Preface

The following narrative of my time spent with the 106th Infantry Division is made possible, in part, as far as dates and times are concerned, by reference to a short history of the 589th Field Artillery Battalion written not long after the end of the war by Francis H. Aspinwall, who was assigned to Headquarters Battery, and either kept a diary and/or had access to records prior to writing his booklet titled "History of the 589th Field Artillery Battalion".

I also used part of Frank's text as a reference where other units and events are mentioned that I had no knowledge of at the time. We all were cautioned to not keep a journal of our activities, lest it slip into enemy hands and give them intelligence about our unit. A totally unnecessary precaution in my opinion since on our arrival at the front we were welcomed to the war by a radio broadcast direct from Berlin. The Germans probably knew as much about us as they needed to, long before we got there. I often wished that I had disregarded this order and written a daily account of my activities. I trust that Frank will not begrudge me the use of his historic material for reference.

Facts about events at the time that we became involved in the hostilities in Europe were poorly understood at best. Nobody could give an accurate report of what had happened immediately after it happened, so how can anyone do it 50 years later. Historians put together a pretty good story sometimes but one has to consider, were they there, and did it really happen that way? I do know that the version of the battle at Baraque de Fraiture given by Horst Gresiak, the German in command of a company of tanks and infantry that made the final assault, is pure BULL when it comes to his description of what he was up against. If we had what he SAID we had in the way of armor, he would still be trying to take the crossroads. Period. There's an old Chinese saying, that, if you tell a lie and stick with it, it has the truth beat by a mile. Horst got a medal. He must have written his own commendation. I was there.

I, along with a whole train load of 19 year old draftees, joined the 106th Infantry Division at Ft. Jackson, S.C. in March 1943. I was assigned to "A" Battery, 589th Field Artillery Battalion and placed in the gun section under Sgt. Johnnie B. Jordan. After New Year's holiday, the division then moved from the comparatively comfortable Fort Jackson to the Tennessee Maneuver Area for the period of January, February and March 1944 where we became accustomed to living in the "field".

2 April 1944

The division moved again, from Tennessee to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, near Indianapolis.

May and June 1944

During May and June a large number of 106th Division men were transferred to overseas units and were replaced by men from Replacement Centers at Fort. Bragg North Carolina and Camp Roberts, California.

A very surprising thing happened just before leaving Camp Atterbury. Lt. Kiendl was transferred to B Battery and we in turn got as our Battery Exec Lt. Eric Wood. To this day even Lt. Kiendl don't know the reason for the change. Lt. Wood was more of the Cassibry type, except he was from a military family and very professional. His father was a General on General Eisenhower's staff. At the same time, our Battery C.O., Captain Elliot Goldstein was promoted and transferred to Battalion Headquarters. We then got Captain Aloysius Menke.

The division was alerted for movement overseas in September 1944 and moved by train to Camp Miles Standish, Mass. on 9 and 10 October. Camp Miles Standish, Mass. was a staging area for the troops awaiting shipment overseas from the Port of Boston. All of our equipment had been packed up and was on it's way overseas.

November 1944

November 10 the Battalion moved to the Port of Embarkation at Boston on special trains from Camp Miles Standish. 11, 12, 13, 14 & 15 November - The North Atlantic was violently rough and few of us (including me) escaped becoming sea-sick.

On the afternoon of 16 November another transport was sighted as we were nearing the British Isles. A destroyer escort also appeared to guide the ships through the mine fields at the entrance to The St. George Channel and protect against possible sub attack.

17 November 1944

November 17th found us traveling St. George's Channel with the mountainous green coast of Wales on the right and in the far distant left, the east coast of Ireland. In the afternoon our ship proceeded up the English Channel for Liverpool. When we were approaching the harbor at Liverpool the visibility was down to zero. We docked at about 1600 hours.

