Wogan, John Beuguot.

Wogan, John Beuguot, born 01-01-1890 in Louisiana,  was the commander of the 13^th Armored Division, nickname “The Black Cats”  during World War II. The division was activated on 15-10-1942 at Camp Beale , California, East of Marysville. The 13^th Armored, known as the Black Cats, landed at Le Havre, France, 29-01-1945. After performing occupation duties, the Division moved to Homberg near Kassel to prepare for combat under the Third Army, nickname “Patton’s Own”  under General George Smith Patton, 5 April. Between becoming operational in Normandy on August 01-08-1944 and the end of hostilities on 09-05-1945, the Third Army was in continuous combat for 281 days. In that time, it crossed 24 major rivers and captured 81.500 square miles (211.000 km²) of territory, including more than 12.000 cities and towns. The Third Army claimed to have killed, wounded, or captured 1.811.388 German soldiers, six times its strength in personnel. Fuller’s review of Third Army records differs only in the number of enemy killed and wounded, stating that between 01-08-1944 and 09-05-1945, 47.500 of the enemy were killed, 115.700 wounded, and 1.280.688 captured, for a total of 1.443.888. At Altenkirchen, it was attached to the XVIII Corps and prepared for the Ruhr Pocket operation. The attack jumped off at Honnef, 10 April. After crossing the Sieg River at Siegburg, the 13^th pushed north to Bergisch-Gladbach, then toward Duisburg and Mettmann by 18 April. Shifting south to Eschenau, the Division prepared for Bavarian operations. Starting from Parsberg, 26 April, the 13^th crossed the Regen river, then the Danube at Matting and secured the area near Dunzling. On the 28^th elements closed in at Plattling and crossed the Isar River. Moderate to heavy resistance was met during this drive through southern Germany. The Division smashed into Braunau am Inn

    , the place Adolf Hitler was born (see Adolf Hitler) (did you know), Austria, 2 May, and the command post was set up in the house where Hitler was born. A bridgehead across the Inn was established at Marktl, but the river was not crossed as orders came to reassemble north of Inn, 2 May. Preparations were made for further advances when the war in Europe ended. The 13^th remained in Germany until 25 June and left Le Havre, France, for home, 14-07-1945.  During their 16 days in combat the 13^th  division suffered the next casualties, killed 493, wounded 377 and missed in action 22, The division made 27.827 prisoners of war. The United States Army suffered 318.274 killed and missing in all theaters of the war.

Death and burial ground of Wogan, John Beuguot.

John Wogan died at the age of 78, on 30-09-1968, in Asheville, North Carolina. and is buried with his wife Grace, born McLain, who died old age 92, in 1986, on the Arlington National Cemetery, Section 30. Close by the graves of the

General, Chief Signal Officer, George  Back, Major General, Commander 116^th  Regiment  and 29^th Division, nickname “Blue and Gray” , D-Day, Charles Canham, Lieutenant General, Commanded the 5^th Marine Division, nickname “The Spearhead” , Thomas Bourke, Lieutenant General, Commander 2^nd Armoured Division, nickname “Hell on Wheels” , Ted Brooks and Admiral, Robert Ghormley, Infantry Major General, Commander 24^th Infantry Division, nickname “Victory Division” , Kenneth Cramer, Major General, Commander 9^th Infantry Division, Louis Craig

, Air Force Lieutenant General, Commander 12^th and 15^th U.S. Air Force , Ira Eaker, Navy Admiral, Okinawa Campain, Louis Denfeld, Fleet Deputy Chief Operations, Richard Edwards, Secretary of the Navy in 1944, James Forrestal and General, Deputy Chief of Staff, Bomb on Hiroshima, see Thomas Handy.

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