The VBC is partnering with the Central Pennsylvania WWII Roundtable to welcome WWII 3rd Armored Division veteran Walter Stitt on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at 7:00pm ET at American Legion Post 272 near Harrisburg, PA. This will be an in-person presentation at the post (5700 Linglestown Rd, Harrisburg, PA), open to the public. It will also be available on the Roundtable’s YouTube channel.
What was it like to fight the German Army from inside a burning tank and live to tell about it not once, but three times?
Join us for a remarkable Veterans Breakfast Club livestream featuring WWII Army veteran Walter “Boston” Stitt, a corporal in the 33rd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division, who served as both a Sherman tank loader and gunner in the European Theater.
Stitt’s story is one of survival, grit, and quiet courage. He entered combat in 1944 as a teenage replacement and fought across France and Belgium, including the brutal fighting of the Battle of the Bulge. Over the course of the war, he survived the destruction of three separate Sherman tanks, was wounded twice, and earned two Purple Hearts.
In one harrowing episode, his tank was hit, killing crew members and trapping him inside. He escaped through the driver’s hatch as the tank caught fire—only to come under enemy fire again moments later.
Stitt’s experience captures the reality of armored warfare: close quarters, limited visibility, and the constant threat of catastrophic destruction. As he moved from loader to gunner across successive crews, each new tank brought fresh danger—and fewer guarantees of survival.
After the war, Stitt returned home, became a Lutheran minister, and decades later began to reflect more fully on what he had lived through. His memoir, Surviving Three Shermans: With the 3rd Armored Division into the Battle of the Bulge, reveals a powerful contrast: the reassuring letters he sent home during the war—and the far more dangerous truth he kept to himself.
The VBC is grateful to the Central PA WWII Roundtable for sharing this event with us. We’re two communities built around listening, learning, and keeping these stories in circulation.
