MY ARMY DAYS: WWII (51-60)

            -51-

But at that time, I did not know

That it was loaded still

So when I pressed the trigger of

That gun, it just went off

And scared me almost half to death

Until I realized

That this Schmeisser had once been used

To fire at our men.

The next thing that I recollect

Was firing my rifle

At two ducks out on a pond some

Eight hundred yards away

I had just filed my rifle’s sight

Down to a sharpened point

And I was anxious now to learn

Just how my rifle shot.

I raised the rear sight up until

I’d gone twenty-four clicks

At three clicks drop per hundred yards

I’d have the distance right

So I lay prone, the sling up tight

And aimed right at those ducks

I squeezed the trigger and then just watched

To see where I would hit.

            -52-

The distance was exactly on

I’d estimated right

But when I saw the water splash

Right in between the ducks

I knew this weapon would be right

For they were swimming close

And I now had a good excuse

For filing down that sight.

Now when our rest was nearly down

We got a pile of mail

I got letters from my mom, and

From my sisters too

I also got a single one

The one I’d waited for

I read the others first, and then

I opened Paula’s last.

I read it thru, then stood in shock

It was a “Dear John” note

Her letter was straight to the point,

It left me in no doubt

She’d found another, so she said

And would I write no more

I stood there disbelieving what

She’d written me was true.

            -53-

But finally it did sink in

My Paula was no more

I thought about the time we’d met

Upon my favorite pond

And of the times we’d spent since then

Now all had gone for naught

I’d been away from her for too long

And this was the result.

I heaved a sigh of disbelief

Then put her from my mind

I could not be distracted when

There was so much to do

She’d taken up with someone else

And “that was that” I thought

I acted as I’d never heard

Of Paula Jane Ballou.

Some two weeks later we did leave

This town they called La Garde

We traveled northeast to the town

The French called Wimmenau

Our division was now complete

We had artillery

And other troops who were not here

When we first came overseas.

            -54-

And so we went back into line

As divisional reserve

Our sleeping quarters were a barn

We slept upon the hay

That was OK with all of us

And we slept very well

A lot better than all the guys

In foxholes at the front.

Our time was now devoted to

The training of new troops

The two replacements that we got

We put right thru the mill

We taught them how our mortar worked

And ran them through some drills

In case that day should ever come

When they would need those skills.

But over in the section that

Was run by Sergeant Webb

He had the task of replacing

A whole machine gun squad.

I know he split his first squad up

To make a second squad

With replacements filling in

And learning what they could.

            -55-

But now that we were in reserve

Patrols did fall on us

And ‘oft we did supply the men

To make these nightly raids

Sometimes a squad, or full platoon

Were called for from above

No notion did they have at all

Of what these men went through.

The squads went on reconnaissance

Were led by non-coms now

Platoons were led by officers

And were combat patrols

But when the Germans ascertained

A certain route they took

They’d plant that area with mines

That would blow off a foot.

We lost some men on these patrols

Most all stepped on a mine

But these patrols did show to us

That Jerry was spread thin

He put his men quite far apart

With Schu mines in between

And hoped to hold us in this way

For they did get few men.

            -56-

And finally on March the ninth

We went back into line

We’d had more snow that melted fast

It was too close to spring.

We were attached to third platoon

As often was the case

We set out mortar up again

Behind a wooded bank.

Instead of foxholes we did have

A vaulted dugout type

Dug deeply far into the bank

And partly ‘neath a tree

We stayed only five days and yet

Two incidents occurred

The first beneath the melting snow

A dead German appeared.

We called the Company to see

What they would have to say

We’ll send Graves Registration men

And they’ll take care of him.

The other incident occurred

Before we were pulled out

“Don’t knock that mortar down just yet,

Just send us up a flare.”

            -57-

This call came on our telephone

They seemed so insistent

I said OK, where should we fire

He said he wasn’t sure

Just put one out there right away

And we can tell from that

And so we shot up our first flare

I called – “It’s on the way.”

We saw it pop and then flare out

And then there came a ring

“Stop, stop,” he shouted o’er the phone

“It’s right over our men.”

The flare we’d shot had stopped our men

They had to stand stock still

It seems they’d left our mortar squad

To cover a pullout.

Our squad was now the last to know

That we had been relieved

They left us there to shoot up flares

So the Krauts wouldn’t know

That we’d been pulled out of our line

And would attack elsewhere

This is a thing they would not say

Over the telephone.

            -58-

A runner reached us later on

And said that we should come

We packed up all our gear and left

And at the road were met

By trucks that took us not too far

Until we had rejoined

The other squads of our platoon

We were alone no more.

We’d be right there for just one night

Our barracks bags had come

We hadn’t seen them since Strasbourg

They were a welcome sight

We now could have a change of clothes

Could take the snow-pacs off

And put on combat boots again

To lighten up our feet.

