Another jeep Recon patrol in Southern France on a beautiful Indian summer day in 1944, this time to find a suitable location for the forward displacement of the Regimental CP. I took all four of my jeeps and fifteen men, since we carefully marked the route for others to follow, eliminating the need to go back. There were no front lines, as such. The Krauts were slowly withdrawing to the north, stopping only to defend favorable terrain. The situation was "fluid" which means in this case that neither side knew for sure where the enemy was.
We drove through a small French town to the continuous ringing of church bells. French civilians of every age and description lined the road, cheering, throwing flowers, offering wine and fruit, many crying with joy after four years of brutal occupation. A very pretty young woman danced up to our jeep on the driver's side. Steele braked to a stop, and she gave him a big hug and a kiss. I was riding in the front passenger seat. She leaned forward between Steele and the steering wheel and was about to give me a kiss too, when she suddenly recoiled and backed away into the crowd. I couldn't imagine what I had done to cause this reaction. I turned to Steele and said, "What do you suppose that was all about?" He gave me a salacious grin and said, "I squeezed her titty!" I said, "Steele, you may be the best jeep driver in the company, but you're no gentleman." To which he replied, "You got that right, Lootenant."
(This was intended to describe the pic of one of my recon jeeps being welcomed in Southern France.) Posting the pic and the text in the same place is a little more than I can handle, so I am posting it in separate parts.
Russ Cloer