COMPANY REPORTS - MAY, 1945 CONTINUED

  The enemy for the first five days of May were still fleeing headlong for the safety of the Bavarian Alps, but the 103d Division and attached elements gave them no opportunity to slow up for reorganization.  This pursuit necessitated the extension of already abnormally long lines of communication, but contact was maintained with all spearhead elements by radio, which at times had to be relayed due to mountainous and atmospheric conditions.

OUR MEN: JONES' BOYS - MAY 2, 1945 SEEFELD, AUSTRIA 1 NIGHT
 This was another of those snow covered towns.  The trip up here was most interesting, we laid wire most of the way with a few of the other teams helping out.
 John Anania and Matricardi picked up a couple of krauts to police the line off the road, and that did make covering the distance easier.

 We were following fairly closely behind a jeep, when the small trailer it was towing hit a road mine and was blown off. The jeep and several other vehicles had already past without harm - surprising things happen.  Further down the road, we were in a rather narrow canyon with snow drift along side the road and then mountains rising close by, a very poor place in which to maneuver or hide. There was a sniper who had been left behind by the retreating Germans. He started to fire an occasional shot at the GIs on the road.  When the shooting started, some of us were not wearing helmets. Barclay had actually lost his someplace recently. He discovered a helmet that had been thrown up onto a snow bank and was able to "fish" it down with one of our poles to keep from having to go into a dangerous area.  An examination of the helmet, before he put it on, told an interesting story.  There was a bullet hole on one side of the helmet and another on the other side indicating that the wearer had been shot right through the head.

 A closer look showed that the bullet had entered at an angle and had travelled around inside the helmet tearing up the helmet liner and then had hit a slight obstacle that deflected it out through the steel helmet part way around to the other side. The man who had been wearing that helmet probably had a very exciting tale when he was again able to talk!

 A flock of infantry fellows from the 409th took over our house and we had quite a time getting any sleep.  These fellows were very young, but looked old. Their average age seemed to be about 20.

 They all  had at least one German pistol, and most had two or three.  They pushed off early in the morning and it was just a little while later that we were up and after them laying our wire to keep right behind them.  We were heading for the crest of the mountains and the Inn river valley beyond.

 Sgt. Frazier wanted us to keep right behind the first wave of infantry and that is just where we stayed with our wire truck for mile after mile.  It was not too bad. Ahead of us the infantry was not running into too much trouble with the retreating troops, but, as usual, the mines were getting a few of them and the engineers were doing their best to clear the anti-personnel mines and the vehicle mines also.

 The column was temporarily held up southwest of Seefeld by a huge crater in the tortuous mountain road.  Entirely destroyed for a distance of 100 feet on the nearly-vertical hillside, the road was rendered impassable for vehicle traffic.

 Sgt. Jones' team was parked on the road waiting to extend the wire circuits that were connected back to the Division Command Post. We would move forward on the road as soon as the crater was temporarily patched.

 We had been moving fast for days and the truck was more cluttered than usual with our working equipment and personal gear, some of which was partially buried in the snow, ice, and mud that had accumulated in the back of the truck during a storm the night before.  The men were even worse looking - unshaven, raunchy, mixed uniforms, no helmets, etc.

 A convoy of jeeps, command cars, weapons carriers heavily loaded with 50 caliber machine guns and many officers drove up and joined our motley crew.  The division commander, Major General Anthony C. McAuliffe, and most of his staff of colonels and lower ranks came out of the convoy. The General and several of his staff just walked by the truck and met some other officers who had hurried back from the front lines to join them.  They disappeared around a bend in the road just ahead of the truck.

 That left about six high ranking officers right at the truck and they saw us trying to look a lot more like real soldiers than we did - we failed the intensive inspection. There was general disapproval - we could sense that, even though conversation and/or small talk was missing.

 Finally, one colonel overcame his impulse to pretend that we didn't even exist, and, looking at the rusty, dirty rifles imbedded in the snow,ice, and mud on the floor of the truck, in an outraged voice asked us,"Soldiers, is that any way to treat your rifles that your lives and the honor of the U.S. Army depend upon?"
 We were all most uncomfortable and mute looking at him, the other officers, each other, and the mess in the back of the truck until Sgt. Jones gained courage enough to reply, "Sir, those are just some German rifles that we have recently picked up." (He might have added that our rifles were safely stored away in duffel bags or other wrapping where we were keeping them secure until it was time to turn them in, after the war).

 In the silence, the officers looked back and forth as if to say, "Of course, I knew THAT", or, "Why does HE always embarrass us in front of the real soldiers?". The colonel finally said, "Get rid of them!", and walked away to the relief of most of the rest of the officers and men.

 This was the largest gathering of high ranking U.S.Army officers we had seen since our last dress parade in the States when it seemed that the reviewing stand was just packed with them, all bright and shining.

     In ordinary day-to-day operations during combat, the staff officers are busy with important stuff some distance from the action. We did see them occasionally when they came forward to get better information.

 We were further surprised (and impressed) when the General and his officers returned from around the bend in the road with four or five British officers.   These were the first British officers we could remember seeing and it was not possible for us to tell their ranks. The British use different insignia than the U.S. forces.  They use a system of buttons or pips on their shoulders or sleeves. It was apparent that these were high ranking British staff officers on some special assignment.

 The group of officers came up to the back of the truck so fast we ordinary soldiers did not have chance to do what we normally do when we see officers coming - disappear and/or look busy "someplace else".

   Just by chance, or not being able to avoid it, Sgt. Jones' small group of humble telephone-wire layers and hangers became witnesses to history being made.  The General asked Sgt. Jones if the field telephone on the back of the truck was connected to the Division Command Post. Fortunately, it was.

 The reason we had been dragging wire for almost 500 miles through France, Germany, and Austria was that occasionally some important person had an important message or conversation for some other important person. (This of course, was a very narrow view of the utility of our lines.  We only saw the very limited activity of putting the line into service - lots of testing, repairing, asking, "can you hear me?" When we made a final connection at the end of a lot of work, it was just the beginning of the exchange of much vital information).

 With the General holding the 'phone, the connection was made through the Division Message Center to 6th Corps, to 7th Army, maybe Army Group, and possibly Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, SHAEF and General Eisenhower himself. This operation did seem to have the appearance of high level tactical importance.

 Whoever the General spoke with must have been satisfied with the report. He  returned the 'phone to Jones with, "Thank you, Sergeant."

   The English officers were NOT satisfied with the report and conversation they had heard, and/or the progress that was being  made.  This was the start of a complaint by the English commander that may have been part of an earlier discussion between the General and himself, but it was cut off by a firm statement by Major General Anthony C. McAuliffe, "If you want to move forward faster, get your own God Damn men up here!"

 The English officers did some murmuring and sulking as they followed after the General. The remaining American officers and the "few brave men" standing by the truck may have been remembering that the General had come to the command of the 103d Infantry Division as a Brigadier General just after he had become something of a legend when he refused to surrender his command of the 101st Airborne Division when they were surrounded by the Germans at Bastogne during the "Battle of the Bulge" in the Ardennes Forest.

  Saying "NUTS" to the Germans was a historic reply and had received quite some notice as a bright spot in a very dark battle scene before the Allies had been able to start to push the Germans back after their massive surprise attack during a very harsh winter.

 We liked the fact he didn't play favorites with the English when they also challenged him.

 That the British officers were there with the lead elements of the Task Force is part of a story relating to a disagreement between the top political and military leaders of the two nations on strategy and tactics from the very beginning of the involvement of the United States in the war in Europe. Some of that controversy was a result of confusing intelligence lack of agreed upon common purpose in the military efforts underway and the political arrangements to follow the inevitable victory.

 Near the end of the war in Europe, intelligence reports showed a possibility of German redoubts, "last stands" in Norway and Austria. There would be transfer of German government controls and large military strength into Erft-Leipzig in the north and to Berchtesgarden in Austria for the south strong point.

 The larger more complex questions of the Western nations' relationship with Russia and the post-war control of Berlin and eastern Europe were beyond the view and control of the military leaders. History has shown the confusing and compli cated results.

 By April, 1945 there was some discounting of the threat of massive resistance in Austria. The British leaders had earlier been much more interested in an assault on Berlin and eastern Germany.

  Eisenhower and the Americans were more dedicated to disrupting any German effort to establish a fortress in the southern mountains.

 At this time, very early in May,1945, with the end of the conflict in Europe clearly in sight, there was some renewal of the concern of massive resistance just ahead of our troops as we pushed right into the area that had been designated as the southern strong defensive point.

OUR MEN: BECK - Somewhere in Austria  2 May 1945.
 So Adolph Hitler is dead!  He certainly caused a great deal of trouble for one man.  Perhaps by the time you get this all the Nazi big-wigs will be dead.  I hear, to-night, where the Krauts in Italy have finally surrendered.  But, as far as I am concerned, the Krauts still fight on.  At least, here they do.

 What really gets me, though, is this "Nicht Nazi" plea that the German civilians give when we take their town.  Oh! they have always hated the Nazis and how they loved the Americans!  In the meantime their homes are full of swastikas on flags, belt buckles, walls, etc.  After spending about 12 years "heiling" Adolph, they are now "Nix Nazi."

 They live in the most beautiful homes I have ever seen, while on the outskirts of their town or possibly a few miles away is a concentration camp where Poles, Jews, Russians, Czechs, Hungarians, etc., live as cattle in emaciation [sic] and rot.  Trains go through these pretty towns daily loaded with the dead stinking corpses of the poor devils that were tortured to death, piled up like slabs of beef, while jerry and his happy healthy family went about their life of "Kultur."

 I saw freight cars standing, on now blown tracks, loaded with garments of murdered people.  In one car was shoes, thousands of them.  In another was pants and so on down the line.

 The people look normal, act normal and have normal living habits.  But, inside them they seem to have the heart of a beast.  Gen. Eisenhower's non-fraternization policy is fairly effective.  The people are given the cold shoulder.

OUR MEN: BECK - Austria  3 May 1945.
 There have been so many historic places that I have seen recently.  I wish that I could talk about them now, but I can't.  I have also been witness to the atrocities we have been reading about all these many years.  It is kind of hard to believe.  Like a fairy tale.

 The German system of oppression includes the utilization of the conquered people as slaves.  That's right, slaves the same as the U.S.A. had prior to the Civil War.

 If you think that the people had nothing to do with it, you are wrong.  Each German family had their own personal slaves, the number being determined by the wealth and prominence of the family.  The slaves were either Poles, Russians, Czechs and in some cases French.  These slaves lived with the family either in the attic or cellar and performed daily chores that would normally fall to the family to perform.

 If the German had a business or a factory the prisoner(s) worked there.  To the German, it was something perfectly normal and to this day they claim to be Anti- Nazi.

 In a garage some time ago I met a Russian named Andre' who worked as a mechanic for the German owner for about three years.  He was not a soldier, yet he was considered a prisoner.

 Andre' brought two Russian officers to me who spoke German.  They told me that they were held captive there for approximately one year.  One was a lieutenant of artillery the other was a pilot in the Russian Air Force.

 I offered them one of my Philip Morris'.  The way they inhaled and exhaled, one could see that they hadn't had a decent smoke in a long time.  We became good friends.

