A partner in Petersen's Garage is James Albert, 42, who has been a resident of Manning all his life. Born and educated here, Jim's first job was as a mechanic with Manning Motor Co. where he was employed from 1935 to 1957.

March 27, 1941 Monitor
First Volunteer Likes Army Life
James, "Jimmy" Albert, son of Mrs. John Campbell, Manning's first volunteer in the service for Uncle Sam, writes that he likes the army fine.
He is now in the tank corps at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Manning Monitor article------ 1943
Jimmy Albert In Maneuvers
Jimmy Albert, son of Mrs. John Campbell writes from maneuvers, somewhere in North Carolina. Dear Mother: "We have U. S. O. stationery now, which comes in very handy, as you can see it has, Idle Gossip Sinks Ships in large red letters printed on the paper and envelopes.

Fortunately we have a little brook running through our bivouac so we e have a few natural bathtubs. We have been here for three days and now they are getting rather dirty. We are in a battle now. I can't seem to figure things out.

I'm about 50 yards from the road where vehicles are going up and down frequently, but nothing has happened yet. We have everything loaded ready to move at a minute's notice. There were 12 of us going up to division headquarters this morning for inspection of vehicles but the division had moved so that fell through. I will have to go on guard now. I will close. Heaps of love, Jimmie"
Oh, yes, I have another stripe to wear now, and another $18 a month.
I am going to buy a bond with that.

Manning Monitor article------ 1944

Sgt. Jimmy Albert in England
Sgt. Jimmie Albert writes from somewhere in England, a letter dated January 4th.
He sends his thanks to the Legion and Monitor for the home paper and also the People who remembered him around Christmas with greeting cards and packages.
He writes that he has moved around a great deal the past year, starting out at Casablanca and traveling across North Africa to Bizerte. Then he had a part in the invasion of Sicily and now winds up in England, which was quite a surprise to him.

He says it seems good to get back to civilization again, to be able to buy a paper you can read and speak to someone and have them answer in a language you can understand, plus a thousand and one other things that England has over the other countries he has been in.
He says there are so many places of entertainment in England, he can hardly keep up with his correspondence.
In closing he sends his thanks again.

I have acquired an appropriate nickname over here.
They all call me "Sergeant Little Bit" In closing I want to thank the American Legion and the Manning Monitor for sending the home town paper.
It means a lot to the boys overseas. Jimmie Albert

He is Manning's first enlistee to to leave for the service.
It was this outfit that made headlines under the ambiguous, term "American Armor" in the dash through France into Belgium. Covering 60 miles in three days, the Division took Roavais and Montdidier in Northern France, smashing enemy armor and motor' transport which ran unexpectedly into the steel first.

The Division hit the Belgian frontier September 2, 1944, at 3:30 a m. and streaked towards Tournai. Reconnaissance units of the Division were in Tournai some hours before it was officially announced that American units were in Belgium.

One enemy column destroyed just outside Orchies, France, by tank and small arms fire alone numbered 165 vehicles. It had tried to slip through between the combat commands but was caught on a smooth straight highway and hacked to pieces on all sides.

It was also revealed that the Second Armored Division, which is known to the Germany as "Roosevelt's Butchers," snapped shut the outer ring of the FalaiseArgentan pocket when it swung northward to capture the Ferry crossing at Elboeuf, just below Rouen, on August 26. At the time, the capture of Elboeuf was hailed as a tremendous Canadian victory but the Second Armored, then under wraps as a ghost force, demanded and received a memorandum receipt for Elboeuf before turning the town over to the Seventh Canadian brigade, which subsequently entered the town from the north.

The memorandum receipt was conceived as a means of preventing later historical arguments as to who took what and is a prized possesion of the Division Historian.
In the Elboeuf offensive, the Second Armored, during the period from August 20 to 26, destroyed 93 tanks.

The Division disappeared August 1 after the famous St. Lo breakthrough. Through a narrow corridor between Mortain and the sea, the division slipped southward and then swung east to Domfront, thereby flanking six German panzer divisions, which at the time were attempting to cut through to Avranchos and sever the American First and Third Armies.
Constant pressure and continual flank attacks by the Second Armored Division prevented the most powerful German counter-attacking force since D-day from knifing through Mortain to the sea.

