I was with Company I, 110th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division during their November 1944 battle in the Huertgen Forest.
I most of all remember the numerous casualties that we incurred, the constant barrages of artillery and mortars, especially the "Tree Bursts" that rained shrapnel and wood splinters down on us. I also remember the cold, rain, snow, and sleet, foxholes filling with water. The constant fear of mines, that seemed to be everywhere. Being surrounded on Kommerscheidt Hill with the very decimated 112th Infantry Regiment. During the breakout wading that icy cold Kall River.
On the evening of November 16, 1944 Company I was pulled back from the front, we slept that evening in shell holes and when we awoke the following morning we were covered by more than six inches of snow.
November 17, 1944, we were trucked to someplace in Luxemburg and billeted in houses. Our house was heated by a pot belly stove. The heat and the easy chair I slept in was like Heaven.
On the morning of November 18, 1944, I was unable to get my shoes on. My feet being swollen, so I reported for Sick Call. The medics tagged me as a "Litter Patient" I was suffering from "Trench Foot". This started my journey homeward where I ended up in Camp (Fort today) Carson, Colorado.
I was discharged from the Army June 25, 1945, and was home in Chicago, Illinois as a civilian to celebrate VJ Day.
In remembrance of Richard H. Stewart.
My good friend Dick passed away on February 5, 2004.
We had exchanged e-mails for many months.
I'll miss him as a dear friend.
~~~~ Scorpio ~~~