WW II Memorial: Personal Memories
Published May 28, 2004
After a slight pause, the artillery officer said that our men were too close to the target for him to fire; he couldn't risk dropping a round on them. Colonel Speedie said, "No they're not! Go on ahead and fire!"
They argued back and forth for a minute or two. I started feeling sick, that all of my efforts were for nothing; what a useless trip this had been. As my heart sunk, I glanced through the field glasses at the 88. Suddenly, the 88 was blanketed with explosions.
While the two men had been arguing over the radio, a heavy mortar squad had been listening in. They decided to end the argument by dropping four 80mm shells on the 88 and its crew. This was equivalent to getting hit with four artillery shells, and better yet, one couldn't hear these mortars coming. They sneak in on top of you.
The 88 was gone, its crew dead, and all of our platoons would be able to resume the attack. Now my biggest problem was getting back to my unit..."
--- end of excerpt ---
AWARDS & DECORATIONS
-Combat Infantry
-Silver Star
-Bronze Star
-European Campaign w/five stars: Normandy, N. France, Luxembourg/Germany, *Ardennes, Central Germany
-Army of Occupation
-WW II
-Good Conduct
*Battle of the Bulge
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RIP, Dad.
more on Lt. Col. Speedie, the 329th, the 83rd Division
- WW II Memorial: Personal Memories
- Published: May 28, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Culture
- Writer: Shark
- Shark's BC Writer page
- Shark's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Scott, very nice tribute at your site -- and a beautiful photo. I hope others will add their memories and memorials here as well. It's a very appropriate thing to do this weekend.
Thanks again for adding a link to your own special tribute to your dad.
That is a great excerpt Scott. Your dad was a skilled writer.
Shark, thanks for posting this. I know there are sites dedicated to accounts like these, and I have read some anthologies that are collections of soldiers' stories. Maybe there could be an interconnecting of blogs that post stories like this to bring out some of the unheard stories that are out there. Are your dad's stories published or available?
No politics here, Shark. Great post. Great father you had. We're all proud.
Thanks for posting that fantastic excerpt. I wish more vets had done an oral or written history of their experience in WWII. Everytime I read something like what your father wrote, I am in awe of what those men went through and what they were able to accomplish. Once again, thanks for your poast, and you should publish the whole thing.
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My father served in the Pacific Theatre during the war (Okinawa, and Japan after). Unfortunately, I didn't do something like this with him before he passed.
I think about him often, but always when I am setting the flag at half-staff on Memorial Day.