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Joe M.'s avatar

Comments from conversations with Robert F. Montague (E-399)

1) The picture of the 398th squad -

The army put together mechanized combat teams: trucks, half-tracks, light tanks etc. and put them on the roads to try and get out and around behind the Germans retreating. Trouble was, those barricades (such as pictured) blocked the roads and held up these vehicles to the point where the infantry units were able to bypass them by marching off-road through the woods.

2) Infantry vs. Bomber fatalities -

An example of the "coldblooded" side of my Dad (the combat infantryman) I rarely saw.

When I commented on the large number of bomber crew fatalities he remarked "Yeah, but they died with a hot meal in their bellies having slept in a warm bed!" Like I said... Cold!

3) Not Shaving -

Dad turned 19 on November 3rd. He wasn't shaving yet. He would taunt the more burly bearded guys by cleaning his face with a wet towel while they hacked at their beards and stubble with an old rusty razor shared amongst them.

4) Foxhole Covers and military discipline -

Dad related an episode when a new "butterbar" (2nd Lieutenant) banged on the top of a covered foxhole complaining about the quality of construction. The dogface within, who'd been sleeping, poked his head out and yelled at the Lt. When the officer resumed his thumping, the resident came out with his rifle locked and loaded, chasing the lieutenant away.

5) Frozen feet -

Dad lived his life with a 10% disability from frozen feet. He played dead in a foxhole filled with icy water for several hours surrounded by Germans. "They weren't taking prisoners!"

Out in the open when a barrage started, the only spot below ground was the latrine. He believes this led him contracting yellow jaundice and two weeks off the line in hospital.

6) Expert Infantrymen -

The 399th Regiment was the first unit to earn the Expert Infantryman's Badge while they were at Ft. Bragg... it's difficult to say how much those skilled helped them survive in the harshest European winter in forty years

7) Outposts -

Dad was a runner. It was his job to know where the outposts were located and maintain communications with headquarters. This was done by running messages and orders back and forth or maintaining field phone by "running wire" Night or day, rain or shine... if the phone down, it was his job to take off and repair the break or lay a new line. Fifty years later, this skillset still served him as we traversed the ground outside Lemberg and Bitche, finding old trenches and foxholes and even unexploded mortar rounds.

8) Engineers and Shoe mines -

One of Dad's squad stepped on a "shoe" mine while they were on the move. It didn't go off. He had to stay put and sit on it waiting for the engineers to come up from the rear to rescue him... they wrapped him a flak jacket, told him to crouch low and spring as far as he could... After Dad found the ordnance, I had a bit of a fright reading in the unit history that the area we'd been tromping around that day had been heavily mined...

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