Seeking to learn more about his late father's military service, the Rev. Karl Duetzmann discovered an Internet video of another veteran relating a near-fatal skirmish with the enemy in the waning days of World War II.

As he watched and listened about a year ago, the United Church of Christ pastor from Connecticut was startled to hear the subject of the video, Joseph Mauro of Monroeville, mention his father, the late Hans "Dutch" Duetzmann, and their shared battle experiences in Western Europe.

"I yelled at the screen, 'Dad, I found you,' " the Rev. Duetzmann recalled.

That discovery led the pastor yesterday to Monroeville, where he had the conversation he never was able to have with his father.

The Rev. Duetzmann, of Ansonia, Conn., met with Mr. Mauro, 89, who had been his father's crew chief in the U.S. Army's Ninth Armored Division during World War II.

The pastor's father had been the driver of the team's self-propelled artillery piece, known as an M7, in multiple battles.

The two men looked over old photographs and swapped stories at Beatty Pointe Village, a senior citizen community where Mr. Mauro and his wife Anna, 84, live.

What does Mr. Mauro remember of his former driver?

"Dutch was a serious-minded man," he said yesterday. "He was a smart boy and conscientious. He was my right-hand man."

Mr. Mauro and the Rev. Duetzmann were brought together by the video made and posted on the Internet by Joseph Scott Mauro, one of Mr. Mauro's grandsons. The younger Mr. Mauro interviewed his grandfather in 2006, then spent months researching army documents and locating old newsreel film before completing the 33-minute video in 2007.

The Rev. Duetzmann, 57, came across the video while searching online for information about his father's unit, the 73rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion of the Army's Ninth Armored Division.

In the video, Mr. Mauro talked about the experiences he shared with his crew during the Battle of the Bulge and the capture of the last intact bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany in March 1945.

He had named their M7 self-propelled gun -- a 105 mm howitzer mounted on the chassis of a Sherman tank -- "Turtle Creek," after the community and stream near Monroeville.

While watching the video at his home, the Rev. Duetzmann said, the events described by Mr. Mauro sounded familiar.

Among them: a near-fatal skirmish in southern Germany, just a few days before the end of the war in Europe. A German soldier, using a foxhole as cover while firing at the Americans, put one of his shots through his jacket.

Mr. Mauro said his driver, Hans "Dutch" Duetzmann, got down from the M7, crept forward and tossed a hand grenade into the enemy soldier's hiding place.

The Rev. Duetzmann sent an e-mail to the Mauro family and soon received a phone call from Mr. Mauro.

"It was such an incredible connection between the two families," the Rev. Duetzmann said. "We talked for quite a while. While weekends off are not often in the cards for me, I had a lot more questions and I didn't want to miss this chance to learn more."

Mr. Mauro was born in 1920 in Homewood-Brushton. He and his family moved in 1933 to a farm in what was then called Patton Township and now is Monroeville.

After leaving school in 10th grade, he helped his family farm and worked in a brickyard until he was drafted in October 1941.

Hans Duetzmann was born in 1921 in what is now Wroclaw, Poland, and came with his family to the United States in 1924. The family ultimately settled in the New Haven area, where in 1942 he completed a three-year apprenticeship as a tool-and-die maker.

Hans Duetzmann was drafted later that year. Both men were assigned to artillery school at Fort Riley, Kan., and trained with their unit in California's Mojave Desert and Louisiana's swamps. They traveled to Great Britain aboard the Queen Mary.

Their unit landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy in September 1944, and soon took up positions in Belgium, Mr. Mauro recalled. It was among the first units attacked by the Germans in the December 1944 offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge.

"It was their first real experience in combat, so they were rookies," the Rev. Duetzmann said. "They took the brunt of the German advance."

"It was very cold," Mr. Mauro said.

Bad weather kept Allied planes on the ground for days, and the Germans were able to retake ground and inflict heavy casualties on American forces. A few days later, however, the weather improved.

"After we got our planes up, it was pretty easy going," Mr. Mauro said.

Her husband is telling only half of the story, Mrs. Mauro said.

Mr. Mauro's gun crew and six others had been hit by German forces east of Bastogne, Belgium. Mr. Mauro organized an artillery response and directed the withdrawal of the M7s into Bastogne, where their guns helped the 101st Airborne Division hold the area over the next seven days. The 73rd Field Artillery Battalion was honored with a presidential citation, Mrs. Mauro said, and her husband later earned a Bronze Star for courage under fire near Ringen, Germany.

Mr. Mauro returned briefly to farming, but later worked for 35 years as an engineer for the Union Railroad.

Hans Duetzmann worked for Winchester Repeating Arms Co. and later for United Nuclear Corp. Shortly after he retired in 1989, he suffered a series of strokes and died in 1996.

To see the video that led to yesterday's meeting, go to video.google.com. Type the words "Ninth Armored Division" in the search field.

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