My Life in the Army

Thomas Yeseta

A personal recollection of the life and times of Thomas Alexander Yeseta of his years in the U.S. Army 1943-46

Text copyright 2010 by Thomas Yeseta Design copyright 2011 by Carmela Yeseta Thomas Yesetas hand-written memoir is copied here in its entirety, supplemented by verbal stories, recollections, and personal photographs.

I forgot a lot, but a lot of things I never forgot. I tell you a lot of times, Id wake up at night and think about it.

:: Prelude ::
The 80th Infantry Division The Blue Ridge Division Most of the men of the 80th come from Eastern states of the U.S. around the Blue Ridge Mountains of Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio. We saw 274 days in combat.

Well, you know, it was the greatest adventure I ever had.

Company B 305th Combat Engineers with 318 Infantry Regiment, 80th Division

:: Foreword ::
In the following pages, I will try to tell about my life in the Army. At first a little about myself, but mostly of the men in the engineers and infantry. The 80th Division was involved in four major battles 1. Northern France 2. The Ardennes Offensive (the Battle of the Bulge) 3. The Rhineland 4. Central Europe One other way to describe the situation is that we fought in the dust of France, the snows of Belgium and Luxembourg, and the mud of Germany.

Just after D Day Staging area near Omaha Beach Atcherbourg

England between Liverpool and Manchester Getting ready for first battles at St. Jores, Carentan, Avranche, Argentan, and Le Mans

Thomas Yeseta

My Life in the Army

On February 1943 I was attending Los Angeles City College taking math and engineering classes. The country was getting more involved in the war. A lot of guys were enlisting in the Navy. So many, that the government put a stop to it. No one was joining the Army. At about this time I got my Greetings letter from the President of the U.S. It was such a large group that we did not report to Fort McArthur in San Pedro. We were told to report to the Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. We were told not to bring any extra clothes with us just what you were wearing. There were so many guys that we filled up the whole train. The train left Los Angeles and arrived in Utah in the Wasatch Mountains at 3 am the next morning, snow on the ground and freezing temperatures. Most of us had short-sleeved shirts. We quickly got into some barracks to warm up. There we were given a barracks bag and they started to issue us clothes to fill it up to the top. Then we were assigned a bed. The next few days they quizzed us about our life and schooling. They had us take an IQ test, plus others. Here the guys went in different directions. A big group of us went on a train heading south. I remember going through the Royal Gorge a beautiful trip. The Gorge was very narrow, only wide enough for the train plus a narrow river, but 1000 feet deep. No such trains go through anymore. But they conduct tours from one side, and you can take a tour now driving from Cannon City, Utah, to the rim. There you ride a cog wheel train down to the river at a platform, stay for fifteen minutes, then ride up to the top. Now coming back to our Army train ride heading south: We ended in Texas in the Panhandle. We found ourselves in Camp Bowie in north Texas a lousy place. Here we took basic training, then we moved south to Fort Hood, the largest camp in the U.S. Now we were in the tank destroyers. Here we took extensive training.

At North T State T s College exas eacher

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My Life in the Army

After a while, they had me go to college. I went to Denton, Texas, where I attended North Texas State Teachers College (now called North Texas). After one semester, I got cabin fever. I got to thinking that Im going to miss out of the war. So on a weekend pass to Fort Worth I went to an Air Force recruiting station and told them that Id like to take pilot training. After some questions and tests, I went back to school. A week later they called me and had me go to Yuma, Arizona, to wait for a school to enter and take pilot training. After waiting for more than a week, they told me that they suspended all pilot training. So at about this time the 80th Division was leaving Arizona from desert maneuvers. So they placed me in the 80th with the 305th Combat Engineers, Company B. Here I found myself on a train heading east. We arrived at Trenton, New Jersey. After a day or so, we found ourselves boarding the Queen Mary. Our whole division boarded, plus many other units totaling more than 16,000 men.1 A normal passenger count is a little over 9,000 persons. Most of the rooms were small, so most of us did not have an assigned bed. Walking around inside the ship, I came across the play room for the British sailors the dart room. I asked them if I could sleep on the floor. The answer was yes, so I curled up on the floor next to the wall. It just happened that the darts target was above me. The sailors were pretty accurate, so I felt safe. It was very warm in the room, so I did not need any blankets. This was my bed for seven nights. Yes, it tookv seven days to cross the Atlantic Ocean; in peace time it took just 3 days.

The reason for the seven days is that the ship zigzagged across the ocean every seven minutes. Once the Queen Mary got going, no other ship could keep up, so that meant we got no escort. We didnt know it at the time, but Hitler offered any U-Boat commander 1,000,000 marks if he sunk the Queen Mary. We were not issued any life vests. There were so many men aboard that the kitchen could only serve two meals a day. British food! So the meals were not appetizing. Most of the time it was mutton and hash. When you first joined the chow line, you walk from one end of the ship to the other end and go down several decks back and forth. It took about one hour to get food. But we had to eat something. Our going across the Atlantic was in July and the weather was good. Finally reaching Great Britain, we could not dock at the London harbor because it was too crowded. So we headed up the 8

At North T State T s College exas eacher

Thomas Yeseta

Chow!

