Can’t help but think how fast us World War II veterans are disappearing. It won’t be long before we are all gone. It doesn’t seem that long ago when I read about the passing of the last World War I veteran. Here we are almost at the same stage of the game with World War II people.
As a young lad, my favorite movie type was Westerns. All of us young guys enjoyed going to the movies and seeing cowboys and Indians. They were our only heroes, our idols. When we grew up we wanted to be like a cowboy. One of those movies, as I recall way back then, was “Last of the Mohicans.”
They were a famous tribe that was so brave and courageous. I can still picture them on horses with their bow and arrow strapped to their back. They all carried tomahawks. They fought the white troops so bravely and when I think of us old World War II vets, I think of them.
Most of us soldiers traveled in battalions during the war on armored vehicles. We drove the enemy back to where they came from. We were all about 20 years of age. My outfit fired a 90mm gun that was a copy of the famous German 88.
We had a nine-man crew and when we got the command to fire, we all did our jobs and in the process of firing the gun, ammunition had to be passed up to be put in the breech of the gun. Everybody on the gun had a job to do.
A couple of guys worked on a gear box that got information from radar. Everybody was so busy firing that I never really noticed them working. One day, while I was firing along, I happen to notice one young guy…