go quite to
(05:20):
plan. But your father all 8 of his
bull are made it the shore. I find
amazing. It was amazing. It was amazing. Very
few if any actually, dad said 1 of
the tanks sm onto the beach, and it
had some problems in the crew abandoned it
and he himself got in it and ran
it back in forth to try to clear
obstacles and then it hit a mine and
(05:41):
blew tread, and he got out of that,
suffered back injury for the rest of his
life from that. But, yeah. His equipment all
got there, which was amazed thing. And the
stories you hear from these man, the ones
that do talk about it Are very somber.
Nobody brag
that ground over there is hall. It is
sacred ground.
My father would talk about the fact that
(06:02):
you would turn around and get your men
working on something on the beach, And if
you turned your head, they were all back
under the cliffs. They were trying to save
themselves in their buddies. It was very, very,
very sad and difficult.
These were all his brothers. They were younger
than he was. My father was about 4
years older than most of the man. He
was already an officer when the were started.
So he would look back and grab 1
(06:24):
and say, go take a task, go get
on this dose or do something. He would
go 10 feet and get blown up. And
then you have to turn around and look
back and choose someone else. Yeah. I think
that's important. I mean, they're doing all this
under fire. Oh, yeah. I tell you 1
of the first things to me would be
not being able to at least shoot back.
Heat related storage to you... I guess it
was a major. Mh. It was just sitting
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on along with bullets running down all around
him and he just... He'd lost his mind.
He lost his mind. My father tried to
engage him and ask him questions and he
was gone. He was looking out to see
and he was gone. So I mentioned that
a third of the battalion was wounded,
missing an action killed of the men that
your father landed with,
how many do you know survive that first.
(07:08):
That's really difficult to get count. You know,
when people ask me, for instance, it's... It's
always the question, how many men were in
the 2 99? It's not a fixed number
because they move in and out. You know,
when they trained and moved down into Florida
to train on the beaches there. Many of
them men were pulled to create a Cad
of men for the 2 80 ninth or
for something else. So a lot of times
it was fluid. But when they hit England,
(07:29):
they had 32 officers and 628
in enlisted, man as it stood. So you
can kind of take from that number
they had the landing craft, they had 8
demolition assault teams and 4 support demolition teams
and a command when they went in on
the beaches. I can tell you it's very,
very difficult to even track who was in
(07:50):
witchcraft? You would think that that information's is
out there, but it's not. I go through
documents all the time. I just recently got
few more pages of a specific group of
documents I was looking for that's helpful. But
the army wasn't really good at writing stuff
down. And
the navy was better. The navy was a
little better at documenting. So sometimes I can
go to the navy records and find what
(08:10):
combat engineers from the 299 we're in which
boat with what group. The other thing that's
helpful is a lot of the men would
take a 2 dollar bill. And everybody would
sign it.
Before they went in. And if that survived,
which we have a couple, then we know
all the men that were in that particular
boat. A 2 dollar bill. It was... It's
funny. Yeah. Maybe because of the bill itself
(08:31):
is so odd, even back then price. I
guess.
Judy, I had a a member of part
of a a special group called the Ritchie
Boys
that were mostly
foreign and born and were intelligence
And this guy is a a piece of
a very heavy russian accent, and he's a
wonderful offer. He just writes. I've never found
anyone who could describe war
(08:52):
in such prose. But... He just... He landed
on D day plus 8 at Utah. And
he described it as the most
bizarre
sad
yet festive.
Because by that time, they had pushed in
land,
you, it further ran off the beaches and
just some crazy stuff. I tell you, you
(09:13):
julie come back and I'd like to have
you tell us more about your your father's
experience, ladies and gentlemen, chief Warren Officer, James
w tucker, if you'd like to learn more
and help her out visit 2 90 ninth
combat engineers dot com.
Great website a lot of photos, a lot
of stories about these individual combat engineers and
and their hair was on. They... And and
going forward, these comp the 20 ninth thought
(09:35):
in in Korea, or, in in Vietnam,
desert storm, operation enduring Freedom,
they've been very busy and by the way,
but talk more about that only come back.
The show Ben Garcia to around.
(10:12):
Welcome back to American Warrior Rio laser in
gentlemen. This is your host ben Garcia. We're
talking with Jeanne Tucker about the famous 2
90 ninth Combat engineer, Battalion. And, you know,
you're and now talking off the you just
a shout out. We do have an affiliate
in Colorado Springs, and that's now where the
the descendants, I guess, on the 2 90
ninth or our headquartered their fort Carson, Colorado.
(10:34):
2 90 nine's combat engineer, Brigade fully
support self supportive with Intel and women
and they are fantastic. I went up for
the react ceremony in 2013,
and they're an amazing group of of soldiers
and they continue to post things and keep
me abreast with what's going on? They're very
proud of their history. Do you know and
(10:55):
and do your research when they're
recruiting.
Were they looking for a certain set of
skills. I mean, I think I'd wanna a
farm boy who could fix a tractor, but
it's world war 2 you're just getting wherever
you get.
My father happened to be at that time
before they activated the 2 90 ninth and
created that unit.
He was in India, California building field hospitals
(11:16):
with the 03:50 fifth. And several of those
officers were pulled and told you're gonna go
up to Camp Oregon. Was the largest training
facility for the military that was being built
and put together up there, and you're going
to become part of the original cad for
the 2 90 ninth. So they did that.
They went up. It was in the beautiful
Med area. Mh. Well, the men that were
(11:37):
brought over were brought from the New York
area.
All the way from Fort Niagara where they
enlisted, and they were brought over from Auburn
Syracuse, Buffalo, all those areas and towns around.
And a lot of them went school together
knew each other. And so they were put
on trains and brought all the way out
to Med Oregon. Keep in mind, most of
them were
(11:57):
Immigrants family and children. They had never driven.
They had no need. They were in small
towns. They had skills so far as survival
skills and get by, you know, we... They
had gone through a lot, but they were
not
up on driving or doing anything. In fact,
when they all came, the first trains came
in and then all of that group the
first thing that they were issued per piece
(12:18):
of equipment was a bicycle.
That's it. That's all they had to drive
around in. And then my dad who was
an officer with Headquarters service company and the
motor and keep charge of that, he taught
him to drive everything. So my dad felt
these were his brothers for sure because he
taught him to drive everything starting with a
Willie jeep and on up to heavy equipment.
And then they went from there to La
(12:38):
pine Oregon
where they went in the woods and practiced
how to build the Bailey bridges, the different
bridges, and those woods most
replicated the German woods. So that was a
good environment for them to train in. Then
they went from there out in the deserts
and worked there. They did so many different
things in that area training in different capacity,
and then they were put on those trains
(12:59):
and all the way down to Florida they
went. So those beaches were prepped to most
look like the invasion beaches. Bobby me, guys
think because I found it really interesting you
shared an article that I found fascinating at
that point in time,
the... There were sort of a
a spat going on between the army and
the navy as to who had the skill
sets and who would have the responsibility it.
(13:22):
It really came down to... Well,
depending on where the tide is,
is that an underwater obstacle or not. And,
you know, the army's argument was well, if
it can be seen when we're landing, it's
not underwater. And eventually, they kinda reached a
sort of agreement on that. Exactly. And it
was the really first time we had had
that kind of cooperative
(13:43):
unit put together of these demolition teams that
were the navy and the army. And it
was amazing all the training that they had
to go through down there. And the 2
99 that was so secretive. The 2 99
were given a special code name because nobody
wanted to to mention their name after they
were getting so specialized with their training and
they were part of the special task force.
So it was the 5001
(14:04):
P. Don't ask me what that means, but
that was what it was. Even in the
train ride down to Florida,
Every time they got into a civilized area
where people could see them, They closed all
the curtains in the train. The boys, they
all told me that nobody was allowed to
look out, you had to keep it private
because they didn't wanna see all the troop
movement. They didn't wanna d... That and let
somebody buy, maybe see what they were doing.
