This content chronicles the extraordinary life and combat career of Lafayette "War Daddy" Green Pool, an American tank commander whose legendary exploits in World War II, marked by exceptional bravery, strategic brilliance, and an uncanny ability to survive, cemented his status as one of history's most formidable armored warriors.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
before you ask yes this is in fact the
guy that Brad Pitt's character in the
movie Fury is based off of and yes the
nickname War Daddy was
real today we're talking about the most
gangster tank commander in American
history Lafayette green poool his
Incredible Crew and their Infamous M4
a176 W Sherman tank known by its moniker
painted across the side in the mood this
video is brought to you by War Thunder
the best and most realistic vehicle
combat video game that has ever been
made this game has over 2500 tanks
planes helicopters boats and ships
seriously pretty much every vehicle
that's been used in armed conflict from
the 1920s until modern times is in this
game my favorite part about this game is
the history Easter eggs and how
realistic it is for example since we're
talking about laf at Green pool we can
actually go in pick his exact tank the M4
M4
a176 and then we can customize it to put
in the mood on the side of it just like
he had on his tank and then you can hop
over to x-ray mode and see how much work
they actually put into this game making
x-ray versions of every single vehicle
showing the crew and the different
components of all of it and then they
use this x-ray mode in gameplay so when
you shoot at an enemy tank you're not
just shooting at the tank until it blows
up you can shoot the enemy tank and
disable the tracks you could take out
the engine you could kill a single
member of the crew or you could take out
the entire crew and the best part about
all of this it's free on PC PlayStation
and Xbox so if you decide you want to
give it a try I will have it linked in
the description down below and when you
use my link you're going to get a bunch
of free stuff unlocked right off the bat
Vehicles skin ingame currency everything
you need to get started so go check it
out let's get back to the video Once
Upon a Time July 23rd 1919 two twins
would be born John Thomas pool and his
younger brother by 5 minutes Lafayette
green pool they both spent their entire
childhood growing up in Texas the Great
Depression happened when they were 10
years old despite that they were both
star athletes in middle school and high
school and then when they graduated from
high school in 1937 John and Lafayette
the two brothers wanted to join the Navy
together like everything else they' done
in their life at this point they go down
to the local Recruiting Office together
and they both sign up for the US Navy
then they go to get their physicals Jon
passes with flying colors but lay on the
other hand is rejected because his
eyesight isn't good enough because he
has one bad eye from an injury from when
he was younger which is turning into a
weird pattern at this point because
there's a shocking amount of badasses
that are originally rejected from the US
military for apparently having bad
eyesight I mean off the top of my head
we've got LW in red ramage the first
submarine Commander to earn the Medal of
Honor which I don't know why your vision
needs to be super good inside of a
submarine but what ever then we've got
Willis Ching Lee literally an Olympic
sniper that was the greatest Battleship
commander of all time that after he had
won the Olympics for Sharp Shooting was
told that his vision wasn't good enough
and then of course we have Jay Zer Medal
of Honor recipient the pilot of the most
decorated air crew in US history that
was also rejected because his vision
wasn't good enough and now we have laf
at Green pool the greatest American
tanker of all time also being rejected
because his vision just isn't quite good
enough now that being being said here's
where P's just a little bit different
from those other Heroes he's trying to
join in 1937 World War II has not kicked
off yet so he's not overly motivated to
join the military so unlike the other
three he does not cheat on his eye exam
to get in he decides that he's just
going to go off to college and become an
engineer so that's what happens John
ships off to go get trained for the Navy
lay decides he's going to stay around
town he helps his parents out on the
farm he goes off to college to become an
engineer and he also decides that he's
going to start boxing to earn some extra
money on the side and over the course of
the next three years he never loses a
single match because he is an incredibly
talented boxer then September 16th 1940
America decides to reinstitute the draft
because World War II is looming on
America because of this lay decides that
he's going to try to join the military
again but he's concerned that the Navy
still has records of him failing his
vision test from a couple of years ago
so instead this time he goes to an army
recruiter gets signed up goes to the
physical and this time he does what all
Great American Heroes do he cheats on
that eye exam and he passes seriously
the impact that a bunch of dudes
cheating on the eye exam to get into the
military is hat on the world that we
live in today is profound so P ships off
to training he excels at everything he
does and then every time he gets leave
he's always going out and taking boxing
prize fights to win more money on the
side so he finishes training gets
assigned to the 32 armored regiment
where he rapidly becomes a sergeant and
a tank commander again continuing to box
every second he can as World War II
ramps up the 3C armored regiment's
training gets more and more intense as
they get put in different climates in
different places all over the country
they train in Louisiana they train in
Pennsylvania and now they're out in the
