Suerth, Herbert John, Jr. “Junior”.

Suerth, Herbert John, Jr, “Junior” born, 28-10-1924 in Chicago, Illinois, the only son of Herbert Sr and Lillian Marie, born Basset, Suerth. His dad was a veteran of the World War 1. He made lifts. In June 1942, Herbert graduating from De Paul Academy,

  he was 17 years old. Then, he began at Marquette University as a mechanical engineering. But the war caught up with him, at age 18 years old, Herb “Junior” Suerth reached the age to be engaged. Herb Suerth quit school and decided to enlist in the U.S. Army after turning 18. Suerth was a member of “Easy Company” of the 506th Parachute Regiment, under command of General Robert Frederick “Bounding Bob” Sink   of the 101st Airborne, “Screaming Eagles” , under command of General Maxwell Davenport Taylor,

known as the Band of Brothers. While serving on the front lines of the Battle of the Bulge, The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was a major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II which took place from 16-12-1944 to 25-01-1945. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region between Belgium and Luxembourg. The offensive was intended to stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to individually encircle and destroy the four Allied armies and force the western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers’ favor.

Suerth endured life-threatening injuries. In January 1945 he was wounded by a German shell fragment near Recogne, northwest of Foy, Belgium. Both of his legs were broken and so badly injured that he spent the next nine months in bed and another nine months learning to walk again before being discharged after the war ended.

Herbert told next: The next moment I was looking to the broken ends of my legs. I laid there for at least a couple of hours. They evacuated me but they didn’t tie my legs down. As we came on an open field my legs started to bounce and they fell of the stretcher. They got me to an aid station and they put me on a kitchen table. The doctor came over en held my leg up. He took a pair of scissors and put some bandage on it, stuck it in the right side of my leg and it came out on the left side, I didn’t feel any pain. The doctor took a closer look and he said to me: ”Well I’m not going to cut your leg off”. Until today I’m grateful for what he did. He saved my legs”. ”When I woke up after surgery I was in a heated house, that was the first time since December 16th. That day was January 10th”.”On April 8th, I was shipped out of England to the US on the Queen Elisabeth. I came in on the Queen Mary and back on the Queen Elisabeth. I like to travel in style. That was the end of my service”.

For his service, he received many medals, including the Purple Heart.. 140 men formed the original E Company in Camp Toccoa, Georgia. A total of 366 men are listed as having belonged to the company by the war’s end, due to transfers and replacements. 49 men of E Company were killed in action.

On 16-12-1944 at 05:30, the Germans began the assault with a massive, 90-minute artillery barrage using 1,600 artillery pieces[55] across a 130-kilometer (80 mi) front on the Allied troops facing the 6th Panzer Army. The Americans’ initial impression was that this was the anticipated, localized counterattack resulting from the Allies’ recent attack in the Wahlerscheid sector to the north, where the 2nd Division had knocked a sizable dent in the Siegfried Line. Heavy snowstorms engulfed parts of the Ardennes area. While having the effect of keeping the Allied aircraft grounded, the weather also proved troublesome for the Germans because poor road conditions hampered their advance. Poor traffic control led to massive traffic jams and fuel shortages in forward units. Nearly 10 hours into the assault, one of the German V-2 rockets destroyed the Cine Rex cinema

in Antwerp, killing 567 people, the highest death toll from a single rocket attack during the war.

Back home Herbert studied to become an engineer, married and raised nine children. Herb spent many years as president of ‘The Men of Easy Company’ and was proud to work with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg to raise money for the Airborne memorial on the south side of the Bois Jacques between Foy and Bizory .

After being discharged in 1946, he returned to Marquette, graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Death and burial ground of Suerth, Herbert John, Jr. “Junior”.

“Junior “Suerth died 14-10-2017 (age 92) in Minnesota and is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, VS, Section 23 Site 990.

Herb is survived by his wife Monna of 67 years, their four sons, John Thomas, Vincent Paul (Mary) and Stephen James (Karen), James Gregory; and four daughters, Carolyn Anne Suerth-Hudson, Lorrie Anne Oasheim (Greg), Elizabeth Vaile Suerth (Ray) and Suzanne Marie Klimek (Tom). He is also survived by 15 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Suerth was preceded in death by his parents and his eldest son, John Scott (Itziar). Herb enjoyed sailing Lake Minnetonka and Lake Superior on his boat aptly named “Airborne”. Herb served as a board member of the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District (LMCD) for 17 Years. He was instrumental in creating new protocols to control the invasion of foreign species to our lakes. He also received the Lifetime Stewardship Award, Watershed Heroes Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. Suerth attended E Company reunions for 60 years. He served as president of the Men of Easy Company for 10 years. Prior to retirement he was General Manager for Leef Brothers, a Minneapolis industrial laundry company from 1980 to 1990.

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