(14:25):
So, yeah, the navy and the and the
army got together and it was. It was
little bit of a spat, but boy, they
worked well together. They continued to train when
they went from there up to can't picket
it in different places and then went over
to England. They continued to train over there
and they had mock trainings there too. So
it's quite amazing. I have yet to get
down to Fort Pierce to go to their
(14:45):
museum there. That is a museum that I'm
gonna go to this year to actually look
at that and how they present it. Just
to clarify,
I thought you said he put together...
Basically were armored bull.
No. There were tractors that were converted into
obstacle remove do. And if you go through
and you look at caterpillar for instance, the
tractor company's history, you can see a lot
(15:05):
of information on how involved they were in
the war and they're different type of tractors
that were converted and used.
I was recently in Normandy, and I was
actually searching for a couple of these different
do. I was looking for the converted ones
there's AD7 and d 4, and they're just
different capacity. But, yeah. So he took those
and mechanically converted it. My father was super
high Iq. I know how valuable he was
(15:26):
to the military because I watched him throughout
his life. I watched him in Europe when
I was a teenager, take a transmission off
of 1 brand of car and put it
on a whole another brand of car and
make it work. He could make anything work.
And he gotta have around. Absolutely.
So is So, basically, they landed on on
Omaha, If I got this right, their beach
was easy red. If I'm not mistaken, was
(15:48):
that not the same beach beaches and saving
prior Ran? Right. But they landed. So b
company was on Utah. Okay. Headquarters in service,
A and c were on Omaha. And you
had all the different names of the beaches.
All of them
fell and drifted about 800 yards or more
because of the weather out of position. So
nobody it exactly where they were supposed to.
(16:10):
Easy red is closely
marked by, you know, where you saw the
ceremonies for the d the 80 anniversary recently
where they have the big monument that's there
in the Omaha Beach. That is kind of
easy red and then further down the beach
that area. Did, I saw if any of
anybody's ever seen that film more or even,
you know, the older version the the longest
day, I mean, I just can't imagine just
(16:31):
see the carnage and, but you've got a
job to do. There's literally bodies washing up
on the shore. There's vehicles being blown up,
but your father had a job to do.
And there's a very somber story you tell
about the very first cemetery.
On Omaha beach relate that to us. Absolutely.
So orders came down as as you can
imagine by the the films and the way
(16:53):
it was depicted, there were bodies in everywhere.
They couldn't get their job done. You know,
it's bad enough. You've got man under fire,
but now they're running over their buddies and
trying to do their work. Orders came down
to get bodies underground. So Dad took 1
of his do,
and went back and forth and back and
forth and still fire.
Made a trench, a massive trench. They gathered
(17:13):
about 35 man and a chaplain that was
there, and they started going around and taking
dog tag and names and putting bodies into
it. And under fire. Under fire. And a
lot of the men
would get sick it's a hard. I mean,
you're not talking about complete bodies. You're talking
parts. You know, it's incredibly difficult. And the
chap flynn. The interesting thing is that Chaplain
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ended up to helping my father to the
very end. And that
that grave later
Dad went back in 19 57.
13 years after the war, he went back
and he looked at landmarks and wanted to
show my mother and his 2 sons
where that was put, where he dug that.
And by gosh, they found a big piece
of wood sticking out of the sand that
said here marks the first cemetery the American
(17:58):
cemetery in France World war 2. Later, those
bodies were then taken, of course, to, you
know, before that, they were taken to the
cemetery in the Normandy American cemetery.
And the chaplain what's fascinating to me is
I never knew his name, but about a
year and a half ago, I got a
phone call for a young man who is
the son of the chaplain who talked to
me and said, my father talked about this
(18:19):
kind officer who he was helping, and I
went oh my gosh, and it was 1
of those just... I get chill just thinking
about that moment of us discussing our fathers
and what they had to do. My father
would say you turn around and look at
a man 1 second turn back, and all
you would see is legs in the air.
G took come back. I wanna talk. You
did take the opportunity to go visit those
(18:40):
hall beaches. We come back and once to
share your experiences about that Ladies and Gentlemen,
is your host, Ben Garcia We're talking with
G tucker. I'll listen look it up 2
90 ninth Combat engineers dot com. We'll be
right back.
(19:12):
Welcome back to American where radio ladies and
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We're back with Jeanne Tucker, Genie is the
daughter of chief warren officer James W Tucker,
who landed with the 2 90 ninth combat
engineer Battalion on Deed at Omaha Beach and
(19:53):
then literally fought his way through the rest
of that campaign,
survived the battle the bulge, Yes. We had
many taken prisoner there, but dad, thankfully not.
You, Jeannie had the opportunity. I think for
the first time. Right? To go back and
visit
that hollow ground on what recently was the
8 anniversary of the Lan on D day.
(20:14):
And I've heard so many stories from veterans
who've gone back and just the
depth of the
appreciation and the emotion that comes from these
French people is
it's gotta be quite the experience.
I I don't even know how to put
words to it sometimes because the emotion you
feel when you're standing looking at that stretch
(20:37):
of beach.
It feels smaller in the movies. It looks
tighter. It's a b area. It's such a
long stretch to the cliffs, it's a long
stretch down. And when you look at the
bunker and you see them above you here
forward. And then on the sides, So you're
totally pinned in. It's it's overwhelming. You just
are struck by the en of that event
(21:00):
and the lives.
And the people there. Oh my goodness. They
I wear always when I'm going to any
military event or especially on D day every
year. A little picture of my father on
my Lapel and a little emblem of of
the 2 90 ninth. And I can't tell
you everybody would stop me. Oh, your father.
What did he do? When I went to
(21:21):
visit the monument and that is there for
that first grave that was Doug that Dad
had his do stick.
Does your dad have something to do with
this, and I would tell them and you'd
see tears start rolling? Oh, my family lived
in 1 of the houses here? They experience
the war. Thank you. Thank you.
It's just... It's it's amazing. I I can't
tell you how many young kids came up
to me. Oh, tell me the story. Wow.
(21:44):
It was just
so heartfelt. I didn't wanna leave.
I wanted to stay. I I went to
all the museums that I could. I didn't
go at the Dna anniversary. I went before
because I wanted private time in those places
without mobs of people. I wanted to sit
look out to the sea. I wanted to
at the monuments, I wanted to think about
(22:04):
these moments my dad lived through,
and it was
remarkable.
I can't imagine the high never visited there,
but when you describe it and you describe
the bunker and what's left of the defensive
vacations, I I just have to shake my
head and marble that anybody got off those
beaches. Absolutely. And you know, the beach sand
is still to this day 4 percent s.
(22:26):
4 percent today. Now there are some major
erosion issues that the government is having to
deal within in that area. Some of the
bunker and things have eroded down. So history
is being captured by the sea once again.
But people need to go visit. You need
to experience that. It is it is something
that I wish we had every child in
(22:47):
every school in this country, watching
and and experiencing an interactive video of some
kind of that. It's it's really, really something.
It warms my heart to hear that I've
had a number of other veterans on the
show who mentioned that, and in 1 particular,
there was AAA
celebration, and there was a a young boy.
He described in his 12 or 13 who
(23:09):
had a t shirt that said, thank you
for our freedom.
And the veteran said, well, we're... I wanna
buy 1 of those working can I buy
it, and the young boy said you cannot,
and he took his t shirt off and
gave it to him? And just little things
like that. So I'm curious
for you talking about children. At which point
have you talked about your mom got your
engaged in in with the troops in Vietnam.
(23:30):
But at which point did you
decide to make this a a personal
quest.
I guess your mom took a lot of
the notes to record a lot of your
dad's stories. Right. How much did you actually
sit down and speak with your father or
as you not reach that point before he
passed? I think that's 1 of the hardest
things for me is it that and unfortunately,
(23:52):
my dad had passed away earlier in my
life. You know, I was 22 when my
father passed away. And, you know, I was
off doing things in my life. And so,
yes, I'd grown up with all the stories
I've seen. I mean, he had field phones
we would play with, you know, in the
desert here. I I was around that, and
I appreciated it because we would always go
to celebrations, Dad was the president of the
(24:13):
military order of the World Wars, the Air
Force Association because he... After day and after
the war, he got out of the army,
got back into the air Force. Stayed in
Career went to Korea. So I was around
all of that history.
