Hi Folks,

Tony and I went down to South Carolina to visit with our other WWII buddy, Walter Miller, and also to play some golf. Walt had suffered a heart attack recently, but is recovering nicely and is getting around OK. While at his house and going through his file of the 36th he came across a poem he had written while on the beachhead. I thought it was great and something to be put out there. So,I brought it home to scan and send to you folks.

"STAY RUGGED"

Carl

Anzio

Golden sands and water blue

Verdure marshes bright with dew

Sheep and shepherd in the dell

Stiffened cattle felled by shell

Distance mountain white with snow

This I saw at Anzio

Ruins old and modern homes

Sulfur springs and catacombs

Silver cows with silver tails

Diving planes with vapor trails

Nazi captives in a row

This I saw at Anzio

Air armadas massed in flight

Tracers winging through the night

Crosses white in fields of green

Screeching shells from guns unseen

Flaming ships with sky aglow

This I saw at Anzio

Towns engulfed in smoky haze

Cruisers with their guns ablaze

Burned out tanks with blackened hull

Cannon roar without a lull

Men who fought and killed their foe

This I saw at Anzio

WJM

10 April 1944

Anzio Beachhead