Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with Eugene Vahle was digitized.
This transcription was encoded with minimal changes to the original text in an effort to preserve original content and idiosyncrasies of the person interviewed. Period language and terminology are also retained. Encoding is literal with regard to the transcriptionist's capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Spelling errors are indicated with [sic]; however, recurring errors in spelling within a single document have been marked the first time and not subsequently.
Today is March 26, 2014. And we are interviewing Eugene Vahle at the Quincy Courthouse in Quincy, Illinois. What date were you born on sir?
[Birth date redacted].
Thank you. My name is Dylan Welker and I'll be the interviewer. Could you state for the record what branch of service you served in?
Army.
And what time periods did you serve?
1943 and 1946.
Excellent.
From '43 to '46.
'43 to '46?
Yeah.
And you prepared a statement for us today?
Yes.
All right, if you'd like to go ahead and make that statement at this time?
Okay, it's a long one.
That's all right.
I have to stumble over the first page. I was going to rewrite it but I didn't get a chance. Okay. The other guy took my picture. You're not going to be on camera?
We're actually on video right now.
I didn't see that. The guy that was there before for the library and the Quincy University, that's -- he had a great big old camera on his but that's old time. That was quite a few years ago.
Yes, sir.
Well let's see, okay my name is Eugene better known as Gene William Vahle Sr., 89 years young. Born and raised in Quincy, Illinois on July 24, 1925. My second, my elementary schools were Catholic, mostly St. Peters. Graduated June 1943 at Quincy High School at 18 years old. My family consisted of my Dad, pattern maker for 48 years. My mom. Four brothers and one sister Marilyn. That's Marilyn over there. Anyhow, she wanted to come with me. She is 82 years young and with me today. Had four brothers. They all smoked and they're all dead. Brother older than me who was also in the Army, WW2 stationed in the a Aleution Islands and later Panama. The other three brothers were younger than me okay. Rich was in the Army, Don and Jerry in the Navy. Jerry was on a destroyer, the US ship that represented the United States at the wedding of Princess Grace US actress Grace Kelly to the Prince of Monaco. I don't know if you remember that. Very good. I got past that point. Okay. So anyhow, when I graduated from high school I got a letter from the US government. It says to have a free breakfast and then a train ride to Chicago for a very embarrassing physical. My first train ride. And then a train ride back to Quincy and then all the way down to Texas where it was very hot. Struggled through 17 weeks of basic training in the infantry and received my expert infantryman's badge there. That was at Camp Wolters Texas. Left there I believe September or October 1943 and traveled to Camp Maxey, Texas forming part of the 99th Infantry Division Checker Board Division. They were just forming. Had extensive training there in the infantry learning to use the .45 pistol, .30 caliber rifle, the M1 which most of the men learned and they shot all day for the next year or so. I don't know about -- this is a lot. Quite a story. I was transferred from F Company, a rifle company to Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion Infantry Regiment of the 99th Division. That was a tank platoon. The first one, F Company was a rifle company and so I learned the smaller version of the M1, the carbine. Same .30 caliber but smaller because I was also part of a Bazooka team, two man, and needed to carry the bazooka and the large bazooka shells, the bazooka shells made to knock out a tank. Also learned the .30 caliber machine gun, .57 millimeter anti tank gun in which the, towed by one and half ton truck. That's the reason I was able to collect all of my stuff because I had a truck.
Had room to carry everything with you?
Yeah and so it wasn't, it was against the German law to do it. You're not supposed to have any souvenirs from them. Also learned how to throw hand grenades and trained on the .60 millimeter mortar and the BAR, Browning automatic rifle. The hand grenade meant to explode in a few seconds, breaks apart and each little piece is made to kill or injure badly anyone near by. We all trained very extensively on all of these guns and traveled around the country side with our weapons, the compass and a map. Also had mock warfare between our division and an armored division in southern Texas. They are almost -- were ---they were almost ready to go to the war but the 99th won over the armored so the armored division could not go to war yet. We did and 99th left that month September, 1944. And I don't know about this. There we traveled by several trains. Ending up in Boston, Massachusetts. Saw some sites in the nearby towns. At the RKO Grand and Palace Theatre I saw and heard Lena Horn. She's a singer. The 99th Division, consisting I believe much larger than any other division, approximately 15,000 men plus 3 tank battalions and five tank destroyer battalions were connected while the 99th was still building up their strength in Camp Maxey, Texas. They shipped out approximately 1500 men from our outfit trained and ready for combat to other divisions. So then the 99th replaced them with the same number of men from some camp where they were trained to be officers or somebody special. These were guys with smarts. That gave the 99th Division not only strength but also higher wisdom. There are many books out now about the 99th Division. More than any other outfit that I know. I have several of these and there are many more out there somewhere. The 99th was trained to bring strength and force and wisdom to Europe after the beach heads were taken in France. And then to recover what the Germans had taken earlier. We got past three pages. In Boston the 99th occupied many ships. We left at night, very little lighting because we knew that the German submarines were out there in the Atlantic sinking ships almost as fast as what we would put them in the water. When at sea the next morning I could see larger ships around us and air craft carrier for the planes in front of us one day, behind us the next day. Way out in the distance in a circle all around us were destroyers for the best protection. They wanted to make sure 99th division got there. Never been on a ship before so I got very sea sick, for several days. And I tried to go up to the cafeteria but could only eat an orange or candy bars. The ship sold us candy bars by the box. Figured what to do -- okay I figured finally what to do to avoid sea sickness. After lying in my bunk two months from getting bed sores I would go up on the top deck and sit in the middle of the ship and that worked pretty good. Not much rocking there.
What kind of ship was it?
It's a -- just a ship made for transport. I think it was a new one. Forgot the name now. Just a transport ship.
How long were you on the ship?
Let's see, that's on here. Got over the sea sickness and then landed in England 11 days later. Okay. Had to zig zag all the way across the ocean to keep the German subs from tracking us. That's why it took so long. In England we walked around the country side, good exercise. It rained at least some every day we were in England except one. After 30 or 31 days we took some kind of smaller ships, some kind of landing craft. We drove in trucks over -- no we drove in trucks. Our 10 man squad is in headquarters 2nd Battalion had their own anti tank platoon and they would have ridden in our own trunks, the one and a half ton with the big gun on the back. The rest of the guys all went in their own trucks.
You drove your trucks. You were in England and you drove your trucks on to the landing ships and then the landing ships carried you across the channel to France?
Right.
Okay.
And then we got off there. We had everything that we needed to go to war when we landed there before we left England because we trained there in England. Not trained but regrouped you might say.
What day did you land in France?
I don't think I put that on here did I? We left in September of '44 and I'm not sure, it might be in here somewhere.
Okay, please move forward then.
We drove in trucks and you know it was somewhere in September and we -- okay. Okay we went about three-fourths of the way through France, because you know it was always taken. The beach head was strewn with rubble from all the buildings blown a part from those 5000 ships that came from England and sailed to the beaches and France. One triangular piece was all that was left of one building for a long ways inland. Everything else was down.
This would have been in Normandy?
