84th Infantry Division,
334th Regiment, D & H Companies
"The Railsplitters"  Living History Group

Series of traded emails from Anthony Scahill, BAR Gunner for B of the 334th Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division.  Emails traded in 2002 with Mr. Scahill and Tim Scherrer.

 

Initial email was about a WWII Weasel:

 

A: I think that's how it's spelled; Anyway, I have not been to Bakersfield for several years, but there used to be a weasel parked in front of a house on Old River Road, about a mile west of Wible Road, south of Bakersfield.Ca. I used to see it every day as I went by and wished I could have bought it and restored it. When I was wounded at Baal, on  Feb 25, 45, I was taken out of harms way on one. I was BAR man 1st squad, 1st platoon B-334. I also wish I could buy a BAR.

 

Q:  How did you end up in the 84th Infantry Division?

 

A:  I didn't have to go at all! I was deferred, because I welded on submarines; I blew that and was called in but given a 1-A L classification; Limited service only. I bitched about that, saying Why don't you take me or cut me loose?" "Oh! You want to go?!" "Yes!" So I was taken to a higher-ranking officer and the dialogue was repeated: This repeated a couple of times and an officer explained that it would be called "Voluntary Induction "Raise your right hand!" I waited around for a while and was told "We don't know what to do with you, so we are issuing you a 30 day furlough" In feb.44 I was trained as a combat engineer at Ft. Belvoir and sent to the 309th. at Claiborne, for one day and transferred to B-334,Just in time to have every stitch of clothing and all GI equipment taken away. We were issued junk from some warehouse to wear, and forbidden to wear any of the new stuff until we got on the train for the POE (Camp Kilmer) It was strange to walk around wearing odd looking rags, while we marked our new stuff .At Belvoir, we still had leggings, and an earlier version of the combat jacket, but before going overseas we were issued combat boots and the green combat jacket (there were a couple of modifications of that jacket in the next few years) I get angry when I see actors, wearing their helmets In a non military manner. It all started when Franchot Tone (In 1925) wanting to look cute, while portraying a soldier in WW1 wore his helmet cocked at an angle. I remember at Belvoir, Lt. Miller put my helmet so far down on my head that I couldn't see a thing (He was using me to demonstrate) He pulled it up, just to the point where I could see and said "That's how you wear your helmet" (After all, since there are no women around to see how cute you look, who are you trying to impress?! Then he told us that if we buckled our chin straps, an artillery blast could take our heads off and if we just let them dangle, those brass clasps could put our eyes out or crack our teeth or clang against our helmets and give our position away, so connect them in back of the helmet and leave them there" I still see actors with them dangling and it annoys me! I found that the idea of wearing the helmet way down made the bottom of the rim an ideal instrument for calculating distances. You could even trace lines on the rim and site various objects and figure the distances like a surveying instrument but, some guy trying to look cute for God knows who would never think of that! I did structural ironwork before and after the war, and I would hate like hell to be up on the iron with some guy who didn't even lace up, his boots! We had a saying "Let's get workwise!"

 

Q:  What did you do during the war?

 

I carried a Browning Automatic Rifle. If I ever win the lottery I will buy one. I would also love to own a Gatling gun and some Pistols, and some other weapons from the civil war and most of all a P-51 Mustang; One saved my life at Rurich; It suddenly appeared overhead, firing machine guns and two rockets and when I walked a couple of hundred yards east, I came upon a knocked out tank behind a barricade. Some one took some pictures at Lindern, before we crossed the Roer river, but I don't know if they survived.

 

Q:  What weapon did you carry:

 

A: I stole a Thompson to use as a side arm for my BAR, I was supposed to be issued a trench knife (That was regulation for a BAR man but I never got one) A British officer gave me a revolver (I was supposed to be a non-combatant, but they forgot all about that, so I figured if I was going to be in harm's way.  I may as well be well armed! Did you know that Malcolm Forbes was a machine gunner in D334? He was wounded in the hip as I was. Oh yeah!

