The war was over and we took advantage of a lapse in strict Army regulations to borrow the Lieutenant's jeep for a sunny Saturday afternoon excursion of the countryside. My best recollection is that we were still somewhere in North Germany. My "partner in crime" was Bob Wright, who had been my co-driver on a 2 1/2 ton GMC truck but was now the Lieutenant's driver. We stopped to take a few shots at a disabled German tank with Bob's M-1 Garand, something we had not needed to do during the war, and were headed back to our quarters when we were blocked at a railroad crossing by a locomotive that had hit an Army vehicle. Bob had been in medical school before joining us as a replacement just before we crossed into Germany and immediately took over first-aid duties. We were on the wrong side of the tracks for getting the injured soldier to an aid station, but another jeep soon arrived on the other side and we loaded the patient onto the jeep -- the last we ever saw or heard of him. I hadn't noticed, but Bob pointed out that the two civilians who ran away as we approached had taken the injured soldier's wrist watch instead of trying to help him. Both Bob and I were a bloody mess. The locomotive soon cleared the track and we went back to our quarters to clean up. I found a couple of 5-gallon plastic buckets and spent the next two weeks or so rinsing my OD trousers and tanker jacket in cold water.

From:
Vernon Miller, 1409 John Wesley Dr, Birmingham, AL 35210
Phone 205-951-0265
Vernsdarkroom@aol.com
PFC HQ 130th Ordnance Battalion