Tec 5 Michael Arendec (35504274)

Mike Arendec with the Troop A guidon, probably in Germany towards the end of the war, displaying all five campaigns fought by the squadron

Tec 5 - or corporal - Michael Arendec hailed from Ohio, where he was a postal worker before enlisting.

One of the oldest members of the squadron, Mike served in Troop A where his duties included working as the clerk. Mike seems to have been a particularly popular figure.

Among his comrade Joe Negri’s memoirs is this recollection of Mike:

“After eating dinner, we played poker. One of the reasons we were always looking for loot, like pistols, watches, and cameras, was that we would sell them to the rear troops and use the money to play. There was this older GI about 35 years old. His name was Mike Arendic [sic]. He told me he had sent home $10,000 since he was overseas. In those days, that was a fortune. We teenagers knew Hoyles Rules of the game. But the old dude knew how to win.”

Mike’s name also crops up in correspondence relating to the 50th anniversary of D Day, by his CO Brooks O. Norman. Brooks was helping the mayors of Barfleur and St-Vaast-la-Hougue, on the Cotentin peninsula, with D Day commemorations. In the book by Barfleur mayor Jacques Houyvet - 'Chronique de l'Occupation & de la Libération du Val de Saire' - Brooks Norman is quoted:

"A few shots rang out, but we only had one injured, Corporal Mike Arendec, in charge of the mail, a sturdy little guy. He had real magnifying glasses instead of glasses. He had decided to return to squadron HQ to get the mail. When he returned, Germans shot him and he ended up in the ditch. We got him and his jeep back and his mail. He only had a broken nose.”

This incident happened around June 21 1944, on the Cotentin peninsula. The squadron was working on the right flank of the VII Corps as it moved north to take the port of Cherbourg, freeing a series of small towns, such as Quettehou, St-Vaast-la-Hougue, Barfleur and St Pierre Eglise in this period.

For accuracy’s sake it’s worth noting that Mike’s hospital record gives the cause of his injuries as “FirstLocation: Wrist joints; CausativeAgent: Automobile, Jeep or Peep, Passenger in, During Accident”. His age is listed as 37 and he is discharged back to duty in July 1944.

Brooks gives another account of this in a letter, written in 1994, to an army historian helping the mayor of St-Vaast-la-Hougue with D Day anniversary commemorations.

Although Mike’s hospital record refers only to an automobile accident it’s clear that the accident was caused by hostile fire.

Cpl. Mike Arendec served with the squadron all the way into Germany and was given an Honorable Discharge on October 26 1945.

During his service Mike received the Purple Heart and the Good Conduct Medal.

Photo captioned ‘Mike the mail clerk with dad’ from the collection of Corporal Joseph Negri

Mike worked after the war as an assembler for the White Motor Company. He had no children.

Michael Arendec was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 1 1908. He died in Garfield Heights, Ohio, on September 9 1988, aged 80.

We are grateful to Caroline Arendec (a relation by marriage) for sharing some of the photographs below. Locations are unidentified.