The Senior Observer

Comments

2009-11-11T22:11:00.000-08:00

There was a comment about eskimo.com but the person does not have a public profile for me to answer what I know about eskimo. If you want a response please make your information public. This goes for any subject of course.

Have a nice day.

See bills war. 4 years in WW2

Eskimo.com down the drain

2009-11-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

Eskimo.com one of the very early Internet providers in the NW died yesterday. It had been having financial problems for a long time but the owner Robert Dinse was sent to jail and his family apparently could not keep it going. Eskimo.com started about 20 years ago. I was connected to the internet through a company that got it's service through eskimo. It was called connected.com. So I have been on the interent for about 20 years through eskimo.

Robert Dinse was convicted of incest and sentenced to 46 months in prison. Dinse tried to keep eskimo alive but prison was the final blow. It had problems for a long time. One of his employees said Dinse could have made a 100 thousand a year working elsewhere but he preferred to keep eskimo going instead. It takes a lot of engineering ability to keep something like eskimo going.

So long eskimo.
Have a nice day
D

Vista is junk

2009-11-08T11:28:00.000-08:00

Vista is the most annoying piece of crap. I spend more time trying to get it to do what I want than what Microsoft wants. Microsoft deserves what ever the European Union makes it do. You would think Microsoft would have learned something in the years it has been in business. I hope Microsoft 7 fixes the crap I have to put up with in trying to get it to work. My bet is no way will MSN be reasonable with the new operating system 7.

Have a nice day.

Hard drive failure and/or Java updates

2009-11-08T05:47:00.000-08:00

When you plunk down that money for a hard drive just remember that's it. There is no guarantee. What you are concerned about is data recovery and there is no guarantee. So after that 14 day guarantee by the seller it's all yours. If it is 15 days after, bye bye money and data.

It has come to my attention that Java keeps sending these Java update notices even though you are not connected to the Interrnet. I suspected this but was not sure until I began using a computer off line and they kept coming. Bummer to be continually bombarded with this garbage.

Have a nice day.

Striker Brigade and the War

2009-10-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Striker Brigade stationed at Ft Lewis Washington has had seven soldiers killed in one day and were holding memorial services for another eight killed a few days ago. It may be great to honor the fallen but if this becomes commonplace how long can the Army keep reminding the soldiers still at Ft. Lewis waiting to go to Afghanistan of the fate that awaits them? Although the comnparison to WW2 where 275 Americans a day for four years were being killed, still, in the kind of wars the Americans are used to now casualty rates of 7 or 8 a day will get their attention. So my guess is that these memorial services will be downgraded, especially if the casualties continue on. So expect these memorial services to slow or stop for the morale of both the public and the soldiers still waiting to go to Afghanistan. The war must go on.

Have a nice day.

See an account of a hero or WW2

Surprise: Boeing is leaving Seattle

2009-10-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

So Boeing is leaving. Get used to it. Boeing would make their airplanes in China if they thought they could get away with it. Making money is the name of the game. Boeing has been in Seattle since year one but has begun serious outsourcing of it's workforce the last few years. Especially with their second line of 787's going to Charleston SC. When and if the line gets up and running and they can compare costs exactly for what it costs to make them in Seattle or Charleston then there will be no doubt about remaining in Seattle where Boeing began. The rest or Boeing will go too. Of course it is going to cost Boeing hugely to set up the second line but the chance to make money is worth the risk. Local Union members whine that Charleston doesn't have the reservoir of skilled workers that Seattle has but that is nonsense. Boeing either fired their skilled work force, or they are on unemployment so that is not much of a factor any more.

Have a nice day

Seattle P.I. clean effort fails

2009-08-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Post Intelligencer was on one of it's efforts to beautify the world but forgot to clean up it's back yard. One day I was driving by the PI and saw the dumpster overflowing.Occasionally I sent the Eagle, a weekly paper published in Yakima, pictures and stories originating in the Seattle area. This was in addition to my job as reporter/camerman for KTNT TV. The Eagle published the picture with the scathing story about the PI's efforts to clean up other's houses but could not keep it's own house clean. They sure did after this picture was published. This was real evidence that the PI read this little right wing rag published in Yakima. The publisher was Don Tait. I don't know what happened to Don. This was about 35 or 40 years ago.

Pismo Beach 1944

2009-06-18T20:24:00.001-07:00

Taking time off from training on a week end at Pismo Beach from Camp Roberts with Kay my wife from Seattle.

Brandenberg Gate October 1945

2009-05-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

See Bill Sheldon's War

Standing where I was in 1945 with GI guide

Hotel in Luxemburg. Generals HQ

2008-04-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

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

Luxemburg Hotel

2008-04-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

We stayed in the hotel that was the HQ in 1945

Going over

2008-01-30T08:58:00.000-08:00

`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 tailor. 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 tailor. 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 battalions, 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

2008-01-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-19T14:29:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

Chapter 21: More of the Occupation

2008-01-12T21:43:00.002-08:00

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.

2008-01-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-01-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-12-31T21:32:00.000-08:00

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.

See my blog on Bills War

Chapter 17: The Occupation 1945

2007-12-29T21:48:00.003-08:00

Link

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.

See Bills war

Chapter 16. Melsungen.and occupation

2007-12-25T21:41:00.000-08:00

Click on a picture to see a full screen picture

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.

Keep checking the blog on Bills war. A real hero and combat veteran

Chapter 15: Salzburg.

2007-12-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-12-15T13:05:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

    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.