Revised and annotated on February 20, 2001

Revised and annotated on October 27, 2001

THE 104th INFANTRY REGIMENT of the 26th Infantry Division.

Dedicated to all those who gave their lives (many needlessly) to this country in this poorly trained and poorly managed 104th Infantry combat Regiment.

"Pierre:
I was surfing the web and came across your site. At last the truth has come out. I can relate to a couple of your stories. During xxx, I saw men just surrender for no reason at all.. They did not even fire their rifles , they just froze out of fear. It's true, I also ran, but I fired back even after I was wounded by a German tank firing at me with a machine gun. I attributed that to our inexperience.
After crossing the xxx , my company went into attack.. There were eight of us in my group.. We were ambushed by a German patrol. After a brief fire fight, I was severely wounded and taken prisoner.. With a lot of luck I was able to escape xxx later.
After the war. I looked up some of my comarade on the web. I found two of them.. They were surprised to find that I was still alive.. They claimed that my body was found in the woods after the battle. My question to them was. 'Where in the hell were you guy's during the fire fight?' The two that I found said that they hid in foxholes. SOOOO !!! You see why I agree with most of what you say in your article..
I never said anything about my experience. I ended up with an x disability. I feel the Government owe's me this money. That is all history now. The hell with it."

I do not claim that others have the same beliefs nor the same experiences. What is here on this site is some very blunt truth about my experience as a combat soldier. I have been carrying these thoughts for more than 50 years.

A very small number of my readers have misinterpreted this article as "complaining". I call it telling it like it was without the sweeteners so prevalent of too many historians who gloss over very unpleasant and horrible facts of war and combat.

When I went into the military in 1943 I had no idea of war, no idea of infantry combat and no idea of my life being put on the line.

By nature I hate violence and physical contact, I deplore the use of violence (that is for animals and not human beings) abhor violent sports and the letting of bloodshed, consider violence in all forms to be beneath the Godliness of man and the last resort of depraved and mentally sick beings, animal or human.

I have always detested the dictatorial powers of "authority", detested the pompous airs of those who had no experience of any kind but who pretended to know everything. I particularly detested those who had no combat experience but who knew everything about it!

As a 19 year old I knew many of them they were fakes and time proved me right (two of our officers turned out to be yellow and one blustering platoon sergeant lost it (blew his stack) on the battlefield. Others would lie there and do nothing, never fire their weapons or engage the enemy. They did nothing at all!

I knew we were being trained to kill but no one I ever knew really taught us how to wage combat. In my book more time was spent learning about Army procedures rather than learning how to survive and perform in combat. The methods I did use in combat came to me naturally and they worked along with my splendid good luck!

When I went into combat violence, in its ultimate form, was the order of the day but I never succumbed to it. I did what I had to do but never lost my soul nor my compassion for man.

I had captured about 8 Germans who had been manning a machine gun nest. They were standing with their arms over their heads when one bent down to pick up something. I didn't shoot him, hit him or knife him but gave him a push off balance. He, the idiot, was reaching down for a pack of cigarettes! I made him drop them and that was that.

I was driving a Jeep I found on the battle field in order to get my Squad Sergeant (Staff Sergeant Charlie Kos) to an aid station since he was badly wounded (he survived and has just died of old age, I gather.). On the way I caught up with some Krauts we had captured who were marching back to our prison camps. I noticed one Kraut bleeding profusely, ordered him into my Jeep and took him to the aid station along with my Squad Sergeant.

In my belief that truth makes you free and that truth is the essence of democracy I have posted the truth about the combat I knew as best as I know it. This article is about my experiences and impressions as an infantry soldier who did combat in the European theater of operations.

The 26th Infantry Division was composed of three Infantry Regiments; the 104th, the 101st and the 328th.

I do not speak nor claim to speak for the entire Division. I note that GI's (particularly my dear friends Neal Burdett and Jim Haahr) with the 101st Infantry Regiment of the Yankee Division tell me that their Regiment was well managed and they have enormous respect for the command of that Regiment.

As a result of a long exchange with Neal Burdett and Jim Haahr I hope that it is clear that I am only talking about the 104th Infantry Regiment and the 26th Infantry Division command. I imply nothing about the 101st Regiment nor the 328th (I have never heard from anyone in that Regiment).

With apologies to John Keegan this is about "The Face of Battle" and, in many ways, the result of reading all of the Keegan war works.

I must say to you that, as a result of infantry combat, I am a firm believer in the philosophy of Arthur Koestler regarding the nature of man.

THE GUNS OF WAR

Here I am 77 and for the past 2 years or so all my injuries are coming back to haunt me. My feet will swell up just as big and hurtful as they were some 56 years ago (which means that I cannot walk).

My knee wound swells up and I cannot walk! I am still cold most of the time and my hearing stinks! It all happens at random, generally one at a time and I cannot figure out why or how it happens. The doctors know even less than I do. I went to my local doctor, who is quite good, and her comment was that "I have never seen this before!"!

I was drafted in December, 1942 as the first draftee of 18 from my draft board. I was a Canadian citizen and did not have to go. I could have refused and returned to Canada but it never even entered my mind. We were residents of the United States and proud to serve (unlike too many yellow bellies of today). I entered the Army in January, 1943. I was in Infantry combat for about 6 months in the European theater as a forward scout and a BAR man (Browning Automatic Rifleman). I was seriously wounded and spent about 4/6 months in a hospital in the UK.

I was honorably discharged in November, 1945. I received a disability pension for about one year when I decided I didn't want government money and refused an examination of my disability so as to default on the pension. I am about 65 percent deaf in both ears and have been for the past 50 years BUT I am getting progressively more deaf as I age. I am always cold and suffered severe frostbite on my hands and most particularly on my feet.

Tons of people ask me what world War II was like and are particularly curious about my Army experience.

Here are my recollections of World War II ( if you want to read details of personal experiences then go to PAR ). Not one of the comments is designed to be negative nor disparaging. People want to know what it was like and what I have written here is what it was like; no more, no less. This is the truth as best as I know it.

In order to be fair about the U.S. Army in World War II you have to realize that the military forces of the U.S. were starved for money throughout the 1930's and they got next to no consideration from the Government. To say they were starved for funds is to understate the truth. They were the paupers of the government and the most forgotten of all the government agencies. Everybody but everybody took monetary precedence over the military!

There had been no arms development since 1918 and Research & Development as we now know it did not exist. Almost all the equipment with which we entered World War II was left overs (surplus) from World War I(1916-1918 for the U.S.) . Only aircraft had received much attention and there was some technological progress there (but not much) but none had occurred for infantry equipment!

When I went into Infantry training school at Fort McClellan, Alabama the vast majority of the equipment I got was WW1 surplus.

That included the canteen,the first aid kit, the mess kit, the leggings, the Enfield rifle, the rounds of ammunition (all ammunition is dated on the firing cap), the shovel and the field pack. Later on I was issued a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) with which I went into combat and it was produced in 1917 at the Springfield Armory!

To say that the Armed Forces were orphans without an Orphanage is to put it mildly.

