Our Father's Generation

by F. M. Worden

  The Jerries hit us with a strong Infantry attack just after dark. They tried to come around our flanks, but Rocky knew their tricks and they took a beating from our guys on the flanks. I guess they didn’t count on anyone protecting our flanks. They really got the sh–t kicked out-a- them. Two of our guys with an M1919 machine gun killed 10 of them. We counted that many the next morning. Don’t know how many got away or were wounded.

  The ones who hit our front got a hell of a whipping. Our 60mm mortar crews lit the night with flares and turned the darkness into daylight. The enemy was sitting ducks. We had interlocking final protecting fire and it did its job to perfection. A rabbit couldn’t have made it thru there. Our Platoon alone killed over 35 of the enemy.

  Looking at the dead the next morning, I could see most of the dead were young kids. Some looked to be only 12 or 13. What a shame. I was sick as I had ever been seeing those young people laying there. Not a pretty sight. What a waste of the young men of Germany. We were told most of these young guys had been in the Hitler Youth and had been brainwashed to the point that they were more than willing to give their life for Hitler.

  That night, our Company was pulled off the line and we went into a quick rest camp. We got a shower and clean clothing. The best was we got a hot meal. The Company cooks outdid themselves. We got hot SOS and all the hot coffee we could drink. I wrote several letters, one to Mom and Dad, and one to each of my brothers. I hoped they would get to them somehow. Of course, I wrote a long letter to Jennie. I poured all the love I could into my words. God, I hoped it would find her. We had one day and one night out of the line.

  The next day, we got another sector to take. I want-a tell ya, this wasn’t getting to be fun.

  Holy Cow, we got a new platoon leader. A shave tail fresh from OCS. I tell ya, he looked like a kid to the rest of us. He was a sharp dresser, I’ll tell ya. He wore a well tailored uniform all starched and pressed. He looked like he had just stepped off the parade ground. He was still wearing his brass. The first thing the asshole did was to dress Sgt. Rocky down for not saluting when Rocky reported to him. Captain Cook must have heard him. The CO was talking to some of the men and hadn’t introduced the jerk to us yet. That kid got hell from the CO. Man, I never heard so much cuss-n a man got that our new platoon leader got from the CO. If the Captain hadn’t, the whole platoon would have had some target practice in the next engagement There’s no better leader of men in all the Infantry than Sgt. Rocky. Every man in our platoon would have given his life for Rocky. You couldn’t love a man more than that.

  The CO told the jerk to get his ass behind Rocky and follow him around like a dog. “Every time Rocky says shit, you say where and how much!” He went on, “If you want to be a leader, you forget all the crap you learned in OCS. Rocky will teach you how to command men and be a leader.” There were lots of smiles from the men in our platoon. In combat, you go on your instincts not by the book some nitwit wrote sitting at a desk in a nice warm office with a pretty secretary hanging on his shoulder telling him what a great man he was. When the bullets fly, you get the feeling you don’t know a hell of a lot. There was no room for bull shit out here.

  This new Lieutenant would learn darn quick or he wouldn’t be around long. Later, we found the guy was from a wealthy family. You gotta give him credit as he had volunteered for this assignment. One of our guys was from his hometown. He told us the Lieutenant’s father had been a bootlegger during the prohibition era. He said the old man was filthy rich and that he had all kinds of pull in Washington. “That kid can be anywhere he wants to be.” Turned out, he wasn’t too bad a guy. We took credit for that.

  The next day, before daylight, we moved to our next mission. We were told this was the last group of boxes we would have to take. This was the end of the line for the Siegfried line.

  Before we went in, Sgt. Rocky gave us a big talk. He said he was proud to serve with men like us. “You men are the best damn Rifle Infantry Platoon in the whole American Army, bar none.” I really felt good having this man I so admired say that. He sounded mad when he said, “I want you men to be careful today. I ain’t lost a man to enemy fire so far. I don’t want it to happen today.” I think he must have had a premonition about that day. Because he never gave anybody a pat on the back before, nobody.

