On pages 155-157 of "Snow, Ridges and Pillboxes" there is a description of an ill-fated night encounter that took the lives of GIs in 274th Infantry in a fratricide (so called "friendly fire") incident. That account is quoted here for quick reference:

"...The usual patrols 'were sent out to keep the enemy on their toes and to learn what they were doing and where. Both frontline battalions sent them out nightly. Unfortunately, the ones sent out the night of February the 12th accidentally bumped into each other, resulting in unnecessary and regretful casualties. This is the way it happened.

"Both Item company of the 3rd Bn and Easy company of the 2nd were in the same town, Bousbach. One on one side of the town and one on the other. Both sent patrols out this night. 1st Sgt. Kiefer was in charge of the Item patrol. According to Item Co's story, Kiefer asked for permission to take a patrol out. Capt. Keith gave his OK so Keifer started out with two volunteers, Pfcs. Hershberger and Harlan.

"It was a foggy, rainy night, visibility zero. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Their objective was to proceed to a road junction

about a half mile away to locate enemy positions and if possible to catch a Kraut. The patrol passed though Item's outposts, crossed an open plain, and followed the road to within 100 yards of the junction. Here they ran into a mine field but crawled around it and went on to the junction where the positions were, but no one was there. They waited for about 20 minutes, hoping some Krauts would show up but nothing happened so they headed back.

"About half way back to our lines they heard some one whispering so dropped to the ground and waited with guns ready to shoot. They waited for about five minutes while the whispering continued.

"Finally Sgt. Kiefer bellowed, `Who's there!' and his question was promptly answered by rifle fire which penetrated Harlan's cartridge belt, but luckily missed him. Sgt. Kiefer then opened up with his Tommy gun and sprayed the area where the noises were coming from. They figured it was an enemy patrol which was on its way back.

"Suddenly a voice yelled out, `What's up Murphy, are you hit?'

"When Kiefer heard the men speak English, he said, `Who is that?'

"Someone replied, `We're Easy Company and I got some men hit.' "They then ran about 20 feet to the supposed enemy patrol and started giving the men first aid. Two men from Easy company, Sgt. Murphy and Pfc. Munoz, were killed in this scrape and two others, Pfcs. Grow and Miller, were wounded. It was a high price to pay for nothing accomplished. Sgt. Kiefer blamed himself for the shooting but it wasn't his fault. This could only be attributed to one of the many cruelties of war. All regimental patrols were always very diligently coordinated but in this case the Third battalion decided very late in the day to send a patrol out and the 2nd Bn was not informed...."

There the matter lay for a number of years. In 2004, with an updated version of "Snow, Ridges and Pillboxes" released thanks largely to the efforts of Diane Kessler, AM (who updated the casualty lists and did great detective work to answer several "mysteries"); interest in the book was renewed, as was interest in the aforementioned quoted incident.

It developed that former Sergeant George Vickers, who was with E Company on patrol that night, had another version of the story to tell. Under date of August 27, 1999 he wrote a letter detailing his account of the incident to a fellow company member. A copy of that letter was provided to this Editor.

George has also stated that no one ever officially asked him what happened. While none of the men who have come forward "want to pick at a scab, despite the time elapsed, there still remains the fact that E Company never got to tell its side of the story" according to one member. That source continued, "However, other than the failure to notify E Company of the I Company patrol, I sure don't criticize any of the I/274 men.

Though I'd been evacuated much earlier, my interest is because all those killed or wounded were from my platoon."

In fairness, the Editor agrees; and here presents E/274's side in the form of the letter written by George Vickers:

"Since I wrote you the other day I have been reading in 'Snow Ridges and Pillboxes'. On page 156 it is telling about the patrol where Sgt. Murphy was killed. Evidently Col. Cheves was badly misinformed on what took place. I know this happened a long time ago and can not be changed but I just wanted to set the record straight for you.

"You might have been present the night we got our instruction on what was expected of Sgt. Murphy. Murphy had been on OP (Observation Post - Ed.) for a couple of days observing a two-story building. He reported no activity around the building. His mission was to go into town to make sure the building was not occupied.

"I was assigned to go with Murphy so he could show me the building. If the place was vacant - I was to take my squad in the next night and occupy the building and spend a couple of days checking to see what was going on and to get an estimate as to how many German troops were in town.

