A T19 supported by a M2 halftrack in action in North Africa.
This page is dedicated to those who crewed the T19 in the various cannon units of the US Army during World War 2. These are their words.
"Sir,
I will first introduce myself. My name is Franklin L
Ward, and I am, I suppose, one of the rapidly dwindling numbers of souls who
had the good fortune serve and survive the Sicilian Campaign aboard a T 19.
I went in on the invasion of Sicily at Lacata as a member of the
American 14th field Artillery, Second Armored division and stayed with the
outfit all the way up to Palarmo and past. Our first serious encounter was a
Agragento, It was night time and we were engaged for several hours before we
broke through.
In my own opinion serving on such a clap trap rig should
deserve the C.M.H. (Congressional Medal of Honour). Although we survived, it
can only be attributed to extreme good luck combined with the sorry
marksmanship of our opposition. If you have never been aboard one of these
bucket of bolts, in a fire fight , consider yourself extremely lucky. If you
never noticed it before, you will at once realize you have no overhead cover
and that coupled with little or no side armor leaves you with the feeling of
being naked. That along with the ever present question in your mind 'What the
Hell am I doing Here?' Even pulling a trailer loaded with ammo, you really
never have enough. And each round you fire leads you to think the whole damned
thing will soon fall apart!
But enough wool-gathering. I am now 84
years old, an age when I should have the luxury of retreating into senility if
not oblivion. However, the advancing years do tend to mellow the sharp jabs of
combat. So if you feel I tend to bitch over much, consider the source.
"
_______________________________
If you or a member of your family served on a T19 please contact me and I will be proud to put your story and photographs here.