 They took me down to the "dungeon" where they were kept prisoner.  The four of us, Andre', the two Russian officers and myself, went through a series of barbed wire fences until we came to a heavy wooden door.  It was open now, but there were enough bars and bolts to seal it shut forever.

 We entered into a dingy room musty with the smell of wood and sweat of men's bodies.  The room was about the size of your living room.  [12'-0" X 15'-0"]  Two small iron barred windows greedily [sic] allowed the streaks of day light to go inside.

 There were double-decker bunks made of crude wood that took up practically all of the floor space.

 In here, they told me, lived 15 Russian officers.  (The other 13 weren't there at the time.  They were liberated a few hours before and had walked into town to see what it looked like.)

 During the night there were two SS guards at each entrance.  (There were two entrances.)  On one door was the roster of the prisoners - two majors, three captains, and the rest lieutenants.

 They told me how Andre', who was a trusty, would sneak extra food to them and also keep them up to date on the war news.
 
 

 It was during the period of time the column was temporarily held up southwest of Seefeld, that negotiations between the USA and the Germans defending the Innsbruck area started with several white flag escorts back and forth between the Command Centers.

 A telephone circuit between Garmisch and Innsbruck was working and a German-speaking American officer called the German garrison at Innsbruck and demanded surrender.  There was some delay in the response during which time the Division CP moved to Seefeld.

OUR MEN: WILK - 2 May 1945
 At 5 PM a German major representing the Innsbruck commander was brought blindfolded to the CP.  He offered to surrender the whole Tyrol-Vorarlberrg area of Western Austria, including the Brenner Pass sector at the Austrian/Italian border. Two American officers went back with him to Innsbruck to outline the details of the surrender.  Unfortunately a resistance group of civilians and soldiers had seized control of the city and interrupted the German command structure so that there was no way to order the surrender of the fighting units actually in control of areas through which the advancing GI's would have to pass.  The American officers, with the help of the German Major, made their way back to the CP.

 On the following day, May 3, the Americans returned to Innsbruck in a white flagged jeep and were able to get authorities there to issue a cease-fire order over the radio at Innsbruck which was effective in getting the defending soldiers to lay down their arms - there was not an official surrender order.

 We stayed overnight in this village, and even heard a rumor that the war was over. This rumor increased steadily, until we nearly believed it.  Just about then our artillery opened up, so we forgot about all rumors, and moved on again.

 Zirl was our next stop, only a few miles from Innsbruck.  We went through Zirl and stopped again on the highway just before it made a bend into open country.  The new M-18 TDs were with us, and soon they began to fire at some moving objects on the other side of the valley.  A yell for an ambulance was passed down the line.  It seems an I&R jeep had gone around this curve, only to run into an ambush. Two of the men were captured, another left wounded.  Those two men captured, by the way, were freed again shortly after we moved into Innsbruck, one of them having been in a German controlled hospital.

 Soldiers of an I&R  (Intelligence and Reconnaissance) platoon of the 409th Regiment descended into the Inn River Valley and encountered only sporadic opposition from small units of German soldiers who didn't know of the tentative surrender.  They entered Innsbruck at 5:43 PM on May 3, 1945.  There were Austrian flags hanging from many windows - the locals did not display white surrender flags, because they now wished to be considered "liberated nationals of a country that had been invaded by the terrible Germans in the early days of the war" and not members of a population that had strongly supported the German efforts for years.

 There were pretty girls, dancing in the streets, cognac and celebrations.  All of this was very confusing to the American fighting men, and the members of Sgt. Jones' wire team who were close behind the advance units and arrived about 7 pm.

OUR MEN: JONES' BOYS - INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA MAY 3, 1945  60 DAYS
 There could be no finer town in the "European Theater Of Operations" in which to celebrate the end of the war in Europe than this beautiful Tyrolian town.  It is large and clean and full of entertainment possibilities.

 When we came in here the first night on the heels of the dough boys, the people greeted us like liberators rather then conquerors.  Since our stay here, with all of the "fraternization" and stuff that we see, we wonder about the war that we have just finished. What was it all about anyhow?

 At first we were set up on the side of the hill with the Mess Hall at the Division CP located near the bottom of the cable car run.  There was snow all around and, before long, we were able to get free rides to the very top of the mountain to a wonderful ski resort for a free lunch or dinner at the Enlisted Men's Club - who said rank doesn't have its' privileges?

 When we came into town, we passed a field of German airplanes and some of the boys went out to look them over again.

 There were some jet airplanes of the latest types (this technology was just being developed in the U.S. and the Allies had nothing nearly as advanced as these operational airplanes for speed and maneuver ability).

OUR MEN: WILK
 Our first troops had been given a rousing welcome, like in a French city, with cheering etc. and the kissing of all the soldiers.  It was not easy to understand those people.  It may have been a temporary relief for them, with their nerves a bit on edge.  Quite a few correspondents were around now to learn about the surrender of Innsbruck, which actually was quite a bit confused.

 In the afternoon, we went back to Zirl to let the big guns move through and afterwards moved into Innsbruck.  By mistake, we fell in with one of the convoys and left Innsbruck with one of them, but we found out in time and went back to the city.

 We parked at some apartment house, where some of the regimental radio people had settle. They were in an apartment with a kitchen and also the people lived in it. An artist and his wife, who were quite confused and didn't know what to think of it all.

 We didn't stay there too long, because the next day we were on our way along the Inn river, our mission to link up with the Third army, or XV Corps.

OUR MEN: DONLAN
 We crossed the German Border into Austria on May 2, moving south to the Tyrolean city, Innsbruck, on the Inn River May 4, 1945.  It was also only slightly bombed and sat as a picture postcard in the mountain valley of the curving Inn River.  After all our idle days waiting in Bensheim, the final dash to the south and victory was a very momentous and memorable journey.  We maintained our radio communications with difficulty in our dash and with mountains providing interference.

 [Passing through advance positions of the 409th Infantry, which later pressed eastward to make contact with the XXI Corps at Worgl, elements of the 411th combat team raced more than 40 miles to seize the Brenner Pass at 0150 on May 4 without opposition.  Continuing south into Italy contact was made with elements of the Fifth Army's 88th Division about eight miles south of Brenner at 1051.] Report After Action

OUR MEN: FADER
 (We had moved) from Landsberg with a fast moving task force south through Bavaria and toward the Brenner Pass with brief but fierce fire-fights, especially one on our approach to Innsbruck that involved cadets from a German officers training camp.

 Then through Innsbruck (with waving Austrians) and onto Brenner, the road deep in snow.  Our radio truck was parked at the border and I was on duty when an officer from the CP gave me a message to send to Corps.  So I sent the message that said that the Brenner Pass had been captured.  (I did not keep a copy of the message and there goes history, passing me by.)

 I seem to recall all sorts of confusion.  Then someone suggested we go down into Italy and we piled into a jeep.  THIS IS WHAT "Andy" Pierce Evans seems to remember better than I.  But it is true.

 I was the interpreter in our mad escapade into Italy.  Yes, we did bluff our way to try to get to Brennero (or was Brennero the Austrian town at the pass?) where the Fifth Army was and along the way--was it in Colle Isarco?--we had our encounter with the German officers, but no pistols.  Back to the Brenner Pass and the start of the peacetime army with all the brass.

OUR MEN: EVANS
 On May 4, 1945,  Seymour FADER and I participated in an unauthorized escapade in Italy.  During the previous night a column of tanks and trucks, led by 411th Regimental Commander Col. Donovan P. Yeuell, raced with headlights ablaze from Innsbruck up to Brenner Pass and sealed off the pass at 040150 (May 4th, 1:50 a.m.) without opposition.  The task force stopped for the night and the CP was set up in a building right next to the Brenner Pass border check point gate.  Bud HENNUM's radio team was sleeping in a nearby barn. Around 040600 (May 4, 6:00 a.m.) two radio operators from the regimental command net, who had been in the CP all night, shook Seymour FADER and me up from a sound sleep and told us that Field Marshal Kesselring had surrendered all of the German forces in Italy and that, during the night, the 103d Division had linked up with the 88th Division of the 5th Army. They proposed an excursion down into Italy and suggested that this might be the last chance that we would have to "liberate" a Luger or a P-38 pistol.

 Ever since we got into Alsace, we all knew that Fader was a good guy to have around. He spoke a mishmash of Yiddish, "Hollywood German" (English schpoken mit eine cherman occent), and fractured German put together from a few phrases from the Army's German Phrase Book. Somehow he managed to make himself understood so he frequently interpreted for us.

 We were too sleepy to think clearly or we might not have gone. However, Seymour and I piled into their jeep with them and took off into Italy. It was still dark as we set out.

  Probably closer to the truth about the reported linkup was that after we had secured Brenner Pass, an M-8 Recon Car from Division Recon had dashed down into Italy in the dark of night and had met a recon team from the 88th Division somewhere in Italy. They shook hands and then both hightailed it back where they came from.

 As we soon found out, the territory between our perimeter and theirs was still in the hands of the Germans who, because of deteriorating communications, had not received word that they had been surrendered and who had no idea that we were within a hundred miles of Brenner Pass. In the dark, they had probably mistaken our M-8 Recon Car for one of their own vehicles and had not challenged it.

 Blissfully unaware of the situation, we drove south and entered the little town of Colle Isarco, about eight miles south of Brenner Pass. After rounding a bend in a narrow street, we ran into a company of armed German soldiers.  The street was so narrow that the jeep driver could not turn around or back up so he floored it. Fader shouted something in passable German that sounded like, " Make way for the whole American Seventh Army." The Germans, who had their rifles and burp guns slung over their shoulders, flattened against the walls of the buildings on both sides of the street as we barreled right down the center. Their faces were just inches from ours as they struggled to unsling their weapons. It reminded me of riffling through a Pinochle deck. We got through the soldiers and out of sight around a bend in the road without a shot being fired.

 We wasted no time heading out of town and continuing south in hopes of running into some element of the Fifth Army.

 We stopped at one point to get our bearings and heard a vehicle approaching from the south so we hid the jeep and crouched in a ditch. It was a great relief to see that it was a major and an enlisted driver in a jeep from the 88th Division. We jumped from concealment and flagged them down. Before we could say a word, the major said, "Boy, are we glad to see you. We just came through a town full of armed Krauts who don't know the war is over and we were lucky to get out alive. Get us to your CP immediately so we can report the situation."

 They had bullet holes in the jeep to punctuate their story.

 The major was not too happy to hear about our experience. We discussed what to do and concurred that the first troops to arrive from either direction would be German. Even so, the major opted to hide his jeep and stay there whereas we decided to try to get back to Brenner Pass.
 We attempted to work our way through the opposite side of town from the place where we ran into the armed Germans but soon found ourselves driving into a large cul de sac facing a German Army Headquarters building of some sort. There was a single guard standing at the entrance. Our driver skidded sideways up to the guard kicking dirt and gravel all over his boots. After an angry look at his boots, he looked up into the barrels of our grease guns and gave up his rifle, quietly.