Yeah, I'm not sure if that's the beach. There was several beaches that we hit on June the 6th but we came in. Our outfit was trained in Texas just for coming on after the beach was taken so that we could go into France where they already taken about three-fourths of it. And then it was our job to finish fighting in France. All the men road about halfway through France which was already taken a way from the Germans. This was now late in October of 1944. Late in October. So it would have been we were in England for one month. We exchanged some shooting and shelling for the next two months in France and Belgium. While in Belgium the Germans figured we were too close to their country so they managed to gather up approximately 250,000 men and all of the tanks and guns they could get from the other parts of the country that they were at war. Including their latest great tiger 2 tanks. That was extra armor on the side. We found out later our bazookas weren't any good. Somewhere in here my friend from Ohio, I went to see him once in a while after the war. Any how he said that he shot his bazookas, he was a bazooka man too. He shot his bazooka at the tank. He knew he hit it but nothing happened and he took another shot. Still didn't do anything. So by that time the tank turned around and blew his leg off. Well now I'm finding out in the books that what happened when they gathered all of the men and tanks and everything from all the fronts and the very latest tanks that they had just made. I guess they threw them into the bulge. We didn't know that was going to be the Battle of the Bulge. We didn't know what was happening.
Correct.
It just happened. So either way I guess that's why his bazooka then must have bounced off of that tiger tank. It's the newest one. They just put new metal on the sides.
So you were an anti tank battalion?
Anti tank platoon.
Platoon that had bazooka that could not penetrate the enemy's tanks?
The last ones they did before that. They took one shell, one tank to knock it out. But when they got those the great, I think they called it the great tiger or another name -- number 2.
Tiger 2.
Tiger 2, yeah something like that. Well let's see, all the men rode about half way through France which was already taken. I think I said that we exchanged some shooting and shelling for the next two months in France and Belgium. Now while in Belgium the Germans figure we were too close. I think I read that part and they had 250,000 thousand men.
Yes, sir.
Okay, got that part.
Uh huh.
Now at six in the morning December 16, 1944 they threw all that at us at one time and we didn't know it was the Bulge. Nobody knew what was going on. We thought the Germans were already defeated because they weren't doing anything. They were very quiet in rounding up all of those tanks and everything in the woods. We kind of suspected a little something but not enough to know that it was going to be the Battle of the Bulge. That's what they called it later. And then there were 22 divisions, 22 German divisions and the US had only 8 divisions. And didn't seem quite fair to me. But I thought I'd throw that in. (Laughter). It all happened on the 80 mile front. The north shoulder consisted of the 99th Division and the 2nd Division. And the Ardennes Forest and the Germans hit us first. Being very well trained in Texas and some fighting in France we fought back. They hit us again and we stopped them again. Later in the book, oh yeah, okay. So much fire power, shelling and shooting, we really did not know the Germans had so much left. They were so quiet for a few days and almost thought they quit. And then I went back here.
Okay.
Later on in the book I read that a German general or whatever he was said that they thought they had hit a brick wall. That was the 99th. Then they had to go around us to their left which was the south. And they did go through the newer division that just got there, the 106th. And they lost a lot of men. Now the 99th Division had 5,000 casualties in that one Battle of the Bulge. 3,000 killed. 2,000 wounded and missing. That is a lot. One battle, just one battle. That battle took 8 weeks. The Germans did not penetrate our line of defense quite a ways. That later was named Battle of the Bulge. Lasted 8 weeks. December 16, 1944 until January 28, 1945. The 99th went on and was to be the first full division across the Remagen bridge. I got a disc on that somewhere that tells about that. I can read more what I did than what I was going through when I was going through it. Then on to the industrial area called the Ruhr. The 99th division captured a complete bulks grenadier division in the Ruhr Pocket spelled R-U-H-R. And then we got a battle star for that Ruhr pocket. So much -- okay we're getting through it.
Doing good,
I told you it'd be a bunch of paper. 99th went south through Germany and parts of the 99th joined forces with the Third Armored under General George Patton. Then on down to the boarder of Germany and across the Danube River and into Austria. Just a few days into Austria and the war in Europe ended. This was May 8, 1945. The rest of our troops went across Germany and met up with the Russians. At the end of the Bulge there were 28 divisions of US troops. There was only eight to start with. Where were the other 20? We could have used them. But you know that included the 1st Division. We were right along side and they put me into that later. We rested for a while and then we went back north into Germany and part of the 99th settled into the town of Bamberg, Germany. There we joined the 1st Infantry Division. The 1st fought with us in the Bulge. They were somewhere behind us to start with but they -- since there was only eight we were two on the corner on our shoulder but they were behind us I think. So it was them that really helped us out. So our part of the 99th Division and the 1st Division were going to go to Japan to help clean the mess up over there. That's why they put it in in the 1st. Shortly the atomic bombs were dropped and the Japanese gave up. So then the 1st Division which consisted of parts of the 99th stayed in Bamberg, Germany as the Army of occupation and then until March the 7th, 1946 that's when I would have left to go back to the good old USA. Landing in New York, this is after the war now, landing in New York then to Chicago or actually Camp Grant, Illinois. Then train to Quincy, Illinois, 314 South 11th Street where my Dad and mom and my four brothers and one sister still live. I guess you were there. (Laughter) She's taking this all in. She likes anything to do with me she says, the service or whatever. I had only one sister, four brothers and they're all gone. Bob still in the Army but left the Aleution Islands and went to two more years of enlistment in Panama. I got home in the evening of March 15, 1946. The only homecoming celebration that I had was in the harbor in New York. There was a large barge out there in the water. We were passing and the band played as the girls danced. So what a nice treat. That's all we had when we come in. So just think of all of the thousands of our men who did not or were not going to return. They left their homes in the US and possibly a family of maybe some kids maybe, to never return. At home it was like -- it was dark when I entered the kitchen. Dad and mom and a renter from upstairs, Mrs. Davis, were sitting around the kitchen table by a dim light just talking. I know you didn't do that whole box already, okay. I wonder if they knew I was coming back at this time. I sure was lucky. One of the lucky ones but I had some help from God. We all -- we all over there had lots of reasons to pray and we did. The next morning I got in the car that I bought from my brother Bob. My brother Bob, the one that's in the Army now. Bob had broken the transmission before he left for the Army and had put in a new transmission. Well my dad put in the new transmission for me knowing I was going to return. It was a 1933 Continental Flyer. Had suicide doors in the front. Great little car. And I learned to drive it from another brother, Rich. Later I bought a more modern 1946 Ford Deluxe black, shining with a big steering wheel. Hauled my brothers, Mona, a cousin and others around in it. Bought a radio for it. Rear guards, fog lights, all that kind of stuff. So I was having a ball. After a year, I had to get a job. Money ran out. So I worked, learned the dry cleaning business on the GI bill. Worked at different cleaners for three years. Got married and had seven children. Got a job in St. Louis, McDonnell Air Craft. I've been busy. McDonnell Air Craft in the plant, built jet fighter bombers for seven years. Planes like the F4 Phantom and F3 H Phantom and others. Started in the real estate in St. Louis. Had several rentals and apartments. Took lots of vacations and then the wife left. Moved back to Quincy. Got married again. Had three more children. Wow. Any how bought more rentals. Got in the painting business for over 50 years. Vahle Painting and Decorating. Have you heard of it? Vahle Painting and Decorating.
I believe I have.
