NEWS

WWII veteran relives memories of driving a tank

Anna Jeffries
Reporter
  • Albert “Pete” Holman drove a tank in Europe during World War II.
  • He enjoys sharing his story with others.

NEWARK – When Albert “Pete” Holman flips through World War II books, he can point out pictures of places he’s been and streets he’s driven on.

In many cases, his eyes were focused on the road ahead of him. As a tank driver with the Army’s 12th Armored Division, he was always trying to get himself, and the men in his tank, safely to the next destination.

The 91-year-old Newark resident still has the driver’s license he received after training, giving him the authority to drive a tank. He has binders and books full of WWII history and memorabilia and enjoys sharing his memories with others.

“I enjoyed some (aspects of the war), but I’m no big hero,” he said. “I just did what they told me to do, but I liked getting to drive a tank.”

A Newark native, Holman headed west when he was 17 as a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1941. When he turned 18, he returned to central Ohio and tried to enlist in the Marine Corps. They wouldn’t take him because he was short and skinny, so he joined the Army instead.

He went through extensive training in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Years later, in 2013, he received a master’s in military arts from Cumberland University for successfully completing the training.

“I’m pretty proud of that,” he said.

He started driving trucks when he was 14, so it made sense to become a tank driver .

“I wanted to be up front. I didn’t want someone else to drive my tank,” he said. “I wanted to know what I was doing.”

A member of the 714 Tank Battalion, Holman was sent to England before his division began making its way through France toward Germany.

They fought in many battles, including Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive on the western front.

They fought so fearlessly that the German Army called them “the suicide division.” They called themselves “The Hellcats,” Holman said.

For a period of time, they were commanded by Gen. George S. Patton Jr. as they crossed the Rhine River.

Holman didn’t get to know Patton personally, but he saw him occasionally.

“When he told you to move, you moved,” he said. “You worked for him, and he told you want you were doing.”

Driving a tank was incredibly challenging, especially through harsh weather conditions and very little sleep, Holman said.

Several of his close friends died in battle, and Holman was awarded the Purple Heart after he suffered a head wound.

But he was very proud to be part of the 12th Armored Division, Holman said. It was one of two tank divisions that included African-American combat soldiers.

The division also is recognized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for liberating one of the subcamps of the concentration camp Dachau, where Jewish people and others were imprisoned by the Nazi regime.

Holman had just gotten out of the hospital after recovering from his injury and wasn’t closely involved at the camp. But he heard stories about it from his friends.

“They said you could smell it miles away,” he said. “People say (the Holocaust) didn’t happen, but I’ve seen it. But not like some of the guys who went into the camps.”

After being discharged from the Army when the war ended, Holman re-enlisted in 1945 and spent three years overseas doing patrol duty.

When he came home to Newark, he worked for Heisey Glass and the railroad before retiring from the former Newark Air Force Base.

He has been married to his wife, Frances, for 42 years and enjoys being a grandfather and a great-grandfather.

Although he was hesitant to talk about the war in his younger days, once he got into his 80s, he felt more comfortable sharing his story.

“I want people to know what I did,” he said.

Last May, he attended Heath’s first Armed Forces Day parade and saw a Sherman tank, just like the one he drove during the war.

It brought back lots of memories, he said.

“It looks big now, but it didn’t look that big when I drove it,” he said. “I think I could still drive one, but my legs might not hold.”

ajeffries@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8544

Twitter: @amsjeffries