Pismo Beach 1944

Notice. This is supposed to be a narrative of my WW2 experiences. But as blogspot shows the most recent posts on top if you want to look at my beginning experieces then go to the bottom to get at the beginning of my story. I will have enough posts that there will not be any in the archives. So go to the bottom and work your way up. I constantly add pictures and update the text as I remember more of what happened.

Brandenberg Gate October 1945

Brandenberg Gate 10/45








Notice. This is supposed to be a narrative of my WW2 experiences. But as blogspot shows the most recent posts on top if you want to look at my beginning experieces then go to the bottom to get at the beginning of my story. I will have enough posts that there will not be any in the archives. So go to the bottom and work your way up. I constantly add pictures and update the text as I remember more of what happened.

Emil Ludwig Kasserne in Darmstadt

See Bill Sheldon's War

Standing where I was in 1945 with GI guide

Hotel in Luxemburg. Generals HQ

This is the hotel where the generals lived while the foot soldier was slogging it out in the mud. No wonder generals like war. They don't sleep in the mud or expect to get shot or blown up

Luxenburg Hotel

We stayed in the hotel that was the HQ in 1945

Going over

`In February 1945 I was sent to Fort Meade MD to await shipment to somewhere overseas. They never tell you anything in the army. In early March we shipped out to New York. We loaded on the Queen Elizabeth the largest ship in the world. I boarded with many others and the ship sailed about 6 AM . This was very nice because there were about 16, 000 soldiers on the ship. Some had been on the ship for 3 days. Not seeing the light of day. The ship had many decks and because of the boarding procedure moving around was not permitted. I was given a hammock on the Promenade Deck observation lounge which in normal times was an exclusive place the rich and famous to congregate. But when I was there I was the bottom bunk with four other men above me. Across the isle hardly wide enough for two people to pass each other was another stack of bunks. This whole area was like that. Of course the windows were blackout so if we wanted to look at the ocean we had to go on the first class deck just outside our compartment. I had returned from Leave granted after I finished advanced radio and recuperating from an injury in an auto accident on the base at Ft. Sill. That kept me from shipping overseas for about a month. In the long run it was for the best because I kept out of the Battle of the Bulge. I still went to the area where the fighting went on.
We sailed about 6 am as I said but having just come on board and still excited I was awake and was on deck to watch the statute of Liberty pass by. There were very few others awake at this time to see what I saw. The ship took six days to cross to Glasgow Scotland. Normally it took three but because of submarines we went far south to avoid them. One of two English ports deep enough to accommodate the big ship.

On the way over we were fed twice a day. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs and orange marmalade. To this day I do not like marmalade much. Some soldiers put out a daily little newspaper. Mostly about how the war was going. I have a copy of this to this day. There was nothing to do except watch the ocean which I liked to do or gamble which I did not like. I learned early I could not win by gambling. Even today I don't think it is a way to make money. To the point I do not even buy lottery tickets with its million dollar winning tickets.
When we arrived in Glasgow Scotland because we were the last on we were the first off. I would guess it took a week to unload because we had to be unloaded by lighter which is a barge like conveyance. The ship went to Glasgow because the east coast of England was under attack from V2 rockets. Being a soldier we were not even told of the rocket attacks upon England. So I didn't even know about them until after the war.
They took us immediately to the train where before they closed the windows and pulled the shades some nice Scottish Red Cross girls gave us coffee. One of them tried to hurry and fell spilling her coffee. We all felt bad to see her fall.
The next time we saw the light of day was in Southampton on the south end of England on the English channel.
We were immediately put on board an old dirty Polish ship and as soon as it was loaded set out across the English channel. Because the train was blacked out on our way to Southampton we saw no evidence of the war. But in Southampton the harbor was in a shambles from bombing. We were more curious than having any fear or trepidation.
Our destination was LeHarve France on the English channel. This port had been severely damaged also from American and British bombs. We had to march through the town to get to one of the cigarette named camps out of town. Passing through the town we were observed by impassive French people looking out the windows at us. Some soldiers threw candy and gum towards those looking out the windows in the upper floors. For some reason those French didn't seem very friendly and we found out why later. The reason was that Allied bombing had killed about 25,000 French in Le Harve while trying to destroy the harbor and railroad terminal while the Germans occupied city. The idea of surgical strikes didn't originate with current day propaganda about smart bombs. They talked about pinpoint bombing in WW2. The Norton bomb sight was to aim the bombs for pin point accuracy. But it was American bombs that killed the 25,000 French. The British were worse. They essentially just closed their eyes and pulled the lever. If they got within miles they were lucky. But when you are aiming for an entire city what difference does it make if a few bombs hit some farms. To disparage Airforce aim does not disparage Airforce courage. They died like the ground soldier. In fact when I went to the Cemetery at Anzio in the '80's it seemed as if about half the 7,000 graves were Airforce men.

My stay in the camp on the edge of Le Harve was three days. Then we were marched back to the RR yards near the harbor. For a latrine at the RR yards there was only a fence between the staging area and the latrines. But what was funny was on other side was the town. In other words any privacy was for soldiers not the people of the town. You could see people hanging out the windows looking over at us. Spies???
We were loaded onto a French passenger train. There were about 6 people in a compartment. Just like the old movies. Two benches facing each other across the train width. Racks above for bags. No way to lie down. Just sit up for a couple days. Occasionally there would be a rest stop in one of the fields. This was the most miserable train ride in my life. Try sitting up for a couple days and see how fun it is. North of Paris we stopped along side a train of German prisoners going the other way. They were packed into coal cars which is an open car with sides about 4 feet high to hold coal. They were packed so tight if one died he could not have fallen down. I could have learned something if I had listened to one guy in our car who was talking German to them. Instead I spouted off why didn't he get in with them. They had done a pretty good number on me and I mindlessly went along with hate the enemy no matter what facts were. Our train ride was sumptuous compared to the cruelty these men were treated to.
But on we went up into Belgium where there had been much fighting. The tracks had been in very poor condition because of bombing and we were only able to go about 20 miles per hour. Even though at one place the last car jumped the track and had a rough ride until they could stop the train and put it back on the tracks.
Eventually we arrived in Verviers Belgium in the night. Like an old WW1 movie we debarked onto the platform of a blacked out town. We marched through the blacked out town for a mile or so until we arrive at the replacement depot where solders are kept until a permanent organization is found to assign them to. Pitch black. No one to show a light . A few went out to find a latrine. One fell into a hole in the dark and hurt himself. There may have been a few hundred men waiting for shipment to somewhere else. In a few days I and some others were shipped out to just south of Luxembourg to Villerupt near the Maginot line in France. The Maginot line were French fortifications made prior to WW2 to protect France from Germany. It was massive concrete fortifications. In this article you can see us standing near a couple.

We stayed in one of what had been French barracks. It was below freezing every night. All we had for warmth was a blanket sleeping bag. This is comprised of a wool blanket closed with a zipper. I slept in my clothes but still could not get warm. This is until I started putting my jacket around my feet. Once they were warm I kept pretty warm.
The French had a strange stove for heat. We had a little coal to make a fire with. The only thing is it was lined with firebrick. The idea was I suppose was to get the brick hot then keep it hot. Unfortunately it took most of the day to get it warm. During the night of course the fire went out and the stove cooled down. To this day I wonder if that why the French lost the war so fast. If their army was not better planned than that stove.

The picture of Frank, Kay and me in the hotel shows why Generals like war so much. Not many have to rough it. They don't expect to get shot at either. We are sitting in the Hotel that had been the headquarters for the Army in Luxembourg. The hotel had big pictures posted on the walls of the Generals who stayed there. We stayed at the hotel too that's why we are sitting in the lobby. Even the General of 3rd DivArty had a trailer for to sleep in. So it was just a camping trip for him. I suppose he needed his rest to make his big decisions. Not like the foot slogger whose only decisions was just to stay alive.

I had an opportunity to visit Luxembourg city during my stay here. It was just a few miles north of Villerupt on the major highway in LuxembourgOne day we hopped on a truck and went to the red cross. Unfortunately we missed the truck coming back and had to hitchhike back. That wasn't so bad but we caught a ride in a jeep driven by a mad man I think coming back from the front. But we arrived in one piece no worse for the wear. I went back to Luxembourg city in 1984 with Kay and Frank Brown. We visited the Maginot line again by renting a car. We also visited the town Villerupt near by that I was able to visit several times in WW2. I and a buddy met a Frenchman who gave us a drink and talked to us while some of the others visited the Army run brothel. The Japanese were not the only ones to have Comfort Girls in WW2 although the girls provided for the GI's were not prisoners but French volunteers.



But eventually the war moved on ahead of us into Germany so we moved again then to Worms Germany. The end of the war was now only about 2 weeks away. We were in a camp with tents occupied by perhaps a thousand men. I have a picture of myself somewhere with the other men in the tent when the war ended. Before the war ended I was able to see the German boys and girls play around the camp. Some were in very bad shape from malnutrition. One boy in particular I remember trying to keep up with the others who were not in such bad shape. I don't remember now of feeling particularly sorry for him. Today I would have definitely compassion for his condition.
So the war ended when I was in Worms. Shortly after that I was shipped out to Salzburg Austria and assigned to Hq Brtry, 3rd Inf. Div. Artillery.
Now the war is over and the divisions job was to disarm the Austrians. It was here that the incident happened that made this present trip to Austria. One day two little Austrian girls about 5 years old walked by. I stooped down and picked them up. Someone with a camera took our picture. I kept that picture for years. About 25 years ago I made it into a poster size picture and put it on my wall. All these years I have had to look at the picture and wonder what happened to them. Times were bad for the people of Salzburg. I have a picture of me sitting at the wheel of a truck while it is being unloaded at the garbage dump. At the same time the Austrians are picking over the refuse for something usable. Even a year later in Germany the German kids were outside American Army mess halls to take the soldiers leftovers to eat




I liked Salzburg because it was not destroyed and was such a center of culture. Our division managed to organize some concerts and entertainmentin some of the famous places in Salzburg. But eventually we were shipped into Germany for serious occupation. We went up towards Kassel. DivArty HQ was at a little town of Melsungen. In an old RR barracks for railraod workers. Occasionally we would get up real early and make a sweep through the towns and villages looking for arms. No doubt a certain amount of looting went on too. The GI's started out OK but after 2 or 3 hours tramping up and down several flights of stairs There wasn't a lot of searching going on.

