On June 2 we joined the rest of the 8th Armored Division in a convoy and set out for Czechoslovakia. We rode on one of Hitler's autobahns through some of the most vivid scenery in the world -- green fields sprinkled with golden poppies; lofty mountains piled high in the air like thunder clouds; vast canyons falling away sheer from the road with foam flecked streams marking the depths. On June 3 we tumbled by back roads into the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. These roads were churned to a white powder that lifted and clung like fog, and turned black when mixed with sweat.

Late in the afternoon our company swung into the small town of Touskov (which we pronounced toos-cow). There we were met by Lt. Sheridan, who had preceded us on a billeting detail, and a couple of hundred kids, assorted dogs and the inevitable white geese. The people seemed extremely friendly so we presumed that they were Czechs. Lt. Sheridan lent further credence to this illusion by making a speech to the company telling us that we were going to be billeted by twos and threes with the civilian population. This elicited a great roar of approval. A dance had been arranged for us that very night. We thought we had never had it so good.

The following morning the bubble burst. The population bloomed with yellow and red arm bands. We found that 99% of the inhabitants were German, and that the Czech police had come in and put yellow arm bands on all those who had been loyal to Hitler and red arm bands on all those Germans who had not been Nazis but who, nevertheless, were full flooded "aryans."

Orders came down through channels that we could not live in the same buildings with the Germans, so we had to evict several families. This, added to the arm band deal, gave rise to a lot of resentment especially, and perhaps surprisingly, on the part of the GI's. The war was over and memory was short. Sympathy for these Sudetenlanders found its way into the hearts of a large percentage of the boys. This led to friction with the Czechs who hated the Germans for their treachery and were not able to understand how the Americans could fraternize with Germans. So the Czechs tried to break up our dances when German girls attended and they tried to keep GI's from associating with Germans. Moreover, the Czechs were an independent proud people much like ourselves. Whereas, the Germans bowed to us as conquerors and "deliverers" and played up our ego making us feel very important where before we had been just another Joe.

War accentuates nationalism. It opens the gates to a flood of extreme patriotism and nationalistic fervor that precludes to a large extent cooperation and understanding among the various nations. We tend to forget that we are all cut out of the same piece of cloth. Only some were fortunate enough to find themselves in a wealthy and powerful nation. Some have been bleached or colored a little more heavily than others.

Along about this time Sheridan, Rajchel, Bielfeldt and Moore were awarded Bronze Stars. Lt. Cnudson inspected the company twice and found it unsatisfactory both times, thus endearing himself to the guys forever.

The first evidence that the company was going to be broken up appeared when Pacyna, Highsmith, Dave Campbell and Wollschlager were transferred to the 26th Infantry Division. In was a pleasant sunny morning but there was no joy in the company.

On June 26 the company moved to Babylon, a lake resort, for the purpose of converting it into an 8th Armored Division rest area. Then the final word was received that spelled doom for the old company. The 8th A.D. was not going to the Pacific. Instead it was going to be filled up with high pointers, sent to the States and "retired." At this time no one in the outfit had the required number of points (85) to go home so most of us were to be transferred to other outfits either as occupational troops or for the purpose of going to the Pacific. We were scattered all over Europe before we realized what had happened. Buddies who had had their relationships cemented, in the words of the old bromide, by "blood and sweat and tears," were separated. Some went to the 20th Engineer Combat Battalion; some went to the Yankee Division; some to the 83rd Division; many to "repple depples" and thence to the States; and a few remained and went home with Company 'C' 53rd Armored Engineers.

The war in the Pacific came to a sudden and dramatic conclusion. And with its end we somehow looked for a great blanket of peace and harmony to automatically come to rest on the earth. But instead, hunger, distrust, disease, pain and hatred appeared to increase at an ever faster rate. The Pale Horseman still galloped up and down the face of the earth.

As this is being written, crushing pessimism seems to fill the earth. But I believe in the future for I have faith in the men of Company C and the millions of other men of other companies. I do not pin my dreams for the future entirely to my country or even to my race. For, like O. W. Holmes, Jr., "I think it probable that civilization somehow will last as long as I care to look ahead -- perhaps with smaller numbers, but perhaps also bred to greatness and splendor by science. I think it not improbable that man, like the grub that prepares a chamber for the winged thing it never has seen but is to be -- that man may have cosmic destinies that he does not understand. And so beyond the vision of battling races and an impoverished earth l catch a dreaming glimpse of peace."

John H. Lewis, Company Historian