It's Memorial Day, and time for my annual excerpt from my father's memoirs: A Foxhole View of WWII
For this section, I was inspired after reading this entry about the Congressional Medal of Honor.
My father fought about ten feet from one Medal of Honor recipient — and his personal view of the circumstances is particularly dramatic.
============
The time: December, 1944 — a few days before The Battle of the Bulge
The place: The Hurtgen Forest
(excerpt)
...Our 329th Regiment took over the attack December 12th in an attempt to reach the outer edge of the forest. The other two battalions were leading the way as our 3rd Battalion followed in reserve. As always happens, the units in reserve get pasted heavily with artillery and this time was no exception. We could hear the riflemen, machine-guns and tanks firing up ahead as they pushed forward. There was no time to dig a foxhole because we were constantly on the move. Occasionally we would take cover in one of the existing foxholes before moving on.
At one point we were hit by a murderous barrage of artillery and there were no holes for protection. Fansler had lost his shovel and was digging desperately with his trench knife. If the situation hadn't been so serious, I would have found it humorous to watch him.
Even the foxholes didn't afford much protection. There was always the possibility that shrapnel could angle down through the opening as it did with two guys that I knew. Our casualties were heavy that day.
That night we finally stopped to dig in, but the ground here was too water-logged. It was already dark, the Germans continued the shelling, and we were desperate for some type of shelter. We found a relatively open area and Fansler and I started looking for fallen tree trunks. It was near midnight before we had gathered a pile large enough to crawl under. For all our struggling and work, it was really a pretty lousy bit of protection. Actually it was no protection at all, but luckily, we made it through the night.
In the light of dawn we found four dead Germans lying on the ground where we had been searching for tree limbs. We were thankful that we hadn't stumbled across them in the dark! During the night our forces had fought to the edge of the forest to within five hundred yards of the town of Birgel.
Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
Fantastic account, your father had a real eye for detail. Thanks for this post.
2 - HW Saxton
That was an excellently detailed post on
the realities of battle. My own paternal
grandfather fought during WWII in the
Pacific theatre, participating in the
liberation of the Phillipines.
When asked by myself,uncles,cousins and
other mainly male members of the family
as to what it it was like and what he
did he would NEVER give us any details
on battle experiences. All he would ever
say was he missed my grandmother and he
did a hell of a lot waiting only to be
re-deployed for more waiting.I guess it
is fairly common amongst veterans from
what I have read and similar stories
from friends about their own fathers and
or grandfathers war service. Obviously,
these must be quite horrific memories if
even some forty years later they are
still unwilling or unable to discuss the
facts after all this time.
3 - Bennett
Great reading, and a proud tribute to your father. Thanks for this Shark.
4 - Shark
Thanks, guys. It feels good to share.
==========
HW, this is almost universal: my dad never mentioned a thing about his war experiences when I was growing up.
One day, I found a trunk in the attic filled with all of his memorabilia, including his helmet (with a bullet hole through the top), a german lugar, a german helmet, a giant nazi flag, a nazi party knife, a german officers cap, an unbelievable fairy-tale newspaper account of his first contact with the FFI in liberated France, and a few hundred excellent photos. He finally acknowledged that he was in "the war", but that was about all he'd say.
Late in life, he had health problems, and I asked him just to give me a list of the places he'd been -- maybe in chronological order.
About a month later, he dropped a huge, hand-written MS into my lap; beautiful, detailed, articulate; he'd remembered EVERY single detail almost by day -- from Omaha in late June 44 --- up to his return and discharge in the fall of 45 -- straight from a haunted memory.
It was like it had happened yesterday, and I know that it was cathartic; he witnessed some horrible things, done to his friends, done to the Germans, done to the civilians -- and he did a few himself.
One can't imagine the full horrors of war until one reads a detailed account from the grunts in WWII, either theater, btw.
Unfortunately, his experiences were shared by literally thousands of American boys.
PS: re. "heroes" -- although he was officially deemed a 'hero three times by the Army, he despised that word; he said that in the heat of battle, you never knew how you would react -- and he never took credit for his instinctual actions -- or blamed anyone for theirs, even if it was to *hide and cry like a baby.