Vahle Painting and Decorating. We painted a lot of Blessing Hospital and all of their houses and also painted for the Quincy University and a lot of their houses on the outside. Roofed some of them. And my brother, my son, he knew how to roof so we roofed also and then but -- any how I was pretty active. Okay got painting over 50 years from Vahle Painting Decorating. Painted houses, factories, hospitals, churches. Sort of retired now. In a sense I have always been a pack rat. Going to sell all of my collectibles and move south to Florida with my oldest daughter Jackie. Maybe help her in her nursing and real estate business. She did have 100 nurses working for her in Florida but now she's only got one. I can't tell you about the politics, but it's all part of that. She lost a lot there and from 100 nurses down to only one. And she's going out of business now, end of this month. Back in Europe, I've had quite a few experiences which maybe I could relate some to anyone who listens to this tape. I guess it's a tape or a disc. I did see my own holocaust myself. You know what a holocaust is?
Yes, sir.
And I remember it was in the small town in Germany, I came across a cement block building approximately 15 feet wide, 30 feet long. No windows. Only one door. And so I opened up the door to see about 15 or 12 to 15 people laying in a row on their backs. They had no clothes on. Men, women and children, all three. Had -- their bellies were bloated like they have been gassed. So I guess that's like a gas chamber. One corner of the building was knocked out by a -- possibly artillery shell. Blew dust all over the dead bodies. We came in there after they were dead. Mouth is dry. One time as or 99th troops were going through an open field, came across a train blown up by one of our planes. Now several cars had prisoners in them so -- thank you.
You're welcome.
So when this train was stopped by -- we blew it up. Any how their cars had prisoners in them and mostly US soldiers were captured during the Bulge. The guys were starving to death. The 99th saved them. These were different experiences now, as I wrote this down throughout the years and put them in a jar or something. Saw a buzz bomb. You have heard of that. I believe to be a V1 rocket. This was the thundering over our heads and slowly coming from the German side. And towards the Americans it was really shaking the earth. Boy, was it ever. It was a fat, as fat as a jet liner and very long. After passing over our heads it went over a hill and then came a big blast. Don't know what it hit. So what they were aiming at -- those are the ones -- the things that the Germans were throwing in England. You know for a long time I think it lasted a couple years or more. They throw these big things that go by themselves. There is no pilot.
The bombing of England before the American troops came?
Yeap, before the American troops got in late at night. It's another one, off in the distance the Germans shot off the V2 rockets. That was their latest, like a battery of shooting vertical rockets up in the night sky. At a 45 degree angle and then quickly out of sight. Surely going over our heads and landing somewhere behind us. Never did see them after they once took off. You can see them taking off in the night and then they disappear after. So far I don't know how high they went or how far they went, but that big one, the V1 that went right over the hill. Well page 12. That's it. I have many more stories to tell both about my experiences during my Army times and stories of my -- stories of my life from before and after. Thanks for listening.
Thanks for sharing. I have a few questions for you.
Sure.
We'll talk a little bit more about things that you saw too okay?
Okay.
What was your rank at time of discharge?
PFC, Private First Class.
Private First Class A2, A3?
They didn't have those. We didn't have those.
What can you tell me about some of the medals that your Unit received? That you received?
Yeah. They're in that box. I think they just brought them in. I had the uniform. It's got a lot of them on too. I got the bronze star and I think I got-- MARILYN: Did you want them up there? His medals?
I think they got copies of them. We'll be all right. If there is a lot of medals I don't want to -- MARILYN: They're in that little box there.
Let's see them. MISS QUINCY: I can help you.
I would have brought my uniform. I didn't know if you wanted that. That has got most everything. When I was in Germany before we got on the ship to come back they put all of these things on and those are what is left that didn't go on my uniform.
How did you get along with your fellow soldiers and officers?
Oh we were great. We got in the 99th and it's not like what you see on TV. It's not the same. You know they show this -- what the sergeant, a buck sergeant or something and he looks right up at those guys with the great big hats. That's on the movies. And really stares at them and talks mean. They didn't do that to us. Nobody in all the outfit -- all the time we trained we -- they just knew that we was going to go to Germany and they had to train us you know for that. Not for being mean you know and cussing us out and whatever else.
Yeah.
So I did have my share of KP, kitchen police, but then everyone had that kitchen police. That is where you had to peel potatoes and set the table, clean dishes, stuff like that. But that was kind of enjoyable. That was it. Was okay. I didn't mind.
Did you feel you had a harrowing experience? Did you feel a lot of stress at the time that you were there?
Well there is a lot of stories I couldn't get in there. I just ran out of time. So yeah, this one time here comes a -- we're in a set of woods okay. That would be part of the 99th, probably a company and that's around 30 men or so. So then we went out in this big field and we dug our fox holes. And so every time you go -- wherever you go, as soon as you stop, you pull out the shovel and you start digging. If you only take one dig you got that one dig in. And then you had to go. Or you can dig the whole thing and maybe stay over night. We stayed over night in holes with four feet of snow. Can you imagine? Either way, this was a one of those that was bad. They -- we came out of the woods. Got all of our fox holes dug and then the kitchen truck dared to come up. That is a rarity, a kitchen truck coming up with a big trailer on the back. And that's where the refrigerator and the food and all of -- all of that stuff. So they planted right in the middle of the field between all of us in our fox holes. They were all dug and ready to go. The line of guys -- about 12 or 15 were in line to eat. It wasn't my turn yet because well, any how over in the woods, nobody checked the woods. Out there was a German artillery spotter. I guess he must have been in the woods and nobody checked it out because just as those guys were in line, here comes an artillery shell whistled over the trees. And where did it hit? Dead center. Right in the truck and trailer with all of the guys right there. That's why I'm still here and those guys aren't. Because it wasn't my turn to eat yet. So any how there was no way to go over there and see what happened. All we knew is just to dive for the nearest hole. I wasn't near my fox hole and so there was a shell hole from a previous shelling and I dove into that. But it's like a bowl. Not much protection. But it lasted for a while. While the artillery shell came over, hit in front of us, hit in the back. The rest of them, I don't know. But my hole, there was in front of us and behind me -- - it didn't -- that's why I'm still here.
Yeah.
But you know, that's where we prayed. You're down in the bottom of your hole and you're praying you know. So, but either way now there must have been a lot of guys that were killed. We lost 5,000 men altogether actually in the Bulge, just the 99th. And I think 19,000 men altogether in the Battle of the Bulge. And all the US troops got killed. And there is the ones that got, you know, blown up. Got injured.
Injured.
Some of them just disappeared or blown up or run away. We didn't have too much trouble except this one guy that ran away. So any how, that was that. But then when the shelling stopped, I decided I got to get into my fox hole, which is aways away. We was just kind of walking around. So I ran over there and dove in and right as soon as I did, here comes the shells again, in front of me and behind me and never landed in the hole. Well I wouldn't be able to tell you if it did. But still there was another time when I was in these woods and here comes the lone German plane coming down the road from my left. He was about 100 feet up just over the tree tops and he was coming over the hill and he went down that road, probably looking for vehicles to bomb or whatever. And he went on down, went out of sight behind these trees that we were in. And then just like that, he must have made a 90 degree turn and he came back. So then when he got even with where I was he made another 90 right straight towards me. And there he was and here I am with my little rifle and him with the big guns. I thought, I'm going to hide behind this tree. First time I took an aim at him and I could have hit him I'm sure, but then you know he would have seen me. So I ducked behind the tree and he went over my head and went around over the trees. Made another 90 and then come back over to my left and over to the road again and then back over the same road. He came from over the hill. But by that time we had anti air craft guns there sitting on top of the hill. First time they missed him coming down, but coming back they could see the way he went. They come right over the top of him and the plane just blew apart and the German jumped out with his parachute behind us somewhere. That is some of those things that you know, you still remember. And the more important things, there are quite a few other things but I didn't have time to write them down. See I wrote those down as I went through life in all of these little notes. So I had a whole draw full. More than -- one person said, you should be able to write a book. I can't write a book. I can only pull out notes and I can put those down on here but I can't fill in all of those ifs, ands, and buts. So there is some of my buddies in the area, they're all gone now but they wrote some books and I have got theirs. Was there another question?