The 589th was the first outfit off the ship at about 2000 hours. The troops came off the ship marching in a file of two's, with full packs and toting a duffel bag on the shoulder, from the dock area to the rail station, maybe three blocks away, and the scene was like something straight out of a Sherlock Holmes movie. When the train was fully loaded, the doors slammed and with a shrill whistle, we were off to Glouster. The battalion arrived at Glouster at 0400 on the morning of the 18th and, after departing the train, was met by the "advance party" which had left Atterbury about three weeks ahead of us. We were led to the camp situated at the edge of the town. It was small, and had previously housed the British Gloustershire Regiment. The battalion was housed in individual barracks of about 20 men each. One large mess hall was shared by the 589th and 590th F. A. Bn's.

The period from the 18th to 30th November was spent in re-equipping the division with all of the necessary implements of war. Vehicles, weapons, ammunition, rations, clothing and what ever else was necessary was drawn from depots all over the area. Some limited training was carried on and a few "short time" passes were issued, (and some guys went "over the fence"), but there was really no place for us to go except into Glouster, a "one movie town."

The town was blacked out and all businesses were closed by 2000. We began to appreciate the difficulties of living in a war zone. On 1 December we loaded our equipment onto the vehicles and departed the Gloustershire Barracks in convoy about 0530. On 3 December, the LST left Portland Harbor and crossing the English Channel, arrived at the mouth of the Seine River in the evening.

5 - 6 December 1944

5th December, we arrived in the area of Rouen and waited our turn to beach the ship and unload. On the 6th, Headquarters, A and B Batteries waited in the bivouac area all day while the remainder of the battalion (on another LST) unloaded at Rouen and joined us in the afternoon.

We broke camp early on the morning of 7 December and proceeded to a bivouac area near Rosee, Belgium, arriving late in the evening. The route was via Amiens, Cambrai and Maubeuge.

8 December 1944

The 8th of December we marched (drove) from Rosee to St. Vith, Belgium arriving early in the afternoon. Parked on a hill, just east of town, we ate lunch and soon got orders to move into a bivouac area near Wallerode. It seemed to be very peaceful with only the occasional sound of an artillery round exploding somewhere way off in the distance. It was very cold and the snow was quite deep.

Our initial task was to relieve the 2nd Infantry Division on the Schnee Eifel, a "quiet" front about 27 miles wide. Pretty thin for one division, but then, nothing was happening here, (they told us). It was to be easy to trade places with the 2nd Division units.

9 December 1944

The battalion moved into the line east of the town of Laudesfeld and about one and a half miles west of Auw, Germany. The 589th F.A.Bn took over the positions of the 15th F.A.Bn. The Battalion command post was set up in the kitchen of a substantial German house. The firing batteries took over the dugouts and log huts vacated by the men of the 15th F.A.Bn. The howitzers were put into the same emplacements dug by the 15th and in some cases they were simply swapped since it was easier than trying to extricate the pieces already in place.

"A" battery was placed on the south side of the road to Auw and "B" and "C" batteries on the north side. There was much snow here and the drivers were having big problems once they left the hard road. Service Battery was sent into a position a few miles to the rear, about four miles south of Shoenberg, Belgium.

The veterans of the 2nd Division assured their sucessors that they were in a very quiet sector where nothing ever happened. They hated to leave and when the 589th men saw what relatively comfortable quarters the 2nd's men were leaving they could understand that. We had been prepared to pitch puptents. Things were looking up.

By 1630 registration was completed by "A" Battery and the battalion fired harassing fire that night. We were feeling rather secure. After all, our infantry was between us and the Germans. It sounded good to me. Because of all the work that the men of the 15th F.A.Bn had done and placing our gun in the exact spot that they had used, we had very little work to do. We used the same foxholes that they had dug. They had also built a small log cabin. This we used to get warm and sleep in. In a position like this, every member of the gun crew had to stand guard duty at night. This included me and the Sgt. I will tell you, that first night was very nerve racking. Not knowing very much about the situation or from what direction the enemy might come from, every sound was a cause for concern. Two hours felt like eight. The severe cold made it even more difficult.

10 - 15 December 1944

The 422nd Infantry Regiment, which the 589th F.A.Bn was supporting, was occupying the first belt of pillboxes of the Siegfried Line which had been cracked at this point the previous fall. The Germans were well dug in opposite the 422nd in pillboxes and held other defensive positions in the area of the Schnee-Eifel, a wooded ridge about 3 miles to the front. The enemy communications center for this area was Prum which was at maximum range (12,000 yards) for "A" Battery.