*which many of his associates did.
5 - HW Saxton
Shark, once again that is one hell of a
post and tribute to your pop.He sounds
like a hell of a good guy. I'm glad you
clued me in more on the why's of why a
lot of(nay,most)WW2 vets won't talk.
I honestly can't even begin to imagine
the shit these guys went through.Then it
is even more mind boggling knowing many
were what like 16,17 when they went in?
Faking their ages a little was common I
understand. Wow. Very intense.
6 - SFC SKI
What Shark writes about veterans and heroes meshes perfectly with what I have been told by vets. I was in a writers' seminar with vets from WWII on, and they all downplayed anything they personally did, but the tales they told were incredibly heroic. It is one thing to read about the Battle of the Bulge, another thing to meet someone who fought in it, was taken prisoner, and lived to tell about it.
I am really glad that your father took the time to write all of this down before he died, Shark. Far too many vets never do.
7 - dietdoc
Shark: The "Greatest Generation" (and no better description has ever been proffered) was a truly magnificent group. I proudly count my own father as one of these. What they did for this country and this world has never and, clearly, will never be fully appreciated, ever. And it just started with the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific. It is they who made us the country we are today (at least the good parts) and we owe them a debt we are running out of chances to repay.
Your tribute was very appropriate and I wish we all could have all personally thanked your father and all the others who sacrificed their youth and came home to, humbly and quietly, build our nation. No complaints, no second-guessing, no grandstanding, no puffed-out chests - just living and glad to be doing so.
While I pray there will never again be a requirement for such a national sacrifice, for I am quite sure we will not be up to it, I am in awe of those who did before. They are my heroes, even today, in a nation and a world that has far too few.
Cheers,
Ron
8 - SFC SKI
The Huertgen Forest campaign is a little known period in WWII for most people, any plan to publish your father's memoirs?
9 - Cerulean
Once again, my work anticipates the news.
I know just how confusing the dichotomy between the Catholicism and Wicca can be :)
That's why I wrote my articles Catholicism vs. Witchcraft Parts I and II.
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/03/072724.php
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/19/181950.php
Judge Bradford, I dedicate these works to you.
10 - Cerulean
I posted the above comments to the wrong thread in error. Sorry. Please ignore the above.
11 - Shark
Ski: "The Huertgen Forest campaign is a little known period in WWII for most people, any plan to publish your father's memoirs?"
Ski, thanks for asking. I think I'll try in the next year or so. From the many memoirs I've sampled, my dad's are some of the best overall; his experiences aren't 'that' unique to infantry in Europe, but his memory and writing are.
re: Hurtgen - yes, little known, but one of the worst battles with some of the highest casualties -- mostly from treetop artillery bursts.
Hurtgen was the longest battle the American Army has fought in history.
* 24,000 American casualties from enemy fire
* 9,000 casualties due to sickness and friendly fire.
* 12,000 German dead
=====
What's ironic: since my dad's unit had been in constant contact with the enemy since June 44, they were removed from the Hurtgen for a short R & R period.
They were sent to... you guessed it, a place called "*The Ardennes Forest" -- where things were really calm and peaceful.
bad luck, that -- and not a heckuva lot of R&R occurred.
* site of The Battle of the Bulge
12 - Shark
DietDoc: re. The Greatest Generation: (bears repeating)
"..It is they who made us the country we are today (at least the good parts) and we owe them a debt we are running out of chances to repay..."
Truer words were never spoken.
I'm amazed that these men could witness so much destruction and horror -- and yet return to build an entire civilization (the good parts!) -- with hardly any reference to the past, anger, or retribution.
They got married, had babies, created companies, industries, arts, etc. -- and not a peep from them about their suffering and sacrifices. (Unlike today, self-pity was not admired in American life.)
And as a generalization -- they were (possibly) the *last generation of American "Gentlemen" who not only had character, morals, and manners, but had an incredible amount of personal integrity.
My pop damn sure did -- and I've met hundreds just like him.
* sadly, they're either gone, or in their late 80s -- early 90s.
13 - Shark
RIP, Dad.
xxoo
Shark