 

I never got that Ammo belt with the shoulder harness that was standard issue for the BAR , so I carried 12 magazines in my pockets and one in the gun. I weighed 128 pounds soaking wet (And I often was!) and I carried nearly that much weight. It was strange to see so many little guys carrying the most weight .There were lots of tough Mexicans in the 84th lugging mortars BARs and Machine guns and ammo and Base plates and  tripods. A machine gun or mortar squad leader should carry a pistol or a carbine instead of a heavier M-1 I saw a 5foo 4 inch Mexican Staff Sgt. armed with a BAR

 

Q:  Were you in the Battle of the Bulge?

 

A: I never did like Shakespeare until Stephen Ambrose made the "Bond of Brothers" speech well known (I say Bond instead of Band because I am sure that is how he wrote it: Brothers may not even like each other, but a combat bond makes brothers of us all: I am one of those who thought myself accursed that I was not there on D day, jumping with the screaming eagles, but I was considered unfit.  By Dec 2nd I had been wounded 3 times and on Dec.5th My CO ordered me to the medics for the first times, on Dec 25th, I was in a hospital in Liege and my heroes, the paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st started coming in and I kept asking them what it was like to come out of the sky to fight; I did everything they did, but I was denied the thrill of the means of arrival; I finally made up for it years later by sky diving. I missed the entire Bulge Trip which, in one way I regretted ,but I don't regret missing out on all that bitter cold as I hate cold weather.

 

I can not tell you what my thoughts were as I rode towards Belgium and the Bulge because I was in the hospital, but I did tell you what I thought about the airborne troops and why I could do everything they did except get airborne pay. This being Halloween I can tell you exactly what my feelings were as I rode British tanks toward our first combat. When I was a kid In Downers Grove and Wheaton Illinois, I used to go out, pulling stunts on Halloween and I always felt a twinge of guilt that my mother would be worrying about me getting into trouble or getting hurt.  When Ike and Montgomery planned this operation he said he would furnish us an armored unit, but we would have to give them an armored infantry protection; so, the first platoon, Co B had that

honor.

 

The rest of the battalion would go through where the engineers had cleared the mines, and my platoon, having arrived first, would stand by to protect the tanks from enemy infantry in case they managed to encircle the others. It was Nov. 18th and the weather was mild like a Wheaton Halloween and I was thrilled to be going into combat, but that damned guilt feeling kicked in and I had to lose it; From then on I didn't have a mother or any family and no past or future I just had "NOW" and I don't know how others handled it , but it worked fine for me.

 

Q:  Can you describe the Battle of Gilenkirchen and the Roer River crossing at Linnich? What did you think of the “artificial moonlight” used in the Gilenkirchen?  My understanding is that it was universally hated.

 

A: I was gone by April.  I made it back from being hospitalized for my first three wounds, in time to cross at Linnich, Korrenzig (That's the present postal address) and we captured Rurich and moved on Baal, and that's where I got the big one.  My left arm was shattered by shrapnel from an 88 and that was the end of my army career (Or at least I thought so; Have you ever heard of War Dept. Circular 6?)

 

I can tell you how the Linnich Crossing went for me. Lt. Robert Wagner was wounded the first day.  Nov 18th 44 and I met him at the Birmingham replacement depot in Feb and we returned to the company on the same day: I believe he had the weapons platoon, but he sort of went along with the first platoon as we practiced for the Roer river crossing having been living in houses in Holland waiting for the water to recede; The Germans had blown up a portion of the Schwammell something dam to delay the inevitable crossing, by flooding the area; We didn't mind the wait, having lost our earlier eagerness to engage the enemy once more, and besides, it gave us more time to practice the crossing. Lt. Wagner had been a non-com so he was more likely to laugh and joke with us than some of the other officers. 

