T-4 Chester Yates & Gilbert M Bush

[Walt's Daughter]

Honoring dad!

[Walt's Daughter]

Dismissed Chaps!

[Walt's Daughter]

Another letter from Angie to share with everyone:

 

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Hi Marion,

 

No sooner am I back from the Netherlands and still living the dream, than

more information has come to light.

 

It now appears that my dad Pvt. Gilbert Manny Bush (313th Infantry)

originally started out with Company M, 175th Infantry, 29th Division.

 

He actually arrived in England late 1942 and was based at Tidworth Barracks

for a time. During his stay there he took part in an organised boxing match

for his unit and managed to sustain a broken hand requiring hospital

treatment. This is all in his medical records including, a signed agreement

to be given an anesthetic.

 

I now have his beautiful signature.

 

One other thing Marion, in my previous posting on your site the cause of

death given is now slightly different. Apparently, my dad was given German

whiskey by a Russian soldier to celebrate the end of the war, the outcome

being the death of my dad, some of his buddies and also a large number of

Russian soldiers.

 

How very sad - for all concerned.

 

Take care - Angie.

[Walt's Daughter]

Sorry Marion,

 

In my haste to reply I forgot to mention that one of the young soldiers who

died with my dad was PFC James R. Coburn.

 

The last time I mentioned another name, I received a response, so who knows?

 

Luv Ang.

[Walt's Daughter]

Two great letters from Angie:

 

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Hi Marion,

 

Just a quick update:

 

I've booked my ticket to Philadelphia 10th - 17th October and will be making

contact with some of my dad's family. Scarey stuff, but, something I just

have to do.

 

I don't know what they will make of me, hopefully it will be a pleasant

experience all round.

 

I'll be able to visit my grandparents grave in Greenwood cemetery and who

knows what else might turn up.

 

I haven't heard anything from Sgt. Perkins. Maybe he has hit a brick wall

like me on so many occasions.

 

I am now an associate member of the 29th Infantry which is an honour and a

privilege and can now call myself a 29er "lets Go".

 

Wish me luck on my flight over (I'm petrified).

 

Gosh I'm so brave ha ha.

 

Angie.

----------------

 

Dear Angie:

 

Wow, I am so proud of you and so delighted with how far you have come in so little time. I sit here tonight thinking what an awesome thing this really is and I am so honored that I play an integral part of this puzzle.

 

I read your letter to my hubby tonight and asked him if he remembered the story behind it all. He said he did and was enthralled by everything that had transpired.

 

I wish I could meet you in Pennsylvania, but we will miss each other by a mere few weeks. I am flying there for a combat engineer's reunion in late September for 4 days. How I wish that we could meet in person.

 

Please keep me informed. I know you are scared but I admire your fortitude and courage. You are a ten in my book. May God and our fathers in heaven guide your hand.

 

Love and hugs, Marion

---------------

 

You know Marion, it's hard to put into words the way I'm feeling at this

time.

 

It's a mixture of sheer fear and overwhelming excitement. I still can't

believe it's actually happening. Little old me finally making my mark in

life. I know my dad is behind it all, I couldn't have done it on my own.

He's guided me every step of the way and also recruited all the special

people in the world to help i.e. you in particular.

 

What a shame that we will just miss each other, but, I will keep you in my

thoughts when I arrive.

 

Marion, keep up the fantastic job you are doing and tell your husband I

think he is a star, we forget how time consuming searching can be and it's

great to have someone there in the background who understands.

 

Look at me, I have dragged poor Roy all over the place and never once has he

moaned. He just goes with the flow, he is also a star.

 

Enjoy your trip to Philadelphia and spare a thought for me during the second

week of October.

 

One other coincidence. My nephew also Gilbert M Bush, has a birthday on

15th October which is also my wedding anniversary, so I think I might just

part-take of the Vino on that day.

 

Luv Ang.

 

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Dear Ang:

 

Yes, I can imagine that words are pretty hard to come by at this time. Your mind and heart must be racing a mile a minute. I am so, so happy for you and can't wait to hear all the details once you return home.

 

I have decided to extend my trip in September and leave early so I can fly to DC. First I am going to visit the WWII monument, then drive up to College Park Maryland and visit the National Archives for a day. I will pick up all the records for my dad's unit. Man am I ever excited. From there I will drive up to the reunion and spend three days there. This is going to be some trip and I know like you, that my dad has guided my hand in all this. I couldn't have done it without him acting as my guardian angel. :-)

 

I will have a toast to you and you can do the same for me. You are frequently in my thoughts and prayers. Hopefully someday we can meet when I plan a trip to jolly ol' England.

 

Hugs to you. My best to you and your family (new and old)

Marion

[Walt's Daughter]

The continuing saga of Angie and her dad. This is a "doozy". I dare anyone to read this and not say, "WOW!"

