Living History

[melody1181]

Talked to my grandpa more in-depth about me recording his stories. He said he want to record his "life" story. No complaints from me!! Glad he decided to do that.

My grandpa could have a book written about him. He used to be a hobo(during teen years) hoped trains, worked for the WPA here in Amarillo. The war stuff is very intresting. At one time patton stood on my grandpas shoulders whie my grandpa was driving the tank.....patton would kick him in the side of the head to tell him which way to turn.

Getting started tomorrow and I can barely wait

[Seascamp]

My Pa (1st Infantry Division) saw Gen. Patton once and told me he was a very imposing figure and was very comfortable around usual Solders. So that he would mount a tank and give your Grand Dad a nudge as to which way to turn is classic Gen. Patton. I think the mold was broken after Gen. Patton and no more to come. He was an ornery, flamboyant character for sure but one hell of a scrapper.

Scamp

[revwardoc]

My Uncle Joe was a tank driver (I don't remember his unit designation). While they were chasing Germans out of the Bulge, his tank was hit by a German "bazooka", killing the commander. My uncle and the rest of the crew escaped and managed to capture the "bazooka" crew. They heard more tanks approaching and, assuming they were German, tried to flee the town with their prisoners. As they were running through a field they were spotted by what turned out to be an American armored column. The Colonel had been told about Germans wearing US uniforms and ordered his tank to fire on the running men. All the Germans and one GI were killed, my uncle and the other GI were wounded and neither got the Purple Heart because they were wounded by "friendly fire" (which we all know, isn't). Years later he was still pulling tiny bits of shrapnel out of himself and putting them in a small jar on his mantle. We buried him with the jar last year.

And many thanks to the men from the Xth Mountain Divison who provided the flag and played taps for him.