Ed Rendelman was born in 1919 in Detroit, Michigan. His family moved to southern Illinois six weeks after he was born. Rendelman grew up in a town named Western Saratoga. He worked on a farm. When the draft came along, he decided to enlist and do his one year of service since he had a low draft number. While being processed, a doctor told him that he had a heart mummer and would be classified as 1B [Annotator’s Note: The classification of 1B meant that he was draft eligible for limited military duty]. Rendelman decided to go to an aircraft manufacturing school. He graduated from the school in November 1941. He had two interviews with the Curtis-Wright Company but in the meantime, Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator’s Note: on 7 December 1941]. Consequently, the company personnel officer told Rendelman that the military needed him more than the airplane manufacturing company. Rendelman enlisted in March 1942.

Ed Rendelman’s first military assignment was in Scottsville, Illinois for a few days. He then went on to Fort Lewis, Washington as a member of the 44th Infantry Division. That was a National Guard unit out of Newark, New Jersey. He took basic training with the division. In the fall of 1942, the action in North Africa was ramping up. Since, second lieutenants were being used as cannon fodder, the demand was high for new officers in OCS [Annotator’s Note: Officer Candidate School]. He would become a 90 Day Wonder [Annotator’s Note: OCS officers trained for 90 days]. As a second lieutenant, he went to advanced training in Camp Roberts, California. When the general saw how many lieutenants were in training, he ordered that some be farmed out. Rendelman was selected to join the 90th Infantry Division being trained in Yuma, Arizona. There, he was assigned to Company H [Annotator’s Note: Company H, 2nd Battalion, 359th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division] in a mortar platoon. He completed desert training with the 90th. During December 1942, the war in North Africa eased up so Rendelman did not go into OCS until May. He graduated in August 1943. He was married immediately after his graduation. Since the day he was married was between his graduation and subsequent commissioning, he joked with his new wife that she had married a nothing. From Fort Dix, the 90th Infantry Division moved to Camp Kilmer for overseas deployment. The pace of the war had gotten heavier.

Ed Rendelman arrived in England after sailing from the United States in March 1944. The men knew there was a big build up for some future action. Secrecy was important, but many people seemed to know that he was with the 90th Infantry Division. The extent of the invasion plan was far beyond the comprehension of the troops. The men trained in England prior to boarding the Susan B. Anthony [Annotator’s Note: USS Susan B. Anthony (AP-72)] on 4 June. The troops were headed for France. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 359th Infantry Regiment were to land on D-Day in direct support of the 4th Infantry Division. Rendelman and the 2nd Battalion was slated to land on D+1 [Annotator’s Note: one day after the initial D-Day landings]. The ship was about six miles out when it hit either a mine or a torpedo. Those aboard knew the ship would sink as soon as it was hit. The ship rose up out of the water with the huge explosion on its aft end. It began to sink. Rendelman’s unit was immediately to exit the vessel while the sailors maintained their emergency stations. The battalion was positioned on the bow in readiness for deployment to landing boats. They had their equipment with them. With the urgency to abandon the ship, all the equipment and ammunition had to be left behind. The troops left the ship for various rescue ships. Rendelman boarded an LCI [Annotator’s Note: Landing Craft, Infantry]. The men had to be taken directly to the beach because there was no room on the rescue ships for them. When the men reached the beach, there was death and equipment everywhere. The troops proceeded to arm themselves with whatever they could find. By nighttime, they had organized the battalion as an armed unit. While the ship was sinking, the 2,500 people onboard were used as human ballast to attempt to keep the wounded vessel on somewhat of an even keel. It took about 30 minutes for the ship to sink. The aft end went under first. Rendelman was with the last Army unit to exit the ship. The Navy personnel followed them off the ship. When the troops looked back at the Susan B. Anthony, they observed her going under the waves.