Yeah, did you stay in touch with your family while you were in the war? More or less while you were in Europe?
In Texas all the time, and mostly in Europe. Whenever I had a chance to write I would write a letter back to mom and dad. Anybody else that wrote me, mostly mom and dad and so I have got probably 120 or so letters and I have still got -- there is a lot of them in that box there, about 10 of them. And the rest of them are home. I never really read all them yet but the ones that are very interesting now. We couldn't do anything anywhere near the Bulge or in that time. So when I finally had a chance to write, it was -- maybe it was dated I think eight or ten days after the start. December 16, I think it was right at the end of December, I wrote a letter that -- when I was able to and said, mom I looked like -- and you can't say that now days but African American. But we spelled it out just like we used to. Any how, I said I look just like that, unshaven, and black, and I'm a mess. But you know, we still had the rest of the Bulge to go through. But I managed to get that letter. But every one of the letters are signed by a Kennedy. There is a Robert Kennedy that's -- they have to check through the whole letter. Make sure we said nothing that was -- that was important and then so then he stamps it. Now some went through that -- a V mail. They copied that on to a small letter like and it's -- they called it a V mail. So I have got some of those.
Okay.
But they the thing of it is most of them weren't V mail. I was a collector, and you can see, I have got -- probably got about 200,000 stamps all together. Over in Germany I collected every stamp that I could find. Some guy found 11 albums that would have been classified as loot, if I sent them home that way. So what did I do? Every stamp I pulled out of there by the thousands and stuck them on my letters inside the envelope and sent them home and that's what my mom saved, plus coins.
Lots of coins yeah?
Collected everything I could. Went into a bank. Money all over the floor. And some German said -- you know they were just walking over it. And some guy said something about (speaking German). We're not going to use that any more or you're not. But some of it was still useable. But most of that was that inflationary money. I have got stacks of that. Lot of it is still new. Anything else you need to know?
Did you learn German there? While you were there? A. Yah Yah. (Speaking German). I'm forgetting some. I can still speak some yet. I spoke a little polish. (Speaking Polish). French, yeah -- I kind of forgetting most of that French because I didn't stay in France very long. We went from France to Belgium right away. Within 12 months of finishing up France and Belgium is where we were most of the time it seemed like. And then the Germans knew, I guess, that we were too close to their boarder. Nobody was in Germany yet when the Bulge hit and so that's when I finished that up and then went across the Rhine River. That's the only bridge that is left. They have had explosives already on the bridge but they couldn't blow them up yet. They had I think a couple thousand or more of their men still on our side but the 99th was coming fast to the bridge. They knew it was there. It was still left. And we managed to get there before they set the explosives off and don't know if they ever got all of their men over or not. And so -- and we actually crossed on the Pontoon Bridge next to the bridge that the engineers -- or engineers put up and the rest of the guys went over the bridge. But after three days that bridge fell in because of all the tanks and everything and their explosive artillery, whatever, trying to blow it up. So they -- finally it fell in three days later but we went across the Pontoon Bridge. We were safe any how, so but -- and after that we went on to the Ruhr Pocket. Was that answering your questions or am I on to something else?
You're doing fine. Did you carry anything with you for good luck? You said you were a collector. Did you take anything from home with you over there?
You know, I don't think I did. You know the only thing I have ever carried for good luck -- that goes on to another story. I was in the hospital since I had the painting business and had my kids all working for me, that was a big stress. One of the times I was in Blessing my daughter gave me this here. That is after the war and after I came back home, she gave me this. Says on there guardian angel. And I think it might have worked except for the fact that I was in the hospital a lot of times. Not just to paint it, but I had two heart attacks, two stents each. And then within 2 years a part and then the next one 2 years apart with the double by pass. And before that I had a stroke in 2000, 2002. And 4 was a stroke and was the heart attacks. 90 -- 100 percent closed in one. Just barely made it. Double bypass. That was a tough one. I went on to another stroke later on. I think I'm okay now. I'm doing pretty good. I kind of retired. My kids are off somewhere else, so I'm doing pretty good. Did I answer your question? I forgot what the question was.
It's quite all right. You're doing fine. Whenever you were at the Battle of the Bulge or fighting in the Battle of the Bulge how were your supplies at that time?
They weren't any problem.
Never a problem with supplies?
No, there was a lot of Divisions coming up through France and yeah I read that in a book one time, boy they had stacks and stacks of all the bridge stuff to build bridges over the rivers and all the artillery. I read them once in a while, all of those books. We never had any problem with that.
Yes, sir. What kind of food did you have?
Matter of fact, I tell you one thing what -- we must, we must have been so okay with whatever we had in the way of artillery, our shells for a bazooka, that we found this here -- these two big hills in Germany. You know they're noted for beer and so --
Yes, sir.
We walked down through, between those hills. There is a path or road or something and we opened up one of those big heavy doors and inside was a barrel of beer, fresh beer. I never drink beer but I had to try it. So the guys filled up their canteen cups and put them on their belt and then -- but me, no I didn't like beer. But I -- still there we was. Somewhere along the way there was wine, also bottles wine. I took my bazooka shells out, a couple of them and put a couple of bottles of wine in there. And so, I never drank it but I sold it you know, for American money.
Yeah.
And so we did a lot of bartering. What do you call that? Black market or something. And we sold a lot of cigarettes. You know I had half a barracks bag, we were allowed like a carton of cigarettes per week and then -- any how I never did smoke so I filled that barracks bag up full. And we still had the truck. So you know, I was able to do that. Most of the guys weren't. So I had this barracks bag full. At the end of war somebody said, I can get you $10 for a carton of that. Sell it to the Germans somewhere on the black market. So I did. I gave it to him. And right after that somebody said, hey I can get you $20 for a carton. So I started picking up some more. But you know, where was that compared to your question? I'm off of that. I got a lot of stories. I tell you, Marilyn knows. People get on the phone with me and I don't stop. But then when they do that though I think, my mom and dad, oh I wish they was around. I wish I could call them you know. You're going to then. Your mom and dad still around? MISS QUINCY: Yes.
Okay. You're lucky. I lost mine in '65, '69. Both of them died in '69. My Dad was, I get this straight. They both died in '65. Well any how, it was in the '60's and they both died. And it was in the same year but I wish you know, my kids would now think of me like I think of them now. But you know they got to grow older first so otherwise it's not going to --
Yeah I understand.
And then I think, well did I -- did I think about my folks when I was that young? Probably not.
Yeah.
I don't know. Got any more questions sir?
Do you still talk to any of the men you served with or did you through the years, maintain relationships with them?
Yeah, we have had -- we had what you call reunion at 60 something, but you know being so busy I could only go to about 10 I guess. And a couple of them in Pittsburgh. Went to Orlando, Florida. Went to Colorado. What is the name of that town where they have the planes? Dayton, Ohio yeah. Anyhow, I went there for one. But there was about 10 all together. So I missed out on a lot.
Yeah.
