Dan J.Gillis
118 Warren St.
West Medford
Dear Mr. Faillace,
Feeling that a sufficient amount
of time of time has elapsed since your son’s noble sacrifice for his
country, I am writing this letter to you in a humble manner as I
considered Pete second to none of all the men I have met up with in
my Army career and also, because Pete had a lot of manliness in him
which I myself hope to acquire. I went through basic training with
him and after our furloughs, landed up in the same platoon as his in
a machine gun company at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. After sailing
from my hometown here of Boston with him, we got better acquainted
on board ship and landed as two real buddies on the other side.
I am writing this letter not for
myself, but to let you know about his heroic deeds while in combat
and also [because] I know that the Army could not let you know as I
do about his last few months. We were in the same platoon all
through combat and I was never more than a few hundred yards from
him.
Early in combat, I got to know
Pete real well as I slept in the same foxhole with him at different
times. He was a swell guy and considered his buddies as brothers
when in need of help of any kind. He was not selfish in looking out
for himself which caused all the platoon to take a quick liking to
him. He did more than his share of fighting as I know, because I
helped him a few times. He was not reckless, but just able to do
more than the next guy.
He used to talk about his house
on the block back in Philadelphia and the gang fights he got into
when he was a kid. [He also mentioned] a big parade he was in at
some Catholic school when he was real young and how he cried because
he was so scared. He used to sing a little and I can tell you he was
pretty good at it. He also told me about his girl, Stella, and I
used to draw little pictures on his V-mail letters to her.
He was a typical American guy
who had a dirty job to do because of a few crazy selfish people in
the world. After we were in combat about a week in a little French
village called Phillipsbourg, I heard about an incident that
happened in another sector than mine concerning Pete which showed us
all that he was as good as any two of us.
He was on machine gun and
spotted a German tank and an armored car which were reconnoitering
our positions. Without crying out for help, which took a lot of
guts, he opened fire and drove them off into their own lines, which
was doing his duty in a way which drew respect from all the men.
Because of the fierce fighting all around us, his action went
unnoticed but at other times, would have given him a medal.
A few days later, I heard of him
again when he helped to wipe out a German rifle squad which were
lost in our lines. We started to move around from there and about a
month later, I landed up in his squad with him as gun captain.
We were moving into another
small village one day when a dog-fight ensued between a number of
American and German planes. While moving along the road, one of the
German fighter pilots spotted us and came diving down. With the
sound of the plane’s motor coming at us and everyone running for the
woods, it took a lot of manliness to do what Pete did. He threw his
part of the gun down and called to me to bring my part up to him in
an open field. I was real scared and was thinking of running for
cover, but seeing his example of fearlessness, I ran and helped him
put the gun together and fed him the ammunition while he fired at
the low-diving plane. He might not have knocked it out of the sky
but he stopped it from coming back for another try. The above action
was as hot as any I did see and it showed me what kind of a
character Pete had.
After getting out of that spot
we kept moving on and I started to talk to Pete about our religion.
Seeing that he and I were both Catholics, I wanted to make sure that
we would be okay if anything happened. From the time I knew him he
was always all right, and I hope he is okay now.
When we got to Spichern Heights
it was not the Germans who stopped him; they were not good enough to
stop Pete. But his time was up with God and He took him in His own
way. He just happened to be carrying a hand grenade which we all
carried, and the pin came loose. He did not pass away in pain, as I
saw him. He had a lot of guts. The world may never know of or about
Pete as a hero, but there is a whole platoon of men who know that he
was a hero among the best.
I remain,
Respectfully yours,
Daniel J. Gillis
P.S. I hope that you will
receive this letter in an appreciative manner as I do not want to
bring any unnecessary grief, but only to let you know what I knew
about Pete and his heroic part in the war. Thank you.
