Introduction - Sgt Leo

[j3rdinf]

Roque: Could be mistaken but I think I dragged both yourself and Sgt. Leo here.

I am sure I dragged Sgt. Leo here though. Same as I did with Recon. I hope to drag some others over to here. It sure is one well ran site with the nicest people of any forum.

[Sgtleo]

 

Rogue

 

That photo was taken in August '44 in Paris before we moved up.

 

I was in the ETO until mid '46 so I still had some time to make me look worse than that photo did. I was getting so skinny I rattled when I walked.

 

I admit I may make it sound like an "interesting trip" but it was anything but and altough like you I had the "Points" I was held over because they kept telling me we can't find a replacement that fits so you are declared "essential".

(The Army's way of doing things their way.)

 

I found out after I left they "broke" some NCOs down because they realigned the T/O and since they had extended or re-up'd they were stuck. Glad I missed that.

 

Sgtleo

 

PS:--Joe is the reason I am here and I should say thanks to Joe for doing that!!

[Sgtleo]

 

Pour les gens qui voudrais une page pour moi:---

 

A ca je dit JAMAIS LAISSEZ MOI TRANQUILLE.

 

Je suis tres content comme il est maintenant.

 

OR in other words NO WAY JOSE!!

 

Sgtleo

 

[Parnell-H]

Hello Sgtleo,

 

I am stationed in Germany at Spangdahlem Air Base. Did you happen to make it around the Bitburg or Trier area during the war? I help run a history group on the base and we visit many places. Would love to tell your stories to our group if possible.

 

Nice to meet you.

 

Kyle

[roque_riojas]

Roque: Could be mistaken but I think I dragged both yourself and Sgt. Leo here.

I am sure I dragged Sgt. Leo here though. Same as I did with Recon. I hope to drag some others over to here. It sure is one well ran site with the nicest people of any forum.

3rdinf; Joe you are not mistaken, you are the one that got me started, I was

just putting in a plug for our moderator. My comment still stand. Marion you

are still tops in keeping this thing together. RjR

[Sgtleo]

 

W's D:-

 

I would like to respectfully reject your offer of having a section to myself because of what is stated below.

 

Also, because of the fact that men like j3rd,Rogue,Recon etc. could very well be relating their experiences. I chose for personal reasons to relate some data BUT it is of UTMOST importance to remember that I was just one of milllions that served with honor in the ETO in WW II. I am not and never was really any different than millions of others that did their job the way they were trained to do it.

 

I am flattered by your suggestion but don't feel worthy of such recognition. I will however continue to contribute stories whenever I can now I have put pen to paper so to speak but I don't feel there's any significant reason that I should be singled-out for what I did.

 

I was lucky enough to be the 1st. Sgt. of a great company during WW II and to serve under the famous(some would say infamous Gen. Patton) and I was lucky enough to survive the war and get back Stateside relatively safe and sane because I knew my job and I did my job. I'll leave it there.

 

I have the utmost respect for men who wore a uniform whenever and did their job as they were required whatever the time frame was. I mentioned Gen. Patton above because I have excerpted a portion of the speech he made to the troops before D-Day. I would ask respectfully that you read it and NEVER lessen the importance of anyone's service. If I'm preachy "Tops" tend to do that(LOL).

 

Please excuse his language but that was exactly how he spoke.

 

Here's the excerpted quote from Gen. pattons famous speech to the troops:-

 

"Patton stopped and the crowd waited. He continued more quietly, "All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. What if every truck driver suddenly decided that he didn't like the whine of those shells overhead, turned yellow, and jumped headlong into a ditch? The cowardly bastard could say, "Hell, they won't miss me, just one man in thousands". But, what if every man thought that way? Where in the hell would we be now? What would our country, our loved ones, our homes, even the world, be like? No, Goddamnit, Americans don't think like that. Every man does his job. Every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important in the vast scheme of this war. The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns and machinery of war to keep us rolling. The Quartermaster is needed to bring up food and clothes because where we are going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man on K.P. has a job to do, even the one who heats our water to keep us from getting the 'G.I. Shits'."

