As American soldiers like Ken advanced from Normandy across the French landscape, they became firsthand witnesses to the unraveling of the Nazi Regime. As Ken described, it was tough fighting all the way through Saint-Lo, a strategic crossroads for the allies on their push toward Paris. Bitter fighting hindered the Allied advance right through Saint-Lo, which was virtually destroyed by the time Ken and the 602nd Camouflage Battalion moved on. Ken describes the entire town being a "pile of debris when we left." After Saint-Lo, it was a straight push toward Paris.
Three Companies from Ken's Camouflage Battalion were split up and distributed among the U.S. 1st Army. The idea was, that given Ken's unique training in the art of camouflage, he and others could train the average infantryman how to hide themselves and their equipment in the terrain. Again, Ken laughed, "Once you were out on patrol, you were just another foot soldier - that's the way it worked."
In late 1944, the Germans launched an offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge. It was a last-ditch effort on the part of the Nazis to split the Allied advance, with the ultimate goal of capturing the port of Antwerp, upon which the Allies relied for their supplies. Although planned and executed in absolute secrecy, the plan ultimately failed. It did, however, catch the Americans by surprise, and succeeded in creating chaos in the Allied command, but not to the extent to which Hitler had hoped. This was the last major offensive of the Nazi party, and individual soldiers like Ken were there to witness it. Says Ken:
We were holed up in a little town not far from Malmedy, where all those people were killed. Anyway, we knew exactly when the Germans broke through and were pushing us back - we just happened to be sitting in the right spot. We had taken over a little garage for our motor pool, and that's where the kitchen was established for feeding our company. As we were holed up, all of a sudden equipment started coming through - my God, there was trucks, infantry, big guns, tanks, all moving back, all retreating. It was chaos. It just so happened that the Old Man, our Captain, had had himself a little party the night before. He had gotten himself drunker than a skunk, and all of a sudden things were getting really hot. The Germans had artillery and phosphorous shells landing, literally, right in front of us. Well, one of our trucks was down, and we needed another - we couldn't get all our men and supplies out with this one truck broke down. So, the Old Man sent me back in a jeep to headquarters, which was about 20 miles back. I took one guy with me, but with all this heavy traffic, I couldn't get through. My original plan was to go back through Malmedy, but traffic was backed up one right after another. We were jammed - there were just simply too many people and vehicles on this road. Well, with the jeep, I went into the ditch, turned around, and took another route that I knew. We made it to headquarters all right, and I grabbed a two-and-a-half-ton truck. I drove the jeep back, with the other guy following me in the truck. On way back, on a desolate road through woods, there was this GI there on the road, looking like he was lost. He didn't talk much, just kind of grunted. I thought about it for a while, and then all of a sudden his rifle went off there in the jeep. So I kicked him out, figuring if he couldn't handle his weapon then he could walk. Well, a couple days later I found out in the GI Paper that Hitler had dropped a bunch of German Special Forces dressed as American GIs with American equipment into our lines. That's whom I had picked up that day in the woods.
Well, I got back to the garage from headquarters and the Germans were shelling the town like crazy. They were just over the hill away, moving in - they were intent on taking it over. We got loaded, got out of Dodge, and saved our butts.
More than 60 years later, I sat with Ken and his wife Thora, looking over photographs and hearing these stories. Ken showed me two pictures, one faded and tattered, and one bright and in color. Both photos were of the same building; it had survived the war and was still standing after all these years. Ken said, "That restaurant is where we stayed ... that old garage where we had our kitchen set up was in that restaurant."
For years, whenever Ken would tell this story, he would smile and laugh at how he had picked up the German disguised in American GI gear. It wasn't until recently, while attending one of Ken's Army Reunions that Thora heard the other side of the story. She told me how, at the reunions, "The boys would say, 'we wouldn't be here if it weren't for Ken.' They still remember that."
"I only knew the funny part, of the German soldier, but it's a whole different story, hearing it from someone else. It's a whole different story."
- Dan Wegmueller of Monroe writes a weekly column for Friday editions of the Times. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
Three Companies from Ken's Camouflage Battalion were split up and distributed among the U.S. 1st Army. The idea was, that given Ken's unique training in the art of camouflage, he and others could train the average infantryman how to hide themselves and their equipment in the terrain. Again, Ken laughed, "Once you were out on patrol, you were just another foot soldier - that's the way it worked."
In late 1944, the Germans launched an offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge. It was a last-ditch effort on the part of the Nazis to split the Allied advance, with the ultimate goal of capturing the port of Antwerp, upon which the Allies relied for their supplies. Although planned and executed in absolute secrecy, the plan ultimately failed. It did, however, catch the Americans by surprise, and succeeded in creating chaos in the Allied command, but not to the extent to which Hitler had hoped. This was the last major offensive of the Nazi party, and individual soldiers like Ken were there to witness it. Says Ken:
We were holed up in a little town not far from Malmedy, where all those people were killed. Anyway, we knew exactly when the Germans broke through and were pushing us back - we just happened to be sitting in the right spot. We had taken over a little garage for our motor pool, and that's where the kitchen was established for feeding our company. As we were holed up, all of a sudden equipment started coming through - my God, there was trucks, infantry, big guns, tanks, all moving back, all retreating. It was chaos. It just so happened that the Old Man, our Captain, had had himself a little party the night before. He had gotten himself drunker than a skunk, and all of a sudden things were getting really hot. The Germans had artillery and phosphorous shells landing, literally, right in front of us. Well, one of our trucks was down, and we needed another - we couldn't get all our men and supplies out with this one truck broke down. So, the Old Man sent me back in a jeep to headquarters, which was about 20 miles back. I took one guy with me, but with all this heavy traffic, I couldn't get through. My original plan was to go back through Malmedy, but traffic was backed up one right after another. We were jammed - there were just simply too many people and vehicles on this road. Well, with the jeep, I went into the ditch, turned around, and took another route that I knew. We made it to headquarters all right, and I grabbed a two-and-a-half-ton truck. I drove the jeep back, with the other guy following me in the truck. On way back, on a desolate road through woods, there was this GI there on the road, looking like he was lost. He didn't talk much, just kind of grunted. I thought about it for a while, and then all of a sudden his rifle went off there in the jeep. So I kicked him out, figuring if he couldn't handle his weapon then he could walk. Well, a couple days later I found out in the GI Paper that Hitler had dropped a bunch of German Special Forces dressed as American GIs with American equipment into our lines. That's whom I had picked up that day in the woods.
Well, I got back to the garage from headquarters and the Germans were shelling the town like crazy. They were just over the hill away, moving in - they were intent on taking it over. We got loaded, got out of Dodge, and saved our butts.
More than 60 years later, I sat with Ken and his wife Thora, looking over photographs and hearing these stories. Ken showed me two pictures, one faded and tattered, and one bright and in color. Both photos were of the same building; it had survived the war and was still standing after all these years. Ken said, "That restaurant is where we stayed ... that old garage where we had our kitchen set up was in that restaurant."
For years, whenever Ken would tell this story, he would smile and laugh at how he had picked up the German disguised in American GI gear. It wasn't until recently, while attending one of Ken's Army Reunions that Thora heard the other side of the story. She told me how, at the reunions, "The boys would say, 'we wouldn't be here if it weren't for Ken.' They still remember that."
"I only knew the funny part, of the German soldier, but it's a whole different story, hearing it from someone else. It's a whole different story."
- Dan Wegmueller of Monroe writes a weekly column for Friday editions of the Times. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
