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| Our Time in England |
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- Traveling on the Queen Elizabeth, we arrived in Grenoch, Scotland
on October 22nd, 1944. We then traveled by train to Alderly Edge,
England. I think the whole division was stationed in small villages
around Manchester.
- While in the train station in Glasgow, one of the guys found
that his fiancé was part of the welcoming group serving us coffee
and doughnuts. They were certainly thrilled to see each other.
- During our month stay in Alderly Edge we lived in large estate
homes, sleeping in bunks. The PX would open some of the time,
and I still have a
ration card (actually this card is from my Camp Oklahoma days,
but it is of the standard form).
- At one time as I served as guard at one of the empty mansions,
which had coal heating and a bath tub upstairs, I attempted to
take a bath. Just as I was prepared to take my first and only
bath in Europe the inspecting officer came by.
- I had the pleasure of accompanying our trucks and anti-tank
(AT) cannons on the trip from Alderly Edge to Stockbridge where
we crossed the channel on Nov. 28 to arrive in Le Havre, France.
I believe it was a sergeant who gave me this road
guide, which we used to travel through the English countryside.
- On the LST, while crossing the English channel. I was to guard
the trucks and guns contained in the darkened ship's hole. The
waves in the channel as we crossed were very high, but at least
the Navy had hot coffee on deck to calm us.
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| We Move Out to Continental Europe |
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- When we arrived in the Le Havre port there were German prisoners
on the docks to help us unload.
- After leaving Le Havre, France in the mud and with the wrong
shoes for the job, I remember entering Metz and receiving sniper
fire from across a moat (our first fire). We were in a German
gun factory in which we left our duffle bags. In my case I left
a number of candy bars in the duffle bag that were of no use by
the time we returned.
- As we entered the war we decided that gas masks were useless
so we immediately discarded them and kept the cases. Another no-no
was drinking from wells during our march from the coast while
not using the tablets provided to purify the water. It was like
the times in the states when we usually palmed the salt tablets
before a forced march.
- In December we were in the Saar where the weather was fairly
nice, cold but no snow. It was here that we experienced our first
combat and lost a number of men from our anti-tank platoon.
- In late December we made the dash to the Ardennes. In the Ardennes
we generally slept in foxholes with contour sleeping bags and
added blankets. I recall one morning waking up under a foot or
more of snow. At other times we crawled into our sacks with loaded
45's, in fear of being captured.
- One event that was certainly distressing to me occurred on a
hill somewhere in Belgium. The Germans where firing those large
mortars at us, from across the valley, the ones that sound like
a freight train. Two of our guys broke under this strain and had
to be sent to the rear. I am not sure what happened to them but
I expect they were section eight's.
- At another time one of the guys thought that a self-inflicted
wound would get him out sooner so he shot his foot with a rifle.
Unfortunately he did this while the rest of us were sitting around
in a concrete lined room. The shell ricocheted around the room
missing everyone.
- Another time one of the guys with a BAR tried to jump onto the
back of a moving truck. The gun went off accidentally spraying
the area behind him but no one got hurt.
- At one time when we had nothing better to do, we decided to
do a little fishing in the Rhine river using hand grenades. This
method of fishing proved to be very efficient
- While in Belgium I was sitting in a second story room with a
friend who was drinking schnapps, the German equivalent of Tequila.
He was leaning back in a chair near a wood stove and passed out
hitting his head on a hard object that resulted in a bad wound.
I immediately thought that maybe he had a case for a Purple Heart.
To worsen the situation I attempted to dispose of the remains
of his bottle by pouring it into the wood stove. As you might
expect the whole side of the room ignited in flames.
- Everybody gets sick at some time. I recall in one town, after
we had checked out a building where we thought we could sleep
that night, we found a hidden cache of wine. We were told that
there was now a new rule and we would have to sleep in pup tents
using our little stove heaters for warmth. I recall getting a
can of applesauce from the mess, eating some, and getting deathly
sick (botulism). The main problem now was getting out of the pup
tent every hour or so and into the freezing weather to reach the
latrine.
- One night in the Siegfried line I had to go outside the pillbox
to find relief. After crawling through a slit trench for protection,
keeping my head down, I completed my chore and returned to the
pillbox. When I tried to rejoin the guys inside they told me to
find another spot to sleep that night.
- During our fighting In the Siegfried line, my mail was delivered
to me in the field one time. So for a brief moment I enjoyed reading
my comic books behind a log as the shooting continued around us.
- There was another interesting thing that occurred during our
trip along the Reich Autobahn near the close of the war. As we
passed an open and fairly flat field a couple of P51 pilots set
down to see what trophies we had to exchange.
- Finally, a pass
to Paris - While in Camp Oklahoma four of us decided to take
a trip to Paris on June 23rd. Two Texans, a guy from NY, and me.
We stopped at various bases along the way for meals and found
quarters around Rainbow corners from the USO. Romeo, our New Yorker,
disappeared early down a side street. At the end of our visit
we located trucks near the Eiffel tower that were returning to
camp, and hid under the seats. When we got back to camp we found
that our sergeant had covered up for us and all was well.
- The Division loaded into LCI's at Le Havre and was transported
to the Navy Transport "West Point". The trip home was
fun, and we arrived to a tremendous reception in New York Harbor
on July 11th. My mother saved a newspaper
clipping announcing the West Point's arrival.
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Waiting to board the
LCI's
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Boarding the "West
Point"
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