Most of the soldiers in the service of their own country were considered to be people that could not make it in normal life and who had joined the military as a sinecure.

If anything, there was contempt for those in the military. How well do I remember that!

When I look back and realize the brilliance of people like Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton and Clark ( to mention just a few) all of who served our country in the 1930's I am amazed at our luck in having those people who could have made it anywhere doing anything. They were all born leaders and brilliant to boot. This country often has more good luck than it may merit! We were blessed with born leaders in the military and just as I had when I was 19 I have enormous respect for them today at age 73!

They were professionals of the first caliber. Not all of them but more than enough of them. What would we have done without them?

There was none to speak of and you might not believe any of the following but it is all too true. Ask anybody who was there when I was:

• We trained with and went into combat with weapons that had been produced BEFORE OR DURING World War I (1914-1918)! They were obsolete and the best example is that the infantry rifle was a bolt action World War I production Enfield (the American version of the British Lee-Enfield rifle). I trained with it and I trained others on it. Later on, of course, the Garand was developed and it was a good (but not great) semi-automatic weapon.
• My Browning Automatic rifle, with which I fought in combat, was produced in 1917 by the Springfield Armory and was as faulty as a weapon could be including jamming too, too frequently.I disliked it with a passion and considered it a lousy weapon.
• My ammunition belt was made of canvas and it came from World War I. When it rained it was impossible to get the ammunition clips out of the belt and if you were lying on your stomach under fire you could not get the clips out of your belt unless you rolled over and raised yourself! If you did that, of course, you were a better target! I went into combat with that stupid, lousy, rotten ammunition belt and hated it with a passion until I threw it away and carried my ammo clips in my jacket pockets!
• We had no artillery to train with and used logs on wheels for artillery training. In order to fire the artillery in SIMULATED combat (maneuvers) we would call out "BANG". That signified that the artillery piece had been fired!
• In actual combat we still used some artillery from World War I but most were new and decidedly inferior to both Russian and German artillery.
• We used broom sticks for weapons when we trained since we did not have enough genuine weapons to go around.
• There were no anti-tank weapons that had any value. We did have an anti-tank weapon which was a 50 caliber piece. It was pea shooter and absolutely useless against any normal tank. It was a weapon designed to get the gunners killed and no more of that: Notice how small this anti tank gun is! It was a piece of junk; a pea shooter of no value but enormously dangerous to the gunners! Junk, first class killing junk!

• Later on there were anti-tank howitzers and anti-tank tanks (tank destroyers) and they were good but the Germans' were far better.
• We did train with the new invention; the Bazooka. However the entire training for bazookas were wooden replicas of the Bazookas as were the rockets. They were not the real thing. When we "fired" the bazooka in training we would whistle in order to emulate the firing. The first bazooka I ever fired was in combat!
• Shoes were everyday shoes and there were no shoes designed for warfare until the war was close to being over! I believe that "trench foot" was the major illness of all the American military forces in world War II. Trench foot was the end result of shoes that did not protect your feet from either the water or the cold.

• The picture above is in Lorraine, November, 1944 and the leggings are clearly visible.
• Some former members of the 26th infantry division have denied to me that we wore leggings in combat but here is proof positive! Leggings were canvas attachments fitting around the calf of the leg held in place by a drawstring. They were worn above regular shoes and offered NO protection of any kind against water, snow, mud or moisture.
• At this very moment it seemed that the entire rear echelon had combat boots! The GI's that needed them didn't have them and the GI's who didn't need them had them!The rear echelon stole them away from the combat troops and the stupid command never enforced the right of the combat troops to get the boots first!
• Thousands upon thousands of combat troops got trench foot and were unable to fight: ended up in the hospital! Most of us that got trench foot suffer from it to this day! I wear socks to bed every night!
• For awhile we even wore the "puttees" of World War I! When I took "Basic Training" at Fort McClellan, Alabama we were issued puttees from World War I!

"trench foot noun.A condition of the foot resembling frostbite, caused by prolonged exposure to cold and dampness and often affecting soldiers in trenches.[From its occurrence among soldiers in trenches.]"

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved.

"puttee (pù-tê´, pùt´ê) noun1.A strip of cloth wound spirally around the leg from ankle to knee. Often used in the plural.2.A gaiter covering the lower leg. Often used in the plural."

Clothing was of the parade ground kind.

The personal shovels issued to the infantry were all from World War I and were almost useless if you tried to dig a fox hole while under machine gun or artillery fire. I ended up carrying a German infantry shovel which could be converted from a shovel to a hoe in an instant and which was decidedly superior to our little toy.

Tanks and reconnaissance vehicles were a horror and the first American military tank produced for World War II (called the "Grant" [the General must have rolled over in his grave] ) was an absolute disaster.

The vital flaws in this tank are fairly obvious and why anyone with any knowledge of tank warfare would produce this monstrosity is beyond me. There were people in the American Army who knew tank warfare from A to Z (General George Patton) and it had to be produced without their approval.

What are the flaws? For starters:much too high a profile, too straight a frontal area, a main gun that could not traverse more than 30 degrees so that the tank had to be turned to point the gun, escape hatches on the side and not in the back!

This was after the characteristics of the German tanks were well known since they had been on the battle field field since 1939! Whomever designed the GRANT apparently did no or little research or it was designed by a committee!

That was proven when we went into Africa against Rommel (the Afrika Corps) and we got the hell beat out of us. Reconnaissance vehicles were referred to as "tin cans"which was an apt description of their protective armor!

"They managed to get the Fifth Panzer Army under General Jürgen von Arnim on the scene in time to stop Eisenhower in western Tunisia by mid-December. Rommel went into the Mareth Line in southeastern Tunisia in early February 1943 and launched an attack against the Americans on February 14 that drove them back 80 km (50 mi) and out of the vital Kasserine Pass." World War II," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

In sum and substance we were ill prepared for the war, had no modern equipment, used old surplus leftovers and began the war with obsolete junk of the worst kind (a destroyed Grant is at the right).But it was even worse than that: early on the powers that be decided that we would win the war in the air (I was taken out of Officer Candidate Prepatory School [OCPS] since the war was going to be won in the air and no more infantry officers were needed) That meant that a vast effort went into producing, improving and researching airplanes.

It also meant that the infantry was hind tit and the innovations were negligible. All that we did, in essence, was to copy, duplicate, replicate and produce the Infantry equipment of other nations.

