After riding all day, we caught up to the column once more. No one seemed to know just where our outfit was located, so we started looking. We rode for about two hours, through one lonely town after another and could not find a soul. All of a sudden all Hell seemed to break loose, making enough noise to even wake up 'Gypsey', who was sleeping (as usual) in the back of the Peep. We did some pretty fast turning around and headed for more quiet places. Finally, at around one A. M. we came upon our area and turned in for a good nights' sleep.

The following morning we arose to find that we were in a small town called Louvigney, France. The previous night while we were riding around in blackout trying to find our location, we were right up to the front lines at Metz. What a place for two men to make a spearhead with a Peep and armed with two carbines and a .45 pistol.

Three days later, Blackie and his boys came in with the recovery. They were a tired lot from driving day and night on ice covered roads and eating K rations. It was a treat for the boys to get a good hot meal and a good nights' rest.

Louvigney was a quaint little town.

The houses were well torn apart by shell fire. One morning, Marvin was very much surprised to find that his first duty with the wrecker was to haul away the dead animals from our area. Hardly fitting for an 014 to be doing. The days were well taken up with work. There were racks and gadget's to be welded on the vehicles and 6000's to be done.

What a sensation to pick up a wrench and have it stick to your hand from the cold. Then came the thaw. Doughbelly had to move the welding truck to high ground so Gravel-Gertie would not get electrocuted while he was trying to weld. Finally the order came to move out.

This trip found us going up through Metz, Luxemburg, Maastrich and into Sibbe. We had a little work to do along the road, such as draining water from gas tanks, replacing bogie wheels and other odd jobs. The best one was when, after we had been travelling for some time, we finally came to a halt to have a warm meal. This was the first warm food we had seen since we had started. Just as we were starting to eat, Sgt. Lockwood came in and told us that one of his gas trucks, driven by 'No clutch' Sauer, had a burned out clutch about 40 miles back. Realizing that we needed the gas to continue the run, we started back with the necessary parts to make repairs on the road and get the gas truck back to the unit.

After riding back to his given location, we hunted high and low, but Sauer was nowhere to be found. After spending a considerable amount of time looking for him, we came to the conclusion that he had proceeded on. When we reported in at Sibbe, Sauer could not be found. It was not until two days later that he showed up and we got the story. A lock nut had worked loose on the clutch linkage and fell off, causing all his trouble. After he had made the necessary repairs, he continued on his way. When he came near Sibbe, he went straight on and drove into Aachen. By this time, the two man spearheads were mounting.

In Sibbe, we had the usual routine. Six thousands and a few more modifications. The rainy season had begun and there were not many closed buildings available for us to work in. We became so accustomed to working in mud that we were lost without it.

The repair section was billeted in a home with a Dutch family which only had four daughters. What a set-up. It was here that 'Henny' first demonstrated his way with the women. At times he had a little competition but usually came out ahead. Tony, the youngest of all, held the biggest part of our affection. She would come in at night while we were sitting around and sing folk songs to us. During the day, she would always be at the chow line and give us a great big hello. 'Muck' kept Elsie to himself as much as possible, except for when outsiders would come in and cut in on him. 'Henny' kept Betty all to himself (poor Betty) and it was a toss-up between 'Pierre' and the author as to

who had the better hold on Mia.

The supply section had a similar set-up, the only draw-back was that there were only two daughters. That presented a problem, due to the fact that there were seven men quartered there. I think 'Baldy' was the winner in that household.

There isn't much to be said about the recovery section. I believe they had the fore-sight to see that a story would be written some time or other and wanted to avoid all ensuing embarrassment. Every time one of us would go over to pay them a social call, the door would be locked. This proves the theory of the statement, 'What you don't see, won't hurt the other guy'.

Finally the word came to move out. We loaded all our tools and equipment and were ready to take off. After bidding all our good friends goodbye, word came down that the movement had been postponed for twenty-four hours. This occurrence happened time and again. After a couple of dry runs, we said our final goodbyes. To most of us it seemed to re-enact the first day we left our homes for military service. Many of us had to turn our backs, lest we would turn 'chicken' and have the tears come trickling down.

Many times while we were at Sibbe, two or three of us would go up to Heinzberg, where the companies were engaged and have a look around. On one occasion, Pierre drove Capt. Anderson and I up to the front. We had been warned about one section of the road that was covered by small arms and artillery fire, When you approached a sharp left turn in the road, you had to pour the ethyl to it or get caught in the fire. We made the turn alright and on the way back we stopped at a Spitfire that had been shot down. Naturally, this being the first plane we had seen that was shot down, we wanted to see what it was all about, so we walked out into the field and gave it the once over.