During this period there was little activity other than a few patrol actions. Few observed missions were fired due to the poor visibility. The battalion did, however, have a substantial unobserved, harassing program which was fired every night. The forward observer adjusted by sound, using high angle fire, which made it necessary to re-dig the gun pits. Alternate positions were selected and surveyed by the survey officer and his party. There were some reports of enemy activity but nothing, apparently, more than routine truck and troop movements. Headquarters Battery crews reported being fired upon on the 15th and that night an enemy recon plane circled the area for an hour or more. Numerous flares were seen to the flanks of the battalion and an enemy patrol was reported to be in the area.

At night, watching across the snow covered fields, one's eyes tend to play tricks. On more than one occasion an outpost guard would fire away at some movement out in front of him, only to find out in the morning that he had "killed" a tree stump or boulder. Early in the morning, before dawn, at 0605, on 16 December, our position came under a barrage of German artillery fire. I was at breakfast in a quite nice log cabin. I had a good plate of pancakes and strawberry jam.

 The shells were hitting the trees. Shell fragments and tree limbs were falling all over the place. The official thing to do under these conditions was to get back to the gun. It wasn't easy, trying not to get hit with anything that would wound or kill you. Little did I know at that time, that breakfast would be the last standard meal that I would have to eat for four and one half months. During the shelling, many rounds exploded real close and showered dirt and tree limbs about, but also there were quite a few duds that only smacked into the ground. Those were the "good" ones as far as I was concerned. After about 30 minutes the shelling ceased. I did not have the foggiest notion what was going on except that we were under attack and things were becoming serious. (Frank Aspinwall reported in his book that from an inspection of the fragments, somebody determined that the enemy was using 88mm, 105mm and 155mm guns.

I can't imagine that anyone was actually concerned about that bit of trivia at the time.) Wire crews were sent out to repair the phone lines that were out. At about 0800 the battery positions again came under heavy artillery fire, and again no casualties were reported. At about 0900 communication was again established with Division and with the 422nd Infantry Regiment. However the lines were soon shot out again by the enemy artillery and after 1300, the battalion was, for all practical purposes, isolated from it's supported regiment. The Battalion Communications Officer and his assistant Comm. Officer went forward to the Infantry Regimental C.P. after 0900 and while returning were fired upon and the Commding Officer was wounded. He was brought in and later evacuated.

At 0915 a report was received of enemy patrols in Auw. An observer from "C" Battery went forward to a position commanding a view of Auw and from there directed effective fire on the town until he was pinned down by small arms fire. "C" Battery was unable to bring guns to bear on Auw due to a high mask of trees between it and the target. At about 1030 a patrol was sent out, as additional security, to man defensive positions along the road from Auw.

Since it was now apparent that the enemy held Auw, an attack from that direction was expected. This patrol soon reported small arms fire from enemy infantry moving out of Auw. An O.P. was set up in the attic of a building being used as quarters for part of Headquarters Battery. At about 1500 three enemy tanks were seen coming along the road from Auw toward the battalion command post. At about 400 yards range the lead tank opened fire on one of our outposts damaging three machine guns. Small arms fire was directed against the tank, but it just "buttoned up" and kept coming. The lead tank now came into view of "A" Battery.

With the way that the battery was situated, my gun crew was the only one that could get a shot at it. The tank was riding on the road from Auw to Bleialf. We were located about 50 yards lower than he was and on his left. Before we could get a shot at him there were four GI's running down the hill towards our position. I had to get in front of our gun and signal them to lay down which they did. I now tracked the tank and missed with my first shot. Immediately reloading and firing, I hit it this time. I fired and hit him again and it burst into flames. The enemy crew bailed out and was killed by small arms fire. The second and third tanks also took hits but were able to withdraw to defiladed positions. One of the tanks kept up harassing fire from a hull down position but counter fire was directed at it, and it is believed that it too was knocked out.