 

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Hi Marion,

 

You know how delighted I was when I received a copy of my dad's signature

and you understood how much it meant, well read on:-

 

Two days ago I was reading e-mails from AWON members telling everyone of

their prized possessions belonging to their dads. I sat there so green with

envy and thinking, why haven't I got things to treasure, it's so unfair.

 

This prompted me to tell them the following story from my childhood.

 

Dear All,

 

For those of you that aren't familiar with me, I thought I would take this

opportunity to tell you all a little story.

 

I was born in London five months after the death of my dad in Germany on

V.E. Day and for the first few years of my life my mother and I were pushed

from pillar to post along with thousands of other homeless people in the

capital.

 

We were eventually given a council flat in south London, I would be about

seven or eight at the time.

 

You have to remember that at this time my mum had married my step-father and

I had no idea of my roots.

 

As children do, I went out playing one particular day and a group of us came

across a bombed out church. We thought it was fun searching through the

rubble and picking up pieces of partly burned hymn books and jumping up and

down on the remains of a grand piano.

 

Then I noticed buried amongst the bricks and mortar something green. I

peered down and managed to pull out a small German stein. There was

something magical about this find, but, I had no idea at the time the

implications.

 

I took the stein home to mum and there it stayed on the mantlepiece.

 

For some reason that little stein followed me all my life, most of the time

it was used to keep loose buttons or bits of rubbish in. It has a crack in

it and no lid, the sort of thing you would soon tire of and probably dump, I

never did!

 

Now to bring you all up-to-date.

 

Two years ago I finally found where my dad was buried and have since been on

the trail for information (as so many of you have) and I have recently

discovered the cause of my dad's death - methyl alcohol poisoning. He

accepted a celebratory drink from a young Russian soldier wanting to toast

the end of the war and sadly the German whiskey was poisoned, consequently,

my dad, some of his buddies and a large number of Russians all died that

night.

 

Now I ask myself, did my dad send me this little German stein? Yes he did!!

 

So, when over the last couple of days I have told you all that I have

nothing belonging to my dad, then that isn't strictly true - is it?

 

My little stein has an inscription which reads "Drink gut u.reitt".

 

Any german translators out there?

 

Angie Christian

Proud daughter of Pvt. Gilbert Manny Bush

313th Infantry Anti Tank & 175th Infantry Co M .......cont.....

 

The response was tremendous, everyone came back with suggestions. Everyone

agreed that it meant Drink good and .......the last word caused a problem.

 

I then scrutinised the inscription and realised it actually read Trink gut

u. rein. This I typed into Bable Fish and the translation came back

.................wait for it..........Drink well and purely. Purely, wow

it's a message from dad telling me about the poisoned whiskey.

 

I'm still in shock Marion. He must really, really love me.

 

I'll send a picture of my little German stein for you to look at.

 

Love Angie.

[Walt's Daughter]

Dear Ang:

 

You know the first words out of my mouth when I finished reading this this morning? "Oh my God!" I am sitting here once again with tears and goosebumps. Yup you got it girlfriend; our dad's are looking out for us and all along the way have left little clues and puzzle pieces for us to put back together. This is just amazing my friend. I bet you look at that stein with a whole new outlook now?!?!

 

I am going to place this on the forum. Everyone will want to read this story and see the stein.

 

I don't know what else to say right now, so I will sign with big hugs from me to you.

 

Your friend forever,

M

[Walt's Daughter]

Got this letter from Angie. Things keep looking up. Now she has an actual photo of her father. Ain't it great?

 

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Dear All,

 

This is the photograph that I have been searching for all my life, so please

say hello to my dad Pvt. Gilbert Manny Bush, 313th Infantry Regiment, died

8th May, 1945 and buried at Margraten Military Cemetery, Holland.

 

Isn't he just the most handsome father anyone could wish to have had?

 

Angie Christian,

Even more proud daughter of

Pvt. Gilbert M Bush.

[Walt's Daughter]

Angie had this posted on the AWON (American WWII Orphans Network).

 

http://www.awon.org/bush/

 

Angie you know I am so happy for you. You go girlfriend!

[Walt's Daughter]

Here is more on the continuing saga of Angie and her father. This is a newsletter that I received yesterday from my friend Peter who is the webmaster of

 

http://www.in-honored-glory.info/

 

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Dear Friends,

 

I’m proud to present to you the third edition of the In Honored Glory Newsletter, but first of all I like to welcome all new readers of this Newsletter. This third edition of the newsletter will be entirely about Memorial Day 2006 ...

 

Memorial Day 2006 was even more special to me than it was in the years before. This year was the first time the In Honored Glory website was online. I was going to meet special people who I met through this website ... People like Angie Christian & family, Luc de Wachter & his wife, Régine Villers, her husband Bernard and their little daughter ... It was a short but very special time we had together ...