We did these things, then settled down

To sleep just off the road

They woke us up at four A.M.

“Take only weapons now.”

We were attached to third platoon

And started up the hill

We reached our jump-off spots too soon

For it was still quite dark.

            -59-

We would have no artillery prep

And it was planned that way

We’d just move out at six o’clock

As softly as we could.

But soft or loud, it mattered not

For as we started out

We ran right into a minefield

And then all hell broke loose.

Our men were stuck in that minefield

And dared to make no move

A lot of men had lost their feet

While some of them were killed.

And then the Kraut mortars began

To hit the trees in bursts

They always covered minefields with

Sniper and mortar fire.

I found an old machine gun pit

It was dug very deep

And covered well with logs and dirt

The perfect place to watch.

And so I put my entire squad,

We now were down to four,

Into this spot to wait it out

Until we could proceed.

            -60-

I looked out from my covered hole

And saw a sorry sight

A rifleman had lost both legs

Was propped against a tree.

I crawled out of my hole alone

To see what I could do.

It was Coslow of First Platoon

And he’d been hit so bad.

 “I’m waiting for the Medics now”

Was what he said to me,

“There’s not a thing that you can do

Except to stay with me.”

And so I stayed, ‘til medics came

And carried him away

I then crawled back into my hole

To see what next we’d do.

I later learned that we had sustained

A lot of casualties

Max Larsen, our only Mormon lad,

Had lost his foot, and then

Had fallen forward, hit his head

And then was gone like that.

One other had been killed we learned

By heavy mortar fire.

MY ARMY DAYS: WWII (61-70)

            -61-

But most of our casualties

Occurred in that minefield

When riflemen, in dimmest light,

Stepped on those wicked mines.

Most lost a foot, and falling down

Would sometimes lose an arm

No one could ever take their place

For they were gone for good.

I then got word from up in front

Lieutenant Benson called

To come up here, we need to talk

And so I started out

I pulled myself along the ground

As flat as I could be

I watched for mines, they were the threat

While mortars burst in trees.

I reached Lieutenant Benson’s side

And found him lying flat

“Can you get us some mortar fire

Into that sniper’s nest?”

I had to tell him that we couldn’t

The trees are far too thick

We cannot find a place to fire

Or help you out at all.

            -62-

Then as I turned around to go

I noticed that I lay

Upon a tripwire tied right to

One of our own grenades.

I quickly looked right at the pin

To see if it was in

And saw it had been partly pulled

A little more – and “bang.”

I pushed it in and bent it back

So it could not come out

I then untied it, pulled the pin

And hurled it far, far out

Then I turned and looked around

And saw our engineers

Just probing ground ahead of them

And clearing us a path.

They did their job so quietly

Did not remove the mines

But cleared a path so we could see

Each box with cover up

The sniper who had held us up

We now found lying dead

One of our men had spotted him

And got him in the head.

            -63-

The mortar fire had slackened off

They may have used their rounds

And so we rose up to our feet

And started out again

We went right thru in single file

The path that had been cleared

No opposition did we meet

And soon we all were through.

Then taking up a column march

We headed toward the north

Right through the woods without a stop

We traveled all that day

We met no Kraut resistance there

For they had all pulled out

And when the evening had begun

The captain called a halt.

 “Now settle down,” our sergeants said,

“And get yourselves some rest

We will move out before the dawn

And you can bet on that.”

We formed a line, encircling us

Like wagon days of old

We’d found a slight depression where

My squad had planned to sleep.

            -64-

I had my four-man squad with me

And we were packed in tight

We had nothing to keep us warm

And it was getting cold.

Our section leader settled in

Next to me on my left

When the burp guns just opened up

And hell broke loose again.

But now we all returned the fire

As fast as we could shoot

We could not see in front of us

For it had gotten dark

And so we just shot straight ahead

And hoped to find a mark.

The din was so terrific now

‘Twas a real firefight.

Then to my left Zip Zeysing groaned

“I think I’ve just been hit.”

“Where ‘bouts?” I asked. “In my left leg

That burp gun stitched me good.”

“Hold on,” was my reply to him,

“Until their fire lets up.

If you can crawl, then start on back

A medic is quite near.”

            -65-

That was the last I saw of him

For he had crawled way back

The firing stopped as it began

So very suddenly

I turned to check up on my men

And found that none was hit

They’d stayed way down, so very low

The fire passed over them.

But then I looked again and saw

That Seradarian

Had piled his rounds, all six of them,

Right up in front of him.

He was our newest man and thought

They were protecting him.

But had a bullet hit those shells

None of us would have lived.

Now when the firing had ceased

We lay there for a while

Then I arose to look around

And check on Zeysing’s leg.

I couldn’t find him, but found a horse

With wagon still attached

The horse was dead, the wagon searched

One blanket did I find.

