The Rat's Ass Charge: 35 Paratroopers vs. 150 Japanese Soldiers in World War II

Introduction to World War II Story

0:00Today, we are going to tell the World War II story of one company of American paratroopers which performed a surprise assault against an enemy position and review one trooper's charge against an estimated 150 Japanese soldiers. Stay tuned for the account of the 11th Airborne Division's famous Rat's Ass Charge.

0:30Transcription by CastingWords

1:00from Heaven, the 11th Airborne Division in World War II and beyond.

Author Introduction

1:04My name is Jeremy Holm, and I am a former American bobsled athlete who has now turned 11th Airborne historian to honor my grandfather and his buddies who risked it all to defend freedom in World War II. I am the author of three books on the Angels, and it's an honor to travel across the United States lecturing on the history of the 11th Airborne from 1943 through today. Now, earlier this year, I was in Virginia for my grandmother's funeral, and it was a privilege to honor both Grandma and my grandfather, First Lieutenant Andrew Carrico, with a dual

1:39memorial service. Now, Grandpa passed back in 2016, and he was cremated so that they could be buried together when Grandma passed, and they now rest in peace side by side.

Grandfather's Memorial Service

1:50You know, man, it was so powerful to watch my father, a Vietnam veteran, render a last salute to Grandpa at the graveside.

2:01Now, that service actually brings me to the topic of today's video, this little guy right here. And I say little, but he's pretty heavy. Now, this bronze statue represents an act of courage and valor that some angels believe should have earned this particular paratrooper the Medal of Honor, and so today we're going to tell the story of Private John Bad Soldier Bittori and the 511th PIR's famous rat's ass charge. Let's jump right in.

Leyte Campaign

2:30In the winter of 1944, the 11th Airborne Division was fighting a ferocious enemy in the mountains and jungles of Leyte in the Pacific Theater. So, while Allied forces had retaken much of the island from Imperial Japanese forces, the mountain ranges that were running north to south contained the enemy's main supply line, and Leyte's environment was proving challenging for those Allied units to move up into the mountains. Well, the 11th Airborne's Major General Joseph May Swing told General Douglas MacArthur,

3:01my boys can do it. So, on Thanksgiving Day of 1944, General Swing sent the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment to initiate the division's movement across the island's waistline from east to west. And this was part of Operation King 2, and as I've mentioned in some previous episodes, the Leyte campaign was brutal for the angels. You know, we're actually going to release a video dedicated to the Leyte campaign in a few months, but every trooper I interviewed or spoke with said Leyte was far worse than

3:33the Luzon campaign in 1945. One even said, after Leyte, hell was a vacation. But the angels' campaign consisted of, you know, pitch black nights spent in muddy foxholes due to the high elevation. You know, it was chilly water. You know, they spent weeks with little to eat. And because of the jungle environment, their uniforms were literally rotting away. You know, it rained all the time. This is the monsoon season, so leeches were everywhere. Their medical facilities were like mash in the mountains, one said.

4:04And this was just the environmental conditions. You know, their enemy, the Japanese, were known for their fight-to-the-death tactics. And the angels learned quickly that their adversaries were to be respected in their own right. You know, on Leyte, bonsai charges were common. Japanese soldiers infiltrated the lines at night. And the enemy even dropped paratroopers on the angels around the San Pablo airstrip in the only paratrooper versus paratrooper engagement in the Pacific Theater. And more on that battle in a later video.

4:36I know we have a lot of history to cover on this channel, so just be patient. We're working on it.

11th Airborne Division Advances

4:41But as the angels pressed forward through December of 44 towards Ormok Bay, you know, they were taking heavy casualties along the way. And by December 20th, the paratroopers of the 511th PIR could smell the ocean air, so they knew they were getting close to their objective. And, you know, these young paratroopers had spearheaded the division's push through the west coast. And General Swing wrote to his father-in-law, General Peyton March, that he could follow the 511th's trail

5:12simply by following the enemy dead they left behind. Now, when General Swing suggested his 187th Glider Infantry, the precursor to today's 187th, you know, Rocassans, General Swing wanted the 187th to take over the drive into Ormok. But the 511th's regimental commander, R&D Hardrock Hogan, radioed the 187th's Lieutenant Colonel Arthur H. Wilson, who commanded 2nd Battalion. And Hardrock said,