  We took the pillboxes easy. We were getting good at our job by then. We had taken ten prisoners. One was an older officer. The rest were young guys. The oldest must have been around seventeen or eighteen.

  This was one of the saddest days in my life. Like when I lost old Hank.

  Sgt. Rocky was searching the prisoners, when the older one was standing away from the group ten or so feet. As Rocky approached him, he pulled a pistol and shot Rocky point blank in the head. Rocky was dead before he hit the ground.

  Me and several other guys, just by instinct, opened up on the bastard. I never emptied eight rounds so fast. Sgt. Jimmy jumped on top of the Jerry and fired his Tommy-gun until it was empty. That night, in my sack, I cried like a baby. I couldn’t stop. I’ll tell ya, I wasn’t the only one. We all loved Rocky.

  Sgt. Jimmy was made platoon Sgt., Corporal Fred Henderson was made our squad leader. Guess what? I was made Assistant Squad Leader and promoted to Corporal.

  Captain Cook talked to the platoon and said Rocky was the finest soldier he had ever served with. The tears ran down his face as he spoke. As I looked around, there wasn’t a dry eye in the whole damn platoon. Even the kid Lieutenant was sobbing.

  That night, Sgt. Jimmy called the platoon together and told us about Rocky. Rocky had been born in the slums of Chicago, Illinois. His father deserted the family when Rocky was twelve. He helped his mother raise his brothers and a baby sister. From what Jimmy said, I surmised that Rocky would do anything to keep the family together. He had to fight all the time. Sometimes it might not have been legal what he had to do. He kept the family together until he joined the Army.

  Rocky stood five foot nine or ten. Built like an outhouse and tough as nails. His ruddy face didn’t give away his soft heart and pleasant disposition. He just looked tough.

  Jimmy said Rocky never had a girlfriend. Never had the time for a woman. He had told Jimmy he would have liked to have found a good woman to settle down with on some Army post and raise a bunch of kids.

  Rocky found a home in the Army. He had joined a jump or two ahead of the law. He really liked being in the Army. Jimmy had told him he might find a nice German girl after the war. Rocky was a Bohunk and liked the Germans he had met at home. He was looking forward to finding a girl he could love. He would have made one hell of a husband and father. WAR is HELL.

  The Siegfried line cleared, the 90th moved to the West bank of the Rhine River. The weather had turned bad and we crossed the river on bridges.

  My platoon spread out in a field. Our squad was the point squad. We were moving toward a village in the distance, when all hell broke loose. We were in an anti-personnel mine field. Four of my Squad were killed. The new squad leader was the first to go.

  I started yelling for everyone to move back. No one had to be told. We all moved back in a hurry.

  Captain Cook called in artillery and air strikes. There wasn’t a foot of that field that didn’t have a hole in it. That village in the distance took a hell of a pounding. Every weapon that was brought up laid on that village for an hour. I felt sorry if there were any people in the place.

  When we entered the village, nothing could have lived thru that barrage. The village was nothing but rubble. I saw a few dead bodies, some were kids. WAR is HELL.

  From then on, we met nothing but light resistance. The 90th was on the way to Czechoslovakia.

  Chapter 6

  War is Over

  Can you believe it? I was made Squad Leader. Sgt. Al I was called. Me, eighteen and a Buck Sergeant. The Captain told me he had all the confidence in the world that I could do it. I told him, “I can do it, I had good teachers.”

  In the drive toward Czechoslovakia, we fou
nd the German national treasure in the Merkers salt mine. My squad got into the mine, we were the ones who found the treasure. What a deal, I’ll never forget that day. I never dreamed there was that much gold in one place in the whole world. The whole division celebrated to hear what we had found.

  Some of our units took the surrender of the entire 11th Panzer Division at the town of Hof. We captured over 13,000 men and all their equipment: tanks, halftracks, trucks and staff cars. Most of the Germans wanted to have the war over. We were glad to oblige them.

  We had a bad thing happen. We found the Flossenburg concentration camp. What a horrible place. I will never get the sight of those people out-a my memory. How God let that happen I’ll never know. The Captain called headquarters. They sent for the Red Cross and all the help they could muster.