But, you know, when dad passed away, I
think that you you miss your dad. And
so I wanted to find these men as
a way to connect with him.
(24:34):
And that's exactly what it did. And I
realized that what I was doing was documenting
history from many perspectives because I had Dad's
perspective, then I would hear his men tell
me the same story and how it went.
And I had all these perspectives and I
thought oh, my gosh. This isn't anywhere in
a book. This isn't anywhere where you can
find it. And this is where it's built
(24:54):
is from the stories and the individuals that
were there, not just in some military record
that's in a book somewhere. It's not like
that. And so I realized it was something
I wanted to dedicate my time to. So
what I did was I started
speaking at the different days
celebrations and ceremonies. So I spoke at the
Air museum they had and the different ones
they've had here in town. And
(25:15):
my father's buried at Arlington. And so
It's a big piece of my life, and
it is really a passion now. It is
very seriously. My trip to Normandy was not
just for me or for my family. That
trip was very much a research trip because
I was trying to gather more information. And
1 of the things I was trying to
do is the American battle monuments that manages
(25:38):
the ce around the world are military ce
really don't have a database where you can
get more than just the information. They don't
have photos and graves and all of that
for everybody.
It's a big task. And so many of
our... The families of our soldiers that died
did they left... They left them buried there,
but they don't have a picture of it
and many of them can afford to go
there. And so I said, you know what
(26:00):
I'm in a petition to get permission, a
press pass to be able to take photos
and publish those on our web site. And
so I was on that mission, and that's
what I did. I was able to get
into areas that were cord off for the
celebration coming up of d dj. And take
photos of all of those graves. And for
25 years, these were names I knew.
And to stand in front of their grave
(26:21):
and say hello, John, How are you? Or
hello, George or Hello, Sam.
And thank you and put those flags and
take those photos and give a blessing.
It was extremely important to me. I didn't
have the time to do account, Genie, but
if folks go to 2 90 ninth combat
engineers dot com. You've got like I said,
a listing of of the photos and and
(26:43):
the biographies, and and if, you know, the
obi obituary is also of of all these
soldiers. When you first got started, I think
you share with me. You had
correct, 8 or 9 names. And now where
where are you at now?
Count them because I'm still uploading from the
deed in that period of time because families
reach out and I gather more information, but
I can tell you it used to be
(27:04):
1 page. You didn't have to scroll down
and now you can scroll and scroll and
scroll. And for instance, on the K are
killed in action on D day, that list,
we only had a couple of things. And
now there's
tons. I mean, everything. It's it's so satisfying
for me that they're not forgotten I tell
you, let me issue this challenge out to
our listeners. So we've got listeners from from
(27:26):
coast to coast now. And if they're... There's
someone out there hearing this and they have
a family member who was associated
with the 2 90 ninth past or present.
You know, even going up through desert storm
or Vietnam,
How do they reach you? Can they just
get to you through the website or... They
absolutely can reach me through the website, and
I have thousands still photos from 4 World
(27:47):
war 2, and I have lots of information
after, and the website is built out and
will be built out to all the different
conflicts.
So I am taking information. They can reach
out. They can,
email me through the website,
and they can find, you know, Any documents
send those copies to me, I will scan
things, send them back. I will photoshop and
(28:08):
fix pictures for them. I am just honored
to be able to preserve all of this.
Well, we're very grateful that you're doing that
because I hide... That's... I mean, that's... That
parallels is the mission of American Way Radio
because if we don't tell these stories
particularly with that generation. I mean, they're fading
awfully awfully fast.
And I think it's just it's
(28:28):
it's heartbreaking that that some of these stories
may... Honestly, we have to honestly ourselves some
of these may never get told. But It's
it is heartbreaking.
And and 1 of the things that, you
know, that... When you looked at the ceremonies
over there. 1 of the things I thought
was really striking is over there and you
saw a lot children involved over here not
some else. Yeah. I tell you while. I
wanna talk more about that when come back
ladies and gentlemen, was your host ben do
(28:49):
the garcia talking about Jeanne Tucker. We'll be
right back.
(29:12):
Welcome back to American warrior Radio ladies and
gentlemen, Is your host Ben garcia we're talking
with a Passionate passionate advocate for the 2
90 ninth Combat
engineer, Battalion Jean Tucker, whose father
served with them landed at Omaha Beach World
War true. And you also had another relative
your father law. He was in the the
(29:32):
other Theater, I guess. Yes. My step father.
Definitely. My step father was a rear admiral
sub commander in the Pacific and highly decorated
navy crosses and,
yeah. So I'm very, very proud. I have
strong military ties. I'm a patriot for sure,
and the preservation and respect and honor for
that history is important. Tell us about a
(29:54):
young man named Paul Cook.
Interesting. Paul Cook was a 2 90 ninth.
Combat Engineer. I'm Met him with Reunion.
I thought that Paul had passed away. I
reached out to Him me, have sent me
information on headquarters in service company pictures, different
things, and we were corresponding and all of
a sudden, the phone was disconnected. And that's
through the years. It's like losing my dad
over You know, it's another piece, and I
(30:16):
couldn't reach him. I found a newspaper article
right around the ad anniversary of Did, and
I was just thrilled old and he is
a hundred years old, and he is doing
great,
and the article is is fantastic and sounds
like he's perfectly it, and his mind and
capacities are there. And so I'm trying right
now to reach out to him.
Yeah. It's gonna be fantastic to get back
(30:37):
in touch because we only have a few
around.
I tell. It's it's clear to me the
the passion that you feel for this. And
you're you're really carrying this...
I don't wanna call it a burden, but
you're carrying this project.
All by yourself on your shoulders, and if
folks go and visit that website, they'll see
how extensive it is. And yet how much
more work needs to be done. What I
(30:58):
have to ask
what drives you? It is a really strong
passion. It is not something that's just a
side thing. And what drives me is that
A lot of people think you move through
life and you don't... Your story doesn't matter.
These are little stories. Like you talk to
many of the men in the 2 99.
And they'll say, oh, you know, it was,
you know, I'm just 1 person. Oh, no.
(31:19):
What they did was massive and in all
conflicts and all things.
Those stories so matter. So it drives me
to make sure these young men are not
forgotten. I don't want any of that to
be forgotten. My mother was a historical gene
all. She wrote several books in the library
of Congress. I watched her passion for that.
And how much it meant to the people
that she
remembered and their families, and it is really
(31:41):
crucial. And when I look at young people
today that don't understand a lot that was
given for their freedoms.
I'm really driven because I want them to
understand. I want them to remember the faces
the names,
what they experienced.
How do you think what is that bridge?
How we get to that,
because we're talking
on 2 almost 3 generations probably removed now.
(32:04):
Mh.
And Yeah. And it's... Of course, the children
like myself are carrying that torch.
Many of them have tried to pass it
on, and it has there are some amazing,
amazing
young women and and man out there, my...
You mentioned my step father. When he passed
away, I was handling his affairs and I
actually took some of the monies that he
(32:24):
donated to 1 of the military groups, and
they started then award they give every year
to 1 of their Cc, young women or
men, and it's just wonderful. You know. So
those legacy can be passed on. 1 of
the things I noticed, which I mentioned just
briefly before is that when we celebrate these
anniversaries, I don't see a lot of children
involved in this country. Over in Europe and
(32:46):
France of it was on their land, but
still, the children are massively involved. And so
they pass that torch. There is an organization
in France called L,
and what it is, it's the flowers of
memory. It was started after the war.
It is an organization to go out, families
go are given 1 of the American grave
sites. They're at Normandy or anywhere in France,
(33:07):
and they cherish it. They pass it through
their family generation to generation, they fix it
up, put flowers clean it. It's a beautiful
thing. And the closest I've seen here to
that is when we do wreath across America.