5:44We will not need your help to take the southwest hill. Now, this hill was Japan's last line of defense standing in Angel's Way, and it was known by three names. Regimental headquarters called it the West Ridge. But 3rd Battalion called it Lottie Hill, after Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Edward Lottie. Lottie's boys from Howe and item companies had assaulted the lower elevations of the hill and pushed about 250 yards west of the southern crest. I Company's assault led them to within about 20 yards of the crest,

6:16and once there, these young angels fixed bayonets and took the objective, one bloody foxhole entrenched at a time, and, you know, then they stopped to regroup. But eager to push to the coast, Colonel Hogan ordered the 511th 2nd Battalion to, quote, get off your ass and get going, end quote. Hardrock wanted them to take the north side of the ridge, and this is where the hill gets its third name, Hacksaw Ridge, after 2nd Battalion's Lieutenant Colonel Frank S. Hacksaw Holcomb.

6:48And no, this is not this Hacksaw Ridge, where Desmond Doss earned his Medal of Honor six months later, in May of 45 on Okinawa. Now, back on Leyte in December of 44, Doss' 307th Infantry Regiment was only about 20 miles north of the angels' positions, and that's when Hacksaw Holcomb's paratroopers were, they gained about 400 yards on Hacksaw Ridge's northern heights, and then at that point, they too had to stop for the night. The next day, December 21st,

7:20which was the 34th day of the 11th Airborne's Leyte campaign, Colonel Hogan again sent companies H&I to finish pushing the enemy off Hacksaw Ridge's northern slopes. And 3511 found themselves facing several reinforced bunkers, you know, but they pressed forward, and, you know, soon they became even more highly motivated to destroy the enemy. You see, there was still a strong body of Japanese on the ridge's southern end, and some of those Japanese soldiers

7:51had cannibalized the bodies of a 3rd Battalion machine gun crew that was killed in earlier fighting, and yes, you heard me correctly, enemy dead were found carrying cooked pieces of human flesh in their pockets, which, of course, angered the angels to no end.

Private John Bittori's Charge

8:09When news spread through 3rd Battalion, which was still attacking Northern Ridge of what had happened, everyone just started seeing red. Meanwhile, Hacksaw Holcomb sent 2nd Battalion's E&F companies up the steep southern flanks of the ridge, and these young paratroopers found themselves also facing well-entrenched enemy positions. They inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, and at 1550, 2511 reported, we have assaulted the hill and taken it. Now, Colonel Hardrock Hogan

8:39then told Hacksaw to push as far as possible up the ridge before setting up their perimeter, but things basically stopped there for the day. 2nd Battalion had gained about 900 yards, but my grandpa, 1st Lieutenant Andrew Carrico, said, after repeated unsuccessful attacks against a tenaciously defended enemy strongpoint, the battalion was forced to disengage and establish a perimeter for the night. Now, while 2nd Battalion dug in, Colonel Hogan met with General Swing and Hardrock updated the general

9:10on their advances, current positions around the ridge, and so forth. We don't have the full notes on this meeting, but Hardrock returned to his CP and said that an early attack would be the most effective means of eliminating Hacksaw Ridge's last offenders.

9:27I'm going to guess that Hardrock talked General Swing into letting his boys have one last chance to affect the breakthrough before Swing turned it over to the 187th. And the reason Hardrock wanted an early morning attack was my grandfather explained that on Leyte, the Japanese were famous for sleeping late. But there was perhaps another reason for Hardrock's early morning orders. General Swing had given him permission to send 2nd Battalion up Hacksaw Ridge for another attempt

9:58to take the hill, but only if Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Wilson's 2-187 did not overtake them first. Again, that's the battalion that Hardrock radioed saying, we don't need your help. Well, General Swing was already bringing Colonel Wilson's glider boys forward. So at 1900, Captain Stephen Rusty Cavanaugh was notified by Hacksaw Holcomb that his company D would affect the frontal assault the following morning, December 22nd.