Mojave desert in California and at this
point P's developed quite a name for
himself everybody knows who he is he's a
6'3 boxer that's 41-0 he's never been
defeated and he is one of the best if
not the best tank commander that they
have and because of this he gets a
little bit of sway with how things go so
he actually goes out and starts picking
his own tank crew and he picks the best
of the best in the driver seat he's got
24-year-old private first class Wilbert
Richards AKA baby a nickname that he got
when the crew was out for dinner one
night at a diner and the waitress looked
at him and said I didn't think they let
babies join the Army despite having a
baby face P said that he was the best
tank driver in all of World War II he
was so good that he could parallel park
a Sherman tank in the middle of downtown
New York during rush hour traffic in the
Gunner seat we have Willis oler AKA
groundhog a nickname that he got in the
Mojave Desert because he constantly wore
his goggles and had dirt rings from the
goggles around his eyes at all times he
is the oldest man in the crew at 28
years old he was a factory worker at an
ammunition plant he was exempt from the
draft but he wanted to go to war anyways
so much so that he had to go to the
government to get permission to quit his
job so that he could be in that tank at
loader we've got 21-year-old Delbert
bogs AKA jailbird a nickname that he got
because he was allegedly there because
the judge gave him the option of go to
war or go to jail standing at only 5'6
120 lbs jailbird had probably the most
physically demanding job in the entire
tank crew despite his stature he was
able to load that that gun faster than
pool could say fire and then an
assistant driver and bow Gunner we have
Arthur Reed who has not quite earned a
nickname yet the crew then decided that
their fearless leader needed a nickname
too P was already becoming a legend he
was an undefeated boxer he was one of
the best tank commanders America had and
he made sure that everybody in his crew
was squared away and taken care of at
all times he took complete
responsibility for them he was just like
their dad and for that reason they gave
him one of the coolest nicknames ever
and the same one from the movie Fury
Ward Daddy hey don't [ __ ] yourself War
daddy C is too high you owe me 40 bucks
unlike the movie however P did not
decide to name his tank Fury he gave it
a nickname that is a thousand times
cooler and Hollywood decided to change
for no good reason because they named
their tank in the mood when asked what
that meant later Lafayette simply said
that's just how I felt at the time I was
in the mood so we've got the crew we've
got the tank everybody has a cool
nickname It's Time to Get Ready for War
they start training together super hard
and become one a cohesive unit at this
point P who's still been going out
boxing every chance he can ends up
joining the Golden Gloves tournament and
he actually ends up winning and becoming
a Golden Gloves Champion which qualifies
him for the national tournament in
Chicago at this point the Army is
willing to let him take leave and go
participate in this National Tournament
because it looks really really good for
the US military if they have an active
duty Sergeant that's a tank commander
that's winning national titles for
boxing P however decides against it
because he has his crew he has his tank
and he's not going let them go off to
war without him so he decides to forego
his dream of becoming a national Golden
Glove boxing champion and instead goes
off to war because of that he is then
offered a slot as an officer which he
also refuses because he doesn't want to
leave his crew he decides that he's
going to keep being an NCO so he can be
a tank commander and go out with his
guys shortly after that they would all
ship off to England in 1943 once they
get to England they just keep training
getting ready waiting for orders and
then in April 1944 a famous boxer by the
the name of Joe Lewis aka the brown
bomber comes over for a morale mission
where he's going to box with some of the
troops you know get everybody ready for
war get him hyped up doing something
cool and guess who gets slotted to fight
him yeah Lafayette pool boxes Joe Lewis
two months before D-Day and if you don't
know who Joe Lewis is he's literally one
of the greatest boxers in the history of
the world this dude was 69 wins with 52
Knockouts he has one of the longest
reigning title runs ever he is on a
different level than Lafayette green
pool for sure despite that everybody's
hyped the entire regiment is going to
show up to watch War Daddy go toe-to-toe
with the brown bomber and it's going to
be the coolest thing that's ever
happened so they have this boxing match
and you have to understand this is a
recipe for disaster because Joe Lewis is
just over here trying to do the right
thing help with the war effort raise
morale of the troops before they go off
into battle you know he's being really
cool about this whole thing he's going
from unit to unit and he's boxing a new
army guy every night for like months
straight so I me I mean this is nothing
more than a glorified sparring match to
him he's not going in there trying to
actually hurt the army guy hopefully the
army guy is not going on to hurt him
he's just going out there to put on a
show p on the other hand remember just
gave up his dream for a national title
in boxing so that he could go to war and
now the World Heavyweight Champion is
there and he gets to box him so in the
back of his mind there's got to be a
part of him that's just like I mean
maybe I could take this guy so p goes in
there obviously wanting a real fight and
that's exactly what he got the match
starts Jo Lewis goes in there he's
dancing around he's pulling his punches
he's putting on a show he's being super
nice to p and then the first chance P
got he threw a hard punch and just