Division Artillery is composed of several battalions of Artillery (cannon) battalions and and other support organizations. Because we were occupying defeated Germany parts of the Division Artillery were billeted in various little towns in the part of Germany just south of Kassel. A platoon here and a platoon there. All under the command of the General of Division Artillery. Commonly known as DivArty. Where we were stationed was just across the river from the little town of Melsungen. The railroad ran along the river and up the hill a few hundred feet the Germans had built Barracks to house railroad workers. Headquarters Battery took over the barracks and used these to direct DivArty operations. Times were quite easy. We were still however not getting good rations even 4 months after the war ended. We still had to eat lots of K rations which was for that day and age meals ready to eat that the Army now uses. Not even real coffee as I think the cooks were selling it on the black market. So we drank instant coffee or tea.
One day I was assigned to be the driver for the executive officer. This officer is the next in command of DivArty and acts as a gofer for the commanding general. The general says gofer this and gofer that. His old driver got fired because he got drunk and drove him into a ditch.
I went up to the officers club to pick him up, which was at the end of a long narrow driveway. When I picked him up and went out the driveway there was a sharp turn with a ditch overgrown with grass and weeds which I couldn't see. So I made a turn and let the right rear wheel drop into the ditch and let the colonel bounce against the ceiling of the car when it dropped into the ditch. He growled, ôGudgelö if you cant do better than that I will fire you now. We got along better soon. In one instance he had been trying to get his uniform repaired. For some reason no one could find a taylor. He gave the job to me and all I did was ask around the Germans and one told me of a taylor in a small town nearby. So I went and had it fixed. When I was done there were others standing around and he asked me how I located taylor. I simply said "ask questions" This didn't help me in being promoted to Sgt. later because the Company commander told me to be a Sgt you have to be a soldier and I was not a soldier.
That was the only time he had a complaint as a while after that he liked me well enough to be his orderly. Just another way of saying servant. That idea I didn't like so turned him down. As the Colonels driver I was assigned to interesting places to go running errands for him. Several times I drove to Le Harve to take officers who were to take the boat to return home to America. The railroads were not in operation due to the bombing. Each time I got to go through Paris



One time another guy and I took the Mercedes-Benz to Le Harve. Several hundred miles away. This large limousine had been owned by a high up Nazi official. The division took it over and used it to carry the General around at times.
The autobahn (Freeways) didn't have much traffic. One time when I was driving a jeep I went from Frankfurt to Kassel without taking my foot off the floor on the throttle of the jeep A WW2 jeep will do 67 mph flat out. Down hill more of course. Up hill less. But on the flat 67 miles per hour. Another time I was driving a 1942 buick which the division had acquired somehow. I wanted to see how fast it would go. Still no traffic as the only vehicles on the road were U.S. Military vehicles. So I floored the throttle and when getting to top speed about 93 miles per hour when I heard a rushing sound like another vehicle was trying to pass me. This really scared me as I thought I was the only one on the road. But the mystery was cleared up shortly because in my vision in the windshield a P 38 lightning fighter zoomed past. If this had been during the war I would have been dead meat. He would have had me for sure.
At times we visited German Prisoners as we kept them penned up for years after the war denazifying them. When you force someone to change their views it's called brainwashingö.




When I returned home in June 1946 we were on a track opposite of a train carrying German prisoners to freedom.

A good book to read about German prisoners in POW camps is the book by James Bacque called Other Losses



After a few months in Melsungen we were transferred south to a totally demolished town named Darmstadt. A little town of about 100,000 people that had been demolished by bombing even though there was no War industry in the town. We were put in permanent barracks in an old German army camp. Called the Emil Ludwig Kasserne. Darmstadt was totally demolished. Not one building left standing that I remember in the town except on the fringes. The end of the war was almost upon the combatants. 30 or 40 thousand women and children died in a few minutes to satisfy the butchery that comes out of war. For no reason.


composed of several battalions of Artillery (cannon) communications bathers, and other support organizations. Because we were occupying defeated Germany parts of the Division Artillery were billeted in various little towns in the part of Germany just south of Kassel. A platoon here and a platoon there. All under the command of the General of Division Artillery. Commonly known as DivArty. Where we were stationed was just across the river from the little town of Melsungen. The railroad ran along the river and up the hill a few hundred feet the Germans had built Barracks to house railroad workers. Headquarters Battery took over the barracks and used these to direct DivArty operations. Times were quite easy. We werDivision Artillery ise still however not getting good rations even 4 months after the war ended. We still had to eat lots of K rations which was for that day and age meals, ready to eat that the Army now uses. Not even real coffee as I think the cooks were selling it on the black market. So we drank instant coffee or tea.
One day I was assigned to be the driver for the executive officer. This officer is the next in command of DivArty and acts as a gofer for the general. The general says gofer this and gofer that. His old driver got fired because he got drunk and drove him into a ditch.
I went up to the officers club to pick him up, which was at the end of a long narrow driveway. When I picked him up and went out the driveway there was a sharp turn with a ditch overgrown with grass and weeds which I couldn't see. So I made a turn and let the right rear wheel drop into the ditch and let the colonel bounce against the ceiling of the car when it dropped into the ditch. He growled, ôGudgelö if you cant do better than that I will fire you now.
That was the only time he had a complaint as a while after that he liked me well enough to be his orderly . Just another way of saying servant. That idea I didn't like so turned him down. As the Colonels driver I was assigned to interesting places to go running errands for him. Several times I drove to Le Harve to take officers who were to take the boat to return home to America. The railroads were not in operation due to the bombing. Each time I got to go through Paris One time another guy and I took the Mercedes-Benz to Le Harve. Several hundred miles away. This large limousine had been owned by a high up Nazi official. The division took it over and used it to carry the General around at times.
The autobahn (Freeways) didn't have much traffic. One time when I was driving a jeep I went from Frankfurt to Kassel without taking my foot off the floor on the throttle of the jeep A WW2 jeep will do 67 mph flat out. Down hill more of course. Up hill less. But on the flat 67 miles per hour. Another time I was driving a 1942 buick which the division had acquired somehow. I wanted to see how fast it would go. Still no traffic as the only vehicles on the road were U.S. Military vehicles. So I floored the throttle and when getting to top speed about 93 miles per hour when I heard a rushing sound like another vehicle was trying to pass me. This really scared me as I thought I was the only one on the road. But the mystery was cleared up shortly because in my vision in the windshield a P 38 lightning fighter zoomed past. If this had been during the war I would have been dead meat. He would have had me for sure.
At times we visited German Prisoners as we kept them penned up for years after the war denazifying them. When you force someone to change their views it's called brainwashing . When I returned home in June 1946 we were on a track opposite of a train carrying German prisoners to freedom.

Going Home

Going home from Marburg replacement depot. Click on the small slideshow going on below to switch to a full size picture. Around May 1946 they decided the army had had enough of me and decided to ship me home, I was sent to Marburg where there was a replacement depot. The slide picture show shows various conditions in the camp. In there area 4 Germans had been killed late in the war and their graves were still there a year later. The helmets were still there too as you can see. They had not been disturbed all this time. We had inspections and had out equipment laid out. There was still hunger and lack of supplies in Germany a year after the war. The little kids would meet us at the exit of the mess hall and beg for what we didn't eat.

On our way to Bremerhaven we passed the Europa docked there. It stayed there the entire war. I am surprised that there doesn't seem to be a lot of bomb damage from what we see in the pictures. Seems strange to see the lack of damage to Bremerhaven harbor then consider that Dresden, Darmstadt and some other cities were destroyed. Places that had nothing to aid the German war effort. Bremerhaven city was heavily damaged.

We went home on the SS MacAndrew. The ship on the trip back to the US was as crowded as the Queen Elizabeth was going over. Obviously we went to Le Harve by train as I show pictures of our troop train but I don't remember ANY of the details. . The train opposite our train was for German Prisoners released from the Marburg Prison camp,
It's a shame I cant remember more. When I have pictures I can remember something.

Next is on the ship and our time at Ft. Mead Md.

I think the picure at Ft. Dix was the last picture taken before I got home at Ft. Lewis. It was real funny just before we got home the guys had been drinking everything under the sun but just before we got to Ft. Lewis they started throwing everything off the train.

I was discharged on June 4 1946 almost 2 years to the day after I was inducted.

Chapter 22: Occupation and trip to Rome

In early spring of 1946 I obtained leave and had the opportunity to visit Holland or Rome. I decided to to go Rome. On the way down we stopped in Lugano Switzerland. Switzerland was nice. I don't know what happened to all the pictures I took of the Italian coast line which you would not want to see anyway. But I'd like to know where they are . Even the pictures in Rome seem to have disappeared. During our stop in Lugano we went to the top of a nearby lookout mountain and here I am with a couple of Red Cross girls who were also on a trip. Not with us however. On the way down I had a little fun and climbed a couple statues in Munich. It would get me arrested now of course. The statue with the sun on it was in the basement of a museum that had been bombed. Now this was almost a year after the war had ended and there was still almost now clean up. While in Munich on the way down I stopped and had a refreshment at the Beer Hall where the Nazis like to congregate. Of course I had a soft drink. Do they sell soft drinks? Oh well I forget. It's near the city hall. In Rome I went to the places that now are tourist traps.
I went to the catacombs and then we had a group picture taken.
On the way back to Darmstadt I stopped again at Salzburg. In Rome I watched a German Symphony and in Salzburg saw an Italian Opera. Culture shock!

See blog on great pictures from Afghanistan

Chapter 22: Occupation and trip to Rome

In early spring of 1946 I obtained leave and had the opportunity to visit Holland or Rome. I decided to to go Rome. On the way down we stopped in Lugano Switzerland. Switzerland was nice. On the way down. I don't know what happened to all the pictures I took of the Italian coast line which you would not want to see anyway. But I'd like to know where they are . Even the pictures in Rome seem to have disappeared. During out stop in Lugano we went to the top of a nearby lookout mountain and here I am with a couple of Red Cross girls who were also on a trip. Not with us.

Chapter 21: More of the Occupation

After my return from Berlin we settled down doing our occupation duties. I was still driving the Ex, Officer Col. Coyne. There was the one prison camp at Marburg under our jurisdiction. There was a book written by James Bacque titled "Other losses" that claimed a million or so German Prisoners were starved in American and French prison camps under miserable conditions. It certainly didn't happen where we were in charge but the U. S. did participate in some reprehensible incidences such as Operation Keel Haul which turned over huge numbers of persecuted Russians back to Stalin to be sent to the Gulag. Few ever came out. These were the ones who fought for Germany after being captured. No one ever claimed this was not an atrocity. Just like war, immense governmental operations of all kinds which is too huge and mystical for the ordinary human with limited information to understand. So operation Keel Haul rests in the dustbin of history.

I can believe the French were capable of it from what I saw of prisoners when I returned from Le Harve and got lost on my way back by a different route. You can see from the picture of the prison camp that these prisoners were well housed. What they ate I have no idea.

When we were doing duty we got an opportunity to look around. Here is a picture of me in front of a dump for destroyed war planes.

Occasionally there would be a formation to give a medal to someone who had been recommended for it but had not yet received it. That is what this formation is about.

I, with the letter needs no description.

More tomorrow hopefully

The Post bar had a bouncer, and you paid for your beer with this script as there were no American money. There were usually a lot of women in the bar at the invitation of soldiers because they were permitted. This was at the time there was extreme hunger and want. So women were easily had. Take a look at the picture of Darmstadt after the raid.

One time the Col had been trying to find a tailor to modify one of his uniforms. This was shortly after I became his driver. Apparently he had had trouble finding one. He asked me to see what I could do about it. So I just went to the neares twon and started asking where there was a tailor. No problem. Shortly I was directed to a tailor. So I went back and got it done for him. Later he asked me how I managed to find the tailor. I simply said. "Ask Questions" That seemed to make an impression as if no one had thought of that. Later one day in my room the lieutenant who was a West Point grad. came in and told me out of the blue that "to be a sergeant you have to be a soldier and I was not a soldier." I suppose I didn't jump to attention quickly enough and what ever planes to make me sergeant evaporated with my response. I didn't have any idea I was being considered for the promotion in the first place. If I had known I would have jumpted more quickly. So the promotion went to Blake. This is one of my regrets that I didn't make sgt.
Oh well, my mother didnt' have me to make me a soldier. This also meant that who knows what it might have done if I had made sgt and stayed in which meant I would have no doubt gone to Korea later and I might not be writing this now if that had happened. So who knows but God what is the best for you. What seems bad might have turned out for the best all along. As I am still here at 86 what I did seems to have worked. From dodging automobiles to not making sergeant way back in 1946.

