European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 2, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse When Herman Fiot Cher decided to spend his time fighting fascism from spoilt to Buna to the Wehr mocha lost a great by yank staff correspondents the is the Story of Herman an american Soldier and an anti fascist from Way in december when the stateside news papers were hailing him As our greatest hero of the new Guinea not a citizen said i have tried to live As a Good american and i want to die As last new years eve he got his wish in a burst of mortar fire while his company was holding off 300 japs during the Oroc Campaign on Leyte by that Congress had naturalized him by a special act so he could be he already had the dec with Oak Leaf Cluster and the purple heart with two at the time of his recommendations were in for a promotion to major and for a Silver the wehrmacht lost some Good material when Bottcher left his native Germany in 1928 at the age of he was a cabinetmaker with ambitions to become something after tarrying in Austria for a couple of he emigrated to the United states with citizenship in he worked at Many jobs during the de was More than once on the by when Franco launched his fascist revolt in Bottcher had knocked about enough to know which Side he was he joined the Abraham Lincoln recruited in America to help the Spanish people against ital Ian and Spanish in Bottcher Learned a lot about Soldier participating in seven Battles in 25 he was wounded twice and decorated three and he Rose to be a major before the loyalist government was of that exp Bottcher said later Ive always hated that Why i joined the Spanish Loyal that was a Tough now we at least have meanwhile the american citizenship Bottcher had earned during his first years in the states was revoked because of his enlistment in the Abraham Lincoln he reapplied and started All living with an aunt in califor he worked his Way through san Francisco state College by washing dishes and in tending to become an he lacked Only six credits for a degree when the japs struck Pearl one month later he had managed to convince the War department of his despite his German birth and and began Basic As a private in the assigned to the 32d Divi a former National guard he became a staff sergeant in a the first anniversary of Pearl Harbor found Bottcher fighting with his company in the papuan he turned out to be a terrific Jungle he knocked out enemy machine gun nests slaughtered japs by the Hal squad and rescued wounded comrades with utter disregard for his own when All ranking officers were knocked Bottcher took command of his company and drove a wedge to the sea Between two Jap groups at Buna Village and Buna he held this danger Ous position for a week the Battle was he was Breve Ted a Captain while machinery was set going to restore his citizenship so he could be permanently he was not one of those gis who scorn the responsibilities of if they Only commission he id get something but joining the brass did not separate Bottcher from his As Tex Pitcox from put there aint a Man in the outfit who have followed him through hell carry ing a bucket of ice when his outfit was being shipped and the men had to sleep on Bottcher spurned his Cabin to lie there with if the men had k ate k regardless of what his fellow officers thought of such what is after the papuan Campaign Bottcher probably could have gotten out of the army because of his three his shooting hand was partly after a rest in Bottcher was Back with the 32d at Saidor and a tape in new while in he thought so Little of the dec coming to him that he didst show up for the ceremony of presenta they found him working out with some enlisted men on a Jungle training at Bottcher led a recon troop behind Jap lines for 57 penetrating 36 Miles into enemy the men Learned to Trust blindly their raw boned Captain with the thick German on any patrol Bottcher himself was Point the outfit boasted of Light one Man i never feel safer out in the Jungle than when in with and Harold Endres of de if the old Man wanted us to enter Manila Bay in a rubber we would go wed bet nothing would in the Leyte Bottcher was up to his old for 48 Days he led a recon sometimes reinforced by filipino be Hind japanese they destroyed Many Supply they ambushed Jap units and killed innumerable enemy sol their daily reports prepared the Way for successful drive sat a Palompo and other and through it until the last terrible she lacking the troop suffered on botch ers outfit suffered Only four Man killed in an Accident and three Bottcher outfit lived mostly off the kill ing game for meat and getting vegetables and tuba fermented Coconut milk from the sometimes the filipinos enthusiasm was Embar when the Ameri cans set an ambush for the the natives frequently gave the scheme away by crowding around to watch the japs catch although Bottcher was ferocious in he was no As the 12 japanese prisoners his unit took discovered to their one of a later told intelligence officers questioning him behind the main american lines that Bottcher was a Fine Gen another time a captured Jap private was so grateful for the Excel Lent treatment he received that he voluntarily peddled the units elec tric Generator until sex once a i found yank my army weekly 1945 Bottcher observing a japanese Camp through Field the i saw a sad Little Jap Back and Forth Between his Nipa hut and his latrine Bottcher sighed sympathetically and said dont you know just How he feels on Bottcher unit was instructed by radio to return to division since the Leyte Campaign was virtually no japs had been seen for several at 0235 hours on the 90 men of Bottcher out fit were awakened by heavy fire from machine knee mortars and 90mm it was later Learned that 300 trying to fight their Way to the sea in the Hope of being evacuated safely by boat from the had run across Bottcher and his when Bottcher got he was about four feet from t5 Edwin Essman of who was setting up his radio to advise head there was an explosion and Bottcher called they blew my leg off Royal Steele of new York twisted a Tourni Quet on the captains Tony Gaidosik of a gave the co a shot of another medic raced for blood plasma stored in a Shack but found the Shack and the medical supplies destroyed by Bottcher stopped Jim Cable of Chatta and ordered the troop to leave him and they withdrew of they carried the Captain with they made it to their main infantry lines just before a radio Call had been sent for plasma by the time it arrived by Bottcher was Union the medics kept up a frantic radio conversation with the station describing Bottcher condition and receiving doctors directions for but Bottcher pulse about 0600 hours no sign of life could be his men said later they believe their Captain could be killed by the they didst talk much about they just sat around and stared wearily at the constant drizzle of Bottcher had no wife or All he had was the aunt in san Francisco and a hell of a lot of friends in the