The effective work of a patrol and our firing batteries kept the whole battalion position from being overrun that afternoon. The 2nd Battalion of the 423rd Regiment, in division reserve, was ordered to hold positions in front of the 589th while it withdrew to the rear. ("Strategic Withdrawal" they call it.) Meanwhile, the 589th held on in the face of heavy small arms and machine gun fire until the infantry was able to move into position shortly after midnight.

Anticipating a move, a recon party had been sent to select positions for a relocation about 3 miles south of Schonberg, near Service Battery's position on the Belgian-German border.

About 0400, on the morning of the 17th, the battalion was ordered to move out for the new position. By now the enemy was astride the only exit from the "C" Battery position so that it was unable to move. The Battalion C.O., Lt. Col. Kelly, and his Survey Officer, stayed behind and tried to get infantry support to help extricate this battery but they were not successful. The infantry had plenty of their own problems.

 "C" Battery never was able to move and was subsequently surrounded and all were taken prisoner, including the Battalion C.O., Col. Kelly, and the Survey Officer. Moving out of our position was not an easy task. The road that we came in on was made by 2nd Division engineers. They called it a corduroy road. It was a dirt path that the engineers had embedded railroad ties in. With the heavy trucks coming in and out with supplies the snow turned the dirt into mud. The mud now had become deep ruts. The big trucks churned the icy muck into a paste in which the guns sank almost hub deep. Hostile small arms and artillery fire was sweeping the area. Snow blew into sweating faces in the night. The wind howled through the trees, each of which might be hiding an infiltrating enemy soldier. All of the gun crews had to help all the guns and trucks pull and push until we had cleared the corduroy road.

Not having any sleep that night and being covered with mud and snow, we were cold and bushed. Our new position was a field on the right side of the road that runs north from Bleialf to Schonberg. We were about a mile and a quarter from Schonberg itself. We arrived with only three guns and went into our positions. During the night Sgt Alford's truck had run into the barrel of one of the howitzers and caused the radiator to start leaking. With the truck overheating, they had to lag behind. When they finally arrived, Lt. Wood held him on the road to act as anti-tank defense. Battalion HQ. commenced to set up it's C.P. in a farmhouse almost on the Belgium-Germany border, having arrived just before daylight.

 At about 0715 a call was received from Service Battery saying that they were under attack from enemy tanks and infantry and were surrounded. Shortly after that, the lines went out. Immediately after that a truck came up the road from the south and the driver reported enemy tanks not far behind. All communications went dead so a messenger was dispatched to tell "A and "B" Batteries to displace to St. Vith. Lt. Wood gave the order which in artillery terms is, "march order." He also made it clear that he meant , "right now."

 Having been in this position for only about one and one half hours, we knew that the enemy was very close. I was waiting for our Sgt. to give the order, but I couldn't find him. Being second in command, I gave my men the order to pack up and be ready to move. I looked all over the area and just couldn't find my Sgt. Shook. The two other crews started to move, so I jumped in the truck and gave the order to go. I was now in command.

Never knowing when something that bugs you turns out to be a good thing. Before we left the first position they asked that one of our men be assigned to the group that was leaving to search out the next position. This bugged me because that left me a man short for the tough job that we had in front of us. This turned out to be a blessing. He told me not to go out the way we came in. He knew an easy way out because he used it in checking out the position.

One of the other crews followed us. We got out on the road and started racing for Schonberg. Our destination was as ordered, St. Vith.

Sgt. Alford, who was already on the road, ditched his truck and hooked up to a supply truck and was right on our heels. At this time artillery shells and small arms fire could be heard all over the place. Sgt Scannapico, who was in charge of the fourth gun started to leave the area the same way that we came in. Before they reached the road, the truck got stuck. Lt. Wood, knowing this, stayed with that crew. They pushed and shoved like crazy until they got on the road. Our three guns got through Schonberg just in time.

The Germans were now all over the place. Sgt. Scannapico along with Lt. Wood, had lost precious time. When they got to Schonberg they were met in the middle of the road by a German tank. Sgt. Scannapico jumped out of the truck and started firing at the tank. He was killed on the spot. The tank opened fire and had a direct hit on the truck, killing the driver. Lt. Wood and the rest of the crew bailed out of the truck and ran for the cover of a brook. With the infantry firing at them, the crew put their hands up and surrendered. Lt. Wood, leaping the ditch, ran, dodging bullets all the way, reached a tree line and disappeared.

