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September 19, 2000
Dear Walter,
I was happy to get your letter of September 5. 1 would like to get to a reunion too. I've never been to one even when two of them had been held in Minneapolis (15 miles from my home). I was not aware of these reunions at the time.
I was particularly interested in your perspective of your experience riding the point. I was not aware that you had been there. You describe what I believe to be the same event that I mention in my last letter; this is the March 31st event. I had been of the. Impression that Sam Launder was manning the 50 caliber that day. I am quite sure that he was in Blaker's vehicle that day. Sam Launder, then, must have been the driver that day. Dubois was my driver but I couldn't tell you who was the 3rd man in my jeep that day or if I even had a replacement for Steffan at the time.
We never did use our mortars in combat and they took up so much room in our jeeps. The mortar man was just so much extra baggage. It was my understanding that Sam Launder came out of the ditch and started firing the 50 caliber when other forces came up. This was an act of some dubious value. We had stopped at a sort of crossroads with the ditch running on either side of the road we were on heading east. I don't remember a cemetery on the left that you mention. I guess we may differ on Blaker's assessment of the situation.
Blaker may have radioed back and reported he hadn't seen anything, but when he came back to me he said he didn't like the situation. I started looking through my binoculars at a house at the time the machine gun opened up and I had my carbine in my jeep. I ducked behind the jeep still holding my binoculars. I didn't want to jump into the ditch without my sidearm. The machine gun let up and I tried peeking over the top of the jeep to see if I could see where the bullets were coming from. The machine gun immediately opened up again. I then ducked again and the gun ceased again. I was then convinced I was not going to be able to get my carbine and I jumped in the ditch without my carbine at the point closest to me which was west of the crossroad. Every one else jumped in the ditch east of the crossroad.
There was a culvert under the crossroad running from the west part of the ditch to the east part of the ditch. The thought crossed my mind that I could try to call to the rest of the group through the Culvert. Lt. Martens, seeing the action, came up with his armored car and started firing his 50 caliber. This has to be the only action for which he merited the Silver Star he got. What about the rest of us? We didn't fire back because we were unprotected in open jeeps. don't get me wrong. I think Martens was the best of officers, but, for this single bit of action that he took part in he merits a Silver Star over others who were there at the point from the 28th of March?
From my position (west of the crossroad) I could see what was coming up from behind us. Our tanks were coming up and artillery fire started coming in. The Germans were zeroing in on the point again just as they had done in Kirchellen. I saw explosions going off on the road embankment just below the tanks. I surmised the Krauts were firing anti tank weapons at the tanks but were falling short. These were most likely 88mm rounds and the tanks were getting close to my position. I didn't want to be in the ditch under a tank when one of these short rounds hit. I figured I would scramble down the ditch toward the rear when a tank came close to my position to lessen my exposure to one of these short rounds. In addition to this exposure, I saw the tanks were firing over the ditch to the north at some thing and the tongue of fire coming out of the tank gun was about 10 feet long when the tank fired it's gun.
I didn't want to be under the tank when it fired the gun, however I didn't luck out. I was under a tank in the ditch crawling to the rear when an explosion just over me knocked me flat on my belly. It was about then when I was hit. I was bleeding pretty well from my chin at the time; the 'combat' infantry crawling up the ditch reached my position about that time. A "combat" medic coming up with this infantry stopped and put a bandage on me covering my chin. Then I made it back to rear on my own - other crewmembers drove the vehicles back.
Lt. Martens later said that a lieutenant from one of the tanks figured the forward observer for the Krauts probably was in the church tower protruding above the trees in the town ahead and the lieutenant had his gunner take down the church steeple. Martens said the artillery fire became more erratic then. Martens had a sliver of shrapnel under his skin on his little finger. He wanted to know if someone had sulfa pills. I said I had these pills in my jeep first aid kit and I gave the pills to Martens. Martens went back to an aid station for treatment. When Martens got back from the aid station he told me I should go back and have my chin looked at. I went back to the aid station and had the dressing replaced. They took down my name and serial number and I subsequently got a purple heart.