cracked Joe Lewis allegedly stumbled him
a little bit and then Joe Lewis tied up
with p and whispered in his ear I'm
going to teach you a big lesson the ref
then broke him apart and Joe Lewis
proceeded to beat the [ __ ] out of pool
in front of the entire regiment p is
later quoted as saying that he was
turned Any Which Way but Loose by the
brown bomber now the Silver Lining is
that pool somehow managed to not get
knocked out which is an achievement in
itself going up against Joe Lewis and
just so we're clear if you're not
familiar with Combat Sports Joe LS is
absolutely not being a dick right now
this is 100% expected this is how
everybody acts in that situation and
Lafayette pool knew that's how this
would go down the minute he decided to
crack him because he had like 40 plus
boxing matches he knew what he was
getting into he got exactly what he was
looking for and it's absolutely
hilarious and in waddy's defense it is
actually way cooler to say I got in a
legitimate fight with Joe Lewis and
survived even though I got my ass beat
than it is to say I had a glorified
sparring match with Joe Lewis one time
and pretty much everybody else agrees
and this serves to grow pool's
reputation even more fast forward 2
months June 23rd 1944 Waddy and his crew
would arrive at the beaches of Normandy
2 weeks after D-Day for the next 5 days
they would make their way to the front
lines following the trail of Destruction
left by the Allied Forces before them
and on the 6th day June 29th 1944 they
would go out on their first mission
attempting to drive the enemy further
back using using a combination of tanks
and infantry they would drive off the
main road through crop fields and they
would cut through the different fields
and each field was divided by this thin
row of trees and bushes that was called
a hedro as they go through field after
field and have the tanks drive through
hedro after hedro making a path for the
Infantry they would come through another
hedge row where seemingly nothing was
any different as they continued to
advance through the field as soon as
they reached the Midway point the two
corners of the Hedge R they were in up
ahead of them would open fire they had
walked directly into a German anti-tank
units and bushes they began taking fire
from anti-tank guns machine guns and
Panzer fou or tank punchers which were
an early German rocket launcher designed
to take out Allied tanks the Germans
were so well camouflaged in the Hedge
Rose ahead that they couldn't even be
seen the only thing they could fire at
was the muzzle flashes of the Germans
firing at them first as the Americans
began to return fire in the mood was
struck by a Panzer fou but it was
deflected off of its armor because they
were too far away when they fired it and
then a second and then a third and then
a fourth in the mood had been hit with
four tank fists and survived all of them
the American tanks including in the mood
attempted to drive forward to push
through the Ambush but as they closed
the distance between them and the German
anti-tank unit they came into the
effective range of the tank punchers in
the mood and 17 other m4s would be hit
and knocked out as P ordered his crew to
bail out he would come to the
realization that his bow Gunner and
assistant driver Arthur Reed had been
killed in action on impact with so many
tanks knocked out the entire unit was
forced to retreat and in a matter of
minutes P's entire Battalion had lost 25
% of its men 177 soldiers and 18 tanks
so P's unit falls back to the rear and
they begin consolidating figuring out
how many people died how many tanks they
lost refitting getting reinforcements
getting everything done and po receives
word that his tank while it was knocked
out is salvageable and it's going to be
up and running in a couple of weeks at
this point most tank Crews would be like
cool I'll take a couple of weeks off
hanging out back here not getting
ambushed but W daddy and his crew were
absolutely Furious that their friend was
just killed and they want to get back in
the fight now not in two weeks so pool
Demands a new tank and his chain of
command seeing that their Golden Boy
wanted a new tank turns and says here
you go and they give him their very
first version of the new Sherman M4 the
M4 a176 W with an even bigger gun that's
more capable of going toe-to-toe with
German tanks they are then immediately
given a replacement bow gun or an
assistant driver by the name of Bert
close a 19-year-old kid that looks like
he just got out of a high school
classroom and for that reason he is
immediately given the nicknamed school
boy as they paint in the mood to down
the side of their new tank and go back
into the fight P said he learned more in
that first 3 minutes of combat than he
did in the three years of training prior
to that he took note of how the Germans
put their main anti-tank guns in the
corners of the Hedge RS to triangulate
fire at the middle of the field and they
waited until they got into the middle of
the field before opening fire so they
couldn't Retreat back into the HED R
easily for that reason every time they
cut through a hedge R they would
immediately use the main gun and fire on
each Corner ahead of them and then rake
every everything in between with machine
gun fire attempting to Ambush the enemy
first and this extremely slow
painstaking form of combat went on for
the first month just field after field
Ambush after Ambush fight after fight it
took them a month to go 5 miles further
into enemy territory and this wasn't
just Po's unit this was the entire
military fighting tooth and nail for
every inch of land that they got because
of this General Omar Bradley decided to
launch operation Cobra on July 25th the
plan was to bomb the enemy first and and
then bomb the enemy again and again and
again and then roll in with tanks and
take care of whatever's left on July 26
1944 operation Cobra will reach its apex when