 

Angie's father, Gilbert Bush is laid to rest at Margraten. Angie was going to present the AWON wreath at Margraten and she was mighty proud to do so. I met Angie, Roy and Frances. On Wednesday we visited Gilbert and on Thursday the Remember Museum in Thimister-Clermont ...

 

Besides Angie's visit I was looking forward to the visit of John Doxey's sister Bernadette and her husband Jack Vogt. A few days before Memorial Day I heard that my wife and I had seats at the ceremony, right behind Jack & Bernadette Vogt. I met them on Thursday when they arrived at Henri-Chapelle ... we visited John's final resting place for the first time. We planned to meet on Saturday before the Memorial Day ceremony. I made sure John's grave was decorated with beautiful flowers, in red, white and blue. Together with the American and the Belgian flag from the cemetery, a card and a picture of John it looked as beautiful as it can get.

 

The weather was playing against us all these days, but about fifteen minutes before the ceremony the rain stopped, a few minutes after the ceremony it started again, but the best was that the ceremony was not disturbed, by the rain and a shield of umbrellas.

 

The Memorial Day Ceremony, my first, started with the Color Guard and an impressive Fly-over by the 52nd Fighter Wing of the USAF. Jim Begg, president of the American Overseas Memorial Day Association welcomed the next of kin, the veterans and all the other guests. He introduced several speakers amongst them the mayor of Hombourg, the pastor of Hombourg and some Senators from the States ... the speaker who hit home right away however was a different one ... Lieutenant General Edward Hanlon Jr. from the US Marine Corps. I'm not much of a man who enjoys speeches unless they are very good and I can assure you that this was one of the best speeches I have ever heard. This marine hit the nail right on the head, he knew exactly what he was talking about ... I listened to all of them, even to the mayor and the pastor of Hombourg who only spoke French, a language which I don't understand. After the laying of the wreaths, volleys, Taps and Raising the Colors, Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Kapstein USNR read a Jewish prayer in Hebrew ... I must admit that I couldn't quite follow him, especially the part between "Welcome" and "Amen", but it was very special to hear this prayer in Hebrew and at the same time to think of all those men who are resting under a Star of David ...

 

In spite of this beautiful ceremony and those (sometimes) beautiful speeches, I missed one thing ... a Tribute to those who made this ceremony such a succes ... the men who placed the chairs, the men who planted the flags in terrible rain and wind on Thursday before Memorial Day, the men who trim the lawns all year long, the men who make sure that the next of kin walk into a Memorial Park instead of an ordinairy cemetery ... Also people like Superintendent Mr. David Atkinson, Assistant Superintendent Mr. Michael Coonce and Cemetery Associate Ms. Caroline Oliver were left out of any speech ... Only one Senator succeeded in naming one of them ...

 

A very special moment for me was the laying of the wreaths. The first piece of music played by the magnificent Band of the Royal Belgian Navy was one that always makes me very emotional, especially at such an occasion, at such a place surrounded by 7.992 men who did not return to their loved ones ... "Abide with me" ...

 

It's a tradition that after the ceremony the next of kin go the final resting place of their loved one and they are "visited" by the Ambassador of the USA to Belgium, Mr. Tom Korologos, by the President of the AOMDA, Mr. Jim Begg and by the Superintendent of Henri-Chapelle, Mr. David Atkinson. The next of kin, in my case Jack & Bernadette were presented with a plaque signed by President Bush to honor John Doxey. Besides this plaque they were presented with the American and the Belgian flag which decorates all graves during those days ... It's a very special and moving little "ceremony". The biggest surprise and honour came when Bernadette handed the flags to me. I never expected to receive such a wonderful gift, I will cherish those flags forever ...

 

Just as I thought that my emotional journey was over, my mind went back to the moment just after the ceremony ... Hundreds of chairs were on the terrace ... Jack & Bernadette turned around took the cards with their names on to bring them back home, just to remember. I thought this was a great idea and I did the same ... At that moment I looked at my card I noticed the text on it .... "Peter Heckmanns, In Honored Glory" ... Probably nothing special to anyone else, but the name of my website originated from the soldiers who rest in unknown graves. The text on those graves states ...

 

 

HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY

A COMRADE IN ARMS

KNOWN BUT TO GOD

 

 

I suddenly realized that on that afternoon for the first time in history there were 96 places in Henri-Chapelle instead of the usual 94, carrying the phrase "In Honored Glory". Only two occupants of those places were fortunate enough to have their names mentioned as well ... My wife was one of them, I was the other ...

 

I wish you and your loved ones all the best ...

 

Peter.

 

 

Peter Heckmanns

Webmaster In Honored Glory website

www.In-Honored-Glory.info

Kerkrade, The Netherlands