By: Herman G. Schroeder

INTRODUCTION

Sgt. Bernard Kestner used to say that I was breaking every regulation in the army by keeping a diary in a combat zone. However, the old Pittsburgh fireman never turned me in and I got away with it. By now the statute of limitations should have expired and I should be safe.

Besides, I thought I was justified because I was going to be a great writer. My mother used to share my letters with a mutual friend who said that I wrote just like Ernie Pyle (or was it Gomer Pyle?) Anyway I had great fantasies about being a famous writer and I planned to use my little pocket sized diaries as a basis for my writings about my army experiences.

So in late 1945 I wrote a story of about 75 pages and called it Curbstone Combat Diary. It was in longhand and like most of my fantasies never was printed. Barney Kestner read it after the war and I think that Roy Agee and Billy Williamson may have also read it. Maybe a few others read it but I don't remember. The diary began about the time we landed in England; or maybe when we left Camp Shanks, New York; and ended when we got back to the states. "Curbstone" was some kind of code name used over the phone or radio to identify the 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion.

Years went by and Curbstone Combat Diary just laid around with many of my books, class notes from college courses, and term papers, etc. Sometime in the early 60's it was in the attic of the house where we were living in Alexandria, Virginia. In the meantime I had married and had three children and was about mid-career in correctional sociology. In January of 1960 God called me to be a minister and some turbulent years followed for me with both outward and inward struggle. For a period I considered being an avowed pacifist and I was anti-military around the same time. One sleepless night I went up into the attic and gathered up some things to throw out. I discarded some sociology and psychology books which I no longer thought valuable and out went Curbstone Combat Diary. In addition to the anti-military feelings that I had at the time I remember that there were some things I said concerning an old girl friend that in my turbulent state, I did not want my wife and children to ever read. Now I think I was too impulsive but the diary was gone forever. How could I have known that the 275th would be revived in the 1970's and there would be interest again in events that I had nearly forgotten? Sometimes they seem like they happened in another life.

But the 275th has come alive again and at least one account The Valiant 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion has been in print since 1978. It, too, appears to have been written from a diary or log.

Recently in a metal box at home I came across my pocket book diaries of 1943, 1944, and 1945 and I thought maybe I would try again. There are a number of problems. One, I can't always read my own writing. Another monumental problem is that more than forty years have elapsed since the brief notations in the little black books were jotted and the images they once produced are foggy at best. For example, just before I left home for the army I noted a number of phone calls to N. J. I was trying to remember who in the world I knew in New Jersey when I happened to remember a crush I had on Norma Jean What's Her Name. Things like that happen.

Since I have my records, such as they are, for the whole 30 months of my army experience I thought I would write more than just the year overseas so it is more than a combat diary and I tried to think up a different title. I don't think we actually had Jimmy Cricket until we went armored at Camp Campbell but I like the title and I hope others will too. My fantasies about writing a runaway best seller have moderated over the years but if anyone reads JIMINY CRICKET CHIRPS AGAIN and gets something out of it I will feel rewarded.

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