Skip, Chuck, and me

scrapbook North T State T s College exas eacher

McPherson, aka Montana

exas he T dorms of North T State, Coke Hall

scrapbook Army Friends and Buddies

Montana and me

John Pahar and me

John Ozy
Doc and me

T Guida om

me

Armond Biagianni
10

T Lockridge om

Fort Dix | Leftmost: me; rightmost: Dabrio

Andy and Johnny Orzurovich

Peter Meyer
Joe Louretovich

T Chirola ony

Ivan Bullun
Left to right: Vlado Vukoja, me, Johnny Rasc h
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My Life in the Army

Western coast and docked in Greenock, Scotland. There we disembarked and got on a train waiting for us and headed south to an open grass area for a day. I remember that at 10:30 pm it was still light. I didnt realize that we were so much farther north than Los Angeles. Now it was time to leave England and head for France. So we found ourselves leaving the East Coast of England and on an LCI (landing craft infantry) heading towards France. I looked back and saw the famous White Cliffs of Dover. The LCI hit the beach and the ramp in front went down and we all got off. Now this was in July, so there was no opposition as yet. But there was still an American soldiers body floating at the beach. :: ~ ::

Description of 80th Infantry Division

HDQS Co. General McBride & staff, cooks, and mechanics 317th Infantry Regiment & Company A Engineers 318th Infantry Regiment & Company B Engineers 319th Infantry Regiment & Company C Engineers 3 Companies of Field Artillery One company of tanks (4 tanks)

Somewhere along the time, I painted a sign in front of the jeep and below the windshield Los Angeles City Limits

Now we all gathered at Argentan and St L. We stayed there about a week waiting for more thousands of soldiers to land at this area at Omaha Beach. After the Army felt that there was enough men to make an attack we were ready to go forward.2 As we pushed forward we took the ancient walled city of Metz.3 General Patton was happy, as he was a historian. Oh, I forgot to mention that before we started the famous St L breakthrough, Patton was leaving the North African desert and came over to the St L area and formed the new 3rd Army. We were originally in the 1st Army. Now we were in the 3rd.

After leaving Metz behind, we pushed forward and at the same time, we bypassed a large group of Germans that were surrounded. We left another American division to circle them and not attack them, but to starve them. Finally, the Germans gave up. Every day we pushed forward, gaining new ground. Things were moving pretty fast as the opposition was not too heavy. Sometimes it was hard to tell exactly where the front line was. At this time a group of us were huddled around a jeep and its driver. We were in the open field and

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Thomas Yeseta

Captain Marshall . . . I think he was a nephew of General Marshall, the big general. So his name was Robert Marshall, and he was out of West Point, so he was really gun-ho at the time. . . . He was very inquisitive. Because I saved the jeep that time, he thought I was gunho. He didnt know I was scared to death all the time.

the Germans saw us. Soon the Germans shells were landing around us. All of us ran to a ditch for cover. The jeep was still exposed, so I jumped up, ran to the jeep, started it, and drove it to a low area, not to be seen by the Germans. Someone told the C.O., Capt. Marshall, about this and I was called in about this. The Captain wanted to know if I wanted to be the new jeep driver. I accepted

You know, about that time there was an editor of the L.A. Times or Examiner, I forgot which, and he wrote articles of Los Angeles, and that was his heading Los Angeles City Limits. So I decided to paint that on the front of it, just for fun. It identified me from other guys because as I drove to different parts, Id get a guy holler out, Hey, L.A.! Because he was from L.A., too.

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My Life in the Army

and drove the jeep during the rest of the war. As I said before, the land was kind of open. At this time, Capt. Marshall wanted to see something in another part of the front. So he wanted to have me drive him to this location. We also had my best friend Tom Guida sit in the back seat, as an extra rifle. We drove on this dirt road to the edge of a vineyard. We walked forward from the jeep to the edge of a village. The narrow dirt road4 was on our right and the vineyard to the left. The first house was in the front of us about ten yards. We were crouched in a depression and looking to the house. The three of us were huddled together. All at once my buddy fell over to the right. I looked at him and saw a hole on his left temple. He died instantly. I did not hear a shot, but it came from the vineyard. I tap the captain on the shoulder to alert him. Without saying anything, he jumps up and goes to the first house so I follow him. All at once a group of about ten black men appear in front of us. They are all over six feet tall and each one has a machete. The captain takes off running back to my jeep. I decided not to ask them what army they belong so I also run back to my jeep.5 I started the engine and we went back to our company. That night I could not sleep at all. I had lost my best friend. :: ~ ::

T Guida at left; rightmost, another wartime friend, Ruthkowski om

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Thomas Yeseta

There were a lot of displaced people during the war. Really, the Europeans, they know what war is; because it was right on their ground. Right in their towns. Over here in America, we dont know.