 Fader told him that we were from the American Seventh Army and were there to take charge of all of their weapons. We made him take us to an armory, but while there were weapons of almost every description in the armory, there were no pistols. We insisted that there had to be pistols so he led us to the main building and up a flight of stairs but was reluctant to open the door at the head of the stairs.

 One of us covered him and the rest barged into the room where there was about a dozen German officers looking at a large situation map. A high ranking officer was outlining his plan for getting the troops under his command back into Germany to the redoubt for the last stand.

 Fader made it clear that they had been surrendered by Kesselring and that they were to turn over their pistols to us. The General or Colonel (or whatever he was) was reluctant to do so indicating that it was beneath his dignity to surrender to an enlisted man. He could not believe that we were from the 103d Division because, on his map, the 103d was still north of Ulm, more than a hundred miles to the north. Fader said something like, "You invented blitzkreig, but we perfected it. Brenner Pass is in our hands. You cannot get back to Germany." Fader then shocked them with the announcement that Hitler was dead. They had not gotten the word.

 The officer seemed both resigned and relieved that it was over and started making plans for a formal surrender. Fader told him that there would not be one, that this was it, and that they would have to surrender their arms to us. Fader said, "Send your troops up to Brenner, unarmed and with their hands over their heads and they will be directed to PW cages." We insisted that the officers give us their weapons right then and there and they reluctantly complied.

 The pickings were slim. Most of them had Schmeisser machine pistols which were lying on a table near the door. We didn't want them because there were plenty of those around, but we took them, just in case they had second thoughts. One of the GIs from the regimental radio team got the commanding officer's P-38. The other patted down one of the other senior officers and found in his side pocket a small flat black pearl-handled 25 caliber automatic. I got a Walther PK and that was about it. Fader, who had done all of the talking, came away empty handed.

 The General wrote out a safe conduct pass for us and provided an enlisted man to ride on the hood of our jeep to show it at each roadblock. (It seems that after our encounter with the armed troops, the Germans had concluded that we were escaped prisoners of war. They had no idea where we had escaped from, but were hastily setting up road blocks to try to catch us.)

 When we got back to Brenner, the 103d Division band was loaded on several trucks and playing marches. The Commanding Generals of the 103d (Mc Auliffe) and VI Corps (Brooks), plus a host of other generals and colonels, reporters from BBC, Reuters, and various US news agencies, along with other VIPs, were loaded in trucks and jeeps for a festive jaunt into Italy to formalize the linkup that had occurred during the night. Luckily, our radio team was not to be part of the convoy. There was no need for us. After all, the Division and Corps commanders were right there with him. Who else did Yeuell need to communicate with?

 It was going to be a splendid parade with flags waving and the band playing (as best they could, considering the fact that they were loaded into several 2-1/2 ton trucks).

 No one was dressed for combat.

 One thing was certain, we couldn't tell them what they might have run into because we were not supposed to have been there and were very close to being listed as AWOL. We forgot all about the fact that a similar "parade" was probably forming up in the 88th Division's area.

 Hopefully, the 88th Division approached the formal linkup in a much more prudent manner. Or maybe the word filtered down to the Germans south of Colle Isarco in time to avoid a disaster.

 At mid-morning on May 4th the column moved out with orders to link up with the Fifth Army if they had to go all the way to Rome to do it.

 The formal linkup with the Fifth Army's 88th Division took place at Colle Isarco, without any snags, at 041051 (May 4th, 10:51 a.m.).

 However, I have always wondered what might have happened if we hadn't gotten to Colle Isarco first.

 (1993 Editor's Note: It is a real wonderment for sure.)

OUR MEN: BERMAN
 The war was just over, we were in Innsbruck, Austria and feeling pretty good that all of the excitement was behind us.  We were stringing a wire line to a small town in the mountains not far from Innsbruck. The day was beautiful and the scenery was magnificent.  Our wire team -  BLAKE  "Curly" MASPERI, BROADHURST, and BERMAN were all in our 1 1/2 ton truck and climbing toward the town.

 When we arrived the town seemed to be deserted.  We entered the town square and stopped. It was eerily silent...We waited and soon some small children popped out of the nearby buildings. Cautiously they approached looking at each other for support.

 We greeted them with some candy - they loved it. The elders were soon to follow, realizing that we weren't about to shoot up the place.  It seems that they were unaware of the war ending.  We told them all about it, and they had quite a celebration.

 We did our work of completing the line and headed home.  Along the road we noticed some wire that was not connected and "CURLY", our team chief, decided to pick it up on a wire reel. I followed along behind the truck pulling the  wire from the side of the road to the middle for the recovery process while the truck about 100 yards ahead moved slowly with the guys winding up the wire on our big reel unit.

 Suddenly, I noticed something in the field that was between the road and a wooded area about 200 yards away. Out of the woods was coming a large number of German soldiers slowly walking toward the road. At first, I thought - this is crazy, the war is over, then I noticed that the officer leading was heading for me. I became a little calmer when I noticed that all of the men were wearing soft caps (they had discarded their helmets) and soon they held their arms up - "Surren der!".  I just stood there fascinated.  I looked at our truck, by then it had stopped, all of the guys were just standing and looking, the work had stopped.

 The officer came up to me, the closest man, saluted and spoke German surrendering to me - probably the lowest member of our team if not the entire US 7th Army.  He unbuckled his sword and pistol and presented them to me.  There were several hundred soldiers behind him who just stood there while the officer and I walked to our truck, the main CP of the western front for the moment. "Curly" decided that the entire German unit would walk with us into Innsbruck and turn themselves in. Before long, we came upon some M.P.s at the junction with the main road and released our "prisoners" to them.

 I brought the sword home with me and it remains somewhere in the house - I don't know where. Many years ago, I hid it when my kids were small.  I didn't want any mischief from them. The pistol, a .25 caliber, I traded for a camera.

OUR MEN FADER
 Innsbruck and  occupation duty and the start of some serious fraternizing by some of our group. The day we left--Innsbruck was assigned to the French--and the people standing in the streets as our trucks moved out.  They had heard that the French Moroccan troops wee taking our place and their reaction was understand able.

 Another incident:  fighting over, all sorts of new regulations...I had picked up a 22 cal. rifle.  It was not "liberated".  I actually found it among some ruins some time back.  The people in the town (at the pass) were complaining about crows eating their seed which they had just planted.  So I took my trusty rifle, went with them, and firing once, shot a crow in one of their plots.  (The first and only time I fired a weapon in the ETO.)  Well, all hell broke loose.  Officers came running wanting to know where the firing was coming from.  Drunk with the euphoria of the war's end, they did nothing except tell me that no weapons were to be fired in the company area.

OUR MEN: "SMITTY"
 Rumors predicted the end of the war.  With Hank KOLANDER at the wheel, radio repair's SAR negotiated a winding descent into the valley of the Inn River.  He stopped to "capture" more German prisoners... putting them in the back of the truck with one very apprehensive Pfc.  While most of them were teenage children in uniform, I worried about some Hitler youth sorehead who might be among them... the end of the war was so close.  In any event, the driver finally surrendered his "captives" to an MP, and we proceeded to Halle, Austria, to arrive on the 4th day of May.  The fifth was a quiet day.  We slept in the trucks and watched fully- uniformed Germans walking about.  It was the 6th of May that the 7th Army ceased activity and it was reported that the German 19th Army had surrendered at Innsbruck.  Hoppel's group moved into a big German garrison building that day.  It looked a lot like Camp Howze.

OUR MEN: DONLAN - Saturday, May 5, 1945 - Innsbruck
 On duty from 10:30 to 6 a.m.  By the time I was relieved I heard that the 1st Bn. 411th Inf. 103rd Division had linked up with the 88th Division of the 5th Army Italy at Brenner Pass.  This was the most momentous military occurrence at Brenner Pass since Hannibal and Napoleon.
 We are housed in Austrian two-story homes on the mountainside above the city of Innsbruck - probably the most luxurious in our whole campaign.  It is sunny out and the view of the city, green valley, river and snow-capped mountains is beautiful.  Rode down to town on a cable car trolley.  Down onto the wide streets of Innsbruck.  Large apartment houses patriotically flew the Austrian flag.  Did see some destruction and piles of rubble - but more intact than Worms or Heilbraun.

 The railroad depot and yards were really hard hit.  I walked in areas where there were few G.I.'s and civilians stood and stared.  Visited an unscathed tall-spired church (much gold in decorations).  Across the Inn River I found the Adolph Hitler Platz - attached to a domed cathedral!  The Reichsgaultheatre was boarded up.  Took the trolley up a 45 degree climb back to C.P.  I was ready for chow, mail and good news that the entire German Army Group (which included the German 19th Army) will surrender unconditionally.  The terms were effected at the Innsbruck City Hall nearby.  It shouldn't last long now!  On duty all evening.

 On May 5, 1945, at Innsbruck, there was the surrender of the German 19th Army which had resisted the U.S. 7th Army from its Southern France invasion, north through central France where the 103d  Division joined the conflict, east through Alsace into Germany and through the Siegfried Line, south through Bavaria and into Austria and Italy.  There was still some fighting in Czechoslovakia, but the Germans had been defeated.

 There was a formal surrender by the German High Command to the Allied Supreme Command at Rheims, France on May 8,1945.

 Prime Minister of Britain Churchill announced a V-E (Victory in Europe) day and then on May 9,1945, Britain, Russia, and the United States announced an official end to the war in Europe at 0001 (1 minute past midnight) May 9, 1945.

OUR MEN: DONLAN - Sunday, May 6, 1945 - Innsbruck in Tyrolean Alps
 After French toast we unloaded our supply truck, getting ready for a long stay here.  I took a cable car ride up the mountain with two British war correspondents (very British).  The ride took 10 minutes and we were high above the ground at times.  At the top was the winter sports resort hotel, Seegrube.  Champion Austrian skiers use this area.  At 7,200 ft. the snow was deep and soft.  Looked down on many towns in this prosperous valley.  We cleaned out our duffel and barracks bags and threw out lots.

 Monday, May 7, 1945 - Word passing that we are near the end of the war in Europe.  We're cleaning out all our equipment and the trucks also after the long journey to Innsbruck.  Took the trolley down to the dentist at Eugene Strasse (special troops).  Busses and street cars are running again.  Trains crawl along mountain cliffs and bridges.  Now we hear that the war's end will be in Rheims, France tomorrow, but President Truman hasn't declared the end yet.

 Tuesday, May 8, 1945 - VE Day - The news of the German surrender should be accepted with great joy, and celebration - but G.I.'s are taking it in stride, possibly because they are thinking of the job in the Pacific, or possibly because it is hard to believe after so many years of war.  I don't know - but it's great news!  Duty just like any other day as we keep up our Division and Regimental communications.  We worked at putting the Motor Pool in first class condition after the long haul down from Bensheim in the Rhineland.  We also cleaned up our radio sets for remote operation.  After 2-6 p.m. duty, I went to a meeting for Radio Section in "J" Area.  Announcements on laundry and other services were made.  Went to a movie at night, "A Song To Remember", on life of Chopin.  Good, but too sleepy to enjoy.
 

