Marion Leroy Eckard was born June 27, 1918 to Roy and Merle Coontz Eckard. He died July 18, 2001 and is buried in Story Memorial Gardens, Ames, IA.
Marion served during WWII in the 808th Tank Destroyer Battalion. He received 3 battle stars for action in France. He enlisted at Camp Dodge on Oct. 16, 1943. Marion landed on Utah Beach on September 19, 1944, after crossing the English Channel on a Navy ship.
For 5 days the 808th TD marched through war torn France and joined the 80th infantry at Dieulouard on September 25. They officially engaged the war effort in battle. The 808 did not see another day without battle until VE Day. The battalion Marion was in slowly made it's way up the La Seille River by delivering both direct and indirect cannon fire. They captured prisoners, attacked the Germans and drove them back for a month, with no rest, until Dec 1, 1944. Prior to this date, the 808th fired 331 rounds HE indirect fire on 10 missions. A German commander, whose battalion was ground to bits soon after the assault got under way, described the attack as remarkable. He was amazed by the skillful utilization of tactical advantages, and the cooperation of infantry and armor with all supporting heavy weapons.
Patton ordered the 808th to turn and head north to assist in the Battle of the Bulge, but he didn't expect many of his troops to get lost in route. 808'r Ray Followell told his family the squad was lost. They had no idea where they were, weren't sure where they were supposed to be and ran smack dab into a German platoon. All men, US and German, were startled to say the least. The 808 came to their senses quicker than the Germans did and they began pounding on the Germans before they could even get themselves into some kind of offensive or defensive position. The Germans not killed either surrendered or ran off.
On the morning of 16 December 1944, twenty-eight German divisions fell upon only five American divisions along a seventy-mile front known as the Ardennes. Nazi Germany's last offensive began well. Within hours they were ten miles inside allied territory. Within five days they had taken 25,000 American prisoners and destroyed 350 tanks.
At dawn on the 6th day, Eisenhower met with his senior commanders in a cold, damp squad room in a barracks at Verdun, the site of the greatest battle ever fought. There was but one lone potbellied stove to ease the bitter cold. Eisenhower's lieutenants entered the room glum, depressed, embarrassed as they should have been, given the magnitude of the intelligence failure and the faulty dispositions of their troops. They kept their faces bent over the coffee cups.
Eisenhower walked in, looked disapprovingly at the downcast generals, and boldly declared, "The present situation is to be regarded as one of opportunity for us and not disaster. There will be only cheerful faces at this conference table."
Patton had already seen the obvious: the Germans were putting their heads in a noose. By attacking the southern shoulder of the salient with his Third Army, Patton could cut the enemy supply lines, isolate the tanks inside what was already being called "the Bulge," and destroy them.
Before leaving for Verdun, he had told his staff to begin preparations for switching his attack line from east to north. Thus, when Eisenhower asked him how long would it take the Third Army to turn two corps facing east to facing north and then attack the German southern flank, Patton boldly replied, "Two days." The other generals laughed — but in fact Patton was already halfway into the movement. Thus Patton again proved his superior abilities to command an army.
We had been surprised by the Germans with their huge forces early in the battle. However, we were not going to stand for that, we do not like getting kicked around. We do not appreciate having to retreat. Eisenhower's and Patton's armies had decided they were going to make the enemy pay.
Patton pulled his troops out of the front line, marched them north some 75 miles (the 808th tank destroyers traveled more like 158 miles) in cold, wet, snowy weather in two days and threw them right into action against the Germans. The Germans had not even considered the 808th as a participant in this battle, they were too far south.
Marion participated in the greatest battle of World War II. The Battle of the Bulge saved many, many lives by cutting off the supply lines for the German army. The cream of the German army became weakened in a poor state of supply and greatly eased the assault on Germany only a few months later.
In early April 1945, the 808th (as part of the 3rd Army division), advanced on the German cities of Gotha and Ohrdruf and came upon a small labor concentration camp. The Germans were taken by surprise by the U.S. Army. The brutality and torture of the concentration camp where Jews, the handicapped, mentally ill, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, and political dissidents were used as slave labor and/or simply murdered could not be hidden anymore. This was the first camp where the Germans failed to hide the truth.
One Polish speaking 808'r helped interview a surviving prisoner. This prisoner told of the 4,000 inmates that had been murdered in the previous three months, and hundreds who were shot on the eve of the American arrival. Some victims were Jews, others Polish and Russian prisoners of war. These prisoners, at our approach, rushed out of the gates waving their arms ecstatically at us as our vehicles entered the open gates of the camp.
Many prisoners, laid in their bunks too weak to move, but raised their arms in thanks. Bodies were piled high on the ground, others were in pits covered with lime. There were rows of ditches filled with buried bodies with an occasional leg or arm protruding out of the ground. The stench was intolerable. It was a very gruesome sight. General Patton was so disgusted that he ordered the Burgermeister, his wife, and all the inhabitants of the town witness this atrocity. Many said they never knew, though a pungent odor drifted into town. Seeing this inhuman slaughter, the Burgermeister, his wife and many other town people took their own lives.
General Eisenhower wrote of this camp in his book "Crusade from Europe", saying "I saw my first horror camp. It was near the town of Gotha. I have never felt able to describe my emotional reactions when I first came face to face with indisputable evidence of Nazi brutality and ruthless disregard of every shred of decency. Up to that time I had known about it only generally or through secondary sources. I am certain, however that I have never at any other time experienced an equal sense of shock."
Note: Most of the information about Marion's Tank Destroyer Battalion came from Diana Peterson of Norwood, Ohio.
Marion fought in France for a year. After VE day, and a 45 day furlough, he was sent to Austria for a short time. He retired from the military in November, 1945.
Sources: ancestry.com