when
3,300 Allied bombers dropped 14,000 tons
of bombs in the span of 3 hours just for
the record so we're all clear 14,000
tons is over 30 million pounds in 3
hours with all the bombings breaking
down the enemy line the combat Pace
really picked up as in the mood sted Ed
traveling miles a day instead of miles a
month during that time in the mood 2
would come toe-to-toe with its first
German Panther Tank and it would take it
out in a single shot with its new and
improved 76 mm cannon from that moment
on W daddy his crew and In the Mood 2
LED point on pretty much every single
Mission his unit ran and he was driving
the enemy back as fast as humanly
possible in the following days it became
pretty apparent to pretty much everybody
that war Daddy and in the mood two were
in fact the main characters of this
story as he began sitting up higher and
higher in his Commander's position on
the tank pretty soon the other tankers
began to describe it as he was sitting
so high up on the tank that it looked
like he was riding it like a bull
showing off his cowboy boots over the
next several weeks they put so many
miles on In the Mood 2 and drove through
so many HED RS that they wore out the
engine and it needed to be replaced and
at this point P being who he is is like
I'm not waiting for that thing to get
fixed just give me another tank so I can
keep fighting and the chain of command
is like actually that's perfect because
now your original tank is fixed so you
back I'm no God P immediately is like no
absolutely not it's older it's slower
the gun is smaller and most importantly
my friend died in the assistant driver's
seat and I don't want to look at that
for the rest of this war I'm not taking
that tank he was then given a direct
order to take the tank to which he's
like okay fine he then orders the rest
of his crew to go over to In the Mood 2
and observe it getting fixed by the
mechanics and having a new motor put in
it which is weird because they're not
getting that tank back anyways so why on
Earth is he doing that in reality he
just want wanted to make sure that his
crew was somewhere so they couldn't get
blamed with what he's about to do so he
goes over by himself picks up his new
tank and then proceeds to immediately
drive it directly into a lake I mean
technically we don't know that for sure
the only official documentation as to
what happened to this tank is from the
maintenance crew and it says and I quote
the vehicle was believed to have been
driven into a
lake and at this point the chain of
command is just like okay well I mean
let's hold on this is the Golden Boy I
don't I don't want to get rid of him
hear me out he did just save a tank the
other day that we were going to lose he
ran in front of a bunch of machine gun
fire and got that tank back so now that
he threw this tank away it's basically a
net zero I think we should just let it
slide go ahead give him a new M4 a176 W
again and we'll get him back on the
front lines and that's it that's the
whole story they give him a new tank and
he goes back to fighting okay do you
understand how incredibly gangster that
is this is an entire another level of
plot armor okay going toe-to-toe with
the Enemy and like doing some crazy
stuff and surviving that's one level
going toe-to-toe with Uncle Sam about
his money is a completely another level
of plot armor that most people can't
even fathom for example when you go to
get out of the military they make you
turn in every piece of equipment they
ever gave you ever okay they're going to
pull out a sheet of paper that's this
long with a list of all of it and it's
going to be the most ridiculous stuff on
the planet they're going to be like yeah
we gave you a uh a marker tube type in
2003 what the [ __ ] is a marker tube type
oh a Sharpie you gave me a Sharpie in
2003 okay I'll just pay for it how much
does a government pay for Sharpies um
$79.95 is what we pay for [ __ ]
Sharpies around here and then you have
to pay the government $79.95 for a
Sharpie that you lost 20 years ago
otherwise they negatively impact your
credit score the rest of us mere mortals
are over here getting harassed by the US
military because we lost a canteen cup
at some point meanwhile W Daddy's over
here waterboarding an entire tank and
just walking away like nothing happened
and nobody cares this is an
unprecedented level of plot armor so
that's August 16th he gets his new tank
in the mood three August 17th the very
next day they come into a humongous
battle they catch up with an entire
German armored unit that has 12 Panther
tanks luckily the Allied Forces at this
point in time have air superiority so
they radio in for some planes and they
come in and they bomb the entire Panther
unit then after the planes drop a bunch
of bombs all over them then all of the
American Sherman tanks start to advance
and then a couple minutes later another
group of American planes come they were
either p38s or p-47s depending on which
source you want to read doesn't really
matter either way American planes come
and then they proceeded to bomb
everybody the American tanks included
and during this bombing run in the mood
three and the tank next to it would both
be hit luckily nobody in war Daddy's
crew would be hurt however both of the
tanks were knocked out at which point
the Battalion Commander orders everybody
to fall back because things have just
went catastrophically wrong po orders
his men to all bail out and run back
baby the driver and jailbird the loader
both cool dope they hop out of the tank
they run back it is now pool and school
boy left inside this tank the other tank
right next to in the mood 3 also bailes
out and they all run off however one of
those crew members is hurt and they're
laying on the ground Waddy sees this
hops out of his tank runs over to try to
save this guy drawing all the machine
gun fire from the German side on in the
mood three Waddy ends up making it over