When the counter-offensive failed the remnants of the German Panzer Divisions fled towards the Falaise - Argentan gap, the division again out-smarted the German high command by racing, not for Falaise but for Elboeuf on the Seine.
In the offensive from Domfront to Elboeuf, the Division traveled 150 miles in 12 days. In its wake it left a trail of death and carnage wherein elements of the German Second SS Panzer Division 116th Panzer Division, 17th Ground Air Forces Division, 344th Infantry Division, as well as many smaller units were destroyed.
It crossed the Seine in the vicinity of Dantes-Gassicourt on August 20 and has been a dark horse ever since.

Second Armored Division Headquarters, Oct. 4.
(AP) When this battle-stained division rolled into a Dutch town, the foreman of a coal mine called at headquarters to express his appreciation for liberation.
The Germans didn't leave us much to give you, but we wondered if your soldiers would like to use', the showers at the mine?" he' asked.
"They sure would," replied the commanding General, and since then thousands of boys have had hot baths.

Sergeant Waldo B. Tinley, 1206 Peach Tree Street, Atlanta, Ga., wiped the soap from his eyes and I said, "It's been a hell of a long time since I've seen anything like this. My last real bath was in England before the invasion. We've been moving too far too fast to even wash out faces most of the time."

That's literally true, as this Armored Outfit, which has been following hard since the breakthrough at St. Lo, has been helping in the mighty drive of the First Army through Franca, Belgium and Holland.
The Second Armored Division is the most experienced Armored Division in the United States Army with three campaigns behind it-North Africa, Sicily and France. It was the Second Armored Division which swept across Sicily with the Third Infantry Division to Capture Palermo.

Manning Monitor article------ 1945

First To Enter Army From Here Back Again
S-Sgt. James R. Albert, son of Mrs. John Campbell, the first man to leave Manning to enlist in the service, has returned to civilian life.
Jimmy, known to his army pals as "Sergeant Little Bit," has covered a lot of territory since he enlisted Jan. 13, 1941. He was accompanied by Melvin Kuhse, longtime prisoner of the Japanese, who did not pass the physical examination at that time but returned later, passed and' was sent to the' South Pacific.

James left his division in Berlin, July 30, 1945, and was sent to a replacement depot in France where he waited for 13 days and later some time at Marseille, France.
He landed in Boston Sept. 4 and later severed his connection with the army at Fort Sheridan, Ill., where it took 48 hours to go through the discharge procedure.
During his time overseas he saw two Manning boys, John Weible whom he met in Africa and Eddie Musfeldt in England. James belonged to the second armored division, "Hell" on Wheels", 19th corps.

He served under Generals Scott, Patton, Crettenberger, Harmon Kingman, Gaffey, Brooks, White and Collier.
The second armored was the only foreign division to receive the Belgian Fourraguere, a decoration given after a unit has twice been': cited by the government.
The citation is a red and green heavy; cord worn over the shoulder.
James also wears the American; defense service ribbon, European African Middle Eastern theatre ribbon, a silver and bronze star, five overseas bars, one service stripe and good conduct medal.
He also has a unit citation, drivers and mechanics badge and a certificate of merit citation for services from June 27, 1944 to April 20, 1945.

He has served during the Sicilian, Normandy, Northern France, and Central European campaigns. He was a foreman auto mechanic and has 119 points for discharge.
Places the second armored saw were Fort Benning, Ga., Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Safi, Port Lyautey, Casablanca, Rabat, Monod Mamora, Meknes, Fez, Oudja, Port, Aux, Poules, Mostaganem, Oran, Bizerte, Gela, Licata, Castel, Vetrano, Partinicio, Palermo, then across the English Channel, England, through the cities of France and into Germany and through the Belgian bulge.

The division was activated at Ft. Benning, Ga., July 15, 1940, participated in the Louisiana and Carolina maneuvers through July and August, 1942, landed at Safi, Fedada, Port Lyautey, French Morrocco, Nov. 8, 1942. The division broke through the St. Lo-Jeriers line below St. Jean deDaye July 26, 1944 and began the rout of the German seventh army, crossed the Seine, entered Belgium and Holland and finally breached the Siegfried line.
The division served under three major generals, and since 1942 has served and fought on three continents, in ten countries, under five armies and one task force and in seven corps and has made 1253 miles of action against the enemy under Generals Harmon, Gaffey and Brooks.

The interior of the Chevrolet company's office is undergoing a complete renovating in anticipation of the first 1946 Chevrolet, due here soon, and Proprietor Bock wanted everything in sparkling condition to match the post-war car.