29th Division

The 29th Division Association of the Maryland National Guard will conduct a memorial service Friday to commemorate the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, and a crab feast from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Normandy Room, 3919 E. Lombard St., Baltimore.Information is available from association historian Bernard Nowakowski, 410-276-0426.Pub Date: 6/04/97

Charles H. "Harry" Heinlein, a young Army machine-gunner who survived the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, and returned 60 years later, died Saturday of pneumonia at Stella Maris Hospice. The longtime Violetville resident was 90. Mr. Heinlein was a 22-year-old private from Baltimore attached to the famed 29th Division when he landed on Omaha Beach at 7:40 a.m. June 6, 1944, as part of what Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower called the "Great Crusade" that would eventually liberate Europe's millions from the domination of Adolf Hitler.

Charles H. "Harry" Heinlein, a young Army machine-gunner who survived the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, and returned 60 years later, died Saturday of pneumonia at Stella Maris Hospice. The longtime Violetville resident was 90. Mr. Heinlein was a 22-year-old private from Baltimore attached to the famed 29th Division when he landed on Omaha Beach at 7:40 a.m. June 6, 1944, as part of what Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower called the "Great Crusade" that would eventually liberate Europe's millions from the domination of Adolf Hitler.

John Polyniak, a World War II veteran who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and later was severely wounded during the battle for St. Lo, died June 7 of heart failure at the Encore at Turf Valley assisted-living facility in Ellicott City. Mr. Polyniak's death at 92 came 67 years and a day after he stormed ashore in France with his comrades of Company C, 116th Infantry, of the 29th Division, in the first frenetic predawn moments of the D-Day invasion. "This was a big day in my life," he wrote in an unpublished account of the invasion.

Services for Calvin S. Hewitt Jr., a retired bricklayer, will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow at the Evans Funeral Chapel, 8800 Harford Road, Parkville.Mr. Hewitt, who was 69 and lived on Chesley Avenue, died Sunday of cancer at St. Joseph Hospital.He retired in 1983 after working as a bricklayer for almost 40 years, the last 10 years for the Corinthian Masonry Co.Born in Baltimore but reared in Glenarm, he was a graduate of the Towson High School.During World War II, he served in the Army in the 29th Division in the landing at Normandy.

Col. Richard W. Herklotz, a World War II veteran with more than 40 years of military service, died Monday after suffering a heart attack at the 29th Division Association convention in Hampton, Va. He was 80. Col. Herklotz was a former executive director of the association. He served in the 29th Infantry Division, 110th Field Artillery, participating in the invasion of Normandy, as well as five campaigns in Europe. He received the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and other medals. When he returned to the United States, Col. Herklotz was a full-time technician with the Maryland National Guard until he retired in 1982.

Charles A. Lusby Sr.Baltimore firefighterCharles A. Lusby Sr., a retired acting-lieutenant in the Baltimore Fire Department and a former national commander of the 29th Division Association, died Wednesday of cancer at his home in Arbutus.Mr. Lusby, who was 76 and was called "Dutch," retired in 1977 after 30 years with the department.He landed with the 29th Division -- a National Guard unit from Maryland and Virginia -- at Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day. He was a member of the 111th Field Artillery Battalion, which lost 11 of its 12 guns on its way to the beach and gave the last one to another artillery unit that had rescued it from a sinking landing craft.

29th Division, Past Maryland Commander, 1974-1975 and Past National President, 1976-1977 on January 26, 2010 ERNEST H. HORST, JR. beloved husband of the late Anna Mae Horst (nee Rose); beloved son of the late Grace and Ernest H. Horst, Sr.; devoted father of Cheryl Phelps (Stan), Ernest H. Horst, III (Judith), Donna Horst (John Crouch), David Horst (Regina) and the late Vicki Harne. He is also survived by nine grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Friends may call at the family owned Leonard J. Ruck, Inc. Funeral Home, 5305 Harford Road (at Echodale)

Raymond A. Egner, who acted as defense counsel for Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, the "Tiger of Malaya," during the first major war crimes trial after World War II, died Aug. 29 of complications from intestinal illness at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 94.General Yamashita led the Japanese attack in 1941 against the British garrison at Singapore and by January of 1942 had won control of the Malay Peninsula.He was convicted of allowing his troops to commit atrocities against men, women and children and prisoners of war when in command of the Philippines, and was executed in 1946.

