I recall that sometime before Col. Eaton left, he had told me to write up requests for Bronze Stars for the officers in our headquarters. I did so and the next day I completed them and put them on the Colonel’s desk, as he was out. Later he returned and after starting to look them over he called me into his office and asked me for the one that was missing- mine. I told him that I had written his, and that if he felt I deserved one then to write it [himself.] He started to curse me then ordered me to return to my desk. Eventually I also received a Bronze Star, which he wrote!
It was a few weeks later when a Lt. Colonel Felix Framster came into our headquarters and I asked him if there was anything I could do for him. He said, “Don’t you know who I am?” Then he showed me a copy of an order that appointed him Commanding Officer of our Battalion. The same order had a second line- Lt. Colonel was being transferred to an Army hospital. The order was dated a few days earlier than when this when this all occurred, but we had not received a copy, which was unusual.
Col. Framster asked me if I could have someone take him to Co. D’s kitchen, as it was mid-afternoon and he hadn’t had lunch. I had someone take him to Co. D and sent another to find Col. Eaton who was somewhere in the area. When Eaton came in, I took him into his office, his former office, and then showed him the order. After reading it, he started to cry and after a few moments he told me why. He was being transferred as executive officer of a hospital whose Commanding Officer was a man who he knew from past experience, that he was not liked by him, and that he could expect a lot of trouble. He finally recovered. He waited until Col. Framster returned and I left them to talk for a while. Then Eaton left to pack and get ready to leave the next morning.
Col. Framster really took charge, unlike Col. Eaton who used to allow us to do whatever we thought was best on many occasions. Framster kept a close observation on all that happened and actually there were no problems, all of us in headquarters performed our jobs satisfactorily, regardless of who the Commander was.
Just before the war ended, on one of our moves, we passed a sign indicating [it was] the hospital that Col. Eaton had been transferred to. After we got settled, I asked Col. Framster for permission to visit Col. Eaton, which he okayed. Col. Eaton’s hospital had taken over a big German hospital. At the front door I asked for directions to the office of the executive officer, “left on the 2nd floor”, with signs nailed to the door frames. The last door on the left was for the “Executive Officer.” As I turned in I heard a voice from across the hall- “MACE!” It was Col. Eaton sitting at a desk, the sign on the door said “Comm. O.” He told me that a few weeks after he joined the hospital, the C.O. had fallen, broken a leg and had been returned to the States, and he had been appointed C.O.! What luck!
A few weeks later Col. Eaton showed up at our headquarters and asked me to get Joe Forejt, Gil Christopher (our supply officer) and then offered the three of us positions at the hospital with promises of promotions. We all turned him down when he said that we would have to remain in Germany [as] the hospital was to be retained for occupation duty.
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