The Fighting 69th Infantry Division Association, Inc. Vol. 50 No. 2 ...

UNEXPECTED BRIDGE
FROM THE PAST 0945-1995)
(Continued from Page 45)
The plaque is on the wall in our family room and I
still have the card, tattered from much handling. I am
sure he sent plaques to several others, but my receiving
such a beautiful memento of the 69th Division from
Colonel Buie made me feel we had indeed become
friends, as well as comrades in arms.
In 1949 or 1950, I had a brief encounter with Buie
when he was in Atlanta commanding The National
Guard Armory. Mterwards, I never saw his name in
the newspaper, our bulletin, or met any 69'er who had.
The Broomhandle Mauser and plaque were reminders
of my service in the 69th Division, Buie, and my most
prized souvenirs of Germany and the Army. This
ended when the Mauser was stolen in a burglary of
our home, along with valuable heirloom jewelry
belonging to my wife Anne.
In April, 1995, some 45 years after my last seeing
Buie, John Barnett, who was a Major in the 880th
Field Artillery, sent me a short note. John was the
liaison officer from the artillery to the 272nd Infantry.
He lives in the Atlanta area, and we had been in touch,
off and on, through the years. Enclosed was a copy of
a clipping from The Atlanta Constitution of March 30,
1995. It was a letter in the "In My Opinion" editorial
feature, signed by Sallie Cynthia Manet, a retired
teacher and poet who had lived in Thomasville,
Georgia for 10 years.
Ms. Manet's letter was headed "Georgian's Who
Helped Win The War." She wrote "Fifty years ago, my
father, Nashville, Georgia native Walter Daniel Buie,
was an officer with the 69th Infantry Division in
Europe." She continued about his service and the fact
his brother, Paul Douglas Buie, was a Captain in the
Pacific US Navy, then an Admiral in the Pentagon.
John Barnett wrote Ms. Manet, without a street
address, and the letter suprisingly was delivered to
her. She replied and John sent me a copy of her letter
with the clipping. I wrote a very long letter to Ms.
Manet telling of the bad and good service experience I
had with her father. I related many things including
our acquiring the Broomhandle Mausers, and how
much I valued mine, only to lose it. I recounted the
surrender of Leipzig, our trip to Torgau and other incidents.
My letter was April 27, 1995. Since then we
have exchanged many letters, tapes, and gotten to
know each other quite well. I also became acquainted
with Buie from his daughter's viewpoint. I continually
begged her not to be offended by my describing our
clashes, his extreme military manner, his "by the book
ways," although I did not use that phrase. She
responded at various times: "He was West Point and
more military than you know"; "They wouldn't have
gotten away with that with my father," referring to a
dispute with a painter in which she came out second;
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"honest and of strong character but too straightlaced";
"He was quite proud and did not play politics
that the higher senior officers do." She also had written
that he had decided on a military career at five years
old after listening to his grandfather's experiences as
a Major in The War Between The States (Civil War).
He attended Georgia Military Academy at 16, University
of Georgia at 17, and entered West Point at 18. I
also learned, Walter Daniel Buie was born February
5, 1900 and died June 21, 1986. These responses made
me happy to know I had not offended her because she
knew her father was military through and through.
I had sent Ms. Manet copies of several published
articles on my metal detecting hobby. One of these was
about finding a very rare Confederate buckle and two
US (Yankee) buckles. She wrote that she had discussed
my metal detecting, and finds of War Between
The States (Civil War) relics, with the President and
Vice President of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy in Thomasville. They wanted me to come
with my finds and speak at a meeting. Ms. Manet
invited my wife and me to stay at her home. When I
tried to arrange a trip, it could not be worked out.
In a letter from Cynthia, as I now address her,
dated October 8, 1996, she wrote about a sick "kitty"
she had been caring for. The kitty was her father's,
and came to the house, "Sent by God," as her father
said, when his wife, her mother, was dying of cancer
"so he would not be alone." Several years later when
her father was in the hospital dying, all he could think
about, Cynthia wrote me, was whether his kitty would
be all right. Cynthia promised to take care of the kitty
and did so until September 30, when just over 16 years
old, the kitty died. Reading this gave me a picture of
Walter D. Buie I would never have imagined.
In this same letter, Cynthia offered to give me her
father's Broomhandle Mauser, writing, "My father
would want you to have it. I'm sure only you would
appreciate it." She invited Anne and me to come to
Thomasville to pick it up and we could stay in her
home. She didn't think that it was safe to send a gun
through the mail. If we couldn't come, perhaps she
could find someone going to Atlanta to take it to me.
I could not believe she would do this. I was overwhelmed
with joy at the thought of having another
Mauser. I replied thanking her for this wonderful gesture
but told her to put it on hold for a while. Finally,
I wrote that Anne and I were planning a trip to
Cordele, Anne's home town, for a personal matter, but
had to return to Atlanta the same day. We could come
to Thomasville for a couple of hours.
After an exchange of letters, we decided on
December 16, 1996 as a satisfactory date. We found
Cynthia's street but passed her house. Turning
around, we saw her at the yard edge waving excitedly.
Anne was driving, and almost before the car came to a
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