to this other tanker and helping to save
him however Bert cl's school boy is now
pinned down underneath in the mood three
so he just digs in and buries himself
underneath the tank hoping that he's not
hit by enemy machine gun fire or an
American plane so that's all he does he
just lays underneath the tank and kind
of buries himself in the dirt and he
waits and he waits listening to the
machine gun fire bounce off his tank as
he hears American bombs exploding in the
background and he just Waits and 10
minutes go by and suddenly somebody runs
and Dives under the tank and it scares
the [ __ ] out of Bert close and he looks
over it's an American so he kind of
relaxes for a second but that dude
doesn't see Bert yet and Bert close
school boy recognizes this guy it was
his friend from basic training that he
hadn't seen in like 2 years and close
remembers on the first day of basic
training this guy got asked a question
by the drill instructor and he told the
drill instructor I don't know and from
that point on throughout the rest of
their training that particular drill
instructor would always tell this guy
what do you know bearing that in mind
school boy asks the guy hey what the
hell happened and that guy responds I
have no idea to which school boy
responds the same thing the drill
instructor would have responded what do
you know and that guy whipped his head
around recognizing the voice of his
friend and they were reunited after like
2 years not seeing each other not
knowing if they were alive they've just
ran into each other in the most
unfortunate circumstance on the planet
and then they just hung out for the next
hour in the middle of this firefight
catching up because there's literally
nothing else they could do and it's the
most Army thing I've ever heard ever so
while close is catching up with his
buddy W daddy makes his way back to
safety he carries that injured tanker
with him and then he realizes that he's
missing Bert close school boy and he was
not about to lose another assistant
driver and bow Gunner and he is ready to
run back into hell to go get him he is
then physically restrained and given a
direct order to not so like an hour goes
by school boy and his buddy are just
chilling underneath the remnants of in
the mood three waiting for the bombs to
clear up finally the German armor units
forced to retreat they get the all
cleared the planes aren't going to be
coming anymore and then they just kind
of get out from underneath the tank and
walk back and everything's okay so now
the next problem is that in the mood 3
is gone they no longer have a tank well
by that time they had already replaced
the motor and in the mood too and they
were ready to hop back in that so the
next day August 18th through August 26th
War Daddy and the crew of In the Mood 2
go ham they spearhead every single
Mission driving further and further into
enemy territory wrecking absolutely
anybody that gets in their way pool and
in the mood 3 are leading the entire
third armor division deeper and deeper
in enemy territory and during this point
of the war the third armor division
earns the nickname the spearhead
division because they are leading the
rest of the military into the fight
because they are advancing so rapidly it
is literally the largest unhealth care
system in the world being beheaded by
War daddy and his crew of in the mood
too they are pushing so hard so fast in
enemy territory that they start getting
direct orders from the Balian Commander
to slow down and let everybody else
catch up there's accounts of In the Mood
2 taking out entire infantry companies
by themselves 250 men in a single day
and somehow presumably Divine plot armor
despite the fact that they are the first
and sometimes the only one into a fight
they go completely untouched every
single time then August 27th they come
come across a major set of train tracks
at which point they're all
like I got an idea let's line the tanks
up and wait and that's what they did and
they waited and they waited and like 8
hours later here comes a German Train
full of all types of cargo and equipment
and tanks and armored vehicles rolling
down the tracks and a bunch of Sherman
tanks just open fire turning the entire
thing into a shooting gallery destroying
absolutely everything on this train at
which point p is like cool now that I
know which direction the trains are
headed I'm going to go get the next one
and he takes off heading the opposite
direction that the train is going to be
coming so he's going to catch this train
before anybody else and sure enough like
an hour later here comes another train
headed in the exact same direction it is
now in the mood 2 and this train going
head to-head as in the mood 2 starts
firing 76 mm rounds into the engine of
the locomotive after two shots it
completely destroys the locomotive
engine as the rest of the train Glides
to a halt as they pull around and the
rest of the train comes into view there
are four German Tiger 2 tanks tanks on
this train they haven't even ran into
one of these in combat yet and there's
four of them sitting dead on this train
but the Germans are running to get in
the tanks to use them as artillery and
get the guns aimed at In the Mood 2 and
one of those German guns will absolutely
destroy In the Mood 2 probably with a
single hit at this point school boy
starts using his 30 cal machine gun and
War daddy starts using the 50 cal up top
to shoot at these German Tiger tanks not
because it's actually going to hurt the
tanks but because all the machine gun
fire is keeping the Germans from getting
inside of them to be able to use them
and while that's going on Groundhog is
opening fire on the tanks with the 76 mm
over and over finally being able to
break through the tiger tanks armor
destroying all four of the tanks as they
continue to destroy everything else on
this train for the next half hour it is
