Got to talk to my girl's granddad for a bit while we were waiting for our table. Didn't get a whole lot of time, but found out a little more about his W.W.II combat experience. He invited me back when I had more time so we could sit down and talk for a while, which I hope is sooner than later.

Gen. info- GC Honeycutt was a buck Corporal in Company C, 737th tank battalion, bastard tank outfit. He said they were never officially attached to any unit in 1st Army, rather they went where they were needed and "worked" with the 29th and 30th inf div.

He said after they landed they were standing around talking when he realized the guy standing next to him was the Col. The Col. invited him to watch the battle for Cherbourg through his field glasses, which he did. He couldn't remember the date, but it must have been around the third week in June.

When I asked him how long he was in combat, he just smiled and said, "not very long, but one day is enough".

The Tiger he knocked out was the only tank they encountered during the time he was in combat (he was wounded July 15th). He told the story again about them knocking it out, and said they didn't even know it was a tank until they came up on it. The infantry had just told them something big was shooting up there, so they ventured out into "no mans land" to check it out. I asked how far they were from it when he shot it and he pointed to a tree that was only about 50yds away! He said when they came up the Tiger had its gun pointing the other way, and since the Germans had to hand crank the turret he beat 'em to the punch since the Shermans had electric turrets. Once again he said, "if we'd come up on the other side, or if he'd been pointing towards us I wouldn't be here today". He said the loader started to put an HE round in and he yelled at him to change to AP. (Can you imagine? A Tiger is hand cranking the turret around and your freaking loader is trying to put an HE shell in! Man, that's tight.) the loader finally got an AP round in and he nailed it right in the German Cross on the turret. As soon as he fired they threw it into reverse and got out of there. The Tiger burned all day and night, with shells going off in the turret. Nobody got out he said. They returned to the lines and the infantry took over.

Other than that he said he spent the time supporting the inf with the MG. He remembers shooting one guy who was running for a farmhouse.

I asked about his first day in combat and he laughed. "We had no idea what we were doing. We shot up everything in sight!" He also told me about having to twist the belt to get the MG to stop shooting.

Another incident was when he almost wasted a whole squad of Germans that were trying to surrender. He said they just popped up in front of the tank and he had his foot right on the foot trigger for the MG. He said the Commander yelled at him to stop a split second before he fired, as all of a sudden they put their hands up. His face became graver and he said, "I'm sure glad I don't have that on my conscience."

He also told me about when he was wounded. He said it was evening and he could see Germans through the sight in the distance running around. He told the Commander the Germans were up to something but he blew it off, told him they wouldn't do anything since it was getting dark and ordered them to dismount. He was lying in a field next to the tank when the Germans cut loose with an 88. It hit the tree above him and the treeburst sent fragments through his arm. He showed me the scars.

Hope you guys like the story.

Regards, Tlokein