I do that every year and you go
out there and you see at Christmas Reeves
being put on military service members, graves, and
I see families with little kids and the
(33:28):
dad is saying see he's served in the
navy. Let's look him up and find out
about him later. I'm thrilled. I go up
to parents and thank them. Please keep doing
that. You know, it's so wonderful fault. My
uncle passed away is 16 years old in
the Panama canal zone in the Navy during
World war 2. And I took my mother
there to his grave. He's he's buried there.
(33:48):
It's... We have to we have to pass
this on. And like you said, it's not
easy. It's not easy.
I get sick in my stomach when I
start talking to someone that that's younger, and
they say, well, what was d dj? Oh,
wow. Oh, wow. Are they not teaching that
as wanting anymore. Now I I can tell
you even myself, I was... I had parents
the age of most people, my age is,
(34:10):
grandparent. You know, most people age had grand
grandparents age of my parents. And so
I was out of sync a bit. So
when I went to the reunion, the guys
were thrilled to see me, I was much
younger than they thought I would be. So
they knew I could carry this torch longer.
That was important. Yeah. I'd listen to you
described that. I think the...
What's important
in Europe and in France in particular is
(34:30):
the engagement of the parents, the older generations
and emphasizing the importance
of this to these young people on, you
know, saying, look, but for these young man
and in some cases, young women, we would
be living a whole different life right now,
and it would not be as good. And
I think about And I'm sure I have
a smart American we're real listener that will
(34:50):
come on and correct me on this. But
as far as foreign wars,
the only ce like this
are probably in Hawaii.
There's a reason why there's nothing like
that cemetery
in on those beaches and normandy here state
side, and that's because
these men and women went home for cease
(35:12):
to keep the evil
over there. Absolutely. And I don't know if
there's a way to communicate that to the
young folks, but who knows, there might be
a colonel. It's it is. It's just the
fact that we have been a little bit
too spoiled Mh. For too long. And many
generations have had it easy so to speak
even though they complain and say it's hard
comparatively
(35:33):
to what these other countries have gone through,
It's... It is is as you said, it's
something that they need to be educated on
why you have this great country to be
in and why you have these freedoms, who
fought for them? Who gave their life, so
you could have this beautiful luxury of living
in this place you live in? Why, I...
G, what you're doing it. I think is
a big part of that answer. What is
(35:53):
the next
plateau for you. What can our listeners do
to help? Well, I've with the help of
some of the veterans before they passed, I
completed the K list at the D day
oil, which I highly recommend anybody in this
country take their children and their family too.
It is in, the Bedford, Virginia. It is
amazing. It is the only monument we have
here and more real 2 d day. That's
(36:15):
where a lot of my research will go
eventually. But right now, what I really need
is as you said, I'm 1 per person.
I'm 1 person trying to do a job
of many. And so I have a lot
that could be on the website. A lot
of other things that outreach programs that could
that could occur. I'm going to apply for
grant money to see if I can get
a historical preservation grant of some kind.
(36:35):
I am working really, really hard towards that
So that's kind of the next step, and
the more I identify soldiers names, the more
information I need to go to s. Louis
to the military archives and look up a
lot more action reports and and daily logs
and things and anything I can find in
the archives.
I am always on the search. I do
(36:56):
this every day, there's a little bit that
I do. And then some days, it's hours
and hours and hours and hours. So I
work on this all the time. Of course,
the of d days is a big time
that family start thinking about it. They reach
out.
The website has become, an intermediary so to
speak for the 2 90 ninth and that
so people do reach out this year alone.
I was able to add so many more
(37:16):
photos
because they said, oh, my son so, my
husband, my uncle, My, you know, It's fantastic.
It's fantastic. Those pieces is coming together.
My job is to gather history is to
gather it together and to hopefully, in my
lifetime make a more cohesive picture of this
particular piece of a bigger picture. You know,
I think 1 the great things about this
said that the advantage we have, do you
(37:37):
need to somewhere predecessor sessions didn't is, the
Internet is forever.
Again, any listeners out there, if you had
a family member who was involved with the
2 90 ninth whether be world 4 2
or some of the more current conflicts.
Visit 2 90 ninth combat engineers dot com.
You can reach a genie there. They're looking
for photos,
(37:57):
documents
Yes. Artifacts? Yes.
Artifacts, absolutely Uniforms artifacts, anything of that nature.
And also, I am trying to collect monies
for
a bronze plaque to be placed at the
D Dj Memorial for the 2 90 ninth
combat Engineer Battalion,
and I've been raising money for the last
few years for that. So
yes. Anything. And I... As I said, well,
(38:19):
scan preserve, send them back to families. I'm
very, very honored to be able to do
that. And I just correct me if I'm
wrong with, but be say Bedford Virginia. Is
it that the the Bedford boys? That's brown
there. They lost the most boys of any
other capital. Per capita Yes. So that's why
it's there. I don't know if this job
will ever be done. Mh. But at some
point, where does, Genie hand it off to
(38:42):
with the next generation or where do you
say okay. We're closing up I'm gonna ship
this toe of the library of Congress. Exactly.
My
my mother lived to 97.
And we have good genes in my family.
I pray that I take good enough care
of myself that I can enjoy this process
as long as I can. However,
I will have it very protected.
And it will not go to just 1
(39:02):
source. The museum over in France at Omaha
Beach will also get all those archives as
will the d dj Memorial.
As will
the military and other archive... You know, there's
other places that it will go. It's very
important you send it to many places because
of the fact that some put it in
the back. Some put it forward. You don't
know how they're gonna display it. So it's
very important to pass it to many, many
(39:24):
locations. And Jennie Tucker, Thank so much for
what you're doing. God bless you for what
you're doing. Thank you for having me. Ladies
and gentlemen until next time, all policies and
procedures are remain in place. Take care.
You've been listening to American warrior rating o.
Archived episodes may be found at American warrior
(39:45):
radio dot com or your favorite podcast platform.
We all owe them, but very few of
us know them.
They are the men and women of our
military and first responder communities,
and these are their stories.
American Warrior radio
is on the air.
(00:25):
Ladies and gentlemen
american Warrior.
Ben b Garcia
and Orleans tuning in via new affiliate, WGS09
98 Am great to have you on board.
Whether you work in security law enforcement or
training silence or central is your 1 stop
shop for all your suppressor needs. Their award
winning Spanish Speed k is the toughest most
(00:47):
compact tactical suppressor to carry the Spanish name.
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and let the industry experts get you on
target.
The allied forces who landed upon the beaches
of Normandy on 06/06/1944
were the largest invasion are armada known to
human history.
Among them were members of the only combat
(01:09):
engineer you had to land on both Omaha
and Utah beach. Some of the engineers landed
before any other allied soldiers set foot on
the beach earning them the name first on
Omaha. 1 third, that battalion that Lan on
Omaha was killed missing or wounded.
For their Her heroic efforts, the 2 90
ninth Combat engineer Battalion would be awarded the
presidential Unit citation. They would continue to fight
(01:29):
and build their way to the heart of
Germany contributing to the defeat of the Nazis.
Joining us today to tell the story the
famous 2 99 and what's being done to
preserve their memories is Jeannie Tucker, who has
a personal connection to the organization, Jeanne welcome
to American Warrior Radio. Thank you for having
me. Tell us about this personal connection times
too. Well, I can tell you, I was
(01:49):
raised in a military family.
My early years were hearing about my father's
time at war. I came along much later
in their lives. They had lost a child
when they were stationed overseas, and they very
purposely had another, and I'm very grateful for
that.
So I was privy to
see my father's uniforms hearing about the war,
(02:09):
his war experience. My mother was a very
active military wife. So there were always things
she was doing to reach out to the
troops My brother also got into the Air
Force and was intelligence, Russian linguist. And so
it was always around me. I had a
great appreciation. And my father was the head
of the H and S for the 2
90 ninth combat engineers that went in on
(02:32):
Omaha Beach. He converted tractors into heavy armored
obstacle removing do for the beach and received
a bronze star for that. And through the
years, I had great respect for the military
for the fact that my mother got me
involved when I was very, very little. I
saw her sending things off to the troops.