            -66-

A blanket at that very time

Was what we needed most

For it could help to keep us warm

It now was getting cold.

I helped my men dig out a space

Wherein we all could lie

The blanket covered three of us

While one of us kept watch.

And while we all were hunkered down

Our sergeant came to us

And said to me, “With Zeysing hit

You are the next in line

And so you become the leader

Of our three mortar squads.”

Tom Hamilton now took my place

And each moved up a notch.

Then word came down that we must send

A man to go with those,

Who had been wounded in the fight

Just a short while ago.

So I sent Wren, the newest man

Who never did fit in

And wanted nothing more than this

To get out of the fight.

            -67-

I then went out as the new man

To head the section up

To let the other squads now know

That Zeysing had been hit

And now that I had been moved up

They would report to me

And with that duty done, I thought

I now can get some sleep.

We did not sleep too well that night

It was in fits and starts

With changing watch every two hours

My turn was four o’clock.

So as the dawn did give more light

I thought I saw a blob

Lying right out in front of us

It was a big dead Kraut.

Our casualties were light that night

Two wounded and one dead

The wounded were Zip Zeysing who

Had caught it in the leg

The other was a replacement

Shumpert was his name.

Crossland was the one who died

Killed by those Kraut burp guns.

            -68-

I do not know the casualties

The Germans took that night

For as the day was getting light

I only saw the one.

But as the others made their counts

The total went up fast.

It seems the Krauts in their attack

Had lost at least eighteen.

When we had gotten organized

We started out again

And traveled on for miles and miles

Until that afternoon

We reached a hill that overlooked

A road and a small town

The captain then did call a halt

And all of us sat down.

We looked across the valley then

At a big wooded hill

And thought that if defended now

It would be tough to take

But while we sat, we saw new troops

Just passing right on through

And then we saw two water-cooled

Machine guns start to shoot.

            -69-

The new troops were Company G

They had been in reserve

But now they formed a skirmish line

Before they reached the road

And while we waited we could hear

Artillery on the way

It just erupted on that hill

As time on target will.

All guns of ours and of Sixth Corps

Had come to bear at once,

If there were any living Krauts

It was a miracle.

Artillery kept up their fire

About five minutes more

And then ceased fire as suddenly

As when they had begun.

And as we watched, that skirmish line

Just jumped across the road.

They started up the hill and soon

Had disappeared from sight.

We heard no shots, the hill was ours

Those Krauts who still did live

Were stunned by our artillery

And quit without a fight.

            -70-

It was then our Captain called and

Told us to move out fast

To cross the road and up the hill

Before the coming dark.

We crossed the road, went up the hill

And kept on going then

It was midnight ‘fore we stopped

And each went right to sleep.

We got the sign and countersign

And posted men to watch

Then climbed into our gas mask capes

To gain a little heat.

We shivered with the cold all night

Got very little sleep

Were set to go by five o’clock

Before the sun came up.

We’d always moved just off the road

That led us toward the east

We could not travel on the road

Because of all the trees

The Krauts had dropped them down for miles

So nothing moved at all

Until our engineers had sawed

And pulled them off the road.

MY ARMY DAYS: WWII (71-80)

            -71-

And once the trees had all been cleared

We came down from the hills

And moved along much faster now

Accompanied by tanks.

We once were stopped in a village

Where snipers held us up

But heavy tank fire into town

Convinced the Krauts to quit.

But soon we reached the dragon teeth

That lined the Siegfried Line.

It was then that we all did know

We were in Germany

Which outfit had first crossed the line

Will never now be known

The skipper called for us to halt

And move into the woods.

We stayed in this spot for a day

Until ‘twas figured out

Which outfit would make the attack

Into the Siegfried Line.

We rested back just far enough

So we would not be hit

And somehow knew with certainty

That we would be the ones.

            -72-

And sure enough when darkness came

Our leaders spoke to us

And said that we’d attack at six

After a huge barrage.

This time we were not that concerned

About our losing feet

For when artillery hit that hard

It would explode the mines.

And so we ate some C-rations

That just had been brought up

Then sat around and quietly

Did speak of times gone past

Of our girlfriends, and also wives

We reminisced a lot

Then turned into our cold gas capes

And spent a chilly night.

At four o’clock we all arose

And got some K’s to eat

The mortar squads were still attached

As they had always been

First and third in skirmish line

Would make the first attack

While second platoon was in reserve

To fill in any gaps.

            -73-

And so we waited once again

For our artillery

And promptly at five forty-five

It came down with a bang

The noise was unbelievable

The cordite stench was bad

But right on time, at six o’clock

We started our attack.

The artillery lifted as we moved

And threw shells to the rear

While we with useless mortars could

Do nothing to help out.

But many of our riflemen

Had spotted a pillbox

And if we could take that one out

We could move right ahead.

Then one who had a satchel charge

Did creep up to its side

And threw that charge into the slit

And – bang – that box was ours.