  We stayed almost a week helping the people interred there. What a mess, most of the people hadn’t eaten in days. Most couldn’t hold the food down. It was awful, I never want to see anything like that again, never in my life. If I live to be a hundred, never can I see a worse thing. The way people were treated in that camp…it’s embedded in my mind forever. I was glad to get away from that place.

  HOORAY! Germany surrendered, the war was over. On the Czech Border, we met some Russian units. They even had women in their ranks. I’ll tell ya, some were darn good looking, some weren’t. We had their company for almost a week. They danced, drank Vodka and had the best time. The Russians really liked to celebrate, and they knew how. The women made a big fuss over our boys. The CO pulled us back so’s not to start another war with the Russians. Yeah, I think the Russian ladies were hot to trot. He saved another war. Some of our guys made out with-em anyway. Our kid Lieutenant was found with a Russian Girl in his sack. You never know about some guys.

  I sent a long letter to mother asking her to try and find Jen or her folks. I gave her all the info I had on the family. I sent a letter to Jennie at her last address, hoping it would find her.

  Captain Cook called me to the Company headquarters. I reported with a salute and said, “Reporting for duty, Sir.”

  “Al, you’re not here to report for duty. I have news of your brother Tom.” I want to tell ya, I had the most sick feeling come inside I had ever had. The Captain smiled and said, “Your brother is safe and on the way back to the States. I understand he has a broken leg and arm. From what I can gather, he had been spending some time in a Nun’s Convent in Spain. I guess some French Partisans rescued him from a group of Germans taking him prisoner.” I told the CO that was the best news I had ever had. He patted me on the back. “That’s great news. I’m glad he’s okay.” I thanked him and returned to the platoon.

  That night, I gave thanks to the Lord for Tom’s safety.

  The next day, the 90th was ordered back to the States. We were told about the suffering the division had gone thru. Over 21,000 men were killed or wounded and missing in action. A lot of our guys had non-battle injuries…over 9,000. Most of them were frostbite cases. All in all, the 90th had over 32,000 casualties. That’s a lot of men.

  Since I could speak German, I had a command conference with a Major from our Europe headquarters. He asked me to stay awhile and be an interpreter for the occupation forces. I’d get promoted a rank and live in style. “Sounds good to me,” I told him. Now, maybe I could find Jen He cut orders for me to go take classes in German at a school in Berlin. I was promoted to a Tec/Sgt.

  It was a sad day when I parted ways with my company. Captain Cook gave me a real nice send off. He called a company party. What a blow-out. I’ll never forget all my buddies. Rocky and Hank would be with me always. A lot of other guys, too. If I live to be a hundred, Rocky and Hank will always be young guys to me.

  Before I left the company, I got mail from home. I got letters from Mom, Dad and my grandmother. Her letters were hard to read but God bless her she tries. Dad wrote that brother Frank and his Marines had taken an island called Iwo Jima. He said proudly that Frank had been promoted to an officer, a field commission. That-a way-ta-go Frank! I was damn proud of him. I told all the guys my brother was an officer in the Marines.

  A real sad thing happened. The 90th was recommended for a Presidential Unit Citation by General George Patton. His recommendation was returned as he could only give ten percent of his units this award. The 90th was the only Infantry Division Patton recommended this award for. That will tell you something about the fighting men of the TO 90th. What a proud day that was.

  It took me a week to get to Berlin. What a mess that trip was. That could be another story. I had to go thru the Russian sector to get there. We Americans were not at all received with open arms by their soldiers.

  In Berlin, the place looked like nothing I had ever seen before. It was all rubble, with people already starting to clean the place up. These Germans were industrious people. Looked to me like all the women in Germany were working to clean this mess up. You should have seen them. Those gals were cleaning bricks and shoveling like mad. I really admired these people. They had been bombed and torn apart for the last four years. Now, here they were, working their butts off to start a new life and rebuild their city. You just gotta admire them.