I just -- but I did write to this -- one of them that I had fun with in Texas when we were training. He was in another part of the outfit but I saw him later and went to his town and so we talked and did different things. He had that leg off so he was limited. And I got to thinking, well my goodness that could have been my bazooka you know. But anyhow, that one and then the last one -- that I know, the rest are all gone. We had a mini reunion, 10 guys and they're all gone. But the one that I still was going to, writing to up until this last year, he lives in Wapakoneta, a town in Ohio that one of the space guys must have grown up, made the town famous. Any how, yeah I even went out there to see him, him and his wife and later on his wife went to a nursing home and then she passed away and left him and his little dog. So then we wrote for a couple years after that. Last year I didn't get anything, so that's probably the last one.
What was his name?
I always remembered that one any other time.
Sorry to put you on the spot.
Yeah I'll remember it after a while. It always comes back.
Okay. I think I saw on your paper work that you brought that you did go back to Europe after the service?
No, never did.
No? That was just a reunion --
Yeah, the paper.
-- you spoke about a moment ago?
It was something in the paper, but I didn't go to that. You would have had to have a lot less kids and more money.
Did you join any service organizations after the service?
Just the VFW, American Legion.
Did you remain active in those at this time?
You know, I don't drink beer so you know that's what the guys go in there for. To drink beer and talk and meet the ladies. So I didn't care about the ladies and I didn't care about the beer. So I was just a busy man. Just you know, doing my work. 50 years of painting and I could -- I could tear the half of this building off and rebuild it again. That's what I have learned. Had a lot of apartments. Owned a bunch of them here in Quincy. Two of them right here on 8th Street. And I lived in one of them for about 12, 13 years when I really fixed them up. And lived in St. Louis when I worked at that air craft plant. Had a bunch of houses and buildings down there and then that's when the wife left. I sold it all or gave it all back. Moved back to Quincy. And that's when I started in the painting house business here. But that really kept me busy. But I never did go back over there. I didn't have time. Wanted to, but then I don't know. It didn't seem that important.
You said that you mentioned briefly that you came upon a POW camp in Germany?
The train yeah. I think that was in my --
Yes, sir.
Yeah it -- we were out in this field just coming out into it, and there was the train sitting out there in the open on the track. One of our planes had knocked out the engine probably knowing that there was, you know, would be prisoners of war. So they didn't blow up the box cars. Box cars were all full of prisoners. Some of them were from the 99th. Even from the Battle of the Bulge. This would have been after that then, so yeah they were kind of starving and so they were probably pretty happy to see us. Just happy I wasn't captured. I don't know how long they were prisoners. Didn't really talk to them that much. It was our job to get and go. The same way, like one morning since we had the truck, we pulled our truck that we had shelled over the top, the artillery company, shelled over the top of us over night. The next morning we had to go pick up the dead Germans. And so one of them, he had his head gone except a little piece left right here. And this one arm was gone. I just kicked that in the hole and then we threw the body into the truck with all the rest of them. And that was all before breakfast. But any way, yeah that's one of the many experiences I had. What was the question before that? See I got a lot of fingers and toes and these stories that I have got, they just keep running off and then I have to go back to the -- on what was I talking about to start with. What did you ask?
Yeah, that's all right. I enjoy listening to you so I kind of just let you go. Not worried about what my question was.
You got the time, I got the time. I'm kind of retired. I got a lot of collectibles. I'm a pack rat. I have collected anything and anything that somebody said might be worth some money some time. What do I collect? Records. They said records might be worth some money. I got 10,000 records. Beatles, Elvis and all those. They're all stored away somewhere. And then I got about, I'd say around 200,000 stamps. Probably many thousands are from Germany. Whenever I picked them up. Stick them in and ship them to my mom. She saved them. And then there is coins. I got -- I don't know how many coins I have got left. But then there is baseball cards. If you know anybody that buys baseball cards I got about 40 or 50 thousand of them.
I would --
All kinds of sports cards and they're all in tubs and boxes and drawers and they're all over my house. And had to finally stop going to my favorite place. To the auctions and yard sales. I have no more storage. So I don't know, I'm still wanting to sell something or give it away or something.
You are ready to start having auctions and sales of your own?
I had one. Yeah my daughter had one of them. But you know in a yard sale you don't sell probably even half and that means you got to take it -- all the stuff back and box it up and put it away somewhere if you want to keep it. If you didn't, you have to give it away. So who would take it so --
You know --
That was only one.
I think you might get some takers on the stamps and baseball cards and collectibles you have?
Here is the thing. Nobody is real honest when it comes to cards and coins. I have took some things -- I managed to get a gold watch, a wrist watch, that I bought in the service and it's on one of my letters that it says that, mom I finally paid off my watch. Because I was going through service and paid and you know, then when I got it after service I was home wearing it. Finally just lately, not too long ago, I took it to the guy. He doesn't even acknowledge I was there. The watch is solid gold with 21 jewels. So that is the problem. I tried the yard sale and I tried to sell my records. Okay here comes a guy that collects records thumbing through them and he'll find one that is the most expensive I have you know. And didn't know that they're probably worth a lot of money. They have some writings in there that tell about the artist and look what I found? And he takes it out and gives me 50 cents. Who knows what my cards are worth? I don't even know what I have. That is my problem.
Okay. How did your service experiences affect your life?
Well one thing I can remember I still do and that's -- I don't know if anybody else does this. But I fold up my socks like 3 times, 2 times, whatever and put them in the drawer. Just like that. With the colors and everything. The tan, the blacks, whatever colors. I still put them in my drawers ever since then. That's the only thing I can remember. I don't know of anything else. That's not important but --
Something that stuck with you?
Yeah it just --
You did that in the service and you still do it today and that's where you learned--
Yeah, I just -- it just happens. I don't even think about it. I just fold them up when I do the laundry and in it goes.
Did your experience in Europe influence your thinking about war or military in general?
I thought about joining some years later. I thought about joining the, what do you call that? They're based at home.
The Reserves or the National Guard?
National Guard, yeah. I even painted the building down there.
Yeah?
Third or Fourth Street on the highway. But no, the people thought I might be a little bit old for -- for that so I never did do that. I shouldn't have been, it's kids.
Would you encourage young men and women to enlist today?
Yeah, but not in the Army or the Marines. Not them. They're the ones that is right there in the front. They're the ones with the rifle. And whoever sees who first has got the gun ready first. That's the ones that either lives or dies. Me, I was in the truck and the anti tank so we shot the big guns which is close by. Sometimes we were the bazooka men of course me and my buddy. So we had -- we got from the rest of the team and we'd go with the rifle troops. We heard some tanks one time, or the rest of the troops there said there was tanks in the weeds out there. So they call us in with it because they had nothing there to you know, knock out the tank so, but any how --
So you would say that you were on the second line, the front line was the soldiers generally and you were in the tanks right behind? But you would come up, not in the tanks, but the trucks, right behind and you would come up with them at times?
Yeah.
And assist them?
Yeah, well we was there with them most of the time. Right there. But still they're the ones that gets killed because they're the ones with the rifle first. And since we had the big gun we had our own rifles but you know, you don't need those so much as the big guns if the tank gets by the guys on the front, that's what we're for but at the same time we're not like the artillery. The artillery is in the back they shoot over everybody's head and they got a chance to be killed too because then soon as they shoot their guns, artillery over -- they know where we are. So they shoot back. They have their own fox holes and they're own big gun holes and whatever. They shoot theirs. They run for the fox holes and hide and then they run back over when the Germans get done and they shoot theirs over. So it's like a like a game. But you know people can get killed that way but --
Did you -- did you meet a lot of French, Belgium, German people or soldiers that you may have fought with or come in contact with?