Even to this day, 50 years later, there is much controversy about what happened to Lt. Wood. I won't go into it here. I will, at the end of my story, add some articles about him. The remainder of the battalion assembled again west of St. Vith where they were joined by Service Battery of the 590th F.A Bn. They were ordered into position north of St. Vith to establish a road block to protect the town. Later, that night, they were withdrawn to a bivouac area in the vicinity of St. Vith.

December 18 - After this halt, orders were received from the Division Artillery Commander, General McMahon, to proceed to the west and be prepared to take up positions in the vicinity of Recht. The battalion was halted at 0100 and remained on the road until 0700 when it began moving forward again.

At about 0800 the column was halted again and word passed down that enemy tanks and infantry had attacked HQ Battery, 106th Div. Arty. on the same road to the west. The column was turned and pulled off the road into a clearing. A perimeter defense was organized and a road block set up with two guns covering the approach from the north. A noon meal was served.

Orders were next received to withdraw to the vicinity of Bovigny. What was left of the battalion loaded up and proceeded to the designated place in good order. The preceding night the Germans had dropped parachute troops into the area near St. Vith. They were not in great strength but they did a lot of shooting and spread confusion along the communications routes west of St. Vith.

At Bovigny the C.O. of the 174th Field Artillery Group requested that the three howitzers remaining with the battalion and the personnel be sent to positions near Cherain. This was agreed to and the battalion was split into two groups: Group A composed of the three 105 howitzer sections, Fire Direction Center people, most of the officers, and part of our meager ammunition supply. I was with this group.

Group B was composed of the remainder of the battalion plus some men from the 590th Service Battery. Group A departed for Courtil, went into position and laid the guns to fire on Cherain. The town was reconnoitered and no enemy was found so the group was withdrawn to Bovigny for the rest of the night. Observers were sent out with the outposts and preparations made to fire on any enemy coming on the scene. Group B left Bovigny and traveled west through Salmchateau and bivouacked for the night on a side road near Joubieval.

On 19 Dec 1944, in the afternoon, what was remaining of the 589th F.A.Bn arrived at the crossroads at Baraque de Fraiture to establish some kind of blocking force against the German advance. Whether or not there was any intelligent planning involved in this move I really don't know. I had the feeling that nobody knew anything and that we would resist here in this place as long as possible and hope to get help before we were blown away. There were approximately 100 men and three 105mm howitzers to set up the defense at this time.

The weather was cold, wet and foggy with some snow already on the ground. Visibility was variable, clearing from maybe fifty yards to two or three hundred on occasion. I didn't even know who was in charge of the rag-tag group that I was with until I saw Major Elliot Goldstein out in the open, verbally bombasting the enemy (where ever they were) with all the curse words he could think of, and at the top of his booming voice. I thought at the moment that he won't be around too long if there are any Germans out there to hear him. Apparently there were none, he drew no fire.

The three howitzers were ordered into position to defend the crossroads. This was no longer a firing battery position. Each gun was placed at a strategic position covering all the directions that the enemy may come from. I never saw any of the other gun crews again.

My gun was placed on the crossroad proper. The gun was facing east, towards the town of Regne. Across the street from me was a farm house and a barn. After getting the gun in place and digging fox holes, I walked across to the barn. To my surprise there were a few GI's already in there and they were talking to an elderly man in French. I asked them what he was saying. They told me that he was the owner of the property.

I then went into the house that had been taken over by some cooks, although they never cooked anything that I know of anyway. Also a first aid station was set up. A fire had been started in the stove and the heat felt really good. For the remainder of the time that we were there, one half of the crew were permitted periodically to go over and get warm and have a cup of coffee.

Next morning, 20 December, the weather remained miserable, cold, wet, and some more snow for good measure. Hearing the squeaky sounds of tank treads coming toward you is a very frightening sound, especially at night. However, it was daytime and I was very happy to see that it was one of ours. He then pulled around the corner and parked right in front of the farmhouse.