a complete shooting galleries in the
mood to reeks havoc on this now
defenseless train at some point the rest
of the tanks catch up and they chip into
but the majority of the credit ends up
going to in the mood to When the Smoke
Clears they make sure all the Germans
are gone and then they go go in and see
what else if there's any cargo that's
salvageable hoping for like I don't know
German chocolate or food or most
importantly booze and they go in and
they start looking at all the cargo and
it's an entire train besides the tanks
and a couple armored cars that were on
there all the cargo is just like French
lingerie and fancy perfumes and a bunch
of woman's stuff basically they figured
the Germans were just loading up Trains
full of anything they could find a value
inside of France and trying to ship it
back by rail to Germany to extract as
much value as possible as there would
being forced to retreat now here's the
Silver Lining somebody had the brilliant
idea of like hey it's not food and it's
not beer but hear me out the entire 3D
ad is on its way to Belgium right now
and if we show up in Belgium and we give
all the ladies there a bunch of French
lingerie and perfume we're going to be
heroes and then maybe just maybe they'll
wear it for us if so facto there's now
an entire Regiment of M4 Sherman tanks
and Armored Cars full to the brim of
fancy French lingerie and perfume headed
to Belgium now at this point while
everybody else is loading up lingerie
and perfume the chain of command is
having a meeting because War daddy and
his tank crew just took out an entire
train pretty much by themselves
including four German Tiger 2 tanks so
we need to get them some kind of award
so it becomes clear to the chain of
command that these are probably the best
tank crew that America has right now and
they would do a better job of serving
the country if they were sent back home
and sent on tour where they could tell
their story and help sell war bonds and
honestly they've earned it at this point
so the chain of command then orders pool
to fall all the way back to the very
rear and let everybody else handle
everything from here on out fast forward
2 hours later whoever spearheading the
formation now comes up to this bridge
and this bridge is the only way across
this River and it's being guarded by
three German Panthers and Leadership has
no idea how to cross this bridge so
leadership has another meeting and
they're like [ __ ] I guess let's [ __ ] get
War Daddy back up here we need the main
character bring him up so all tanks War
daddy looks like I'm in P gets the order
he pulls out of the form drives to the
very front again he's been gone for a
whole 2 hours he gets to the front gets
briefed on what's going on he evaluates
the situation he looks off in the
distance there's this big hill on their
side of the river so he's like okay you
guys stay here I'm going to go handle
this so they go they drive up to the top
of this hill he now has a good view of
the rest of the river and he can
actually make out one of the German
Panther tanks he can't see the other two
he doesn't know how many are there he
just knows they're there they're so well
camouflaged but he can see one of them
so he takes aim and he gets them ready
and he's like we're going to we're just
going to Rapid Fire this entire thing he
opens fire and as soon as he fires
there's another round in by jailbird and
they fire again and again and again and
they take out this first Panther Tank
and they do it so fast and they fire so
many times that all the other tanks
think that they're getting ambushed and
they start retreating there was only two
tanks there he sees them once they start
moving but those tanks take off thinking
that there's way more tanks than just
one attacking them meanwhile Po's entire
units kind of just sitting there like
listening hearing tank fire in the back
wondering what's happening few minutes
later pool comes driving by again and
just drives right across the bridge so
everybody else is like okay and then
they follow him and then problem solved
War daddy Sav the day yet again at this
point P's probably thinking to himself
like okay this is the point where I'm
supposed to stop get orders they're
probably going to send me to the back of
the formation again and he's like but I
don't want that cuz off in the distance
a couple miles ahead he sees a German
town and he knows that that town is
probably full of all types of important
German supplies because a second ago
they had three German Panther tanks
trained on a single choke point it was a
pretty safe place to be and he knows
that if he can get there in a hurry he
can probably take out a bunch of more
enemy objectives so he just hauls ass
straight into this town right down Main
Street and sure enough there's four
German ammo trucks full of German war
supplies and he takes out all four of
them by himself as the rest of the unit
is desperately trying to keep up after a
while some of the other tanks finally
catch up to P but P keeps leading them
deeper and further into enemy held
territory and at dusk that night they'd
be ambushed by more Panther tanks and
that Ambush started by one of the
panther tanks shooting directly at In
the Mood 2 luckily it was a glancing
blow and everybody was okay in the mood
turns returns fire and scores a direct
hit knocking out the tank as the German
crew bailes out but the tank didn't
burst into flames yet and that's not
acceptable so In the Mood 2 advances to
shoot this tank again as they hit it
again the whole thing blows up as in the
mood 2 gets hit again from another
Panther Tank and again it glances off
the armor and everybody's okay but they
don't know where the hell it came from
because it's so dark out they can't
actually see anything so now they're
just waiting and they're waiting and
they're kind of moving back and forth
and this Panther Tank Fires at him again
