Oscar G. Anderson, Tec 5, fought with the 160 Engineer Combat Battalion, Company B in France, Luxembourg, Germany and Austria in 1944 and 1945. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge that winter. Like all Combat Engineers, he did whatever he was ordered to do but his official duty was operating a utility truck. His truck was like a weapons carrier and carried tools for use by the engineers to make equipment repairs in the field. He worked with supply and brought needed parts to men in his company. In the performance of his duties he interacted with most of the men in B Company and many others. O.G. was very sociable and had a likable personality, " a real talker " as Dad would say.
O.G. called his wife Lucille " 'Cille " and she affectionately called him " Red " for his light reddish hair. Lucille was a great cook and every few days she sent a batch of homemade goodies to her sweetheart. O.G. would always share them with Dad and O.G.'s other buddies. Dad always sent his compliments to the cook.
O.G. was the only friend from the 160th that Dad socialized with after they came home from the war. My Mom and Dad visited O.G. and Lucille in their home in Indianapolis, Indiana and O.G. and Lucille visited them at our home in Florida. When they visited Mom and Dad they sat at the dining room table and talked and drank coffee until the wee hours.
In the 1960s Dad met O.G. and Lucille at a cabin on Lake Harris in Florida for a couple of days of fishing. O.G. and Dad fished and talked together for two days. I would love to have a recording of those " war stories".
O.G. retired from the city of Indianapolis and started a fishing reel repair business on his property, more of a labor of love and a means of socializing than a way to produce income. He ran that business until he passed away some years ago. O.G. was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star during his service to his country. He was a good friend of Dad's and Dad has not forgotten O.G., he still tells me about his old friend.
O.G. at Fort Ethan Allen
O.G. at Mainz, Germany
O.G. at Reims, France on the way home
O.G. about time of discharge
Note from Lucille after O.G. passed
