G Company, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

WARREN Marshall: A platoon leader from H company whom I got to know quite well. Stopped to see him at his home in Enumclaw, Wn. in 19?? and found out he had passed away in 1978.

John Jordan: a tough little cookie, and if I remember right he had a cigar stub in his face most of the time.

Emory J. Hitt: The oldest man in G and perhaps the Division. He was a Georgia boy, and he could tell you that if you had the time to listen. Had been in the service since the 30's and was now in a limited duty situation.

JOE COLUMBUS: Now here was a character. He was in every scrap and knew what the score was. I guess they made all these Pennsylvania boys with a flair for offense. He was a squad leader, and even took charge of the company in Camp Butner, N.C. It so happened that on our return to the states, the East coast boys were on furlough before I reached Los Angeles, and when my furlough ended, these men were all back in Camp at least ten days before I arrived. As 1st Sgt. I wondered how the company was doing, and soon found that on arrival, Joe Columbus had taken charge and it was quite a mess. As new arrivals came in from furlough, they were on KP the next morning, by order of Joe! There was no duty roster kept, no reveille or retreat, but there were passes issued------ all signed by Sgt. Joe Columbus and when the guards at the gate called BN. who the Hell is Joe Columbus? they were told to OK all the passes. So it was until I arrived. No problems---- much, but a lot of laughs.

THE DAVIS' BOYS. George, Arnold and Gattis. All came together from North Carolina and none related. Gattis came on the boat with a huge twisted roll of tobacco, and pretty well broke the habit of chewing before the war ended. It did last into the winter. George was just crazy for those flapjacks and Arnold used to tell stories about how much his mule could plow in a day or how fast his 1935 Chev would go.

Then there was Lt. Nunoz, Sgts Beach, Prince and Dabbs. All went over the hill so to speak and were court martialed. After the war the sentences were commuted, and Nunoz married a Belgium girl. Never heard more of Prince and Beach. Dabbs was another story. As I remember he either went AWOL early in June, or was slightly wounded. At any rate, he never came back to the company until after the war was over. It was reported that he spent his time in England, then was shipped back to his company, but evaded transportation so effectively for months, the war ended before he returned. Then after our furloughs in the states he never returned to North Carolina and was eventually picked up and brought back to the guard house. I went to see him once about his locked foot locker that was in storage, and he refused me the key. The supply Sgt. took care of it, as it was all government issue anyway.

RALPH SHADY WIRES: Here was a patient mechanic and a survivor. Two items of interest that I remember. One was the acquisition of a German truck that refused to run for very long. Shady would tinker and get it back on the road. It eventually was requested by the brass to junk it, as it was holding up the convoy. Too bad. Such a nice truck. Among the souvenirs acquired was a six barrel revolver, and it was in terrible condition. It was all rusted and I would have junked it, but Shady started it's reconstruction, and by sanding, filing, scraping etc., he eventually had a working antique. On each trigger pull the barrels would revolve. What a gun !!!

Lou Coppola: In charge of the machine gun section of the 4th platoon. He was a gambling man from Pennsylvania, and did a terrific job as a sgt. He also came over on the boat with me, and made it through the war. He liked to get Jack King's goat, and while we were in Ochsenfurt and the military discovered a German warehouse loaded with all kinds of goodies. Canned sardines, cheeses, cigarette lighters and you name it. Lou garnered a hunk of cheese about 6 inches thick and 3 feet across, covered with a black wax to preserve it. He came rolling it down the street yelling for Jack King. When Jack heard him and came out to see what the fuss was about, Lou said he wanted to mail this cheese home to his dad! Now well over 100# was more than Jack would take, and he told Lou in no uncertain terms "You jerky bastard, you better try and eat it while we're here."

Pasquale DeCarlo: Pat was my assistant radio operator, but never had the opportunity to carry it for the company. I was fortunate to stay on my feet and finished the war with the damn thing still attached to my back. Pat was a gambler. Period. He had some very perfect dice that he kept in wraps till there was an opportunity for a quick "roll". He made a lot of money during the tour, and he never picked the dice to roll. He would bet on the side, giving the odds according to the point. He said his brother ran a gambling joint in New Rochelle, N.Y. Pat was from New York City, and spoke the language fluently. He died in 1973.

William "Russ" Humphrey: A squad leader of high ratings. One of his proudest moments was when his squad was photographed crossing a bridge during the "Bulge" and this picture made headlines nationwide and was reprinted time and again in periodicals. It was a good picture, and it's too bad that not all survived the war to see it. Russ was a trucker in New Joisey, and his travels took him all over the east coast. From time to time he would look up army buddies and felt some disappointment in not finding some. Eddie Ferrence, for one was last known to be on skid row in Carteret, N.J. He could never find him. Ethel and I stopped to see Russ and Midge in 1966 or 1969 in Morris Plains. They have now replaced his knees and he and Midge live in Florida. I wonder if he got those bad knees playing football in the woods at Bamberg! I've got a picture of several of the "players" in those woods.

Ten, twenty or thirty years from now I wonder who will care about any of this-----or the personal actions of "G" company men compiled by George and Shirley Devine. There won't be anyone left to retell all the stories. What's past is prologue?

~~~ Arnold Erbstoesser ~~~

Submitted by his son David
Many thanks David.

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