and it was set up pretty nice. The hut also had a little folding bed in it and I used that to sleep on. Certainly felt good to sleep in a bed once again. Our bedrolls came up and we had a chance to change clothes. Here some of us got to take a sponge bath and that really hit the spot. We also had a mail call, and at that time I got 50 letters. Believe we were here two days and then the officers were assembled to go out on a reconnaissance of an area we were going to occupy. We loaded on a German truck that had been captured and took off. The area we were to move into was at the foot of hill 131. Later we went back to the area and picked up the troops and marched to the area. We moved in under the cover of darkness and didn't have any trouble at all.
The next morning the Jerries started firing at us with 888s and they surely can harrass a bunch of troops. There was a stream lying about 200 yards in front of our position. Every time the men would try to get down that way the Germans would open up with machine guns. About every night around 10 o'clock the Germans would open up and fire a lot of tracer ammunition. Why, I don't know. It was rumored that General Ridgeway was coming around to inspect the troops and we got word to clean up the area and get ready for him. We waited and waited and he never did get that far. Three men from the 3rd Platoon were hit by an 88 when policing the area. One morning they got the wise idea 'that we would have a mock attack. That is, that all the machine guns and mortar would fire. 'The idea was to feel out just how many Germans were in the area. We opened up and the' Jerries threw back about twice as much as we threw at them. This is where Lt. Grabbe was hit in the lungs by shrapnel from an 88. As yet we have heard nothing from him and this is July 23rd. He was one of my best pals and we had been together in the same company ever since the BN, was formed.
The next day we got word we were to be relieved by G Go. who were in reserve. I went back to reconnoiter the area which they occupied. They had a nice area and the men had dug foxholes. Up to now we had always dug slit trenches. Especially in the C.P. were real deep fox-holes so we were pretty sure we ‘d be much safer. Of course G Go. didn't like the idea of coming up on the front line and finding nothing but slit trenches, They had to dig fox-holes all over again. We received a little artillery firs but it wasn't bad. The C.P. was in an orchard and there were a few cows there also. We used to get up early and go milk the cows before the lady came out to milk. Then when she came out she couldn't get much milk. Boy! If looks could have killed we would all have been dead. I felt sorry for her so had the
men wait and buy the milk. We gave her 5 francs a canteen cup which |s the same as 10 cents. We got to be pretty good friends of the lady and we gave her a lot of food we couldn't use,
Was watching an artillery liaison plane flying around one day and all of a sudden I heard an explosion and the plane came crashing to the ground. It had been hit by one of our mortar shells and killed both occupants. We kidded Lt. Beaney
[probably Beattie] after that about knocking down our own planes. While we were up on the front the planes used to come over and bomb or strafe hill 131. At times they came so close to our position the ground would shake from the concussion of the bombs.
We were in this area about two days and word came around that we were going to move out again. We (the officers) loaded up in trucks and took off on another reconnaissance. This area wasn't so bad and hadn't received much artillery fire. Went back after the 'troops and. moved in. It was in this area that I took sick and had such a sore throat. Was sick for about 3 days and running a little temperature. We were getting quite a lot of rain and that made it bad also. After being in this area a short while we moved across country up in the hills around 131. We had just got up there and it started raining again. At that time we were called to a meeting by the company commander. We just got started with the meeting and the Germans started throwing artillery fire in on us. It was large shells and you could really hear them coming. I didn't even have a slit trench and when I got back I had to dig like hell. We were to move out the next day. The next morning we moved out in an attack on La Daudirte. We moved from hedge row to hedge row and the Jerries were throwing plenty of lead. This was on the 3rd of July and I saw the first of my own men get killed. Polansky
[Polasky], one of the best soldiers I've ever had and a boy that had been with us since the Platoon was organized. He was shot through the side and it hit his heart.
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