Every Wednesday I take my 88 yo Dad out to lunch for a 'Happy Hamburger" as he calls it.
Last week he surprised me by telling me a story about a day in his life as an infantryman in France in July 1944.
His position had been overrun, he shared a foxhole with a guy. In the middle of the action, a German came up from behind, shot his foxhole mate and pointed the gun at him but didn't shoot. He was taken prisoner, and was force marched along a road going to somewhere German. During the walk, an American plane came overhead and strafed the road. With all the confusion, he managed to duck into the woods and escape...unarmed of course.
As he tried to find his way back to his unit, he saw a little white farm house with a nearby barn. As he approached the barn, he saw three German rifles stacked in a triangle outside the door. "Oh, shit" was his thought of the moment.
Before he could do anything, 3 Germans came out of the barn, and saw him. They did not go towards the rifles, but one pulled a 'potato masher' off of his belt, pulled the pin and threw it towards my Dad. He said all he could think of doing was hitting the dirt and hope that he wasn't hit too badly. As he lay there, the grenade fizzled out..a dud.
When he realized he wasn't going to blow up, he looked up and saw the three Germans advancing towards him with their hands raised in surrender ! He wasn't even armed.
He got up, looked at them and waved them off, pointing towards the road. They went towards the road, looked back and saw my Dad waving to them telling them to keep going. He sent them away. He said he was in no position to take prisoners as he didn't even know where he was or which way to go to get 'home'...and he was unarmed. He said he never thought of taking the stacked rifles.
I asked him if he thought the German soldiers were actually Poles as the Polish were 'recruited' into the Army and didn't want to be there.
He said he never thought of that but it was a possibility.
First the foxhole shooting where he was no hurt, then the 'surrender'. What a weird day, he said.
He was 18.
Last week he surprised me by telling me a story about a day in his life as an infantryman in France in July 1944.
His position had been overrun, he shared a foxhole with a guy. In the middle of the action, a German came up from behind, shot his foxhole mate and pointed the gun at him but didn't shoot. He was taken prisoner, and was force marched along a road going to somewhere German. During the walk, an American plane came overhead and strafed the road. With all the confusion, he managed to duck into the woods and escape...unarmed of course.
As he tried to find his way back to his unit, he saw a little white farm house with a nearby barn. As he approached the barn, he saw three German rifles stacked in a triangle outside the door. "Oh, shit" was his thought of the moment.
Before he could do anything, 3 Germans came out of the barn, and saw him. They did not go towards the rifles, but one pulled a 'potato masher' off of his belt, pulled the pin and threw it towards my Dad. He said all he could think of doing was hitting the dirt and hope that he wasn't hit too badly. As he lay there, the grenade fizzled out..a dud.
When he realized he wasn't going to blow up, he looked up and saw the three Germans advancing towards him with their hands raised in surrender ! He wasn't even armed.
He got up, looked at them and waved them off, pointing towards the road. They went towards the road, looked back and saw my Dad waving to them telling them to keep going. He sent them away. He said he was in no position to take prisoners as he didn't even know where he was or which way to go to get 'home'...and he was unarmed. He said he never thought of taking the stacked rifles.
I asked him if he thought the German soldiers were actually Poles as the Polish were 'recruited' into the Army and didn't want to be there.
He said he never thought of that but it was a possibility.
First the foxhole shooting where he was no hurt, then the 'surrender'. What a weird day, he said.
He was 18.
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