I believe it was Moody who was the first squad armored car gunner who later said that earlier that day the task force commander asked Martens if he could speed up the reconnaissance by the point. Martens said to the commander that if he wanted to go any faster there was a seat open in the point jeep. This commander had to be a Captain O'Meara of the 80th tank battalion who had taken over when Col Uhmanoff was wounded on March 30. This is what Martens should have gotten a Silver Star for. You were probably with the point all day and can remember the incident earlier that morning.
We approached a farmstead after coming over a small hill. We got a couple of mortar rounds close by. We scampered back a bit. They then sent in a row of tanks that were firing machine guns (with tracer bullets) into the house and barn. The thatched barn roof caught on fire. A woman then appeared and started to chase the cows out of the barn with the tanks coming at her. Some of the cows had blood coming out of their sides. The attack stopped and we resumed our reconnaissance without any more mortar fire. This woman deserved a medal (probably the Iron cross).
Even earlier that day we were startled to see a big German tank sitting in the road just ahead of us. It soon became apparent the tank was disabled. When we passed it we saw it had been knocked out. I couldn't imagine how it was knocked out at the time. I know now it was probably knocked out by the Air Force.
One squad was all that was needed for the reconnaissance that we were doing, our third platoon must have been down only nine men by my count from the start of the push on March 28, 1945. We had a squad leader left and we must have had 21 men left. The mortar gunners were never used and we did not need to be merged with the remnants of the 2nd platoon late on March 30, 1945 as we were. The 2nd platoon with Lt. Martens as a replacement should have had enough people among the 16 they had left to form up a single reconnaissance squad. Ten men made up a squad.
The kickoff on the 28th going into Kirchellen was something else again. Slaker was told that a reporter from Life Magazine was going to be riding in the point jeep but this reporter never showed up. The whole thing seemed like a mess with everybody trying to break up their units and form up into task forces. I could see the reporter having trouble in getting to our platoon.
When we jumped off on the 28th Blaker made it a point to tell me he wanted me right behind him. We must have gone only about a hundred yards when we saw some branches laying across the road. When we took a closer look we saw a couple of box mines on the road under the branches. We then heard bullets whizzing by followed by explosions in the treetops over our heads. The road was lined with trees. I looked up and saw the flashes in the branches over our heads. McLinden and Dubois turned the jeeps around and the rest of us jumped in the jeeps and went back to the rest of the platoon.
They then sent a lieutenant from the engineers up with a tank right behind him and he took away the branches and mines. It was at this point that the order was given that we were to go in, shooting, and first squad was to lead with a tank right behind first squad. My jeep may have been the only mortar jeep in the whole troop equipped with a 30 caliber machine gun on the hood right in front of the car commander. I got this back in England when we were going to France during the Bulge. They told us we could have any weapon we wanted and I wanted the 30 calibers. Cecil Clark who was my driver at the time concurred. Blaker's gunner was to fire on the right side of the road as we went into Kirchellen and I was to fire on the left side of the road.
We were pretty close to the town when Blaker's jeep got hung up on some downed power wires. Blaker stopped and was trying to get untangled when Rissmillet came up right behind me and asked me what Blaker was doing. I said he was hung up on some power wires and Rissmiller yelled "Montean, take the point". He immediately said follow me and his armored car went around both of us and I followed Rissmiller into Kirchellen. The tank followed me. There was a cemetery on the left t side of the road and I was firing into the cemetery thinking that there might be Krauts behind some gravestones. I was also firing into a large brick building before I saw a large faded red cross painted on the side of the building. We were pretty much through the town when Rissmiller figured we went far enough. They sent the tank ahead and it was promptly knocked out.