Look at Bill's war. 4 years in ww2 with the 3rd Infantry Division

Chapter 20: Trip to Berlin.

Early in November 1945 when we had settled into the Kasserne we were offered the opportunity to take a trip to Berlin and watch the 3rd Division Football team play another team. I have forgotten now which one. This would be a real treat. See Berlin. Who cared about football. We were to take a bus and stop overnight in a British Military station. How they can get these guys to fight is a mystery. We had fish for breakfast. WOW.
When we started the trip the sharks and black marketeers came out. I didn't know what some things were worth. I reported before that a carton of cigarettes brought 10 dollars on the black market. A bar of soap, $10.00. A 1/5th of whiskey $90.00. A chocolate bar five or ten I don't remember now. Reminds me of one of my trips to Le Harve to deliver an officer for shipment home I joined a tour group in the Notre Dame Cathedral being led by a priest. and when they got finished I had no money to pay with. I thought the tour was free. Silly me! But that got fixed up easily by offering him a couple cigarettes. When you are starving , money or gold means nothing. Food has value.

When we got there and got our instructions we were told not to bring any guns into Berlin. Another bad decision on my part I took my Walther pp. Nothing happened though I brought it home and sometimes in the kid's growing up it got stolen. Not by my kids I am sure. I suspect some of their friends as we didn't have any break-ins when it disappeared. No doubt there were no secrets in the house. A good thing I didn't keep the German Sub-machine guns. No telling what would have happened with the kids playing with them. Bayonets disappeared, other things disappeared. They were cutting weeds with my souvenir sabre from Poland.

But on to Berlin. We were put up in a building used for barracks. I don't remember where. In the American zone of course. The next day we looked in on the dedication of a monument to the victorious Allies in the Tiergarden. With representatives from the Americans, British, French, Russians and others perhaps. I have a picture of it somewhere. I wonder what happened to the monument. I think it was made of wood in the main for easy demolishing. I am sure it has disappeared by now. I can't imagine the Germans allowing it to stand a moment longer than they had to. I then walked back to the Brandenburg gate and had my picture taken that I am showing here. If you look at the picture to the right you see a sign informing you that you are entering or leaving a zone. I don't know which zone Hitler's bunker was in. Then my friend and I went to the Reich Chancellory. Hitlers bunker was located in the back. My friend and I went down into it but got run out shortly by a Russian guard. He wasn't too agitated. Just told us to leave. Of course there was nothing left by then of any souvenir value. I think there was some rubble near the entrance to the bunker. Of course it was a mess all around. Nothing was cleaned up to any extent. You never know for sure lo these many years if your memory is correct or if it is colored by something you read or saw over the years when it comes to what was there at the bunker. But we did go down into it.

That night we went to a circus. I still have the program for it. Here is a picture of the front of the program. I cant remember of anything more of the trip to Berlin. Nothing at all of the trip back.

Next: Vacation in Rome

Chapter 19: Move to Darmstadt.

I made the trip before the unit moved to Darmstadt with all our possessions. We moved to an empty German Kasserne called the Emil Ludwig Kasserne. I don't know who Emil Ludwig was or I forgot. Darmstadt late in the war was attacked by Allied Bombers. I don't know if by American or British. It is in my mind that it was American but I could be wrong. Earlier in the blog I posted a picture I took of Darmstadt but I don't know how to link to it in google blogspot so I will just upload it again. According to some authorities there were at least




25,000 killed in the city during the raid. By looking at the rubble in my picture it seems likely. When we first got to Germany we




still had grenades and other munitions in the Jeep and other vehicles. It was customary to dispose of some of them by throwing out of the Jeep a smoke grenade and watch the nearby citizens jump and flinch. I didn't do it to frighten the Germans but just to throw them out and watch them go off. It wasn't done but a couple times that I can remember. It is sad about Darmstadt because there was no military industry in Darmstadt. Just wanton destruction it seems. Picture 2 is a picture of Darmstadt from the air.

Moving to Darmstadt was the effort to become settled in permanent location. They expected at that time to be occupy Germany for 50 years which I wanted to ask at the time how in the world could we occupy Germany for 50 years. Now I know. When I went back in 1984 we were still in Darmstadt. However an anit-aircraft outfit was there at the time. Now in 2008 I don't know what if any American military is there. When we were mainly taking care of occupying duties we did no training. In fact I didn't operate a radio until we had been in Darmstadt a while. Eventually we got the radio in a trailer and we then began to monitor the radio for communications with 3rd Div. HQ and other major commands. We were keeping at the ready although we did a little communication with someone in North Africa.

In 1984 I think it was we went to Europe where I was in 1945/46 to see how it had changed. Here is a picture of me against one of the barracks where I tried to find and take a picture of me in 1984. Picture #3 is of the Kasserne in 1985

In the areial view of the Kasserne number 1 is the entrance and 2 is where my room was with blake.



This is a picture of me in my room Christmas 1945 I don't remember where I got the christmas tree. I brought the Telefunken radio home later


Take a look at Billswar.

Chapter 18: More of the Occupation.

One major job the division had was to get the displaced and homeless back home. These consisted of Prisoners of War held by the Germans, concentration camp inmates, workers from other countries working in German war industries. I had some contact with the freed concentration camp inmates and POW's as I was the driver for the Ex, officer who did the main handling of taking care of them by DIVARTY Other categories I had no contact with that I could identify. These people listed above were in the American Zone and handled by other units. I saw several large factories used for housing DP's. The memory is kind of vague after all these years. I remember one instance where a released DP happened across one of the Germans who had been his jailer and a lynching almost occurred. I had some contact with Germans who were really hungry. Almost starving in some instances . For over a year after I arrived in Germany the little German kids were at the mess hall exit waiting for left overs from our mess kits. I remember them but do not remember if I had the compassion I should have had for tbeir condition.
There was a lot of giving sex by German women to American soldiers. German men were mostly dead, in Russian prison camps, or even American Prison camps. Women were doing the farm work. The Allies were in no real hurry to finish the de-Nazification. That was most important. In fact they are still looking for Nazi's. To be completed because most men were dead or in prison camp farming was left up to the women. Here are some pictures taken in 1945.

Trading with the former enemy was a major industry for the occupying GI's. As for myself I was looking for a camera to take pictures. I don't remember what camera I used for pictures up to moving in to Melsungen. Probably a borrowed one. When in Melsungen I had acquired a radio that didn't work. I managed to trade it for camera I used thereafter. It used 2 1/4 by 3 3/4 film pack with 12 exposures. No doubt no longer made. It sort of worked like the early Poloriad. But the film was processed in a photo lab or by me at home later. It was tricky to operate keeping it in focus was the hard part because of the shutter, If it was done right everything was well. With the big negative it made great pictures. Oh yes, it also used glass plates it was so old fashioned. I managed to get a good supply of glass negatives with the camera. I also got a good Telefunken radio a good radio of it's time. I brought it home later and kept it for years.
GI's used their ingenuity to make money. Especially the black market. I'll go into t his in more debth later. But as an example when we went to Berlin in October '45 guys were taking cigarettes from K rations. I cant remember how many Just a few but worth money on the black market. A bar of soap was worth 10 dollars. A 5th of whiskey was worth $90' A carton of cigarettes only $10.00 but a lot for that day. Eventually the Military changed things so GI's could send only so much money home a month. They GI's could only spend marks in Germany. If I remember right we were paid in dollars so we could send those home but limited in the amount. I was with a guy who tried to sell something to a black marketeer and the marketeer opened opened up his little suitcase and it was filled with nice new American bills. This was in Berlin. Here is a sample of the spending money in the Base bar. You had to change your pay money for marks if you bought a beer in the Base Bar.


On one of the trips from Le Harve I took a picture of the cemetery at St. Avold France were 25,000 Americans are buried. This was so soon after the war they were still removing the German bodies from an area near the American section to rebury them elsewhere. Unfortunately the camera moved and the picture was fuzzy.
All over the world about 250 Americans were killed each day for 1000 days. That's tragic.

We were billeted in vacated barracks that had been used by construction workers. I believe they worked on the railroad. Here I am in front of one of the barracks. Bathing was done in a bath house across the river a little way from our barracks. I had my picture taken on the way to the the bath house just off to my right. I made a poor repair on the picture.

We had been in Melsungen long enough that I had collected a considerable amount of things. I lived in a room with Bill Blake. we Before were moved to Darmstadt I knew we could not move all our things in a jeep or whatever we were to move in in one trip so I went to the Col. and told him of the problem and he let me take a car or truck I forget and load it up and move it to the barracks in Darmstadt. Darmstadt is about 20 miles south of Frankfurt and perhaps 65 or 70 miles south of Melsungen. We had a room there.





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Chapter 17: The Occupation 1945

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My job at this time was to drive the executive officer around to see how the battalions were occupying the territory they were in. They would be in some little town within convenient distance of Divarty. This is a street in Melsungen. The next one is the town square. Although my MOS was radio operator we were doing no radio operating being so busy with occupying Germany and taking care of homeless and displaced persons. Some of the time I would drive the Buick. The car the ex off would get if the General had the Mercedes. One time on the Freeway I wanted to see how fast it would go. I was alone of course. The Autobahn was clear of traffic except for military vehicles. I could drive from Darmstadt to Kassel about 70 miles without seeing another vehicle. The only thing to watch out would be filled in bomb craters. Anyway I got on the autobahn and put the throttle to the floor. Really not a smart idea. This was a 39 buick I think and who knows what shape the tires were in. It was flat out at 92. Then I heard this loud rushing noise as if someone was trying to pass me. I had not been checking my rear view mirror as I was sure no one else would be on the road trying to pass. Then I looked up above the autobahn and saw a P38 going right over me as if it were strafing me. That was scary. If it had been for real I would have been a dead duck. Another time later I wanted to see how long I could keep the throttle on floor in a jeep. This was Darmstadt to Kassel. 67 miles an hour was as fast as it would go but I held it on the floor for 37 minutes. About to the city limits of Kassel. One time coming back from Le Harve after making a delivery of an officer I was coming back in France moving along about 65 when I heard a beep. Behind me was a 6x6 truck wanting to pass. As I could not outrun him I had to let him pass. It was driven by a black guy another good reason not to contest the right of way. These 6x6's supplied the army. Good in mud too as all wheels pulled if necessary.One time I was driving the Col. and he had a VIP with him. A German was just walking down the road and I swerved as if I was going to hit him. We were an arrogant bunch. Like all occupying armies. I heard the Col. tell his guest that Soldiers didn't like Germans. This guy might have stuck out his thumb was the reason for my reaction. But it signified the typical attitude of GI's in the Occupation. Arrogant and think tough. I would not have hit him of course.