In Vietnam. And I wanted to participate, but
I was little. And at the time, I
(02:53):
was sag actors actress. I was doing Tb
commercial work just because I enjoyed it. And
my mom wasn't a stage mom at all,
and she said, you know what? Let's have
you write letters and send pictures to the
man. Let's cheer them up. And tell you're
how old? I would. 5 5 years old
or so. Yeah.
And so she started having me write letters.
And I wrote letters and sent pictures, and
it was just a fantastic way for me
(03:14):
to reach out and feel like my voice
mattered, I could help. I could do something.
And oh my gosh, I started getting back
all kinds of amazing dolls and letters back
from the men. And I have those to
this day in a book, and through the
years look them up on the wall, and
I have now found 1 in Texas alive,
which makes me very happy. But that early
(03:35):
point in my life where my mother let
me be a part of that.
Made me appreciate it so much more so
through the years.
I heard my dad's stories. He wasn't a
brag at all, but I was lucky to
have a father that did speak about the
war and told me some of those stories.
Unfortunately, Dad died in 19 83. And after
(03:55):
he passed away. We got the Internet around,
and I thought, you know what? I'm gonna
go try to find some of his men.
I wanna see if any of those men
are alive.
And that started this whole searching for the
2 90 nines, the men. They were having
reunion I found. I went to the reunion.
I was able connect with them,
and they needed my help. They needed somebody's
(04:16):
help they could put together the website, gather
the information. They're archive, for instance, or photographer
at that time and person managing the history
was 88 when I met him. And so
they needed assistance. They needed a younger generation
to help. I tell you 1 thing... And
you are... Where you say that you're very
fortunate to have a a father who did
speak so often with so many input some
(04:36):
of the older veterans we have on American
Warrior radio. It's almost when they know that
they're in those last
few months, maybe of their life that they
finally start to open up in And that's
understandable. It's it's... Obviously, they saw some terrible
things. I tell you, Gene, if I was
ever joined the military. The combat engineer really
appeals to me because their job was basically
twofold full to build stuff and to blow
(04:57):
stuff up. And that sounds like an awful
lot of fun me.
Right? And have salute. So when they were
landing on Utah in Omaha beach, it was
their job to tear stuff up. It was
their job to clear
landing zones
through the German obstacles
that would allow the troops to proceed in
land. And if nobody anybody knows anything about
those landing sig did not go quite to
(05:20):
plan. But your father all 8 of his
bull are made it the shore. I find
amazing. It was amazing. It was amazing. Very
few if any actually, dad said 1 of
the tanks sm onto the beach, and it
had some problems in the crew abandoned it
and he himself got in it and ran
it back in forth to try to clear
obstacles and then it hit a mine and
(05:41):
blew tread, and he got out of that,
suffered back injury for the rest of his
life from that. But, yeah. His equipment all
got there, which was amazed thing. And the
stories you hear from these man, the ones
that do talk about it Are very somber.
Nobody brag
that ground over there is hall. It is
sacred ground.
My father would talk about the fact that
(06:02):
you would turn around and get your men
working on something on the beach, And if
you turned your head, they were all back
under the cliffs. They were trying to save
themselves in their buddies. It was very, very,
very sad and difficult.
These were all his brothers. They were younger
than he was. My father was about 4
years older than most of the man. He
was already an officer when the were started.
So he would look back and grab 1
(06:24):
and say, go take a task, go get
on this dose or do something. He would
go 10 feet and get blown up. And
then you have to turn around and look
back and choose someone else. Yeah. I think
that's important. I mean, they're doing all this
under fire. Oh, yeah. I tell you 1
of the first things to me would be
not being able to at least shoot back.
Heat related storage to you... I guess it
was a major. Mh. It was just sitting
(06:45):
on along with bullets running down all around
him and he just... He'd lost his mind.
He lost his mind. My father tried to
engage him and ask him questions and he
was gone. He was looking out to see
and he was gone. So I mentioned that
a third of the battalion was wounded,
missing an action killed of the men that
your father landed with,
how many do you know survive that first.
(07:08):
That's really difficult to get count. You know,
when people ask me, for instance, it's... It's
always the question, how many men were in
the 2 99? It's not a fixed number
because they move in and out. You know,
when they trained and moved down into Florida
to train on the beaches there. Many of
them men were pulled to create a Cad
of men for the 2 80 ninth or
for something else. So a lot of times
it was fluid. But when they hit England,
(07:29):
they had 32 officers and 628
in enlisted, man as it stood. So you
can kind of take from that number
they had the landing craft, they had 8
demolition assault teams and 4 support demolition teams
and a command when they went in on
the beaches. I can tell you it's very,
very difficult to even track who was in
(07:50):
witchcraft? You would think that that information's is
out there, but it's not. I go through
documents all the time. I just recently got
few more pages of a specific group of
documents I was looking for that's helpful. But
the army wasn't really good at writing stuff
down. And
the navy was better. The navy was a
little better at documenting. So sometimes I can
go to the navy records and find what
(08:10):
combat engineers from the 299 we're in which
boat with what group. The other thing that's
helpful is a lot of the men would
take a 2 dollar bill. And everybody would
sign it.
Before they went in. And if that survived,
which we have a couple, then we know
all the men that were in that particular
boat. A 2 dollar bill. It was... It's
funny. Yeah. Maybe because of the bill itself
(08:31):
is so odd, even back then price. I
guess.
Judy, I had a a member of part
of a a special group called the Ritchie
Boys
that were mostly
foreign and born and were intelligence
And this guy is a a piece of
a very heavy russian accent, and he's a
wonderful offer. He just writes. I've never found
anyone who could describe war
(08:52):
in such prose. But... He just... He landed
on D day plus 8 at Utah. And
he described it as the most
bizarre
sad
yet festive.
Because by that time, they had pushed in
land,
you, it further ran off the beaches and
just some crazy stuff. I tell you, you
(09:13):
julie come back and I'd like to have
you tell us more about your your father's
experience, ladies and gentlemen, chief Warren Officer, James
w tucker, if you'd like to learn more
and help her out visit 2 90 ninth
combat engineers dot com.
Great website a lot of photos, a lot
of stories about these individual combat engineers and
and their hair was on. They... And and
going forward, these comp the 20 ninth thought
(09:35):
in in Korea, or, in in Vietnam,
desert storm, operation enduring Freedom,
they've been very busy and by the way,
but talk more about that only come back.
The show Ben Garcia to around.
(10:12):
Welcome back to American Warrior Rio laser in
gentlemen. This is your host ben Garcia. We're
talking with Jeanne Tucker about the famous 2
90 ninth Combat engineer, Battalion. And, you know,
you're and now talking off the you just
a shout out. We do have an affiliate
in Colorado Springs, and that's now where the
the descendants, I guess, on the 2 90
ninth or our headquartered their fort Carson, Colorado.
(10:34):
2 90 nine's combat engineer, Brigade fully
support self supportive with Intel and women
and they are fantastic. I went up for
the react ceremony in 2013,
and they're an amazing group of of soldiers
and they continue to post things and keep
me abreast with what's going on? They're very
proud of their history. Do you know and
(10:55):
and do your research when they're
recruiting.
Were they looking for a certain set of
skills. I mean, I think I'd wanna a
farm boy who could fix a tractor, but
it's world war 2 you're just getting wherever
you get.
My father happened to be at that time
before they activated the 2 90 ninth and
created that unit.
He was in India, California building field hospitals
(11:16):
with the 03:50 fifth. And several of those
officers were pulled and told you're gonna go
up to Camp Oregon. Was the largest training
facility for the military that was being built
and put together up there, and you're going
to become part of the original cad for
the 2 90 ninth. So they did that.
They went up. It was in the beautiful
Med area. Mh. Well, the men that were
(11:37):
brought over were brought from the New York
area.
All the way from Fort Niagara where they
enlisted, and they were brought over from Auburn
Syracuse, Buffalo, all those areas and towns around.
And a lot of them went school together
knew each other. And so they were put
on trains and brought all the way out
to Med Oregon. Keep in mind, most of
them were
(11:57):
Immigrants family and children. They had never driven.
