About the Association

ASSOCIATION OF 3d ARMORED DIVISION VETERANS


If you served in the 3d Armored Division (Spearhead) between 1941 and 1992, this is your association…no matter what rank, position, unit, or time frame you served in.  The story behind the formation of this Association is a long one, but here is a summary:

By the end of 1944, the 3d Armored Division had earned its wartime sobriquet “Spearhead” by leading every advance of VII Corps and First Army in France and Central Europe.  After WWII, the 3d Armored Division inactivated.  But…  the veterans of the brutal battlefields of Europe were to continue the tight camaraderie borne of extremely tough times.  When their turn came to go home, the men of the Spearhead Division formed an association known as “The Third Armored Division Association 1941-1945” (“WWII Association” on this page).  Early on the WWII Association did many great things, including funding a children’s hospital.   The WWII Association, although aging, is still quite active, but their membership is limited exclusively to WWII veterans of the 3d Armored Division (contact their secretary, Walter Stitt, at 219-291-3414 if you wish get in touch with the WWII Association).

The immediate postwar years saw the division reactivated as a training unit at Ft. Knox, KY, but in 1955 the 3d Armored Division once again joined the ranks of America’s frontline Army during the protracted Cold War.  This time the division was posted to West Germany to guard the Fulda Gap against the massive forces of the Warsaw Pact.   In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the 3d Armored Division seemed to be left without a mission.  The division began to draw down toward its inevitable inactivation.   Then Iraq invaded Kuwait, and by November 1990 the first elements of the division were in Saudi Arabia.  The division served in combat as a major part of the U.S. VII Corps’ “End Run” in Operation Desert Storm.  Upon return to Germany, the division stood down again, casing the colors in early 1992.  Sometime during nearly 40 years of service in Germany, a loose association known as the “Spearhead Association” was formed.  Thousands of Cold War veterans passed through the division and joined the Spearhead Association, but upon the 1992 inactivation of the division, this association simply vanished.  No one knows how it was incorporated or where its records went. 

In the years since 1992, many post-WWII 3d Armored Division veterans felt the need to come together in the fraternity of “Spearhead” service. In the Spring of 1998, a handful of these Cold War and Desert Storm veterans decided it was time to form an Association for ALL 3d Armored Division veterans from WWII to final inactivation, including any future veterans of the division should it again be called to the colors – they felt that the need to preserve the history of the Spearhead Division transcended years and eras.   Now incorporated in the State of North Carolina as a not-for-profit organization, here we are today…

Click Here To Become A Member And Continue As A Spearheader!