We then moved quickly up the hill

Right thru the dragon teeth

Our engineers came right behind

And blew some all to bits.

            -74-

The tankers now went right on through

And we just followed them

Our casualties in this attack

Were not one single man.
We then got back onto the road

And moved along all day

The Krauts had seemingly pulled out

And were in full retreat.

We then continued on our way

And came upon a sight

Of what artillery can do

To a convoy in flight.

There were wagons just everywhere

But most along the road

Both men and horses had been caught

By that terrific fire.

We had a slow time passing through

The damage was so great

But some Kraut wagons did contain

The blankets for their group

And these we took most gratefully

For nights were very cold

But then we heard we were pinched out

And would stay put a while.

            -75-

Then when we reached the little town

Of Dimbach, we were told

To spend the time just rounding up

The horses that survived.

We also used the horses to

Flush out some hidden Krauts

The remnants of the Tenth Mountain

The one we just destroyed.

I never had been on a horse

But Borders showed me how

He had ridden most of his life

I took his training well.

And then one day while we were out

Just riding thru the hills

We saw a couple of Kraut troops

And took them prisoner.

I dismounted from my horse

And held the two at bay

While Borders rode back into town

To find out what to do.

I learned that they were Polish troops

And had been forced to serve

They wanted to surrender to

The first Ami they saw.

            -76-

And so we turned them over to

Prisoner Detention

And then the two of us went out

To round up all the strays.

And these we turned into the town

To use as they saw fit.

And so we were afoot again

And finally got some rest.

We stayed there for about a week

We packed up all our gear

Then left in trucks on Easter morn

To go across the Rhine.

We rode all day and when night came

We crossed it on pontoons

And all the trucks had half-lights on

As we headed into Worms.

We traveled just about all night

And when the dawn did break

We halted in a little town

To catch some sleep and wait

It must have been late afternoon

When we did get the call

To move, and so we headed east

But this time ‘twas by foot.

            -77-

Now Würzburg was our latest goal

It lay upon the Main

But in between were villages

And each had to be cleared

So we devised a strategy

For taking these small towns

We’d move in column on the road

Until we got some flack.

Then two platoons would form a line

Extending right and left

And we’d set up all three mortars

In the best place we could

The skirmish line did then move out

With scouts out way ahead

And if resistance then was met

They all would go to ground.

Now it was then our mortar squads

Would show what they could do

And for the first time in this war

A section we became.

We had our three guns all lined up

In close proximity

To fire wherever needed most

And only on command.

            -78-

We then received our fire requests

Directly from platoons

And when they asked us for support

We always did the same

We set up for four hundred yards

Then drove the base plate in

By firing first with a charge four

Which sent those rounds way out

Which always made the Germans think

We hadn’t spotted them

Then each gunner would set his sight

Level and on base stake

But this time he would use charge one

To reach four hundred yards

Then each squad would fire a round

Thirty seconds apart.

And as the rounds would hit and burst

Each leader would adjust

To hit the Krauts with the next round

Without a bracket first.

When all were ready – they were fast –

We’d all get set to fire.

Each assistant held one armed round

And waited my command.

            -79-

I dropped my arm, they dropped their rounds

And all were on their way

We watched to see where they would land

And then fired for effect

Five rounds now went out of each gun

Before the first did hit

And when those rounds dropped in so fast

The Krauts just up and quit.

Our riflemen then started in

And moved in very fast

Before the Krauts decided that

They may have quit too soon.

The bed sheets started coming out

White flags were everywhere

It’s then we knew the town was ours

We moved to clean it out.

We captured many prisoners

In that one town alone

Then sent them off to prison camps

Where they would end the war.

We then went house to house to see

Where we would sleep that night

For in the morning we would start

This whole routine again.

            -80-

We captured many towns, and hiked

So many, many miles

In taking major cities like

Würzburg, Schweinfurt and Fürth

But Munich was the best of all

If war can be called “best”

For here we rode the tanks all day

Where we had hiked before.

Würzburg was mostly Two Three Two

Although we did help out

What I’ll remember mostly is

The castle on the hill

It had a rainbow painted on

With our division too

Before the city had been ours

By a good hour or two.

I also think about three vats

We found at Würzburg U.

They were wood vats of giant size

And filled right to the brim,

With wine, that all would love to have

If access could be had,

But word passed fast, the general heard

And promptly put out guards.

MY ARMY DAYS: WWII (81-90)

            -81-

So we who had found all those vats

Had not a drop to drink

While those in the rear echelon

Just drank ‘til all were drunk.

That’s still what I remember most

Although I had a scare

Came face to face with a big Kraut

Who wanted just to quit.

Schweinfürt was the next biggest town

That we were told to take

It housed the great ball bearing works

Where we’d lost all these planes

In making daylight air attacks

Against these factories

But that was just before we came

And now it was our turn.

