The day started early-at dawn of a foggy morning, damp and cold. With it started a concerted drive by the Seventh Army to drive across the Saar River and link up with Patton's 3rd Army coming around from the northwest. It was Feb. 17, 1945.

The 70th Division-again a full fighting force after its vicious fighting as Task Force Herren-had a formidable set of goals: Forbach, Stiring-Wendel, and the high ground of Spicheren, several small villages and finally, Saarbrucken itself, the key to the German heartland.

The 2nd Battalion of the Wyoming Regiment, the 274th, jumped off into the murky dawn. We were supported by tanks of the 12th Armored Division. As we filed down the road and the big 46-ton tanks clattered by, I felt security and safety in their shadows. That was a brief spell though.

As we deployed through an open field, we were caught flat footed-with no cover whatsoever-by a vicious barrage of 88s. There was no mistaking their distinctive sound-a quick swish and a sharp crack as the shell burst. I sprinted for a little tree, not much bigger around than a flagpole. I threw myself down behind that puny shelter and buried my nose and face into the soft damp earth and sweated it out. As shell burst about 20 yards to my right and shrapnel whined over my head. Black, acrid smoke and powder fumes blew into my face.

There were screams and frantic calls for "Medic! Medic!" One GI came running back and flopped down aimlessly near me. I thought he was hit and called to him but he only muttered incoherently.

I could see the Medics moving around and men lying here and there. With no time to dig in, we were hit hard. One man moved directly behind me and was slashed across the back and buttocks. The shelling let up in half an hour and we moved forward.

H Company was in support of F Company attacking Kerbach. We moved up slowly in a series of rushes. The town was well defended and we were held up on the outskirts. The squad worked its way toward a house from which we set up a section of heavy machine guns and raked the center of town with heavy fire. Houses were on fire and were burning fiercely. Our artillery was shelling the far end of town. I could see white phosphorous falling.

We moved toward the center of town and holed up in a house. Some 50 or so prisoners were being held there. S/Sgt Kline asked me to assist in separating the noncoms and officers from the privates. I had a small command of the language and could make myself understood.

One tall scholarly Kraut with glasses asked me if he would be permitted to go back a ways and pick up a bag with his belongings. I said plainly, "Nein." Another German soldier had been badly wounded in the eye, face and arm. I led him over to our Medics, first taking from him the bayonet in a scabbard hanging at his belt.

Presently the attack resumed. Company H was in support of Company E and we moved slowly behind the riflemen, working our way up a steep wooded hill. We were held up and my squad rested in a shallow trench.

I was idly watching a sergeant in charge of one of Company E's 60mm mortar squads. Suddenly a white smoke seemed to be shooting out of his body and he was pulling madly at his belt. Someone yelled "Grenade!" and everyone scrambled out. I stared horrified at the sergeant writhing on the ground. Then I fell to the bottom of the trench. In seconds the grenade exploded. I looked up-the sergeant was on his back and two men nearby were wounded by the fragments.

We picked up our weapons and moved on. I looked back-the left hand of the sergeant moved slightly and that was all. (This was Sgt. Lehman who was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously for deliberately falling on the grenade and saving the lives of the men around him.)

We got to the top of the hill and started across a wide open, field. I was carrying two boxes of machine gun ammunition and walking behind the second gunner. Suddenly shells were busting all about. The crack of the gun and the shell exploding seemed to be almost simultaneous. Everyone was running for cover of the woods to our left, approximately 150 yards or so away. As I ran, I could hear the clanking of tank treads coming from over the brow of a hill to our front. We were under direct fire from tanks!

Not seeing the tanks, therefore not knowing just where the firing came from, added to the confusion. To my right two or three men went down and Medics immediately materialized, it seemed out of nowhere, administering to them. Finally we moved into the wooded area, the shelling continued. Then apparently our artillery zeroed in on them for the grinding of the gears could be heard as they moved their positions under fire. We dug in nevertheless, still receiving tree bursts as darkness fell.

General Orders - 274th Honor Roll