Now, back to Germany- we were never supposed to receive dead bodies in our station, only if they died on route to our station. But every unit had a Graves Registration Officer. That was one of my jobs, and two of my clerks were assistants. One day they came to tell me a dead body was just removed from an ambulance and the litter was placed in a small storeroom. I told them to take everything from his pockets and to put it into small bags for that purpose. They both asked me to go with them as it was the first [time either had done this.] At the door they stayed out in the corridor while I went in, and then I knew why they had [come] to me. The guy was really beat up- one arm partially off, one leg blown off, a gaping hole in his side, and part of his face [was] gone. He must have been hit by a grenade. I got through that that experience, and never went through [anything like that] back in the U.S., although I did see some other casualties in rough shape, however. But I do recall at some later date while out on an errand I came across a Graves Registration Unit and could see hundreds of coffins lined up for shipment to the U.S.A.
While at Palenberg, the Germans were constantly firing artillery shells in our direction. On several occasions some landed a few hundred yards away from our position, but fortunately none ever landed close enough to cause any casualties. The one thing that sometimes bothered us were the “Buzz Bombs.” They could be fired for great distances, and they had great luck in their use against London during the earlier months of the war. They were usually fired at night and the buzz could be heard in flight. But if the buzz stopped within hearing distance, it meant the bomb was dropping, and that was the time to run for cover! Fortunately none ever dropped close enough to cause damage. After we crossed the Roer River we heard fewer and fewer. We found out some time later that the plant where most were built was ruined by our planes.
Just before we crossed the Roer, a Jeep arrived from Division Headquarters with three U.S. aviators. Their plane had been hit, but not so badly, and they were able to return and land behind our lines and they were brought to us [with] just a few scratches. They stayed with us and spent the night. We exchanged names and home states. When I said Rhode Island, one of them if I knew anything about Valley Falls, and of course I said it was my wife’s hometown. He said his father had owned a speakeasy in Chicago and that he use to get his “moonshine” from Valley Falls. When I told him my father-in-law had been in the grocery business during those days and used to sell sugar to the makers of the moonshine, he said “It’s a small world!"
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