They had no need. They were in small
towns. They had skills so far as survival
skills and get by, you know, we... They
had gone through a lot, but they were
not
up on driving or doing anything. In fact,
when they all came, the first trains came
in and then all of that group the
first thing that they were issued per piece
(12:18):
of equipment was a bicycle.
That's it. That's all they had to drive
around in. And then my dad who was
an officer with Headquarters service company and the
motor and keep charge of that, he taught
him to drive everything. So my dad felt
these were his brothers for sure because he
taught him to drive everything starting with a
Willie jeep and on up to heavy equipment.
And then they went from there to La
(12:38):
pine Oregon
where they went in the woods and practiced
how to build the Bailey bridges, the different
bridges, and those woods most
replicated the German woods. So that was a
good environment for them to train in. Then
they went from there out in the deserts
and worked there. They did so many different
things in that area training in different capacity,
and then they were put on those trains
(12:59):
and all the way down to Florida they
went. So those beaches were prepped to most
look like the invasion beaches. Bobby me, guys
think because I found it really interesting you
shared an article that I found fascinating at
that point in time,
the... There were sort of a
a spat going on between the army and
the navy as to who had the skill
sets and who would have the responsibility it.
(13:22):
It really came down to... Well,
depending on where the tide is,
is that an underwater obstacle or not. And,
you know, the army's argument was well, if
it can be seen when we're landing, it's
not underwater. And eventually, they kinda reached a
sort of agreement on that. Exactly. And it
was the really first time we had had
that kind of cooperative
(13:43):
unit put together of these demolition teams that
were the navy and the army. And it
was amazing all the training that they had
to go through down there. And the 2
99 that was so secretive. The 2 99
were given a special code name because nobody
wanted to to mention their name after they
were getting so specialized with their training and
they were part of the special task force.
So it was the 5001
(14:04):
P. Don't ask me what that means, but
that was what it was. Even in the
train ride down to Florida,
Every time they got into a civilized area
where people could see them, They closed all
the curtains in the train. The boys, they
all told me that nobody was allowed to
look out, you had to keep it private
because they didn't wanna see all the troop
movement. They didn't wanna d... That and let
somebody buy, maybe see what they were doing.
(14:25):
So, yeah, the navy and the and the
army got together and it was. It was
little bit of a spat, but boy, they
worked well together. They continued to train when
they went from there up to can't picket
it in different places and then went over
to England. They continued to train over there
and they had mock trainings there too. So
it's quite amazing. I have yet to get
down to Fort Pierce to go to their
(14:45):
museum there. That is a museum that I'm
gonna go to this year to actually look
at that and how they present it. Just
to clarify,
I thought you said he put together...
Basically were armored bull.
No. There were tractors that were converted into
obstacle remove do. And if you go through
and you look at caterpillar for instance, the
tractor company's history, you can see a lot
(15:05):
of information on how involved they were in
the war and they're different type of tractors
that were converted and used.
I was recently in Normandy, and I was
actually searching for a couple of these different
do. I was looking for the converted ones
there's AD7 and d 4, and they're just
different capacity. But, yeah. So he took those
and mechanically converted it. My father was super
high Iq. I know how valuable he was
(15:26):
to the military because I watched him throughout
his life. I watched him in Europe when
I was a teenager, take a transmission off
of 1 brand of car and put it
on a whole another brand of car and
make it work. He could make anything work.
And he gotta have around. Absolutely.
So is So, basically, they landed on on
Omaha, If I got this right, their beach
was easy red. If I'm not mistaken, was
(15:48):
that not the same beach beaches and saving
prior Ran? Right. But they landed. So b
company was on Utah. Okay. Headquarters in service,
A and c were on Omaha. And you
had all the different names of the beaches.
All of them
fell and drifted about 800 yards or more
because of the weather out of position. So
nobody it exactly where they were supposed to.
(16:10):
Easy red is closely
marked by, you know, where you saw the
ceremonies for the d the 80 anniversary recently
where they have the big monument that's there
in the Omaha Beach. That is kind of
easy red and then further down the beach
that area. Did, I saw if any of
anybody's ever seen that film more or even,
you know, the older version the the longest
day, I mean, I just can't imagine just
(16:31):
see the carnage and, but you've got a
job to do. There's literally bodies washing up
on the shore. There's vehicles being blown up,
but your father had a job to do.
And there's a very somber story you tell
about the very first cemetery.
On Omaha beach relate that to us. Absolutely.
So orders came down as as you can
imagine by the the films and the way
(16:53):
it was depicted, there were bodies in everywhere.
They couldn't get their job done. You know,
it's bad enough. You've got man under fire,
but now they're running over their buddies and
trying to do their work. Orders came down
to get bodies underground. So Dad took 1
of his do,
and went back and forth and back and
forth and still fire.
Made a trench, a massive trench. They gathered
(17:13):
about 35 man and a chaplain that was
there, and they started going around and taking
dog tag and names and putting bodies into
it. And under fire. Under fire. And a
lot of the men
would get sick it's a hard. I mean,
you're not talking about complete bodies. You're talking
parts. You know, it's incredibly difficult. And the
chap flynn. The interesting thing is that Chaplain
(17:35):
ended up to helping my father to the
very end. And that
that grave later
Dad went back in 19 57.
13 years after the war, he went back
and he looked at landmarks and wanted to
show my mother and his 2 sons
where that was put, where he dug that.
And by gosh, they found a big piece
of wood sticking out of the sand that
said here marks the first cemetery the American
(17:58):
cemetery in France World war 2. Later, those
bodies were then taken, of course, to, you
know, before that, they were taken to the
cemetery in the Normandy American cemetery.
And the chaplain what's fascinating to me is
I never knew his name, but about a
year and a half ago, I got a
phone call for a young man who is
the son of the chaplain who talked to
me and said, my father talked about this
(18:19):
kind officer who he was helping, and I
went oh my gosh, and it was 1
of those just... I get chill just thinking
about that moment of us discussing our fathers
and what they had to do. My father
would say you turn around and look at
a man 1 second turn back, and all
you would see is legs in the air.
G took come back. I wanna talk. You
did take the opportunity to go visit those
(18:40):
hall beaches. We come back and once to
share your experiences about that Ladies and Gentlemen,
is your host, Ben Garcia We're talking with
G tucker. I'll listen look it up 2
90 ninth Combat engineers dot com. We'll be
right back.
(19:12):
Welcome back to American where radio ladies and
gentlemen and is your house ben Be Garcia.
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We're back with Jeanne Tucker, Genie is the
daughter of chief warren officer James W Tucker,
who landed with the 2 90 ninth combat
engineer Battalion on Deed at Omaha Beach and
(19:53):
then literally fought his way through the rest
of that campaign,
survived the battle the bulge, Yes. We had
many taken prisoner there, but dad, thankfully not.
You, Jeannie had the opportunity. I think for
the first time. Right? To go back and
visit
that hollow ground on what recently was the
8 anniversary of the Lan on D day.
(20:14):
And I've heard so many stories from veterans
who've gone back and just the
depth of the
appreciation and the emotion that comes from these
French people is
it's gotta be quite the experience.
I I don't even know how to put
words to it sometimes because the emotion you
feel when you're standing looking at that stretch
(20:37):
of beach.
It feels smaller in the movies. It looks
tighter. It's a b area. It's such a
long stretch to the cliffs, it's a long
stretch down. And when you look at the
bunker and you see them above you here
forward. And then on the sides, So you're
totally pinned in. It's it's overwhelming. You just
are struck by the en of that event
(21:00):
and the lives.
And the people there. Oh my goodness. They
I wear always when I'm going to any
military event or especially on D day every
year. A little picture of my father on
my Lapel and a little emblem of of
the 2 90 ninth. And I can't tell
you everybody would stop me. Oh, your father.
What did he do? When I went to
(21:21):
visit the monument and that is there for
that first grave that was Doug that Dad
had his do stick.
Does your dad have something to do with
this, and I would tell them and you'd
see tears start rolling? Oh, my family lived
in 1 of the houses here? They experience
the war. Thank you. Thank you.