and they could see the muzzle flash the
panther missed and in the mood starts
returning fire just in that general
direction firing blindly and after four
or five rounds sent that way they see an
enormous explosion and Flames as they
had scored a direct hit on the enemy
Panther Tank with pure luck any
remaining German forces are forced to
flee and that was the end of that battle
ble they bed down for the night they get
some more gas in the tank they get
everything fixed they eat some food and
the next morning they take off again
driving further into enemy held
territory the next morning War Daddy and
in the mood to take off hauling ass with
the rest of the tanks pull figures that
those two German Panthers Ambush them
because they were trying to protect
something and he wants to find out what
it was so he keeps charging deeper and
deeper in enemy held territory and
that's when he comes across an entire
German Supply Convoy and yet again War
Daddy and in the mood proceed to turn
this entire Supply aravan into a
shooting gallery in the mood alone is
credited with destroying over a 100
Vehicles two German Panther tanks two
other tanks three German 88 anti-tank
guns claiming over 50 enemies Kia
claiming 63 as prisoners of war and a
ton of others wounded When the Smoke
settles from this and the leadership
gets to figure out what actually
happened it is decided that the in the
mood crew is all going to receive bronze
stars and Lafayette green pool is going
to receive the distinguished service
cross he would also to be nominated for
the Medal of Honor but that was rejected
for some reason something to do with uh
being in a tank is a team effort and he
didn't do it by himself so he doesn't
deserve the Medal of Honor which doesn't
really make sense but it never does so
that happened now from here it's pretty
smooth Salem they don't have much
contact with the German military they're
pretty much just going from town to town
hanging out in a town at the end of
every night however in the mood
continues to be the number one spearhead
of the entire Division and now instead
of being the first into contact they're
the first into every town and that comes
with its own unique set of rewards
because as soon as American tanks start
rolling in all the people come running
out as they start celebrating that the
Americans are here to beat the Nazis and
they start showering them with gifts
cheeses breads fruits eggs and most
importantly boo so in in the mood gets
first dibs on all the booze this pattern
repeats itself day after day for a
little while and then they eventually
come up on a bigger city called Le in
Belgium once there they take the city
pretty easily capturing 1500 German PS
and then they essentially freed the town
at which point all the town's people
come rushing out to thank the Americans
and surprise surprise this city is full
of very attractive young Belgium women
they start giving the soldiers gifts
like food and booze and in exchange the
soldiers break out the fancy lingerie
and perfume that they liberated from
that train a couple of days ago and they
start giving that back in exchange and
the entire thing turns into one gigantic
block party that kind of ends up turning
into a [ __ ] show because all the
soldiers spread out as they start
sleeping with all these young women
showing them that inches are in fact
better than centimeters and every
everybody is just completely hammered
which was fine there was nothing wrong
with that right up until the next
morning when the chain of command got
the order to move out immediately at
which point the leadership a they're
hung over but B they're kind of looking
around it's just like there's passed out
people drunk all over the city on the
sidewalks in the streets it's chaos the
soldiers are all spread out because they
all went home with different women they
don't know where like 75% of their
soldiers even are they radio back
they're like we're going to we're going
to need a couple of days to regroup we
had an issue in town here so after that
they spend the next couple of days
regrouping and getting ready to move out
again after they get regrouped it's off
to the Sig freed line the border of
Germany guarded by dragons teeth mines
machine gun positions and Barb Wire they
have to finally make their last push and
break into Germany on their way to the
Sig freed line pool is informed that him
and his crew are not going to be allowed
to spearhead this Mission either and
they are to remain in the rear because
him and his crew were still going to get
sent home early so that they can sell
war bonds and be heroes pool is also
informed that they are going to be
taking away as loader Dell bogs jailbird
is going to be sent all the way to the
rear where he is going to have to
undergo a vision and hearing exam for
the next 2 weeks pretty much the entire
duration of the rest of their time in
theater before they get sent back home
and the actual reason for this was
because his brother had passed away in
combat two weeks prior and he was the
last remaining son in his family and the
commander did not want to have to tell
that Man's family that he died in combat
2 weeks before he was supposed to come
home so he was going to be sent all the
way to the rear where he was going to
stay until he could get sent back to
America bearing all this in mind po
agrees and he is going to remain in the
rear of the formation and he's not going
to be doing anything crazy he is then
assigned a brand new fresh out of basic
training private first class Kenneth
King to be the replacement loader for
jailbird the best m4 loader in all of
World War II somehow a German tank snuck
past the American line and managed to
Ambush P's section and the first tank
they managed to shoot was in the mood P
immediately orders his crew to return
fire which they do but the shell wasn't
effective against the panther as he
orders them to fire again but private