The men in the tank jumped out and waved, "hello." One of them walked up to the corner and looked down the road in the direction that my gun was pointing. One minute later he fell to the ground with a bullet between the eyes.

Captain Brown, who was now in charge of the three guns, having witnessed this came running over to me and ordered three rounds fired into the trees down the road. It had to be a sniper. We never heard any more from that direction. I have thought about that ever since.

This man was just across the road from me. How come he never fired at me? Thank God he didn't. I can only rationalize it like this. I always had a helmet on, he didn't. We were partially concealed under a tree line, and he was out in the open, or, he (the sniper) had only just arrived at that time.

About a couple of hundred yards from the crossroads, my good friend, John Schaffner and another man from B Battery, Ken Sewell, were in their foxhole as forward observers. Around midnight they heard strange noises in the fog. It was very dark and the visibility was extremely limited. When they were able to discern what was making the strange noise, it was about a dozen Germans on bicycles. They stopped in the road when they came upon the daisy chain of mines that had been strung across the road. Being unaware of John's presence, not 10 yards away, they stood there in front of them. The Germans were talking over what to do next. John could tell that the language was not English. They also had on square helmets.

John and his companion were in big trouble. He whispered the situation over the telephone to Captain Brown. Captain Brown told him to keep your heads down and when you hear me fire my .45 the first time, we will sweep the road with all we got. When that stops I'll fire my .45 again, then we will hold fire until you two can return to the C.P. MAKE IT QUICK! The word was passed around to all the people on the crossroads. We took up positions with carbine in hand and on command from Captain Brown, everyone let loose with all the fire power available. I was lying next to a quad multiple .50's machine gun. The sound was deafening. On command we stopped firing.

At first there was complete silence. Then for the rest of the night all you could hear were men crying and moaning with pain. The records say it was an eighty man patrol, however John says he only saw around twelve.

21 December 1944

The next day, 21 December, a detail was sent out to have a look around, John Schaffner reports that they found several dead Germans in the snow, no live ones. The enemy apparently pulled back and took their wounded with them.

During the morning hours enemy tanks were reported as being in Samree. The town of Samree was to the southwest of us. My gun was pointing northeast. Major Parker came over and told me to turn the gun around 180 degrees. We had to move it around until we found an opening in the trees where we could fire in that direction.

Captain Brown and Major Parker with their maps and good math, figured out the elevation, direction and powder bags to be used. The only line of sight we had was the roof line of a house. Captain Brown then told me to come as close to the roof line as possible without hitting it.

I lined up in my sight but was still not sure. I then had to look through the bore of the tube. Keeping my fingers crossed we loaded a shell and I said, "OK, FIRE!" Luckily, we missed the house. We then fired three more rounds. I had no idea where those shells would land. Later on I found out that we did indeed send those tanks running for cover. Later on that day two German prisoners were brought into the CP. John Schaffner was detailed to guard them.

One, an officer, spoke good English. He warned them that the German Army was coming through us and would kill anybody in the way, so we could save everybody a lot of trouble by surrendering to him right then and there. Ha! Ha! To get a better picture of our situation at the crossroads, one must consider the situation. The krauts were swinging high, wide and handsome to the northwest from Houffalize.

The 1st Army defensive line was consolidating slowly, the 82nd Airborne Division held what amounts to the last solid position on the Army right flank with the 3rd Armored on its right extending only a tenuous screen southwestward down to the Ourthe river. That right flank of the 82nd just had to be hammered down tight, protected from Hotton to Salmchateau. For the moment it was flapping in the breeze and the crossroads was the sensitive point.

Through it all Major Parker was everywhere, observing at the outposts, moving from place to place along the perimeter as one attack succeeded another. Wounded by a mortar shell in the afternoon while adjusting fire, he refused to be evacuated until he lost consciousness. Major Goldstein succeeded in command.

22 December 1944

A patrol was sent out during the night to reconnoiter enemy positions to the east and south. The patrol reported the enemy digging in along the road to the east inside the woods. It was expected that the Germans would attack at about 0530. Artillery rounds from all three guns were fired to simulate a counter-attack. No German attack materialized.