Here is what John Keegan, famous military historian, had to say about the Sherman tank (our main battle tank in WW2): "The British were heavily dependent on the Sherman,counting on its reliability in action,ease of maintenance, and sheer weight of numbers, to offset its inferiority to German Tigers and Panthers. The U.S. Army's rule of thumb was that it took 5 Shermans to knock out one Panther"

The best tank was either the German "Panther" or the Russian T-34,

"The T-34 gave the Germans a nasty shock ! Although it can be considered a development of the BT series, the T-34/76 is actually a major redesign : more armour protection, wide tracks, a powerful engine, and a great gun. With these features, it outclassed all the German tanks in service in 1941. In response to the German invasion (Operation Barbarossa), a mass of T-34 streamed from the newly built Tankograd production plant : from 1940 to 1945 more than 40,000 T-34s (of all models) were delivered. Hurriedly built and poorly finished by western standards, the T-34/76 was nevertheless a superb fighting machine. Throughout its life, the T34 design was subject to various changes. From the early two-man, hexagonal-shaped all welded turret with a short barrelled gun, it passed to a larger cast steel turret (with a cupola for the commander) and a longer-barrelled gun. In 1943, as the existing panzers couldn't adequately oppose against the T-34/76, the Germans were forced to develop a new tank : the Panther."

the best aircraft tank killer was Russian, the best tank killer pilot was German (he was the advisor to Fairchild [to whom I was an occasional advisor] on the development of the A-10 anti-tank aircraft of Gulf war fame), the best infantry shovel was German, the best artillery was German (the '88 flak gun), the best light machine gun was German, the best assault weapon was German:

"-Dead German with "Burp Gun" according to note on the back of this photo. This assault gun is very similar to most of the modern assault rifles in use to this day (my italics). The correct name is SturmGewehr '43, which means Attack Rifle, model (19) 43. This was one of the innovated weapons, along with the "Falschirm Gewehr" which was an automatic rifle specially designed for Paratroopers. Once again the German's got there first with it (my italics).Only very limited numbers were produced so it's not that well known anyway, not officially a "Burp" gun. Thanks to Rob Plas for this description. Capt." Dutch" Schultz recounted to me that GI's in their quest for souvenirs, would pick up the "Burp" guns. They never used them while out on patrol, because of the distinctive sound of the gun. They didn't want their own men to shoot back at them! (I had one but never used it for the same reason)."

That's me carrying the company flag at Fort McClellan, Anniston, Alabama some time in early 1943 (note the fixed bayonets). I was called the "guidon bearer" and it was supposd to be an honor but I never got any extra money or perquisites!This was prior to "training" with the 26th Infantry division later on. The commanding officer of the training at Fort McClellan was a Lieutenant Rounsville. Did he survive? I don't know but I hope so.He was a very good officer.

I was lucky. I trained from day one for infantry combat. I was, in fact, for a brief amount of time what were called "Infantry cadre" which was the designation of those who trained others.

The soldiers in my 104th Regiment were not so lucky. Most of them had a minimal amount of training before they went into combat and were as green and untrained as they come.

The training itself was terrible. Most of the Officers were as green as were those they were training and most of the non-coms knew even less than the officers. Some of the officers were just out of ROTC and they were a joke, a macabre one at that. We had a Lieutenant who could never but never get his leggings put on correctly!

I must admit, however, there were exceptions:

Two come to mind; one was my platoon Sergeant named Charlie Kos and the other was my Platoon Officer named Lieutenant Winters (I forget his first name).

We were over-exercised and treated, at times, brutally. I remember one kid in our company who was so fat he could hardly fit through a doorway. They made him do 25 mile marches. Naturally he collapsed and was mustered out of the infantry. We were made to do forced marches in 125° blazing sun. On one "hike" we started out with about 800 men and we ended up with less than 50! The balance had all collapsed by the roadside. I and my "buddy"(Henry Wojcicki) made it only because we were 19!

When we went into combat we were burned out and were incapable of doing a ten mile forced march! We had to do one in combat and the drop-offs were almost total!

Training consisted largely of exercise (the kind where you flail your arms, lie on your back and 'bicycle' etc. etc.) and I don't remember any real training such as how to survive in combat. Training consisted of keeping everybody busy!

One of the reasons I made it is that I used to sit in the "Rec Hall" (Recreation Hall) and read all the training manuals that were there.

Maneuvers were a joke, a hilarious funny, but some of the maneuvers were deadly and one soldier after another lost his life because of command stupidity during maneuvers! My outfit was a National Guard outfit and they were, to me, week-end toy soldiers who rose in the ranks because of longevity of service and not for any other reason. Most of them were incompetent and had no more knowledge of warfare than I did. Many of them were after medals with no pain!

Once, coming off manuevers we were forced to crawl under machine gun fire (the real thing) but no one had thought to bag down the machine guns. Naturally, after awhile, the machine guns began to "walk". As they walked the machine gun fire, instead of going over the heads of the GI's crawling in the dirt, dropped down and struck the GI's. I remember 4/5 that died in that fiasco.

The Cumberland river was a raging torrent which had to be crossed in maneuvers. As a result of a terrible decision made by the commanding officer, Colonel Colley, of the regiment 21 men drowned that morning trying to cross the river. See the memorial article on this disaster ordered by Colonel Colley!

All in all the training was horrible. We were never properly trained nor briefed on what lie in front of us. I could go on and on but won't.

Not only was the training a joke but we went into combat with weapons none of us had ever fired!The BAR with which I was trained and which I had zeroed in to the sighting of a peeny was taken away form me as we boarded the ships to France. On the boat we were issued new BAR's still in the cosmoline and they were never sighted in and we went into combat with weapons never before fired or sighted in!

The badge is the Combat Infantry Badge of which I am the most proud (return to Title)!

COMBAT IS ETERNAL CHAOS. THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS WHETHER OR NOT THE ENEMY IS IN GREATER CHAOS THAN YOU ARE!

We went into combat in dress shoes. We did not get combat boots until well into late October, 1944. In the meantime almost everyone in the rear echelon had combat boots!

We went into combat with weapons that had been issued on the way over on the boats. Nobody but nobody ever got a chance to "zero in" their weapon before the landing on the "Easy Red" beach in Normandy!

I zeroed in my BAR in combat! I did it by firing, during lulls in fighting, at targets I would pick out until I almost got it right.

We went into winter combat with no, repeat NO, winter clothing at all. I wore a parade ground overcoat until mid-November, 1944. I got my combat boots late in October,1944 after I had seen everybody (or so it seemed) in the rear echelon wearing theirs! Why do I remember it so vividly? Because I had a roaring fight with a GI in the Quartermaster Corps over the fact that we had no combat boots.

The food was a joke and we went frequently without any except, maybe, with a 2 inch tin of cheese, for several days. I will never but never forget that our Christmas dinner consisted of K rations which included a packet of lemonade!The chocolate bar( hard as leather) was good.

We would run out of artillery support quite frequently. The artillery were limited on a daily basis on how many shells they could fire (memory says 8 shells a day per gun-but who can remember a detail like that?). A call for artillery fire had to be cleared at higher levels!

We even, on occasion, ran out of rifle shells and would borrow from each other. My rifle consumed 20 rounds of ammunition at a time;all in one clip ( a former officer wrote me it was not a clip but a "magazine"; so be it since "so what"?) I had an ammunition carrier (Henry Wojcicki aka Henry Wick) who never had much ammo to carry since we didn't have much! I never ran out because I watched my supply scrupulously. I was terrified of being caught without ammo!

Gasoline, food and ammunition were continuing nightmares. We not only ran out of them but frequently did not know if we would get replacements. Everything but everything was in short supply!

