A Veteran Reports on his Experiences in Europe at the height of WWII

Ron's Rants and Raves Returns # III

 Here is a story told by one of America's heroes from WWII,  those men and women are often called, The Greatest Generation! It was received in answer to one of my Reddit Posts and I continued to communicate with the man's son whose family (originally from Alabama) now resides in the DC area, I believe.

The interview was conducted at the Library of Congress and is over an hour long, 

Here's a link to part one of his interview: https://youtu.be/F4eZpKPy6LY

Since some of the material is a bit indistinct, here is some of the summary provided by his son.

I read up some of your answers, and you and my Dad would have gotten along real well! He was a freshman at Georgia Tech when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and signed up for a program much like the one you went through. He was told "We need engineers more than we need soldiers". That lasted about a year, when he was called up, was sent to Lehigh, as part of a "tank busters" unit, and after the disaster at the Kasserine Pass, the unit was dissolved, and he was eventually assigned to the 84th Division, the "Rail Splitters".

He was good with Morse code, so he was assigned to a mobile FM unit, and attached to HQ, so he was actually tasked with finding a warm, dry place to hide his jeep and the precious radio, so he was relatively safe in the European theater. He came across a couple of weeks after D-day, and was helping to offload equipment at the mulberries located off Normandy, when a storm blew in, and destroyed the entire facility, including several barges full of their equipment.

He then spent some time supporting the "red ball express", and eventually the unit joined the action, just in time to participate in the "line straightening" exercises, which left them outside of the Ardennes Forrest in the winter of 1944. His unit then was instrumental in stopping the Nazi push, actually stopping one of their main thrusts, and buying time for Patton's 3rd Army to come in and trap the Germans in the massive "pocket", and the eventual relief of those poor guys trapped at Bastogne.

They then fought through Belgium and into Western German, where he personally 'captured' a platoon or so of Germans. I say it that way, because the Germans were VERY happy to come across a pair of American GI's in the woods near the Rhine, when they thought that the Russians were bearing down on them.

I loved hearing his stories about the War, and miss him dearly.

 I stated in my last Rant that I had something positive to report.  That follows:

                                                                           ****************

I shall be traveling to Michigan to see my family for the first time since the attack of the virus and this could well be may last Rant for a variety of reasons.

While this man certainly can be considered to be a part of The Greatest Generation, I sincerely believe the youth of today would be so be considered greater IF THEY RISE UP WITH THOSE OF US, EVEN ELDERLY, who must not only depose our present dictator but also help us realize the promise of freedom and equality for all and as a beacon for the oppressed seeking new opportunities.  How could my generation be considered Great when we were  silentt about the OVERT RACISM and homophobic conditions prevailing in our country?

Indeed those who first first said that America lost its SOUL, and Jimmy Carter's "Malaise Speech" were early indicators of our "illness"?  That and Bill Clinton's desecration of the (was it? Oval office?) were  further warning signs.

Perhaps someday I'll be inclined to return to this site to share a few of the things I would like to say further about our losing our moorings and possible way's of recouping them..

Until then, I truly believe this coming election will show that our populace has awakened and that we will overwhelmingly elect:

                                                                           Joe Biden

Thanks for reding to the end.