GOOD THINGS ......

But again there came an end to another good thing and about January 15 we moved out again, this time going north to a small town, Gorsdorf, near Woerth, in Alsace. We were supposed to be there in a few hours but evening came and then darkness, and we still travelled. Our truck had no top and I, for one, soon became so cold I could barely move. I didn't realize how cold I was until I reached for a cigarette and couldn't tell I had hold of anything! My hands began to feel warm and my feet no longer ached from cold.....I knew I was really getting cold then and started beating my hands and stomping my feet until they hurt, then I knew I was all right. But I've never been so cold, before or since.

Late that night we unloaded and moved into an abandoned hunting lodge. We slept on the floor that night in our winter sleeping bags -- warm and comfortable. What luxury! For a week or more we stayed in this vicinity, making several marches farther north during the day to dig positions just in case the Germans should attack. Wearing all the clothes I had -- two suits of long underwear, two pairs of ODs, shirt and pants, a sweater, a fur-lined jacket and a regular field jacket I soon found I was getting overheated on the marches and within a few days had the old wheezing in my chest and a wracking cough. The medics gave me little cough pills that did no good and I continued to get worse.

From Ed DeFoe, December 18, 1991

Ref: Page 24 MUD & GUTS

That truck ride was really something. I remember you being there. I think I sat with you....we sat close together to make a little heat. You know what? I pee'd in my pants but I didn't know it until the end of the trip and it began to thaw out. I found another pair of pants in that lodge....it was kind of dirty with only one brown stain but it was dry. By the way, where did you guys get the sleeping sacks? You know, I was a civilian again before I really knew they weren't called "fart sacks." All I had was my rain coat, a really large one I had retrieved from a dead kraut, but I rolled up in a ball and kept warm, or at least, it kept me from freezing to death.