10:29And Steve was told that this was the 5-11's last chance to affect a breakthrough before the 187th took over. He was also informed that the trail leading up to these last enemy positions was narrow and densely forested and posed a problem because now it's nighttime in the jungle so no reconnaissance could be made by Steve or his scouts which meant he wasn't able to take a look for himself so he had to go on the descriptions of others who had seen it during the daytime. So with far too little information

11:00for his taste, Captain Cavanaugh left Battalion HQ. Now, Steve and I were able to talk on the phone throughout the years before he passed away in 2019 so it was great to get his perspective on this final push on Leyte and if his name sounds familiar it might be because in August of 1968 then Colonel Stephen Cavanaugh took over the Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations group which is quite a mouthful for that top secret group

11:32known today as simply MAC v SOG or SOG S-O-G Now, Steve had a long distinguished career that lasted for 30 years but when he reached D Company's position late on December 21st 1944 Rusty gathered his remaining officers and said we were going to hit the Japanese just before daylight and take the ridge Steve's plan was to gamble on stealth and surprise so Dog Company would pass through Fox Company's positions cross the line of departure and a column

12:03of platoons and my grandfather's first platoon would take the lead and effect the main assault and Captain Cavanaugh or Rusty elected to march directly behind first squad which would allow better operational control and Steve and Grandpa First Lieutenant Andrew Carrico had become good friends by this point in the war and would remain close for over 60 years now early on December 22nd as a heavy rain fell scout Private First Class

12:34David Vaughn led First Platoon across the line of departure at 0400 while the rest of D Company hung back and at first the trail leading up to the ridge it was so narrow that Captain Cavanaugh said theirs was an attack with a two-man front and you can see in this photo taken right after the assault this is a very narrow approach now once they got past this point you know they quietly scaled the trail to roughly 200 yards from the enemy's suspected positions and you know

13:05they paused to fix bayonets recheck their rifles machine guns and ammo and so forth and they're under orders for silence so the angels just shared nods of good luck before first squad wheeled off to the left of the trail and second squad headed to the right now my grandpa carried this platoon roster with him throughout the war so I'm going to go ahead and put these names down in the comments of this episode so you can see the names of the troopers who participated in this assault on December 22nd 1944

13:36now as dawn crept through the heavy clouds these advancing paratroopers discovered and silently eliminated two enemy outposts so by 0530 second squad was well within the main enemy position and private first class Billy Pettit you know they called him Billy the kid because he was so young you know he and I talked a little bit about this assault as well and he said that while they were crouching in the jungle foliage you know the hushed angels watched Japanese

14:07soldiers milling about the area you know some were half dressed others were preparing meals it was obvious that they were just waking up or just starting to wake up and that's when the angels noticed a sentry at the edge of the field about 15 yards away and given his position he would have to be eliminated quietly so first platoon could advance so everyone watched as scout private Gilberto Carranza Sepulveda of El Paso Texas you know snuck forward he's got bayonet at the ready but as

14:38luck would have it the Japanese sentry turned at the worst moment and noticed Gilberto's advance so the 6 foot 2 paratrooper shot him which of course drew the attention of all the Japanese in the area you know an enemy machine gunner opened fire first and sprayed Gilberto's area you know followed by the gunner's buddies who also opened fire the angel said it was kind of erratic but second squad hit the dirt and hearing shots off to his right you know thinking things had kicked off my grandpa

15:08first lieutenant Carrico bellowed D or bellowed D company's catchphrase rat's ass which signaled first squad to begin the attack by throwing grenades at the enemy positions to their front now D company's catchphrase started sometimes stateside nobody could really remember when probably camp McCall but it was during training and one time private first class David Vaughn declared I don't give a rat's ass so it just stuck and after grandpa shouted the command

15:39first squad pulled pins and tossed their grenades and explosions shattered the morning air and first squad rushed to engage the startled Japanese on the left and first squad's sergeant George Taylor led six of his men into a strong enemy position which they destroyed with more grenades which allowed the rest of first platoon to move forward into the fight and I want to point out that during these initial movements Captain Stephen Cavanaugh stayed right behind my grandfather first lieutenant Andrew

16:10Carrico the platoon leader so both these officers right up front Steve said it was because their radios were ineffective and he wanted to be close to be able to command the operation verbally now off to first squad's right second squad got into the action and private first class John bad soldier Vittori of Boston Massachusetts began hurling phosphorus grenades on the run to burn enemy positions as they move forward and you know in all the excitement the

