The Motor Sergeant said, "Zim, Cannon Company needs to move one of their guns they have in the field at the north end of Rouhling." With that comment, which I think happened on February 17, 1945, I was off and running. During my time in the Army, it was just a few days in the life of a truck driver in SV/275; but at the time, it seemed like years.

I was able to hitch on to that gun, but couldn't get it back on the road due to the mud under the axles. After getting winching help from another truck, we finally got the whole rig back up onto the road, proceeded down the hill, and into the town of Lixing which had just been cleared the day before.

Going through the town we passed a good sized contingent of troops digging up the bodies of GIs that the civilians had hastily buried in front of the local church. They had been buried about two weeks previous when an ill-fated assault was made on the town. I had driven part of them to Rouhling to the jump-off point that night and I think those men were from I Co. It had been too dark to identify anyone, and besides I didn't have any need to know what outfit they were from.

Continuing across the main highway the road was very steep and had a couple of switchbacks in it. On one of these switchbacks, we saw the body of a GI lying in the middle of the road. The upper half of the torso was completely blown away. For 40 years I wondered who it was, but now I have reason to believe it was a PFC Morehead of "K" Co. It is reported that he fell on an antitank mine at that location (an antitank mine contained 8 to 10 lbs. of TNT. See "The Kingsman" by M. D. Ross, page 8 for details).

The road went along the east side of the Hart Wald to an open field where it turned west straight to Etzling. About a quarter mile from the town, a low defile gave us some cover so the radio Jeep stopped and we waited for about half an hour to get a situation report from the troops in town.

While we were waiting for the SITREP, two GIs came marching out of the north end of town with about 15 prisoners. When they got to us, they were really whooping it up about the "Supermen" they had. Not one of those Germans was over 16 years old.

I wisecracked, "I'll bet you weren't laughing an hour ago when they were shooting at you." All I got for that remark was a dirty look.

A short time later, a radio message put an end to our break by ordering us to "Get that tank gun up here, there are tanks trying to zap us!"

We reached the main street on the double. But as soon as we reached it we found a dead horse almost blocking our passage. I looked around and I saw about 20 civilians standing on the front steps of this house on our left. They really looked distraught and scared so I leaned out the door and waved.

The Frenchmen really went wild, but then I started to get concerned that they would get hit by mortar or shell fire, as I could hear explosions coming up the road behind us.

I really started looking around then because not a GI was in sight. Close on the heels of the explosions helmets started to pop out of everywhere and gun barrels were poking out of windows as everyone under cover was taking a quick look.

Suddenly, the radio Jeep went between two houses with me in my truck right on his bumper.

Our luck got worse then as we came up with a clear view of a German tank with the gun pointed right at our radiator caps! At this point, I had to go to the bathroom real bad.

But just as our luck turned bad and it looked like it was all over, Major Shepard and Captain Donahue came dashing out of a house next to the tank. All 6 feet, 6 inches of Shepard was impressive (he would have been even more impressive if he had had a weapon instead of the .45 he was waving).

Captain Donahue was properly armed though with an Ml (he always gave the impression of having everything under control).

Donahue had just taken over as CO of I Co a week before coming to them from K Co. The Captain already had the reputation of being able to walk on water and being a real soldier. "Get the Hell off the street!" Donahue bellowed, and we moved!

We pulled up to the first house on the south end of town. Once inside, the GIs already there informed us that a bunch of Kraut tanks had just rounded the bend in the road.

The Jerries would put those things in gear, and klank, klank they would come to the corner and then they would put it in reverse and klank, klank they would back up. Fun for the Germans but bad on our nerves.

The enemy was on the right so we pulled the gun a short distance up the hill and to the left. I had hardly stopped before that crew had the gun anchored and ready to fire. I parked the truck a short distance up the hill by a stone bridge that afforded some protection. After all that we never saw the tanks again.

We later found out that this action resulted in the capture of two tanks in perfect condition and lots of ammo for them. It was speculated that they ran out of fuel and thus became an easy prize. Someone later told me that they turned one of the tanks around and sent the ammo back to Saarbrucken with regards.

Just as it was getting dark what looked like a whole battalion of GIs moved in and dug in on the hill behind us. They seemed to think it was funny when I pleaded with them to PLEASE not toss any grenades or fire their rifles at close range unless they were sure it was Germans. Before daylight they pulled out without our hearing or seeing them go.

Even without our own men firing at us, it was a tough night to get any rest. The artillery from both sides was constant; fortunately, though, it didn't fall on our position. A few days later an artillery buddy told me that Div Arty had fired 100,000 rounds in three days.

