Aaron Elson

Big Andy: a 712th Tank Battalion Interview Aaron Elson

Bob "Big Andy" Anderson, a farmboy from Prophetstown, Illinois, was drafted into the horse cavalry in 1941. In 1943 the 11th Cavalry was mechanized as part of the fledgling 10th Armored Division. The independent 712th Tank Battalion was broken out of the 10th and spent most of the war in Europe attached to the 90th "Texas-Oklahoma" Division. A tank driver, Big Andy spent 11 months in combat from Normandy, through the Battle of the Bulge, the Siegfried Line, across Germany and into Czechoslovakia. He earned three Bronze Stars and had 162 points, and thought it was a joke when an officer asked him if he wanted to go home. He said sure and was told to be ready in 15 minutes. This oral history interview, conducted at Big Andy's home in 1992, paints a portrait of combat rarely seen in documentaries and gives a glimpse into the day to day life of a tank driver, on whose skill not only the lives of his crew but the lives of the infantry to which they were attached depended.