However I almost lost this job before I got started. The driver for the Col. got fired for some infraction. I think it was driving drunk or something like that. The first time I went to the Officers club to pick him up as I was going out the long driveway I turned right to get on the road my right rear wheel went into a ditch covered by grass so I could not see it. Now this was just a couple minutes after I picked him up. But it was a deep ditch and I am sure his head hit the roof when the car came back down. He said "Gudgel, if you cant do better than that I am going to fire you." That was the only time I had a problem because later he wanted me to be his orderly.


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Chapter 16. Melsungen.and occupation

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In all the time I was in headquarters I never saw the General. I don't remember his name now. By then he was spending as little time in Germany and making trips elsewhere as much as possible. Like England as an example. He had the biggest and best car. But the Divarty general did OK too. He had a Mercedes that had belonged to Ribbentrop one of the Nazi Big Wigs. It weighed 9,000 pounds. I had a picture taken in Paris and the car was in the picture. The two star Commanding general outranked the one star Divarty general and he got the best car.
When the Division general was away playing or on business the officers of Divarty would take the Mercedes out partying. I was the driver but of course I could not participate in the festivities. Looking back on it I was the designated driver. I would drive the officers to the party then either wait outside until they were ready to come back home to HQ. You can see a picture of this car when I was in Paris coming back from Le Harve. I wish I could remember the person I took to Le Harve because they would not send it with just a lieutenant I am pretty sure. But in any case this car didin't really purr until it got up to over 40 mph. The gas tank also was a 40 gallon tank. One night I took some officers out on a party and coming back I ran out of gas about a mile from HQ. I cant remember any problems making officers walk back home so I might have had it out driving after they were delivered back to HQ and as I remember I was alone if I remember right. Well I got back somehow and returned next morning with a jeep with the idea of towing it back. Like I said it wasn't very far. However it was much too far for a jeep to pull it. After a hundred yards or so the Jeep was steaming and I had to get something bigger to get it home with. Now I remember they brought out some gas and I drove it home. It had a primer to get it started. Of course a jeep doen't need priming so I wasn't aware of this car needing priming.

Another time I drove Lt. Col. Hatch S2 out on a date with his girlfriend Driving the 42 Buick the next best car to the Mercedes. She lived in an isolated house in the country. I was to take him there and then wait outside until he got finished. I waited and waited until I got tired of waiting about 4 am and just drove off and left him there. I ofter wondered how I got away with leaving a Col. afoot. Anyway nothing was heard about it. I don't remember if the regulations about non-fraternization were still in effect or not. That may have been why I wasn't busted to private. When peace was restored the army thought it could overrule human nature and said it was against regulations to fraternize with the Germans. Two things were going against this. First an army of young men associating with women who are hungry and the rule is a waste of time. Many years later at a meeting of the Society of the Third Infantry Division I saw Hatch was still around. Of course I didn't mention this and he had been through another war (Korea)and perhaps others and this was just a small incident in a full life he had so had no doubt forgotten all about it. I don't remember when fraterinazation ended but not too many months after it began.


I cant remember who I drove to Le Harve in the Mercedes for transport home but I think the rank of the officer determined how good a car I took, I drove to Le Harve several times from Germany. There were military gas stations on the way for fuel. Of course I managed to get lost in Paris coming back a day or two and seeing the sights while lost. I'll expand on this later. But we moved north to the Kassel area. A totally demolished town. The artillery battalions were spread out over the area in small towns to occupy it. I was kept busy driving the Ex. Off. around to the various battalions doing the occupation. He also oversaw managing the huge problem of displaced persons cast adrift at the end of the war with no means of sustenance. This was a real problem. There were POW camps renamed for Disarmed Enemy Forces. Renaming prisoners to Enemy Combatants is not the first time words have been used justify certain actions. But there were also freed concentration camp inmates or even workers hired from other countries to work in war industries in Germany. Not all workers were forced labor although there were certainly that. Then there were the homeless Germans because of the bombing. These people had to be taken care of. Except for the German civilians. They were on their own. Millions were killed by the advancing Russians. 12,000,000 either were killed or forced out and their homes and property taken by the Poles if not killed by the Russians. Then on top of that there were the Germans from eastern Europe who escaped ahead of the advancing Russians. There were millions of these although it is claimed that several million didn't make it ahead of the Russians. I met several who had walked 400 miles to escape. This only applies to the Germans in Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania not the ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia. They were pretty much surrounded and had to pay the consequences of being on the losing side with no chance of escape. Up at the top is a picture of the PW camp at Marburg.

James Bache wrote a book titled Other Losses. In it he claimed that the Allies at the end of the war kept German captives. Instead of calling them POW's they were renamed Disarmed Enemy Forces. He recounted some stories about the horrific captivity they endured. Starved, worked to death and so on. The captivities at Stalingrad endured such treatment that only a few thousand out of over 200,000 never came back from Soviet captivity. We expect this from the Russians. But to get this accusation is not expected from American, British and French captives. As you can see Patton didn't treat his captives that way. They seemed housed well. I did not look into what they were eating. But assume eating ok. Anyway, one time I returned from Paris to Melsungen and decided that I could return by another route. Not a smart idea. However I didn't think that the French might not like American soldiers getting into Grmany by any but an approved route. But I wanted to see more of France and Germany so I took off. On the way I saw many German prisoners doing mine removal. So the French didn't send the captives home right away. When I got to the border the French stopped me and didn't want to let me through. However I talked them into letting me go because I didn't have enough gas to go back to Paris. I surely lucked out in this instance. But when I read the book Other Losses much later I was reminded that it would have been good to know what was actually going on. Anyway not a smart move to just take off unauthroized. But Pattom seemed to treat his prisoners ok as indicated by the picture I took of the prison camp at Marburg.


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Chapter 15: Salzburg.

After a couple weeks or so the brass decided that the troops needed some culture so decided to put on some concerts in the Motzarteum. Salzburg's major Concert hall. Salzburg is very proud of it's famous composer Motzart. I am not sure he did much there except be born there. He died in Vienna and spent a lot of time there for that was where the action was. . Here is the flyer advertising the event. I was detailed to help put it on. I went to a concert and wrote a letter to Kay inside this program using my helmet liner for a pad while waiting for it to begin. Not easy to write on a curved surface.



I had as a roommate in the house where we were billeted a guy (Bill Blake) with a checkered past according to him. According to him he had been in the Navy, Deserted in San Francisco and then enlisted in the Army. Winding up here in the 3rd. with me in Salzburg. I don't know how much to believe. In our activities of doing what ever we did, which was not contact or organizing the actual musicians we had to go the square at the Motzarteum. While inside somewhere someone stole a can of C rations out of the jeep. When we came back he asked someone there who might have stolen it. He got an apartment number and I tagged along with him. I didn't have any interest one war or another actually. When we got to the apartment adjoining the square. A woman answered the door and he asked about the can. She denied knowing anything about it. Blake then pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot her if she didn't give it back. She continued to deny knowing anything about it. All this time I was wondering what this was all about. A can of
C rations to me was nothing. What was going on. This was after the war a couple weeks. You don't go around shooting people over a can of C rations. It would have been a murder charge and I would have been an accessory. I was real nervous about this to this day when I think of it. My life could have changed dramatically if he had done something rash. It was probably most valuable for trading purposes. There were lots of C rations. In fact for several weeks after the war all we ate were C rations. We go the mess hall and dinner was this big vat of C rations. Even though fraternization was against regulations the cooks or mess sgt was making lots of hay with their access to the food I'm sure. For well over a year the German kids were outside the mess hall as we left to dispose of our leftovers. By this time I was in Marburg at the replacement depot on my way home. More on this at that time. The Austrians would meet us at the Salzburg dump to find something they could salvage to eat.

Another minor incident happened while at the house that had far reaching consequences many years later. One day a woman and a couple little girls walked by. One was carrying a bag. I had them stop and I picked them up and had my picture taken with them. Then they went on their way. This probably took just a few moments. Ever since that time I wondered who they were and what happened to them, I had kept a large picture of them on my wall in Lake Forest Park where I lived for 53 years. Were they still alive? Did the still live in Salzburg?



One day back in the '80's I decided to write a letter to someone in Salzburg, I forget who, including a picture of the girls asking if there was some way to locate them. This letter managed to percolate to the Government TV station Salzburg ORG TV. They thought it would be a good project and started a campaign to locate them, They even got the police forensic scientists involved. They wanted him to compare facial feature to anyone who might be thought to be the girls. They kept asking me at times what I thought about this or that. Of course I had only seen the girls once for a few seconds so actually I didn't know anything. All a big show. But it was a big project and apparently it had good ratings. It was strung out for quite a while. But eventually they actually located the women who I picked up as little babies lo so many years ago. Kay and I were invited to Salzburg to meet the "girls". Meet the governor (Mayor) of Salzburg and have a week of touring Salzburg and surrounding territory. The policeman who helped locate the girls took us on a tour of the Police station and we had our mug shots taken. Shown here. It wasn't kept in their records because it doesn't have date and number he assured us.


We got all kinds of publicity in the Newspaper and on TV. Wined and dined. Toured Bertchesgarden, the salt mines, Interviewed for a book being written about the occupation by a Professor at the University there. Her name was Ingrid Bauer. Here with us interviewing me at the restaurant at the top of the pass above Salzburg. The name of the Book was Welcome Amie (American) Go Home. By Ingrid Bauer. She and another professor tagged along for a couple days on our trip to Bertshegarden and to towns we visited. This book was a project of the University of Salzburg about the occupation up to 1952 if I remember right. She interviews as many soldiers in the Occupation as she could for the book. Because I was availble I played a prominent part in the book using several of my pictures and portions of her conclusions based on my interviews. Note that camcorder on the table because I was recording the intervew. Unfortunately the battery ran down before she finished the interview. There were not a lot of soldiers around who had been there at that time. Besides even if they were she would have no way of knowing. But with all the publicity in the papers and on TV she was able to locate me easily. I stayed at the hotel owned by the manager of ORF. He is the one who made the arrangements for us to come.

This is the house in Salzburg I was billited in. I was on the second floor where the balcony is. Actually taken after we left and went to Kassel. This outfit moved and and tidied up the place.






It was a great experience all because I picked up and held two little girls.

After the Division put on the concert it moved to the Kassel area in Germany. Several hundred miles away Divarty went to a small town Melsungen about 15 miles south of Kassel. Here I became the driver for the Ex. Officer. He is flunky for the General. He sees that the generals orders are carried out. His name was Col Coyne. Someone told me he made general later. Smart guy. I'm not surprised.

Chapter 14: Safe in Divarty.

When we arrived in Divarty there was not a lot for me to do. Besides I didn't operate a radio for several months because we were busy managing the occupation and had no time for training. We could not do both. Only later when we became established in permanent posts could the normal duties of an army begin. With the confusion of millions of refugees what to do with them was our first priority. So later we were sent up near Kassel Germany where we had to deal with huge numbers of refugees. Both homeless Germans freed concentration camp inmates and volunteer workers from other countries. More about this situation later. Immediately after the war our main duties were to disarm the German and Austrians. Part of this was to dispose of the small arms that were collected. More on this can be read in the blog billswar.blogspot.com. Bill Sheldon was in the Third Inf. from it's organization at Ft. Lewis Washington. He was also a radio operator in the 39th FA Battalion. His wife Virginia Sheldon made a book of his experiences with pictures and I am making a blog of them. Be sure to take a look at a real hero. They put me to driving a truck to the dump a couple times I have posted them here again if you want to look.