The date was April, the Fifteenth

That I remember still

And so will every G.I. Joe

Who fought that day as well

For it was on this very day

We lost our President

Our politics did differ some

But still I felt the loss.

            -82-

Our dawn attack was scheduled to

Begin at six o’clock

Preceded by an air assault

That came as a surprise

Medium bombers came in low

To keep us in the clear

And bombed the center of that town

‘Til there was nothing left.

Wave after wave, we watched them come

Left nothing but debris

Over which we had to climb, as

We started our attack.

We saw no one, we heard some shots

Resistance was quite low

We went right through and cleared that town

And never fired a shot.

We searched for billets when we stopped

So we could sleep that night

But only found some raunchy bunks

Where D.P.’s had been kept

But straw bunks were much better than

Sleeping on the cold ground

But right next door, to compensate,

We found a Kraut drugstore.

            -83-

This store was something else again

For it was so well stocked

The things associated with

Drugstores did not exist

Instead, as search revealed to me

Big crates of pink champagne

Why it was here, we’ll never know

Just made the most of it.

The next day was a day of rest

And it was just as well

Too many men in our platoon

Had heads that hurt like hell

And I suspected this was true

Among the riflemen

For we had shared our loot with them

With only guards exempt.

Perhaps the champagne did some good

For now most were relaxed

And when big heads did disappear

We were all set to go.

Our brass had figured that we’d turn

And head southward toward Fürth

Other outfits were then assigned

To take out Nuremburg.

            -84-

We traveled back the way we’d come

But this time was by truck

Back past Würzburg’s painted castle

And then we headed south

We moved on trucks for half a day

And then went on by foot

Each regiment had its own road

So off we went again.

Our usual approach to each small town

Was as described before

With mortars working as a team

And riflemen out front

Most every town as we approached

Would show the great white sheets

Then we would check each house in town

And then head for the next.

These towns were not too far apart

Perhaps three miles or so

But I have vivid thoughts of one

Late in the afternoon

We were about ten miles from Fürth

Had reached an open field

When Krauts were spotted digging in

Outside of the next town.

            -85-

There was no spot where we could place

The mortars out of sight

There was nothing our riflemen

Could do except lay flat.

We set our guns and placed our stakes

Right out where all could see

Then fired those guns to set the plates

And then the fun began.

Our second rounds were at the Krauts

That then were digging in

And once we had adjusted guns

We fired for effect

The rounds came down upon the Krauts

And gave them pause for thought

Our light machine guns took the flanks

And started their own fire.

The riflemen then moved ahead

In rapid jumps and starts

While we kept dropping in those rounds

As fast as we could fire.

Our combined actions did the trick

The Krauts began to run

We stopped our fire, knocked down our guns

And moved ahead again.

            -86-

The Krauts had mostly disappeared

Except the wounded few

And those whose war had gone kaput

Hit by our mortar rounds.

And when that skirmish ended there

We moved to clear the town

And found it full of big white sheets

That told us they had quit.

It now was getting on toward dark

So we picked out a house.

The men did eat some rations first

Then settled down to sleep.

They slept on beds, and slept on floors

And when I had returned

From setting guards out for our watch

There was no place for me.

The only place that was not filled

Was a new baby crib

There was no way that I could stretch

My legs while in that thing

But if I curled up on my side

I might just make it work

So that is what I had to do

And thus earned a new name.

            -87-

I will not say just what it was

But each can take a guess

It mattered not, for by the dawn

We all were rousted out

To start the new day off again

As we had spent the last

We ate our rations, then took off

Just chasing after Krauts.

We slogged our way along the road

That led us on toward Fürth

Then as we neared that famous town

We passed right through some woods

And here we found artillery

Counting about twelve guns

That they were big, that much we saw

We did not know the size.

They had been camouflaged quite well

With ammo at each gun

Yet there was not a Kraut around

They had abandoned them.

And after we had passed them by

We moved most of the day

And early in the afternoon

We reached the town of Fürth.

            -88-

Now we were high upon a hill

That looked out o’er that town

And we could see just everything

That lay across the plain

We saw the road, there was a stretch

About a half mile wide

That carried German vehicles

Both to the north and south.

We were among apartments now

With gardens down below

Where we could set out mortars up

We then could hit the road.

We spotted well from on the decks

And so had each gun fire

To set each base plate deep enough

Before we opened up.

I watched these base plate shells explode

Way out beyond the road

Then brought the guns back in toward us

And gave them each the range

I varied each a little bit

One long, one short, one on

To see which one would be the best

And closest to the road.

            -89-

They fired, and as I watched I timed

So I would know how long

It took those shells to hit the road

And then go on from there.

When they exploded, by my watch

‘Twas twenty seconds flat

And knew that I must time the rounds

To traffic on the road.

