Lafayette We Are Here, Again

We left England in the morning of Sept. 5 and had what the sailors told us was the roughest crossing since D-Day, talking about weather not enemy action. One of our men said it was the first time he could look and see sky in three different directions. According to The Valiant 275th AFA Battalion the captain of the ship seriously considered jettisoning the vehicles which were on the top deck because of severe rolling. Many were sea sick but I rather liked it because I got extra dessert.

We sighted France about 3PM and passed Cherbourg about two miles out. I think the Germans still held LaHarve at the time and some pockets on the West Coast of France.

On the 6th (D+90) we ate breakfast on the LST and landed on the beach around 5:30A.M. We pulled into bivouac and cleaned our equipment getting ready for a 300 mile trip which was cancelled. It rained all day on the 7th and we re-pitched our tents. I was with Kestner, Elmore, Watson, Hickerson (five in a tent?). The diary says "I like France better than England because it is closer to home by one step

I remember when we were rolling east later on watching the kilometer markers pass by and thinking each one takes me farther from home but, in a way, closer to home.

Sunday September 10th the kitchen truck caught on fire but it wasn't too bad. This may have been where Sgt. Dickey got hurt. On the 12th the radio said American troops were 91 miles into Germany. On the 16th the Yank 1st Army reportedly broke through the Siegfried Line.

We were staying in a place that had been one of Napoleon's Artillery ranges and were doing most of the same things that we learned to do in Camp Phillips.

Speaking of radio, Billy Williamson was the first St. Louis Cardinal Baseball fan I ever knew. I have known thousands since. The Cards were in the World Series and Billy was trying to catch the games any way he could. I think that was the year Enos Slaughter stole home and the Cardinals beat the Yankees for the World Championship. I kind of caught Billy's enthusiasm but then I was for anybody who could beat the Yankees as I was a Washington Senator fan, plus it took one's mind off the war.

Sunday Sept. 24th I "tried to find a church service but there was none". Most of the time I went to church and so did Kestner as he was a devout Catholic.

We went out on a problem on the 25th and Kennison came with the 6th section because Percy hurt his back a few days earlier. We fired eight rounds and came in around six P.M.

On the 26th we had reveille and retreat which we hadn't been having in France. Those are the two formations, one at the beginning of the day and the other at the end, where everybody lines up and the First Sgt. asks the sections to report. The Chief or acting Chief then says, "All present or accounted for," when actually he doesn't have the faintest idea where half of them are.

I took a bath in a stream on the 27th. It must have been pretty cool. That night some of us went to a show in the FF1 (French Forces of the Interior) camp. Had a shower on the 30th. On the 6th I got 21 letters the same day.

On the 7th of October we heard that we were moving up. It seems that it rained most every day.

On Sunday October 8th after chapel and communion our trailers came in (ammunition was hauled in trailers with the camouflage net on top) and the little book says that I "Pulled MP in Maure with Lynch and Crosby." I sure don't remember that. I don't even like M.P.s. They must have been hard up for Military Police.

Finally on the 17th we headed east. The first day we went through Reims and LaMans was passed the second. We didn't drive at night. The Valiant 275th reports that we went about 75 miles per day. The second day when Hickerson was driving we bent a trailer wheel but I guess it stayed bent the rest of the war. On the 20th we went through Paris. Talk about a brief tour, we didn't see much of anything.

If I ever go back to Europe I plan to spend less time in the pubs and nightclubs and more in the cathedrals and art galleries.

My little book says we went through Armentieres, where the famous mademoiselle of World War I came from, but my Atlas shows the place to be so far north that it hardly seems possible. Maybe it just looked like Armentieres. On the 21st we came through Chalons. This is where Elmore and I hit the building I told about before.

Verdun was reached on Oct. 22. Of course, this is a famous name from "The Great War" as well. Then on through Luxembourg and Arlon, Belgium. That night Captain Ledig told us that we would go into the front lines the next day. I seem to recall he said "I know and you don't need to know."

DeLoyd Cooper is the Historian for the 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion Association.
Copyright © 1999 DeLoyd Cooper. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 4, 2004