From now on, we kept advancing forward, taking over town after town. Every town had a church with a steeple. As the Germans retreated, they usually left a man in the steeple to shoot at us. When the tanks came up, we had them shoot at the steeple. Now it was a common practice every steeple was knocked out from now on. As we fought through the town and liberated it, many of the people would come toward us, carrying all their belongings to the town behind us probably to their own home. As we had left these behind, the houses were mostly destroyed. All these people had little to A lot of people from that town we had just liberated all their eat. The people in the farm belongings were coming back towards us, because I guess houses had a little more food their houses were what we left. We just left that town. So these than the ones in town. I people carry all their belongings on their back, and nobody remember once in a wooded had anything to eat. The only people who had something were area, we were having some hot those on the farms. In the cities, everybody was starving to food late in the afternoon. As I death. Very sad to see those people, because theyre starving, was finishing my dinner, a nun they didnt have a house. No place to go. appeared with a small bucket and dipped it into our garbage container to get some food and then disappeared to where she came from. We got hot food depending on the situation. At other times, we were given 3K rations. This was the case when we attacked in the morning and did not know where we would be that afternoon.

Once in a while when we took over a small town or village, we would go down into their basement to see what they had. As I said before, the country people had some food. They would put up food fruit and vegetables in glass jars. But none of us took any; we had our own food. Once we found some schnapps and decided to try some but only if it passed our test: We poured a couple of drops on the table and lit it with a match. If it burned with a blue flame, we drank a swig of it.

A little schnapps
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My Life in the Army

The mechanics and the cooks were the same people. Ill say this ahead of time: I think when they were cooking, instead of using olive oil, they used 10-30 pennzoil. Im exaggerating, but it tasted like that.

We never did have Spam. A lot of other guys in different outfits, they had Spam and they complained. But we wish we had Spam. Of course, you can buy it now in the grocery store. Its pretty good!

Actually, when we first came to France, we were getting some canned goods, but they told us they were from World War I. One can was beans, and another can was mush. It didnt taste too good, but it was still okay.

Mess Hall Food and Rations in the Army

What are 3K rations? Its a box, little bit bigger than one pound of butter. You know how butter comes in a little cardboard box. These were a little bit bigger with real thick cardboard with wax on it, real tight. Really hard to open up. You almost needed a bomb to open them up! But they had three rations: one for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Like I said, if we didnt know where we were going to be after an attack, they gave us three of those. The middle one always has a can. So for breakfast, it was scrambled eggs in a can. At lunch, solid cheese. A lot of cheese in a can; it was like a tuna can. And then the dinner ones had meat in it. One of them had cigarettes, another had toilet paper. They had candy in there and crackers, things like that.

After a hot meal we would throw our scraps into can #1, then dip our mess kits into the hot water, one after one.
garbage leftovers hot, boiling water - no soap

round can of scrambled eggs and cigarettes, toilet paper, etc. round can of cheese and candy, etc.

breakfast

lunch

K Rations came in heavy brown wax cardboard boxes, in the shape of a 1 lb. butter box, but a little larger.
16

round can of potted meat, etc.

dinner

Thomas Yeseta

Adopted boy, second from left

As we advanced through France, one afternoon while resting a young boy of about 12 years of age kept hanging around. Every day he came over to us. Soon we adopted him. Our supply sergeant had some Army clothes cut down to his size. He looked cute. He stayed with us the rest of the war. We took care of him kept him in the rear all the time. We figured he had no parents. When we had to leave up in Pilsen, when we occupied it, we had to leave. We were really sorry. He couldnt come with us. He wanted to come with us. We were leaving to come home, and he couldnt come with us.

Adopted boy, center; Peter Meyer, rightmost; me, leftmost

Here is another side story: While we were in France and in a farm area we spotted some cattle. At first glance we saw some cows. At second glance we saw T-bone steaks. We choose a tender-looking one. I had a rope around his neck and held him steady. One of our guys got a sledgehammer 17