 

My method acting was working fine. In fact it worked so well that that gorgeous girl in Wheaton whom I had stopped writing to lost hope of ever marrying me and married a sailor who made it back home before I got out of the hospital from my serious wound.  It was working fine I had no mother, no brothers or sisters not even a cat or dog, so I didn't miss anything and could concentrate on what I was there for. We got in trucks and were driven back to Lieffarth, where I had been shot on dec.2nd.Next day we marched to Lindern and next day after that we had a midnight meal of bacon and eggs and pancakes and syrup with coffee, laced with powdered milk and sugar It tasted great! and my  trick was working fine There were no utensils to remind me of my former life No cups except tin cups and no plates except tinplates but then that God damned little box of corn flakes screwed it up for me! Remember the individual boxes that you can open up on the side, and pour in the milk (This time pre mixed with sugar) It reminded me of home and for a few seconds. I lost it. but I put the mechanism back in gear and everything returned to normal. 

 

We had some anti- gas gear, that we called "Pregnant" clothing (Impregnated) and I had kept a hood, which I wore over my helmet to keep, my head warm; Carrying my BAR by the front end of the barrel with the stock back over my shoulder, as we marched down the road to cross over at Lindern, I must have looked like Elmer Fudd. Lt. Wagner slipped up, behind me and said "Goin Huntin?" We got held up at a crossroad (a bad place to stand around) and Lt. Wagner whispered to me "Purple Heart Corner!" The line continued and we could now begin to see, as the light of dawn dimly lit up the sides of the road Many gun emplacements under camouflage, tracked vehicles dug in large mortars and I got the idea that we had an awful, lot of fire power amassed. Lt. Wagner whispered "I'd like to see the "Stars and Stripes" in the morning (The Army Newspaper) A little further on and he looked at his watch and said "It should start right about------------NOW!" and hundreds of weapons opened up, We made it to the waters edge and as we carried the boat down to the water I passed very close to a quad 50 anti aircraft 4 barrel 50 cal. machine gun set  to fire over our heads, and I could feel the heat from the barrels and they were glowing red already These guns didn't stop firing for hours as we swung north towards the next town and all the trees along the route had been chopped down by the  machine gun bullets. 

 

It took over 40 years to fill in the time between the first firing and carrying the boat to the river; I saw a drawing of where the boats were stashed and I remembered walking between the ribbons that delineated where the engineers had cleared the way of mines and carrying the boat into a sports arena and back out the far end to head for the river This memory was not like any other memory It was like actually being there again I could feel the coolness of February beginning to feel a bit like spring and being comfortably warm due to the miles of marching and the feeling of pulling another Halloween trick on those people on the other side. Yes we had trailers for the jeeps I will find you an excellent description of them, written by Gene Solfelt of Easy Company 333. In fact, if you e-mail him and ask him for a copy of his essay called "The Flashlight."  I am sure he will send it to you I will check on his URL and send it to you;

 

I suppose artificial moonlite had advantages and disadvantages It sure was weird to experience it for the first time having not been told about it beforehand. I wouldn't run a war if I could help it but I think I would do lots of things differently If I ever was in charge. Especially the insanity of the civil war!

 

 

Q:  Did the Commanding General’s son, LT and then Capt. Alexander Bolling, Jr. (Commander of A-334th) deserve to have a company command or was he appointed because he was the CG’s son?

 

A: I thought I had answered all your questions, but I just noticed that I had forgotten your question about the General's son "Buddy" (At the Iowa reunion I saw a scrapbook Mrs.Bolling kept during the war. She was worried about her husband and Buddy who was captured by the Germans) I realized that she was really no different than my mother, except that she had two people to worry about. Buddy escaped and transferred from the 83rd to the 84th. In Vietnam he was the general in command of the 82nd airborne, so I guess he was pretty good.  When I was wounded, I was asked if I had ever been captured, because they cannot send you back in to combat against the Germans, or you will be shot as a spy if you are ever recaptured, so buddy didn't have to remain in Germany.

 

Q:  What happened to Col Roosma, the initial commander of the 334th Infantry Regiment.  Was he relieved, wounded?  What did he disappear after the first battle?