 

Patton paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the Goddamned cowards and we will have a nation of brave men. One of the bravest men that I ever saw was a fellow on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of a furious fire fight in Tunisia. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at a time like that. He answered, "Fixing the wire, Sir". I asked, "Isn't that a little unhealthy right about now?" He answered, "Yes Sir, but the Goddamned wire has to be fixed". I asked, "Don't those planes strafing the road bother you?" And he answered, "No, Sir, but you sure as hell do!" Now, there was a real man. A real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time, no matter how great the odds. And you should have seen those trucks on the rode to Tunisia. Those drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-*****ing roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting all around them all of the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of those men drove for over forty consecutive hours. These men weren't combat men, but they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it, and in one hell of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without team effort, without them, the fight would have been lost. All of the links in the chain pulled together and the chain became unbreakable."

 

Thanks for the suggested section of the Forum but no thanks! I Hope you understand my reasoning I was one of many. Sort of like the motto or our currency E Pluribus Unum or One out of Many!!

 

Sgtleo

[roque_riojas]

Sgt. Leo, You have my respect. If Marion wants to do a page on you, let her do it. And you keep sending those articles, like the one above. Those are items I never new about. Sometimes when we could get a copy of the Stars and Stripes,

the first thing we would look for was Bill Mauldin's comic pic. Just keep doing what you are doing,cause I have read things I didn't know about. Are you still skinny?

I weighed 157 then now 176 fatter in my 0ld age.! Hang in there Sarge . Roque I'm just an old dogface that by the grace of God I am still alive that goes for Joe and recon also.

[Dogdaddy]

A common thread among WWII veterans I have known has always been Humility, always gracious with flattering remarks about their fellow Soldiers,Sailors, and Marines......(well maybe the Marines aren't always humble! ) just kidding on that last part! That is why you guys stuck together and got the job done, and also why it is an honor to read all your stories today. Who else could have whipped such fanatic enemies???........Nobody!

 

 

 

[Walt's Daughter]

Sarge:

 

I totally understand your stance and certainly can't argue with Patton's words at all. However, I would like you to hear my side of the argument. First off, take a few moments and look at the following pages. You will see the most humble of men, who were all cogs in the giant wheel, but each and every one of their stories makes the face of war REAL. Each story adds a human element and makes all the readers see that these men were not supermen, but their neighbors, the men they sat next to in church, the men who purchased nails and hammers at their local hardware store, the men who married their daughters, who worked in their steel meals, the men who drove the milk trucks to their homes each morning without fail.

 

I think that many times people don't understand war and can't imagine what it was like. Why? Well there are obvious reasons. Maybe for one they never lived through it. But it's hard for people to imagine if they merely see a school textbook with dates and places and NO FACES. I think what my site strives to do, what other sites strive to do, is to bring it into their homes. If people can get to know somehow, to see that maybe Joe Smith was just a mere boy who got drafted, then see and hear what he experienced, then war becomes a personalized experience and not just meaningless history.

 

Rocky, Russ, Al, Papa Art, and so many others have told their stories here on the forum, but have their memories on the main site. While many people do view the forum, many, many more spend mega hours on the main site and it's the only place they learn about all the vets who made up the bigger picture. Let's say it's a place to compact all the info into one neat package. Basically I would only be taking everything you've shared here (plus extra info if you are willing) and put it all in one accessible spot.

 

Call it participating in something educational. One story becoming part of book, becoming part of volumes of history that should never be forgotten. Some day a few generations from now, they will be thanking all of us for taking the time to record the diaries, the feelings, the photos and more. I think it's important that we, while we still have the time and means, not to let it slip away.

 

If after looking at some of their pages and after reading my words, you still feel the same way, then I will bring it up no more, but if I can change your mind, the world will be a richer place for it.

 

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/memoirs6th.htm

 

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/mem...rsOtherEngs.htm

 

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/mem...rsOtherVets.htm

 

With utmost respect and admiration,

W's D

[chambers]

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let her do a page. It's really just like she said, many people only read the main page and don't search the forums. She'll only be concentrating all your info in one page.

 

It's really neat once it's all put together.

 

Brooke