WINTER, 1989 - 70th Infantry Division Association

On February 23, before Saarbrucken,my squad was down to only eight men, allof them replacements. My BAR man wasDavid Storey of Littlefield, Texas, whohad been with me only two weeks. When Iwas wounded in both legs and evacuated,he took over as squad leader.About three months later, I was in themilitary hospital in Tacoma, Washington.I received a Jetter from Mr. and Mrs.Storey asking if I knew how David hadbeen killed. I had no knowledge of hisdeath. I wrote to our company clerk whotold me David and his squad were left as arear guard while the rest of the companywithdrew. The day after I was hit, thesquad was overrun and everyone waskilled. The Jetter to his parents was thehardest I ever had to write; we correspondedfor 20 years until they bothdied.At Halloran General Hospital in NewYork, where we were first taken, we weretold we could have anything we wanted.Every man in the group asked for the samething: A glass of milk. They gave each ofus a quart and I have never tasted anythingas good.James M. LarsonA/275The war Story I WantWhen the forward observer for our batterywas killed, a lieutenant came wherewe were guarding some 105s and asked fora volunteer to take over. No one volunteered,so he volunteered me. I carried thatdamn radio on my back until the warended. I didn't know anything about aradio, I was a machine gunner. I think Iought to get the Infantryman's Badge; Ispent all my time with the foot soldiers.One day I got a scratch-wound on myleg when the Germans opened up witheverything they had. I didn't report it,thinking it just a scratch. I was so scared Ididn't even bleed much. Thirty years laterI started having trouble with my knees. Ispent some time in the VA hospital in SanAntonio and there I found out that thatscratch left a piece of metal in my leg.They can't remove it because it's rightagainst the bone.Ciprian TrejoB/884I was one of 12 men taken prisoner onthe morning of Feb. 22, '45 on the SiegfriedLine at Saarbrucken. Our orders wereto attack several large buildings in thatarea."On the evening before, we were discoveredinfiltrating the enemy lines andwere fired upon by machine guns andautomatic weapons. We were ordered todig in. During the night the enemy broughtin tanks and a large number of infantry. Allhell broke loose at dawn! A short whilelater it was all over. I was held captive atStalag 5A about three weeks and thenmarched for about 70 days all told.Charles LochaA/275We were in reserve * behind the frontlines near Wingen. I was sleeping peacefullyon a hillside when I was awakened byheavy automatic firing. As I zipped openmy sleeping bag, I saw tracer bulletszooming over my head. How could theGermans attack us, I wondered, when wewere in Corps reserve, supposedly far behindthe front lines?That was my baptism of fire nearWingen, France. After the battle, with ourcompany down to half strength, we wereassigned to clear the area of scattered,starving Germans who were hiding in thewoods. Our orders were to take Hill1538.When we climbed to the top we wereheavily fired upon. We hit the dirt. Thenzeroed-in 88s hit us. Only 26 able-bodiedmen came off that hill.It was much happier on V-E Day. Wehad two treats - the end of the war andfive gallons of ice cream.Earlier in the day two of our boys werewalking down the street in Wetzlar. AGerman proprietor of a shop asked if theywere with Company C. When they saidyes, he gave them the ice cream. Wehoped the guys in Charlie Company neverfound out we had eaten their delicacy.John HallerA/276*Ammo bearers and other Gis who had totote heavy equipment carried the muchlightercarbines and 45 pistols. Not JamesBates, D/274; he had to lug an M-1 riflealong with ammo for a heavy .30 machinegun. But the Army had mercy on him; it70th Division Assn TRAILBLAZER