this bird was sitting on a hill looking down our throat
Every soldier has his war story. Here is mine. It’s about a dogface with courage. And our capture of a Sturmtiger at Menden, on the Ruhr River.
My tank platoon was rolling along in first gear across an opening in a forest east of the city. Infantry were walking at 3 to 4 miles per hour between and behind our five Sherman (medium) tanks. Suddenly this guy on a hill dropped one on us. It blew a hole in the ground near me the size of a tank. At that time I didn’t know the shell weighed 726 pounds and was loaded into the tank with a crane. I just knew I was scared. Later, another one of our platoon leaders listening to us on the radio said I sounded like H. V. Kaltenborn – a famous radio commentator of that era.
All tanks stopped immediately. The infantry hit the ground. This is a bad situation. If you stay there under direct artillery fire the enemy will pound you into your grave piece by piece. I ordered all tank drivers to move out. They did.
To my left I saw a BAR rifleman jump up and move forward. The entire battalion got up and joined us. That guy is my hero -- the dogface with the Browning Automatic Rifle.
We overran the German positions and I saw my hero being knocked over with a Mauser bullet as he passed by an enemy foxhole. When the firing ceased my driver moved us to his position. I helped him crawl up on my tank. We drove him to a medics jeep nearby. On the way over he started crying. I asked him if his shoulder hurt. He said "no, Lieutenant but I think I got that million dollar wound and I am so happy".
A million dollar wound is one that doesn’t tear you apart but it takes you out of action for a few months and as a result may save your life. Bottom line. It gives you a brief and welcome respite from the horrors of war.
The German tank crew as it turned out were Schutzstaffel (Waffen SS) dressed in black uniforms. One of them was wearing a GI sweater and combat boots. During questioning at battalion headquarters he said he obtained the clothes at Malmedy, Belgium (where a German armored unit killed defenseless American prisoners). I do not know if he made it back to the PW cage but I suspect not.
Every soldier has a hero. I wish I knew the name of mine. I would like to see him again. Perhaps we will meet in Valhalla.
another hero of the
times
who ran away from home and
fought in the Spanish-American War at age 19
H V Kaltenborn
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