16:40six foot two machine gunner ran right into a tree branch which you know smashed him in the face so smashed his nose it knocked off his helmet sent it tumbling and you know eyes blurry from the pain of course John failed to notice a Japanese soldier about six feet away who was drawing a bead on his head but luckily private Augustus Wilder dropped the enemy saving Vittori's life John's ammo carrier Russell kill Collins and assistant gunner Stuart Stevenson

17:11caught up to the dazed machine gunner who was still on his back and John was just muttering you know like right between the eyes and you know they realized John thought he'd been shot and private kill Collins pointed to Vittori's enemy you know and yelled get up you ran into that tree limb and at this point the firefight had enveloped the whole hillside and first platoon was slowly pushing up the hill and that's when the first angels to reach the crest of the hill looked down and

17:41realized that besides the expected main line of resistance first platoon's 35 paratroopers were now almost face to face with a withdrawing Japanese column of about 150 soldiers on a trail 10 to 15 feet wide and my grandpa just said it was a machine gunner's dream now when the first angels appeared over the ridgeline the Japanese in the column equally startled opened fire and the heavily outnumbered first platoon found themselves taking

18:12cover and wherever they could and immediately in danger of being overrun and HQ2's private first class Dean Marks who had accompanied first platoon that morning he said the Japanese fire and small arms and heavy machine guns was heavy but not really accurate at first you know we were pinned down and then we were in a hell of a firefight the angels fought back and then Dean said quote out of the blue someone hollered

18:42rat's ass who's with me it was a guy by the name of John Bittori now full of adrenaline John had shaken off the pain from his damaged nose where he ran into the tree and he could hear the heavy fire going on up the hill so he asked for a full belt for his 30 caliber machine gun which private private Stuart Stevenson helped him load you know as bullets are flying overhead and John then stood up and slung his 30 pound browning light machine gun on webbing over

19:13his shoulder and he grabbed the barrel with an asbestos mitt kind of like John Bassalone and John Vittori raced up the hill to the crest where he saw everyone was pinned down and then with decaying jump boots and rotting uniform that exposed jungle ulcers on his legs and body John stood on the crest and shouted bonsai rat's ass who's with me and first platoon then watched the exposed angel charge the

19:44enemy column firing a full burst from his hip now trooper Dean Marks explained the severe danger John put himself in if you haven't imagined it already he said most important if you did fire from the hip you had to stand and anyone who stood up in any kind of firefight was dead right then but John didn't die and his courageous charge galvanized first platoon into performing a bonsai charge of their own trooper Marks wrote as

20:15Bittori hollered he began shooting he was defying the Japs and certainly inspiring us as we were hugging the ground he cut loose with two long bursts spontaneously the whole line jumped up and started laying down fire and hollering rat's ass Dean said a couple of enemy woodpeckers opened up but we but our firepower overwhelmed them now my grandfather first lieutenant Andrew Carrico had been John's platoon leader for the past 20 months and when

20:46he was telling this story he also said with a laugh Bittori was a soldier that was a great soldier in combat but he wasn't worth a damn in the everyday he was always in trouble now captain Cavanaugh said John was an Irish lad who loved to fight and had a reputation in the outfit for being a good guy but frequently at odds with authority and John's buddy private first class Billy Pettit said John was an excellent soldier but he was a brawler he

21:17was always fighting someone so I tell you all that because I want to point out that during the rat's ass charge John was actually missing his two front teeth because of a barroom brawl back in the states before the angels had shipped over to New Guinea and then Leite and he just didn't have time to get them fixed but inspired by John's charge first squad on the left led by first lieutenant Carrico and sergeant Taylor and second squad on the right led by staff sergeant George Reb Cushwa and private first

21:48class William Dubes began kind of a trotting marching fire line that just decimated the Japanese column and the enemy's remaining defensive positions on the ridge the angels rushed forward with shouts of you know rat's ass bonsai haba haba and their old airborne chant that they would do when they were doing push-ups of 48 49 50 and private first class Charlie Jones a first squad you know he said he

22:18remembered watching panicked Japanese soldiers diving off the backside of the ridge and he said it was like shooting rabbits and heavy brush now captain Kavanaugh said the suddenness of the attack panicked the Japanese with D company at its heels the enemy sought to reestablish a defensive position against the attack but were hit before they could establish any resistance this forward surge by the company continued for two to three hours with the enemy running in desperation but

