Albie Zadilka married into our family in the early 1960s (he married my aunt Lois, my mother’s sister).  Albie was from Kingston, Pennsylvania which he always referred to as “the garden spot of the world”.  His two favorite sports were football and baseball and his favorite outing was the Army-Navy football game at West Point.

Albie’s unit served under Patton as part of the 10th Armored Division during the Battle of the Bulge. The 11th Tank Battalion had 81mm mortars mounted in half-tracks and provided fire support to the infantry, close to the front lines.  This rare configuration was referred to as the M21 Mortar Motor Carriage.

A picture of a M21 can be seen here.

Albie was the half-track driver...

Albie and his buddies traded cigarettes for German Lugers and P38s during “The Bulge” and at the end had over 125 pistols of all types in their half-tracks.  Albie told me the going exchange rate was 3-5 cigarettes for most pistols.