 

A: I can tell you about Col John R Roosma;  Seinfelt had a phrase he used a lot "Not that there is anything wrong with that!" I never watched his sitcom, but I understand that he once mentioned that someone was gay, and followed it with that phrase. When I first saw Col. Roosma, I was reminded of Walt Disney's "Fantasia" where the fat hippos batting their eyelashes and trying to look sexy, dancing the "Waltz of The Flowers" wearing tutus. I thought "Well I guess the army saw fit to make him a regimental commander, so who am I to pass judgement on his sexual preferences?  "However, after the first disastrous day in combat, the most incredible thing happened (Or didn't happen) I never heard the name "Roosma" uttered again, for the rest of my life. It was as if he had never existed. Many years later, I saw a newspaper article about some incident in New York, and one line Jumped out at me "Col. John R. Roosma, 1st Army Area Provost Marshall" etc. And I thought "Well he found his niche; He's a jailor , but not a soldier" A few years ago at The Cedar Rapids reunion, I asked my former CO, Col. Peters, about him All he would say is "Well he wasn't a very good officer, but West Point takes care of it's own" I was reminded of him yesterday, when I saw the latest Robert Redford movie "The Last Castle" and I wondered if the author got his story from J.R.

 

Q:  Did you hear anything about some GIs capturing German weapons during the Battle of the Bulge, and using them against the Germans (Question from Heath Hensley)?

 

A:  I don't know about that story, but I can tell you a story I heard Tony Randall tell about a friend who had a nightmare while sleeping in his foxhole during the bulge, but first, about enemy weapons; Everyone wanted a P-38,but the idea that the enemy would shoot you if captured with one. I know for a fact that the story passed around, but most think it was just one of those latrine rumors that some idiot started. I had a very pleasant dream one time; I dreamed we captured the p-38 factory! About the Tony Randall story; He told the story to Johnny Carson;  "My friend was in the battle of the bulge A GERMAN TANK RAN OVER HIS FOXHOLE!! He had a nightmare: When we were younger, we attended an acting class together, run by a very strict woman from Europe; In the nightmare, he dreamed that he was back in that class, and he was LATE for class!" I wish I could ask Tony if that friend was ASTP, and if he was a Railsplitter.   Can you imagine? This guy is in all that horror and he is frightened to death about that lady!

 

Q:  Did you know any of the “famous” Railsplitters, like Henry Kissinger, Fritz Kramer, Malcolm Forbes, etc?

 

A:  What I was talking about was the fact that you sent some pictures and I scrolled down and clicked on "Links" and found page after page about Kissinger and Kraemer; The two K's that got us into one fucking mess after another with their insane ravings, for year after miserable year.  After 46, until we ended up in the present giant mess we are in now.

 

Thanks a lot: By clicking on links I have tons of reading to do. It's past one am and I am into Fritz Kraemer, but it's time for "Gunsmoke" so I'll finish later: I see the 102nd also built a bridge at Linnich; They lost control of some boats that came down river and destroyed part of  Our bridge, thus delaying our tank support for a bit, but we didn't have too much trouble taking three towns without them.

 

All I know is that Kissinger met him at Claiborne. Forbes was in the heavy weapons company in my battalion.  I knew nothing about the three of them until 1980's when I read an article in "THE RAILSPLITTER" by Forbes "How me and Henry won the war" It went on to tell how he and Henry were in the 84th and ended by saying "Of course, I knew nothing of him until

last week someone told me he was also a Railsplitter" When I read that I said "I could write about kicking in doors to capture krauts with my BAR, while Malcolm covered me with his machine gun and we sent them back to be interrogated by Henry, but I  never heard of either of them until

recently.

 

Q: Have you seen the video, Tried by Fire about the 84th?

 

A: Part of every reunion is the video "Tried by Fire?" narrated by Paul Newman; I cannot recall Kraemer, but I think he was in it. I cannot recall what ever happened to my copy.  Now that I think of it, I also had a video of the reunion in Springfield; Have you ever seen it?  The general is in it; I guess he is the same general as today.

 

Q:  Where did your start out?

 

A:  I lived in Downers Grove, Illinois, from 1923 to 1935, then I moved to Wheaton, Ill. until I became a Railsplitter. At a reunion I heard an interesting story about a fellow Splitter, who was born in Germany; His family moved to Chicago when he was a baby, and two more baby boys were born, but when the depression broke, they sent the two babies to Germany because they couldn't feed them.  The older brother, born in Germany became a Railsplitter and his two baby brothers, born in America, became POWs. At the end of the war, he found them behind barbed wire and arranged to bring them to Downers Grove, where they built a house next to his. He died four years ago and the last I heard, they were still alive and living next door to his family.  I have a clipping from the Downers Grove newspaper all about it and I can send you a copy if you wish.