OUR MEN: "SMITTY"
 On a warm, sunny afternoon, the 8th, the BC342 radio in the truck announced VE Day and the signing of the treaty at Reims, France.  QM Captain Porter, his people and attached signal troops threw a party.  Pairs of disbelieving eyes watched Porter march down the barracks hall singing and beating a big German drum!

 The silence of peace was strange to the ear and many found it difficult to believe that no front existed.  Lurking beneath the hilarity were some reminders that Asia and the Pacific War still was being waged... visions of repair, set up in a Japanese tavern, were difficult to conjure.

 The good fortune of the repair section during the past several months was probably fortuitous and undeserved.  In all the time since Docelles, to my knowledge, a guard was posted but once... the first night.  In all that time the weapons were removed from their rack in the SAR but once... they were hastily sought when someone shouted that parachutists were dropping nearby.  It was repair's good fortune again that they were Americans who had bailed out of a disabled plane and not seasoned German airborne!

OUR MEN: DONLAN - Wednesday, May 9, 1945 - Victory Parade
 The 103rd Division passed in review for civilians and military on the River Road Drive.  The higher brass looked military and stern.  Parts of the Regiments passed after the band, then a Task Force, then attached units such as Artillery with their 105's and 155's, then the 614th T.D.'s, 781 and 761st Tank Battalions.  A hot day for a celebrated parade.

 And so, the long journey from Camp Howze to Innsbruck ended after a long train and boat ride and memorable Marseilles landing and commitment to combat at St. Diè.  The long, frustrating winter in Alsace and the Vosges gave way to the fast- moving spring on the Rhine and dash down through Bavaria and the Austrian Alps.  Although we don't know what's ahead as far as the Pacific War is concerned, we in the Signal Company were greatly relieved to have the European chapter over with and a chance to relax a bit in the summer of 1945 in a pretty fair location in scenic Austria.  Mail caught up with us and our thoughts turned to home as we added up our points for discharge (or not) according to the new Army formula for this matter.  My buddies in Radio all wondered with me where we were headed?

OUR MEN: "SMITTY"
 On May 12th, repair moved to Innsbruck, Austria, a tourist-type playground with a backdrop of majestic peaks.  Bronzed, friendly civilians wore Tyrolean garb and modern European dress.  Red and white banners greeted arriving troops.  One large banner announced "WELCOME IN AUSTRIA".  Troops were billeted in various places in the city.

 Repair moved into a modern farmhouse at 60 Amras Strasse.  It was owned by Josef Folderauer who lived at his gasthaus on Pradlerstrasse.  The SARs (Small Arms Repair trucks) were backed up to the house which was divided up into storage for gear and living quarters.  An all-electric bath and kitchen was found on each of the three floors.  This was to be our house until 3 July.

 A new sound truck was acquired and a trip to still another signal dump provided piles of Italian equipment.  Not only was the new truck equipped with a tandem amplifier and four gigantic loudspeakers, but the theater downtown was the beneficiary of Sgt. GRANT's largest amplifier system.  Beyond this, Captain BECK wanted to bring all his people within range of his voice, so his company area was provided with sound and, not to be outdone, the commanding general (or so I was told) required a sound system for the Division command post on some hill overlooking the river.

OUR MEN: ROREM
 By late April 1945 we were in Austria and the Alps Mountains.  We passed through Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Seefeld on the way to Innsbruck.  When the war ended on May 8, 1945 we were in Innsbruck, staying in private homes.  The Signal Company operated the central telephone exchange in the city rather than running our own lines.

 While in Innsbruck I remember a day trip to Bolzano, Italy through the Brenner Pass, a cable car ride to a skiing resort above Innsbruck, and sitting in the cockpit of a German ME 262 jet fighter plane.  Innsbruck was a nice city which was almost undamaged by the war.  I think we stayed in a home at 68 Gump Strasse.

OUR MEN: WALDRON
 When we arrived at Innsbruck and the war ended, there was a period of garrison duty and just time filling.  Some of the guys were able to get away on organized "truck trips" to other places. I went with BERMAN AND FADER (with Barclay?)  over the Brenner pass into northern Italy.  The was some damage there at Bolzano but the war really had been wearing down by the time the 5th Army came up into that area and so there had been a somewhat peaceful transition - so "Orderly" in fact that there were still some bars and gathering places that had signs indicating that they were reserved for the use of the German soldiers that were stuck there waiting for a way to get home!.....

OUR MEN: TOM BROWN
 We had crossed the Blue Danube at Ulm; gone through Ober Ammergau of the Passion Play fame, which depicted the life of Christ, on through Garmisch- Partenkirchen, the famous winter resort of wealthy Europeans and on into Innsbruck, Austria.

 The Germans surrendered.  With the war over the Army started thinking about recreation.  It was Spring and baseball time.  An Army bulldozer skinned off the top of a suitable field, to an Austrian farmer's anguish; a backstop was built; bases were installed and player's were invited to try out.  My mouth watering, I signed up knowing full well that I would make the team as I was on the old team.  Alas, it was not to be as the war with Japan awaited.  Those GI's with not enough points to get out of the Army were reassigned to other divisions for shippment to the States, then Japan.  Now the guys who kidded Sgt. BROWN about his purple heart were really jealous because that gave him five extra points!

OUR MEN: BECK - Austria  9 June 1945.
 When the seventh army rolled thru [sic] Germany they liberated many thousands of people from concentration and labor camps.  Some of these "displaced persons" (DP's as they are called) attached themselves to Army units to work in messes and other duties for the price of assured eating.  The Signal Company picked up a few in this manner, also.  They work in our mess as KP's, thus eliminated a KP roster made up of the men from the company.  Two of these DP's work in the officer's mess.  They are all hard workers doing anything they are told.  About three of the DP's are Jews; one each Hungarian, Polish and Russian.  In my initial interview with these people for screening purposes, I had to know what camps they were in, their family background, education and general information of that nature to determine their integrity, honesty and medical history.

 I have seen a number of concentration and labor camps (a labor camp is called "a lager").  By contact with the DP's I have a fairly comprehensive knowledge and realization of what went on.  By actually seeing, hearing and talking to men who underwent all these cruelties, Roz, I have found that the resultant understanding and feelings are relatively different from that which you read in a magazine article or see in the newspaper.  It is not a story that someone wrote and I (or you) am reading it back home.  I am, instead, experiencing it first hand.
 

 Two of the boys are now 18 years old.  They were placed in the Levant Organization when they were 15.  For three years they were molded into fighting units.  Units that were being prepared to fight against the allies.  They are Hungarian and escaped shortly before the war ended.

 There are three that have been with us since Bidigen, Germany.  Then they were frightened - scared of something.  In stripped pants and tunic they were skinny, drawn and had all the indications of malnutrition.  These three are starting to look good now.  All have put on a little weight and their skin is smoother, rather than the parched, drawn layer of epidermis that resembled shoe leather that has been worn out.

 Ernst is one of the three.  He is a Hungarian - Jew.  He is 23 years old.  He has been in six concentration camps and it has been only sheer fate that he is alive today.  He was in Dachau - one of the worst concentration camps of all.  He said that here 5,000,000 (that figure is five million, make no mistake about it) Jews were burnt [sic] to death over a period of 6 years in 12 human ovens.  I have seen the ovens, he spoke about, at Buchenwald.  Ernst has been beat up so many times that it was like exercise after while.  He is blond with blue eyes.  His hair is close cropped in crew fashion.  Somewhere along the line he picked up a college education.
 He is very intelligent, very sharp and quick to pick up words in the English language.  He has no relatives and all his family have been killed, so until we go somewhere he is content to work in the kitchen.

   Boris is 20.  He was put in the Lublin camp because he didn't believe in Nazism.  He is Russian.  He is a big husky champ with wavy blond hair and great big hands.  He looked like an overgrown skeleton when I first saw him around Shongau.  His muscles are gradually taking shape and eventually he'll look like a full-back on a college team.  He speaks German with a Russian accent so I have a hard time understanding him.  After Lublin, Boris hit the circuit of four more concentration camps.  His big hands show the scars where he has been knifed and mauled.  He smiles through a set of broken white teeth when he describes how he escaped from one set of SS guards.

 There are more, but, their experiences border on the same brutal, gruesome, hideous and unbelievable happenings.  These are those that are left from the many millions that were killed in the slaughter houses of Europe.  The Roman empire was a side show to the 20th century rape of Europe and Hannibal was a minor leaguer compared with Adolph Hitler, Vidkun Quisling, Julius Streicher and the hosts of collaborators.

 Europe, because of them, is a continent in ruins.  Its countries torn apart; its cities a graveyard of rubble and dead and stink; its people starving, confused, lost.

OUR MEN: BECK - AUSTRIA  12 June 1945
 There was a ration issue today of one bottle of Coca-Cola per man.  That is a treat.  It brought so many memories to everyone.

 Today I donned coveralls and spent the day in my motor shop with my mechanics.  Having the responsibility for so many vehicles kind of makes me feel uneasy when I am not an automotive engineer.  It is a good thing that I have such a good Motor Officer - Mr. St.CIN.  I wound up my day by painting all the letters on my own jeep with [Robert] SHELDON [Captain BECK's jeep driver] standing around and commenting on the steady hand I displayed.  He wanted to know where I got such a steady hand.

[Andy Beck note:  Captain Beck was well qualified to letter on his jeep.  Before being drafted in 1941, he had worked for five years as a calligrapher.]

OUR MEN: "SMITTY"
 Furloughs and passes became more numerous... trips to England, Paris, Switzerland and Italy were afforded, according to rank and influence.  More impressive was the determined and efficient fraternization... one might say it became an art form.  Access to company stores of steaks, coffee and sugar didn't hurt either... further testimony to the fact that rank had privilege.

 I finally managed a one-day pass to Bolzano, Italy, south of Brenner Pass.  I had hoped for one that would have allowed me to go to Verona to meet with a friend in a T&T repair unit, but it was not to be; moreover, violating a pass so close to the end was, for me, beyond consideration.

 MONTHLY REPORT OF ADMINISTRATION AND SUPPLY ACTIVITIES
 103D DIVISION SIGNAL COMPANY - 1 MAY - 10 MAY 1945

  Supply and administration of the company continued unabated through the Alpine Regions.  We occupied only two command posts from 2 May to 10 May.

  At the close of the war in Europe on 9 May 1945, the Signal Company was sitting high above the city of Innsbruck, Austria on the north mountain range.

  A number of days prior to the war's close found us in a fairly stabilized position.  This afforded all personnel an opportunity to perform some much needed maintenance.

  Many lessons on supply and administration of a signal company in combat were learned by all personnel concerned.

  The first two days of May, 1945, saw the 103d Signal Company continue its installation and operation of division communications as the final Allied drive carried us into the heart of Austria.

   The junction with the Fifth Army at Brenner Pass and the complete surrender of the Germans on official V-E Day found the 103d Signal Company in Innsbruck, Austria, a very fitting setting in which to end a campaign during which they had furnished complete and efficient communi cation facilities for the 103d Division and attached elements through the rugged snow-covered Vosges, across the Rhine Plain, and into the Siegfried Line in November and early December of 1944; then through the Siegfried Line, across the Rhine River, Southern Germany, Austria, and into Italy in the first four months and five days of 1945.

