Ward: Remembering To Hell and Back

Columns

Discussion

February 15, 2013

Ward: Remembering To Hell and Back

Bill Ward Rushville Republican The Rushville Republican Fri Feb 15, 2013, 10:11 AM EST

RUSHVILLE — I happened to see a part of To Hell and Back with Audie Murphy on the satellite today. Wow, did it bring back memories! When I was taking Basic Training in the 3rd Infantry Division Second Battle Group 7th Infantry we saw that darn movie every week. At the time it seemed it was every day. Murphy was the most decorated soldier in the US Army during World War II. I think he got at least one of everything including the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was turned down by the US Marines because he was not tall enough. I often wondered what they thought of that later on. Murphy was one of those who made officer the hard way, battle field commission. He stayed in the 3rd Infantry Division as they fought through North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Southern France to Germany itself.

Audie Murphy was about as clean-cut an individual that I ever saw in the movies. He made movies his full-time job after the war and did several films prior to his untimely death. I always thought it was funny that he had managed to go all the way through the war and get wounded but not killed then become a civilian movie star and die of an accident (I believe). I do know he died young and way too soon. The movie To Hell and Back was his autobiography and he even starred as himself in it. Frankly, I thought it stunk. It was filmed at Fort Lewis (Washington state) and used American soldiers as German and Italian as well as American soldiers. In the film the tanks, both German and American, were American. Several of those in the film played both American and German soldiers.

Also, every scene had GI’s in starched, well pressed uniforms. Few, if any, were muddy or dirty, nor did they get that way. Some of the scenes were so fake it showed, even to me. Of course, the 90th time you see a film you pretty well have things down as to what is going to happen. I admire Audie Murphy greatly for his heroism as well and persistence in his military career. In a way, he was a lot like Sgt. York of World War I in that he was a crack shot, but from Texas not Tennessee. He worked his way up the ladder from Private to First Louie all because of his combat actions. He had numerous foreign medals and awards as well as everything we had. To be truthful, I thought if he had all his medals on his dress uniform he might have trouble walking around because of the weight as well as area covered by those medals.

The Third Infantry probably made more amphibious landings in the European Theater of Operations than some Marine divisions did in the Pacific. Yet another thing we had drilled into us was the history of Rock of the Marne. If there was a landing, other than D-Day, the Third did it. On June 6, 1944 they were fighting in Italy and then were pulled out to land in Southern France and head up to Germany from the French Rivera. They did this, and one of their units was first on the scene at Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s mountain-top retreat. (Well, what was left of it.) They then were occupation for a time, then returned to the US and deactivated. It was reconstituted to replace the 10th Mountain Division in West Germany in 1957. This was the time I managed to end up in the 3rd Infantry and spent almost three years in Germany (Franconia, to be exact) as part of NATO.

It was fun to see and feel how things went during the war because we were right around where the 3rd ended the war, Bavaria. We were not far from Nuremburg or Munich and I was able to visit them both several times. There were still signs of Nazi power showing while I was there and I basked in the history of the area and of my division. The Germans I met while there were friendly; not one of them fought the Americans, all fought the Russians (yeah, I bet). But they were friendly and kind to most of us and seemed to be as happy as possible that we were in their country.

I did notice that German Army recruits had it much better than American. The barracks were brick and really nice with only three or four at most per room. I managed to make Sergeant so had a room all to myself. We had several Germans and nationless workers on base and they all had stories that were horrific as well as heroic at times. There seemed little if any animosity toward the US and the new German Army, the Bundeswehr, worked well within NATO and with the Americans.

I hated To Hell and Back but loved the 3rd Infantry and feel proud to have been a member of that elite group.

Text Only

Columns

Stuart: From zippy to zapped in Old San Juan
My family’s spring break vacation didn’t last nearly as long as it’s taking me to tell you about it in these columns. If it had, our cruise would be going into its fifth week. That would be, I don’t know, like sailing with Christopher Columbus in 1492. Imagine the weight his crews put on at their shipboard buffets; no wonder those boats traveled slow!

May 18, 2013
Ward: My early years
There are a lot of things from my youth that I treasure and would not be unhappy to have them back again. Don’t laugh, but BB Bats are one thing I loved as a child. They were a taffy like substance stuck on a stick.

May 16, 2013
Barada: Local library should be a county facility
A noble effort is underway to renovate and expand the Rushville Public Library. It will not be an easy task. What will help, in my opinion, will be finally making the public library a county library.

May 14, 2013
Stuart: Snorkeling fun, in and out of the water
As I continue to relive my spring break vacation in these pages (we’re only a couple of days into it so far - this could last well into the autumn!), I’ll reveal the biggest shock my kids received on our Carnival Cruise. It was 7:30 on a sunny Tuesday morning, when I woke them and said we’d arrived in Charlotte

May 11, 2013
Ziemke: Back home again in Batesville
Following the hustle and bustle of Indianapolis, I must say that it has been nice to be home this past week. Session is an exciting process to be a part of, but for now, I am just going to enjoy the fact that I can be at my restaurant more often to talk to the folks I represent at the Statehouse.

May 10, 2013
Wolfsie: Bird calls
One afternoon in 2011, my friend Eric spent a couple of hours over lunch explaining Twitter to me and I thought I understood it all, but as you’ll see from my first few tweets, I wasn’t very confident:

May 9, 2013
Mauzy: Weddings paint a larger picture of life
The marriage of my oldest daughter was this past weekend. With great fortune, weather remained wonderful for the outside venue. More than a stroke of good luck concerning the weather, the calm and positive energies of everyone in attendance would have overcome any adversity.

May 8, 2013
Messer: Have we learned the lessons of 9/11?
September 11 was a devastating wake up call for every American. The events of that terrible day taught us that we are at war with violent Islamist extremists. If we let them, these jihadists are committed to exploiting our generosity and legal protections to further their murderous mania. The 9/11 Commission which investigated that tragedy concluded warning signs were everywhere, noting that “the system was blinking red.”

May 8, 2013
Ward: When making furniture was king
I have fond memories of Rushville when it had three lumber yard/coal yards, four railroads went through town, the city owned the electric utility and the phone company was user owned and operated. The main industry was furniture, with three large manufacturers in town.

May 7, 2013
Barada: The GOP and its next run for the White House
I’m going to make a fearless prediction this week. If the Republicans don’t get their act together soon, very soon, there will be another Democrat in the White House for the eight years following the end of the Obama Administration.

May 7, 2013
More Columns Headlines

Columns

Search Results

Discussion

Ward: Remembering To Hell and Back

Site Map

Contact Us