My Life in the Army

from our truck while I held on to the rope. My friend swung the sledgehammer and hit the cow on the forehead no reaction. Again, a second time no reaction. A third time and the cow fell to the ground. My friend (who was a farmer in the States) got his knife from his belt and then slit the cows throat. As the blood was gushing out, he cupped his hands to scoop the red warm blood and drank it. I guess this is a delicacy to farmers. So we cut up the cow for steaks and made a fire and had a bar-b-que. But we were disappointed they were tough. The problem was that the meat was too fresh, not aged at all. The farmer who owned the cows complained to our captain, so we were told not to do that anymore. We kept taking town after town and getting closer to the border. Soon we were getting close to the Moselle River. This river separates France from Germany. As we fought our way to the west side of the big river, we stopped and had to plan our crossing. It was our job to take the infantry across. This meant building a foot bridge. We had to inflate rubber floatation boats and then put wooden boards on top so that the infantry could walk across to the other side. All of us were exposed to the Germans. We were shot at with rifle fire, German machine guns, and mortars.6 I laid down as flat as I could on my stomach, my face looking away from the river. All at once a piece of shrapnel landed one foot from my face a real jagged piece and pure white. As it cooled it went from white to yellow to orange to red and finally to black. I thought it was cool, so I picked it up and burnt my fingers. After about two hours of hot metal flying around, we finally got to the other side and kept pressing forward. The Germans put up a big fight because we set foot on German ground. We kept pressing forward for several miles so that the big engineers came up to build a bridge for tanks and trucks to get across. The engineers put up the Bailey Bridge; it is a British invention. It was put up like an erector set. At Christmas time in the U.S., some boys got an erector set to build. Same idea to build the Bailey Bridge. The other engineers started by extending the parts until it went over the river and so on.

We never built a Bailey Bridge ourselves; that wasnt our job. We just got the infantry across on our pontoon bridges with the boards on top. When we got enough infantry across on the other side to move forward, maybe 100 yards or so, then the bigger engineers came and built the big bridges. The big bridges, they had to put them on fast because they needed tanks and jeeps and trucks to go over and get us some supplies.

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Since we were now on German soil, the fighting got tougher. But we set a pattern that didnt quite make sense. At dawn on every morning, our artillery would open up with a barrage of 75 mm shells. After about 15 minutes, the shelling stopped, and the infantry, engineers, and tankers took off to attack. This was the scary part. We were exposed to the enemy while the Germans were able to hide as they defended themselves. This pattern never changed. They knew we were coming every day. But we kept this up every day and gained new ground. As we fought forward we passed many bodies Americans and Germans. The German bodies were on the ground longer so their skin turned a deep purple color (there were no morticians on the front lines). I even noticed water squirting from a guys hand. We were always moving forward and taking new ground. Quite often we moved laterally to take another divisions position. Sometimes to the left and also to the right. We found out later that these divisions were not moving forward.

You see, when you die here, you go to a mortuary and they drain your blood. But of course, in the war, you cant drain the blood, so if youre dead for a few days, you turn purple. The body would get big. Ive seen Germans where their bodies would get so big, their buttons were almost ready to burst. And Ive seen little squirts of water coming out of guys hands. Its a very ugly sight because, well, its just ugly. You got dead bodies all over the place.

I remember once that we were replacing a unit it was after sundown and damp with a slight drizzle coming down. I came to this wooded area a little later than my friends. Most of the ideal spots to bed down were occupied so I found a spot next to a dead German. I What Im saying here is that they were there placed my sleeping bag next to him with my so long not moving forward, that they had a head next to his feet. There was no odor as the five-foot-by-five-foot deep hole, and they built it weather was cool. up with steps to go down and they had three branches on top. They were really completely I could tell that these other American soldiers safe, except for a direct hit. They were never were here a long time because of the elaborate moving forward, so they must have been there fox hole they made. They dug a hole five a long time. In fact, I never dug a fox hole. feet by six feet deep. They made steps on one Never. All I would do is lay down as flat as posside and then a right turn. They placed tree sible and hope for no direct hit. branches on the top, plus leaves and mud. We were always moving laterally, left to right; these divisions were not moving, so we went and took over for them. Wed mix in with them; next morning, wed take off and gain new ground. Thats why General Patton said we were his best infantry division.

At the crack of dawn we moved forward to take more ground. As time went on, we kept losing men, either killed or wounded. So we kept getting replacements, usually young boys who had no experience. After a while the Army 19

My Life in the Army

decided to change the name from replacements to reinforcements for morale reasons. Once I had to go back to the rear for some reason. I saw the G.R.S. at work. GRS stands for Grave Registration Service. Two guys had a stake bed truck where they threw the American bodies on. One soldier would grab the hands of the dead soldier and the other soldier would grab the dead soldier by the ankles. They swung the soldier back and forth then on the third time, throw him on the stake bed truck til it was full. :: ~ :: We kept pressing forward every day til we reached the Moselle River. This river separated France from Germany. This was a good-sized river. Now we had to prepare to put the infantry across. The German resistance stiffened. Oops, I think I wrote about the river crossing a few pages back. Once again we had to cross the border at another location. This time, on dry land. We were approaching the Maginot Line. On the French side were pill boxes. These are concrete buildings about the size of a room. These pill boxes The main German artillery piece was the faced Germany. The French-facing side was dreaded 88. It was very versatile. Some were solid concrete. The German-facing side had an armour-piercing. Some made a big hole in opening like a door and windows but no glass, a wall. Some exploded with shrapnel flying of course. I was selected to be the flame thrower. around. This consisted of a large gasoline tank on my back with a connecting pressurized hose for me As I noticed the direction of this shrapnel, I to handle. As I walked to the pill box or bunker, moved toward the Germans to avoid it. These I was ready to shoot gasoline on the bunker. But shells were the most common. Some shells lucky for me there was no opposition. And there exploded above ground. Some shells that exis a reason for this the bunker was facing the ploded above ground threw out small balls of Germans. fire. One exploded above my head. So we took over the Maginot Line. Now we had to prepare to take the Siegfried Line. The Siegfried Line consisted of thousands of small concrete pyramids about three feet high and placed They would shoot that 88 and hit the ground. It close enough so that a tank would get stuck wouldnt make too big a hole. Just a small hole, in it. So now we had to plan a way to go but the hole would go like that, and all the shrapthrough. Our division has one company of nel would make a pattern. And when I see that tanks (which equals to four tanks). So for pattern next to me or close by, I jumped up and two days we planned an assault with one went closer to the Germans, because the pattern of the tanks. It was our job to attach a long was going that way, the shrapnel was going that snake a flexible pipe about three inches way, so I felt safer by going that [other] way. in diameter to the tank. Then as the tank