 Around noon a company of the 325th Glider Infantry of the 82nd A.B. Div arrived. A few of them told us that we were safe now, they were going out in front of us to protect us. When the Germans decided to come at us, there wasn't anybody out there to stop them.

23 December 1944

During the early morning the enemy infiltrated into the woods to the north and set up a line in front of the woods running to the east-west road.

At about 0430 an SS Offizier patrol attacked from the south-east at the same time an attack was made from east and north. All attacks were beaten off and an SS lieutenant and a sgt. were taken prisoner. Interrogation disclosed that the 2nd SS Panzer Division was approaching from the south. Even with the reinforcements of the infantry company it was apparent that morning that a coordinated enemy attack could not be withstood. So Major Goldstein left the crossroads with the SS lieutenant and Sgt. He was going to try to convince the commander of the 3rd Armored Division that he needed help. This is why I said, "Big mistake."

Major Parker had been ordered a few days earlier to withdraw and re-organize. He disobeyed those orders because he knew the importance of that corner. I feel that he would have never left, if he didn't get wounded, without taking his men with him.

Major Goldstein, knowing that the situation is now hopeless, we are out of ammunition and medical supplies, he takes off. If he had of stayed, he would have realized that the order to withdraw was still in effect. We possibly might have been around to fight another day.

At about 1530 in the afternoon all hell broke loose. Captain Brown came around and told us to be ready, when the artillery attack stopped, the infantry and tanks would be coming in. Half of my crew were in the house getting warm. I made a run for it to get my men back to the gun to be ready for the assault. Once inside, I got my men together, but we never did make it back to the gun. I was standing in the doorway ready to go when a shell hit. The concussion picked me up and sent me flying against the back wall. I sat there a few minutes in a daze. I had to feel for my legs and arms to make sure they were still there.

At about this same time the farmhouse itself was now being hit with incoming shells. The roof was on fire and some of the fellows were trying to put the fire out. In this building there were also some wounded men. Our main concern at this point was, how are we going to help them. Our concern was soon ended. The shelling stopped and at the same time there was a German tank outside the door. His gun was pointing in the door. A German officer shouted out, "Are you coming out or do I tell this guy to fire?" No one can be a hero when a tank is staring down your throat. Some of the surrounding area men had already been rounded up and were standing in rows on the road. We filed out of the building and joined the rows of men. They made us remove our overcoats so they could search us. They took anything of value. I was wearing my wife's (although not at that time) high school ring. That was gone. The other items were money, cigarettes and chocolate (every GI had a few concentrated chocolate bars called "D-Bars", that didn't melt. They were hard and you had to scrape off shreds, or if you had good teeth you could break off a chunk), my gloves, my wool knit cap and my fountain pen. For some reason they would not take wedding rings. Either they were superstitious or they had some respectability.

It was now approximately 5:50 PM. The weather was bitter cold, but now I had no overcoat, gloves or wool knit cap. It was a cold helmet and field jacket from here on. How I made that winter with just those clothes I'll never know.

The following are the words of Col. Dupuy for the Infantry Journal Press, and that's the story of Parker's Crossroads (named for Major Parker and to this day is known as Parker's Crossroads) and the three piece 589th Field Artillery Battalion, the end of the trail for the three howitzers of Battery "A" which Eric Wood had gotten out of the Schnee Eifel. It is a story for American artillerymen to cherish along with the saga of O'Brien's guns at Buena Vista."

One cannot help wondering what would otherwise have happened to the thinly spread 82nd Airborne Division's right flank as the 2nd SS Panzer Division moved in for the kill.

 After fifty years it is impossible for me to retrace my route of march as a P.O.W. I didn't know it then, we had no idea of where we were or where we were going. I can only reflect back on some of the events that happened.

On the road at Parker's Crossroads were assembled approximately fifty men. After they completed the search, we were marched off in the direction of Prum, Germany. We walked for about three hours and were put into a big mill.

 This was the start of what was to be our way of life for a long time. No roof, windows or beds. Pick a spot on the floor, sometimes wood, sometimes dirt, lay down and go to sleep. Everyone was exhausted, hungry and cold. With the cold and being hungry, I still was able to sleep. It was probably the first real sleep that I had had for almost a week.