On the second day there was a lull so I came out to stretch when all Hell broke loose! German Ack Ack guns fired timed fused rounds that exploded right over our position. Back to the foxholes and quick!

No rest for the weary though; a sergeant came and said we had to move the ammo to Zinzing as we were about to take that town and they needed mines for antitank defense. Then we did the most stupid stunt of my time in the Army by loading all the mines and their FUSES on my truck.

I didn't make the calculations until much later but there were between 500 and 1000 lbs. of TNT on my truck. The danger became acute when we got to Grosbliederstroff and ran smack into the middle of one heck of a firefight. One stray bullet and there wouldn't have been enough of us left to bury!

The two trucks in our "convoy" tried a shortcut when we ran into a roadblock consisting of farm implements and dead Germans laying where they had fallen. We started to back out and go back to the main road.

About this time two medics ran across the road and pulled this GI back to cover in a house so we knew it was no boy scout picnic. We went on through the main part of town and toward Zinzing when we came to a neatly printed sign in German: MINEN! A discussion with the GI riding with me went something like this: "If the Engineers had cleaned the area of mines why had they left the sign in place???"

Zinzing was quiet when we arrived ... TOO quiet. A GI informed me that the last German had just left town.

They unloaded my truck in short order and the Sergeant said I could go back, but it would have to be alone because he couldn't spare anyone to ride shotgun. I took one look at the stack of mines and decided I would rather be in some other town with or without a partner.

By the time I got back to Grosbliederstroff, it was pitch dark and no human in sight. A wrong turn put me in a dead end courtyard with five-story buildings all around. A quick turn around, back to the main street then the open highway and it was pedal to the metal! I spent that night in Rouhling.

Next morning we loaded up I Company's kitchen and took it to Etzling. K Company's truck brought up their kitchen so we both bedded down in a house full of civilians (all women and kids except grandpa). We stayed there until leaving for Saarbrucken on March 20.

Some nights, because of the shelling, my buddy and I would go to the cellar with the civilians. The grandmother was always concerned about me having the "snuffle" so she would make up this concoction which consisted mostly of an alcohol. It never seemed to work, I kept having the "snuffles"!

About this time the supply sergeant, Lynn, decided to move the battalion supply to Spicheren. They should have known better, but for some reason they parked at least 25 vehicles in the town square. All bunched together; what a target! It didn't take the Krauts long, just as the unloading got started, the shells began falling. This was the most intense shelling I went through during the war.

After about an hour of this mine was the only vehicle that got out of town without damage. The CPs of I and K Cos had both been hit and some of the occupants had been hit by flying glass but to my knowledge, no one got killed.

One other event occurred at Spicheren that I will never forget. I picked up these GIs with orders to take them to Grosbliederstroff for R&R. All were from 3d Battalion/275. This one GI said "I've been hit but the medics said it was only a scratch, wish you would look at it."

He removed his helmet and I could see a section of his skull had been blown away and only gray matter was visible in the wound. I told him it didn't look too bad (which was a lie as it looked like Hell to me). I thought the best strategy was to keep him calm. He rode in the cab with me and complained about me hitting every bump. He was from the New York or Boston and he said his dad had clout and that his Congressman would hear about the poor medical care. At the R&R center I helped him out and he collapsed just inside the door. I forget his name and never saw him again but have always wondered if he made it. (Ed note: if anyone knows about this incident please write me.)

Service Company/275 finally left Saarbrucken and leaped ahead almost to Kaiserlautern. When we went to Landstuhl it was dark by the time we arrived. There were several trucks in the convoy and as we went through the city we were hit by German fire.

The driver of the truck that was hit claimed we had been strafed. He described the plane as a cub type. The next day we picked three 8 mm bullets out of his dash (they were from a burp gun).

The next morning at daylight, I left to go back and get I Company's kitchen and supply. I was driving on a secondary road and hadn't seen another vehicle in miles, when I came to this "T" intersection and made a right turn. Almost immediately I saw something smoking in the ditch. At almost the same time a group of GIs ran out on the road about a half mile ahead. I stopped to examine the smoking object and had no trouble identifying it as the engine from a high performance aircraft (Messerschmidt). The fuselage of the plane was almost completely buried about 200 yards out in an open field. The pilot wouldn't be shooting at any more GIs; he was only a greasy spot. When the GIs got there, I asked what had happened.

They said, "We just shot down that plane." They were ack ack guys with quad 50s mounted on a halftrack. That Jerry had been headed straight for me before I turned! I've often wondered if he didn't have his sights on me when the ack ack boys nailed him. Thanks to them for being alert and being such good shots!