  After asking a lot of people for directions, I finally found the building I was to go to school in. There were forty students and we had a really good looking teacher. A lady 25 or so years old, a real beauty. She had been in America as a teenager before the war, came back to Germany on a visit and got stuck here. At least that’s what she told us. She said most of her family had been killed in the bombing and as soon as she could she wanted to get back to America. A lot of these GI’s were ready to take her.

  Before I settled in, a Stars and Stripes reporter was talking to some of the men. When I heard him say something about the Marines, I questioned him. He said the Marines had landed on an island called Okinawa and were taking heavy casualties. Now I had to pray for Frank’s safekeeping. I prayed as hard as I could to keep Frank safe. That night, a Chaplain came to give all the students a service. I told him about Frank and the landing at Okinawa. He gave a prayer service for Frank and all the Marines. He was a great guy. All the people there prayed for Frank by name. That made me feel a little better.

  We had nice quarters and all the good food one would want. I thoroughly enjoyed the class work and was learning all I could about the German language. This gal was a good teacher.

  For some unknown reason, this lady took a liking to me. Not just because I’m a nice, polite, good-looking guy. She must have thought she was safe with me, me being so young. She was. The guys starting kidding me and saying I was gonna put the make on her. I might have, but I had Jen in my mind all the time, no room for anyone else.

  Our teacher would take a few of us at a time out on the streets to talk with the Berliners. It was to help sharpen our German language. I enjoyed talking with the young kids. We always drew a crowd on the streets. Of course, we GI’s had candy to give, that helped to bring ‘em to us.

  On one of these outings, we were talking with a group of teenage girls. The girls were chatting away like girls do. I wasn’t paying too much attention to anything. About a half a block away, a hotel had opened for American service people to come and stay while making a visit to Berlin. I could see a bus being loaded with military personal. I wasn’t paying much attention and when I looked back, I could see three white uniformed nurses waiting to get aboard. I was half listening to the girls chatting away. I looked back and saw the last nurse step up into the bus. My mind all of a sudden said to me, “That’s Jen!” I stood there a moment frozen to the ground. I took off in a run after the bus. Of course, I couldn’t stop it even though I ran a block or two trying.

  I was so damn mad at myself I could bust. I sat down on the curb and did everything but cry. I was sick inside. Here she was staying a short block from me and dumb me never thought to go look.

  My attractive teacher had followed me. She came and wanted to know what was the matter. I told her the whole story. She
was so sympathetic, she asked me to stand, took me in her arms and kissed my lips. “What you need is a little female companionship tonight.”

  “No, no, I can’t be with another woman.”

  It was getting late. She invited me to have supper with her. I did and later we went to a club and danced awhile. It was good to have a female in my arms again. Her smell and her cheek against mine felt so good. This lady was a temptress in every aspect.

  Around midnight, I walked her home. At her door, she invited me in. I flatly refused. She said, “You American men are funny. Most would knock my door down to get in. You refuse my advances. You will make some woman a wonderful husband.”

  I pulled her close and proceeded to kiss her lips hard. I spun on my heels and got the H away from there. How much can a guy take?

  Back in my room, I took a cold shower and went to bed. That time, I did not sleep. How could I be so unlucky to not have found Jen? I’ll be mad at myself a long, long time. Part of it, too, was because I turned my back on the beautiful teacher.

  At the end of the week, we were finished with school and I was assigned as an interpreter to a Major Joe Brown in a city in the American zone in central south Germany. My cut orders said I was to get there ASAP. I could get transportation at the motor pool in the American sector. I packed my bags and said my goodbyes to the teacher and the friends I had made at the language school. When I said so long to her, I thought I saw a tear in her eyes. What a devil I am. She was really a very nice woman.

  At the motor pool, I introduced myself to the crusty old Master Sgt in charge and showed him my orders. He said, “We ain’t got no vehicle for ya.”

  Now that made me mad. “My orders say you get me a vehicle or else.”

  “Or else what? See my stripes? I’m a Master Sgt. You ain’t but a Tec.- Sgt, so bug off.”

  I showed him my right fist. “This says I get a vehicle or else it’s going to find a place in your face.”