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took off to the German line it was our job to set it off to explode at the line to blow a hole in the line so that our tanks can go through. Well, it worked. Our infantry tanks and engineers got through to the other side and continued forward through the afternoon. Then at one point, we decided to stop and rest. Our mechanic cooks came Our idea to go through the Siegfried Line was to tie on a steel conduit full of explosives, like a big long snake and tie it onto the tank. And when the tank would attack to go through the Siegfried Line, he would go to the T Maginot Line he Siegfried Line and go parallel to it and then we would explode this long snake and blow a hole in the line to get through. Well, during that time, we knew these in fact, it was the 602 Company, I remember the number. We knew these guys, got acquainted real well because we were practicing for a few days with what to do about this explosive snake. And then after the battle I happened to find that tank and there was a hole right in the the thickest part of the tank. Well, this armour-piercing shell, it made a hole, the same size as an 88, went right through. I mean, thats powerful, to go through without breaking it up. Just like you got a drill and drilled a hole. And of course, it killed all the guys inside. And we knew these guys. We practiced with them for about a week.

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forward and cooked us a hot meal then it was rest time. We didnt do much the rest of the day and into the night. But we were always vigilant. The Germans did not counterattack; they were also tired. But almost every night at about midnight, a slow and low-moving German airplane would fly over hoping that one of us would light up a cigaret and expose our location so that he could drop a small bomb on us. Late in the afternoon, everybody took a rest, even the Germans. They wanted rest, too. They were tired. Oh I forgot to mention that we were We thought they might attack in the night, but they always in fear. Sometimes it was easy never did. ... But they always had an airplane, we going, but most of the time, very scary. called it Midnight Charlie. Especially when we would attack and the bullets, mortars, and shells were dropping around us. I remember once when the toughest guy in our company was lying next to me while the shells were dropping close by. I heard him whimpering. He was scared too. From then on, I never felt ashamed to be scared.

:: ~ :: Well, every day was about the same thing. Our artillery would open up with a barrage of shells going overhead and towards the Germans. Then we would attack infantry, tanks, and engineers. Now we were approaching the Oure River. It was a steep decline to the water. I was chosen to go across with three other soldiers, but at the last minute I was called off to do another job. They were to get across on a rubber boat and start to build a foot bridge. I learned later that two were killed, but Bob Siegrist was wounded. Bob was a good friend of mine.7 After a couple of days, I found myself crossing this river down stream on a small bridge that was not destroyed. I was driving my jeep on this narrow dirt road towards a slight hill. On the right side our boys were pulling out the anti-tank mines. Myself and a friend of mine came to a fork in the road. He told me to turn right. I questioned it and drove straight on. I drove up this slight hill. When I reached the top of the hill, I came across a U.S. soldier in a fox hole. He told me to move from the spot where I stopped, as the Germans had this place zeroed in. I could see a short distance that there was an open field but a clump of trees at one spot. I presumed the Germans had an 88 cannon in the trees. One of the tanks followed me up the hill. I turned my jeep around to go downhill and the tank stopped at the location I left. Then a big bang. The Germans had knocked out the tank. As I continued downhill, we heard a very large explosion. It came from the area which I did not go to from that fork I did not take. I drove to that area to see what happened. A jeep that we had seen earlier had run over a German anti-tank mine. Right next to the jeep was an American tank on its 22

Thomas Yeseta

side also a victim of a mine. The explosion was so great that the jeep was totally destroyed. It was a sad sight as all three boys were killed and dismembered. The war zone was a very sad sight dead Americans and dead Germans. :: ~ ::

The Ardennes Offensive

On December 16, the Germans found a weak spot in the North. This was the beginning of the Ardennes Offensive, commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge. At this time we were very far east in the Saar Basin near Saarbrcken. The Germans penetrated deeply in Belgium and Luxembourg. Right away, General Patton told his boss General Marshall that he was putting his two best divisions, the 80th and the 4th Armour, to come back west to engage the enemy divisions with our 80th Infantry and the 4th Armour in the front lines in Belgium and Luxembourg. At this point in the Saar Basin, we left our position and headed west. We had left all the ground we fought for. We drove all night. Trucks came to pick up the infantry, and we all drove back west in caravan fashion. At about daybreak we swung around and took over the city of Luxembourg again. It had been raining at this time, but now it got cold and snow was falling. This battle in the snow lasted for five weeks. It was 15 below zero, 47 below freezing.