Dumping Garbage







House,in Salzburg where I lived until we moved to Melsungen near Kassel



But for my immediate duties was driving a truck. Here is a picture of the house we were billeted in.

Now I come to an episode that I am not very proud of. It's the subject of looting. Looting went on from generals looting trainloads of treasure to privates looting anything they could get their hands on. The Russians looted entire factories. Some had greater opportunity that others. So some didn't do much. Some had the integrity to not loot. It wasn't just Nazis doing the looting. The army was very lax in putting a stop to it. Maybe it was because after 2 or 3 years of war a certain mentality was more or less built in. After a couple years of unrestrained killng and destroying it was hard to stop. Also the desire to make the Germans, all the Germans pay. So the military looked the other way for a while. I managed to send home 3 machine guns. The German Schmeiser, the Burp gun and an Italian army rifle which customs caught because I either didn't secure adequately or they were x-raying packages by then. I kept them a while then gave them to a Fire Chief in the Seattle Fire Department who properly disabled them so they were not usable according to law. I was nervous about keeping them in working order. I also looted some things from the house which got on my conscience and one reason I went back to Austria later was to try to give it back to the original owner if I could find him. But I couldn't even find the house after all these years. However this turned into a great trip for other reasons. More about this later.







D Gudgel in front of HQ at Salzburg









As I was new I was curious about what was going on. Which was nothing. I went into the HQ trailer used to keep records which was not used any more because the war was over. I looked around which had been the brain of the Divarty. Left on one of the counters was the last situation report of the war. It is reproduced here. I have the original.
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Next, Salzburg activities.

Chapter 13: Salzburg

    You can see a larger picture by clicking on the picture

I was sent to Salzburg from Worms. By truck I am sure although I don't remember the actual ride. What I mean is I don't remember riding in a truck from Worms to Salzburg. I do remember when we were on the way to Salzburg Austria we passed by some parked jets off the autobahn. The Germans used the autobahn instead of an airfield in order to hide the jets. Much easier to hide them from American planes.

I have not been able to locate the picture of me and the others who occupied a tent while waiting for assignment there at worms. The picture was taken the day the war ended in Europe.

Shortly after the war ended there was a big push to get the troops home. Some had been overseas for 3 years without a break. No six months tour then home. You have to remember that in those days and the nature of the war when you went overseas you stayed there unless there was a death in the family and there was a way to get home. Otherwise you stayed. The Third Division men where I went next in Salzburg had been overseas from 1942 when it landed in North Africa. So the men there stayed overseas for more than 3 years without a break. The furrow about spending a year in Iraq I don't understand. Except they think the war on Terror might last 20 or 30 years. That might make you give pause. An infantryman in ww2 was subjected to horror's equal to those in Iraq I would think. But in any case I am against all war. Don't call me one of the Greatest Generation just one of the greatest suckers. Pat Buchanan agrees with me that our entry into WW2 was not necessary. What does that do for Roosevelt's reputation if correct? The Japanese didn't just one day decide that they didn't have anything else to do and say to themselves. "Let' s go bomb Pearl Harbor that sounds like it might be fun." This does't mean I overlook the tremendous atrocities they committed in China and against Americans. Fusel wrote his book about "War Without Mercy" It's hard to make soldiers wage civilized war. Because by it's very nature war is an atrocity. Atrocity begats atrocity. On both sides.

But back to Austria. The Third Infantry in it's fight through Germany went through Munich, then outside Salzburg it captured Bertchesgarden and finally ended the war in Salzburg. The Third occupied a large area of course. Salzburg the central area because that is where the Generals wanted to be. Then the Artillery battalions spread out to the surrounding towns

As they began sending the guys home with the most points who had been away for 3 years they began replacing them with us guys in the replacment depots. So within about a week I was sent as a replacement to Salzburg. Assigned to HQ Battery, Division Artillery Headquarters. (Divarty) You can bet Generals always pick the best for themselves. In this case Divarty was somewhere on the edge of Salzburg. When they captured Salzburg they wanted this house so ordered the people out to make room for us. The commander had given them 45 minutes to vacate and when they complained that was not enough time they were told you have 10 minutes instead. Of course that meant everything in the house was still there when I got there. A number of us soldiers occupied the house.

Allowing 10 minutes to vacate their homes seemed be pretty standard. I just read yesterday in an article about another instance when the people got 10 minutes to vacate under similar circumstances. It is hard to imagine the immense power the soldier of an occupying army feels protected as he is from any retribution by the subjected population. This should be pretty obvious from what is going on in Iraq. When you can at a whim, without fear of punishment shoot to kill, This is not the soldiers doing really. These are conditions imposed on him by the circumstances.

Even by the time I got to Salzburg we still carried our carbines where ever we went because the army didn't know the extent of opposition we might expect. Eventually they took them away and we went unarmed when it became obvious that there was to be no armed opposition. That the war had really ended.

For a considerable time the US Army was a shambles. New untried and untrained replacements replaced the best army in the world. The 3rd infantry division was the best of the best. The most combat experienced. They talk of Normandy landings but the 3rd had made 5 amphibiousAnzio. The 3rd was one of the combat outfits that spent the most time in combat and suffered more casualties than almost any other outfit. About 33,000 casualties. Anyway,we new replacements took advantage of this to make do with our situation. There was lots to do but not training. Disarming the Germans and Austrians for one. Collecting arms and finally destroying them. As a radio operator there was not much for me to do in that line of work. So I ran an errand occasionally. Or took something to the local dump. There were a lot of hungry Austrians and we always collected a crowd when we took things to the dump. Here is a poor picture of me at the dump. Sorry I was so slumped over. But a better one with kids climbing all over the truck. The other radio operators had not been transferred out yet so there was no radio operating for me. The artillery battalions occupied various town around Salzburg. The 3rd Inf. occupied Salzburg. The Commanding General Collins in a hotel in Salzbug.




During a long period the effeciency was next to zero. It was the better part of a year before the army really began training again. It's a good thing we didn't have a shooting war with the Russians because you can be sure they didn't disarm as we did.

Chapter 12: Worms Germany, War ends then to Salzburg Austria

My next move was from Villerupt France to Worms Germany. I don't remember the trip to Worms Germany. It had to be by truck as the railroads were totally demolished. At least in what turned out to be the American sector of Germany and I am sure the entire part of Germany west of Berlin and a line pretty much south. I don't know if theAir Force bombed train lines east of Berlin very much because it didn't effect supply to the German army opposing the Allies in the west. Now at the end nothing could move over the railroads. In fact I drover officers to Le Harve for transport home for months because the trains in Germany were not running. So it must be pretty obvious that with the destruction of the railroads it would be almost impossible to feed the inmates of a concentration camp with a population of 75,000 as Dachau had. Later with my travels in Germany during the occupation I witnessed the total destruction of the cities of Germany and I must have seen this destruction when I went to Worms from Villerupt France. But I don't remember details of the trip now.

My next memory of Worms was pulling guard duty. As I mentioned before soldiers in a replacement depot are all kinds. Artillery, radio operators like me, infantry, Just all kinds. Heck I am in the artillery I don't know anything about a rifle. We just waited. So they didn't just select infantry who knew an M1 rifle they somehow picked me to pull guard duty. Guard duty consisted of patrolling a post on the periphery of the camp. Being in the army they naturally expected any soldier to know how to shoot so they handed me an M1 and told me your on guard. Well, guard duty wasn't particularly new to me but if I had not been curious about the M1 previously I wouldn't have known how to actually load it. Most rifles load magazines from the bottom but the M1 loads a clip from the top. When the last shot is fired the clip pops out and the chamber remains open. When you reload a clip you had better watch your thumb because when the bolt slams forward you can mess up your thumb. I don't know why they went with this style of loading a rifle. Machine guns that loaded from the bottom. Even the our Thompson sub machine gun did. The carbine M1 that was issued to the artillery loaded a clip from the bottom. Semi automatic hand guns loaded from a clip in the handle. S0 why they didn't make one that loaded from the bottom is a mystery to me. So the technology was there. But it was a powerful rifle in other respects. Didn't jam too easily I guess.
But in any case I did a manual of arms that I had seen the infantry do and I was set for guard duty. I got a laugh out of this.

An incident happened that has stayed with me all these years. Some German kids were playing around my post and one was particularly undernourished, He had spindly legs and gaunt features of the starving. He tried to keep up with the other kids but was handicapped by his physical condition and it was impossible. Starvation in Germany got worse under occupation for many months. Several books have been written about the deliberate policy to punish the Germans. I will get to this later when I describe life in Germany.

I have not been able to locate the picture of me and the some others at Worms who occupied a tent while waiting for assignment.

There were no pictures taken in Worms except this one. We could see the town completely destroyed. Everything was destroyed in Germany that could be destroyed from the air. Seemingly just to destroy. Even a lot of small towns. No other reason. To get a little insight get the movie and see Little Dieter Needs to Fly. Even in those days I think I had a historical perspective. Even in high school I picked what I thought would be easy courses. History being one of them. At the time I wasn't particularly mature in these subjects and didn't resent the senseless destruction of an ancient culture. I just figured that that was just the way things happen. I never considered the politics of countries and the world. We were the good guys the losers were the bad guys. So they deserved a little looting by the victors. Sort of like Iraq I guess. Some say the Germans had it coming. I don't think the country had it coming. Just to mass murder children, old people and women didn't bring the war to an end any sooner. The same as for the British. It only hardened the resolved to fight on. I took a picture of a Greek statue in a destroyed museum in Munich later, I thought the statue quite interesting. The museum had been bombed and destroyed. This statue was in the basement or the level below ground level. So the statue was highlight by the sun down shining on it. So I just pointed my camera down at it and took its picture. I thought myself fortunate to have the right conditions there to take it's picture. Whether it is an original or replica I don't know. Hopefully someone will see it and tell me what it is if it is famous enough.

Chapter 11. France then Germany

The war was winding down. Men were still being killed. Civilians were dieing. The Air Force had run out of targets. Chuck Yeager told how he was down to shooting at farmers in their field for lack of anything better to do. Every large and many small cities in Germany were in ruin from either bombing or combat operations. For myself I was now headed somewhere I found to be Villerupt France. Only when I got there of course. A town on the Maginot line. No longer in use. The army still doesn't tell you anything.
For you wine drinkers Villerupt is in the Moselle district. Not far from Luxenbourg city. Too far to walk however if you are on foot. Infantry excepted.