At one point in the attacks against the Germans we were driving the replacements up to the front lines, yes, the front lines, offloading them right there! In nanoseconds they were in combat.

One of the people I grew up with was named Matty Sigmann and he was killed as he was descending from a truck loaded with replacements which was being unloaded right at the front! They never had a chance! They were killed before they ever got off the truck!

They died in vain.

Confusion and chaos were the norm. The Army expression for it was "SNAFU" which meant (in proper English) "Situation Normal, All Fouled Up".

Much later on I happened to meet a German soldier whom I had captured at a place called Moncourt Woods and when I asked him why we beat them his answer was :

"You were so fouled up we never could figure out what you were going to do next!"

That, of course, was utter nonsense since they were far more fouled up than we were!

We were always, or so it seemed, cold, wet and hungry. From October on it rained or snowed all the time and we had no proper clothing or equipment for that kind of weather. We did not have any way to get hot food and so we ate cold rations, most frequently in the rain and snow. We slept wet, exhausted, hungry, totally and completely miserable!

Mud was everywhere and more often than not the tanks, jeeps and trucks would get mired down and unmovable. The Army of movement became the stalled Army from November on. If we wanted to roll we used the highways and the paved roads. It was better to die moving than to die frozen and in the mud!

I saw one soldier after another shoot themselves so as to get out of combat. Most shot themselves in the palm of their hand or on the ridge of their foot.

All such SELF INFLICTED wounds were investigated, of course but what happened to those with self inflicted wounds is unknown to me.

Most soldiers never fired their weapons. One GI from North Carolina (I know his name as well as my own [ Red ------] but no snitching since he was badly wounded later on) who was next to me in an attack on a German position on the way to Koblenz( which is just below Bonn and at the intersection of the Moselle and Rhine rivers [touch the spot where the rivers intersect] and that is Koblenz on the map ) refused to fire his rifle because "If I fire it, I'll have to clean it". I remember his name and his face as if it were yesterday. He was a jerk.

A famous military historian (S. L. A. Marshall [SLAM Marshall] ) has said that no more than about 1/3 of all men in combat fire their weapons. I agree with him since that was my experience.

We had few if any maps. As a forward scout I got my compass directions from an officer who had a compass but no maps! He would point to some object or village way out there and say "That's where you head" and of course it had to be prominent, such as a church steeple.

All the replacements, or so it seemed, were as green as could be and most of them did not even have the most rudimentary training. They were cannon fodder and they were killed almost as soon as they arrived in combat.

I was a forward scout which means I was in front of the entire company and did exactly what the "title" sounds like: I scouted the terrain and looked for the enemy. I lead the way!

I had, most of the time, a second scout. Between us we were supposed to ferret out, locate the enemy. We got our destination directions generally from the commanding officer (whomever that might be). If we were fired on (the best way to locate the enemy) our job was to locate the position of the enemy, guess at his strength and give the information to our Platoon Sergeant. He would pass it on to the commanding officer. That is an idealized version of the procedure

In all my time in combat it is rather incredible but the following is true:

• We never knew where we were to an exact degree.
• We most frequently did not know the name of a village, town or even city unless we stumbled on it.
• I, for one, never had a compass even though I was supposed to lead the way!
• I, for one, never had a map. Much too frequently the officers had no maps either!
• I was never but never told where I was to go except that the direction was pointed out with a hand wave or an arm pointing.

All signs were totally useless since the Germans either changed their pointed directions or destroyed them.

All signs with Town or Village names on them or directions with names and kilometers were generally obliterated or destroyed.

We got our destination directions generally from the commanding officer.

Much too frequently we would go to the top of a hill and someone would point out to me where I was to head. From the viewpoint of exposure to the enemy that was sheer insanity.

The directions we took were merely 'go after the enemy' and I know for a fact that we were never sure who was on our flanks nor the location of other companies!

I do know from having seen it hundreds of times that too many of what maps were available were horribly inaccurate. I know that we would call for artillery support and it would land hundreds of yards away from where it was supposed to land. Our artillery was never that inaccurate. It was the maps!

To this day all I know is that we walked most of the way across France and into Germany. If, however, you ask me where we walked, where we fought, what was the names of the towns and cities we took (except Nancy), where we fought our battles, where we destroyed the enemy I have to answer you that:

"I haven't got the foggiest idea!". I have no more idea of the directions we took, of the towns we went through, of the directions of our attacks or anything involving geography. For all I remember we could have been on the moon!

Maybe they knew in the rear echelon but they knew little if anything at the front.

In summary, we were never but never briefed on where we were going, what to expect to find in front of us nor where our own troops might be. It was just a horde of soldiers moving forward until they engaged the enemy.

And battle being the chaos it is there were times when you would find yourself alone with your buddy and could not locate your own company. If you asked someone you might stumble on they would not know either!

All I know is that we walked or rode across France into Germany but if you say "where?" I have to answer truthfully: "I do not have the foggiest idea! I was there but that is all I know."

"He was just a coward and that was the worst luck any man could have."Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), U.S. author. Robert Jordan, in For Whom the Bell Tolls, ch. 30 (1940), said of his father.The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

I cannot speak for anyone since I have never but never discussed this subject with anyone else. When I was assigned permanently to the Infantry I knew that combat was inevitable. I always wondered whether or not I could take it; could I function or would I freeze and run away?

I knew then that the control over terror is either something you have or or don't have. I was one of the lucky ones; combat scared the hell out of me but never terrorized me and I functioned normally, albeit scared green!

We had quite a few who were terrorized and ended up as cowards. I use the word advisedly so allow me to define it:

"coward (kou??rd) noun
One who shows ignoble fear in the face of danger or pain. ".

There were different kinds of cowards:

There were the kind who knowingly refused to fight and to continue in combat. They considered self mutilation to be a lesser danger than combat. These were people who shot themselves either in the palm of their hand or on the ridge of their foot. I saw both. In one incident I was about three feet away and watched a man take his rifle, put his left hand over the barrel and pull the trigger. The bullet tore his hand apart, the palm of his hand was gone and with a bleeding hand he got up and walked to the medic. Who was he? I didn't know then and I don't know now.

In another incident I watched a man point his rifle at the ridge of his right foot and pull the trigger. He got up on one foot and limped away crying his heart out.

A First Lieutenant lead us across a beet field replete with enormous sugar beets (hell to walk through). We had pushed off from the edge of a forest after waiting there all night in torrential rain (I remember wearing a poncho sitting against the trunk of a tree, bottom as wet as a river and only being able to nap off and on). I was his first scout and we did not get any artillery fire until half way across the field. All of a sudden, with the well known sound of "incoming", the artillery shells began to explode all around us. The First Lieutenant (whose name I know to this day and remember as well as my own) fell to the ground, turned around and ran back as fast as he could go into the forest. We never saw him again.

When we were stateside there was a platoon Sergeant who was one mean son of a bitch. If anyone, anyone at all, did something the Sergeant didn't like he would be challenged to a fist fight. I saw poor helpless GI's get the living hell pummeled out of them since the Sergeant had been a professional boxer.