Ed Rendelman and his battalion [Annotator’s Note: 2nd Battalion, 359th Regiment, 90th Infantry Division] immediately went onto shore at Normandy and began to organize. By nightfall, the battalion was reorganized and had armed itself. The battalion got off the beach and into the first tree line. The first combat was 9 June [Annotator’s Note: 9 June 1944] in the hedgerows. The men never understood why there had been no training for that type of fighting. Hedgerows were a big mound of earth that divided fields and farms. The Germans had any openings targeted for their firepower. The Americans learned quickly not to take the openings. The invasion troops had to learn the hedgerows from the bottom up. It required close-in combat. To go on the attack, a man was completely exposed once he passed the hedgerow. Taking ground from the enemy was very difficult. The Germans had all the advantages. They had spotters out to locate the advancing Americans. Two days before Rendelman was wounded, his outfit was in a field with their command post in the middle. Defensive units were positioned on the corners of the field. As a second lieutenant, he had dug a foxhole but liked to stay close to his men. He was out talking with the enlisted men when an enemy barrage started. The incoming fire got heavy and Rendelman decided to head back to his hole. The headquarters had a near miss. The ten foot deep by ten foot wide hole covered the troops inside the command post. Rendelman had to work to unbury those troops. When he finally made it back to his hole, he saw it had been hit by the barrage. There were two other men who shared the hole with him. All he could find of those two men was a pair of sunglasses. Nothing else was left. Those two men were the only ones lost to the barrage. Some of the recovered shrapnel was as big as a man’s fist. On 26 July, the battalion approached the town of Périers. They crossed the Seves River which was about 20 feet wide and waist deep. Just after crossing the river, there was a counterattack by the Germans. They had tanks, artillery, machine gun and small arms firing on Rendelman’s outfit. They were systematically sweeping the American lines with fire. The Americans were throwing grenades across the hedgerows. At about nine o’clock, Rendelman was hit by an artillery round. He tried to hold his position, but the pain was so great that he had to make his way back to an aid station. When he reached the creek, ten men were already there. They hesitated to go further for fear of being hit by crossfire. Rendelman went ahead and since he was not hit, the others followed him to the aid station. He was taken to the hospital in Bristol, England from the aid station. That ended the active war for him. He did have close in combat experiences in the hedgerows. He saw men killed right next to him. There was not much hand to hand combat or use of bayonets. The opponents were close to each other. Anyone who got into the open was fair game for the man under cover. Rendelman was the observer for the mortar section so he had to be up front with the unit commander. Both men were vulnerable as the leaders. Several officers that Rendelman served with were killed. Some were killed very quickly in combat. In one instance, Rendelman’s officer and radioman were killed, but he retained the radio and could call in artillery fire and correct as needed. There was a time when a round landed directly in the open turret hatch of an enemy tank. A man never hears the round that wounds him. It felt like someone hit him with an ax. It was a painful experience. He was in combat for 49 days. He had eight narrow escapes where someone close by was killed or he heard a bullet come by with its loud snap. Those you hear are not the ones to worry about. It is the ones you do not hear that have your name on it.

Ed Rendelman found that just surviving the war was the best experience he had in the combat. Seeing those wounded physically or mentally by the war was the worst thing about the war. A particular incident stands out in Rendelman’s memory. He was near St. Mere Église in combat when he saw a man running toward him clutching his M1 rifle but stooped over. As the man neared him, he could see that his mouth had been shot away. Rendelman has often wondered how or if that man’s mouth was ever reconstructed. That was his worst sight or experience in the war. He could never forget that image. Another memory involves when the Susan B. Anthony [Annotator’s Note: USS Susan B. Anthony (AP-72)] was sunk. Just before the ship was hit, Rendelman watched three sailors observing all the nearby ships. When the explosion occurred the ship rose up and the sailors hurriedly ran to their battle stations. The way their feet moved reminded Rendelman of the way the Roadrunner runs away from Wile E. Coyote in the cartoons.

Ed Rendelman stayed in the Army after the war. After being wounded, he was sent to a hospital in Bristol, England. It took quite awhile for him to recuperate because of the nature of his wounds. They had to heal from the inside out. He spent a time in a rehabilitation company as a result. An officer in command of a convalescent regiment came up to Bristol from southern England. He was looking for combat officers to take over convalescent companies. The medical administrative officers were not well respected by the wounded GIs. Rendelman took over a company. That kept him from going back to his unit. That was about the time of the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator’s Note: the German Ardennes Offensive, also referred to as the Battle of the Bulge was fought from 16 December 1944 to late January 1945]. As the war progressed, the center in England was closed up and moved to Tulle, France. It was getting close to the end of the war so Rendelman went back to Rouen and processed medical supplies for transport to the Pacific. When the war in the Pacific ended, Rendelman returned to the United States. He was assigned to an officer’s company in Massachusetts. The convalescent centers were being closed down so he was sent to Portland, Maine as a recruiting officer. From there, he was sent to Vienna, Austria as a military policeman for 14 months. After that tour, he decided to leave the service. He knew he did not want to be a farmer. His father-in-law contacted a watch making school for Rendelman to attend. All this time, he was in the reserves. After his completion of the watch making school, he looked to southern Texas as a place to locate a new business. Upon visiting the location, it did not meet his expectations. He opted instead to move to Calvert City because of better opportunities there. His business did well. He also was chief of the fire department for four decades and ultimately he turned it over to his son-in-law. With the Berlin crisis in 1961, he was called back to active duty at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. He has served in various civic responsibilities over the years. He retired as a lieutenant colonel.

Ed Rendelman grew up fast as a result of his participation in World War II. He discovered a lot of things he never knew existed. The war drastically affected the state of the world. That was especially true related to advances in the medical field. Recovery from surgery was expedited by lessons learned in treating the wounded during the war. Advances in electronics were another major field of improvement particularly in the manufacturing areas. Some changes were not so good, but many are beneficial. Today’s world is a throwaway society. It is hard to find someone to repair certain items. It seems to be cheaper to just throw the item away and buy a new one. The development in electronics and computers facilitated improvements. Rendelman feels that The National WWII Museum is essential for the future generations. There may be too many museums and memorials that request funds for support. Additionally, he receives solicitations for support from various ex-military organizations. They all have their place, but he cannot support them all.