 

Q:  What did you wear during the winter?  How did you stay warm?

 

A:  Those large overcoats were useless for an attack, so, each time we jumped off we put them in a pile and attacked wearing our combat jackets;  After we dug in again they would be brought up to us. On Thanksgiving I picked up a coat with Staff Sgt. stripes; I guess it had belonged to someone who was no longer with us.  We got some replacements: Some of them started telling my Lt…that they were short certain essential items; He said" See the supply Sgt" pointing to me; So I got them the items that they were missing. (When I was a kid and couldn't find something, my mother would tell me to pray to Saint Anthony, so I acquired the ability to find anything)  I felt so sorry for those poor replacements.  When they sent up our Turkey dinner, they, with the usual brilliance, sent us enough for the number that were still present after deducting the number of dead, wounded and MIA, but not enough for the replacements, so I told the guys to give them our turkey dinner and I would get us some chow.

 

Later, I told several of the replacements to come with me and I went to the battalion C.P. Pretending to have a list, I said "Let's see: We need two of these and three of these and two of these" and we walked off with tons of rations. When I returned to the outfit, from the hospital, my

friend, Delbert Gwinnup, had been promoted to staff Sgt. We were living in houses in Holland and he said "As a BAR man you are excused from guard duty, but I want you to guard the kitchen tonight, I guess you know why"  So we gave the Lady of the house some stuff, and we ate good after that.

 

Q: Were you there for the crossing of the Roer River at Linnich?

 

A: You asked me about the river crossing; well, it all goes back to 1866, when my father was born; He became a Railsplitter, and while splitting rails he was hired as a pile driver on bridge construction. When he joined the union it was called The International Brotherhood Of

Bridge Structural And Ornamental Ironworkers and Pile drivers Local Number One Chicago Illinois.  In the beginning he drove Piles with a beater as we call sledge hammers and there was no such a thing as welding or a cutting torch or even a pneumatic hammer to drive rivets

Or a power driven drill or saw so everything was done by muscle power, I built cattle bridges in Wyoming for the CCC in 1940 and as an Ironworker learned how to hand carry heavy objects with others and in the engineer corps we did it by the numbers "Lay Hold---Heave' Only in the

Ironworkers we never tried to carry anything waist high; The only way to do it is at shoulder height. When we built bridges in the engineer training we were told that one engineer soldier would row across with an infantry squad and row the boat bad to pick up the next load of rifle

men. I remember thinking about those poor infantrymen. Now here I am doing the real thing as an infantryman and there was no engineer with us and none of these guys knew how to carry a heavy object in unison with others. We staggered along clumsily and as we went down the inclined bank, the load became too heavy for some, so they let go and at one point an instant before entering the water I felt that if I didn't let go It would break my back, but then the boat would spill all our equipment into the river and we were needed on the other side, so I shouted (Silently)"God give me strength "and we made it, but my back has been fucked up ever since ; I never saw the movie "White Men Can't Jump" but I know that white men definitely do not know how to carry a stretcher! When you are wounded and guys carry you in a sloppy manner

it can be painful but the black stretcher bearers knew how to do it swiftly and gently.

 

Alvin Sandler, a jewish kid from Baltimore got a silver star: He put down his rifle and grabbed a bunch of grenades and telling some others to follow him, stormed a machine gun position: After destroying it with grenades, he looked around and was horrified to find that those other assholes were nowhere to be seen: Without a rifle he had to retreat and Col. Gomes found him cussing about it and asked "What's wrong Al?" When Al explained he said "Well we'll just have to do it again; This time I'll go with you" So they both got a silver star: He told me later that

"Those bastards have fucked with my people" (Little did we know at that time how badly!) Many years later Alvin told me that as a member of the I&R platoon he had liberated a concentration camp, where the prisoners had worked in machine shops He was impressed with the neatness of the shops and the horror of the inmates quarters. 