One night on the front with the Germans only a few hundred yards in front of us we had a horrible 6 hours or so. We were shelled all night, mortar fire never stopped coming in, our forward posts were wiped out by Germans with knives. I, for one, absolutely knew I would not live through the night and got lost in the fog about 10 yards in front of our defense line!

Dawn came and as the light rose the "tough" son of a bitch got up and started running back and forth (in a relatively safe place) screaming "No one can defeat the United States etc etc." but, of course I only vaguely remember actually what he was screaming. He had totally and completely flipped out. They knocked him to the ground, tied his arms and carried him away on a stretcher!

I remember thinking "I knew you were yellow, you no good son of a bitch!"

We had a GI in our platoon who was a hill billy. We were in a brutal attack that was one fire fight after another. The hill billy (Red A---) was lying on my left side about three or four feet away. He and I were being shot at by a German machine gun nest. I was answering the fire with all I had. I noticed that the hill billy was not firing his Garand. I called out to him to fire back. He refused and never did fire back.

In another attack much later on he was brutally wounded and lost his entire left shoulder to enemy fire. Why did he refuse to fire his rifle? If you fired you would draw enemy fire and so the way to make sure you did not draw enemy fire was to refuse to fire your weapon:

The worst coward is the one who will not fight and who deserts you. There were so many of them that there was a regular force of Military Police who rounded up the stragglers and the lost who not infrequently were separated from their outfits by the very nature of combat (but that's another story) . The MP's would walk or ride the stragglers or the lost back into combat and the front but it usually took two or three days for a deserter to get rounded up and put back with his organization from whom he deserted again as soon as he could. Generally the officers who were themselves lost or stragglers were in command of the enlisted stragglers (I had taken about 30/40 German prisoners back to the rear echelon at the command of Lieutenant Winters and of course my outfit kept on pushing forward. It took me more than 2 days to rejoin Company A! That is why I know about and saw the incredible number of stragglers! The bunch I was with must have totaled more than 100!)

"Among these casualties are listed the names of three persons from ** Company who were evacuated due to self-inflicted wounds. I mention this only because this is one of the many subjects that Pierre Rinfret discusses on his web site."

"I also noted in the Morning Reports I have for ** Company that several GIs were evacuated on October 9 for "battle fatigue" which means that they were 2, repeat, 2 days on the line at a time when things were fairly quiet."

The Yankee Division was also known as the 26th infantry division. It had an illustrious record (or so they claim) in World War I.

It was disbanded by the Department of Defense following WWII.

I joined the Yankee Division fresh out of ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program) from the University of Maine but I was lucky since I had trained for the Infantry at Fort McClellan, Alabama prior to going to UM. I was slated to go to Infantry Officers Candidate Prepatory School ( I was all of 19) at Fort McClellan but went to UM instead.

I have never had a thing to do with the 26th since I was wounded since I could not stomach them in the war and had less respect for them after the war. I attended a reunion at the Waldorf Astoria just after the war and most of the people at the reunion were stinking drunk. That was the end of that.

It was a fact of life that neither the officers nor the non-commissioned officers had any more experience about war than I did at 19 years of age. They were just as green and as inexperienced as any of us kids.

The only problem was they pretended to know what they were doing but they didn't. To say that they lorded it over us is to understate their attitude. THEY WERE SOLDIERS AND WE ASTP KIDS WERE ACADEMIC DOPES! ASK THEM: THEY HAD BEEN PARADING FOR YEARS!

HA! When we got into combat some of those SOLDIERS turned out to be as yellow as the yellow brick road! And some of the ASTP kids got tons of medals.

The officers of our Regiment (104th) fouled up on maneuvers and GI's were killed because of that. When we went into combat they fouled up even more. We launched an attack against the Germans at a place called Moncourt Woods (north of Nancy, France [I believe] ) and we were standing up about 50 yards in front of the GERMANS when the sun came out and we were silhouettes against the horizon!

The officers did not know or did not take into account the time of sunrise! IF MEMORY SERVES ME CORRECTLY SOME 65 GI'S WERE KILLED IN MINUTES AFTER THE SUN ROSE! The officers paid for their ignorance and incompetence and the Captain of our company was among the first killed! Poetic justice.

I could go on and on but let me leave it this way: too many men died because our officers and non-coms did not have the foggiest idea of what they were doing. Incompetence was the norm.

I did not have respect for the outfit when I joined it and have none now, some 50 years later.

None of this means that we did not have some very good men; we did, but they were a minority. Two come to mind; a Lieutenant Winters (I don't remember his first name) and a Staff Sergeant Charlie Kos.

The following quote is taken from "THE BATTLE MEMOIRS OF GENERAL GEORGE S.PATTON, WAR AS I SAW IT". There is no indicated publisher nor is there a date of publication! I don't know how or where I got the book but the forward is by his wife.

In my judgment the book was probably published by the CIA or the DIA which is a standard Intelligence technique.

This quote which I have scanned is from page 145 and is a perfect example of the cavalier attitude of the professional warriors regarding human life. The action referred to was one in which I was involved and for which action I was decorated with the Bronze Star. This action took place north of Nancy, France in a place called "Moncourt Woods".

I was with Company A (second squad) in the 104th regiment which was commanded by Colonel Colley, who was responsible for the unnecessary death of 30 GI's on maneuvers in Tennessee much earlier. The Oak leaf on the ribbon of my Bronze Star signifies that I got two of them.If you "finger" the bronze star it takes you to the commendation awarding me the medal.

.

Why am I insulted?Was it a practice for the 65 killed in that attack? Was it a practice of the more than 200 (?) wounded in that attack? Was it a practice for those who lost their arms (as did a friend of mine). What kind of mind would call a death dealing attack against an armed enemy a "PRACTICE"? In my judgment only a sick mind who loved war!

What a horrible insult but a perfect illustration of the cavalier attitude towards the GI of those in command as evidenced so much in both the Korean war and the Vietnam war.

Since I fought in Europe the enemy I knew were the Germans, all the Germans.

I could make fair and relevant comments on the German people who were not in the military but those observations would be worthless since they all were observed under the horrible conditions of war. Suffice to say they were beaten, destroyed and subservient and had lost almost all their arrogance, but that arrogance was always there.

The German military were beautifully trained and totally and completely experienced in war. After all they had been fighting since 1939 and they knew the territory far better than we Americans. The majority of Americans who landed on the beaches in Normandy had little, if any, combat experience.

We were pretty green compared to the Germans as the following true and real observations will illustrate:

One lone SS trooper with a German Schmisser "pistol" was able to hold up about 200 GI's in my company for about 30 minutes. He got away without a scratch, as far as I know.

A company of light tanks in the attack against Cologne (I think) was unable to penetrate the edge of the forest which was held by German machine gun companies. In fact all the tanks were abandoned at the edge of the forest by all the American tank crews as '88 fire came in. They got out and ran back as fast as their legs could take them. I, for one, never saw any of them again.

12 or 14 Germans held off my company for about one Hour.

