Tec5 Harry F. Kested

Harry F. Kested was born in Poland, New York, on January 20, 1919. He was the son of Mrs. Fannie M. Kested. In his years after school and before he joined the ranks, Harry was employed as a technician.

Morning report from;

The advance from B Co. 83rd Recon. Bat. -3 Armored Division.

5 september 1944 : Namur 5 miles north west;

6 september 1944 : no change

7 september 1944 : plainevaux;

8 september 1944 : non change;

9 september 1944 : Henri-Chapelle;

10 september 1944 : Verviers 2 miles West;

11 september 1944 : Verviers 2 miles West.

Record envents from 11 -12 september 1944 reconnoitering roads and woods, adgaiting roeds east of Eupen.

The 11 september 1944.

At the time that the town from Verviers was liberated, the B Co. 83 recon. bat received the order ty bypass the center of Verviers.

They bypassed Verviers and gone to the direction of Andrimont, Bilstain, Dolhain, Goé and also Bethane to protect and take the dam. Around 8.30, they were in Andrimont.

When the dam was saved, they received a new mission to go to Baelen-Membach and also to Eupen and Rötgen (Germamny).

Around 12.45 pm, tge B Com 83 Rec.Bat. Entered in the village from Membach-Baelen. But in the village, ther were German soldiers from the 105 Panzer Brigade.

The 11 September 1944, it was a very sunny day.

They entered in the village by taking the street "Les Fusillés". Here the first Sherman tank stopped, the second vehicle was a jeep and the rhird vahicles was the M8 tank of Kested and Conley. The two first vehicles and the other were protected by houses or banks. A sergeant ant two soldiers walked to the crossroad in order to see if it was safety. The inhabitants of the village came out their houses to applaud the liberators.

A young boy (Willi Erkens) of the village (14 years old) showed a German soldiers who were looking where the cble was cut.

At that moment, one GI's shot the German soldier and he was wounded.

The German tiger tank shot at the Sherman tank, but eh Sherman tank was good protected by immediately. But he missed also the German Tiger tank.

On this time the Germand Tiger tank took a better place to shoot at the American column. on this time the section Sergeant and tank commander Bradford S. Conley are stood talking with the members from the Willys Jeep who were placed before his M-8 tank ""Greyhound" and protected by the house that the M-8 tank from Conley and Kested was hit by a shot from the German tiger and explosed. They died as a result of Shrapnel. Sgt Conley was on turret from the tanki and Harry Kested was the second pilot and radio operator. The tank was hit on left side on the rear of the vehicle. There was no possibility to help the members of this tank who burned. Only the first pilot of the tanki jumped out the Greyhound. But we have now idia about his name.

When the tank was burning, there was a big smoke of 30 meters high. After a few minutes, there was 16 P-47 Thunderbolts air planes, who attacked during 10 minutes the German vehicles. The German tiger tank and the other vehicles were immediately destroyed.

This 11 September 1944, two US soldiers died for the freedom of our village and they were members of the B Co. 83rd Recon.Bat. - 3 Armored Division.

The tank column moved than to north eath, to Eupen and than Rötgen (Germany). Rötgen are liberated on 12 september 1944. The place where Kested and Conley died, was only 0,5 miles from the German border (Eupen) in 1944.

In 1947 or 1948 the people of the village from Baelen erected a monument in memory of the two American soldiers who died four our freedom.

These days Harry F. Kested rests in the beautiful American Military Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle. He is remembered and honored by his niece Pat Lawson, Marty Kested and by his entire family, by Vincent Vandeberg who adopted his final resting place at Henri-Chapelle, by every visitor of the American Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle and by every visitor of Remember our Liberators.

Please take the time to visit the very detailed story of the Kested family website;

http://sites.google.com/site/kestedfamilywebsite/harryf.kested