  The fact that a sizeable portion of this communication network was constructed, operated, and maintained through some of the roughest terrain in Continental Europe is a credit to the ingenuity, initiative, and aggressive ness of the entire Signal Company personnel.

  1.  The activities of the 103d Division Signal Office for the above men tioned period consisted for the most part in making of additional installations to the Division wire net for the purpose of serving various branches of Military Government units and service elements of the Seventh Army.  Automatic private branch exchanges on the premises were reopened and utilized to further facilitate communications of some of these units.

  2.  Local native cable splicing crews were organized and started on the rehabilitation of tall cables in the Innsbruck area.  These crews were later turned over to the supervision of VI Corps for the purpose of reconstructing lines for use of Corps and Army.

  3.  Under the supervision of the 103d Signal Company Radio Officer, a radio code school, constructed from captured German equipment and other improvised materials, was established.  Twenty positions were installed to be used for a refresher course for present operators as well as training new operators as requested by various units.

  4.  An exceptionally heavy traffic load was thrown on the switchboard operators because of the large number of units in the immediate vicinity of Innsbruck that could be served most conveniently through the facilities of the Fame switchboard.  This traffic load reached a peak of 4,000 calls for a twenty-four hour period.
 (Note: Fame was the code name for the forward Division Switchboard during the war.)

  5.  The local commercial exchange consisting of approximately 4500 working lines was closed down on orders of Seventh Army on 21 May 1945.  Only those lines essential to the functions of the City and Gau ??? Military detachments were left in operation.

  6.  Commercial wire and cable were utilized to the fullest extent for all installations to conserve field wire in keeping with Seventh Army policy.
 

 The war in the Pacific is still in progress and the plan for movement of troops from Europe to the Pacific had now been announced. Men with sufficient service already, will be transferred into veteran units and discharged.  Most of our men will be assigned to units that will move back through the United States, have a few days at home, and be shipped toward Japan.

 Members of the 103d Infantry Division and other units that had been engaged for less than a year would most likely be sent to the Pacific to help defeat Japan.

 It was not a pleasant prospect, but before that happened there would be a period of re-organizing, re-training, refinement, etc. of the free spirited troops.  The 'Official Records' for the period show those painful processes.

OUR MEN: BECK - AUSTRIA  19 June 1945 - ...the job of a company commander takes more out of a guy than anything else.  And I have commanded this outfit almost two years.  That's a long time to be shackled with the responsibility of 300 men.

 23 June 1945 - If you recall I mentioned having moved the Company to a better spot in town about a month ago...  When the war ended I made up my mind that I was going to get the very best for my men that was in Innsbruck. [sic]  As far as living quarters are concerned they didn't have it better in the States.  I took over the most exclusive residential area (that wasn't bombed out) in Innsbruck, routed out all the civilians and moved the men in.

 Lt. SNELSON is my new SSO (Special Services Officer) and Sydney has already stood half the town on its ear in his quest for entertainment for the men.  Well, you know Snelson.  He has to do all or nothing at all.  That's OK, I like that.  It is the only way to get anything accomplished.  He has promised to have some kind of a show every night for the men.  Special Service activities are the most important thing to the men in a position such as this one.  There is no place to go and no one, except themselves, that they are permitted to talk to.

 It isn't the way it was in the States when a man could take off on a pass and have a wonderful time in Dallas or Fort Worth.  As a result of the delicate situation we have to bring some form of entertainment to the soldier.  During duty hours we have orientation and educational classes that a man attends voluntarily.  There are several athletic functions, to include swimming.  During off duty hours we have movies and any stage show we can get.  The men in the Signal Company are usually pretty busy taking care of the communication system to have much time for anything else.  It's the off duty hours that present the real problem.

 Bob Gill had been taken out of action some months before and rejoined the Signal Company in Innsbruck.  All of us were glad to see him again - he was one of the favorite leaders of the company with a great spirit.

OUR MEN: GILL
.....Our next couple of moves ultimately landed us back in the Moder river area for what proved to be the winter-holding area.  We wound up in Ringendorf, but for some time before arriving there I had a pretty good case of the winter blahs or something.  The something proved to be infectious hepatitis, so I was evacuated for what I had been told by the regimental medical officer would be "two or three days".  That proved to be the misstatement of the century, as I barely got out of the hospital in England before VE Day.  Slow trips through replacement depots to rejoin the outfit in Innsbruck and a short stay there before joining the 5th Division.

OUR MEN:COLLINS
 You know the rest of my story until the shooting stopped from my previous notes... I had 580 rotation points, so I came back to France to fly home and be discharged. I finally came back by ship two months after most of the other men of the division had been discharged.

         SUPPLY AND ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES - 10 - 31 MAY 1945

  1.  Upon the cessation of hostilities in the European Theater, the administration of the 103d Signal Company increased in activity considerably.  Problems dealing with welfare, supply, training and recreation of the men were encountered and successfully solved.
  2.  On 12 May 1945 the company moved to a better location in Innsbruck, Austria.  The facilities available to the personnel in this location were as follows:
  a.  Every man had a bed with clean sheets.
  b.  Each group of six (6) to twelve (12) men had their private bathroom and living room.
  c.  Electrically heated water system.
  d.  Signal Company Theater with a seating capacity of 820 men.
      Shows and moving pictures were shown twice each night.
  e.  Signal Company bar completely G.I. operated.
  f.  Tailor shop, Film developing shop, Barber shop.
  g.  Post Exchange, Restaurant.
  h.  Public Address and Broadcast system.

  The duties of the company included normal operations for the division communication network plus regular garrison training.  Schedules were made up each week.  Included on these schedules were such activities as dismounted drill, daily motor stables, Saturday morning inspection and varied subjects under the I and E program such as:
  a.  Current Events.
  b.  Your Job in Germany.
  c.  Two Down and One to Go.
  d.  Bill of Rights
  e.  Guided I and E tours to various parts of Germany and Austria.

  A showdown inspection of all clothing was held during the period.  All shortages were accounted for and placed on requisition.

  A complete control room was installed in the orderly room building.  Recorded programs were arranged and transcribed over approximately thirty-five (35) loudspeakers within the company area.  Radio programs received over a German receiver were piped over the same speakers.  the men also put on original skits and broadcast them over the microphone installed in the control room.

     BERNARD BECK .
 

(1993 Note: Harold Rorem, "I think this is somewhat exaggerated - I don't remember seeing any of these "good" things. Maybe Capt. Beck hoped to do this! These reports to Division Headquarters officers often did contain some exaggeration, or wishful thinking.  The inspections and dismounted drill - that I can remember but none of the "good" stuff.")

(1993 Editor's note: Memory is such a fickle thing, Beck could report all of this "good" stuff as occuring within the last weeks before the report was written, Rorem, and many of the rest of us who would have REALLY noticed such benefits have no such fond recollections.)
 
 

 Our time in Innsbruck was drawing to a close.  The strategic planners now had developed a program to send the men in all  of the American armies in Europe, who had been doing the fighting for months and years, home to their families and friends.  A point system for service had been developed. Men with sufficient service will be transferred into other units and discharged.  Most of OUR MEN will be assigned to units that will move back through the United States, have a few days at home, and be shipped toward Japan.

 The first group of men to leave Innsbruck were assigned to the signal company of the 5th Infantry Division which may have been assigned to a "fast track  back through the United States and then to the Pacific war".

 The progression of events they experienced were similar to those of OUR MEN assigned to the 45th except at times they were a month or more ahead our several months behind the 45th because of various factors in the redeployment.  Most of their story will be told in the chapter, OUR MEN IN THE 5TH INFANTRY DIVISION SIGNAL COMPANY.  How and why some of the men were chosen for assignment to the 5th is not too clear after all these years.

 Some of those assigned from the Construction section were: ANANIA, NATOLI, SCUDDER, and WALDREF.

OUR MEN: EVANS
    About the end of June, I said goodbye to the 103d "Cactus" Infantry Division and to Innsbruck and headed east, eventually arriving at Vilschaffen, a town close to the Czechoslovakian border on the Danube River.  I along with other "Coolies" (members of "Buddha"  BOITOS' radio section) including Jimmy CARR, Don BENZ, Frankie APPLEBAUM, Maurice "Bud" ZINK, and Frank TULLIO, was assigned to the 5th Infantry Division Signal Company.  We had a few more days to enjoy the beautiful scenery, during which, we liberated a couple of outboard motor boats and spent a lot of time boating up and down the Danube.

   We were just marking time while other G.I.s from other units were reassigned to the 5th Division.  We took the Cactus shoulder patches off of our uniforms and replaced them with the Red Diamond of the 5th Infantry Division.
   Eventually, the rosters (of the 5th division) were full, we had been through innumerable inspections, and we were ready for the trip back to the U.S. ....

OUR MEN: SMITTY
 Rumors were rampant, points were being counted and reassignments began.  Low numbers were transferred to the 45th Signal Company, high numbers stayed in the 103d.

OUR MEN: WILK
 What happened in about June, 1945 was that the 103rd Signal Company was reorganized as the 45th Division Signal Company to include most of the officers and men of the old company. Some of the men that had belonged to the 103rd were assigned to the 5th Division Signal Company or other units. The 45th Division Signal Company was stationed near Munich, Germany - the majority of the men were moved there with most of their trucks and equipment to wait for transport to the seaports on the coast of France and embarkment for the United States and then shipment to the Pacific war.

OUR MEN: BECK - AUSTRIA  1 July 1945
 I have received confirmation on my transfer.  I am going with the rest of the company, that is those that haven't been transferred yet.  And that is the majority.  My new outfit will be the 45th Signal Company of the "Thunderbird" Division.  It is presumed that I will take over the command of the 45th Signal Company.

 Going with me will be Snelson, Butler, Hoppel, St. Cin, Tardiff and Sedensky, who has already left.  And all the men.  There won't be anyone left in the 103d that has less than 85 points.   What it really is, is a transfer of the 103d to the 45th.

 The first one to start off this business of being transferred was COL. BROWN.  He left to take a position in a Corps or Army unit.  Sergeants GRANT and FINKBEINER have gone with him. (BROWN may have become a general officer before he retired from the service.)

   Gallagher is resigning from the army.  He is 45 years old and feels he has had enough for a man of his age.  He can resign and not worry about being drafted as he is over the age limit.

 By 3 July 1945, all of the officers and men have already left the 103rd Signal Company.  That is all except Lt. Butler whose orders were changed at the last minute.  He will probably go to the replacement depot.  As it stands now, the 103rd just becomes the 45th, because that's what it actually consists of.  The only officers that were lost in the transition were Vanderby, Butler and Tucker who is in the 5th Signal Company.  It will be the same gang at the 45th.

OUR MEN: BECK - GERMANY  7 July 1945
 I am now the C.O. of the 45th Signal Company.  It doesn't feel as if I have actually been transferred.  The nearly entire roster of the 103rd has been transferred right along with me. Some of the officers and men had been transferred to the 5th Division.