We did not have many meals. About this time it was Christmas, but I did not know the day of Christmas. But soon the company clerk drove up with mail. It had to be sometime around Christmas. I received a lot of packages, but some guys didnt get any. I kept one package and gave all the others to the other boys. It was a good thing we got mail as we didnt have any food to eat.

Left Saar Basin in late afternoon. Drove all night behind lines and back on front at Luxembourg. T was the only time we left the his front lines from Cherbourg to Enns River in Austria.

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The cold weather made it uncomfortable; my feet were very cool. Some boys got gangrene and had to have their toes cut off.

We didnt have any food to eat, no water. I had to eat snow.

Cold and Hard Memories from the Ardennes

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Im just fortunate. I really shouldve been hurt. The law of averages, you know. But I did go back during the Battle of the Bulge to see a doctor because my toes were frozen. A lot of the guys, they got gangrene and had their toes cut off. And I thought I was going to get that, so I went back to the rear one day. I had an hour to go back, and they looked at my foot and they said it was all right. I just couldnt feel, I couldnt feel my toes they were so cold. And then what they did we had leather shoes at that time, and some would leak water and some wouldnt, depending on if they had grease on them good enough. Then they gave some of the guys rubber boots and that was kind of a mistake because when they froze, their feet got sweaty in rubber, and then they froze, and then they got gangrene. So that was not a good idea. They would have been better off by having leather shoes. I had leather shoes, though boots. But I wore two pairs of socks and even then I was frozen. .........

Sleeping bags were not too good. In the war after us, they had down bags, but our sleeping bag consisted of one blanket layer and then a cotton sheet over it, and that was it. And during the Battle of the Bulge we were there in Edelbrock. There was a

Thomas Yeseta

chateau, so we thought lets go inside the chateau. It might be warmer in there. And the Germans saw us; they were snapping shells right at the entrance where we were going in. We got inside and there were a bunch of guys, about 20 of us in there. And so we had to sleep someplace. The chateau had a marble floor, and so we put our sleeping bags on there on the marble floor, and, boy, was that ever cold . While we were in the chateau and slept there one night, we got thrown out because another outfit came in with a captain. He outranked us, so he threw us out and he slept inside the chateau . The chateau had a toilet in there. And thats a luxury. So when we got thrown out, the guys flooded the toilet, so the captain of the new outfit couldnt use it. So we showed him!

Most of the guys were from back east, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and so forth, and there was one guy, we called him Lucky. He was from West Virginia, was a real hillbilly. Never wore shoes until he came in the Army, and he couldnt write or spell or whatever. He spoke, but you had to listen hard. He spoke his own English. I mean, really different. You had to listen real hard to find out what he was saying. And then Bill Held, he was from Pennsylvania, and he was the company clerk. Thirty-five years old and a grandfather, and we couldnt figure that out. But, boy, this guy was older than the hills. Thirty-five years old! Thats really old! We were twentyyears old, see? But Lucky, he had a girlfriend back home, and his girlfriend used to send him a letter. Lucky couldnt read it and he couldnt write. Bill Held was a good friend of his. Bill Held would write love letters for him to send back to his girlfriend.... [Bill Held] stayed with the headquarters and didnt get into real action on the very front lines. He got near, but not real close. He was pretty well protected, which was good for him. He was a nice guy, and he was a company clerk, he was a mailman, and everything. He was the guy that delivered the packages at Christmas with all the cookies I got and everything. Like Santa Claus! Somebody drove in with his jeep, and his jeep was full of mail. ... So we had cookies for three days. Cookies, that kept us alive.

Bill Held and me

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Bastogne they got a lot of credit, because thats where the 101st got surrounded. And they said they didnt need any help. Now we were just south of there in Edelbrock. And theyre both equal. They were both equal in importance. Both cities had five highways going into it. People think that tanks can go over anything, but theyre always looking for a road to go on. So if you could control those two cities, you really control a lot of things, because you got five highways coming in. So a tank always wants to go on a road all the time. Once they got off the road they always got stuck. We had a 2 ton trucks, a lot of them. Each squad, thirteen guys, sat on a truck. First of all, I was in one of those trucks until I got the jeep driver job. So the 101st was surrounded, they got a lot of credit when being surrounded in Bastogne. They said they didnt need any help, but we sent up one company of infantry up there to help them to get them out of the jam. But nobody knows about that.

