This week we were honoured by the visit of Gerry Wells. Gerry is a retired WWII veteran with fabulous stories and anecdotes to share. A wonderful and interesting man, who headed off to war as an 18-year-old boy, took up position as a gunner in a Sherman tank and survived to tell the tales.

Gerry Wells was part of the tank crew of ‘S**tOrBust’, beginning active duty as an 18-year-old boy in June 1944 during Operation Overlord. Through the time Gerry spent fighting on the battlegrounds of WWII, the metal pieces of S**tOrBust morphed into 4 different vehicles. But the crew’s code name for their tank- and mobile home, remained the same.

Visiting Armourgeddon

Visiting us at Armourgeddon, Gerry brought to life the stories and bravery of the men and women who we celebrate in our museum. Gerry, at the age of 92, was able to clamber into the Commander position of our Sherman tank. Tank enthusiast, Stuart Garner and his wife, Tracy, own Armourgeddon Ltd and Armourgeddon Military Museum. Their son, Alex, works as an instructor at Armourgeddon, showing visitors the controls and enabling them to crew tanks around the WWII bombing range that is now a tank track.

With Gerry inside the tank, 18-year-old Alex was atop, looking down on the veteran. A poignant moment for Stuart, as Gerry would have been exactly the same age as his son when he headed off to mainland Europe during the D-Day landings to fight for our security. Having been only 13 when war broke out, it is almost unimaginable for the majority of us to empathise with the parents of the young Gerry Wells and his comrades. Gerry told us that his father had served as a tank crew member too, during the first recorded tank battle of WWI. The Battle of Cambrai, 1918 was a battle between troops of the British First, Third and Fourth Armies and German Empire forces during the Hundred Days Offensive of the First World War.

Sharing Memories

During his visit to the museum, accompanied by the Army Benevolent Fund’s ambassador, Retired Colonel Paul Cummings, Gerry shared numerous stories of what life was like when you relied entirely on the support of your crew and the strength of your tank! The most memorable stories he shared with us revolved around the strength of the relationship between his crew. His stories involved Pancho and Obie. Pancho was originally from ‘somewhere in South America- we thought Ecuador,’ he said.

The anecdotes Gerry shared with us included the bottom rung of Maslow’s triangle- physiological needs; food and toileting. Each member of the crew had their own shell they kept at hand. When the chance of pulling over to use the services was a pipe dream, the shell was used as a stand-in portaloo. Filled when nature required and passed up to the Commander to be emptied!! With constipation chosen as the preferred state of the bowels (!!), usually, the shell sufficed for waste disposal on the move!

At the other end of the cycle, when it came to sustenance whilst on active duty, it was the job of the loader to crawl up to the driver and spoon feed him meals as the tank continued on task. Gerry recalled Obie as the loader heading up to Pancho and feeding him with his spoon from his jerry can as if a child, ‘One for Pancho, one for me’ and when finished, licking the spoon and popping it back in his top pocket until the next meal. Team building in its most organic form!

As mentioned, Gerry and his crew went through 4 tanks during their tour. He shared the stories of the downfall of two of the incarnations. On one journey, the crew of S**tOrBust ended up in a minefield, hitting a teller mine. The Teller mine was a German-made anti tank mine common with explosives sealed inside a sheet metal casing and fitted with a pressure-actuated fuse.  Teller mines had a built-in carrying handle on the side. Teller is the German word for dish or plate. The mines were thus plate-shaped.

Gerry’s Book

Containing little more than 5.5 kilograms of TNT and a fuse activation pressure of approximately 91 kg, the Teller mine was capable of blasting the tracks off any World War II tank or destroying a lightly armoured vehicle. Because of its rather high operating pressure, only a vehicle or heavy object passing over the Teller mine would set it off.

Driving over the mine, S**tOrBust lost its track. What else would the crew do, but disembark and brew a cup of tea? When the Engineers arrived to sweep the area, they found a mine less than a foot from where the crew had lit their fire for the brew! Luckily neither the tea nor its drinkers were injured in the minefield. The track, however, was no longer.

Another of the nine lives was lost when the back of the tank was shot out. Carrying over 130 gallons of fuel, being shot at and taking a direct hit was not ideal. ‘Brewing up’ as well as making a cup of tea, was the nickname given to a tank in flames. When Gerry and the crew’s tank was hit from behind, without an evacuation hatch, the entire crew had but seconds to escape through the closest hatch. Again, although S**tOrBust was taken, the crew all survived to kit up another tank!

As enthusiasts, to have such a humble, interesting, engaging and genuine gentleman visit us and share stories was a complete honour. If you want to read some of Gerry’s stories, his book, Kicking The Hornets Nest is available to purchase on Amazon Kicking the Hornets Nest

Bookbag has reviewed Kicking the Hornet’s Nest, read the Review, and has interviewed Gerry about his book. The interview can be found on their site via this link to the Interview.