Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II

Epilogue: The Coin

During World War II, The Huntsville Times published the names of the young men when they were sent overseas. In early September 1943, when the 3d Armored Division was sent to England, my name appeared.

An elderly lady, a long time family friend, called my father and said, “George, I see your son Belton has gone overseas.” After he replied affirmatively, she asked that he come by, as she had a gift for me. My father called on her the next day and she gave him an 1825 fifty-cent coin. (This was not a particularly rare coin at the time; it had an appraised value of $38.00.) She said the coin had a story behind it and that my father should pass the story on to me with the coin.

It so happened that this coin was carried by her husband’s great-great-grandfather as a good luck piece in the Mexican War in 1840. It was then passed on to his grandfather, who carried it in the Civil War in 1862. It was passed on to her husband’s father, who earned it in the Spanish American War in 1898, and he, in turn, passed it on to her husband who carried it in World War I, in 1917. As they had no more sons in her branch of the family, she wanted my father to send it to me. She hoped that I would carry it safely and that I would not have to pass it on to any future sons who I might have in any future wars. I carried the coin as a good luck piece throughout World War II in Europe, and I still have it today.

Thus, this coin was carried by five different American soldiers, in five different American wars, and they all survived without being killed or seriously wounded. I believe this is unique, and is the only coin in existence that has had this history.