It was still cold. Not as cold as during the dead of winter. We were put up in old barracks the French occupied during the phony war before the war. The French used a strange way of heating the barracks. There was a pot bellied stove lined with fire brick. The idea was I suppose that when you got the bricks hot the residual heat would keep it going. Great idea unfortunately it took a cord of wood or a ton of coal to get it heated up. And as you know a few feet from the stove you're not likely to feel it. For you vets think of the barracks you occupied being heated by a pot bellied stove. The army had supplied us with the standard sleeping bag made of a wool blanket with a zipper. I was cold until I found that if I kept my feet warm by putting my jacket around them I could keep warm. If my feet were warm I was warm. While waiting for the next replacement depot we amused ourselves by exploring the Maginot line bunkers. The bunkers had been stripped of everything of course but the concrete bunkers were still there. Above is one of me standing in front of a bunker on a trip to Europe in 1984.
The second one is a picture of me and my father in law Frank Brown a ww1 vet. Taken by Kay do doubt.
There were other amusements fortunately besides look at old bunkers. We went to Villerupt some of the time but I don't know how we got there. I think we took a vehicle that happened to be going there. I remember we visited a friendly Frenchman who talked about the war, Nazis, the occupation and before. He'd give us coffee and talk to us. Others visited the army run whore house in the town. You didn't know did you that the military had it's own version of comfort houses as the Japanese called them? The only difference the military didn't have to draft the girls like the Korean girls were. The French girls volunteered.


Villerupt is just south of Luxenburg. One day I and another buddy hitched a ride on a truck going to Luxenburg city. There was a USO there. This is one of the times I almost became AWOL. I forget why but we missed the truck back. Maybe we were touring the city on foot. In 1984 we toured the city by taxi. There is a fine park or place to observe some ruins. Now I cant remember exactly what it was. When we went to Luxenburg in 1984 I took some pictures but sent the entire album to my daughter in Alaska because I didn't have the space to save them in the apartment when me moved. . I did save a very few. During the war a hotel became the headquarters for whatever the army was in control. They were proud of this fact and decorated the lobby commemorating that episode of history. One reason why generals like war so well. They don't have to live in the trenches. Unless they are on the losing side. Here is a picture of the hotel where Frank Brown, Kay and I sat where also the winning generals sat during late in the war. We stayed in a room in the hotel.

I don't think Eisenhower was roughing it here during the war. He was back in London directing from there. Enjoying the war to the fullest with his driver Kay Summersby. Anyway, to get back to our predicament of being in Luxenburg city on foot 20 0r 30 miles from Villerupt. So I think we, as I remember went out a little ways from the USO and stuck out our thumbs to hitch a ride. We lucked out and caught a ride in a jeep driven by a maniac. These guys were in a real hurry. They had come from the front and were in a hurry to get where ever they were going. But it worked out because we made it on time. I believe this was the only time the war really got personal with me. Somewhere along the line I heard the thunder in the distance. Artillery of course. My one battle star. To get a battle star you don't have to be shot at. Just be within a certain distance of the front lines. That is where I got mine. Because the next replacement depot was in Worms Germany and it was further behind the lines as the front lines were moving pretty fast.

Next: Chapter 12. Germany and Austria.

Chapter 10. Scotland then France and Belgium..

I offloaded during the day. We marched immediately off the barge and loaded onto a train. The day was decent and the Red Cross or some other organization was there to give us free coffee as we hung out the window looking around. I felt very sorry for one of the girls who was hurrying to give a soldier some coffee but stumbled and lost almost maybe all her coffee. I still remember this.

That was the last daylight we saw until we unloaded at Southampton. When we left the station at Glasgow they blacked out windows and we went through London not even knowing when and where it was. But opening to the light at Southampton was a shock. We saw what war was all about. The waterfront was a shambles. Of course the Germans wanted to deny the use of the port to the Allies so they bombed the heck out of the harbor. By the time we arrived rockets no longer landed in England but the destruction was all about. This was however a pale shadow to what was to come to Germany. See the picture of Darmstadt in 1945 below.

We still had to get across the channel. We marched to a Polish ship docked at one of the docks. Some of the docks were restored but buildings would have to wait. We were in it a while before it finished loading. I cant remember how long. But long enough to learn the food wasn't any better than the QE. The ship was also as crowded. Eventually we sailed for Le Harve. I pretty much expected a decent welcome from the French in Le Harve. But the Americans and British had bombed the city killing 5,000 French and making 80,000 homeless. There were many raids on Le Harve but the bombs had a propensity to miss the harbor and hit the town nearby. The Germans had major submarine pens at Le Harve. But we marched through the town that was still standing. We thought we would be welcomed. But the women looking out the windows appeared sullen and didn't smile and wave. They had seen thousands and thousands pass by here. We were nothing new. The welcome mat was not out. Like it was not out either when I came home with a troop ship load to Ft Meade Md in 1946. It was old hat to the residents. They had had their parades and they were no doubt tired of war. They probably just wished the war to end. Some of the soldiers threw candy and gum up to the girls on the second floor. This didn't seem to cause a response one way or another. They just took it. Maybe they were no longer impressed with marching soldiers. It was later that we learned why they didn't seem to greet us with smiles and kisses. When those who killed were from "their" side. They probably could not forget the 5,000 dead and 80,000 homeless. Now THAT is homeless.

There were several huge replacement depots at Le Harve named after cigarettes. Soldiers arriving in France by the countless thousands came this same path I came. I can't remember the name of the camp I went to. The military genesis figured the name would confuse the German intelligence.

I stayed for just a short time. Next I was to take the train north where there was still some war going on. The depot was on the hill overlooking Le Harve. You walked down to the rail yards. As thousands of soldiers passed by here they had built a wall to shield the soldiers sensibilities from view of the other soldiers who were going in the open air latrine. However just next to the other side where the latrines were the townspeople with a view. It didn't seem to shock them.

The train. Inside the compartment a bench faced another bench seating two or three people. Above was a luggage rack on both sides of the compartment.You have seen many of these in movies. We would have to sit up the entire time. Naturally soldiers tried to find some way to sleep. The French had defeated this idea by putting in rack supports about every couple feet or so. So the only thing was tough it out and stay awake. The favorite thing was to go out of the little room with the benches into the hall and watch the scenery go by. This was strange to me that in England we had to travel in blackout conditions but here we could watch the scenery. In talking with other soldiers on the train we learned that not all were fresh from the states. There were many deserters and AWOL's being returned to units. Not talked about very much is the desertions the US Army suffered. I don't like to keep bringing up the German Army but their desertions were almost non-existent. Which was because: if you deserted you got shot, Period. I am not sure this is a good idea for the US army. I never went AWOL but came close a couple times inadvertently.

The train continued north with an occasional stop for stretching our legs and unwinding. I don't remember Paris on this trip but I suppose we went through it. It didn't make any difference because we could not get off the train anyway. Nothing remains with me about this ride until we got into Luxembourg, or perhaps Belgium I don't remember. American airplanes had been trying it's level best to destroy the railroads and were quite successful. The military had repaired the railroads that supplies had to traverse. The maximum speed would be about 25 miles per hour. Which reminds me somewhere we had to change into box cars from the passenger cars. Probably because the French owned the passenger cars and the Belgiums owned the cars and roads we were on. Being on these cars reminded me of stories from WW1 where they talk about box cars holding 40 men or 8 horses. The reason for the emphasis put on 40 and 8 by WW 1 vets who had to ride in them. Well I rode in them too. . Anyway we were in this box car when all of a sudden the awfullest banging and rocking was going on. What had happened the car had jumped the tracks and we were bouncing on the ties. A good reason we were not going real fast. Of course the military kept the speed down because of just this danger. The railroads of western Europe were in a shambles as the inmates of the concentration camps found when it came time to eat. Without railroads the military comes first. No matter which country it is. Concentration camp inmates can go hungry,

We continued on and it began to get dark as we went into Belgium. Eventually about 11 that night we stopped at a town called Verviers. We unloaded in blackout conditions. As a reader of lots of WW1 books it reminded me of the times I had read of troops marching through blacked out towns. Now here I was doing what I had only read about many times. This was for real. I was living it. We continued through town and out a couple miles to a factory now used as a replacement depot by the US 3rd army. We went in total darkness. Other troops were already there.. Some went out the back to find a latrine. No one told them that there was a big hole there and one man fell into it. Next day I looked into it and saw a lot of debris. It must not have been pleasant to land in that stuff.

We stayed there some being assigned to units. A short time later one morning about hundred showed up for sick call. There was some contaminated food and we got what ever it took to fix it up.

I occupied myself the next few days taking an occasional walk around the country side near the factory. A replacement depot is different from a regular outfit because you don't have time to build friendships. So your amusement is up to you. My method was by taking walks. This is where it might make an impression that you are just a number. You are not even a cog in a big machine. You are nothing. Verviers is in the area where heavy battles went on during the Battle of the Bulge. Malmedy, Bastogne were not far away. Destruction by war unimaginable to the newcomer.

Within a few days we moved again. This time down to Villerupt France.
I had no camera or knew anyone who did. There would not have been any way to develop pictures anyway.

See chapter 11 next..

Chapter 9 Off to the War or what is left of it

I just wiped out about an hour of work so I will have to start over. Finally it was time to find a way across the continent to Ft. Dix New Jersey. It was free if you could get a ride on a military aircraft. But of course lots of people knew about that I found out later. Anyway I went to Boeing field in Seattle and found a DC 3 heading east with the first stop in Spokane. That was as far as I got because I got bumped. So I had to find another place on another plane. Being a private didn't put you very high on the list. A person of higher rank could bump you off the plane if it was full. Usually it was. Spokane wasn't as easy to find a plane and after fruitless efforts I gave up and decided the train was the only way left. The route it took went into Canada for some reason. Eventually I got to Ft. Dix and was processed in Then began the waiting period to be shipped out.

That weekend another soldier and I got a week end pass and decided if it would be New York or Washington DC. We decided it would be NY and got there somehow. After some walking around not seeing anything important we were somewhat discouraged. A girl walking by called us paddlefeet. So we decided to just go back to Dix. It was a fruitless week end.

The next week any waiting problems were solved. One night that week we were ordered to get our duffle bag and head for the train to ship out. One day before we left I had been able to wire Kay some flowers with a message. The next morning about 2 A. M. we walked up the gangplank of the Queen Elizabeth in New York harbor. The largest ship in the world at that time. It was a little longer than the Queen Mary. Boarding was not difficult although the ship had a great number of decks. Some of the earliest soldiers on board had been there for three days. Waiting for a full load. Eating the miserable English stuff called food I suppose. If they ate the same thing we ate going over which was instant scrambled eggs in the morning with orange marmalade. Yuk. But I suppose feeding thousands it was about as good as it could be.

Troop ships load first in last off. They put the first in the bottom and work up to the top.


I was keyed up and could not sleep. So as the ship got underway about 6 AM I went on deck and as luck would have it I watched the Statue of Liberty slide by over a little way aways. I treasured that moment ever since. As I boarded that morning at 2 am and the ship sailed at 6 AM that meant I would be one of the first off at Glasgow Scotland.
Which was by lighter. (barge) If it took them 3 days for 16,000 men to load by gangplank how long did it take them to unload by barge? I didn't have to stick around to find out. The unloading was incredibly long no doubt. As we were almost the last to load we had to take the last available space which was the Promenade Deck Observation lounge. It's just as it sounds. In it's civilian life the observation lounge was THE place for the wealthy to hang out. If you have ever been on a large ferry there us usually a place up front to sit and watch the scenery. In a way this is what it was on the Elizabeth. That is why it is called the Observation Lounge. No doubt there were bars and restaurants and luxurious furniture. But by now the Queen had made dozens of troop crossings and the Observation Lounge furniture were gone. Replaced with bunks 4 high. All the windows had been blacked out. However I had a bunk just inside the doorway from the Promenade Deck so had easy access to the deck. The only problem was the passage way was taken up with hundreds of crap games, card games run by card sharks. It was even hard to walk around them. It was here that I found I was not cut out to be a gambler. Any inclination for gambling was destroyed here on this deck. It held over to any trip I took to Las Vegas or Reno after the war. To this day gambling doesn't interest me. I work too hard for the little I do have to gamble it away on some card or dice game. The ship was too fast to go in a convoy. It took us 5 days I think to get to Glasgow Scotland because we took a round about way to miss the submarines. I have always enjoyed ocean or boat travel. I never got sick. So the QE went alone and fast. After the war it caught fire in Hong Kong harbor and sank. Not like the Queen Mary which found a home in San Diego Harbor.