The collection and preservation of war relics from the 18th century to the Persian Gulf war -- specifically conflicts that engaged the Maryland National Guard -- was the lifelong passion of retired Brig. Gen. Bernard Feingold of the Guard.General Feingold, who created the Maryland National Guard Museum at Baltimore's 5th Regiment Armory and later was its director and curator, died Thursday of cancer at Sinai Hospital. The Northwest Baltimore resident was 76.A former soldier with an insatiable curiosity and appreciation for the minutiae as well as the grand sweep of war, General Feingold possessed vast knowledge of military history, tactics, battles and personalities.

Marvin A. Geyer, a retired U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspector who landed on Omaha Beach with the 29th Division on D-Day, died Sunday of heart failure at his Arbutus home. He was 91. Mr. Geyer was born in Baltimore and raised in Morrell Park. After graduation in 1937 from City College, he went to work at the Esskay meatpacking plant in East Baltimore. An accident at the plant severely burned his feet. While cleaning out a tank car transporting lard that had to be heated to be removed, Mr. Geyer jumped down into the car to force out the lard that had settled on the bottom.

29th Division, Past Maryland Commander, 1974-1975 and Past National President, 1976-1977 on January 26, 2010 ERNEST H. HORST, JR. beloved husband of the late Anna Mae Horst (nee Rose); beloved son of the late Grace and Ernest H. Horst, Sr.; devoted father of Cheryl Phelps (Stan), Ernest H. Horst, III (Judith), Donna Horst (John Crouch), David Horst (Regina) and the late Vicki Harne. He is also survived by nine grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Friends may call at the family owned Leonard J. Ruck, Inc. Funeral Home, 5305 Harford Road (at Echodale)

Carlo M. Peduto, a former supervisor in the Federal Protective Service and a D-Day veteran, died Sunday of heart failure at Hart Heritage, an assisted-living facility in Forest Hill. He was 91. Mr. Peduto, the son of Italian immigrants, was born and raised in Staunton, Va. After graduating from Lee High School in 1936, he went to work in Altoona, Pa., for his brother-in-law, who owned a vending machine company. In November 1941, Mr. Peduto was drafted into the Army. After completing basic training, he joined the 29th Division and was sent to England, where he completed further training.

The fancy invitation to a Memorial Day event at the governor's mansion arrived in the mail the day that Charles J. Harris, a World War II veteran who lost his left arm on the beach at Normandy a few days after D-Day, was buried. His daughter, Michelle Burke, picked up the phone to RSVP for him anyway. The 91-year-old lawyer only recently had begun to identify more with being a veteran, reconnecting at reunions with his fellow soldiers and donning a hat emblazoned with the 29th Division, his Army unit.

James Joseph Clements, a retired businessman and decorated World War II infantryman who fought in Europe with Maryland's famed 29th Division, died of pneumonia Nov. 1 at Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin. The Ocean City resident was 86. Mr. Clements was born in Pikesville. After his mother died and his father abandoned the family, he was placed in an orphanage. "He lived at St. Mary's Industrial School until he was 13, when he was sent to the Breeding family farm in Louisville, Carroll County, where he lived and worked," said a son, Garry Clements of Eldersburg.

50 Years Ago* Senator Tydings Saturday told delegates to the 27th annual reunion of the 29th Division Association that eminent scientists have informed him it is possible to put an atomic bomb in a projectile and fire it across the Atlantic. Senator Tydings, who was a colonel in the 29th Division overseas during World War I, said it is compulsory for veterans of World Wars I and II and all people of the nation "to stimulate their imaginations because we are playing with things that God hitherto kept to Himself."

The fancy invitation to a Memorial Day event at the governor's mansion arrived in the mail the day that Charles J. Harris, a World War II veteran who lost his left arm on the beach at Normandy a few days after D-Day, was buried. His daughter, Michelle Burke, picked up the phone to RSVP for him anyway. The 91-year-old lawyer only recently had begun to identify more with being a veteran, reconnecting at reunions with his fellow soldiers and donning a hat emblazoned with the 29th Division, his Army unit.