Download - 70th Infantry Division Association

and the bullets were ricocheting all around the railroad car. We proceeded to get out of there, because we
figured sooner or later one was going to get underneath that car with his shots.
Now it was Lt. Cheezem's turn to get across. He was an Indian, a little bit on the stocky side. As he
started to run across, the sniper shot him right across his back. He went down on the track. He got what
we thought was a "Million Dollar Wound". We thought he got shot in the cheeks of his butt. The bullet
entered crosswise not penetrating his body but penetrating the fatty part of his cheeks. We found out later
that this was not true. Now the whole thing was messed up, because that sniper really had us pinned
down. We couldn't get any more people across and we couldn't move forward. They called for a tank. It
came up the street and eventually spotted the sniper in a church steeple. The tank went up and wound up
its gun right at the steeple. The shot blew the steeple apart and killed the sniper. As soon as that was
over with, the tank turned and came down our way. The tank crew proceeded to get Cheezem off the
tracks and placed him on the back of the tank. They strapped him there to take him to the battalion aid
station. He was scared and was moaning, "Darn Brubaker, if he had crossed the tracks the first thing in
the morning, we wouldn't have this mess. I'll court martial that man." He was really perturbed. Of course,
he left and we continued to fight the war without him. I ran into Cheezem later on during my service in the
Army and that's another story.
On March 7th when Lt. Cheezem was wounded, there were three enlisted men seriously wounded and
five lightly wounded. Our C.O. was killed in action. We made it across the tracks and took the high ground
and stayed there. That night was the first night they brought up the searchlights; they lit up the front.
When the Germans would open fire with an artillery piece, the searchlight would cross their beam where
they thought the German gun was and then, of course, our artillery would lay in our barrage. It was
supposed to isolate that gun. I don't know how many lights we had but it would be like daylight. The report
says the Germans had rockets that were fired a few times and that could be why the searchlights were
brought in.
On March 8th the company held the same position; we were under continuous artillery and mortar fire.
We had ten men wounded in action, two killed in action and we were having a tough time holding ground.
The Germans ran a tank up and if you have ever heard an enemy tank crawl at night, it is something. You
can hear the cogs engaging in the tracks of the tank; they have a diesel engine. There is an 88 mm on
them and a flash hider on the muzzle. When they fire at night with this flash hider, you don't see the flash.
Well, they came right up to the edge of the woods where we were lying and they raked us with machine
gun bullets. They also fired this 88 mm gun point-blank and it's hitting trees and giving us fits. We had our
bazooka and crawled over and got a round off from that into the tank. It hit the tank, but it didn't do any
damage. It scared the hell out of the Germans, because they withdrew immediately. They figured
if we were that close, we would shoot another round. They withdrew, but we took a lot of casualties.
The same day I got my second crack at a Purple Heart. I was lying behind a tree and the Germans were
shelling us with artillery, getting tree bursts up in the air. When the shells went off, they threw shrapnel. I
heard the shrapnel singing through the air; it went up and then down, hitting me on the right cheek of my
butt. I was lying beside a fellow and I said, "I'm hit--take a look and see what's going on." He took his
glove and pulled this piece of shrapnel out of me. He threw it on the snow and it was so hot it sizzled. I
had on a pair of windbreakers, O.D. pants, a pair of long johns, boxer shorts and a field jacket. And then,
hanging over my belt was a raincoat, so I was not severely wounded.
The night of 7 March was limited to patrol activity by all Battalions. We were trying to search out weak
spots in the enemy defense or unoccupied portions of his line.
Throughout the day of the 8th we improved our positions. The enemy activity was confined to the use of
artillery and mortars. Our units did, however, continue to receive small arms fire from the enemy positions
along the railroad embankment.
The weather turned colder. Some snow fell during the morning hours, but it turned to rain and continued
intermittently during the day. The roads continued to be muddy.