Ancestor Photos

Sgt. Julius Kerekes, Bedford, Ohio

Unknown

This is a photo of my uncle, Sgt. Julius Kerekes of Bedford, Ohio, taken aboard ship on his return home following the end of the war in Europe. Today, January 23, 2017, is his 95th birthday and, although moving very slowly these days, he is still alert and able to recount his time as a sergeant on General George S. Patton’s 3rd Army headquarters staff. My uncle worked in G3 intelligence under Col. Robert S. Allen and was responsible for mapping German positions during the night in order to prepare a detailed map for the early morning briefings conducted by Patton and his officers. He is mentioned in Allen’s book Lucky Forward, the story of Patton’s headquarters during the European campaign. He told me of an interesting event while still in England when he was called in the middle of the night to take notes at a high-level meeting of officers. After a short period of note taking he was replaced by another soldier who continued taking notes while my uncle went out to type up his notes of the meeting. He really didn’t have a sense, after such a brief involvement in the meeting, as to what was really being discussed. He surmised that the note takers were rotated out after a brief one-time note taking session so that none of them could walk away with a full understanding of what was being discussed. Only later, during the 3rd Army campaign through Europe, did he realize that the discussion was focused on what would have been done if the D-Day invasion had failed.