Yeah, several there. I'll tell you about the bad one. First of all it wasn't bad. Is, after we got up with the troops with their bazookas, tanks were in the weeds and by the time we got through they were gone. And we went up that road to the house and then when we were stationed in that house, the farm house, there is two of them together and when we went in there our outfit, 10 men in the squad, one truck, one gun, 10 men. So we had took over the house. And in the evening the Germans knew we were in there and their farm houses are V shaped at an angle, 90 degree angle. The barn is off to the side. Big barns, and it's connected to the house. Well the Germans knew. They were off in the woods, up in the hills somewhere and they knew we was there. So they shot a mortor and it hit the barn and set it on fire. So what are we going to do? It's all going to burn down. Nobody is going to put it out. So then story goes we left there and had to go out the front door to the road. Went up to the next house and then stayed there over night. That was all for that. That they threw at us. And then the next morning, coming down the hill from the -- where the Germans were, there was two Russians and they come down and they said they were prisoners of the SS. That is the worst German. SS men, up in the hills there somewhere. So they grabbed me and gave me a big kiss on the cheek and so happy that we had rescued them from the Germans. And that was one experience. And then right after that come all of our troops then you know, down the road with tanks and men passed, passing. We were in the front first but any how, then the next ones, I knew a bunch of them. Yeah, I got it in one of my letters. So if you read them letters you get a lot of experiences. So any how the -- we went into this Belgium house and there was several people in there and they -- they invited us in and we was talking and they speak German and French. We spoke English, so then I mentioned in this letter that and can't remember that thing, you know, myself -- but it was in my, one of my letters later. So here we are trying to talk back and forth and they had jellies and jams and things like that that they could still have in their house. And after the Germans were pushed out and so that's what we had to eat. We'd all sit around the table and then in that letter it says how much fun we were having trying to, you know, use the sign language. Trying to figure out you know, who we are and experiences and everything. So that was kind of funny. Just read that letter not too long ago. There is a lot of letters I haven't read myself yet.
Yeah?
But that, I can't think of any other experiences. I'm sure I did. I'm sure I did. Yeah, up in the hills what they call that southern part of Germany, Bavaria, we got into the Bavarian hills in there, some caves up there. The people all left the houses and out of town because we were there taking over the town. So then here's this little bitty lady. I guess they're short people from Bavaria and this big guy in our outfit. His name was Jerry Sepinski and he was real tall and she was real short, like a midget or something and they were standing there talking. I don't know how they got back with the talking. I still remember, I got the picture of that one. That's what I remember and I -- anything else it would have to just come to me right after reading the letters.
Yeah?
You girls have any questions or -- MISS QUINCY: I thought your stories were really interesting.
Thanks. I can still remember a lot but a lot is on these little notes and pages and in drawers and everything all over the house and so I can -- I can still -- as a matter of fact I had to pull them out to be able to write this thing. My eyes water a lot so I'm sensitive to -- do you have any questions outside of that one?
Is your view of government the same before and after your time in the service?
The government?
The government in general.
No.
Yeah.
Or before?
Well you know, what it's like now?
That is the -- well you know what it's like now. That is the worst. I don't know if you can say that it's got to be the worst, but yeah the government before that. Eisenhower was our big boss over there. What? 5 star general. And he was really good at his job except one thing he should have done. He should have known that the -- the Bulge was coming. And it says it in books too. Someone should have known. Eisenhower being the big boss, the buck stops here and he should have known. And the other guys even mention different things. But yeah, the government -- well I -- my daughter. She lost her nursing business she started herself in Florida and had 100 nurses, she and her husband. And imagine, they send them out to different homes and she -- and now she only has one. And a few months ago she said she was down to 15. Now she says one and she's already given the State the fact that she's going out. So that's from -- when my painting business stopped too in '09 I was still very active. Yet as much as I could be the knees wearing out. I could still go up the ladders and do things and I used to paint for Blessing and all the University. And in '09 -- the second half of '09 is when I went out. I didn't even get any calls but 2 just that one year. But any how outside of that part of the government, everything -- also before that. Well I have seen a lot but I have never really voted or was into voting because I didn't really know the person. If I don't know the person personally or that they're really good in any which way you know, then I best -- I didn't vote because I might vote for the wrong person.
Uh huh.
But outside the government -- that is my Dad paid more attention to that I think. I remember, just like he paid attention to the boxing you know on the radio. Didn't have TV's then.
Yeah.
But I still remember him. Joe Lewis and all of them. Left to the chin and a right to face, and you know.
Tell us a little bit about some of these medals that we have here?
Yeah, that's the rest of them are all on my --
Eastern Campaign Medal?
Yeah this was probably the main one.
Uh huh.
This was, I got the ribbon on my uniform. If the ribbons are gone I got them on my uniform. It's a night jacket. You know what a night jacket is? Eisenhower, short belt. Bottom of the jacket comes around the belt here. And same thing as Eisenhower wore but any way. This is the one that says -- this goes through all of the war in Europe. It's for all of them. So then on here is three stars which means that those are for the major battles. Battle of the Bulge, Battle of the Ruhr Pocket where we captured a complete division, our division. And the other one is for central Europe. So that's what that one is for. SISTER OF MISS QUINCY: Did they give them to you when you got back there or did you have a ceremony or something?
These particular ones in that box came later. My uniform already had quite a few they put on. I have got the French for a year rope and then the Belgium for a year rope and then later I found out we were eligible for our part of the 99th eligible for the Bulge part or just central Belgium. So the leader of Belgium give us another rope. A citation. They can't give you 2 ropes on one shoulder. So what was the question again? SISTER OF MISS QUINCY: Did you get those when you got back here?
No. Like I say then, somebody said in one of the reunions after they put everything on, in Germany I never saw them put it on but they gave it to me. Gave me the rope. We had the Presidential Citation and then a special little thing with, whatever. And then all of the other things were all put on there when I was over there. Then later on they said your citations are given out as they figured the war you know. The war is ended and they got together and figured it out, who was where, and so then I sent to St. Louis. That's where they said to send it. The name is on there where it came from. And so they were all in there. I hadn't had a chance to put them on. The uniform is really thick. I tried to put, you know take that pin loose and couldn't even get it off. It's the one that holds a bar like that holds the ribbon and then, I should have brought it I guess but I didn't think of it. But any how then they sent me all these. Then later on I found out about the Belgium for a year and saw it in the paper somewhere. So I cut that out.
You have the American Campaign Medal?
Yeah that's for just training here in America.
Okay.
We was all over Texas and Camp Holden and Camp Maxey.
That is the German Occupation Medal, you were there post the war?
I don't know if I finished that story on that one. When we were put in the 1st Division we were supposed to go fight in Japan because they were still going yet. And so when they gave up then we were in the 1st Division yet and Army occupation for about the next year until the time in 1946 when I went back home. Q. What was the mood like after the war in Germany or for you and, you know, you may have come -- been in contact with German citizenship at that time?