One German tank destroyed about 8 Sherman tanks and then got away.

In surrender, the Germans naturally fell into the proper formation, on their own (discipline!)

The German military played a thoroughly dirty war and there was no limit to atrocities which I personally witnessed:

In Normandy, they hung captured American GI's from telephone poles with their penises stuffed into their mouths.

They garroted American POW's.

They machine gunned to death captured Americans after they had tied their hands together behind their backs with wire.

As they retreated they destroyed everything in sight whether it made sense or not. They destroyed out of vengeance and not for military purposes.

They hung French resistance fighters and French men and French women from the nearest lamp posts.

ASIDE: The GI's I knew in combat (officers and non-coms as well as enlisted men) scrupulously followed the Geneva convention. I cannot and do not speak for the Armed Forces but I can say that I never knew anything but decency towards the enemy by my outfit, our officers and enlisted men. END OF ASIDE.

The fundamental reason that this article is causing so much anguish, which it is, to former members of the 104th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division is that most horrible stupidities and mistakes have been covered up for the past 55 years!

They were covered up in training and they were covered up in combat!

And they have been covered up for the past 55 years.

To use an old fashioned expression "they covered each others asses", and they still do!

The bulk of the 26th were Irish who came from the same towns, villages and cities. They knew each other in the pre-combat days. They were buddies from way back when! They were in the National Guard together, they trained before the war together and they got drunk together (oh boy, did they drink before, during and after!). I saw more drinking than I believed possible! They would go off base and come back as drunk as could be!

When the ASTP students arrived at the 26th they were mostly assigned the position of being a BARMAN, the most dangerous POSITION in an Infantry Company (it may be that an FAO, forward artillery observer, was worse). In other words, the 26th got rid of the most dangerous positions for their own and foisted them on the poorly trained and totally green replacements of the college kids!

I was with the second squad of "A" Company, the 104th Infantry Regiment of the 26th Infantry Division, known as the "Yankee Division". I was a designated BAR man, a man that carries an automatic rifle known as the Browning Automatic Rifle. My rifle was manufactured in 1917 at the Springfield (Massachusetts) Armory.

I do not remember the names of our company officers except a Lieutenant Winters and a Sergeant Kos. Our Battalion commander was a Lieutenant Colonel Tranquada (sp) whom I never saw nor would I recognize. Obviously I am not even sure how to spell his name and do not have nor ever did have the slightest idea of his first name.

Our Company Commander was, I believe, a Captain. I have no memories of him, never did know his name, hardly ever saw him, never remember him in combat nor have any memories of him except he once chewed me out for eating watermelons. I believe he was killed in the battle called Moncourt Woods, when the entire company was caught standing up in front of two German Machine Gun companies, just as the sun rose! One more command failure and stupidity!

Our Regimental Commander was what was called a "Chicken" (full eagle) Colonel, a Colonel Colley. He was and is one of those people I will never forget. I will never forget him because he was directly responsible for the death of 21 GI's on maneuvers in Tennessee.

They covered up the inadequacies, incompetence and the stupidity of Colonel Colley who caused these deaths in the river crossing on the Cumberland river in Tennessee.

He was never censured or court martialled (there was an investigation in which the white wash was total) even though 21 men died because of his stupidity ( in the book entitled "Before Their Time" the author, Robert Kotlowitz, says that 20 men were drowned in the Cumberland. Not so, it was 21).

If you find it hard to believe that they white washed the death of 21 GI's crossing the Cumberland river then read this excerpt about that horrible tragedy taken from th official YD history:

This man, Colonel Colley, should have been court martialled and removed from position but instead his stupidities were covered up during the war and he went on to laurels about his "leadership" by the Yankee Division Veterans Association after the war.

The so-called official history of the Yankee division is a white wash of the worst kind and some of the comments are ludicrous, the official history claims that everybody wanted to go into combat. Believe that and you believe in the tooth fairy!

I never met one single soldier in my regiment that wanted to go overseas and into combat! We college students may have been dumb but we were not stupid!

And besides anybody that does want to go into combat has to be slightly loco, to say the least!

They covered up one horror after another. They never but never held any of their own accountable for anything although they were not afraid to prosecute and try innocent kids who were not a member of the clan.

Colonel Colley retained command of the 104th Regiment and we went into combat with him in command!

Lieutenant Colonel Tranquada was the Battalion commander stateside when the Cumberland river disaster occurred (Colley had to overrule Tranquada on the crossing) and we went into battle with him still in command!

A General Willard S. Paul was the Division commander stateside, he had to know about the death of the 21 GI's in the Cumberland river and had to approve the white wash of Colonel Colley. We went into combat with General Paul still in command!

General Paul should have removed and replaced Colonel Colley from command immediately. He also should have removed the Battalion Commander and the Officer (or noncom) in charge of the barge river crossing operation.

General Paul did nothing I know of, absolutely nothing. I do not know of anyone even being censured for the disaster and wasted lives because of Command stupidity.

In other words we went into combat with the key officers still in command who had totally and completely screwed up in the states!

I think this helps explain why the 104th Regiment was a total disaster.

And in addition to all the above they covered up the wounding and the death of GI's killed on state side maneuvers under training machine gun fire.This was due to the stupidity of the green National Guard officers and National guard enlisted men. These men who were firing the machine guns with live ammo in a training maneuver were laughing their head off as they fired the guns! How do I know? I was there and thought at that time they were morons! They wounded 4 and killed one, if my memory is to be trusted.

Nobody was ever censured or court martialled (there may have been an investigation but since I was one of those who was crawling while those idiots were doing the triggering I would have heard about it)!

They caused more than one man to go into the hospital, particularly a bunch of recruits totally and completely unfit for the infantry due to excessive weight! They covered up their inhumanity and outright stupidity!

They allowed a Staff Sergeant (in charge of the weapons platoon of A company in the 104th) to physically beat up the green recruits who came from ASTP on the basis of the charges and challenges he posed. He yellowed out in combat! He was never once stopped or censured in the states!

They awarded and reciprocated medals to each other. Colley, I was told, gave Tranquada the Silver Star and Tranquada gave Colley the Silver Star! I have not, however, documented this.

Why is so little said about these cover ups?

They were National guard! The Irish clique stuck together and covered each others asses because they might be the next to screw up!

As the war proceeded the equipment got better and better but it was never that great. The most important observation that I can make about equipment is that the ingenuity of the GI's solved many problems but even that ingenuity could not overcome glaring problems.

We used to pick up the German personal shovel and throw ours away. The German infantry weapons were superior to ours until the end of the war and we would use them if we could (not always since the German weapons had their own noise characteristics and every GI knew the sound of German weapons-you could have your own firing at you)!

My Browning Automatic Rifle had a glaring flaw. It had a bipod which (I believe) was designed for trench warfare in World War I . If you ran with the BAR the bipod would rotate at an accelerating rate and you could not control your running. I threw mine away. I got bawled out by an officer for destroying GOVT. property! Everybody threw theirs away. The weapon was for trench warfare and not for mobile warfare.

