1943 Gettysburg Christmas

[Walt's Daughter]

A recent "newbie" to our site, WWII veteran, MSgt Cecil A Saul, was searching the world wide web for "Gettysburg College", and stumbled upon our site. Unfortunately Papa Art is no longer with us, so I couldn't hook them up, but it was nice for him to find a "brother" and to read his memoirs. How I wished the two of them could have chatted together.

 

Here's his story regarding Gettysburg College. Thanks for writing to me and becoming a member of our forum. He has a great writing style, which I'm sure you'll enjoy!

 

Hi, Marion:

Sorry, I have no intention of taking over your blog. I merely stumbled on to the story, and as usual, was too late. My own bag: I have beeen doing findagrave for a couple years. That's a genealogy/graves registration site. In the process I got to writing biographical sketches and that led to a half-baked idea of writing history/memoirs/biographical sketches at the same time. That is why I googled Gettysburg College. I was looking for trails to cadets I knew. So far I have found only one. Pete Schneller, but i hope (and dread) to find others. BTW. Here is a rememberance of Gettysburg. Post it if you think it is appropriate. Thank You

Cecil

GETTYSBURG REVISITED

Longview, Texas November 19th , 2011

On this date 68 years ago I was an Aviation Cadet taking a five month college course in preparation for pilot training. My unit was the 55th College Training Detachment at Gettysburg College, Gettysburg PA. My dorm room which I shared with five other cadets was in “Old Dorm” which I understand is now renamed “Pennsylvania Hall”. There were, I believe some 500 to 600 cadets there.

That day started off fairly normally but in the middle of breakfast, in another building across the parade ground, things changed. One of our cadet officers burst in and shouted an announcement: That this was the 78th anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address and ceremonies in commemoration were being held at the “Cyclorama” on the Battlefield and we were all invited! “Chew fast; but eat every scrap on your plate!” And then it was back to Old Dorm and a change into dress uniforms and an inspection in front of the building and we were set to go. Except there was no transportation. But , what the heck it was only 10 miles or so and we were young and in fine health! We marched. In formation, since there were spectators along the way. We quick-marched. We force-marched. We double-timed . We only fell back to infantry cadence when our uniforms began to get too sweaty for us to be presentable. But we still arrived late. The Cyclorama was packed and we stood outside in formation for several hours. Our band played periodically. We stood at attention or parade rest for hours. People gawked at us. It slowly dawned on us that we were not spectators; we were spectees. We were not there to see but to be seen. Finally the ceremonies finished inside and people started drifting out. Among them were the Civil War Vets. Old duffers in their late ninetys and a few whose age exceeded 100. In wheel chairs, on crutches, with canes some, with missing limbs Most wearing some faded article of uniforms, both blue and gray. Then for us cadets, the day changed. We were practically mobbed by the old soldiers who wanted to talk to the young soldiers who couldn’t talk to them because we were standing at attention. Finally reason prevailed and we were told to “Fall out!”

And then pandemonium prevailed. Every one shook hands and saluted, hugged, thanked each other, and forgave each other. Old men and little children cried. The canons boomed . The band played. A few old fellers saluted with swords and cadet officers returned the salutes with ceremonial sabers… it’s a wonder no one was beheaded! And then people gathered in groups around the old fellers and tried to get them to tell war stories. Some talked quite well. Others mumbled . Others cried or spouted the nonsense of Alzheimers or seemed almost panic stricken at the commotion. I drifted here and there trying to get close enough to a vet to hear a good war story. And succeeded. I don’t know who he was . He wore part of a Union uniform I don’t remember that he talked much but he uttered one of the most memorable sentences that I have heard in my life: “ I remember my grand daddy bouncing me on his knee and telling me about the winter he spent with Washington at Valley Forge and my daddy was with Andy Jackson at New Orleans and I fought to preserve the Union from behind that rock right over there.”

We got back to Old Dorm late after a long cold miserable walk in the dark. It was several days before we could compare our war stories. But some of the stories were horrendous. Old Dorm was used as a hospital during the battle and hundreds of men died there. Old men told of being wounded in the leg, being taken to Old Dorm, given a jug of whiskey with instructions to drink half and waking up next day in a wagon with a dozen other amputees on their way to Michigan and not needing instructions with what to do with the rest of the whiskey in the jugs which each man carried. Where were the legs? Supposedly dropped through a hole sawed in the floor of the operating room, Old Dorm.

Mistakes were made at Gettysburg. Pickett charged. (Bad move!). Lincoln said “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here today” (But we did note and we did long remember!) My big mistake at Gettysburg was going to that ceremony before the camcorder was invented.! Before he died, General MacArthur said, “Old Soldiers never die. They just fade away”

Msgt Cecil A.Saul, USAF Retired