From this point on it was pretty much of a fiasco. McLinden came up and I presume Blaker went ahead to talk to Rissmiller. Sgt. Downing's armored car came up. He had no business being there. Half-tracks with infantry came up and the point was getting congested. The brass running the show was responsible for this undue concentration of force at the point. Artillery started to come in. McLinden came over to me and said people in the half-tracks and armored cars were safe from the shelling but when the Krauts got zeroed in we in the jeeps were vulnerable. I said we couldn't dig in the cobblestone. streets but if we had an ax we could knock the door down on a building and get inside. McLinden said he had an ax on his jeep and asked if he should get it. I said, "Let's do it". McLinden got the ax and promptly knocked the door in on a red brick building next to our position.
We called other jeep crews to come and more and more people were coming inside. The shelling outside was becoming worse and a shell hit the machine gum mount on an infantry half-track with the squad in the half-track. Many of the infantry were wounded. They brought one guy inside with a piece of gut sticking out of his lower belly. This guy was in pain. They knew they couldn't give a guy anything by mouth with a belly wound they could sprinkle sulfa on the wound and bandage it and give him a shot of morphine. They didn't have morphine. I told them I had morphine in our first aid kit in our jeep and went out to the jeep and got it. I offered the tube of morphine to the guy who was taking care of his buddy. This guy said to me "you give it to him". I then jabbed the needle into this guy's arm and squeezed out the tube. It was then that MClinden said to me 'We need a medic up here' and he was going back in the column to get one.
McLinden went out the door that he had chopped down and that was the last time I saw him alive. There was a lot of shelling going on just outside the building. A little later on Joe Schneider came to me and said McLinden was sitting in his jeep outside and he was hit. He said he and Sgt. Downing were going out to get him and asked if I would go along. I said sure. Joe was leading this rescue attempt. Joe dashed out the door followed by Downing and I was following Downing when we heard a shell coming in.
I hadn't gotten through the door yet so I just jumped to the side of the door opening and froze against the wall. Downing came diving back through the door and was about half way through the door when the shell exploded just outside. Downing came through the door with a flying cloud of dust and debris. Downing hit the floor and grimaced as he grabbed his leg. He got it in the leg. I looked through the door into a cloud of dust and yelled 'Joe' a couple of times. Joe soon came walking out of the cloud through the door holding his arm. Joe had a grin on his face and said he was hit in the arm. Joe was holding one arm with the other and said he had hit the gutter when the shell came in.
McLinden was still out there. I looked around and saw Pattengill and told him Schneider and Downing were hit in an attempt to get to McLinden. I asked Pattengill it he would go out with me to see if we could bring in McLinden. Pattengill said he would. We waited for a lull in the shelling. The lull came and we dashed to McLinden's jeep. McLinden was lying back in the seat and his eyeballs were rolled back in his eye sockets. I felt for a pulse and could get none. I tried to see if I could detect any breathing and couldn't. I said to Pattengill that McLinden was dead and he agreed. We didn't feel there was a need to bring him in.
I was going to go back in when Pattengill pointed to a couple of infantry guys sitting beside a building. Pattengill asked why they don't come inside the building. One of the guys said his buddy was hit and couldn't walk and he didn't want to leave him. Pattengill said we could help him get his buddy inside. Pattengill got on one side of the wounded infantryman and his buddy got on the other side and was able to get him inside. I followed carrying everybody's guns.
Who got medals for this action? McLinden got a Silver Star and Sgt. Downey got a bronze star. The thing that saved a lot of injury and maybe a few lives was the prompt action in getting into a building. McLinden and I were instrumental in this action. The doors were all locked and required we break into a building. Pattengill and I were the ones that first got to McLinden after he was hit. Schneider was the one that was leading the first attempt to get to McLinden. Downey was the only one that was recognized. Sgt. Downey was there to see what went on. I would guess Downey was around to vote on who got the medals. The bronze star write up for Downey said he was wounded saving the life of an officer. What bull s__t. There was no justice.
The shelling came to a stop. Maybe the Krauts were pulling back. There was no wind that day and we emerged from the building. There was a faint blue smoke cloud from the shelling hovering around the area where we were and it had a sickening small of burnt bacon. I had a splitting headache. We came out of the building and went back to the west side of town. My jeep and the first squad armored car were at one point and we were just waiting without doing too much talking. No one felt like doing too much talking - we had just lost McLinden.
