26 Nazi Officers: Sequel

I was a scout, point man, and forward observer more than any other soldier in my Battalion.

File image courtesy: flickr.com

(MOLALLA, OR) - My recent story, COMBAT PRIVATE, THE MOST IMPORANT MAN ON THE BATTLEFIELD, mentioned that I had captured 26 Nazi Officers brought two interesting comments. The first one asked, “What sort of medal were you awarded? Bronze Star? Silver Star?

Another who was apparently the son of a Lite Colonel in charge of an Infantry Battalion ran his Battalion in the last weeks of WWII. Whether he belittled my capture of these officers I cannot figure but both comments seem to require further explanation beyond my original story.

First of all I was a recent graduate with a B.S. in Chemistry, April 1944. I had been deferred as it was a critical occupation for the war effort. I was not going to “stay home” as all of my friends were in the service.

I had had the two top joints of my right index finger chopped off when I was 4 years old and I could not be an officer because of it, not even as a chemist which were badly needed all over the services. I ended up in the Infantry. I would NOT be released from the Infantry to do this so I ended up a front line Combat Infantryman, a very lethal place.

After the war, I found out that my closest buddies thought I was “queer” because I did not smoke cigarettes like the rest of them. If my closest buddies thought I was queer they certainly relayed this to my Sgt. who certainly relayed it to my Looey. Where it went from there I don’t know but I was commanded to be a scout, point man, and forward observer more than any other soldier in my Battalion. They were trying to get rid of me. Those three jobs are almost suicidal missions and I am writing this as a very LUCKY DOGFACE soldier.

At the time of the incident, my Captain Otterbein ordered me as scout to check out a house in an active combat zone. As I approached and ran by a window I saw it was full of German uniforms. I had 2 grenades and 8 cartridges in my rifle. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was to throw in a couple of grenades and shoot anybody coming out. THAT WAS NOT POSSIBLE. I caught their Captain first and if anyone made a move I would take his head off.

I did not get a medal for this. Captain Otterbein was the only officer who knew about this. He led the next days attack. He got his right arm shot off. He got his second Silver Star that day. He was one damned good officer and I can’t say that for many officers. He was sent home on the first plane.

The above incident occurred about April 15th and the “blood & guts” war went on at least until May first. My 89th division welcomed the surrender of a whole German Division, Infantry, Artillery, and Tanks. I was confined to Regiment Base for capturing other Germans while “I was out of uniform”.

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