22:50losing the race now private first class Bill Dubes just said we shot everything in sight a note in the regimental journal for 0850 simply says first platoon of D company pulled a rat's ass charge on the Japs at dawn the Japs haven't stopped running and lest we picture a group of fresh healthy paratroopers making the assault most of first platoon was sick with one debilitating jungle

23:20sickness or another or several and all of them were suffering from malnourishment again this was over 30 days into the island campaign and just to give you an example sergeant royal streck for example he was so feverish that he had to be guided down the hill after the rat's ass charge because he could not even walk straight no company D's assault was affected by a small band of brothers who refused to quit or let each other down as marine aviator astronaut and US senator John

23:52Glenn explained you train people to have more loyalty to their unit than they have to themselves to the point where people will go out and do things that defy all instincts of self-preservation like make a rat's ass charge against 10 to 1 odds as first platoon continued their advance in private first class Dean Marks noted when we got into the Japanese area past their main line of resistance you could see them laying all over the place in grotesque positions half in and how half out of

24:24their holes some were dead some were convulsing some were moaning a lot of them ran away he said the whole firefight lasted three or four minutes we did not lose one person dead but John Batori took a 25 caliber slug in the shoulder and my grandpa you know when he was remembering all this he said you know jungle foliage was thick making it difficult to get through but we somehow kept together fighting until about noon when Captain Cavanaugh passed another platoon through us and we were

24:55able to stop for a much-needed rest and you know I wish I had asked Steve or my grandpa which platoon came next I believe it was second platoon but with rain falling first platoon moved into the retreating enemies former positions and you know of course enemy dead lay everywhere but there was one Japanese soldier who was kind of playing possum and you know he jumped up and he rushed to attack private first class Alex Village Center who was affectionately

25:26known as the chief and the chief just reflexively beheaded the Japanese soldier with his machete the young angels of first platoon breathe sighs of relief that they had survived another engagement as the success of their assault settled in my grandpa said that they later figured out well he said I estimate we killed over 300 that day heavy losses for the enemy but almost miraculously only three angels were wounded during the rat's ass charge George Taylor David Red Isles and John

25:59bad soldier Bittori and one thing I want to point out is that when the angels began searching these hundreds of enemy dead they discovered that there was no evidence of any Japanese officers in the area and to my knowledge no one ever found out the full story on that but it's kind of an interesting piece of this

Aftermath of the Rat's Ass Charge

26:18story now after listening to reports of d company's effective route on the ridge colonel organ colonel oran hogan turned to his staff and said tell general swing we will have the trail to ormock bay open for him today now remember hard rock did not want general swing to bring up the 187th glider infantry so he was pretty happy to report their success on the ridge and back on the ridge itself captain Kavanaugh said with more bravado than sense I sent a runner to the rear to

26:49inform the battalion commander again major Frank Holcomb that we had overcome the enemy with a bayonet charge and that he was on the run and that we were in hot pursuit so rusty had continued to press the attack with d company's second and third platoons but to his surprise his runner came back with orders to halt and rusty said needless to say I disregarded the order feeling that if we paused the enemy would have a chance to regroup and establish defensive positions so d company

27:20pushed forward a short distance when another runner arrived and emphatically repeated Holcomb's order to stop so 2,500 hundred yards after the attack began rusty reluctantly had his sweat drenched company move off the trail to rest in a grove of palm and mango and papaya trees and their new position overlooked Ormok Bay where these tired angels could actually look down and see 7th Infantry Division positions at the base of the mountains where they were

27:51headed then of course they noticed that you know tents are set up there's the beach right there so it was obviously a place they wanted to get to but a short while later g and e companies of the 187th glider infantry passed through d company's lines and continued pressing down towards the coast and the 187th joseph b giordano noted that his fellow glider men were impressed by company d company d's charge

28:21he wrote we went forward to overtake the lead elements of the 511th who were pushing forward at a breakneck speed it was difficult to understand how a unit engaged in bitter fighting could keep up the terrific rate of march forward the trails everywhere were littered with enemy dead as was the slopes of the ridge and with steel in their eyes d company watched the clean uniformed and they said much better fed glider riders marched past their

28:52grove of trees towards the beach with general swing leading the way and these paratroopers told me that they felt that after all they had done the march down to ormock bay should have belonged to the 511th pir and there has been some rumor that colonel hogan's men were halted in part because of their haggard appearance while they had inflicted destruction upon the enemy the brass felt that the 511th's paratroopers looked a little bit like death warmed over and so they wanted a fresher cleaner

