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Lafayette Pool -
Tank Ace
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JOHN R. BENDER HQ COMPANY 33rd ARMORED REGIMENT TASK FORCE LOVELADY, COMBAT COMMAND B
JR Bender at Cologne Cathedral
LTC Stallings
Meuse Nr Namur Belgium
Fellow POWs 1945
Parisian crowds waving at liberating soldiers
My father was a chaplain with the HQ Company, 33d Armored Regiment, later Combat Command B, specifically with Task Force Lovelady. From pictures I now have, I think he spent a lot of time with the medical aid station during the war. Although not on the front lines, he encountered a lot and was even captured by an SS unit for over 24 hours. He entered active duty in March of 1941, was in the original cadre a couple of months later when the 3d Armored was formed, and stayed with the 3d Armored until his return from Europe after the war ended. He reentered the army in 1948 and remained on active duty until his retirement in 1964. He passed away in 1978 From purely a statistical point of view (everyone seems to say they served in
the finest unit in WWII), the 3d Armored was undoubtedly the best US armored
division in Europe during WWII. It also appears to me that it had the best
armored division commander, Gen. Rose, the best Corps Commander, Gen. Collins,
and one of the best, if not the best Army commanders in Gen. Hodges. I am
sure that you are very proud to have served in one of the truly finest units in
WWII. Frank Bender
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