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Show Meanwhile I could hear all this traffic, all these motors going, and what I was hearing was the Germans. I thought, I wish those guys would get back. I want to get the Hell out of here. Finally my buddies came back with the body, and he was dressed in an American uniform, but under it was a German uniform. probably just put the uniform on to stay warm. And we thought he had We took the body to a Colonel ‘THE SOUTHERN UTAH WILDERNESS ALLIANCE Dempsey of Division, and he looked at him and said: ‘Hmm. Hmm. He's no spy; he was just staying warm.’ That was that. They risked four lives to bring back a dead guy, and then that was that. The Bulge eee The next morning the Germans came across a canal, invaded the place, we got pushed back, and all those motors I’d heard during the night were the attack force. It was also this attack that caused me to lose my jeep and all my possessions. I’d decided to clean it out and everything was out of it when the Germans attacked. I had souvenirs and pictures and I lost all of it. But I forgot all about that at the time. Yes, Robin... We have our Guys were getting hurt--Gibson the sergeant with whom | went to recover the body, got shot in the face and lost his eye. But we held on, only a couple of companies really, and | later we got the Presidential Citation. Golly Batman! work Gul out Of COURSE we dol! for us! THIS IS UTAH! After that, they told us we were going to have some time to rest, to clean out the jeeps, take showers and all that. That night at 7 p.m. we found out we were moving The Germans opened fire and we hit the ground. The new medic said to me: "I wish I was experienced in combat like you..." . I just looked at himI was scared. _ OF SUWA WWW.SUWA.ORG out; we were going south to set up a secondary line of defense. We drove all night in a convoy, lights off, and arrived at this town in Belgium. The Germans had made a minor breakthrough. : j My captain told me to go out and find C Troop and take this new guy with me. We The next issue of The Canyon Country Zephyr will be on newsstands EITHER March 17 or March 24 went way out this road and we came to a T in the road. One way said ‘Malmedy,’ the other ‘St. Vith.’ Which way? We turned left and went a couple of miles and we didn’t _see anything. 1 said, ‘I don’t like this, something’s screwy,’ and decided to turn around. Finally, I found a guy and he gave us directions, but we were way out there, and I figure the Germans must have been watching me run up and down that road, with the Red Cross on the vehicle. We were miles ahead of the front. The next day things were a mess. There were vehicles going every which way. The Germans opened fire and we all hit the ground. The new medic said to me: ‘I wish 62747 I was experienced in combat like you.’ Montrose, I just looked at him--I was scared. Holding St. Vith Finally, we got directions to C Troop which was supposed to be at St. Vith. Of course, we had.no idea where that was. BECOME A MEMBER 1471 SOUTH 1100 EAST, SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84105 Spring CO 970.249.5536 Creek Rd. <7 81401 7 : = Co yellowcat®sninet Se But it turned out, it was right in the middle of the German offensive that we later called The Bulge. St. Vith had a highway and was a major railroad center. The Germans thought if they could take St. Vith, they could drive all the way to the ocean and split the Allied Armies in two. I got back to C Troop at St. Vith; we were on one side of the town and the Germans on the other. All day long, we'd attack them and then they’d attack us. The next day it was quiet. I wandered out and found an abandoned American vehicle with all these uniform clothes. The fit me perfectly. Anyway when the Germans attacked, stay P/U BLISHING I think she likes me. Lu ) She thinks yourea freak. : Toll-free phone orders: 1-877-ycatpub Sate they had concentrated on the 106" Division. This was full of never-tested soldiers and the Germans must have known that. The 106" just broke and ran, and abandoned all Sa i: that stuff. We even found frozen steak and french fries. I remember I'd cooked all this stuff up and was ready to eat, when they yelled ‘Gotta move out! Germans are breaking through!’ So I took the stuff with me. I figured, damn if they catch me, I’m at least going to have a full stomach. : : We held St. Vith for six days. For most of the time, I thought this was it--that I'd either be killed or captured. Things were really getting bad, we'd been cut off, and we had this captain that we called G.I. Johnson, because he was so much by the book. Anyway, he was on the radio saying, ‘We'll fight to the last man!’ and I felt like hitting him over the head with something. I figured, why doesn’t he just stay here himself and fight and get the rest of the guys outta here. But we finally pushed the Germans back again, so we didn’t have to fight to the last man. We started moving through St. Vith, and they had these checkpoints, looking for Germans disguised as Americans. They‘d ask us questions like, who won the World Series, to test us. There was a doctor with us, an American but of German descent, and WEST \ the LX and S Ed and his wife Claire moved to Moab in the early.1970s; he was a seasonal ranger at Arches National Park for almost ten years and one of the original “Arch Hunters." Ed died in 1992" SSY BOOKS on NATUREZ (SS SY After The was over and I was back home by September 1945.” SAN > SS PeSQ SESS Wes SSSGassSS SS SRN SN SS SS SSS SS SSNSISS 8 SS SNR SSSSNs RQ Because we had defended St. Vith, we got another Presidential Citation. Bulge, the Germans were defeated... they were worn out. Within four months the war NYS he was scared of his own shadow. Anyway, here’s this guy being questioned, and he speaks with a German accent. Well they pulled him off the truck and said, “You're coming with us.’ The guy must have died a thousand deaths. | |