"As we prepared to leave someone suggested I carry an automatic weapon but I did not want one. I believe it was Sgt. Rogers that gave his grease gun to me and off we went down an old gravel road.

"It was so dark you could not see the man in front of you so some of the men took their belts off to hold on to in order to have contact. The road was wet and we came to what turned into a large tree across the road. I was beside Sgt. Murphy when he sent a signal back for his men to get down (I don't know if they did it was too dark to see). Sgt. Murphy squatted down so I did also.

"In just a minute Murphy started getting up at that time I heard someone walking on the wet gravel. Not a word was spoken and I was practically against Murphy and I caught hold of his clothes and pulled him back down. The other patrol walked up on the other side of the tree and stopped for a minute; not a word was spoken. I feel that Sgt. Murphy was thinking the same as me - if they went around the tree they would be behind us and we could continue our patrol. At that instant someone behind Murphy bumped his rifle butt on the ground. Instantly the other patrol opened up with Thompson subs.

"To my knowledge I am the only one that fired a shot, I rolled and fired three shots and the grease gun jammed (or so I thought). At this time one of the men behind me hollered `We are Americans' and the shooting stopped. So help me those were the first words spoken during the whole episode.

"I just wanted you to know what really happened.

"Anyway when we got back where we could see I found the gun did not jam but the ammo was stuck in the magazine and would not feed and only three rounds were missing. Sgt. Murphy did not have a chance to fire as he was hit in the head."

Somehow all reports have failed to note that Pfc. Lawrence M. Richard, E/274 was with the patrol and died as a result of wounds received when firing began. Richard, 18 or 19 years old, built small and slight of stature, was always trying to be a good soldier according to his NCOs. On this night Richard pleaded to go on a patrol, complaining that he'd never been on one. Another cruelty of war.

Sgt. Murphy's Death (letter written to the editor in the Spring 2006 issue)

Many things, both funny and terrible happen in combat. The article in the last "Trailblazer" about Sgt. Murphy sticks in my mind (see "What Happened?", pages 16-18, Winter 2006). I was Executive Officer of E/274 and in the CP when they carried the body of Murphy into the CP.

It was very traumatic and made everyone very mad that such a thing could happen. We blamed the 3rd Battalion S2 for it and not ours. The patrol was out of its territory and into ours.

Walter C. Cox E/274

From the Summer 2006 Issue of the Trailblazer

This is in response to the article "What Happened" in the 2006 Winter issue of "Trailblazer". It might surprise you to know that I was CO of E Co. when this happened some 62 years ago, and I am still alive!

I remember my orders clearly in regard to the night patrol into enemy territory, as so ordered by Regimental Headquarters. Orders were to send out a night patrol to pick up a German prisoner and bring him back to headquarters, if possible for questioning. It was also to gain information as to enemy strength, location and any other information they could gain.

My company was in Bousbach. I selected Sgt. Gordon T. Murphy to take the night patrol into enemy held territory to gain this information. I selected Sgt. Murphy because of his experience in patrols. I told Sgt. Murphy and warned him not to get into any fight with the enemy. I suggested he take two men, possibly three to help bring a live prisoner back. I left it up to him to select his men. Murphy was eager to get a patrol ready to go. Battalion S-2 gave me a sketch with an overlay and suggested route to reconnoiter.

The only officer I had available in my company at that time was Lt. Walter Cox and he was busy with other duties.

Afterwards Capt. Keith of I Company told me of how bad he felt. He should have known his patrol should not have been there. In a letter to me from Col. (Wallace R.) Cheves (CO, 2nd Bn/274) dated June 29, 1978, I quote:

". . . I remember Sgt. Murphy story very well, and how upset you were. Col. Landstrom, 3rd Bn, called to apologize saying it was their fault, and he would take corrective action. It was the fault of I Co. I don't think they checked with the Bn S-2 ..."

I am sorry, after 62 years, I do not remember Sgt. (George) Vickers. He had no control of this patrol. Furthermore if I had known he had a "grease gun" he wouldn't have been on the patrol.

I hope this answers some of the questions as to "What Happened?" Believe me, I WAS THERE!!!!