:: ~ :: I forgot to mention earlier that as we were heading toward Paris to liberate it, General Eisenhower had us diverted to the south. He had the French troops go into Paris first no doubt a political move. We kept pressing forward and getting close to Austria. We were told to stop at the Enns River, and likewise the Russians to stop at the Enns River. We got to the river about three days before the Russians. Myself and a friend decided to cross the river on this small bridge. I drove over and around and then decided to come back across. As I came to the same small bridge, there was a Russian soldier guarding it. I talked to him for a while as he was suspicious of us. After a couple of minutes, I drove over the bridge to join our boys.

Me, Dabrio, and Doc after combat in Austria

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Recollections Stories from the War

One time we captured this little town and decided, myself and this other guy decided that we were going to take this house and sleep in this house for a change. So I got into this house, and the woman of the house comes up to me and is bawling me out. Now you guys come over in your airplanes and you bomb the city, and then evidently you miss because the airfield is next door. So you had to come back the next day and bomb the airfield. So she was giving me hell. But, hey, Im not driving the airplane!

King Ludwigs Linderhof Castle

Actually, you know what. I didnt like the regimentation back in the States. Back in the war, it was different. There wasnt that much regimentation . I dont know how to say this, but I liked it better in the war, without all the regimentation saluting this, that, stand in line, stand straight. They didnt have none of that in the war. The ocers and the men were all equal at that time. Nobody was better than the other guy. In fact, the ocers there were scared, too. They took off their insignias so they wouldnt be recognized as a prime target. So then they blended in with us. I had a chance to become a lieutenant, but I didnt want to go into another outfit, so I stayed with the jeep. I liked the jeep, and so I was what they call a T5, like a corporal with a T. T means technician. So I stayed with the jeep . I knew all the guys where I was.

Russians GIs

Near Liezen, Austria

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At about this time and to the rear, General Patton came over to see us and to thank us for doing a good job. We stayed around this area a while, but eventually we went to the Czech Republic to occupy it. Some of us stayed at the Pilsen Airport. After a few days my captain asked me if I wanted to go to London to school to take some college courses. I said yes, so I went to London to join some other boys and stay at a hotel in downtown London. On weekends, I would take a bus to tour other parts of England. I got to see Bouremouth (a popular beach town). Also the stonehenge and other parts of the country. Also the famous thatched roof huts or small homes. After several weeks at school I had to go back to Pilsen. Now we were to leave Europe and go home. We formed a convoy of jeeps, trucks, etc. and started to drive out of Czechoslovakia. It was now winter and as I was driving, ice formed on my windshield. I couldnt see where I American bomber with German markings. was driving so I had to reach over the windshield and scrape with my thumbnail a small opening about the size We found this plane in a valley in Austria of a quarter to see ahead. As we left Pilsen we dropped in elevation; there was no more ice on the windshield. We drove on to France and stopped for the night at the site of the cemetery of World War I. The next day we drove on to the coast of France at LaHavre. There we boarded Americas largest ship, the U.S.S. Washington. I was assigned a bed down below and next to the side. I could hear the water splashing on the outside. I started getting seasick before the ship left the dock. It took us about seven days to cross the Atlantic, and I was sick all the time. Just before we landed I crawled to see the doctor aboard and he gave me a pill. I think it was an aspirin. Very soon I felt better and just in time. We were entering the harbor and going past the Statue of Liberty. All the guys aboard went to the left side of the ship to see the Statue of Liberty. She was waving to us. All eyes were on her. All was quiet nobody said a word. I think we docked at Trenton, New Jersey. We all walked off the ship to a staging area. That night late, at midnight, we were treated to a steak dinner. The next day we were segregated into different groups depending on our location to home. I was assigned to the group going to Los Angeles. The next day we were put on an airplane8 the C47, otherwise a DC3. This was the most famous airplane ever built and some are still in existence. It took three days of flying time to cross the States. First day to Indiana and then to Texas. The plane traveled the south route because it only flew at 8000 feet elevation. It could not go over the tops of the Rocky Mountains. But flying so low we got to see lots of country. Finally after three days, we landed in Long Beach. There we were let to go home on our own. I went out on the street and hitched a ride. I got a ride right away. This man gave me a ride all the 28

At the very end of the war, we were at the border of Germany and Austria and the town was called Braunau. Hitler was born there. So we capture this town and my buddy, my friends, and myself say were going to take over this house and sleep on this bed, so we went into this house. I put my sleeping bag on top of this bed, and he [my friend] comes in, and he says, Tom, quick, take a look outside. So I left my sleeping bag, looked outside, and the man of the house hung himself in the back yard. And he thought we were probably going to kill him. And we never hurt anybody. Its too bad; we would have never hurt him. We were just going to take over his house.