 

By that time, certain troops had been issued shoulder holsters for their 45s. A Russian prisoner hugged and kissed him as Russians are known to do, but his real reason was to steal his pistol and shoot the camp commander.  Alvin was transferred to the I & R platoon after receiving the silver star for that reason and for his ASTP IQ. Some men are assigned to I & R for other reasons; their very nature as fuck ups in some cases makes them ideal; They hate to get up early, preferring to sleep late and screw around at night and their tendency to not follow the book, makes them

more likely to think for themselves and not wait for someone else to  get them out of a trap. With others like Alvin to make sure they don’t screw up a mission, they are ideal for night patrols. Recently, I mentioned Alvin's Silver Star and he told me he got another one; This time he was

part of a group that captured 500 Germans. That reminded me of someone who had a silver star pinned on him by General Bolling, who got one in ww1; He said "It was easier to get one of these when I got mine" Which  is true; Sgt. York got the CMH for capturing 48 and Alvin got the Silver Star for 500!.

 

Q:  Were there any traditions in the 84th or jokes inside units?

 

A: Every bunch sort of adopts a slogan; In the movie "A Walk In The Sun" They greeted each other by saying. "Nobody Dies" We started greeting each other by saying "Scahill Baby! " or Sandler Baby" I think it was the ASTP kids who started it but some of the older guys started sort of sheepishly, to say it also. On the hospital ship, one guy told us that in his armored unit they would talk to each other by radio by saying "THAY YOO!" Like a gay person would talk. He said even the higher ranking officers would do it; A shell would land nearby and someone would say" My! that was a clothe wun! Or someone would say Thay Yoo! Whut Are Yoo DOOEENG over thair?

 

Q: How did it feel to be a Railsplitter?

 

A:  I wrote to a friend some years ago about having been  disappointed over not being in a "special" outfit; He wrote back to say that we must have been special "Look at what we did" I told that to my nephew saying "I guess we were special" He asked me what made us special and I said I guess it was just a twist of fate that brought the right men together; Tough Italians from the east, Mexicans from the South west who had a  tradition of "La Raza" that wouldn't allow them to do anything that would bring dishonor, and the "Whiz Kids" from the ASTP who turned out to be pretty good;

 

But since Tom Brokaw Wrote about "The Great Generation: I guess every outfit was pretty special; When will the people who start all this learn that. There is a book entitled "The Medal Of Honor" that lists the recipients chronologically, Alphabetically, By States and by country of origin; Germans are first and Irish are second; I have said that  Germans lead because one out of four Americans are of German descent and the Irish are second because we are all crazy. I once said that the Irish are so crazy and stubborn that they will not stop fighting the Brits

But the brits are stupid not to realize that.

 

When I joined the 334th and learned that "Fortes Fortuna Juvat" meant "Fortune Favors The Brave" it was to me like what others might think "God will protect me" I never expected to be able to reenlist but I did under War Department Circular Six For combat wounded only disabled veterans and was trained as a pathology tech. and met the colonel, who had been the C.O of the 309th medics.  He said we sustained too many casualties and blamed the PRO officer for bragging us up so much that we were used too often in tough spots.  I guess that could be true. I can just see someone saying "Hell Yes! We can do that! We're the Railsplitters!" I have been in The Infantry, The Medics and the Engineers. Can you find out for me the latin words for "We Learn By Doing" that was the motto of the engineer training unit? When Roosma disappeared, my Battalion Co. Lt. Col. Gomes, was promoted to  Regiment (I didn't discover until years later, that he was CO of the 333rd instead of the 334, so I never even heard of who it was that led the 334)

 

My captain, Peters became Battalion Co. and when I was wounded at Baal, I learned 50 years later, that Lt, Wagner became CO of CO B because the captain who replaced Peters was wounded; I wrote to Wagner a few years ago, and he said he served in Korea as a Sgt. And eventually as a captain and retired as a major.

