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JCSM Shareware Collection 1996 September
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JCSM Shareware Collection (JCS Distribution) (September 1996).ISO
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1994-03-22
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* *
* CHAPTER 1: WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK *
* *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Shortly after I returned to the US from Europe in
1945, my father presented me with a green metal box.
It held the letters I had written to him and my mother
during the war, as well as a diary I kept for awhile
in England. Since I was a copious letter writer, the
collection nearly filled the box, which is five inches
high.
These letters have done a great deal of traveling.
They have been to Germany, Yugoslavia, Australia, and
Switzerland and have now come to rest here in Norway.
Until recently, I found it impossible to read them.
They contained many painful memories, which I preferred
to bury in my subconscious. Specifically, this applies to
the letters written between June 6, 1944, when I landed
in Normandy, and May, 1945, which found me south of
Munich. I also found it difficult to cope with a memory
concerning my return home.
This, however, gets ahead of my story, so let's return
to the beginning of my wartime experience.
Too impatient to wait for the draft board to get
around to me, I enlisted in the US Army shortly after
Pearl Harbor. At the time of the Japanese attack, I was
twenty-one and living in Wichita Falls, Texas. I was
attending Hardin Junior College during the day and
working as a radio announcer at night.
After three months basic training at Camp Roberts
in California, I spent a hot summer in 1942 at the
artillery officers candidate school at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
For some reason which now escapes me, I was anxious to
get into combat and asked for overseas duty. Bowing to my
wishes, whoever was making the assignments ordered me to
the Port of Embarkation in New York. There I was to join
the 4th Division, which was headed for North Africa.
Someone, however, in the Pentagon decided the 4th should
be saved for a greater glory. While visiting my mother
in Philadelphia, I received a telegram ordering me to
Camp Gordon in Georgia.
After a visit to New York to see a girl I had known in
Texas, I traveled by train to Georgia. There I joined
the 29th Field Artillery Battalion, which was to be
my home for the rest of the war. Initially, I was in A
Battery. Later, Lt. Col. Joel F. (Tommy) Thomason moved
me to battalion staff as Assistant S-2 or survey officer.
Shortly before we left England for France Tommy
decided to change my duties. Although we had liaison
officers to the infantry battalions in the table of
organization, for some enigmatic reason there was no
provision for one to the regimental headquarters. Tommy
made me, therefore, liaison officer to Col. James Van
Fleet, commander of the 8th Infantry Regiment, which
made the assault on Utah Beach.
When Else and I returned to Normandy in 1984 for
the commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of our
landing on Utah Beach, the International Herald Tribune
asked me to write an article about my experiences.
Although June 6, 1944 is a day etched in my memory, as
a precaution I opened the box and read the letters
directly related to the landing. After writing the article,
I promptly closed the box again.
During the war in the Gulf, I found myself upset by the
bombing. It reminded me of the bombardment which prepared
the way for our breakout from the Normandy bridgehead, a
gruesome experience. After a struggle with myself, I
decided it was time to confront the memories in that
green metal box.
As a result, I have written a book about my experiences,
which I published myself, using my computer and laser
printer. This has my letters and diary as points of
departure but also includes recollections and excerpts
from books. I used in particular the US Army series on
World War II, which has detailed descriptions of the
battles, as well as excellent maps.