Chapter 16 - Manhay and Corporal Cooper

We got into a position near the little town of Manhay I think about one day before Christmas. I remember we had our C Battery CP in a very nice big two story house, and there were several more nice houses around it. Living conditions were much better than at Hinderhausen. This was the position we were in on the Christmas Day that the confiscated White Leghorn hens made the supreme sacrifice.    Picture of Manhay - Christmas 1944; thanks to 517PRCT (click here)

I didn't know until years later that Capt. Brundage found the hen house first and tried to buy enough chickens to feed C battery, from the old Belgium man, and he refused to sell. Surely Capt. Brundage didn't leak the location of that hen house to any of his men! We really did enjoy that chicken-ala-king on that Christmas Day. I believe the next day we received our regular rations including turkey as the army promised.

The night before Christmas the 75th division, another fresh from the states division, made up of mostly former ASTP students, marched past our battery position on their way to the front lines. They went into position in front of us replacing and reinforcing some of the straggling assortment of troops that we were supporting with our fire. They were first time combat soldiers, and on Christmas night the Germans really dealt them a hard time. They were badly shot up that night, mostly because they could not figure how to keep from being seen or heard. Now it becomes rather obvious why I was lucky to flunk out of ASTP school.

We were in that Manhay position several days. I believe it was about the 26th or 27th of December. Anyway it was while we were in this place. I was walking down to the kitchen one morning for breakfast, when I met Capt. Brundage coming towards me, and even in combat, when meeting your commanding officer face to face, we always saluted. He returned my salute and said good morning Corporal Cooper. That was the way I found out that I had been promoted to Cpl. My old Sgt. Alfred Paddillo used to say all the time that "The best rank in this man's army is Corporal, because you get out of KP, guard duty, and other details, but do not gain any responsibilities". I believe I would heartily approve that statement. I was acting Sgt. on many occasions, but never attained the rank.

This position at Manhay was the last time that we were forced to withdraw or retreat or fall back for strategic purposes as we would much prefer to say. I believe, if memory serves me right, we left this position and went to a rest area in the rear. We were desperately in need of rest and more in need of a bath. I'm sure that our bodies smelled more like skunks than they did humans. Everyone or at least most everyone tried to stay as clean as possible, but in freezing cold weather, and no bathing facilities available, it was virtually impossible to stay very sanitary.

The Bulge in our lines had ended, and now came the task of pushing them back into Germany and eventual and total defeat. This task was still a large one and many good men lost their lives in this effort but for all intents and purposes when the Krauts were stopped at Manhay all their hopes of winning World War Two must have been gone.

The rest of the war happened real fast and my memory of it is not very plain. I do remember that Lt. E.L.D.Breckenridge, who had received a battlefield commission, was assigned to C Battery, and Sal and I went on a number of missions with him. Some of the things the three of us did and encountered together would make a small book, and I certainly will not attempt to cover all of them.