 

If you write to Gene Solfelt (thefoot@spacestar.net) He can probably answer some of the questions I can't. I have no problem with memory It is Just that there was a great lack of briefing; I laughed when I read reports of us going in to a mine near Geilenchirken, to shower and get clean clothes after a few days in combat! I'll never forget putting on those filthy wet clothes after the shower. Have you ever taken a bath and had to put the same filthy clothes back on? It feels ten times more uncomfortable as not showering at all!

 

Sir Harry Horrocks was in charge of the British units we fought next to and He wrote about how he visited his front -line troops daily ( I never saw an officer higher than a captain in my whole time in the 84th except for (then) Lt.Col Gomes. Sir Harry also spoke of trench foot and clean socks (I never saw any) and hot food; He said troops preferred hot food to those combat rations, even if it was only "BULLY BEEF" or that horrid stuff Americans call "BACON"

 

Q: Were you involved with the Gielenchirken Attack?

 

A: K-333 hit Gielenchiken about the same time as we hit Prummern. No one told me the name of the town we were going to hit,so I didn't know for days; I heard the name Gielenchirken, so I thought that was it. Years later I found out that the 335th.had gone into combat several days

earlier than the rest of the division. When I think of them interrogating one of us I laugh: I needed to interrogate one of them to find out what the hell was happening.  It took me 50 years to find out what units we were fighting against. Early this morning an officer was talking to Paula Zann, or whoever, about that sniper, and I thought I heard him say "The 84th" Do you know anything about that?

 

Q:  What was it like preparing to go overseas?

 

A: When I arrived at Camp Claiborne in the summer of 44 we began the POM qualification program (Preparation for overseas movement) Part of becoming POM qualified was for every unit to be 15% over strength; That is the reason why the ASTP men were assigned to the 84th; and why I was transferred from the 309th engineers to B-334 the second day after arrival.  Another part of the process was to check each man's record to see the exact day he had a dental appointment (Or whatever) and thus what part of his training he had missed (i.e. On a certain day he was supposed to have seen a certain training film, but for whatever reason

he missed that day, so every day a list of names would be called out and we would be taken to the theater to see the films we had missed. They were very thorough about it; Guys would say "You can't send me overseas! I haven't seen "The Negro Soldier!" Another part of the process was to take away every stitch of clothing and every piece of equipment, and begin to issue us brand new stuff, like combat boots instead of  leggings, and the new style combat jacket entrenching tool and OD underwear.  We were not allowed to wear any of the new stuff until we were actually ready to depart, so we were issued an assortment of rags to wear during the process, so we looked like a bunch of homeless bums .Guys would say "You can't send me overseas! I haven't been issued my zippo lighter!" So the answer is that no one left the states with leggings, white underwear, or old style combat jackets (Except me! I must have been at the theater learning why we fight the day the new jackets were issued!) I was in the infantry, so don't ask me about vehicles! The only vehicles I was familiar with were British tanks, German Panzers and ambulances and weasels that took me to hospitals numerous times.

 

Q: What do you remember about some of the gear you were issued:

 

A: I joined the 84th in June, or early July; The ASTP guys were already there: EVERYTHING was taken away from us. We were issued TOTALLY brand new equipment and uniforms, which we were not allowed to wear;  Everything had to be marked with initial of last name and last 4 numbers of serial number; We were issued a rag tag assortment of old clothes from warehouses; Some of the stuff was from 1916 or thereabouts, including blue fatigues. I hated to exchange my T handled shovel for the folding kind, because my father had bought me one from army surplus back in the early twenties, and I was used to it; A friend had returned from combat in the south pacific and told me about special forces that were allowed to carry whatever equipment they felt like they could get the job done with: He said some guys carried sawed off shotguns! After all It was my life we were talking about, not some supply joker! Somehow, I never did get a new combat jacket, and wore the old style all the way to England; And some time before Germany, I finally got the new type. I was a BAR man and I made up my own uniform. I got hold of a pistol belt, and instead of the ammo belt, I carried my clips in my pockets, I tossed the bipod, but kept the flash hider (The flash hider does not hide the flash from the enemy; The flash shoots out several feet; The flash hider prevents the flash from blinding the shooter) I stole a Tommy gun from an outfit that didn't need it, and carried it as a side arm.