 Some of the officers that were here with the 45th are all old veterans of the division, having been [in] it for a considerable period of time.  There is Lt. Col Hort, The DSO, HE HAS BEEN IN THE UNIT SINCE 1923!  The 45th Infantry Division had been active as a National Guard unit in Oklahoma between the wars.  Major Clark...... He is a rookie, only been around since 39.  Then there is Lt. Brandt, my supply officer, who hasn't been in the United States for FIVE years.  There is Lt. Haley who has been in England since I got here.  Consequently I haven't met him yet.  The other officers are those from the 103rd who I told you were transferred in with me.  Most of the officers who were here have been in no less than four invasions.  They all have an armful of overseas bars.

 The officers live in a separate quarters here.  We occupy a large home complete with all its furnishings.  Downstairs is a living room in which all the officers hang around after duty hours.  There is a radio, a comfortable couch, several soft chairs and generally looks like any living room at home.  The house takes on the appearance of one big family living in it - 17 officers to be exact.  We sleep two or three in a room.  I have a nice bedroom which I share with Lt. Brandt.  There are twin beds, dressers and night tables.  The entire premises are kept clean by orderlies.

 Bill Tucker left us in June for another unit.  I am sorry to see him go.  He's been with us since he was a Buck Private.

OUR MEN: SMITTY
 On a sad, gray, misty morning, the 3rd of July, Smitty and the other low numbers, carrying as much loot as a duffle bag would allow, boarded box cars (40 & 8s).

 About dusk of that day in the city of Munich, we left the train and boarded 45th Div. QM vehicles for the trip to Furstenfeldbruck.

 With hardly time to get into the black market, Smitty, T/4 Novotny and Nixon were sent on a detail to the concentration camp at Dachau (liberated earlier on 29 April by the 45th Division).  Our task at Dachau was to help with the transfer of 45th Signal equipment to the 7th Army.  There was time to see the crematorium, gas chamber, shooting pits, human ashes and warehouses burdened with hair and eyeglasses, and liberated prisoners still wearing their striped suits.

(1995 Editor's note:  The following descriptions of Dachau are edited excerpts of a letter that I wrote after the episode.  I have a copy of the original written on a German "teletype" typewriter the day after the trip.  For some reason, the descriptions of the positions and the physical arrangement of the buildings recorded at that time do not agree with my remembering them in logical order now.  I have no desire to add confusion or controversy to these terrible events.  These notes are my best effort toward a factual report.)

 MORE LATER - Andy Beck, who had visited DACHAU much later, indicates that my origininal observations and descriptions were probably more nearly correct.

OUR MEN: BARCLAY
 One or two of the other men (names forgotten) and I went to visit the famous Dachau concentration camp on Friday 13th. (August,1945)... Dachau was the first concentration camp built by Hitler soon after he came to power in 1933.  There still were former prisoners of that place in their emaciated bodies and distinctive broad striped clothes walking around who were willing to tell us their stories.

 When the Americans came in, they found that the Germans had been busy trying to kill off all of the prisoners in the camp and had done a very effective job of it, too.  there were about 8,000 men, women and children lying dead from different causes, and a good many others who were too weak to recover completely.  The Nazis had figured the Americans to be there about a certain time, and by then they could have killed everyone, but the Americans heard about it and sent a special tank task force to cut into the prison.  The area was filled with bodies and many more on the edge of going into the gas chamber.

 In the time of its operation, this camp had killed 135,000 people by plain and fancy methods.  They did it with insane cunning.  One of the prisoners said that for the longest time, all they had been given to eat was a beet in a gallon of water and a small loaf of bread for eight men.  If you were lucky, you might get a large piece of the beet.  At that time (1943), things were really rough around there.  The guards had instructions to beat the workers until a certain number of them could no longer stand: same principal as flunking the bottom half of high school classes.

  There was a high concrete wall around the area in the camp that contained the two different gas chambers in one building complex, the crematory and its support facilities in another building some distance away, an assortment of what appeared to be killing-by-rifle-fire ranges, housing for ferocious guard dogs, etc.

 In addition to these partially concealed facilities, Dachau contained many long, low, dreadful hutments in which the inmates  were "housed".

 The largest gas chamber contained a dressing room that led into a large shower room and it was to this place that they would bring selected men, women and children, a few at a time, and have them prepare for a shower bath.  They would equip them with a bar of soap and usher them into the "shower room".  We went into it,  The ceiling had the usual sprinkler fixtures, the walls were plain except for a small glassed-in window on one end, and floor had water and debris drains.  The horrible thing about the place was that it was a large and cleverly-engineered gas chamber.  Through the large sprinklers in the ceiling came cyanide gas and not water, and the small window on the end was for the "bath attendant" operator to look through to see when his job was completed.

The "sprinklers" had been pulled apart to show a system of sheet-metal duct-work rather than water pipe.

 In the same building with the "bathroom" there was a room that had a strong odor of death, although it had not been used for some time, more than a month.  This room was large - 20' by 30' with a ceiling 10 or 12 feet high.  When the Americans (elements of the 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions, with attached Japanese-American combat troops) first came, this room had been piled high with bodies...several hundred of them.  When the bodies were remove, many stains of blood, gore and excrement remained on the walls, floor and ceiling.  In spite of cleaning attempts, the stains, smell and horror still remained.

 In this "shower" complex there was another and most unusual and sadistic gas chamber.  It was rather small, perhaps 12' by 6' with "sealable" doors on each end of the room.  Passing through the complex doors was a steel rail similar to those in a cattle slaughter house for the transport of a carcass suspended by a metal hook.  The rail extended out of the room a sufficient distance on either end so that a row of live suspended humans that would fill the chamber could be arranged.

 The chamber could be filled with gas to complete the horrible torture and death.  There was a stencil on each end of the building there was a "chalk board" for entering the time the gas was applied and the time the chamber could be opened again.

 There did not seem to be any reason for this type of torture and killing except sadistic terror.  How often this facility was used, I have no way of knowing.  The larger "shower" chamber was probably used as much as possible, perhaps constantly.

 The crematory was in a brick building as I recall.  It had at least two ovens.  I took pictures of these. They seem to have been of exactly the same design as those found at the Buchenwald concentration-camp that have had such exposure in the press and media.

 We saw many red clay vessels very similar to a quart flower pot which contained the ash of one body.  The Nazis sold these pots of ash to the relative of the victim.  For the thousands of people that they killed who could not be made to pay further, the ashes (in large barrels) that we saw, were given to the farmers around the camp to fertilize their fields.  Some of the pure and sweet farmers claimed they knew nothing of the murder and torture, but the ashes of thousands of bodies could not have been overlooked or passed without thought.

 On some occasions, an attempt was made to identify the bodies before and after cremation.  For this purpose, a clay disk about 2" in diameter and 1/2" thick containing a series of numbers was put into the oven with the body and retrieved after the burning.  There was a large container of these, I took several and brought them back to our CP and then home with me.

 Among the several "execution-by-shooting" areas was a particularly interesting arrangement.  Those to be shot were lined up standing on a wooden grating in front of a berm that stopped the bullets, similar to those in an old fashioned meat market   Beneath the grating was a metal lined channel that collected the blood and drained it to the end of the row for collection and disposal.

 There should be no question about my feeling that the conditions and the results of this Holocaust were and still are as terrible and destructive as has been accounted in the documented records.

OUR MEN: SMITTY
 On the 15th of July we returned from Dachau to Furstenfeldbruck, to an army life that we only dimly remembered... inspections, hikes and guard duty.  It wasn't all bad, there were some weekend passes.  Those who got back to Innsbruck reported that the zone was now occupied by others and that French troops were now trading chocolate.

 On the 22 July 1945 the Division left Furstenfeldbruck.  The same day we crossed the Rhine and entered France.  By the 24th we reached a staging area known as Camp St. Louis (near Verzenay and Reims).  We lived in squad tents sprawled out on an open field for what seemed a very long (with the exception of a one-day pass to Paris) twenty-seven days.

 My only impression of the camp, besides the dust, was the appearance of dogs.  I suspect that food was one of the attractions, but human company is certainly another.

 Those of OUR MEN who had been assigned to the 5th Infantry Signal Company had moved fairly rapidly from Innsbruck toward the Staging Areas and Port of Embarkation at La Havre, France. They will be at times days, weeks or months ahead or behind the men in the 45th Signal Company as we were being processed as individuals or as groups.

 45TH DIVISION SIGNAL COMPANY, FURSTENFELDBRUCK, GERMANY
        INCOMPLETE  ROSTER

  Capt. Beck   Lt. Sedensky  Lt. Snelson Lt. Haley
  Lt. Sweeney   Lt. Delany  Lt. Brandt
  W.O. Hoppel   W.O. Tardiff  W.O. St. Cin

  T/Sgt Frazier   Pfc Abshire  Ifkovich
  S/Sgt Brown   Barclay  Koen        Sgt. Morgan   Diedrich  Berman Leggett     Emerick   Biebel   McPeek Fader                                          Donlan    Rorem   Johnson, R. Blake     Rassdale   Lee    Burchenal Will     Bush    Sprague  McLeay Decker
           Best    Louchart  Hilliard Maddox                                   Lemon    Kaufman  Gardina Delmar     Larsen    Royce   Little   Geiger
  T/4 Chaffee   O'Hara  Gomez,m Lazarz              Patterson   Hernandez  Lett  Swierzewski                             Gerey    Meluso   Wistar  Mackey
  Cpl. Cobb   Wohgeschaffen, Griffen  T/5 Schlosserb     Buttner    Stacey   Marshall  Fedon                              Platz    Broadhurst  Fowler  Mingoia
  Brooks    Matusik  Graves  Bull     Matricardi   Burke   Dortman McElroy                    Ford    Ellis   Moritz   Klinger                              Murray   Smith   Ford  Naney`                               Stender   Schmidt   Tillman Smith               Viola    English  Walling Skeene               Hardage   Mistasek

 There may have been additional men in the 45th Signal Company whose names are unfortunately not included for some reason.  The basic roster of only about 100 enlisted men was supplied by GENE NANEY in addition to other information for this period of time.  Most of these men were transferred from the 103d.  A very few of them were men assigned to the 45th before we arrived.  This listing does not indicate the differences.
 

OUR MEN: NANEY
 I was one of the truck drivers in the convoy that left the Furstenfeldbruck area headed west toward France and the assembly camps that would prepare us for our return to the United States for a brief rest period before being sent to the Pacific battles. There is some talk that we may bypass the USA, go through the Panama Canal, and straight toward the final conflict in Japan.

 I was given a strip map of the proposed trip.  After the war, I sent that and some other information on to Barclay for the book he is trying to write.  We passed through some of the countryside in which the battles following the Normandy invasion forces had pushed the Germans eastward.  There was considerable devastation and confusion highly visible.  Also there, after all of these years, were signs of the WWI - especially around Verdun where there may have been an effort at preservation.

 Our route: Furstenfeldbruck, Landstuhl, Homburg, Saarbrucken, Forbach, St Avold, Metz, Gravelotte, Verdun, Ste Menehould, Leg de Romaine, Mourmelon (Camp St. Louis), and Rheims nearby.
 
 

OUR MEN: DONLAN
 In August 1945 many of us from the 103d Division had been transferred into the 45th Thunderbird Division and were awaiting new assignments at Camp Lucky Strike in Northern France - near Rheims.  We were in large tents with the sides rolled up and uncomfortable in the August heat.  R&R consisted of large outdoor movies at night, some temporary USO's, and passes to Rheims and Paris (by hitchhiking rides).

