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In World War II, Woolner saw frontline combat action during
1944 as a reconnaissance sergeant with the 703rd Tank Destroyer
Bn of the 3rd Armored Division (3AD) through France and Belgium.
He also served as the Battalion's chief writer for press &
historical purposes, as he had during 1942-44 during the 703rd's
training in the States and England.
On Sept. 13, 1944, the day after the 3AD first entered wartime
Germany, Woolner was promoted to the Division Headquarters G-2
Section (intelligence & public affairs). There, he went to
work for Lt. Col. Andrew Barr and Major Haynes Dugan as, in his
own words, a war correspondent, junior grade historian, observer,
and a scribbler of things world shaking.
When the war ended in May, 1945, Sgt. Woolner stayed in occupied
Germany with a headquarters production staff to research and
publish the 3AD history chronicle "Spearhead in the West."
Woolner was the author of the main narrative of the book, which
would become a military classic and is a collector's item today.
He returned to the States in the fall of 1945.
In civilian life, Woolner, born in 1916 and a native New Englander
from Shrewsbury, Mass., would eventually became a nationally
recognized expert on ocean and fresh-water sport fishing. He
was also an authority on hunting, natural history, and conservation
in New England. Woolner was a newspaper columnist; the Editor
of Salt Water Sportsman Magazine of Boston for over twenty years;
and wrote or co-wrote seven books on fishing and hunting. He
also co-hosted a weekly TV show in the Boston area for a number
of years with his brother Jack called "Woolner Brothers
Outdoors."
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