THOSE DEVILS IN BAGGY PANTS
Roger K. Hattersley, President
504 P.I.R. Associations
6206 Burning Tree Court
Fayetteville, NC 28306

I met Mitch Rech at ALL AMERICAN WEEK in 1997. It was his first time and we immediately hit it off. Mitch is a charter member of the 82d Airborne Division Association and has been a member of the 504th PIR Association for many years and a Paid for Life Member since 1997. He was originally with the Philadelphia Chapter and is now with the Space Coast Chapter (he has attended two conventions, 1947 and 1999). My wife Jill and I were guests of Mitch during Veterans Day weekend at Fort Pierce FL and while there, The Fort Pierce News interviewed him. What follows are highlights of that interview.

Mitch entered the Army in 1942 at the age of 19 with sole intent of becoming a paratrooper. After spending 13 weeks in training at Camp Croft in Spartanburg SC, and three more weeks at Ft Benning GA to become a paratrooper, Mitch was assigned to the 504th PIR of the 82d. He immediately sent for his girlfriend Marguerite and they were married April 10th 1943 in Dillon, SC. Upon returning to Fayetteville by train, they were met by MPs who notified Mitch that his unit was on alert and he was to return to Ft. Bragg alone. Marguerite was put on another train by the MPs and sent home. Mitch did not see her again until September of 1945.

Mitch went on to tell of landing in Morocco and on to the invasion of Sicily. "Anti-Aircraft fire split up our planes and we ended up dropping all over the island instead of all together. That mistake may have save a lot of lives... The Germans must have thought we had covered the whole island because they loaded up in trucks and headed for the ferry to the mainland. We chased after them on foot." It was on Sicily that Mitch began drawing his cartoons. "I had never done any drawing before. Right out of high school I wanted to be a commercial artist but another guy got the job and I went to work in the steel mill." Mitch's illustrations were to let the folks back home know he was all right. "I figured that if they were kind of light hearted, they wouldn't worry about me."

Mitch went on to tell of his encounters at Salerno, taking Naples and the sea-borne assault at Anzio. All the while writing home and sending along his perception of the war via his cartoons. Of the invasion of Holland Mitch related, "The scariest part for me was taking this one bridge (Nijmegen). We had to cross that river (Waal) in canvas boats to secure the other end of the bridge. We were under very heavy fire and paddling like mad using the butts of our M-1s as paddles. I was really scared but those engineers had to take those boats back across for more troopers. I'll never know how many boats we lost or how many of those boys were drowned in that river."

Mitch then told of going through the Battle of the Bulge and on to Germany and the end of the war. He was discharged in September of 1945. Of his cartooning he says, "After the war, I never did another cartoon. I guess I was too busy raising a family or maybe it was because it reminded me of a period of my life I was ready to put behind me." A few years ago Mitch discovered a box with all of his letters and cartoons... "I was amazed that between my Dad, sister and wife they had saved all of them." Mitch had the cartoons matted and framed in order to pass them down to his grandchildren. He hopes to get permission to display them at the Regimental Head Quarters during All American Week.

Mitch has volunteered to fill in for me as Quartermaster to host this years All American Week Hospitality Suite so that Jill and I can make the move to Albuquerque, NM. In closing I'd like to recognize the following past Commanders of the Regiment. First, LTG George A. Crocker (XXV) upon his retirement and LTG Jack P. Nix (XXVI) upon his retirement and appointment to Honorary Commander of the Regiment, MG John P. Abizaid (XXVIII) upon his promotion and his appointment to Commander of the 1st Infantry Division, and BG David H. Petraeus (XXIX) upon his promotion and appointment to Assistant Division Commander/ Operations, 82nd Airborne Division. All the way, gentlemen. And lastly, let's all get out and sign up a new member.

-- Roger K. Hattersley, President, February 2000