Sarge and all!

I sometimes wonder that myself. I know I wouldn't have lasted through the winter of '44 in Italy or Germany, Belgium, France, etc. One thing I could never imagine is being sick on top of that and BEING OUT THERE.

Whenver I am stuck outside for a while and shoveling snow on a really cold day, I literally think of my dad and all of you, and then I shut my mouth and continue to do what I have to do without word. It's kind of a humbling experience. Puts things into perspective, qui? For those of us who never had to live thought that, we tolerate the cold. For those of you who lived through it, you ENDURED the cold. Une grand difference.

Well you know you've earned my respect. I just wish others around the world could understand as well too.

MARION, THANK YOU FOR YOUR THOUGHTS. THE PICTURE ABOVE THE ONLY THING

DIFFERENT IS THERE WERE NO TREES ON THE MOUNTAINS IN ITALY. Rocky

Sgt Leo & Roque,

Though we can look at the pictures and imagine what it must've felt like,

we can't ever experience it as you guys did. To be so cold, so wet, so

tired - and then worry about getting killed or wounded - only

you guys who were there could possibly understand what that felt like.

Like Marion says - we understand only a portion of it when we're outside

and start bitchin' about the cold & think: "Hey you whiner! how'd THEY

feel livin' it day after day, no hot chow, no dry boots & getting shelled?!".

My Uncle John Harrington was Airborne Glider Infantry and I know that

he got frostbitten feet which gave him trouble throughout his life.

I'd don't think I've ever told anybody this, but one of the biggest regrets of

my life was one night during a blizzard, I was mad at my father

& wouldn't give him a ride to work. It wasn't far, only up the street,

but I can still see him in my mind - in his overcoat, trudging up the street

in the freezing cold & blowing snow. I was young & stupid & was sorry

about it too late to go up after him. It may not seem like a big deal, but - OH how

I regretted it and regret it still. He was a working man all his life & never asked for

anything for himself. After he died and I read his letters from Italy & France and

began to "understand" what it must've been like for him & all you guys,

the memory of him & that snowstorm came back to me & I bawled my eyes out.

To this day, I can't think about it without tears. Recalling it, I always say: "Forgive me Dad!".

Whether you realize it or not - you guys teach all of us (and we NEED to be taught!).

You also MUST be thanked . My Dad's not here for me to thank,

so that means I'm thanking YOU all, whether you like it or not! so just shut up and

stand at attention while you are being thanked!! ha!

mary ann

mary ann(that's also a song I like) All day,all night, Mary Ann etc.

That was quite a story about your Dad and I was feeling sorry for you

until you gave those orders and you came across like a new "ASTP Butter

Ball Lt." whom we ignore!!

Do you realize that beside getting Frost Bite etc.;suffering in the cold;

having no clean clothes(could smell us before you saw us) we could

have been hurt as those lousy Krauts were using REAL BULLETS!!!!!

Don't believe me - ask Roque or j3rdinf.

Sgtleo

yeah go ahead and ask me.. Never argue with a Sgt. You're right Sgt. We called it

trench foot.One got it so bad he had to be carried down on a strecher.Hell he was

halfway down and we could still smell his clothes. Roque Talk to me JOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moderator jumping in here...

Sorry I will be brief! (thank God huh?)

I've noticed lately that quite a few people on the forum are using the QUOTED REPLY when adding to a post. Please only use this if you are want to QUOTE something that is more than a few replies up. In other words, if you are responding to a post that is directly above, please do not use the quote. Use the ADD REPLY button.

This makes it much easier to read, and takes up a lot less space. In other words, keeps the continuity.

Thanks to all.

I've been deleting unnecessary quotes all week. Must be in the stars...

Sarge - I don't think I'm even gonna ask what a new "ASTP BUTTER BALL LT"

is!

Does this mean I'm now on KP???

Something tells me that most of the Krauts bullets would've

just bounced off you & Rocky & Joe.

And God help anybody who tried to take you guys prisoner!

They'd either be VERY sorry or else return you to your squad right quick!