OUR MEN: BECK - FRANCE  29 July 1945
 Since Paris was the only place I missed in all my wanderings and since I had to see the place before I left the continent, I jumped at the opportunity when Maj. Clark told me to take off for a couple of days in my jeep.  I took Mr. St. CIN with me and Capt. Reardon also came along.  Naturally, with the jeep comes SHELDON.  Paris is 120 miles from Reims.
 I am staying at the Independence Club for Officers run by the American Red Cross.  It is located on one end of the Place de la Concorde.  All expenses are paid for by the Red Cross, including meals.  Not bad, eh?

 FRANCE  7 August, 1945 - The system of redeployment here in the ETO works something like this:  Units that are alerted are brought in from all parts of Europe to one of the many assembly area camps where they are processed either for return to the US or direct shipment to the CBI (China, Burma, India combat area).  I happen to be in Camp St. Louis.  When they are processed and shipping facilities are available at the ports, they (the unit) are sent to a staging area, which is located near the POE.  [port of embarkation]  Further processing takes place at the staging area.  This is mostly for the movement to and on the ships.  The stay in the staging area is a matter of a few days.  When all that business is completed and you are on a ship you are all set.

OUR MEN: BECK - FRANCE  9 August 1945
 Today was the day that we all have been spending long discussions on the merits of this atomic bomb that was launched against Japan.  Wow! what a bomb!  It is very fortunate that the development of this massive destructive power was by the United States and not some foreign country.  Just think of what that bomb can do in conquering the world.

 FRANCE  11 August '45 - Our (primary) medium of news is the Stars and Stripes which is hungrily read and re-read.  That is the only daily current newspaper we get.  But it is a good one.  (We do get some radio reports from various Armed Forces Radio stations, that distribution of news is a "sometimes thing.)

 My wishes and plans of the future are the same as any American G.I.  I want a world to live, which is secure and safe for my wife and I to raise our little family.  I want a fair chance to make a living  - and my abilities and ambition will take care of the rest.  I want to return, permanently, soon so that I can get started and not to be too old to grow up with my children.

 FRANCE  14/16 August 45 - Snelson is all ready to take a discharge.  Yes, believe it or not, Sydney is as fed up with the army as I am and all the rest.

... I like the 45th so much more than the 103rd for many reasons.  There is so much more spirit.  Their ways of doing things are far superior to anything the 103rd attempted to do and with less fuss and bother.  As you recall the 103rd was full of "chicken".  This division is not.  I am actually sorry that I wasn't in the 45th all the time.  By that I am not referring to their combat time.  Hell no!  The 45th has 511 days in combat whereas the 103rd has about 250.

OUR MEN: SMITTY
 On the 20th of August we departed Camp St. Louis to arrive the following day at Camp Phillip Morris, near LeHavre.  The rows of tents were indistinguishable from Camp St. Louis... the dogs were there, too.  I recall that the song, Sentimental Journey (the Les Brown/Doris Day version), must have been played over and over... to this day I am transported back to that camp when I hear the song.

OUR MEN: BECK - Staging Area  Le Havre, France  22 August 1945
 I might endeavor to describe the medium of transportation known here as a railway.  No one really minded it.  It was a most interesting experience.  The trains in use are those that transported Napoleon the Third's troops to battle in the Franco-Prussian War around the year 1860.  The soldiers then had the same sense of humor that our boys have today.  This was evidenced by the marks cut in to the wooden seats.  Even the 1918 soldiers complained as to the antiquity of the trains.  Their remarks are also in evidence.

 The seats were of wood and there were no windows in any of the cars.  Where windows were supposed to be signified that it was first class travel.  The lesser fortunate souls rode the "40 x 8" which was more comfortable since one could stretch ones legs out their entire length.  A "40 x 8" has no glass to be blown out.  This proved to be the better mode of train travel.  The only time it got rough was when it rained.  Then the little drops (about like a balloon) would fly in to the cars.  Need I say that it rained all the time?  It did.

OUR MEN: BARCLAY
 The railroad trip from Camp St. Louis to Camp Philip Morris, near LeHavre, was a long, slow drag!  After one of the stops for feeding at a mobile kitchen and mess facility. We used our own mess kits and their hot garbage cans in which to wash them.  Toward the end of the day, I began to think about the all night travel period in the train cars with their hard wooden, straight backed, cramped and crowded bench seats. that would follow before we reached our next stop.  As the companies were beginning to form up in ranks preparing to re-board the train, across the rather open spaces of the railroad yard I saw a rather small building, that may have contained switching gear or something else.

 I was attracted to the possibilities of using the door of that building as a platform for sleeping. On an impulse, I left the loosely forming ranks and went across the rail yard to examine the possibilities.  My movement did not seem to be too alarming.  Examination of the door indicated that a bold, aggressive force would remove it from its hinges.  A few yanks and twists, proved it was possible.

 Still emboldened by my success, I started back to my place in the forming ranks. There still was not too much concern being shown by our officers or "non-coms" until I was standing there among the  "real soldiers" with a two foot wide and five foot long door tucked under my arm.

 For about half an hour there was some semi-good natured bantering, etc., but no intimidation or orders "Git rid of that there door or whatever to Hell it is!".  It was only when the actual loading started that there was some murmuring and/or bitching by some of my mean spirited buddies as we struggled to get aboard and down the aisles to our predetermined places.

 I put the door up above the bench seats, supported by their high wooded backs.  With just a minimum of spare clothes for a mattress, I was able to spend a partially restful night.

 I have no idea why this wild and crazy display of lack of military-bearing succeeded.  It is possible it was so unusual and unexpected that no one chose to question it.

OUR MEN: BECK - [Camp Philip Morris] Le Havre, France  23 August 1945
 The Signal Company is parked over on the side of the officer's tents where the boys while away their time playing cards, passing on rumors, eating and spending the balance of their time sleeping.  I have always felt rather close to my signal company.  Like a mother hen brooding over her chickens.  Besides realizing my responsibility as the C.O. I feel a certain pride in them.  Most of them were with me in the 103rd.  I brought them up from green recruits, took them overseas and then through combat.  Some I lost, some got wounded the rest wound up in the 5th Division.  The bulk are here with me now waiting to go back to the U.S.  A guy doesn't forget things like that.

OUR MEN: SMITTY
 The war (with Japan) ended on 2 September.  VJ Day eased the tension somewhat... these low-numbered people might have to occupy Japan, but they wouldn't have to attack its fortifications.  On the next day a QM company moved the 45th to the LeHavre docks, right beside the Madawaska Victory.  I was already seasick, but cheerful.

 The ship pulled out of a foggy harbor the next morning, past scuttled hulls, eventually past a far-off shore that I was told was Wales.  For the next seven days there were no storms.

 By this time I had learned how to suppress that queasy feeling... I violated the rules that forbade troops from entering the crew's area... I toasted my bread in their toaster at each meal.  It made a difference, I thought.  Maybe it was nothing more than the act of violating the rules that provided a remedy.

 But, about the time we were off the Plymouth Lighthouse of Southern England, the ship p.a. system blared out "change of orders".  We will be proceeding to Boston immediately, disembarkation there, and probable discharge for those with enough points.

 Immediately, bedlam broke out - wild cheering, tossing of hats, gas masks, etc. in the air, and not a few went overboard!  The ship literally rocked with joy.

 Now celebrations broke out all over the ship, and bottles of French vino and cognac were popped.  Big -- really big -- crap and poker games built up real large pots (we were recently paid).  Bill  BALLANTINE, John CARLSON, other members of former 103d Signal Company and I celebrated on what was a much more enjoyable trip than the one going over.

OUR MEN: SMITTY
 A pea soup fog hung over Cape Cod on the 11th of September, but the USA eventually appeared.  A boat load of WACs approached our vessel.  We didn't capsize when everyone clambered to one rail.  We disembarked at a dock in Boston Harbor, and moved to Camp Miles Standish.  There, the fastest all-night processing imaginable had us on board appropriate trains to all parts of the USA on the following day.  There were goodbyes to CARVER, KUHLENSCHMIDT, NOVOTNY, CHURILLA and Captain BECK.
 

(1995 Editor's note:  Capt. Beck's letters home contained much detailed and interesting information about the last days of the 45th Division Signal Company, and the remnants of the 103d.  Much of the procedure outlined would also apply to OUR MEN in the 5th Division.  Andy Beck, one of Bernie's two sons, as mentioned earlier, has made this information available to us.)

OUR MEN: BECK
 When you return to the US, you are all first embarked at a POE and sent to a reception center near to said POE.  There all the administrative details concerning furloughs, leaves, orders and shipping of records are taken care of by the unit itself.  Then all the personnel are broken down into reception center groups according to where they will spend their period of rest and recuperation.  The separation center that I will go to will be Fort Dix.  At the separation center we receive our leave orders and go to our homes at government expense.  Of course in my case, the government expense is a laugh since Dix is only 65 miles from Brooklyn.  Snelson will also go to Dix.

 Then we take our 30 day rest period.  Following the leave we return to the same place that gave us our leave orders and then we receive new orders telling us where to report to our unit.  That will be our new unit station like coming off maneuvers.  All this traveling around is at government expense.

 The army was OK for all the regular army people during peace time, but, after going through [a] stretch of a war-time army for five years the average regular army man feels that he has had enough of it.  I am on my fifth year (how well I know it) and I had enough of playing soldier a long time ago.  Only there were times I would not call it play.

(1995 Editor's note:  There were very few "Regular Army" officers or men involved in fighting WWII.  Those few had serial numbers designating them members of "The United States Army".  Most of millions of men who entered the service during that period of rapid expansion of our military units just prior to the entrance of the United States into WWII were in the "Army of the United States" and had serial numbers designating them as draftees or "volunteers" - those who joined before being drafted!

 With very few exceptions, the dedication and effectiveness of all the officers and men was excellent.)

OUR MEN: BECK - Camp Bowie, Texas  6 November 1945
 This is different than combat where there was a new gripping story to tell each day.  The story going on now is merely the carving of the epitaph on the monument that will bury the 45th Division in the realms of all the other great combat outfits.  Amen.

... going over the records and history of a unit that has been in operation and combat as long as this one has.  In the still gloom of the afternoon setting with no one other than a few disinterested clerks, the pages of many battles and many places, names and pictures and personal little histories of bygone and present soldiers unfold before an eye that is only critical of getting rid of superfluous items.  Those items that have no world quaking significance and are only valuable to the individual concerned are sent to that individual to the last address that could be found in the books.  If the man is dead or missing we send it to his nearest kin.

 All day long I have been following up the exploits of the 45th Division in invasion of Sicily, Italy, Southern France.  Went through the hell that was Anzio Beachhead and stormed across France, Germany and Austria.  The men who lived through that life are now scattered throughout the world with their memories of the 45th Division tucked neatly and safely away in their minds and in little souvenirs that will help them to better remember the flaming fire of World War II.  Some don't need any souvenirs, they have them right on their bodies - or in their minds.

