Arthur goes into service
December 1, 1942
After his high school education Arthur Whitbeck enlisted in the army. At Camp Claiborne in Louisiana, he was trained as a tank technician and assigned to B Company, 784th Tank Battalion. Arthur was part of a crew of a Sherman tank.
Read the story: overview >
To the front
Le Havre, dec. 25, 1944
784 Tank Battalion embarked on Oct 30 '44 in America and arrived on Christmas Day in Le Havre (F). The front line lay along the German border and the Batlle of the Bulge (Ardennenoffensive) was in full swing. The battalion immediately moved further. Within one week, on Dec. 31, they had entered Germany at the border at Eschweiler.
Read the whole story: Combat route (1) >
Anxious hours
Sevelen, March 2, 1945
Task Force Byrne went smoothly. That changed on March 2, when Arthur's B Company fought at Sevelen, which was strongly defended by German paratroopers. The Americans were sealed off from reinforcements and supplies ...
Read the whole story: Combat route (3) >
Arthur is killed
Kamperbruch, March 4 1945
On March 4 Arthur and his comrades were ordered to attack Kamperbruch. The commander expected little opposition, but the Germans had set up tank guns. Arthur's tank was directly hit.
Read the whole story: Combat route (4) >
July 1943 (?)
Registration ARC
September 1943
to the UK
July 16, 1944
Landing on Utah Beach
March 15, 1945
Siegfriedlinie
May 1, 1945
Died on pleasure flight
June 19, 1945
Buried in Margraten, Block RR, Row 12 Grave 290
February 18, 1943
Air Evac. Nurse diploma
Jan. 15, 1944
Married
July 26, 1943
Body washed up
March - Augus 1943
Panama
June 1944
To Europa
November 23, 1943
Departure for Europa
January 20, 1944
Arriving in England
June 1944
Landing Omaha Beach
US enters the war
December 11, 1941
Nazi Germany declares war on the US
Turnaround WWII
Februari 2, 1943
Battle of Stalingrad: Red Army defeats Germans
Arthur Whitbeck
The African American Tank technician
| Born: | Ca 1924 |
| Location: | Hudson, New York |
Family
Family Whitbeck was of African American descent. Whitbeck's
father worked in a garage and the family lived at 6 Spring Street
in Hudson. Arthur was nicknamed Snookie by his grandfather.
The name can be seen on a preserved shopping
list that Snookie sent to his grandmother
asking her to buy supplies for him
and to send them to the front. The
items on the list included writing
paper, brushes, crackers and socks.
Hudson New York
The family lived in the town of Hudson,
along the river of the same name, north of
New York. Hudson is generally
regarded as the oldest settlement
along the Hudson River, named after
Henry Hudson, the 16th century English explorer
and traveler who was the first to explore the river.
The Whitbeck family is directly descended from the founder of Hudson, the Dutch settler John Thomas Van Witbeck, who around 1660 bought land from the local Indians (the Mohicans) and settled there with his family. Arthur J. Whitbeck was therefore of both African American and Dutch descent.
