The famed 2nd Armored Division of WW II fame (Hell on Wheels) entered active duty at Fort Benning Geogia in 1940 with Brigadier General George S. Patton as one of its first commanders. The division saw combat action in the European Theater of Operations from North Africa in 1942 to the end of the war in Germany in May, 1945.
2nd Armored Division continued service after WW II. During the 1970’s, 1980’s and early 1990’s, the next generation of 2nd Armored Division soldiers continued the excellent example set by the WWII generation of their fathers and grandfathers. 2AD became a major force in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) training and readiness, in Germany and the USA defending Western Europe from potential attacks by Russia and its Communist Warsaw Pact allies.
Additionally, subordinate elements of 2nd Armored Division saw combat action in the First Gulf War against Iraqi forces.
Colonel Tom Vossler (U.S. Army Retired) tells us the story of 2AD’s next generation of soldiers, their training, weapons and their equipment during “the Cold War” of the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Tom served thirty years active duty in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1998. A combat veteran of the war in Vietnam and Cambodia in 1969-70, Tom served six years in the U.S. Army’s 2nd Armored Division in the 1980’s as NATO allies trained for possible global war with the Soviet Union which fortunately never came.
Following a brief account of 2 AD’s activation and WW II combat record, Tom’s video supported presentation will compare, contrast and provide personal recollections of the organization, vehicles and weapons of the second-generation 2nd Armored Division of the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Colonel Vossler is an independent military historian and author, former Director of the U.S. Army Military History Institute, Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide, Trustee of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society and 2023 inducted member of the U.S. Army National Army ROTC Hall of Fame.
Included with museum admission.
