forrestdixon

When I began interviewing veterans of my father's tank battalion, I heard several stories about George Bussell. Forrest Dixon said Bussell was so heavy he had to shimmy into the tank. Ruby Goldstein and Bussell got into a barroom brawl in Phenix City, Alabama. Dixon told of the time Bussell drove his tank over three German motorcycles, and the time the pontoon bridge across the Saar River was shot out just behind him and Dixon yelled into the radio "Sergeant Bussell, give her hell or you'll drown!" Bussell didn't come to the reunions, so in 1993 I visited him at his home in Indianapolis.

The usual suspects:

The flagship: aaronelson.com

The podcast: myfatherstankbattalion.com

Book and audiobook excerpts

The Mathew Caruso Story

George Bussell interview transcript

Aaron's eBay store

In this episode of Myfatherstankbattalion, maintenance officer Forrest Dixon talks about battlefield commissions,  guns, cameras, Hitler Youth, the Bridge at Remagen, Mein Kampf, a broken beer mug, the salt mine that would later be depicted in The Monuments Men, the Flossenburg concentration camp, and spark plugs. For information about previous episodes, please visit myfatherstankbattalion.com.