A jeep soon pulled up and a tall dark lanky dude wearing officer pinks and sporting a fairly prominent, proboscis came out and walked up to us. This gentleman walked up to Hensely and said "How was it up there guys?" This guy was probably the reporter from Life magazine. Mansely with his three stripes was obviously the ranking guy around. I don't know where Blaker or Rissmiller were. Hensley, who was leaning against a building, just turned and faced the building turning his back to the reporter. The reporter then looked at me and I looked at him and didn't say anything. The reporter then just turned away, walked back to his jeep and drove away.
I know I felt almost sick to my stomach when we waited to go into an action. This feeling went away when we started the action and we were absorbed in what we were doing. I felt relieved when it was all over for the day. I recall someone saying Captain Leighton was with Lt. Carr at a time when Lt. Carr was worried about being exposed to some danger. The implication I got from this was that Leighton may have been instrumental in sending Lt.Carr back. I know that I never saw Leighton around during an action but in most cases individual platoons were attached to task forces and reported to task force commanders instead of troop commanders.
I don't know if I would have expected any more out of Captain Leighton. I never heard that he said he would throw a bash at some Miami hotel after the war. I guess I would have to say I couldn't make a judgment on Leighton's value in a combat situation. I never saw the man in action and he probably was in the rear when things got hot. At least Leighton didn't have the gall to write some fiction and get a Silver Star as occurred with a lot of our rank. I note Lt. Abrams did not do this either. Lt. Carr was friendlier to me than the other officers. The other guys were more aloof. I may have some things to say about Blaker but he was one of the better point men and I was glad to have him to work with instead of other point sergeants in the troop.
The 2nd platoon sure had it its share of battle fatigue among it's ranks. The control of the platoon was taken over by a corporal after Sgt. Erwin got killed. Some of the their other three stripers had been pretty arrogant in garrison in the states. They were the kind that would be fond of saying, "This will separate the men from the boys" at different stages of training. I guess we finally did get to a point where we really did separate the men from the boys. I wonder what they say in the army today. I wouldn't want to be in this army.
One thing that I feel was held against me was the fact I didn't learn to drive before being drafted. Driving was not in the high school curriculum. My father was a Romanian immigrant who had about a fifth grade education. My mother, although born in the USA, was no better off. My father never owned a car in his life. We were quite poor. The army was supposed to accommodates my kind and teach us to drive. The one class that I had was with Sgt. Kruglat (I don't know if this is the right spelling) as instructor. We went to a spot and the Sergeant got out and told me to drive the jeep around and get the feel of the vehicle. The Sergeant went and sat under a tree.
I headed down the dirt trail and hit some loose sand in a depression. The jeep got mired down. I tried to go back and forth to get out when a Lieutenant came by marching a platoon of troops and he asked me what I was doing. I told him I was learning to drive. The lieutenant asked where was my instructor. I pointed to the Sergeant under the tree. The lieutenant told me the instructor is supposed to be with me when I am being instructed to drive. I went and told Sgt. Kruglat what the lieutenant said and the Sergeant said "instructions are over" and he drove back. We peons didn't dare get the Sergeants in trouble so all I could do is forget about it. Kruglat never went overseas with us.
I feel like I can go on and on with this letter but it is rather long as it is. I better bring it to an end before I make a book out of it.
I went to the 83rd (Ohio) infantry in Passau when the 8th broke up about September 23,1945. 1 went to a 155-howitzer unit in the 83rd. We then moved to Bad Aussee, Austria Oct. 24, 1945. My time came up in December 12 to start my trip home. I was discharged February 2, 1946.
Yes, Walter, I do feel it is good to reminisce about those WWII days with someone who was there in the same action. I appreciate your perspective on what happened then and what has happened to you since. I hope we will find other C Troopers before it is too late.
I will look forward to your next correspondence.
Sincerely,
Samuel Montean C 88
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