How do you feed 16,000 men on a ship? Don't expect gourmet. You eat twice a day. Instant eggs, There was lots of orange marmalade for breakfast. I cant remember what was for the second meal.

The only other outstanding thing to remember was the obvious access the officers had to the women. Nurses, Red Cross workers and the like. They did have their little play pen. The enlisted man could not get close. They kept them on a separate deck above. This held through the war and the occupation until they closed shop. Officers first. The also had their own bar where they could relax.

Democracy in the army didn't exist of course . In fact the treatment of the common soldier in the US army was worse than in some other countries military institutions. The 90 day wonders took full advantage of their authority. The special preferences the officers caused considerable resentment of course. At least it did for me. Resentment resulted in loss of respect by the enlisted man for the officer. It is said that the respect for the officers in the German army by soldiers was higher than in the American army. The German officer suffered the same dangers as his men. He didn't expect preferential treatment when it came to duty. Hitler was just as likely to shoot an officer as a private for not doing his duty. The Germans were strict. For both officer and enlisted man.

But back to the Queen Elizabeth. The officers in their play pen I could do nothing about so just enjoy the scenery. Any danger from subs was not much. The voyage still required precautions. By this time in the war the submarines were more or less under control. So we sailed merrily along.
The ship put out sort of a newspaper which I have a copy of.. They knew the war was just about ended by now and said so. There still wasn't any real information. Not even date. It had several legal size pages.

The draft of the Queen Elizabeth was too deep to dock in Glasgow. It's regular port was Southampton where we got our first taste of the war. Where we had a chance to see the effects of the German bombing years before. Because the ship could not dock it had to offloaded by barge. If it took 3 days to load by a constant string of men walking up the gangplank how long did it take to offload by barge? In any case it was last on, first off. Another stroke of luck. I was on one of the first if not the first. I cant remember for sure. But I don't remember waiting long.

Next chapter landing and going to France.

Who wants to die for multi-culturalism?

How much difference is there between the suicide bomber who says "I Will" and the army recruit who ways "I Will if I have to?" That's what he is actually saying when he raises his hand to uphold and defend the Constitution. If he didn't volunteer but is made to hold up his hand there is a big difference. However the results are the same for him. But if he is under the sway of Patriotism and does this voluntarily he essentially is doing what the suicide bomber is doing by putting himself in the hands of others who tell him it is his time to die. But you can't say that if the soldier is a conscript. When I wrote the letter to the draft board I didn't think of it that way. That wasn't in my mind but that is what I actually did. I had no intention of dieing. Didn't want to die. This came to me in the Replacement Depot in Verifiers Belgium. You are just one of hundreds here and your fate is in the hands of others. You are a nothing. You wouldn't have to be here in far off Belgium if Roosevelt had thought of these things when he cut off oil for Japan and put sanctions on Japan that he knew Japan could not live with? That there would be war. He had no consideration for the individual. That's how lots of people are. They care for the masses, not the individual. But the masses are made up of individuals.


To die for something is to die for your race, your family, your buddies in combat. But not for multi-culturism no. No one wants to die for multi-culturism. No matter how great they say multi-culturism is they have to come up with something else. At the moment it is terrorism. Even that isn't working any more. Financial incentives are being tried. It seems even that is failing to bring in enough neo-suicide bomber soldiers.

Some people might not like this suggestion. How different is the Patriot and the suicide bomber? They both offer up their life. The Patriot lift's his hand and sweares to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. That means he puts himself in the hands of someone who can say "you do this" "this" might mean comitting some act that you might come back from. About 266 men and women did this per day for 4 years. They didn't want to. They didn't mean to. They would have preferred to live. They didn't live though. They raised their hand and offered themselves up for a cause. They died just as surely as the suicide bomber died. So what is the big difference? In the days of white surpremacy and quest for empire they believed it might be worth it. Now in the days of multurculterism the government has to come up with a new reason for people to offer to die for them. That is what it really amounts to. Why should someone offer to get themselves killed for the comfort of someone else? At the moment it is terrorism.


That you, the soldier was just an insignificant cog seemed to come to me in the replacement depot in Vieviers Belgium. Of the hundreds there do you think Roosevelt cared a whit? No, you were picked for something by some clerk in some office who to them was just another number. You were nothing. A military commander cant think of you as an individual and also be a military commander. If he really had reservations about sending men to die for someone else. (the people who started the war) I don't think he could command.

For about 1000 days 266 men and women per DAY were shot, stabbed, blown up, drowned, died of illness and a thousand others ways there is to die. That's a day I'm talking about. For a thousand days. 266. Think of it. In 5 years they managed to kill less than 4,000 men and women in Iraq. Hardly anyone brings out the awful carnage of WW2. They call it "The Good War" They don't think of the 266 Americans per day who were killed for Roosevelt's folly. They've made it out if it was somehow worth it. But those people are still alive who push this idea. They are not dead.

Chapter 8 Ft Sill done, then home for 10 days

Remember for a really, REALLY big picture click on it.
I finished with Ft. Sill training and then had 10 days leave to forget the army. But everywere you went there were reminders. I don't remember how I got home but it had to be on the train. In Seattle there are two train stations. King Street station for the NP and the Union Station for the UP. But I don't remember one bit of what happened. Kay lived near downtown in a low income apartment one of the first built in Seattle. I could have walked there from the station about a mile away. It had to be a low income apartment as she lived on 80 bucks a month with Dianne. The apartment complex was filled with war wives. I don't remember anything about staying even one night there. All I remember is a time or two we went to the beach. I remember this because I have some pictures. The strange thing about the pictures is that the weather must have been fantastic and it looked like summer. But it was in winter. On closer look I can usually see some coats somewhere. Still it didn't seem to have rained.
Naturally we spent considerable time with her folks as her father had a car and made it easy to get around.
Here is a picture of Kay, me and Dianne at her folks house in north Seattle.
One time kay and I went to the beach at north Seattle. In those days you could build a fire on a beach.



I didn't deserve such great inlaws. They were wonderful. Reta her mom saved and treasured my letters to her from overseas. Her dad was great for providing me a place to stay when I was young and no place to go. All of her family were really nice. Cultured, educated and nice to a country bumpkin. But I loved Kay and told her I would never leave her. I was from a broken home and did not want to inflict anything like that on her. Now at 86 I have the opportunity to fulfill that promise.
Here is a picture of her in-laws at a family gathering at her Grandma and grandpa's house on Queen Ann hill in Seattle. The navy guy was her uncle Harold Hemry.

Chapter 7 Leaving Camp Roberts for Ft Sill

Remember you can see a big picture. Click on the picture


Following is a lists of posts in the order they were created. The problem I have not yet solved is how to actually post this narrative in narrative order. Google always shows latest post on top so if this is a narrative you would have to scroll down to the first to begin at the beginning. But I will list links to each page and all you will have to do is click on the link to go to the beginning. You can start at the beginning by clicking on the links in order/

Chapter 1 Getting drafted
Chapter 2. Introduced to the army in basic training.
Chapter 3. More training.
Chapter 5 Shocking admission
Chapter 6 Training ends at Hunter Leggitt

One thing more about week ends at Camp Roberts. I don't remember now how long Kay was staying at Paso Robles but the one week end that I mentioned where we went to Merced we also visited some relatives near Chowchilla. It is a few miles south of Merced. We visited one aunt and uncle Begley, who had a son in the marines also visiting during a leave from training like I was. He was on his way to join the crew of the USS Saratoga where he was killed. He was the only one to get killed although many others relatives were in the military. However Kay and I, his mom and dad were in the front yard to see him off. I don't remember if his sister who wrote his story was also in the yard to see him off. I suppose she was. In any case I remember watching him make his farewell then turn and walk off. Never to return. He was such a good kid. Be sure to read his story, You might want to look up the Saratoga and if you see a movie of the battle you will see the plane that hit his battery and killed him. His sister Lavada did a music video of him which I highly recommend You can watch it here


What route the train took to get to Ft. Sill Oklahoma I don't remember now. But there, I was to take advanced training in radio procedure and other details of being an artilleryman.
We lived in huts and here is I was at this time.

When you look back over your life what you thought was a disaster or bad times might have all been for the best. You are still around are you not? Where would you be if other things had taken place? An incident happened to me at Ft. Sill that almost killed me. When you are unconscious for three days you are near death. What happened was that I was riding in a jeep when we had an accident at an intersection. I was sitting in the back and got thrown into the front seat and hit my head on some thing. This accident didn't seem to bother me all that much but a day or so late late in the evening I began to get chills and feel terrible. I somehow walked over to the aid station and told them how I felt. but instead of calling an ambulance right away they had me lie down on a bunk to see if I would get better. About six they finally called an ambulance and took me to the hospital. I sat next to the heater but still had bad chills. To make me more miserable they took me to the wrong one and had to take longer taking me to another one. In all this time I felt terrible. After being admitted I was in a coma for 3 days. My illness was from pneumonia. I had had pneumonia two times before this. An upshot of this was that after getting out of the hospital I recuperated for a couple weeks. This month of sickness plus 10 days of leave kept me from being shipped over seas arriving there still during the Battle of the Bulge. So in effect this pneumonia which almost killed me perhaps let me live to a ripe old age. So if you are still around maybe what has happened was for the best. Although I can be sure many of you will not agree with me. Here is a picture of me at Ft Sill after recovering but not shipped out yet. Taken in one of the little photo booths that used to be here and there.




Ft. Sill was a learning experience and not training as at Camp Roberts. So the experience was more pleasant. We learned to fire 105 howitzers, fire direction, more radio and so forth. Finally we came to the end of the course and spent 2 or 3 days putting our knowledge into practice in the field. Some of the gunners of someone didn't learn very well because on the last fire mission of the day someone misdirected the salvo and it landed just about a hundred yards away.

As a reward for graduating we were treated to a demonstration of time on target fire power of artillery. We all sat on a little hill to observe the demonstration of how all shells can land at the same instant even though they came from varying distances. In this instance they demonstrated the effect of the proximity fuse. During the war they invented a tiny vacuum tube. Its circutry allowed it to detect an object when the shell came near a target. They still didn't have transistors which do the job today. The gunners would set the fuse to explode the shell above the ground. Today the cluster bomb does the same job except over a larger area.