 To me it's deactivating the 103rd.  When the transfer was made back in Germany and Austria everything went, including the records.  Those same records are here now in combination with the 45th.  I have come across correspondences of men that were years old.  Men that I have lost all track of.

 Camp Bowie, Texas  10 November 1945 - This seems to be the season for farewell banquets.  Practically every unit here on the post is having some sort of shindig; both to expend the money in the unit funds and to have a get together with last remaining members of the organization.

 Camp Bowie, Texas  14 November 1945 - The men of the Signal Company (those that are here) had voted for a complete stag affair.  We had a real steak dinner with plenty of beer.  They wanted to sit down after the meal and play cards or generally talk among themselves.  The setting was the entire country club located in the Lake Brownwood State Park.

 The boys sat around after the meal and drank or played cards or talked among themselves on every subject imaginable.  The war was refought [sic] a dozen times.  Every man was miscast in his role as a soldier during the war.  They all could have done much better than the generals - to hear them talk.The party cost $350.00 which should just about deplete the Unit Fund.  Their "farewell to arms";salutes, details and the straight talk was a rousing success with a finale that wound up with two men carting St. Cin home!

Camp Bowie, Texas  17 November 1945
 The signal company should be ready for deactivation during the early part of this coming week.  On the date we become deactivated there shouldn't be more than a half dozen men who are clerks and are not eligible for discharge anyway.  They and what ever officers are left will be transferred to the division headquarters company to work there until further disposition.  There should be about four officers left to go to headquarters.  These officers will probably be St Cin and Tardiff who are taking care of leading the men around who are being sent to different units or being discharged.  St Cin is eligible for discharge.

 Another officer who will probably remain is Snelson.  He will act as a personnel officer for this special troops regiment.  Since he is not going anywhere special and since he is angling for a job with a signal battalion on the post, he also wants to be around here until the very end.  The last officer is myself.

 Sydney Snelson has finally made up his mind on exactly what to do.  He is going to take the discharge and at the conclusion of the terminal leave he is going to re- enlist as a Master Sergeant.

 Right now there is plenty to do.  Once the processing ball starts rolling, it won't be too bad.    The objectives for the division now is to receive the men coming back and either transfer or discharge them according to their point score.

  After the last man is discharged (or transferred) the company ceases to exist.

 The men of the 45th Signal Company who had arrived at Boston on 11 September 1945 in the late afternoon, after the very brief reception ceremonies at the dock had boarded trains to be sent to Camp Miles Standish in the nearby countryside.  As we passed through the back areas of the cities, as most railroads do, we were cheered and saluted by little groups of people on their back porches and at the railroad crossing points.

 After a few brief days, or hours in some cases for those who lived close by, we were sent to bases close to our homes by trains, buses and airplanes for processing before being allowed to go home for 45 day furloughs.  Most of us had orders to report to Camp Bowie in south Texas near Brownsville.

 Apparently, there was some variation in the military installations to which a few men returned after their furloughs as evidenced by the record of SMITTY, ROREM, etc.

OUR MEN: ROREM
 In July 1945, most of the men in the 103rd Division were transferred to the 5th or the 45th Divisions, which were scheduled to go to the Pacific.  I went to the 45th Division, which was sent to Camp St. Louis near Mourmelon, France and then to Camp Philip Morris near Le Havre.  The war in the Pacific ended while we were in Camp St. Louis.  We boarded the Madawaska Victory Ship in Le Havre and returned to Camp Miles Standish in Boston, Massachusetts.  With the war over, we spend a 45-day furlough at home and most were discharged after returning to Camp Bowie, Texas.  I was discharged from Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis on February 21, 1946 after spending two months in Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas.

OUR MEN: WALDRON
 When the 103d was broken up, I was sent to the 45th Division Signal Company with most of the men of the 103d. We were stationed near Munich for several months.......

 Came back to the USA with the 45th and landed at Boston - went home on leave, did this, that, and other stuff and then reported back to Camp Bowie in south Texas for discharge.....

 The men who had been assigned to the 5th Signal Company followed about the same routine after their arrival in New York.  After  their furloughs most of them reported to Camp Campbell, Kentucky. most of them stayed there in an almostroutine situation until they were discharged there about November of 1945, or from camps nearer their homes some time later, after nearly three years in the Army.

 The difference in their experience from those lucky men in the 45th Signal Company may have been that they were a small part of a larger company personnel file, in an experienced unit that was able to take advantage of the GI system, and a company commander and orderly room organization that was willing to do it.
 Most of their men were promoted several grades to fill vacancies in the Table of Organization as there were openings.  The were credited with 3 or 4 battle stars while we of the 45th had only two.

  (Comment from an unidentified GI transferred to the 5th Division, "This is a latrine rumor. It just ain't  so.")

OUR MEN: FADER
 Camp Bowie in Texas was the camp that the 45th division was sent to back in Texas.  All I can recall is impatience and lots of sack time.  Being bored I volunteered to type discharge papers.  The men were being discharged in sequence according to the number of points accumulated.  After a couple of days typing discharge papers, I noticed that the list contained names of men with less points than I had.  So I typed my own discharge papers which were signed and I was a civilian again.

OUR MEN: BARCLAY
 I was discharged late in the afternoon on 17 November, 1945 and was walking  with my duffel bag, etc across the main entrance courtyard of Camp Bowie with its tall flagpole and large, waving American flag when the impressive color-guard marched out for the retreat ceremony and the lowering of the colors. I was there alone in that broad expanse except for the active participants in the ceremony  when the bugle call "To the Colors" (?) was sounded.  Standing there in my uniform saluting for the last time on my last day of active service I experienced those highly emotional feelings millions of other service men have felt before and since.

 We were honored to serve with so many others.  I and the other men of the 103d Infantry Division and its Signal Company will never forget the times, the places, and OUR MEN.

OUR MEN: BECK - Camp Bowie, Texas  21 November 1945
 Officially, as of today, the 45th Signal Company ceases to exist. The only transfer, and the last one, was the transfer of one Capt. Bernard Beck to Headquarters Company making the total amount of men present for duty as none, assigned - none and everything else - zero.  Yesterday's morning report sent the eight men and ten officers remaining to Hq. Co.  For the sake of the record, the 45th Signal Company, after November 21st, is no longer a unit.

 As outlined by Bob Gill in the previous chapter, a group of OUR MEN had been assigned to the 5th Infantry Division Signal Company and began the exodus from the 103d Signal Company and the long trip home.

OUR MEN: EVANS
 In Innsbruck the middle of June, 1945, we were loaded onto trucks for a brief ride to a railway siding where we were loaded onto "40 and 8"s, the freight cars famous from World War I for carrying 40 men or eight horses.  They only stuffed about 30 of us in each car but with our duffel bags it seemed like a lot more.  We had to sleep in shifts.  There was a pot in one corner of each car for bodily functions but most of the guys kept the doors open because of the heat and urinated out the side of the car onto the ground.  The pot was dumped out the same way.

 (After the brief stay near the Czechoslovakia border to get organized described by Bob GILL), the trip across the full width of Germany and France took more than two days. Along the way we passed through the bombed out rail yard at Passau.  Another German city, Afschaffenberg, had a railroad marshalling yard. Our bombers had really done a number on the rail yard there. To top it off, the Seventh Army in its southward advance had pounded the rest of the city to rubble. We went through on the single track that had been restored since the end of hostilities. The rest was in shambles.  We passed close enough to Rheims to get a good view of the cathedral.

   Eventually we reached our destination, Camp Lucky Strike, a tent city near Le Havre.  Several "Coolies", Don BENZ, Frankie APPLEBAUM, Jimmy CARR and I got passes and did some sightseeing together. We got as far north as Dieppe where the British had made a commando raid early in the war. We explored several German bunkers, part of their West Wall defenses against an invasion.

   The tents at Camp Lucky Strike were stifling. We were there for twelve days that seemed like twelve years.  Then everything fell together and we found ourselves cued up at the harbor in Le Havre to board our ship, the USS Le Juene. There was a Red Cross Canteen truck serving hot coffee and doughnuts that you could not miss. The Le Havre harbor area had been hammered by, probably, both sides until not one stone was left standing on another. As far as we could see, in any direction, there was a flat field of rubble that had been bulldozed smooth.

   Quarters on the Le Jeune had standard troopship bunks, stacked four high.  We had to pass by the Navy crew mess on the way to our chow. It was far better, scrambled or fried eggs, sausage, bacon, grits, hash browned potatoes, hot and cold cereal - the works, but we couldn't complain, not after what we had eaten for the past year.

   The weather was much kinder to us on the way back so we were able to spend a lot of time on "C" Deck, the enlisted men's deck, getting some sun.  The trip was quicker, too - no wide swings southward or zig zag courses to avoid submarines. It was like a pleasure cruise, almost.

OUR MEN: TOM BROWN
 At Innsbruck, I was reassigned to the 5th Infantry Division and almost immediately shipped out on railroad forty and eights to Le Harve, France, where we boarded a genuine troop transport with the name of an Army General.  Nothing but the best.  Good food and good weather.  The trip that took 15 days over took only 3 days back.

 We exchanged our invasion money for US dollars. - all except me as my stash was so small I decided to save it for a souvenir, which left me penniless.

 The ship had not even left dock, when I went to the head (head is the Navy equivalent of the Army's latrine).  There I saw the biggest crap game I have ever seen.  GI's were crowded shoulder to shoulder, standing on sinks and commodes, clutching money, shouting bets.  It was pandemonium time.

 With no money all I could do was watch - until I saw a friend who had a wad of money in his hand.  I went up to him and reminded him that he owed me twenty bucks, and he paid me with a flourish.  I surely didn't want to get in that wild crap game, but did find a blackjack game (the ship was a floating casino) and played very conservatively and won $200.  And I quit!  And had some money to spend on my 30 day furlough.

OUR MEN: EVANS
   As we entered New York Harbor, fire boats, tugs, and other harbor vessels came out to meet us with displays of spraying water and honking, honking horns.  As we passed the Statue of Liberty, a hush fell over the ship. We just looked at her -- and wept openly and without shame.

   After we disembarked, things happened so fast that I cannot remember how I got there but the next thing I remember is being home and the wonderful reception that I got from everyone. I was the very first G.I. to return to my home town, St. Augustine, Florida, from Europe and I was treated like a king.
 I went to the beach. The Coast Guard's NO CAMERAS signs were still in place. I took a picture of the sign. The beach was very messy. Large black sticky globs of oil were everywhere, a reminder of the dozens of tankers that had been torpedoed within sight of shore. Unlike most of America, my hometown had not been completely shielded from the grim realities of war. It had seen tankers burning off shore. Many burned bodies of seamen had also washed ashore here. St. Augustine had some first hand knowledge of what war was all about.

 On August 6, 1945 the first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan by a B-29 Super-fortress, named "Enola Gay".

   On August 9th a second nuclear bomb was dropped, by another B-29, named "Bocks Car", on Nagasaki virtually destroying that city as well. My hopes for the future went up another notch.

  On September 2, 1945 the armed forces of the Empire of Japan surrendered unconditionally to  General of the Army Douglas MacArthur aboard the battleship Missouri at anchor in Tokyo Bay.

   Thus ended World War II, the greatest