Our artillery was never the match for the German 88. Our tanks were inferior to the German tanks until the bitter end. Our jeep was fabulous.

The Germans, man for man, were better trained and better disciplined. I thought so then and still think that man for man they were better soldiers than we were.

If we were inferior in so many areas why did we win the war?

There are many valid answers for that rhetorical question but I will give you one:

WE HAD AN ENORMOUS PRODUCTION ABILITY WHICH ABILITY WAS PROTECTED BY AN OCEAN 3000 MILES WIDE SO THAT IT WAS NEVER DAMAGED OR BOMBED.

WE OUTPRODUCED THE GERMANS AND EVERYBODY ELSE. NO MATTER HOW MUCH OF OUR EQUIPMENT WAS DESTROYED IN COMBAT WE ALWAYS HAD MORE.

I will end with a story:

I had German prisoners that worked for me after the war in Europe had come to an end but before the war in Japan was ended. One day I asked a German officer "How come we beat you?

His answer was "If we had one Tiger tank, you had ten Sherman tanks. If our Tiger tank destroyed 9 of the Shermans the 10th Sherman always got the Tiger Tank. We could not replace what we lost. You did so easily"

The United States was called "THE ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY" with good reason, the reason being that it was true.

As much as I hate to say it, and I do, if we and the Germans had the same equipment and the same replacement rates they might have beaten the living hell out of us. We were good but they were better!

The only general Veterans organizations of which I am aware are "The American Legion" and "The Veterans of Foreign Wars". I am sure there are many others and I cannot conceive that there is not one or more organizations for the veterans of our civil war. There is, of course, "The Daughters of the American Revolution" (whatever happened to the 'sons'?).

These two organizations calling themselves "Veterans blah, blah" are about as worthwhile as the women’s (divorce) movement. They (both of them) have accomplished nothing, nothing at all that I know of.

To the contrary. They have a horrible reputation and probably do more harm than good. I know of nothing significant ever done by either organization.

They are social clubs mainly consisting of what were mainly rear echelon troops (except for the officers mostly above the rank of Major who were always basically rear echelon).

For a fascinating letter from the top Massachusetts official in the State Veterans Administration to The Yankee Division in Massachusetts go here :social

In my 50 post war years I know of no piece of important or significant Federal legislation that any of the veterans organizations have inspired or caused to be implemented. I cannot cite you anything material they have done for veterans.

About two months ago I joined the order of the purple heart, or whatever it is called. They are just as bad as the other veterans organizations. Their commander bragged that he calls it like it is but in a testimony before Congress he waved the flag and that was all he did. Who needs that?

The veterans organizations are to veterans what the women’s organizations are to women: worthless.

I give the American Legion, The VFW and the YD (Yankee Division) each $10 once a year and that is it.

As far as I am concerned they were the rear echelon and they still are!

I have never but never one to put up with pomposity or superiority. Whenever I ran across one or the other (or both) I always did my level best to prick the balloon! Still do and not ashamed to admit it. It's hard to know where to begin because I never began nor have ever ended enjoying life or having fun with needles!

Here then are a few examples:

WATERMELONS!: As an ordinary GI buck private I was assigned the responsibility to take a platoon out to the BAR firing range.

When we got there the fire control officer told me it would be about 3 hours before we could fire. He also told me to get lost until then. I told the platoon they were on their own. I went to sleep on the ground and used my poncho as a pillow.

I was awoken up by a kick in the butt. I looked up and it was a First Lieutenant who stood next to the Commanding General of the Division. The General demanded all the pertinent information about me which I dutifully gave him. He then started yelling at me that it was against Division orders to buy watermelons from local vendors. I didn't know what he was talking about and told him so. He turned purple and screamed that I should look around. Watermelons rinds were everywhere!

The platoon had bought, apparently, almost one watermelon per person (about 30) while I was asleep. Right next to me was a full blown, uneaten, watermelon. The General (Paul) told me to take that watermelon back to my Commanding officer with his compliments. The Lieutenant aide also told me to tell my commanding officer that he would hear from the General!

After we did our firing we were picked up by a 6x6 and I handed the watermelon up to an officer at the tailgate . He then said something like "Oh, you're the one with the watermelons!". When I got back to our company area my commanding officer was in a rage and he tore into me when I walked into the HQ. I, of course, was carrying the watermelon. I put it down, had my fanny eaten out, was threatened with a general courts martial and confined to quarters for the coming weekend. I would hear more.

A week passed and I was called into the Company HQ. The CO told me that I was not going to be court martialled but I was to be confined to quarters for a week including the coming weekend. I laughed at him,quite literally and asked if the General wouldn't look stupid to order a general courts martial about eating watermelons. The CO went berserk and screamed at me to get out of his sight.

As I turned to leave I asked the CO if I could have the watermelon, since, apparently, no one wanted it and it was on the floor. He went ballistic and I ran the hell out of there with the watermelon!

REVILLE. As you know revile is the wake up count of the organization. It was about 05:30 and I hated it with a passion. I was and still am a great expert on sleeping and do so at every opportunity. I noticed that the Master Sergeant who called the roster never but never looked up after he called a name as long as he got a "HERE". The Company always assembled in front of my barracks.

When revile was blown everybody would run out to form up but I would still be in my PJ's. The Master Sergeant would call out my name and I would call out "HERE!". I was standing in the window of the barracks overlooking the assembly and the Master Sergeant never but never caught on that I never attended the revile formation. I would always skip breakfast and show up for the morning formation on time and full of P&V.

SLEEPING.Here I am 77 and can still sleep on mental command. If I get bored I fall asleep. I was appointed as temporary infantry cadre at Fort McClellan, ALA. It was about the most boring job anyone could have.Not a bit of it had any use since it was all parade ground stuff. I was one of about a half dozen on temporary duty and after awhile I noticed no one really knew who did what, when or where. I would report for duty and as soon as nobody was looking would leave. I would go back to my hut, get a blanket, crawl under the hut and sleep.

Being that I have a mental clock I would set my internal clock for 11:30, wake up in time for chow and show up at the mess hall at lunch time, report again for afternoon duty, take off and sleep the day away. After awhile that got boring so I would go to the USO lounge, talk my way in, get a book and read the afternoons away. Nobody ever noticed my absence nor did it seem to me that anyone really cared even if they did notice!

CAPTAIN RINFRET. After I got out of the hospital I was assigned to the "27th Regulating station" based in Soissons, France. It was an outfit in charge of coordinating all traffic from Paris to Antwerp, Belgium. I ran one of the two shifts. I was PFC. While there I discovered (don't ask me how) that my brother, Maurice, was in Dusseldorf, Germany with an engineering battalion. I had not seen him in three years and decided to go to Dusseldorf to see him. I got the permission of our CO to take leave. I told him that I did not have a jacket to travel in and he told me to take his. He was a Captain. The jacket, of course, had epaulets and the one I had had the Captains bars on it.

