My name is Ron Quadt. I was born in South Amboy, New Jersey on July 1st 1924. When I was eight years old my dad gave me a .22 rifle, and we used to shoot out at my grandfather's garage. So by the time I got in the army, fourteen years later, I was a very good shot, and I was afraid actually that I'd be called as a sniper, which isn't that great a job ya know. But I was always in the top 500 shooting.
In August of 1942, I was drafted and took a train down to Mississippi for training. From there I went to Camp Kimer in New Jersey. It was about six miles from my house, so every night I would hop over the fence to go home. After camp we took a ferryboat to New York and from there we got on a ship to go overseas. Because no one was sure about when we were going to begin the D-day landing, I was given ammunition to practice my target shooting. Probably shouldn't tell you this but I was having little fun sometimes during those days. When the captain and no one else was looking, I'd shoot at these big buzzards that were always flying around. It was a lot more fun, and like I said, I became a very good shot.
Finally in February of 1943 we landed in France and trained until our captain received the plans for D-day landing. Luckily we didn't go in early but came after noontime. I remember we had to climb down the rope sides to the landing boards. I was standing close to the front when they dropped the front down. I was one of the first ones into the cold water where we passed by a lot of dead bodies that hadn't been picked up yet. When we got to the beach there was a home about a quarter of mile up, and we spotted a sniper hiding behind the chimney. Our captain in charge brought up a tank and I fired at him, bringing him down, the chimney down, and everything else with it. That was my first shot fired.
The next day the lieutenant assigned me and another guy to go into the hedges of a road and stand guard at night. During that time we always had centuries out keeping guard. So I was keeping watch and I was about forty feet from the road when I saw a pair of boots sticking out of the row. The boots had little cleats all over the bottom so I knew it was a German. I was waiting for him to come out with a machine gun, but with everything running through my head at the moment I couldn't wait, so I fired. I clipped the top of his helmet and he gave up right away. So I took the first prisoner on our second day there. It was scary but you gotta do what you gotta do. It was something interesting everyday.
Sometimes we kept guard in long holes covered with big branches and a small opening at the end to squeeze in. When it was time to relieve the two fellows on duty in the hole one night, I said to my buddy, " Well we got a couple of minutes, let me finish my cigarette." As I finished my cigarette a couple of 88s came in and hit the hole where we were going to relieve the guys... they got taken care of. That's why you didn't get too friendly with anybody. It was tough.
So that was the beginning. We continued to travel along at night, jumping from one town to the next town. And every time we would set up our guns, each about a hundred and fifty yards apart. We ran telephone wires along them so we could talk to each other. One night we didn't run the lines and we heard a tank coming down the road towards us. It stopped by our first gun and nothing happened, and then it came down near the second gun, and as it was coming down a guy in the tank shot a flare up in the air. Well we're in position, but we can't just get up and move the gun because this guy is going to see us. So everybody is quiet when the tank comes down to the third gun. And then our sergeant, who is on the third gun, gets up and hits the tank with his bazooka, and we managed to get a few shots in before ten to twelve Germans took off. When the morning light began to come in we spotted a tank coming down the hill. I threw a shell in the gun and tapped my gunner on the shoulder, signaling that we were ready to fire. He fired, and evidently, the tank fired at us at about the same time because his fire came within inches of hitting me. He fired again and hit our tank's gun. I went about fifteen or twenty feet up in the air before landing back on the ground. I was just glad I was in one piece, but our gunner lost his arm. We all ran for cover through the countryside, and I found four or five SS troops. I took them prisoner, and luckily I didn't fire because soon a jeep full of even more German troops pulled up. They would have killed me if I had fired. So what are you going to do? You gotta give up at that time.
The SS troops pulled me in a smaller tank and began firing towards the American lines. After a while it became a plateau because the Americans were far out of range. So they got the idea to push me out in front. So I'm out there leading the Germans, but the American troops - they must have seen me in my uniform - didn't hit me. Their bullets whizzed by me. After getting pushed out front three times I was taken in to meet their officer in charge. He spoke English, was educated in California, and he saved my life. He stopped a kid from shooting me in the head. I really thought for sure I was going to get it at any second. When this happens things go so fast through your head, such as when you were a kid that you're not even scared anymore because you know you're going to die.
Well this German officer, he was losing a lot of guys so he gave me a white towel to go wave. I went outside and waved it and of course the Americans stopped. Once they surrendered I took my field jacket off and told the Germans to put their pistols on top. I collected thirty pistols in all and brought in fifty-one prisoners. When I got back to my guys I said, " Who wants this? Who wants that?" I had some nice ones including a really nice luger. Before taking the prisoners, however, I wound up getting shot in my heel, and my ankle was as big as a balloon tire once back at camp. So I spent a few days there after an operation on my heel. The King Sisters came to visit the hospital once. One of the sisters sat right in my bunk and sang to me. All of the guys were hooting and hollering. It was real nice.
After about five days I was flown back to Paris to be admitted to the general hospital there. That's where I stayed for my ninety-nine days. I don't know how true it was, but there was a saying that if you had to stay more than ninety-nine days in the hospital they flew you home. Well I had three doctors and two of them wanted to amputate my foot, but Dr. Howell, the head doctor, said no way. She came up with exercises for me to do instead and I healed quickly so when I got out of the hospital I was put into the Labor Supervision Company, supervising German prisoners. For a couple of months I was assigned to mess sergeant. I didn't want the job at first, but it was nice because I didn't have guard duty. The engineers pulled all of those duties; I only had to pick up the food for the German prisoners.
After about three months though, a whole gang of us were sent back home on a liberty boat. We left for home and came into Camp Myles Standage in Boston, Massachusetts. I stayed at the camp for about three or four days before I got a train back home. Everyone was glad to see me. We had a big bake out to celebrate, and my aunt took down the star that hung from our window. My neighbor was a headman at an ironworker place, and every morning when he'd come out and see me he would offer to put me to work. I said no because at the time I was collecting twenty percent disability every month. So finally one morning he came out and asked me again. I said, "What do I need?" He said, " Well you're going to need pliers, a six inch ruler, and a pair of gloves. Come down to Union Hall and I'll put you somewhere." And that's the way I started work; I did it for forty years. My first job out was on open steel, three stories high. It was scary at first, but by noontime I was running across everything.
In 1946 I got married. My wife and I actually went to school together, but I didn't know her then. The day I was discharged I went out to a really nice bar, under this hotel, with three other guys. We wanted to have a couple of drinks. There were three other girls on the other side of the bar, and the guys dared me to go ask one for a dance. I refused. I didn't want to get married yet because I just was getting out of the army. Anyway, a couple of drinks later I walked over and asked her to dance. We had a good time, and the next thing I knew we were going dancing every month. We would go to these ballrooms and dance to big name bands, and she would wear flowers in her hair that I bought for her. We were married for 63 years; she was the greatest girl and my soul mate.