I then adjusted each to hit

As close as we could get

Then timed the traffic from each end

To see how far they went

The motorcycles crossed the space

Faster than we could shoot

But tanks and half-tracks poked along

And thus were ideal game.

The tanks we could not touch at all

While they were buttoned up

But half-tracks full of German troops

Were what we waited for

And soon a convoy came along

Heading south to north

And when they reached a certain point

I knew we had them cold.

            -90-

I gave directions to each squad

To have six rounds apiece,

With charges pulled, ready to go

With one all set to drop.

Each squad now waited for my sign

To start their small barrage

And when the half-tracks reached a point

I dropped my arm to fire.

It took not more than ten seconds

To get off eighteen rounds.

The last was gone before the first

Had even hit the ground.

But when they hit among those ‘tracks

The damage was so great

It bottled up the fields and road

No traffic now could cross.

And so we cleaned our mortars out

And stayed right where we were.

We waited for the night to come

So we could settle down.

We’d moved on foot a lot that day

And fired our mortars some

Now we were tired, and needed sleep

And so we hit the sack.

MY ARMY DAYS: WWII (91-100)

            -91-

We wakened when we heard some shots

And wondered what was up

We thought it was just nervous guards

And so went back to sleep

But later on we were to learn

The Krauts had sent out troops

And killed three men from First Platoon

While they were fast asleep.

At three o’clock they wakened us

And said we would attack

Across the field and road we’d hit

And then we’d be in Fürth

We moved across the field quite fast

The road and river too

Then up the other side we went

To wait for six o’clock.

But just before we made our jump

White flags began to show

It was still dark, but we could see

The Germans coming out.

They surrendered, all of them,

And we just went on through

We sent the Krauts back to the rear

With just a guard or two.

            -92-

It was the same, where’er we went

The Germans just gave up

We saw one Kraut in uniform

Just kiss his wife goodbye

And knew that he had been called up

Not many days before

The old, the young, the crippled too

Would try to make a stand.

So after we had taken Fürth

We headed south again

Thru many towns and villages

All flew the big white flag.

We had but one slight incident

Some miles south of Fürth

There we were strafed by three Kraut planes

That came down on the road.

They came in line, and opened fire

Before we spotted them

Then each man jumped to save his life

It mattered not just where

One of my squads had moved thru town

Along a garden wall

And when they jumped, they fell ten feet

And nothing broke their fall.

            -93-

The mortar, sight, and cleaning rod

All ended up in mud

But as each man got himself up

Not one of them was hurt.

We looked again to find the planes

But found that they were gone.

We later learned they’d been shot down

By our P51’s.

We went across the Blue Danube

That wasn’t very blue

It was a wide and muddy stream

And so we crossed in boats

When the south side had been secured

Our engineers then built

A pontoon bridge to get the tanks

And vehicles across.

So we continued on our way

When evening called a halt

We stopped right near the autobahn

That led down to the south

Toward Munich and still further on

This open road did go

We thought of how we’d move along

If we were on that road.

            -94-

We spent the night in this small town

Without an incident

And in the early morning dawn

We saw a lot of tanks

They now were on the autobahn

And waited just for us.

We climbed aboard and off we went

And now it was a race.

The Third Division raced us hard

The Forty-Fifth did too

All tried to reach the old beer hall

Where Hitler got his start.

It took two days to reach the town

For often we did stop

To clear the road of SS troops

Who tried to block our way.

We’d passed by Dachau in our plunge

To get to Munich first

And later learned that some of ours

Had gone into that camp

They saw the horrors in the stripes

The living and the dead

The living only skin and bones

The dead lay everywhere.

            -95-

The German guards were shot on sight

Wherever they were found

But very little could be done

For those close to their deaths

The dead were stacked as cordwood is,

Around each oven door

While inside, ashes and their bones

Were all that once were men.

And now we were so very glad

That we’d been picked that day

To ride the autobahn on tanks

And miss out on Dachau.

We had no envy for our friends

In our first battalion

Who had a most distasteful task

Of cleaning up the camp.

At last we came into Munich

And stopped quite close to dark

We jumped down off the tanks we rode

And looked across the street

For here we saw a storage plant

That was chock full of food

It did not take us very long

To load that tank with crates.

            -96-

We then jumped back onto the tanks

And rumbled down the road

Until we came to the billets

Selected for the night.

We took the food down off the tanks

And carried it within

Then had a feast, the likes of which

We’d never had before.

The Swede was a machine gunner

Who liked to eat his eggs

Now he had a whole crate full, but

Could eat just twenty-eight

The rest of us just ate and ate

‘Til we could eat no more

Then after setting guards about

We settled down to snore.

Now as for us, we slept that night

And rested one more day

And then we started south again

Thru old Bavaria

Town after town, we passed on through

Without a single stop

Sometimes we rode the tanks or trucks

But mostly we just walked.

