Erwin

===================

I was a member of a small night patrol out on reconnaissance in the Ardennes in Belgium after a brief skirmish with a German machine gun outpost we headed back towards our lines. On the way back we were challenged by an American machine gun outpost. In the confusion of the battle none of our patrol members knew the password. Knowing German soldiers were using captured American uniforms the right password meant life or death I had to think fast. Whatever made me answer this way, I will never know, I yelled out, ''We are Americans. We don't know the password. But if you are a GI, we'll kiss your f--k--g a-s''. The sentry knew no German could curse like that, we were allowed to enter our lines.

The irony of this incident fell into place 40 years later at our annual division reunion. While chit-chatting with my buddies from "E" Company. This incident came up. I never knew the G. I. sentry who challenged our patrol that night. To my amazement, Bud Black from Kokomo, Indiana told me he was that sentry. His finger was ready to squeeze the trigger on his machine gun, when he heard my reply to his challenge. The language convinced him we were American G. I.'s. I hesitated to tell this story because of the language. In reality I thought it saved our lives.

=====================

Dear Marion:

You indicated your desire to hear of General Patton and I happen to have a brief anecdote that you may enjoy.

My unit had stopped at a chateau near Nancy, France for a brief overnight; our first night under cover in a couple of months. One of the fellows found a collapsible top hat which were quite popular in France. The next day, in the back of a 6X6 truck with about a dozen other Engineers, I pulled off my helmet, put on the top hat and was doing my rendition of Maurice Chevalier's "'Thank Heavens for Little Girls". About the time I got started, a jeep flew by and our truck suddenly came to a screeching halt. Who should appear at the tailgate, except the old man himself with his pearl handle revolver strapped on. He shouted. "who was that SOB with the top hat on" to which I responded . He directed me to fall out and for the next two or three minutes, dressed me down with every word of profanity I had heard of and then some, also dwelling on my family lineage in the same tone. I was dirty, unshaven and scared to death. He reached over and grabbed my shirt pocket flap and I thought he was actually going to hit me. He asked if that pocket had a button on it to which I affirmed resulting in another barrage regarding wearing of the uniform. After he finished with me then he glared at the men in the truck and shouted out, "you engineers boys are doing a damn good job, keep it up" and with that he was gone.

The occasion got my CO's attention and he got my mine. Any words Patton left out were deftly covered by the CO.

General Patton was a professional soldier; egotistical as hell, but a real soldier.

Needless to say, I became the recipient of barbs from the whole company for weeks on end.

Hope you enjoy my experience. I didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!

Respectfully,

Bill Douglass

=============================

The Great Stake Race at Anzio Downs

Or

The Mare's Tale

About the fourth day after landing on the Anzio Beachhead we relieved the 179th infantry and took up their positions. After about five or six days we were relieved by the SSF ( First Special Service Force) and dug in a defensive line along the Mussolini Canal.

The Mussolini Canal was dug to drain the Pontine Marshes so that the land could be used for farming and small towns. The earth that was dug up was piled on one side of the canal and created a bank or a berm which was about 9 or 10 feet high and about 15 or so feet thick.

Two men would dig a dugout which was shored up by whatever fence posts or other wood that we could find and had a roof of about 5 feet of earth which protected us from anything but a direct hit. Tony and I dug ours and even lined it with burlap. We slit open sandbags and used the material like wallpaper.

Close to our dugout was one which held Fred Stuart and Danny Stiglitz. Now Stuart was a bit older than Tony and I and he liked Tony. One day he asked me if I would object if Tony and Danny traded places. I didn't mind so we swapped partners. Fred Stuart had two gold teeth in the front of his mouth and we jokingly took to calling him "Copper Tooth." He had a sense of humor and didn't seem to mind.

One of the guys in the company found this horse, a brown mare with only one eye. Old Coppertooth ( he must have been about 28) was a farmer and knew how to care for animals so he was given the horse.

As long as we were down behind the bank the Germans couldn't see us so he used to ride the horse when he had a spare moment. He told us that the horse could run like the wind. He used the

company's commander's jeep to measure off a 1/4 mile stretch and drove a fencepost to mark the end. He used to run the horse there and the horse knew just where to stop and turn around.

The SSF which was just off to our left had also found a horse. Their horse had a 50 caliber slug in him which some of the farm boys got out and nursed him back to health. Since we used to go out on patrol with the SSF the word got out that we had a racehorse. The SSF boys thought that their horse was much faster than ours.

So...........................one day one of them came over and challenged us to race our horse against theirs. Coppertooth conferred with Tony and they thought that with our horse we could win very easily and make some money ( We hadn't been paid for several months ). So Tony came over to me and said, "Wag, you're a darn good talker so you go around and collect the bets from all the men in "F" Company.

I did and collected over $500 that would be bet on the race. That was a lot of money.

When the race was all set to go off, the guy from the SSF insisted that a 1/4 mile run was not long enough and should be at least 1/2 mile long. So a jeep was used and 1/2 mile was measured off.

The two horses were at the starting line and one of the guys pulled his .45 and fired the starting shot. Our mare took off like greased lightning and left the other horse behind. We ( F Company ) were already counting our winnings and congratulating one another.

However......strange things happen and they surely did that morning. Our horse had a fantastic lead but when he got to the place where he stopped every day and turned around, he just

stopped and refused to go any further. The SSF horse just breezed on by and won the race.

With a heavy heart I had to turn the money over to the SSF. And when all the guys in F Company complained to me I told them to go talk to Coppertooth and Dickherber, I was just a bookkeeper.

This story has been told and retold at our annual reunions for many, many years. It was just one of the crazy things that Tony Dickherber and I got involved in.

David N. Wagner

Co. F

39th Combat Engineer Regiment

Author Farley Mowat wrote in his history of the Hastings & Prince Edwards Regiment, an account of an incident in the battle for the Gothic Line. Mr. Mowat felt that the incident might have qualified for one of the most peculiar encounters of the war.

It was the night of 25 Aug 1944 and Lt. Col. Cameron had set up his Battalion CP in an Italian farm building. He and his officers had sat down to eat a beef stew that had been prepared when they heard a cough behind them. The officers turned around to see who had entered the building and found a six foot tall German paratrooper corporal.

Lt Col Cameron snapped at the man, "You are in the wrong camp. Go away."

The German replied that he was lost. Lt Col Cameron replied, "That's easily rectified" and he gave the German detailed directions so that he could return to the German lines which were located 400 yards away.

The Lt Col then remembered his sense of hospitality and asked the German if he had eaten. The paratrooper related that he had not eaten in the past 24 hours and so the Lt Col invited him to partake of the beef stew with the group. After eating, the paratrooper corporal offered himself as an official prisoner of war. The Lt Col dismissed the notion by exclaiming, "Nonsense." and telling the German that he had freely admitted to wandering into the CP by mistake. Lt Col Cameron continued, "And since we've already taken quite enough prisoners today, one more would simply be an administrative nuisance."

Mr. Mowat's account relates the German as banging on the table and saying, "I am your prisoner." The Lt Col banged on the table himself saying, "You are a soldier absent without leave....You may even be charged with desertion. You go along, and when you get back, tell your C.O. that we're going to beat the hell out of him come dawn." Mr. Mowat relates that the argument might have continued all night had the Lt Col not been called back to duty and finally agreed to accept the German's surrender

Good thing for the Stooges that we won the war. I can only imagine what 'ole sour puss Schiklegruber would have done to the boys for their mockery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9adsn2d25I