How people get lost in wars.

This letter is to Gene Bell who was in the headquarters company of the 666 
artillery bn.  I was in B company.

Gene:

    Last night I watched part of the TV program, saving Jessie Lynch.

  People who have not been in same position as the one in charge of the 
truck, cannot believe something like that would occur.

We were in the Rhine valley and our battary B was supporting a group of 
tanks.  The Tanks came to a bridge that was blowed up and of course the tank 
could turn on the road and go back, but our tractors and guns could not turn 
around.  We had to unconnect the guns from the tractors, turn the tractors 
around, and turn the guns around by hand.

By the time we were ready to move again the tanks were long gone.  When we 
came to a cross roads, the 1st sarge and the captain tried to determine 
which way the tanks went.

They choose the wrong road.  (sounds like the TV program.) except at the end 
of the road we were on ended up at a empty farm house about night time.  The 
captain got on the radio and after a long talk, he was told to set up 
parameter defense and they would figure out what to do the next day.

We sat a gun up on each side of the farm buildings, and set up machine gun 
positions on each corner. Then we settled down for the night.

Shortly after we had everything in place, it was dark and a fight started 
in a small village not far from us.  There were machine guns with both 
white(german) and red(american) tracers burning out over our position.  Then 
artillary shells from both ways were landing in the village.  This kept up 
for most of the night.

It was quite in the morning and we had breakfast, and we wondered what was 
next, when we saw a column of soldiers was coming down the lane towards our 
position.  Then all at once they disappeared.  We move close to our guns and 
the machine guns position.  We thought the column was american but did not 
know for sure.

Then a officer and sarge came into view carrying a white flag.  When they 
got close they said they thought we were american's because German's would 
not have walk around in the sunshine with their mess kits reflecting the 
sun.

Well, the mess crew put on extra coffee and served coffee to the company of 
foot soldier's.

One of the foot soldier said they were the front line, and they were thankful 
for the support of the artillery, but this was the first the artillery got 
out in front to serve them coffee.

Later on in the day we left that postion and went though the village where 
the fight occur during the night.  There were a lot of dead German soldiers 
laying around and a lot of US pup tents around also.
(For those who don't understand this, any time an American was killed, 
his pup tent was used to cover him.)

I will always remember a dead German soldier laying in a stairway with his 
feet on the sidewalk, and the old woman talking his shoes off.

That was a long time ago.

Great Grandpa John Welden.

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