first class King wasn't able to reload
at the same Pace that jailbird was
before him so P orders baby to throw it
in reverse as he tries to get this kid
more time to reload the gun he ends up
jamming the gun as the panther fires
another Shell at in the mood and it
punches through in the mood and hits
private first class Kenneth King
directly in the head killing him
instantly as p and groundhog are both
ejected from the tank severely wounded
and the tank is still being thrown in
Reverse being manned by nobody except
for baby and school boy driving blind
they just continue to to travel in
Reverse as another Panther shell hits in
the mood but glances off after about 30
yards they end up hitting a ditch and
rolling the entire tank well that's
going on P who'd been ejected from the
tank moments earlier looks down to see
that one of his legs has been completely
shredded by the shrapnel as he reaches
into his pocket pulls out a morphine
seret basically a single one-time use
dose of morphine injects himself before
pulling out his pocket knife and
attempting to remove what's left of his
leg the nearby American tanks engage the
German Panther destroying it as a
neighboring tank commander runs to P's
Aid as p is yelling at him to go help
the people in the tank he doesn't he
runs up to P injects him with another
morphine seret before calling Medics to
Aid him when the Medics show up they
inject him with yet another morphine
seret and P loses Consciousness the rest
of the in the mood crew survives and
they end up ultimately getting
reassigned to different tank Crews where
they remain for the rest of World War II
p on the other hand has to have his
right leg amputated 8 in above the knee
and he is sent back home where he spends
the next 22 months in the in the
hospital battling different infections
rehabbing and getting fitted for a
prosthetic by the time he's released
from the hospital it is 1946 and World
War II is over and he is then
immediately discharged from the United
States military because he now no longer
has a leg laf at Green pool AKA W daddy
and his tank crew of in the mood were in
combat together for 81 days in World War
II and in that 81 days they are credited
with taking out 1,000 German soldiers
capturing 250 more destroying
275 armored vehicles and 12 German tanks
for this pool had been nominated for the
Medal of Honor twice the first time the
paperwork had apparently been lost and
the second time he was just flat out
rejected he was however awarded the
distinguished service cross the Legion
of Merit a Purple Heart the French qu
dear and the Belgian forier after being
released from the military he went back
home to Texas where him and his wife
started having kids and he worked as a
mechanic at a gas station for a number
of years and then after a few years the
United States military came out with a
special program where they would let
people rejoin the military if they had
special or desired talents regardless of
their physical disabilities and pool fit
that bill he was brought back into the
military to serve as an adviser and to
help train the next generation of
tankers he would do that from 1948 until
retiring in 1960 as a Warren officer 4
he then decides that his next Life
Adventure is going to be to be a
preacher which he does for a number of
years which honestly makes sense because
the Dude is super good at putting people
in touch with God so he does that for a
little while and then he gets bored with
that and he decides that he wants to
give back and help the community so he
decides that he's going to be a teacher
he goes and he becomes a middle school
shop teacher and on the first day of any
kids's shop class he would always
lecture them on the importance of safety
and how dangerous power tools could be
right before drilling a hole directly
into his wooden prosthetic leg but the
kids didn't know that at the time after
that he finally does truly retire and in
his retirement he forms a relationship
with the armored units at a of Fort Hood
they bring him out there they let him
drive in an M1 Abram's tank for the
first time he's blown away at how much
better they are than the tanks that he
drove during World War II they also have
him as the guest of honor at all their
military events where he commonly gets
to speak and he gets to know all the
guys and then in 1990 they're sent off
to fight in Desert Storm if you don't
know Desert Storm is considered to be
the last great tank battles the world
has ever seen the last time that tanks
were going toe-to-toe with one another
on the battlefield and the entire time
that his guys were out there lafette
pool was back home glued to the news
watching it every single moment of every
single day and as Desert Storm and by
extension tank versus tank warfare would
come to a close so would lafette pool
his health began to decline and he would
pass away at the age of 71 on May 30th
1991 the very same day that he received
word that his armored unit at a Fort
Hood had made their way to Germany
safely on their way back home to America
because Desert Storm was over bringing a
close not only to Tank Warfare as the
world knew it but the life of one of the
greatest men to ever do it so in
conclusion if this has taught us
anything never underestimate what you
can accomplish by cheating on your next
eye exam thank you for watching best way
to support the channel is go by some
merch over the fatle x.com and don't
forget to go check out War Thunder where
you can play as in the mood yourself
out G I can hear all the weird German
internet Fanboys already you know the
Germans actually had a tank commander
that had like 100 enemy tank kills blah
blah blah blah blah that's more than La
at pool BL yeah you know what here's the
deal if you want to be MVP your team has
to win secondly quit sing over the
German military it's weird Germans don't
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.