When I finished my basic training in the States, I was shipped overseas like countless others. Upon arriving in France, we moved up to Luxembourg by trucks, in the bitter cold of that winter, and from there, we were then shipped to St. Vith in Belgium. I soon found out that I was with the 87th Infantry Division (which I had never heard of) and, much to my dismay, I was made the first scout in my squad. I also learned that the first scout had been shot along with the second scout and I was the replacement.

We soon went into the attack, and as I moved through woods, the first enemy soldier I saw, I captured. Three of us had been sent on ahead to reconnoiter and when we were about four hundred yards distant, I noticed this German soldier bent over by a tree. He never saw me. I called out to him and he stood up ramrod straight. He then put his hands in the air and walked toward me. Stopping a few feet away, he reached down to his pistol, lifted it out of its holster very slowly and handed it to me. He was a forward observer and was talking on a telephone calling in 88 rounds upon our troops.

The following morning we formed again and had as our target a small town. “Scouts out” and I stepped from the timber line toward the village. Immediately, we came under fire and it seemed that every German in the opposing army was firing at ME! Somehow we made it to the town and I proceeded to go through it. I guess that I was a great distance ahead of the squad because when I turned around, I discovered that I was alone. The rest of the unit had retreated. Or so I thought. I stayed the afternoon because the snow was so deep that I could not retreat with them. I waited until dark and returned to the company.

In the afternoon, as I again was at the head of the column, we came under fire from a German tank. I hit the ground and hugged it for dear life. When the tank had expended its ammunition, (about five rounds) I discovered that the only white piece of ground in the vicinity of where I was laying was under my body. That tank tore up all the real estate within my reach.