            -97-

There was one time that we were stopped

By just a bunch of kids

They had an MG forty-two

And stopped our movement cold.

So we had to set up our guns

As our riflemen deployed.

We thought four hundred yards would do

For nothing could we see.

We got a call, from out in front,

On where we were to fire

The range was right, but where to shoot

Was anybody’s guess.

And so we dropped one round ahead

“You’re shooting far, far to the right,”

The answer soon came back.

We then adjusted all the guns

And moved them to the left

Then dropped another round out front

And hoped it would be close

“You’re long about ten yards or more

And now just to the left.

Come in a bit, and move more right

And you’ll be where we want.”

            -98-

These weren’t the ways that mortar men

Were used to firing guns

But this is what we got that day

From someone out in front

So we corrected all our guns

According to his word

Then started firing while we searched

Traversing left to right.

 “You’re on,” I heard him shout in glee

Over my five three six,

“One landed right on that bunch of Krauts

And now confusion reigns.

I do believe they’re giving up

Stop firing anytime.”

And so I gave the sign to halt

And sure enough they quit.

The Germans just threw up their hands

They were about sixteen

They all were just a lot of kids

Whose officer was dead.

He had been hit by mortar fire

That rattled these young kids.

And with him dead, they chose to quit,

And this is what they did.

            -99-

We moved on out, when we were sure

The village had been cleared

This was the last time in the war

That we would have to fire.

In two more days of marching so

We entered Austria

And there we rested for a while

Just waited out the war.

The war did end officially

The seventh day of May

But for most of us at least

It ended days before

We now began to occupy

The villages and towns,

The western part of Austria

Known mainly as Tyrol.

We traveled now by German trucks

We’d captured in the war

And first went up to Krimmel

The last town to the west

Where the Salzach River begins

So high up in the Alps

It was a pleasant place to stay

The fishing was just great.

            -100-

We stayed in Krimmel for a month

And then were called upon

To furnish General Collins troops

To act as honor guards.

We went by truck to Kitzbühel

That lies in the Tyrol

This was a ski town ‘fore the war

But none of us did ski.

We stayed in Kitzbühel for a month

It had a great hotel

Where General Collins lived in style

With non-coms as his guards.

We stood our watch throughout each night

Two man on every floor

And then had four days of our own

To see the sights of town.

We went up on the Hoehnenbahn

The ski lift for the town

Went way above the timberline

And could see all around

The snowcapped peaks just to the west

Was where the Alps began

While down below we saw the town

It looked so very small.

MY ARMY DAYS: WWII (101-113)

            -101-

Then after we had done our tour

As General Collins guards

We went to Krimmel once again

And here we stayed a while.

I had a friend who liked to fish

And so the two of us

Climbed up the single mountain trail

That leads to Italy.

We fished where’er we found a pool

And had a lot of trout

To fry and eat up for our lunch

When we did reach the top.

The mountain then did flatten out

And we could see a sign,

That said we’d entered Italy

No other signs were seen.

As soon as we had crossed the line

We built ourselves a fire

And with some crackers crumbled up

And with a little fat

We fried ourselves four trout apiece

That’s all our mess kits held

They were delicious as could be

And we were satisfied.

            -102-

After we’d eaten up our trout

We headed down the trail

And going down was faster than

The climb in going up.

We came so fast, we hurt our legs

And had to take a break

At least we now could say to all

We’d been in Italy.

We moved again after our stay

In Krimmel, which we loved.

This time to Salzburg, where it looked

Like we’d be called upon

To leave for the Pacific soon

So training did begin

We had to teach our replacements

How mortars worked and fired.

A lot of men who had the points

Were leaving to go home

But we, mostly unmarried still,

Stayed on to train new men.

We had a mostly intact group

That is how young we were

We lost Ben Gerber who went home

The last of older men.

            -103-

I now assumed the non-com role

Of our weapons platoon

Though I never did get the rank,

Advancements were on hold.

And when the rank did come

It went to someone else.

They thought that I was far too young

To run a whole platoon.

We trained in Salzburg for a while

But then before we left

The war against Japan did end

And we could just relax.

But once again we moved on out

Rotation was the name

Up the Salzach once again

This time to Neukirchen.

I’d played some ball when I was young

But always played baseball

I did not care to play softball

This was a game for girls.

But when the army took up sports

To keep us occupied

Softball was all we had to play

And so we saw it thru.

            -104-

I used to pitch when seventeen

And played some shortstop too.

But pitching with this great big ball

And under-handed too

Was something I would never try

Nor could I if I would

So I became a short-fielder

Fly balls were now my game.

At first we played on bumpy fields

Cow pastures they were called.

But gradually we smoothed them out

And played much better ball.

I played a mediocre field

But I could always hit

And so was picked to play short-field

On our battalion team.

