To write the history of a company of soldiers in and out of combat is no easy task. Many of the splendid deeds accomplished by individual men were overlooked or went unrecognized by their own buddies, and these brave men remain among the host of unsung heroes produced by conflict on such a vast scale. There were other individuals who received more credit than they deserved. And, there were those who felt much more the unnatural strain of a soldier's life both in and out of combat because of weaker persona1ity integration or higher sensitivity.

In this company there were several whose personal bravery and selflessness under fire deserved recognition both in the form of medals and in written eulogy but whose only reward shall be in their own certain knowledge that they have performed their duty -- and more. If a man be true to himself, can look at himself with a clear conscience, he is amply rewarded.

Many of the interesting experiences that befell us as soldiers are not inscribed herein for they came about by a unique combination of circumstances that lose most of their flavor when placed on paper. The innuendo, the felt camaraderie, the colored undercurrent peculiar to the GI can never be caught in its entirety by print. Moreover, a soldier's pungent vocabulary is native only to his species and, out of respect for the folkways and mores that reign in the civilian world, cannot be placed before the public eye unabridged.

The term, history, is applied to this work loosely. For the very word, history connotes objectivity and perspective. This particular work lacks both since the author was a member of the company, and hence, approaches the material at hand subjectively, coloring the whole with personal opinion. Nor are the battle scenes supposed to be presented in truest fidelity for often a purely local event assumed great proportions to the participants. In other words, sometimes I could not see the forest for the trees.

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