29:25looking unit to arrive on the beaches for publicity you know everyone knew that there were correspondence with cameras waiting for the 11th airborne down in ormock bay and the 511th's angels felt yeah that triumphal march and ormock bay should have been ours so this treatment was a source of resentment within the 511th for years but there is perhaps another side to general swing's decision that day um you know i think the general knew that after a month

29:55of heavy fighting hard rock hogan's mighty 511th pir was down to roughly 60 percent strength and of that 60 percent most of the paratroopers were sick or worn out from the fighting and the jungle environment so captain cavanaugh you know hinted at this himself he said we came out on the other side of the island a pretty well decimated regiment now private first class eli bernheim who who had been in company b of the 511th

30:25but was now in the 187th second battalion he said i can recall that the 511th troopers were really pissed off when we passed through them near ormock but they looked extremely beat now i also think the general swing was estimating that there would probably be another defensive line of enemy positions between them and ormock bay and he wanted to pass the 187th through the 511th to let a fresher unit uh assault those next lines

30:58you know and and one 187th historian noted of of their march through the 511th lines and pass company d he said for weeks the 511th had been fighting desperately repulsing bonsai attacks at night attacking the japanese by day and using all available men for carrying patrols hence neither side got much rest the 511th's men were emaciated from lack of food many fell prey to jungle fevers all were taught with strain their feet were in horrible condition since most of

31:32their jump boots were worn out so now they hobbled about with their feet wrapped in banana leaves and despite all that remember d company had to be ordered twice to stop fighting after the rat's ass charge so captain cavanaugh had d company dig in for the night on december 22nd you know and and his hungry angels were grateful that they were within a grove of fruit trees which provided a dinner of papayas and mangoes and you know some of the angels sat in their foxholes singing i'm dreaming of an

32:05ormock christmas to the tune of irving berlin's 1942 hit white christmas and over 6 000 miles away captain richard dick winters and easy company of the 506th pir huddled in their own foxholes in baston's frozen soil though they were all tired lieutenant colonel edward lottie proudly pointed out that the 511th pir had all but wiped out the japanese 26th division and much of the 16th division on late

32:38so did d company ever receive recognition for their effective rat's ass charge well captain cavanaugh said the company never received the acknowledgement deserved for effecting the breakout from the mountains of late except for our regimental commander colonel hogan who recognized what we had done in fact when general swing passed captain cavanaugh's position remember he's leading 187th forward general swing only paused long enough to tell steve

33:09nice job before moving on to head towards ormock and the welcome reception waiting there and steve later wrote again remember steve had 30 years of of military service but he said my thoughts regarding that gentleman were at that moment anything but complimentary hopefully this video helps the angels of first platoon company d 511th parachute infantry regiment get the recognition that captain cavanaugh and colonel hogan felt they deserved

33:39and speaking of recognition many in first platoon felt john battori deserved the medal of honor for his actions that day when he charged the japanese column now remembering battori's charge corporal wilbur wilcox noted it took a lot of guts by john but that was something he was never short of so captain cavanaugh put john in for the silver star but unfortunately it was later downgraded to the bronze star but john didn't care this screw up from brooklyn who would retire a command master sergeant with over 30 years of jump status

34:15he would say decades later there are two kinds of military reputations one is official and on paper in washington the other is the one that goes from bar to bar from the mouths of those who served with you there that is the only reputation i ever really cared about and john's reputation as the machine gunner who charged a japanese column indeed went from bar to bar from the mouths of those he served with for decades after the war john was asked to retell this story at 11th airborne division reunions over the years and it caught the

34:47attention of world famous artist and sculptor william wild bill porteous who served in the 511th pir's second battalion during the war perhaps one of the reasons john's story captivated bill was that bill too was a machine gunner now bill porteous was such a kind man and i appreciated communicating with him prior to his death in 2021 his sculptures and paintings are all over the world but but this statue bill made this one to honor john battori's charge on laytee on december 22nd 1944

35:23now bill brought the statue to the 11th airborne association reunion held in 1982 at fort benning georgia and of course you know everyone marveled at his work he'd actually brought um a bust of general swing at another reunion it was just beautiful as well but my grandmother jane carico said that when bill found out that john battori was both alive