We played the other battalions

In Salzberg, Neukirchen

And finally played at Zell am See,

For the regimental crown,

But we were beaten by one run,

There’s no more I can say

We all returned to army life

And waited to go home.

            -105-

And while in this unpleasant town

We had some chores to do

We took a load of prisoners south

So they could be released.

And then with winter coming on

I, and some of my men

Were sent way back into the hills

To guard a prison camp.

This was a cold and snowy job

But had its moments too

We had a brand new officer

Who hadn’t learned the ropes.

And so I ran that prison camp

The way that I saw fit

And let our men go hunting deer

When no duty was assigned.

I went out hunting by myself

As often as I did go

And jumped a deer right out of camp

But dared not take a shot

And so I slowly moved along

Until I saw three deer

I shot at one and down he went

The others disappeared.

            -106-

He kicked a lot when I arrived

So shot him in the head.

He wasn’t big, just a spikehorn

But just the size to eat.

I dragged him downhill to the camp

And gave him to the cook

She had her husband skin him out

And then he fed the camp.

We stayed in camp for one more week

And then we were relieved

Our regiment was off again

Vienna was our stop.

And here we stayed until we heard

That some were homeward bound

Most of my mortar men and I

Were in that homebound group.

We left by train and traveled back

The way that we had come

We stopped for four days in a town

While waiting for a ship

Then moved again straight for Le Havre

‘Twas on the coast of France

Then boarded a small freighter that

Ran right into a storm.

            -107-

It took us thirteen days to cross

That ship bucked all the way

But finally we did arrive

And gave one great big cheer

As we passed her going in, the

Statue of Liberty

We disembarked and boarded trains

That took us to our camp.

Now at Fort Dix, we turned all in

Except our army clothes

We went thru all the paperwork

That gave us a discharge

But then so I could keep my rank

I stayed in the Reserves.

When all the paperwork was done

They gave us all a pass.

 “Go up to New York City and

Have yourselves a time.

Just get a haircut and a shave

And let yourselves relax.

Eat in a noted restaurant

Longchamps comes to mind

Have yourselves a nice thick steak

Then sleep in a hotel.

            -108-

But don’t forget that each of you

Must be back here by noon.

We have allowed some extra time

So you can travel back.”

And so the six of us who went

Did everything he said

We got a haircut and a shave

Then ate at Longchamps too.

We got back into camp in fact

Before our time was up.

Then picked up our discharges and

A pin called “Ruptured Duck.”

It meant that we were on our own

Could leave at anytime

And so we said our goodbyes there

And promised we would write.

I took the local to New York

Then transferred once again

I boarded the New Haven line

Back up to Providence

From whence I’d left three years before

In all my innocence

And now returned, but all alone

No one to greet me there.

            -109-

I stood outside the station steps,

Just stood and looked around.

The sun was bright, the day was warm

It was March thirty-first.

A couple looked me up and down,

And saw my duffel bag.

They knew that I was coming home

And gave me a “Thank you.”

I hailed a cab, which took me to

My home on Cora Ave.

I met my mom, gave her a hug

And she held on to me

She said to me, “Thank God you’re back

And back without a scratch,”

And then she made a quiet call

I did not know to whom.

But soon I heard a car pull up

And much to my surprise

It was my buddy Gene McGrail

And with him was my Pat.

We’d left Gene at Camp Gruber

When he had taken ill

And I had taken up his place

When we’d gone overseas.

            -110-

And that was my big welcome home

I saw just Pat and Gene

My best friend Larry had come home

But he was off somewhere

And so I talked to Gene and Pat

About a wedding soon

All of which I’d started when in

Camp Gruber we were friends.

And so I bring this army tale

To a conclusion now

I’d gone from eighteen years of age

Who hardly had to shave,

To our Weapons Platoon Sergeant

With years far past my age.

And then began my life anew

Civilian once again.

I write this now at eighty-six

The memories return.

I see my old comrades in arms

As clear as I see sky.

I often wonder what became

Of each of them who lived,

To come back home, to take up life

As though they’d never left.

            -111-

My tears go out to all those men

Who died so long ago

And to those who lost a leg

Or lost an arm, or both.

They all have struggled thru this life

And who’s around to tell

The story of the fight each had

With Krauts, and with themselves.

I will not tell of army days

That started o’er again

When North Korea hit the south

And we were called back in.

I was not called to fight the war

That raged in Korea

I, and a group who trained with me,

Were sent to Germany.

I spent a year in that old land

That once I knew so well.

A bunch of men who’d seen the war

Were now called back again

To train Constabulary troops

That now patrolled Berlin

To ground soldiers, that gave rebirth

To the Sixth Infantry.

            -112-

I came back home as I had left

Without fanfare or fuss

There was no one to welcome me

I traveled all alone.

My wife knew that I’d soon be in

But did not know the hour

And so I went back home alone

Civilian life again.