"all day all night Mary Ann"

Moderator jumping in here...

 

Sorry I will be brief! (thank God huh?)

 

I've noticed lately that quite a few people on the forum are using the QUOTED REPLY when adding to a post. Please only use this if you are want to QUOTE something that is more than a few replies up. In other words, if you are responding to a post that is directly above, please do not use the quote. Use the ADD REPLY button.

 

This makes it much easier to read, and takes up a lot less space. In other words, keeps the continuity.

 

Thanks to all.

 

I've been deleting unnecessary quotes all week. Must be in the stars...

I am one of the guilty ones, I'm sorry, I'll take 20 lashes with a wet noodle Rocky

Tha reminds me of something my grandpa said a few years ago. I came in from work on a really cold evening, well, I thought it was cold around 20° or so. I said, "Man, its friggin cold!" My grandad calmly replies.... "Be glad you're not laying out here in a hole, with people shooting at you."

:

B

I am one of the guilty ones, I'm sorry, I'll take 20 lashes with a wet noodle Rocky

Forgiven, and I'll even save the wet noodles for my spaghetti later on Rocky.

Marion Forgive for I Know Not What I Do(LOL). WILCO MON CHEF!!!!!!

206thmpco I hope this doesn't gross you out or what the hey!!

Note:- LCI = Landing Craft Infantry = Higgins Boat

ASTP Butter Ball Lt = Army Specialized Training Program 2nd Lt.(Gold Bar)

"The Ride to the Beach":-

We left England aboard a troop ship just about a week after D-Day and

there wasn't a whole lot a space aboard the ship but the trip was fairly

short. When we got about a half mile off-shore they dropped cargo nets

over the side and I'm sure you remember the drill. Groups of sixes were

lined up and approached the side to descend into the Higgin's boats that

were coming along side when the word was given-down you went with

all your gear. The Channel must be loaded with the gas masks that were

thrown over the side as excess weight.

Due to the swell that was running this day, the sailors had painted a line

on the ship's side below which you were not to go. In truth,it wasn't too

high but to us it looked liked we had to climb down from a very high place I

into a a canoe which was to hold about a Platoon of Infantry. The swell had

guys sick just looking down at the boat and one guy got so agitated he didn't

think to stop at the painted line and when the swell carried the Higgins boat

up it knocked him off the cargo net and he was gone. I've always remembered

that because we hadn't even got onto the landing craft and we had lost a man

that I knew very well. That sobered everybody and all talking stopped.

Then the circling began until the required number of Higgins boats were filled

and this took time and caused a lot of the men on the boat to get sea sick. By

the time we were lined up in our wave, we were knee deep in vomit and God

forbid you fell down but several men did and it wasn't pretty. One man in the

Plt. was lying on the deck in the puke etc(you figure out the etc.)and when

we got to the beach he said he was too sick to walk ashore let alone fight if

he had to. The Plt. Ldr.told him that if he didn't get up and in position he would

go back to the troop ship and surely be sent back to the beach again. That was

enough to get him on his feet and to wade ashore(thankfully this washed a lot

on the vomit off him in the process) so he looked and smelled much better.

(Actually I think he was tripped or should I say I know he was because I did it.)

The next day the "sick" man approached me and was very upset because he

said he just realized that in order to get back to the States,if he "made it',he

would have to get back on a ship and he didn't think he would be able to do

so. I'm happy to say he made it back to Michigan and after a number of years

died in his own bed at home with his wife and family around him.

Gotta Run -- Bon Soir Toute le Monde

Sgtleo

Sgtleo! Man you're hell on the foreign lingo, whist I could do it. Whats (LOL) Roque

Roque:-

From my Computer expert grandson LOL is one of many abbreviations.

LOL = Lot's of Laughs. They never write out words that can be abbreviated

Such as CU = See YOU

IMHO = In my Humble Opinion

FWIW = For What it's worth

etc.

Sgtleo

Roger,Roger, H L V B----(hasta la vista baby)----------roque