Well we were MPs for an about a year. Had some troubles at one time. Would you believe there was 80,000? In one of my letters, there was 80,000 Germans still hold up somewhere. So they sent us out. That's all I got in my letter. What happened to the 80,000. I don't know. It was illegal for the Germans to have that but as far as the people. Oh, I like kids you know. I guess maybe that's where I got to liking kids. That's why I had so many. They would come up to me and they'd say (Speaking German). My name is Pootsie. I don't know where I got Pootsie. I gave that up later because I don't know what that means. Must be German or something. That's where I got to talking mostly to the kids. The people, I don't know, they're still maybe angry or maybe glad that the war is over you know. I would say they should be more glad than angry because if Hitler hadn't done this, their country, you ought to see the pictures I have got in there. I blew up one. It was of Berlin and it was just flat. Just mangled steel and bricks all over like most of the buildings in Nuremberg. I went through there once and they -- the buildings were -- the outside, the edge of the town was big apartment buildings I guess. They were all burnt out inside. Just the shells were left yet. So we went on down inside Nuremberg and even though there is a lot of people, I really didn't talk to them that much. That wasn't -- I didn't know how to speak the German. Just so much the language but mentioning that was another story going inside Nuremberg. That was Hitler's playground Nuremberg and that's where they have had the Nuremberg trials. You have probably heard of them.
Yes, sir.
One of my buddies that wrote that book that I had there, he was one of them that was the MP or whatever. He was the guard inside the courthouse. But when we went in town our whole division came inside the city and after we knew it was okay, then we parked all along the curbing downtown, and all the guys, a lot of them got out but there still would be some in there to guard the truck. So what happens? Here comes a German plane. I guess he thought we didn't take over Nuremberg yet. He was flying right over the top of our heads. He didn't shoot or anything. But what happened? German plane here. Our tanks are -- every one of them has got a .50 caliber machine gun and every jeep and all of them just let go one time. It just blew a part. I never saw the pilot jump out so I guess he didn't make it but that other one did. The one I was telling you about in the woods.
Yes, sir.
But I drink a lot of water at home. That takes the place of beer and whiskey and all of that bad stuff you know.
Efficiency Honor & Fidelity. Can you tell us about this one?
Oh that is a good conduct medal. That is the most important one. If you can be good for the first year you get one of these. Not everybody can do that. Lot of them just left. That is the one that has my name on the back of it. Eugene W. Vahle. Actually everybody calls me Gene. Eugene was just for official stuff. If you can get one of those you're a good boy. I didn't feel like running off. I just did my duty.
World War II Medal which --
That's not on my uniform yet. What does it say?
World War II?
Should be on the cover too. Maybe. Yeah, United States of America Freedom, this is, my goodness freedom of speech. I can still read, no glasses. I can read the finest print without glasses. So what do they call that? It would be on the lid. I'm not sure. If it's not on the edge then it would be on the top.
I believe it's the World War II medal.
Yeah, they're all World War II medals.
World War II Campaign medal?
Yeah I'm not sure. That was for all of Europe. This one here would have had the -- is there any of them there that has it on the top on the lid?
Just the one did and it was this one. The European. That is the Eastern Campaign medal?
Yeah that was all--
What is the most positive thing you can take away from your experience?
Right there, Sharp Shooter.
Sharp Shooter badge? That's a Rifle Badge that was the --
Yeah that was the small rifle .30 caliber.
Uh huh.
And well, any how you had some other question.
What is the most positive thing you can take away from your experience in the service?
Positive thing that I can take away. That what you said?
Yes, sir.
That I could take away?
Yeah. Thinking back on all of it.
Yeah, I see what you mean. Well they had some bad leaders over there and you know we just need a better leader all the time over here. If it's not for the leader you know then the country is going to go to the dogs. Or it's going to be -- actually we have had some excellent presidents and we had some not so good but when you're over there you wonder, you know why -- why did Hitler start this. I know the people were kind of starving from the first World War and I think then he went to jail for a long time. He wrote a book and he got people to believe in him. But he can make Germany rise again and maybe take over everybody else's things. That's the reason wars start at all. They want something that somebody else has got next door and then they're just going to try to take it away from them. Well Hitler, he knew how to talk and you know, if you're a good president, I mean if you're a president that knows how to talk -- well I won't go any farther than that one. But either way I think I was glad I was in the service now but not at the time of course, because you're there and you can get killed anytime.
All of those places you went and all of those things you did you never received an injury?
No.
Not one scar? Anything?
No. WALKER: That's amazing.
Yeah, well I just ducked I guess at the right time. I dug my fox hole deep enough.
You landed in the right shell hole?
Somebody has to come back and I was one of the lucky ones you know this time. When I came out of the woods our outfit was in the woods okay. Here comes some volunteer. I don't think I volunteered for this one but we were across this open field over there. Some more woods and pill boxes and the pill boxes I guess that is part of that Siegfried Line. So they, any way we took over those pill boxes and then we had to destroy them so the Germans would not get back in. So what did they do? They picked me and maybe I looked like -- and I don't know iron man but they gave me this big box and you know what that was full of? Dynamite. They -- square blocks of Dynamite. Not Dynamite, what is the next one? Much higher.
Like C4?
Nitro glycerin. Yeah, cases of it. A whole case. And here I am going across this open field. Hear the bullets winging through the woods and across the opening. One thing I can remember, I hope that, you know, one of the bullets don't hit this thing. I'd never know about it.
Yeah.
But that was -- that was a little tough thinking about that. I wouldn't want to do that again but you know most everything kind of comes back and I would never go into a war and I would never let one of my kids go in. Now some of them had been in the Army but don't let anybody go in the Army or the Marines. They're the same. People, really praise the Marines because of the name or something I don't know. They go over and take over all the beaches. There was no Marines in Europe. We did the beaches. All -- just Army, and the Navy of course is behind them with the big ships and guns and everything. So but if I had any more kids or knew anybody like my grandkids I'd tell them don't go in the Army or the Marines because you're the one with the gun right there in the front where the Germans are with the gun. That whoever sees who first and is able to be a good shot first or whatever. But if they go in the Navy, well you're out on a ship. You're pretty well protected unless they sink the ship and what is the chances of that if there is no big war going on. Any how, but then there is Air Force. Well the Air Force is pretty bad in war too because those big bombers had to go all the way over to central Germany and several of them were knocked down and landed right in the German territory so, but either way that is not as bad as being in the Marines or Army. They're the same and it's very dangerous.
So the most negative thing you would take away from the service?
Most negative I would take away is that getting back to the original question?
We started with positive and we veered off that way but--
See I got these fingers and all of these stories, they just keep running off. That I would take away. Well just probably the whole war experience to start with. I guess just shouldn't be a war you know. Why should there be a war? People just want something that somebody else wants or has. So I don't know anything else outside of just hope that there is no more wars. When this one is over with I hope that is the end of that one. Iraq and Afghanistan that should never be. But I'm glad I wasn't over there but either was what -- that the end of the sheet? You got a lot of sheets too there. Almost as many as I have got. I could have filled up this book. I had a whole lot more but I run out of time. I stayed up late last night and the night before and finally I called it quits. That was enough because I thought you guys are going to be here while I'm trying to say those things and whatever but a lot of it is in that box over there. Did she bring the whole box back Marilyn? MARILYN: Yeah?