Thomas Yeseta

We captured one little house that must have been Party headquarters of the Nazis. And it was a building ... like a double-story building, and I went up to it. We had taken this town; its our town now. And I went upstairs to a big hall that was just full of Nazi flags, insignias, and all kinds of stuff like that.

Huge Parage Grounds at Nrnberg

I remember after the war I was in Europe. I think it was Germany, and I found a place to sleep in this house. They had a room for rent. And so I was in there, was looking out the window. And this is after the war, so things were scarce. Nobody had much food. And there was I think a cow going by pulling a wagon. See, the Germans got desperate. They were losing their vehicles, so they were having to use horses to pull their wagons with the 88 on it, or even a cow could pull one of their cannons. Well, anyway, one of these cows by itself went by and the cow drops some of his turds on the ground. Well, two boys from inside come running over with their dust pans and try to beat each other to pick up the turds. Because thats very important because they needed it for fertilizer for their garden. Thats how important that is I never forgot those two kids. This was after the war and still things were scarce and these two kids were fighting for turds.

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Paris On the T own

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Thomas Yeseta

We could come in and take anything we wanted. Now, if I was dishonest and I had the biggest UPS truck there was, I could fill it up with all kinds of stuff. One time we captured this town, and Pete Meyer, hes German so he spoke the German language, so he says, lets have some fun. So he calls in German to one guy, and he says, Bring over the burgomeister. The burgomeister comes running over to us, saying what could I do for you, and all this and that, and Pete Meyer says in German, he speaks to him and tells him (and the only people left there are woman and older men; all the younger guys are in the Army). So he says, I want everybody to bring over all their guns Pete Meyer they got, bring them over here. So the burgomeister gets back and told everybody, all the men to bring over their guns. They brought over, gee, they brought over beautiful shotguns. There was a whole pile of shotguns on the street. Oh, man, take your choice. Like if I had a UPS truck and I brought those home, I could have sold them for hundreds of dollars. I mean, beautiful German workmanship, you know. Beautiful! Beautiful shotguns. They were not rifles; all mostly shotguns. They do a lot of hunting. And he says, OK, take em back.

On the coast of France

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way to the front of my house I think he went out of his way to do so. I was still in the Army as I had to have a service-connected operation. I had the operation at a converted hotel by the suicide bridge at the Arroyo Seco. Previous to this and after landing in Long Beach, I was with a few men in San Pedro. A group of us were in this room sitting on benches. I was sitting in the front row center. As the door in front of us opened, in walks General Eisenhower followed by many officers. All the other soldiers stood up right away, but I still was sitting down. General Eisenhower comes right up to me and asks me about what branch of Army I was associated with. He was so close to me that I couldnt stand up. I didnt mean no disrespect but I think he understood. I think I may have reminded him of the tired characters in Bill Mauldins cartoons in the Armys Stars and Stripes newspaper. After he walked out followed by all the other officers they all gave me a dirty look. When I was finally let out of the Army, it was in February 1946 three years to the month.

Juarez Mexico - January 19, 1944

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Frances Yeseta: Do you remember where your mother was when you came home? Tom: Yeah, she was in the kitchen. F: Did she know you were coming home that day? T: No. No F: Must have been the happiest day in your mothers life.

Me and my niece, Jojo Metvovich

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Notes 1. An infantry division has about 12,000 men. A tank division has about 10,000. 2. Generally speaking, the Army regulations say that to attack, you should have a 3-1 advantage over the enemy simply because its easier to defend than attack. 3. The walled city of Metz was safe from its enemies for hundreds of years. 4. Ninety-nine percent of the roads in Europe were narrow and dirt. 5. I still dont know who these black men are, but maybe they came from North Africa from land that the French controlled. 6. We could easily tell the difference from our machine guns to the Germans guns. Ours went putput-put, one bullet at a time. Theirs went burrb-burp-burp, many bullets at a time. 7. Many years later Marie, Stuart, and I had lunch with Bob Siegrist and Pete Meyer in Europe. 8. This view is looking from back to front.

wings seats We sat facing each other; very small, uncomfortable three days. floor airplane fuselage

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Thomas Yeseta

Thomas Yeseta buddy, friend, husband, father, grandfather a quiet soul and once a young soldier under a brave command in a brave war. From those back home, thank you.

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About Tom Yeseta

Thomas Alexander Yeseta was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1923 to Mate and Maria Yeseta, who had immigrated to the United States from Croatia. After the war, Tom married Frances Yeseta. They have two children and two grandchildren. Tom and Frances celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2003 and still enjoy a happy marriage together. He loves to travel, enjoy good food and wine, and spend time with his family and friends. He and his wife live in La Caada, California.

omas Yeseta was called to serve his country in February 1943. Tom spent the war in the 80th Infantry Division of General Pattons famed 3rd Army, which advanced further in less time than any other army in history. Yet his account is down-to-earth, poignant, and movingly personal. Like so many other young boys ghting in World War II, he learned and remembered much, and now his written memories can o er future generations the same gi .