I pointed that out to him but he said "so I appoint you a temporary Captain". I got to take one of our jeeps and a buddy and I drove from Soissons to Dusseldorf. My buddy was a PFC. We had to stop for gas, directions, were stopped by the MP's etc. etc. Everywhere I went I was saluted and I returned all the salutes as seriously as I got them. My buddy kept calling me Captain every time we were stopped and I finally got to find the outfit to which my brother belonged. I went into the HQ of the Engineers and they snapped to attention. I asked about my brother Maurice. The Master Sergeant blew up and started to yell about that "goof off" when I asked him to stop. He apologized and said he did not mean to offend me, Captain. We left and returned to Soissons. About a week later my brother Maurice (a T5) showed up in Soissons looking for Captain Rinfret!

WHO'S STEALING THE WINE? Soissons, France was a rail head. Every train going north or south along that particular routing had to stop at Soissons for regrouping and reclassification. The french trains and our military trains were all intermingled. The French trains frequently consisted of wine freight cars which were humongous wine barrels. It so happened that whenever the wine freight cars would stop at Soissons they would be broken into. I was asked to find out what was going on. I found out. It was our very own railroad battalion that was stealing the wine. I made a deal with them; stop now and I will not report you. It never happened again but they got even; they reported me for sleeping on the job. It was true; me and the French staff would doze off around two in the morning!

WHO'S IN COMMAND!The Colonel in charge of our operation, above, used to take off for Paris about every 4 days along with his aide, the Captain mentioned above. They always left me in charge of the entire operation. On the second day of one of the colonel's trips I got a telephone call from the West Point Commanding Officer of Depot 069, which was an ammunition depot. At that time the war with Germany was over and the war with Japan was still on. We were shipping ammunition from Depot 069 to Antwerp and from there it would go to Japan. The CO of Depot 069 wanted to speak to the Officer in Command of the 27th Regulating Station. I answered the phone with 'PFC Rinfret" speaking. The Colonel came through the phone! He wanted to know how I could say I was in command and a PFC at that. I explained it to him. He screamed at me that I was ridiculous and should be at least a Master Sergeant.

He told me he was coming over to our station (it was a railroad station in Soissons) to see me. He was in a fury but he was very nice to me. We talked and he told me he was going to promote me one rank a day until I got to be a Master Sergeant. The orders went through from the CO of the Depot. My Colonel came back and found out that I was being promoted to Master Sergeant. He hollered like hell that it was his right and not that of the CO of Depot 069. My Colonel somehow invalidated the orders and reissued them. They were turned down at the HQ to whom we reported since the war in Europe was over and there was a promotion freeze in place. The Colonel of Depot 069 and my Colonel always called me Sergeant, nevertheless, until I left to return to the States when the war ended!

I could go on and on some more. There were fun moments and moments I will never forget without doubling up in laughter. It wasn't all combat and all bad. Serious yes but moments of joy as well.

In any event and for what it may be worth, if anything, these are my observations on my war.

I am proud of having fought for my country, I paid my dues and look back with pride and honor for having the privilege of fighting for the finest country the world has ever seen.

No gripes, no regrets and certainly no crying or wailing. I did what I had to do.My country, right or wrong, my country.

Thank you for coming to visit me!

FOOTNOTES:

Me, in combat. Return to heading.

This is a most recent photo of the grave of my brother, Alan Herve' Rinfret, who was killed in combat outside of Florence on March 25, 1945.

My brother was killed as a result of command stupidity.

His company was in reserve about a thousand yards behind the front. They had been relieved for a rest from combat. They were in a chow line when an enemy barrage came in. He was killed where he was standing.

He died needlessly and foolishly as a result of some stupid officer deciding to have a chow line close to the front!

How dumb can you be?

How do I know all this? His combat buddies told me!

BUT

IT WAS WORSE THAN THAT.

The 10th Mountain Division, to which my brother belonged, landed on the beaches of Kiska (one of a chain off of Alaska). They fought the enemy for weeks and progressed to the middle of the islands. The shelling was very heavy and fire fights were numerous. There were no Japanese on the Island!

They had pulled out several weeks earlier and the American troops were fighting each other! The Japanese were long gone but no one knew it until the American troops faced each other.

Talk about command stupidity and incompetence!

A most interesting book about the 26th Infantry division, detested by the majority of former members of the 26th Infantry Division is:

"BEFORE THEIR TIME, a memoir", Robert Kotlowitz, Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

A member of the YD (Yankee Division, 26th Infantry Division) reviewed the book and disliked it enormously (he was with the 101st Infantry regiment of the YD which apparently was well managed) BUT the memoirs of Kotlowitz and mine are not dissimilar.

"Eventually, inexplicably, the platoon is ordered to attack --and they are slaughtered. Kotlowitz, alone and unscathed,.....survives, filled with guilt and self recrimination, as well as rage at the American officers who ordered the attack."

"It is not in the interest of of teachers, accountants, solicitors, marine biologists, or members of a hundred other callings to shelter those who are not properly qualified for the job; equally there is no reason why members of the armed forces should be especially protected." Great Military Disasters, Geoffrey Regan, M. Evans & Company Inc., New York, 1987, page 10.

or

"An officer in the infantry during the last months of the war, Fussell saw and experienced the incompetence of American ground troops, the stupidity of their battle plans, and the utter,
inexpressible horror of battle. He saw that only the least educated, poorest, or least fortunate soldiers ended up in the infantry, where many were killed unnecessarily."

"The 26th Division (Maj. Gen. Willard S. Paul) was full of rifle replacements, mostly inexperienced and lacking recent infantry training. This division had seen its first combat in October and had lost almost 3,000 men during bitter fighting in Lorraine. Withdrawn in early December to take over the Third Army "reinforcement" training program at Metz, the 26th Division had just received 2,585 men as replacements and, on 18 December (1944) , was beginning its program (scheduled for thirty days) when the German counteroffensive canceled its role as a training division. The "trainees," men taken from headquarters, antitank sections, and the like, at once were preempted to fill the ranks left gaping by the Lorraine battles."

"both men and materiel, were not to be had; trained tank crews could not be found in the conventional replacement centers-in fact these specialists no longer were trained in any number in the United States. When the division (the 4th Armored Division and not the 26th Infantry Division) started for Luxembourg it was short 713 men and 19 officers in the tank and infantry battalions and the cavalry squadron.

The state of materiel was much poorer, for there was a shortage of medium tanks throughout the European theater. The division could replace only a few of its actual losses and was short twenty-one Shermans when ordered north; worse, ordnance could not exchange worn and battle damaged tanks for new. Tanks issued in the United Kingdom in the spring of 1944 were still operating, many of them after several major repair jobs, and all with mileage records beyond named life expectancy. Some could be run only at medium speed. Others had turrets whose electrical traverse no longer functioned and had to be cranked around by hand. Tracks and motors were worn badly: the 8th Tank Battalion alone had thirty-three tanks drop out because of mechanical failure in the l60 mile rush to the Ardennes. But even with battle-weary tanks and a large admixture of green tankers and armored infantry the 4th Armored Division, on its record, could be counted an asset in any operation requiring initiative and battle know-how."