On the afternoon of February 16, 1945, our convoy was again rolling down the war-torn roads of France, arriving in the town of Bushbach in the late afternoon. The night was spent in an old schoolhouse and the usual precautions were taken in blacking out the windows in case of enemy aircraft or enemy activity in any respect. Throughout the night we were often awakened by the snarl of a burp gun, probably some patrol probing our lines, or the occasional burst of an artillery or mortar shell nearby.

Preparation had been made for our attack on the town of Kerbach, and the high ground in the immediate vicinity. We were to follow the attacking party as it moved up and set up forward aid stations as close as possible to the front lines.

In the early hours of the morning of the 17th we moved from the school to another site, once a civilian residence. The building was very dirty and proved to be very inefficient for medical care. Our stay in one place during an attack was limited, so our first duty was to make the aid station available for any emergency. We cleaned it up, set up the aid chest, and found that the only available litter entrance was through the window, which proved practical for it opened onto the street, slightly above the ground level.

We spent the remaining early hours of the morning waiting for the artillery barrage that was to soften up the enemy in preparation for our attacking force.

It had been learned from non-official sources that German Tiger tanks were being harbored at Etzlingen, a town a few miles beyond Kerbach. It was feared that if the enemy tanks were successful at making a breakthrough they could inflict severe casualties before they could be checked by our own tanks. With this information, extensive aid station preparation was made as usual.

At 0630 the opening artillery barrage on Kerbach was on. There was dead silence in the aid station as the first round of artillery went whining overhead to some vital spot in the German lines. No one spoke. We were all deep in thought on the outcome of this fight, for another small village in Alsace.

Shortly after the opening barrage, our 274th troops began their attack on the town.

Patiently we waited for the daylight hours and then waited again for the first casualties. By previous experience we had devised a plan whereby we could determine the position of a casualty by telephone communication and thus speed up the evacuation of the casualty from the field to the aid station. We found it impossible to follow troops under automatic weapons and artillery fire without losing the advantage that speedy evacuation might give, due to the danger of having the entire aid station and its personnel a complete battle loss. This was experienced at Wingen when we lost many of our litter bearers in an effort to speedily evacuate casualties that were not too seriously wounded.

As the first litter squads were prepared to leave, a call came in for the first casualty. They were going to set up a forward collect ing point and were informed of the location of this casualty.

Not more than 30 minutes later tanks passed the aid station on the way to clear the town. The Medics had been informed that the road between Bushbach and Kerbach had been cleared of enemy troops. We at the aid station waited for the litter squads return. Soon we received a steady flow of calls for litter squads. We were hopeful that the first litter squads would soon return. Yes, they did return alright. We observed them coming down the road from the front.

We were surprised to learn however that this squad had met enemy automatic-weapons fire and their only alternative was to seek cover in a creek. They were covered with mud and soaking wet, for they had to remain there for some time. When they arrived at the aid station they were shivering with cold. The group included Pfc. George Brush, Pfc. Gladany, Pfc. Stallsmith and Pfc. McBride. All had been pinned down by this machine gun sniper located on a hillside nearby. The route had supposedly been cleared of snipers, for infantry riding tanks had just passed a short time before.

We were still sweating out the return of the first two litter squads that had left early that morning. The second group had changed into dry clothing, and were out again to evacuate casualties, but the first squad had not yet returned. They, too, had been pinned down by snipers in this sector while attempting to go forward. They were forced to seek cover in an old culvert near the roadbed, which was partially filled with water from the heavy rains a few days before. Capt. Clifford, Lt. Beard, Sgt. Spence, Cpl. Brezacek, T/5 Freeman, Pfc. Rybarczyk, Pfc. Branscum, Pvt. Hoover, Pvt. Pochepka and Pvt. Hilton, all were fortunate to find cover.

Several attempts were made to proceed up the road but each time they were greeted with a burst of machine gun bullets from the adjacent hill. They were finally successful in making a dash for the jeep, which had been left behind when they were first attacked. They reached the jeep without any serious mishap. T/5 Freeman remained behind with two infantrymen who had been pinned down with the same group.

A force was soon sent out to eliminate the snipers position and thus secure the road for much needed supplies and to evacuate the wounded. The evacuation was soon accomplished and the casualties began to flood the aid station.

After two days of battle, on February 19, we moved our aid station onto Kerbach, a short distance behind the swiftly moving front line troops.

It was this town that our artillery barrage of the 17th was focused and after exploring the rubble and ruin of this village, we located an aid station site in an old parish hall. Even the church across the street had received some direct hits, that sheared off much of the huge building. The roof was completely destroyed. Our equipment and supplies were hurriedly set up, and our new aid station was in order.

From the second and third floors of this building we could witness the battle taking place on the hill in the distance. We could see our troops, the thundering explosion of artillery and mortar as it landed on the hillside leaving a puff of white smoke like phosphorous, and a deep shell hole in its wake.

In the rear, a short distance from our aid station, could be seen the steady stream of German prisoners filing down the hillside to road below. Many were seriously wounded; we treated them in the station before evacuating them to prisoner-of-war hospitals. One of such cases was an old looking individual, wounded in the leg, who was especially emphatic about the much-heard statement from every Nazi that, "Allies kaput, nix benzine, nix ammunition and nix food." But overhead could be heard the continued pounding of a German 88 that landed quite near our station.

While we were operating from this station Sgt. Myron Meehan, aid man attached to the 1st Battalion was brought into our aid station on a litter. He had been shot through the right shoulder by a German sniper. His company, Medics 1st Bn, was attached to our battalion in support of this drive. He was rendering aid to a wounded doughboy and saw the German sniper but did not seek cover for his own protection. He continued to render first aid even though wounded and assisted in the evacuation of the casualty.

During this attack litter bearers and aid men were struggling under the precarious circumstances of the open terrain and because of a sudden burst of enemy machine gun and mortar fire. Lt. Forrest J. Beard observing their plight, together with the assistance of Sgt. Richard Strassburger and Cpl. Brezacek, quickly left their cover position, located a suitable approach along the inclining plane for contacting the wounded, and assisted the aid men and litter bearers in rendering emergency medical attention and evacuating them to the rear.

General Orders - 274th Honor Roll