JULES REIVER'S WARTIME EXPERIENCES 上市 Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 5, Number 46, November 17, 2002, Article 18
JULES REIVER'S WARTIME EXPERIENCES
Monday was Veteran's Day, and I thought of my friend
Julius "Jules" Reiver of Wilmington, DE. I visited with
Jules and his wife Iona on many an evening several years
ago while traveling in Wilmington on business. Jules is
one of the finest numismatists in the country, and those
evenings are among my most pleasurable hobby memories.So I gave him a call and spoke to both Jules and Iona
for a while. Those who don't know Jules well may not
be aware of his WW II experiences. As the commander
of an anti-aircraft unit he trained British troops on
the use of new American weapons, led his men onto
Omaha Beach on D-Day, and his unit played a key role
in turning the tide against the Germans in the Battle of the
Bulge. He was interviewed by war correspondent Ernie
Pyle and after the war, the role of "Lieutenant Colonel
Daniel Kiley", which was modeled after Reiver, was
played by Henry Fonda in the 1965 film, "Battle of the
Bulge." The Hollywood version bore only a slight
resemblance to reality, but 'That's Entertainment".According to Jules, real life being the mess it is, what really
happened that day was a series of errors that would
have turned the war movie into a comedy. First, understand
that when aimed horizontally, anti-aircraft guns make dandy
anti-tank guns. Dispatched to guard a key fuel depot,
Reiver's unit came within yards of an advancing German
tank unit. One of his units' guns had become mired in the
mud and they were using vehicles to pull it out.The roar of the enginess as they strained to pull the stuck
vehicle apparently fooled the Germans (who weren't yet
within sight) into thinking there was a larger unit of
Allied tanks awaiting them. So they turned away. Had
they advanced, Reiver's hamstrung unit could not have
stopped them. As it turned out, that one wrong turn was
a key turning point in the battle, and thus a key turning
point in the war for Europe.- 2002-11-17
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