Greetings From Michigan! Wishing all my 818th friends a Happy Thanksgiving. We had our first snow today. Hope to see you in Waterloo, Ia. in 2009. - Love Irene Ritter and Family

Dear Veterans, Families, and Friends of the 818th Tank Destroyer Battalion-
Several days ago I received an email from the daughter of Marvin H. Goetz, Sr. of A Company. It is with much sadness that I report that Mr. Goetz passed away 9 Oct 2008. He and his family had planned to attend the Reunion in Knoxville but Marvin got sick 6 June and never made it back home. Our condolences go out to the family. He will be missed by his 818th friends and buddies.
Sincerely-Robert

Hi Robert and 818th friends:

Just to update you. Babe Stel has been in the hospital this week having cancer surgery. He had the surgery on 7/21/08.
Hopefully he will be home in a few days.
Pat has been by his side, everyday.
Kathy (Babe and Pat Stel's daughter)

Dear Veterans, Families, and Friends of the 818th Tank Destroyer Battalion-
It is my sad responsibility to report the loss of another of our 818th Veterans. Several days ago I received a letter from the son of Wayne Rogne of Recon Co. Wayne passed away 8 Dec 2007. He will be very much missed by his 818th buddies and friends. I also learned from the letter that his wife, Hennie, had preceded him in death. She passed away in 2006. I had the pleasure of spending time with Wayne at the 2002 Reunion in Yankton and the 2005 Reunion in Waterloo. Although I wish it could have been more, I am thankful for that short amount of time. Our condolences go out to the family for their loss of both Wayne and Hennie.

Sincerely-Robert Bowles

Dear Veterans, Families, and Friends of the 818th Tank Destroyer Battalion-It is my sad responsibility to report the loss of another of our 818th Veterans. Sunday evening I received a phone call from the Granddaughter of James H. Mars of A Company. After a prolonged illness James passed away Tuesday 17 June 2008. He was buried in his WWII sergeants uniform. James would have been 90 years old the 18th of July and was very much hoping to attending the upcoming 51st reunion of the 818th. I was fortunate enough to meet James and his son James at the 2002 Reunion in Yankton, the 2003 Reunion in Knoxville, and the 2006 Reunion in Austin. Most of you may recall that we also lost his son, James, 6 June 2007. Both will be very much missed by all of their 818th friends and buddies. We cherish the short amount of time we got to spend with them. Our condolences go out to the family.
Sincerely-Robert Bowles

Until the end of May 2008, Ancestry.com is allowing people to search military records for free. I checked my great uncle, Creed Key, and found several things I didn't know. I hope this helps.

Dear Veterans, Family, and Friends of the 818th Tank Destroyer Battalion- It is my sad responsibility to report the passing of another 818th Veteran. Yesterday I received a card from Veronica Himan. Tony Himan of A Company passed away 16 February 2008. Those of you who were at the 2007 Reunion in Nebraska will remember Tony and his lovely wife, Veronica. Tony had been among those 818th Veterans listed in the Roster as Last Known Address. Due to the diligent efforts of the Schildt family he had been located and attended his first 818th Reunion in Nebraska. He and Veronica were very nice folks and everyone enjoyed meeting them for the first time. We were all looking forward to seeing them again this summer. Tony will be much missed by all of his 818th friends.

My father Andrew R. Meitner died on December 14 2007. He was a proud veteran of the 818th. He told me many stories of his time in service. The one I remember most is about bed check Charlie. This was a German recon plane looking for the allies during the battle of the bulge. When we were kids he would put us in bed and turn out the lights and say watch out for bed check Charlie. My father was 86 when he died.

Am notifying you that Joseph Goeden died on December 26th. Please send condolences to Ethel Goeden at 2014 Locust n Yankton, SD 57078

Thank you for creating this website, it was a great help to my 8th grade son. He had to do a project about WW II and he wanted to include some information about his great grandfather Glenn Sooter who served with the 818 in Normandy. My son is very proud of his great grandfather as we all are and this site just made him even more proud as he read the accounts of the other veterans. It's just too bad that his great grandfather is no longer with us to tell him his own stories. Thank You