About five days out into the Atlantic, we were chased by German subs. We had destroyers along with us for protection, and we had to zig-zig all the way up to Newfoundland, back and forth, in order to enhance our safety crossing the Atlantic. It was about a week out of New Hampshire and I got sea-sick. I wasn't the only one, but boy was I sick. I was hoping a torpedo would sink that ship, I was that sick. Anyway, you couldn't eat anything, you couldn't sleep… The Atlantic was so rough. Sometimes you couldn't even see the destroyers. They'd go down under the waves so much that they would go out of sight. Our ship, which had 10,000 people on it, was named the USS Santa Rosa. It was a Liberty Ship to carry troops to Europe. Anyway, we pulled into South Wales in about 10 days and I got over my sickness, of course. Then, we got on a train and we went to a little town north of South Hampton called Bath, England. That's where we set up camp to go on maneuvers and get ready to hit the beaches of Normandy. We were there for about 4 months before they deemed us ready to take care of the Germaninskies. We called them "Germaninskies" and "Hineys" mostly. The weather in Great Britain was lousy. At that time of year, it was in January, it was foggy, cold, and rainy… I don't think the sun shone only a couple days during the time we were there. We weren't welcomed too much by the citizens of Great Britain. GI's, of course, had been away from their families, wives, and girlfriends for quite a while, and there was a lot of British women willing to cooperate. SO, the British men were always jealous of the Americans. We'd go into a pub, which was a bar actually, and there was a bunch of Limeys, we called them (that was English soldiers) in there. They always got waited on first by the proprieter, which didn't set very good with the GI's. One time, I remember, we went into a bar and two British soldiers came in and they were waited on right away, leaving us holding the bag. Well, that didn't work at all. One of the guys picked up a stool and threw it thr'u the mirror at the back of the bar, like t he old western movies, and that started a fight. Well, we ended up on the shore patrol vehicle taking us back to camp and turning us in. Now, I had made corporal before coming over from the states, but the guys that were just privates in this bunch had to peel potatoes for about two weeks. The sergeants and corporals got out of it. That was one of the benefits when you achieved a little rank. There wasn't much to do over there when you weren't on maneuvers, except get a pass and go into different towns like South Hampton and London and go into Ireland and South Wales, and so forth. SO, we went into London several times. We could get on a train and get there in about an hour and a half. Then we toured most of the British Isles in the course of three months. Off and on we would get notices or "alerts" to get ready to go across the English Channel. But, the weather didn't cooperate for about a month. Eisenhower would say "Well, we're gonna do it next week." Well, the weather would be rainy and foggy and wind would be blowing and it would be real nasty weather, so they would postpone it. Then, they'd say we'll go next week, but the same thing would happen. Then the next week, and the next week… It kept going on like that until everybody got awful tired of getting ready to go and also they voiced their opinions many times. So, after many weeks, the weather didn't clear entirely, but it was a little better… The wind wasn't quite as bad, so Eisenhower said, "Well, we're going." We started loading about three o'clock one morning, into LST's South Hampton. Of course, an armored division is a big outfit. We were 10,000 men, probably 60 or 70 heavy tanks, and 25 or 30 light tanks. We had mechanized infantry that went into half-tracks, peeps, and Jeeps and Command Cars, and you name it. We had it all. In fact, we had so much fire power that it was real difficult for anything to stop us. Anyway, we were loaded on to the LST, and we arrived at the beach at about daylight. We started unloading, and as soon as the ramp came down, we drove our vehicles into the water, which was sometimes 6 or 8 feet deep. It would cover the motor and everything. But the motor was protected with grease, and there were larger stacks on the mufflers, so that water wouldn't get into them. So, we made it to the shore alright in a hail of bombs and bullets and you name it. I was driving a half track at the time, and I had five people and a commander. We made it into the woods on shore, a couple hundred yards from the LST. Then, we regrouped and held our position until the whole Fourth Armored Division was unloaded. Then we were waiting for orders to advance. We waited a couple of days for replacement people and vehicles, then we were advised that we would take off and cut off the Cherburg Penninsula the following Monday morning, which was about three days away. The day before we were to advance, four thousand bombers and about as many fighter escorts from Great Britain came over and bombed the Cherburg Penninsula ahead of us. After they left, we started our advance, and destroyed everything that was left. We went into averanches , and we took 20,000 German prisoners there. A lot of them were shell shocked because of the horrific bombing that took place. We then cut off the Brittany Penninsula where we met considerable resistance. Going into a little town Assinoins, my vehicle was hit, and some of my men were hit, just outside of the town, with an 88 German tank projectile. My half-track was hit on the left side in the bogies. It tore most of the track and bogies away. Those people who were in the back of the track got hit pretty hard, some of them. So, we abandoned the vehicle on the right side of the road where we were pinned down for 15 or 20 minutes by constant artillery and mortar fire. Incidentally, this is where I earned the Bronze Star Medal and bad ears. I got up in a little absence of fire and told the guys behind me that I was going to turn the track around and get the hell out of there. So, I got up into the track, started it, put it into front wheel drive, (the front wheels were all right), turned it around, got the guys in it, and we took off for the rear. Luckily, we didn't get hit again at that time. I drove the vehicle back to ordinance, and without help, we put new bogies and a new track on the left-hand side. We got the guys who were wounded patched up and left them there, and we took off again. This time we made it all the way through this town and into an area where we stopped for replacements of personnell and vehicles. We also got ammunition, because we had used up all of our 30 caliber machine gun ammunition and all of our 50 caliber ammunition by firing into machine gun nests and at snipers in bombed out buildings. We kept going at a terrific pace, taking many small towns with small battles, spearheading and circling, then stopping for replacements of personnel, ammunition, and vehicles, then spearheading again… Keep going, keep going again, until we went into Neese, then we turned north and went into Gina and Leipzig. Then we met up with the Russians and Sure River in Germany. Then, we came back towards Czechoslovakia and we crossed the Rhine again and went on to Oppenheim on the Main River. Then, we went on to Buckenwald, then we had a rather deciding battle at a town called Ifta. Then, we went on into Czechoslovakia and "Hurrah, hurrah, The war was coming to an end!" In a little town outside of Czechoslovakia, the day came when we all celebrated the fact that we were still alive, especially Jim Clark and I. We had a reunion and congratulated ourselves that at last we were going home. We then had time to think of all the others who were not there, nor ever would be, for they were laying in graves in France, Luxembourg, and Belgium. In a serious moment when we gave thanks that we were still alive, we wondered how the free nations of the world, like America, would thank all the armies that took part in the winning of this war and for ridding the world of a fear that just a few short months ago was still cowing the entire globe. We wondered if people would realize the sacrifices that were made by people that have brought the world a new hope and a new lease on humanity. I think we can believe that for generations, they will not forget this war of all wars. This was a time when there are some moments which only the angel of history should be allowed to record. There are occasions when pride and memory and gratitude and humbleness are so mixed up that your emotions are dull and words cannot describe your innermost feeling. The end of the war was like that.
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