It's just... It's it's amazing. I I can't
tell you how many young kids came up
to me. Oh, tell me the story. Wow.
(21:44):
It was just
so heartfelt. I didn't wanna leave.
I wanted to stay. I I went to
all the museums that I could. I didn't
go at the Dna anniversary. I went before
because I wanted private time in those places
without mobs of people. I wanted to sit
look out to the sea. I wanted to
at the monuments, I wanted to think about
(22:04):
these moments my dad lived through,
and it was
remarkable.
I can't imagine the high never visited there,
but when you describe it and you describe
the bunker and what's left of the defensive
vacations, I I just have to shake my
head and marble that anybody got off those
beaches. Absolutely. And you know, the beach sand
is still to this day 4 percent s.
(22:26):
4 percent today. Now there are some major
erosion issues that the government is having to
deal within in that area. Some of the
bunker and things have eroded down. So history
is being captured by the sea once again.
But people need to go visit. You need
to experience that. It is it is something
that I wish we had every child in
(22:47):
every school in this country, watching
and and experiencing an interactive video of some
kind of that. It's it's really, really something.
It warms my heart to hear that I've
had a number of other veterans on the
show who mentioned that, and in 1 particular,
there was AAA
celebration, and there was a a young boy.
He described in his 12 or 13 who
(23:09):
had a t shirt that said, thank you
for our freedom.
And the veteran said, well, we're... I wanna
buy 1 of those working can I buy
it, and the young boy said you cannot,
and he took his t shirt off and
gave it to him? And just little things
like that. So I'm curious
for you talking about children. At which point
have you talked about your mom got your
engaged in in with the troops in Vietnam.
(23:30):
But at which point did you
decide to make this a a personal
quest.
I guess your mom took a lot of
the notes to record a lot of your
dad's stories. Right. How much did you actually
sit down and speak with your father or
as you not reach that point before he
passed? I think that's 1 of the hardest
things for me is it that and unfortunately,
(23:52):
my dad had passed away earlier in my
life. You know, I was 22 when my
father passed away. And, you know, I was
off doing things in my life. And so,
yes, I'd grown up with all the stories
I've seen. I mean, he had field phones
we would play with, you know, in the
desert here. I I was around that, and
I appreciated it because we would always go
to celebrations, Dad was the president of the
(24:13):
military order of the World Wars, the Air
Force Association because he... After day and after
the war, he got out of the army,
got back into the air Force. Stayed in
Career went to Korea. So I was around
all of that history.
But, you know, when dad passed away, I
think that you you miss your dad. And
so I wanted to find these men as
a way to connect with him.
(24:34):
And that's exactly what it did. And I
realized that what I was doing was documenting
history from many perspectives because I had Dad's
perspective, then I would hear his men tell
me the same story and how it went.
And I had all these perspectives and I
thought oh, my gosh. This isn't anywhere in
a book. This isn't anywhere where you can
find it. And this is where it's built
(24:54):
is from the stories and the individuals that
were there, not just in some military record
that's in a book somewhere. It's not like
that. And so I realized it was something
I wanted to dedicate my time to. So
what I did was I started
speaking at the different days
celebrations and ceremonies. So I spoke at the
Air museum they had and the different ones
they've had here in town. And
(25:15):
my father's buried at Arlington. And so
It's a big piece of my life, and
it is really a passion now. It is
very seriously. My trip to Normandy was not
just for me or for my family. That
trip was very much a research trip because
I was trying to gather more information. And
1 of the things I was trying to
do is the American battle monuments that manages
(25:38):
the ce around the world are military ce
really don't have a database where you can
get more than just the information. They don't
have photos and graves and all of that
for everybody.
It's a big task. And so many of
our... The families of our soldiers that died
did they left... They left them buried there,
but they don't have a picture of it
and many of them can afford to go
there. And so I said, you know what
(26:00):
I'm in a petition to get permission, a
press pass to be able to take photos
and publish those on our web site. And
so I was on that mission, and that's
what I did. I was able to get
into areas that were cord off for the
celebration coming up of d dj. And take
photos of all of those graves. And for
25 years, these were names I knew.
And to stand in front of their grave
(26:21):
and say hello, John, How are you? Or
hello, George or Hello, Sam.
And thank you and put those flags and
take those photos and give a blessing.
It was extremely important to me. I didn't
have the time to do account, Genie, but
if folks go to 2 90 ninth combat
engineers dot com. You've got like I said,
a listing of of the photos and and
(26:43):
the biographies, and and if, you know, the
obi obituary is also of of all these
soldiers. When you first got started, I think
you share with me. You had
correct, 8 or 9 names. And now where
where are you at now?
Count them because I'm still uploading from the
deed in that period of time because families
reach out and I gather more information, but
I can tell you it used to be
(27:04):
1 page. You didn't have to scroll down
and now you can scroll and scroll and
scroll. And for instance, on the K are
killed in action on D day, that list,
we only had a couple of things. And
now there's
tons. I mean, everything. It's it's so satisfying
for me that they're not forgotten I tell
you, let me issue this challenge out to
our listeners. So we've got listeners from from
(27:26):
coast to coast now. And if they're... There's
someone out there hearing this and they have
a family member who was associated
with the 2 90 ninth past or present.
You know, even going up through desert storm
or Vietnam,
How do they reach you? Can they just
get to you through the website or... They
absolutely can reach me through the website, and
I have thousands still photos from 4 World
(27:47):
war 2, and I have lots of information
after, and the website is built out and
will be built out to all the different
conflicts.
So I am taking information. They can reach
out. They can,
email me through the website,
and they can find, you know, Any documents
send those copies to me, I will scan
things, send them back. I will photoshop and
(28:08):
fix pictures for them. I am just honored
to be able to preserve all of this.
Well, we're very grateful that you're doing that
because I hide... That's... I mean, that's... That
parallels is the mission of American Way Radio
because if we don't tell these stories
particularly with that generation. I mean, they're fading
awfully awfully fast.
And I think it's just it's
(28:28):
it's heartbreaking that that some of these stories
may... Honestly, we have to honestly ourselves some
of these may never get told. But It's
it is heartbreaking.
And and 1 of the things that, you
know, that... When you looked at the ceremonies
over there. 1 of the things I thought
was really striking is over there and you
saw a lot children involved over here not
some else. Yeah. I tell you while. I
wanna talk more about that when come back
ladies and gentlemen, was your host ben do
(28:49):
the garcia talking about Jeanne Tucker. We'll be
right back.
(29:12):
Welcome back to American warrior Radio ladies and
gentlemen, Is your host Ben garcia we're talking
with a Passionate passionate advocate for the 2
90 ninth Combat
engineer, Battalion Jean Tucker, whose father
served with them landed at Omaha Beach World
War true. And you also had another relative
your father law. He was in the the
(29:32):
other Theater, I guess. Yes. My step father.
Definitely. My step father was a rear admiral
sub commander in the Pacific and highly decorated
navy crosses and,
yeah. So I'm very, very proud. I have
strong military ties. I'm a patriot for sure,
and the preservation and respect and honor for
that history is important. Tell us about a
(29:54):
young man named Paul Cook.
Interesting. Paul Cook was a 2 90 ninth.
Combat Engineer. I'm Met him with Reunion.
I thought that Paul had passed away. I
reached out to Him me, have sent me
information on headquarters in service company pictures, different
things, and we were corresponding and all of
a sudden, the phone was disconnected. And that's
through the years. It's like losing my dad
over You know, it's another piece, and I
(30:16):
couldn't reach him. I found a newspaper article
right around the ad anniversary of Did, and
I was just thrilled old and he is
a hundred years old, and he is doing
great,
and the article is is fantastic and sounds
like he's perfectly it, and his mind and
capacities are there. And so I'm trying right
now to reach out to him.
Yeah. It's gonna be fantastic to get back
(30:37):
in touch because we only have a few
around.
I tell. It's it's clear to me the
the passion that you feel for this. And
you're you're really carrying this...
I don't wanna call it a burden, but
you're carrying this project.