The whole box. She didn't copy all of those I'm sure. All of those letters. I just picked out the ones that said the best things in there that you know that my brother being in Alaska and Alleution Islands, I got a couple of his letters and whatever else is in the letters might be important. But I got documents, one document I got I can tell you about and maybe I mentioned that to you awhile ago. But it's all the cities that I went through from start to finish. Went through France and Belgium and part of Holland. They called it New Finland or any how and then all through Germany all the way through. Went in across the Rhine River and went through the Ruhr Pocket and went south. Went and joined Patton down the south and went into Austria. I got all of those little towns listed and then there is also a diary. I don't know if I put that in there, but if you find it that would be the only one that would have that. The same way with all the little towns. Whoever else would do that?
So you kept a diary the whole time?
Yeah, well I mean it's only a short one. Some things like the -- oh certain things. That one always comes to my mind is the kids in Germany. They didn't have anything to eat. And the people, nothing to eat. They would come out to us with their -- anything they could hold. A pan, or bowl, or something and ask us for some left overs. Well sometimes we did but we were not supposed to, you know. Americans are softies and then there is the kids. And they will dig down into these big garbage barrels that we throw our left over food and they'll dig in. Like a pork chop or a bean or so and put it on their plate and take it back home. No, that's something that really shouldn't be you know. As -- is that part of the question? Did I go off on another finger? I like your smile, you're still with me.
I am.
Go ahead.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Well I don't know of anything right now.
Okay.
I just have a lot of stories and thought maybe some time if somebody is going to write a book but see, since I didn't go to all of the conventions or even half of them. Probably only 10 out of the 60 some conventions that we had and there is just no way to go into all of them. I didn't have the money or the time. And any how that was where the book writers started. The book writers, they would be there and I didn't know that they were going to write books, any of them. The last one was this guy in California and I think I got his book there and we talked a bit back and forth. But you know I don't know what was -- what was -- that finger again. What was the question? I got so many. While we were still here I can still tell people but I really didn't know that there was going to be book writers in those reunions. I would have gone more often. I could have shown them. I took the pictures. I still have them. I even made them bigger and sent them to my grandkids or whoever is interested.
Yeah?
And so I try to pass things around as much as I can. But I did have a little diary. Told different things like that food bit and I can't think of the rest of it. Its just where we been and you can't really do that, you can't put it in letters. You can't even carry it on you but I did.
Why?
Because if the Germans catch you they'll just kill you and you were not supposed to have anything from them. Even their letters or whatever or what do you call it? Diary. I just did the best I could while I was there and took up my time in doing that. It's like a past time to -- once in a while we would stop you know and we'd eat something together. We had these little cans of beans you know and put it in the fire or we'd make food in all kind of ways and it's rarity to have food. So if you see me in any of my pictures you'll see the pocket like this. That's like K rations or C rations. Not C. That's the cans. But there is other kind of rations like a candy bar. The whole bar is -- it's all chocolate. Real thick and about so big and that's got the 4 vitamins of a Thanksgiving meal all in one chocolate bar. So you'll see one of them in there and maybe something else over there. So that's how we lived. We -- you see what happens when the kitchen came up one time. You got up there in the middle of the field. Thought it was safe and first shell comes in and they had it. And another time I was really hungry. If the kitchen came up and he stopped in the woods, I was so hungry I ate. I kept going back until they counted 14 pancakes I ate that morning. I wasn't hungry for a while after that. And then they have like the jelly like in a bottle or in whatever, and it comes out like juice. So what would that be? Just like a melted jelly or any how it was something you just pour on, I guess that's the best way.
Okay.
And for eggs we had what you call black out eggs and that is powder. They make eggs into powder some how and then they can put the water back into it and fry it that way. It's like an egg. Same thing with milk. They make milk into powder and then that way we have powder milk which you put water back in and then it's milk again so.
Right.
So that always works. So we didn't really starve. We have had plenty to eat. But you know they said at even sometime half of our casualties, maybe I'm stretching it, half of our casualties were trench foot. You walk through the water and there is no way to dry your feet. You might have your shoes and socks on for days before you can ever get socks from somebody and get -- be able to change them, any how, because nobody is going to come up where we are just to give you a pair of socks.
Yeah. You talked about the amount of snow that you were in in the Battle of the Bulge. Did you have any frost bite. Trench foot is similar?
Yeah that was the big thing. Trench foot and frost bite, the big things. And guys would get -- you're living in holes. You can't, you know, do your day's duty whatever you are doing, and then you can't walk in a house, brother, mother, father, nice and warm. We have -- didn't have any beds. You dig a hole like 5 feet deep and just wide enough or big enough to get in and that's where you stayed. It doesn't matter how much snow or ice or water that comes down. But in our outfit we managed to live in a house once in a while. We did have a house but one time the shell came in and came right through. Great big shell came right through the outside wall. It must have gone between the 2 by's, the rafters, went all the way through. So it didn't explode. Went all the way through and it hit the wall over here and buried itself right over here. It didn't go off. I guess it didn't have enough push to set it off. But one time they said that Germany had their worst winter in 100 years or so. We had four feet of snow at one time and we had to get out of the woods and go into this opening where we could see if a tank was coming down through the, along side the tree. So when we got our shovels and got the four feet of snow out of the way, then got the picks and bang. That's the way it would do. It would just hit like solid cement. It's frozen. We couldn't go down through anymore than just four feet, frozen solid. So we had to give it up and we took the gun back into the woods again. But that was the worst winter. It was the coldest winter. Lot of guys just got cold and the book tells most of that. We were okay, our 10 men. We were usually okay because we had our truck. We could either sleep in it or but not always because that is the target. So we'd sleep in the houses where -- and there was a barn. We slept in a barn one time on a hay stack. That is the softest and warmest place. Even more than the bed. Yeah, just right there. But you know this one time they blew our barn out from under, they burnt it so we couldn't sleep. So we stayed in the house. I don't know why they didn't hit the house. They hit the barn. Oh yeah because there was two Germans were still there. The man and woman. So, okay then. They knew when that thing caught on fire they knew the house was going to go, the whole thing, barn and so what did they do? They went upstairs and here they are with those great big, Germans make it heavy, you know, their furniture. So they were just dragging it down the steps, banging and banging and banging and you know they couldn't have gone upstairs that way because they're too heavy. But then they sit them out in the yard so the Germans didn't shoot any more. I got a lot of stories.
Have you ever been thanked for your service?
By what?
Have you ever been thanked for your service?
Are you kidding? Just in the last 3 or 4 years and it's getting more. The people will come up to me and say thank you for your service if they know that I was in it for some reason. And they'll say thank you for your service. When I went on that honor flight in October 12 in 2010 one of the first ones when we got out of the bus to go into Washington airport, we got, went up the ramp and as soon as we got inside, there must have been 100 in there. They already knew we was coming. They said thank you for your service and all of that kind of stuff. That was really great. But on the outside now in Washington before we went into the airport, we come out of the bus and we stopped there in a park and here some kids, little kids, from big ones and they all come up and wanted to shake my hand and said thank you for your service, and isn't that nice?
Yes, sir.
So yeah, I get a lot of that now and it feels good. Felt better than coming back when that ship was out there and that's all they did for me. When I got in my town of Quincy, it was dark and nobody knew that I was even coming.
Yeah, well I'd like to thank you for your service and thank you for your time today?
Well thank you for what you're doing there and I hope that it helps somebody. That's always my thinking you know that I can help somebody somewhere along the way and that's why I do all of this. Just like my pictures and things. I got thousand of pictures. I'm the one that does it in the family. I blow them up and give it to my kids. Makes me feel good just to give them a picture you know and just to blow it up bigger.
Okay.