After we left the plane, we came a short distance and stopped at a tank that had been knocked out and was partially on the road. Demolition charges had been placed all over the tank and wired so that it could be blown up and cleared off the road. We decided that this was no place for us, so we moved on. Later on we stopped at one of our Artillery units and were informed that the road that we were on was under heavy artillery fire. I guess the Jerries were out to lunch while we were there.

After leaving Sibbe, our next stop was at an old monastery at Klooster Liebosch. Here we had a pretty good set-up for doing our maintenance work. We had a large courtyard that made a fairly decent working place. The line companies were up at Posterholt and we made frequent trips up to see how the companies were making out in the way of vehicle and weapons parts. One day, when we had some equipment to take up, one of the officers decided he would go up with us. 'Gypsey' drove us up and as usual he took a different road every time. This time he wasn't sure of the road and in one place we had to pass a battery of 75's and 76's. Just as we started to pass by them, they opened up with a salvo and it fairly lifted the Peep off the road. The Lt. looked at 'Gypsey' and asked him if he was sure that that was the right road. 'I don't know', replied 'Gypsey', 'but we will find out as we go further on.' Imagination alone could not picture the expression on the Lt.'s face.

Our 'B' Co. had spotted two Bren Carriers and a Weasel that had been abandoned and were very anxious to go after them. Their location made the task quite uncomfortable as the Jerries were located on a hill only two hundred yards away and had a perfect sight picture of the vehicles. When 'Scooter' and his crew went up to look over the situation, they had to run across an open field and hit the woods nearby for cover. After considerable planning, they started to work and recovered the vehicles in a minimum amount of time. This was the first time that any of us had done any work under actual fire.

The following day, they had a harder job to fulfill. One of the Tank Bn's. mediums had hit a mine out in the field and blown part of the suspension off. This task called for driving the recovery thru the mine field and out to where the tank was at. 'Mad-Dog' took care of all the radio communications and the rest of the crew immediately started making repairs and replacing the damaged parts of the suspension unit.

Just as they were connecting the track together to complete the job, Jerry opened up with 88 and mortar fire. The first few rounds fell either short or over and then they started to bracket in for the hit. Quick thinking on the part of 'Mad-Dog' and 'Butterfly' saved the recovery and much of the equipment. 'Butterfly' guided 'Mad-Dog' while he backed up thru the mine field and to safety. It was not until sometime after that 'Butterfly' and 'Perky' realized that they were seriously hit. Perk had been hit in the left shoulder by shrapnel and Butterfly was hit

where it would hurt him most if he had to sit down. Both of them walked about a mile to the nearest Aid station and were evacuated. They tell me it was here that 'Scooter' lost his game leg and broke the cross country record. No one ever did find out what happened to 'Blackie's' underwear. When they got back to their area, he borrowed a pair of shorts from one of the boys and gave the excuse that he lost his.

After all the shooting had died down and it was safe to return out to the field, Blackie asked a Captain if he could use his Peep to go out into the field and pick up some of the tools that were left there when they had to make their fast departure. 'Hell No!' exclaimed the good Captain, 'that field is full of mines and I don't want to lose my Peep'. What in hell did he think the boys in the recovery did, drop out of an airplane or use sky hooks to cross the field?

Even though a lot of time was taken up by work, the boys still managed to have their fun. Blackie and his crew were set up in a house with a Dutch family. The lady of the house tried to make them as comfortable as possible. In the morning she would have eggs for their breakfast and a pot of good coffee. The husband was a sort of a jealous fellow and I don't think he approved of the affection shown the boys. Naturally they always tried to do the right thing and always managed to make him a little madder.

Shortly before the outfit was ready to move out of Posterholt, C Co. hit a stump with one of the halftracks and tore up the front end. We were all loaded and ready to move, so we brought the half track along with us in tandem style. Henny and I were working on the weasel back at the Monastery and we didn't have any too much time to complete the work. The clutch had burnt out and parts were not available. We both would rather work on it and get it finished so we could drive it so we improvised our own parts. Peep valve springs were used as clutch pressure plate springs and to our surprise it worked very satisfactory.

We left the Monastery and started moving up towards Huckelhoyen, Arsbeck and Alderkirk. Everything ran along pretty smooth until the ever famous Recon Platoon pulled up with a Peep that had a blown head gasket, cracked cylinder head and a couple other minor defects. Repairs were made on the spot and the Recon rode again.