All by yourself on your shoulders, and if
folks go and visit that website, they'll see
how extensive it is. And yet how much
more work needs to be done. What I
(30:58):
have to ask
what drives you? It is a really strong
passion. It is not something that's just a
side thing. And what drives me is that
A lot of people think you move through
life and you don't... Your story doesn't matter.
These are little stories. Like you talk to
many of the men in the 2 99.
And they'll say, oh, you know, it was,
you know, I'm just 1 person. Oh, no.
(31:19):
What they did was massive and in all
conflicts and all things.
Those stories so matter. So it drives me
to make sure these young men are not
forgotten. I don't want any of that to
be forgotten. My mother was a historical gene
all. She wrote several books in the library
of Congress. I watched her passion for that.
And how much it meant to the people
that she
remembered and their families, and it is really
(31:41):
crucial. And when I look at young people
today that don't understand a lot that was
given for their freedoms.
I'm really driven because I want them to
understand. I want them to remember the faces
the names,
what they experienced.
How do you think what is that bridge?
How we get to that,
because we're talking
on 2 almost 3 generations probably removed now.
(32:04):
Mh.
And Yeah. And it's... Of course, the children
like myself are carrying that torch.
Many of them have tried to pass it
on, and it has there are some amazing,
amazing
young women and and man out there, my...
You mentioned my step father. When he passed
away, I was handling his affairs and I
actually took some of the monies that he
(32:24):
donated to 1 of the military groups, and
they started then award they give every year
to 1 of their Cc, young women or
men, and it's just wonderful. You know. So
those legacy can be passed on. 1 of
the things I noticed, which I mentioned just
briefly before is that when we celebrate these
anniversaries, I don't see a lot of children
involved in this country. Over in Europe and
(32:46):
France of it was on their land, but
still, the children are massively involved. And so
they pass that torch. There is an organization
in France called L,
and what it is, it's the flowers of
memory. It was started after the war.
It is an organization to go out, families
go are given 1 of the American grave
sites. They're at Normandy or anywhere in France,
(33:07):
and they cherish it. They pass it through
their family generation to generation, they fix it
up, put flowers clean it. It's a beautiful
thing. And the closest I've seen here to
that is when we do wreath across America.
I do that every year and you go
out there and you see at Christmas Reeves
being put on military service members, graves, and
I see families with little kids and the
(33:28):
dad is saying see he's served in the
navy. Let's look him up and find out
about him later. I'm thrilled. I go up
to parents and thank them. Please keep doing
that. You know, it's so wonderful fault. My
uncle passed away is 16 years old in
the Panama canal zone in the Navy during
World war 2. And I took my mother
there to his grave. He's he's buried there.
(33:48):
It's... We have to we have to pass
this on. And like you said, it's not
easy. It's not easy.
I get sick in my stomach when I
start talking to someone that that's younger, and
they say, well, what was d dj? Oh,
wow. Oh, wow. Are they not teaching that
as wanting anymore. Now I I can tell
you even myself, I was... I had parents
the age of most people, my age is,
(34:10):
grandparent. You know, most people age had grand
grandparents age of my parents. And so
I was out of sync a bit. So
when I went to the reunion, the guys
were thrilled to see me, I was much
younger than they thought I would be. So
they knew I could carry this torch longer.
That was important. Yeah. I'd listen to you
described that. I think the...
What's important
in Europe and in France in particular is
(34:30):
the engagement of the parents, the older generations
and emphasizing the importance
of this to these young people on, you
know, saying, look, but for these young man
and in some cases, young women, we would
be living a whole different life right now,
and it would not be as good. And
I think about And I'm sure I have
a smart American we're real listener that will
(34:50):
come on and correct me on this. But
as far as foreign wars,
the only ce like this
are probably in Hawaii.
There's a reason why there's nothing like
that cemetery
in on those beaches and normandy here state
side, and that's because
these men and women went home for cease
(35:12):
to keep the evil
over there. Absolutely. And I don't know if
there's a way to communicate that to the
young folks, but who knows, there might be
a colonel. It's it is. It's just the
fact that we have been a little bit
too spoiled Mh. For too long. And many
generations have had it easy so to speak
even though they complain and say it's hard
comparatively
(35:33):
to what these other countries have gone through,
It's... It is is as you said, it's
something that they need to be educated on
why you have this great country to be
in and why you have these freedoms, who
fought for them? Who gave their life, so
you could have this beautiful luxury of living
in this place you live in? Why, I...
G, what you're doing it. I think is
a big part of that answer. What is
(35:53):
the next
plateau for you. What can our listeners do
to help? Well, I've with the help of
some of the veterans before they passed, I
completed the K list at the D day
oil, which I highly recommend anybody in this
country take their children and their family too.
It is in, the Bedford, Virginia. It is
amazing. It is the only monument we have
here and more real 2 d day. That's
(36:15):
where a lot of my research will go
eventually. But right now, what I really need
is as you said, I'm 1 per person.
I'm 1 person trying to do a job
of many. And so I have a lot
that could be on the website. A lot
of other things that outreach programs that could
that could occur. I'm going to apply for
grant money to see if I can get
a historical preservation grant of some kind.
(36:35):
I am working really, really hard towards that
So that's kind of the next step, and
the more I identify soldiers names, the more
information I need to go to s. Louis
to the military archives and look up a
lot more action reports and and daily logs
and things and anything I can find in
the archives.
I am always on the search. I do
(36:56):
this every day, there's a little bit that
I do. And then some days, it's hours
and hours and hours and hours. So I
work on this all the time. Of course,
the of d days is a big time
that family start thinking about it. They reach
out.
The website has become, an intermediary so to
speak for the 2 90 ninth and that
so people do reach out this year alone.
I was able to add so many more
(37:16):
photos
because they said, oh, my son so, my
husband, my uncle, My, you know, It's fantastic.
It's fantastic. Those pieces is coming together.
My job is to gather history is to
gather it together and to hopefully, in my
lifetime make a more cohesive picture of this
particular piece of a bigger picture. You know,
I think 1 the great things about this
said that the advantage we have, do you
(37:37):
need to somewhere predecessor sessions didn't is, the
Internet is forever.
Again, any listeners out there, if you had
a family member who was involved with the
2 90 ninth whether be world 4 2
or some of the more current conflicts.
Visit 2 90 ninth combat engineers dot com.
You can reach a genie there. They're looking
for photos,
(37:57):
documents
Yes. Artifacts? Yes.
Artifacts, absolutely Uniforms artifacts, anything of that nature.
And also, I am trying to collect monies
for
a bronze plaque to be placed at the
D Dj Memorial for the 2 90 ninth
combat Engineer Battalion,
and I've been raising money for the last
few years for that. So
yes. Anything. And I... As I said, well,
(38:19):
scan preserve, send them back to families. I'm
very, very honored to be able to do
that. And I just correct me if I'm
wrong with, but be say Bedford Virginia. Is
it that the the Bedford boys? That's brown
there. They lost the most boys of any
other capital. Per capita Yes. So that's why
it's there. I don't know if this job
will ever be done. Mh. But at some
point, where does, Genie hand it off to
(38:42):
with the next generation or where do you
say okay. We're closing up I'm gonna ship
this toe of the library of Congress. Exactly.
My
my mother lived to 97.
And we have good genes in my family.
I pray that I take good enough care
of myself that I can enjoy this process
as long as I can. However,
I will have it very protected.
And it will not go to just 1
(39:02):
source. The museum over in France at Omaha
Beach will also get all those archives as
will the d dj Memorial.
As will
the military and other archive... You know, there's
other places that it will go. It's very
important you send it to many places because
of the fact that some put it in
the back. Some put it forward. You don't
know how they're gonna display it. So it's
very important to pass it to many, many
(39:24):
locations. And Jennie Tucker, Thank so much for
what you're doing. God bless you for what
you're doing. Thank you for having me. Ladies
and gentlemen until next time, all policies and
procedures are remain in place. Take care.
You've been listening to American warrior rating o.
Archived episodes may be found at American warrior
(39:45):
radio dot com or your favorite podcast platform.
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