BSU grad student unveils exhibit showcasing Weiser WWII veterans

Editor’s note: The following is part II of a series about BSU grad student Kent Kiser who has been researching the 526th Infantry Battalion, a top-secret group of specially trained servicemen during World War II. Most of them came from Idaho and some from Weiser. Part I was appeared in the Dec. 6, 2023 issue of the Signal American.

 

 Relatives of servicemen belonging to the 526th Infantry Battalion during World War II gathered at the Idaho Military History Museum at Gowen Field in Boise on Friday, Dec. 8.

 Some of them made the roughly 70-mile trip from Weiser to join Boise State University graduate student Kent Kiser as he unveiled an exhibit showcasing men belonging to a top-secret combat battalion that ultimately had an effect on the outcome of one of World War II’s most infamous confrontations - the Battle of the Bulge.

 He is the first to tell a story that, until now, has not been previously shared, his intent to finally publicly acknowledge and pay tribute to men who were sworn to secrecy, many taking the details with them to their graves.

 The work has been tedious, and there is still much to be done, but Kiser has now gathered enough information from near and far to reveal what he knows about the 526th.

 “The government didn’t even recognize that they were a ‘thing’ until the mid-1950s. What they actually did wasn’t released until sometime between the '60s and '80s, and it would just trickle out,” he said just minutes before the exhibit opened, adding that a fire at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. in 1973 destroyed any existing records pertaining to the 526th.  

 “It was all wiped out, all gone,” he said. “But in the end, I think I’ll be able to give a complete story, and an unusual complete story. Tonight, I can’t wait to see the families and show them what their relatives did, their grandfathers and dads who fought together, and what it all meant.”

 Though Kiser grew up in Parma, his family has deep roots in Weiser. His grandfather, Weiser native Louis Kiser, served in Korea, while his four older brothers all served around World War II.

 One Weiser resident that was part of the 526th was John Sinden.

 Weiser High School graduate Theresa Hurd Mansor was among those who attended the exhibit’s opening. Her father, W.D. Hurd served in B Company of the 526th. Weiser resident, Linda Strain, is the daughter of William Kiser of A Company. All three Weiser men were part of the top-secret military project that drew participants from Idaho and the northwest.

 It was during a family reunion in Weiser that Strain and Kiser shared military mementos and that Kiser first saw the 526th patch Strain had brought with her.

The patch belonged to her father, PFC (Private First Class) William Kiser, a long-time Weiser resident who was born in 1923 and passed away in 1982.

 The unusual patch sparked Kiser’s interest. He began searching for information and his project was  formally launched following a meeting with Kathleen Damron Galloway, the daughter of Glenn Damron of Pocatello who served in HQ Company of the 526th.  

 She had provided documents that led to many other sources and, ultimately, to the Dec. 8 exhibit, which Strain described as nothing less than incredible.

 “The thing I was most impressed by was that my cousin, who had never met [my father] and never met any of these people, literally told the story as if he had lived it and that just amazed me,” she said. “I had not heard of any of it. I did not know my dad was in the Battle of the Bulge; I had no idea.”

 The 526th was referred to as the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion, which gathered at Fort Knox in March of 1943 and was then sent to a top-secret training center in Camp Bouse in Arizona. The men were purposefully drawn regionally; in Idaho they were mostly from Buhl, Emmett, and Weiser, towns situated in Idaho’s desert regions. 

 “They pulled guys from areas that are hot, dry, and have open plains, people who might be used to a desert landscape,” Kiser said during his presentation.

 It was at Camp Bouse that they trained on a secret offensive weapon referred to as “Canal Defense Lights.” Developed by the British, the “Gizmos,” as the Americans called them, were mounted on tanks and emitted 13 million candle power, flickering six times per second, which was intended to disorient enemy troops, giving American and British forces time to move in and gain the advantage.

 Following training at Camp Bouse, the men, who had to test 20 points higher on an ASVAB style test (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Test Battery) to be placed in the special battalion, were meant to join the battle in north Africa, but by the time they were ready to deploy, allied forces had already defeated German Gen. Erwin Rommel and his Tiger tanks, securing the region.

 With so much time and effort expended, the question became what to do with the highly trained force.

 The men were ultimately sent to Wales where they were attached to “T Force,” which was attached to the British Inter-Services Topographical Unit.

 “It was a really interesting thing to be attached to because they went over maps,” Kiser explained. “The idea was that these guys, the 526th, were going to be used as a combat response force or they would be used as a first response force to gather as much information as they could or capture a strategic location, or even people, and hold it, or them, until a regular infantry unit got there. They were mechanized infantry, armored infantry, and were trained to go fast, and go quick, so it made sense.”

 In August 1944, the men of the 526th reached France and spent much of their time on standby, camping in an apple orchard, feeling as though the war was passing them by, but ended up being moved to Luxembourg. Meanwhile, on Dec. 16, 1944, the Germans made an advance through Belgium. On Dec. 17, the 526th was ordered to mobilize as a response force to collect intelligence on what the Germans were up to.

 “They were told that the Germans probably didn’t have the supplies or equipment to make a serious advance, that it was probably a small, localized event, but they were wrong. The 526th was sent to the town of Malmedy in Belgium,” Kiser said.

 Near Malmedy was a fuel dump containing three million gallons of American fuel. On their way, a small group of about 24 men of the 526th were sent to a bridge at Stavelot, Belgium while the rest continued on to Malmedy.

 Chaos broke out against an entire German Panzer brigade in Stavelot, with the small group of Americans severely outnumbered.  

 They were, however, able to hold them off long enough to allow the destruction of the fuel dump, assuring the Germans would not capture the fuel, which could have changed the outcome of the Battle of the Bulge. See https://www.army.mil/botb/ for more information on that battle.

 Many men were wounded and killed in the effort and there is much more to the story that is written here.

 “The Germans never got it,” Kiser said. “Now, I’m not saying the war would have been different, but if they had gotten that fuel, it would have prolonged the war by quite a lot. The worst part of the story is that they helped change the tide of the Battle of the Bulge and nobody remembers they did it.”

 The men of the 526th didn’t get full recognition for what they accomplished until 2005 when surviving members met then U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in Washington, D.C.

 “I’m doing this to thank and honor the guys at Stavelot and Malmedy who have a close connection to us in Idaho,” Kiser said.

 The work continues to find all the members of the 526th including what Kiser believes includes more men  from Weiser.

 Strain said the exhibit could come to the Weiser Library in spring 2024.