Hi Folks,
Tony and I went down to South Carolina to visit with our other WWII buddy, Walter Miller, and also to play some golf. Walt had suffered a heart attack recently, but is recovering nicely and is getting around OK. While at his house and going through his file of the 36th he came across a poem he had written while on the beachhead. I thought it was great and something to be put out there. So,I brought it home to scan and send to you folks.
"STAY RUGGED"
Carl
Anzio
Golden sands and water blue
Verdure marshes bright with dew
Sheep and shepherd in the dell
Stiffened cattle felled by shell
Distance mountain white with snow
This I saw at Anzio
Ruins old and modern homes
Sulfur springs and catacombs
Silver cows with silver tails
Diving planes with vapor trails
Nazi captives in a row
This I saw at Anzio
Air armadas massed in flight
Tracers winging through the night
Crosses white in fields of green
Screeching shells from guns unseen
Flaming ships with sky aglow
This I saw at Anzio
Towns engulfed in smoky haze
Cruisers with their guns ablaze
Burned out tanks with blackened hull
Cannon roar without a lull
Men who fought and killed their foe
This I saw at Anzio
WJM
10 April 1944
Anzio Beachhead