One other opportunity to get my picture in this post is to show some German artillery. Actually an 88mm gun on a tank. The 88 was some consider the best weapon of WW2. It was the main anti-aircraft weapon. American tankers said it's shell could go completely through an American Sherman tank. In one side and out the other. It was what got the Sherman to be nicknamed a Ronson after the famous lighter of the day. Being gasoline powered it tended to explode when hit. Here is a picture of it.

Chapter 6 More basic training then bivouac at Hunter Leggitt

This is written as the thoughts come to me. So it will be pretty disjointed to a professional author. So if you are expecting professional writing you'd better buy a book. Also if you are interested in my entire experience after reading this go to the start by scrolling down and reading up. You've heard of writing from right to left so leave it to google to read from the bottom up. That's a joke son. There will be some pictures. Remember to click on a picture to see a big picture. The next post will show links to the first stories of this blog.

Please leave a comment if you take the time to read this. I'm going to see if google has a page counter. Maybe no one is reading it anyway.

For all you WW2 types whose eyesight is perhaps not too good I will increase the size of the print. Near Camp Roberts is the Military Reservation, Hunter Leggitt, where the trainees go for their final training where they put their knowledge into practice. Somehow I had acquired a camera or had someone else take the pictures. As I said before my memory is/was bad and unless I had a reason to remember it, it is gone. Pictures are a good way to remember what was going on. I managed to contact my friend Burdette Anderson who was in the Infantry at Camp Roberts and as I talked to him it brought back many memories but not of Camp Roberts Basic Training but things in general of army life. Of course he is about my age and considering that he lived through 85 plus or minus years and 90 days of combat on Okinawa I think it is remarkable that we are still around to talk about it.

I don't remember much of Hunter Leggitt but someone did take a few pictures of me there,



Of course they gave us various training in weapons. In the artillery soldiers don't normally carry rifles they carry carbines. So the infantry manual of arms is pretty much unknown to the artilleryman. Later in Germany at Worms when they handed me a n M1 rifle for guard duty I had to do a quick learn of the manual of arms. Not too tough actually as I'd seen them do it a lot of t mes. A real Marine or infantryman would probably have had a laugh if I had actually had to do it. The duty was guarding the perhiphery of the camp. Not too hard as we were a long ways behing the fighting at this stage of the war. This is the first I came in contact with the hunger and starvation going on in Gemany at this late stage. I remember one little kid trying to play and keep up with the other children who had not suffered so much malnutrition as he had. Small spindly legs, very thin, large shoes that kept him from keeping up with the others. I was to see a lot more of this but sheltered in the army with plenty of food, not living in the poplulation at large, the impact on us was less how bad it was for the Germans. Of course we had to know as the women congregated around the post liquor bars, willing to sell themselves for something to eat. But more of this later. But if you are under the impression the the American soldier was popular because of his winning ways you can forget that. I wonder this late date where all the people lived that had occupied Darmstadt and many other cities in 1945. One day late in the war the British or Americans raided the town of Darmstate with a population of around 120,000 killing 30 thousand or so. Take of look at Darmstadt in the summer of 1945. I took this picture Not a soul living here or even a place to stay by the looks of it. where did they go?




Enough for today more on basic before we graduated and sent on to other adventures. A spot of leave then on to the war for some.

Chapter 5 Homosexual in the platoon

The first few days we found out that one of the men was a homosexual. We found that out because he would jump up and down on his bunk and shout "See what I've got" As you can imagine it wasn't long that the army decided he was not for army life. As I had been the object of unwanted attention from homosexuals from the time I was quite young I was glad to see him disappear. When you grow up in a family setting where there is not a lot of supervision and in the country mainly you tend to be more available for homosexual predators. If you are in a close family setting where your contacts are limited and under scrutiny by your parents it is more unlikely to be assaulted by homosexuals. This was my only experience in two years with queers in the army.

Chapter 4 Into basic training.

If you want to see a bigger picture than the one on this page (or other pages) click on the picture for a bigger picture.


Some time before leaving Ft. Lewis for Camp Roberts they do recruiting for other services like Paratroopers etc. It didn't take me any time to decide that was not for me. So on to Camp Roberts. If your are so inclined you can get a history of Camp Roberts by following this link http://www.calguard.ca.gov/CpRbts/Pages/default.aspx

My memory has always been bad. The event has to be pretty outstanding for me to remember it. Of course what was outstanding to me might not be to you. My memory of basic was more like a blur. Nothing outstanding has etched itself in my memory. If I have a picture it will bring back memories. There were formations, inspections, reveille, taps, code practice and radio procedure and all the things that go into military training. Day after day. My foot hurt and made marching misery. That I remember. Going to the bar, coming home tipsy. The one thing I do remember was at the end of basic there was a marching contest with the other platoons. We won it but through no fault of mine. I thought I was pretty coordinated. However the Sgt gave a command to right face ant I left faced. Either the other formations were worse in other ways of they didn't see me. In any case we won and got out pictures taken.
I went on sick call one day so see if the doctor would do something for my foot. No he did nothing although now I am sure he could have. I was able to identify almost everyone on the picture and where they went.



During all this hanging over our heads were what is to come. that is what made this time so interesting. We definitely were not bored. The highlight was weekends with our wives. One week end we went to Merced and saw my dad. He was disappointed that Kay didn't bring Dianne which was impossible of course.

The picture of three of us is Burdette Anderson, Doyal Gudgel (me), and Kay. Burdette was in the Infantry and went to the pacific. Assigned to heavy weapons in the 7th Division and spent 90 days in combat in Okinawa. Afterwards the 7th went to Korea and occupied there for a year before he came home.

The big finale of basic training was go on maneuvers and put what we had learned into practice.

How to read this blog

Google doesn't seem to allow me to place the first post at the top. It seems you have to look at the latest post at the top which means of course you cant just start at the beginning. So you might want to scroll down and start reading up. I don't know how well that will work but I'll have to think this over for a better idea. Any ideas?
DG

Chapter 3 Basic Training

It may seem that I entered the military late in the war when lots of the danger was past but that is not the case. As far as Europe was concerned the late events of 1944. Battle of the Bulge was still t come. There was fighting across Europe. There was plenty of time to get killed. If you got sent to the Pacific as some of our outfit did with fighting in the Philippines or even Okinawa there was even more time. Because I was eventually sent to advanced training at Ft Sill and I had an accident which put me in the hospital with pneumonia in the end it turned out to be a stroke of luck. Although I almost died from pneumonia. But it was just the luck of the draw that as it turned out it was more like a camping trip gone bad. But back to basic training.

We arrived at Camp Roberts north of San Francisco at night from Ft. Lewis. As usual the army never tells you anything. So I had no idea what I was headed into. Infantry? Artillery? But there were some trucks. They marched us to across the parade ground. Someone asked the driver where we were going. He told us if it was the infantry we would be walking. That was a relief. I never got over that corn on my foot until I got out if basic training and didn't have to spend so much time on my feet. Because I stayed in the Artillery I wasn't bothered with corns. But to this day if I get on my feet too much I get a corn. I don't remember much of those first days. What does stand out in my mind was the week ends when my wife visited me from Seattle. After I had been there a while I was permitted passes on the week ends. She got a job at the Paso Robles Inn which burned down 10 or 20 years ago. Maybe more. Cleaning the mens and womens restrooms. She is way too good for me but she would do what had to be done.

It's a wonder I lived through basic not because I was in any danger to speak of but because on a couple weekends one of the guys lived in Modesto just north of Merced where I wanted to go to visit my dad and other relatives. He was a driving maniac. I don't remember the highway number but in those days over the mountains it was winding and not a good road. He would drive like there was no tomorrow. He had owned a garage in Modesto before being inducted. Anyway we made it OK. Here is a picture of Kay and me in the Merced park. The other picture is friends and us on Pismo Beach. Looks like placement of pictures on this blog is hard. Unless Google has a way of doing it that I dont know about. So bear with me and hope that as time goes by I will be able to overcome the inability of picture placement.


Meanwhile back at Camp Roberts we were mainly interested in weekends when we could meet our wives if they managed to come to Paso Robles to stay. One week end four of us went to Pismo beach which is near Paso Robles.




















I'll end this for now and get back with another page very soon. Today or even tomorrowl at the latest. Stay tuned


I don't know how to have you start at the beginning but scrool down to the first post and work from three. I'll improve as time goes by.

Chapter 2 Basic Training at Camp Roberts California.

Basic training wasn't all that tough. Not anything like the Infantry or Marines. They also had to learn how to kill. We spent lots of time learning morse code and other means of communication. So there wasn't any time to waste on things we wouldn't have to know. You don't have to be conditioned to operate a radio. We had the usual Chicken Shit obedience training to accept but training wasn't too difficult because my physical condition was pretty good. The non-coms of the batttery were decent sorts for the most part.

After a few weeks my wife decided to come down and visit me on weekends when it was permitted. She got a job at the Paso Robles Inn which burned down 10 or 20 years ago. Her job was menial house work cleaning the mens and womens restrooms.

One weekend we went to Pismo Beach which is next to Paso Robles. Here is a picture taken of us that I liked so well I made a huge enlargement of it.


The picture of the sailor is my brother who enlisted in the Navy shortly before the war. He was on the Lexington CV5 when it was sunk. Somewhere over 200 men were killed. He was one out the two survivors of his gun battery. The other survivor was the Lt. commanding the battery He said there were 25 in the battery. I am not familiar with the number of crew needed to operate a gun battery but it must have been a fairly big gun. They took the survivors to Tonga Tabu where he was for a year after some trouble with the brass the Lt told me. I was able to contact him after a story appeared in the Seattle times newspaper. I never knew anything about this incident until recently. He was reassigned to a post here in Seattle after Tonga. This picture of him and me was taken sometime before I was drafted. To see something about the Lexington click here.
You will see a 5 inch gun where almost all the crew except the Lt and he were killed. This is probably the gun he helped shoot. He told me once he was either a pointer or trainer on the gun. I don't know which is which.

Chapter 1 What happens when you get drafted

It was in about May 1944 when it looked like I was not going to be drafted because I had an exempt job with the Union Oil Company and my daughter was born before Pearl Harbor so I was pretty well exempt from the draft. I always was reminded that my dad seemed to regret not being in WW1 and there seemed to be something unpatriotic not to be in the military so I wrote the draft board to go ahead and draft me. The fast response clued me in that they were having a difficult time finding anyone to draft without it being a terrible hardship on that person or his family or relatives. So the response was immediate and I got the draft notice right away. The first picture here was about the third day at Ft. Lewis just before shipping out to Camp Roberts north of San Francisco. When we arrived at Camp Roberts someone asked what we were going into. The driver of the truck said if were the infantry we would be walking. So we got a ride in the truck to the barracks. Lucky for me because I had a corn on my foot I had to put up with all the time I was at Camp Roberts. I could not get the army doctor to do anything about it. Now you know if you have ever had a corn and had to walk on it is next to torture. Some how I made it through basic training but it was miserable.
For some reason the Army decided I should be a radio operator so I was trained as radio operator, and the other means of communication of the day. Semaphore was one other means of communication.
The picture of me alone is my first picture of me in the ill fitting uniform. I carried the picture of Dianne (below) all the time I was overseas. It was and is my favorite picture of her.

As a narrative this is all backwards as Google makes the latest post on top and I cant make a post at the bottom so you can just start at the top. I'm writing as I go so bear with me.