MISSED BY INCHES

Then we heard it coming....the whine of an .88 shell. It kept coming, coming, coming as we tried to bury ourselves in the ditch. I thought, My God, it's going to land right on us! Then with a crash it hit about eight feet above my head in a tree growing out of the ditch but did not explode. Splinters and bark showered us. Had that shell burst when it hit, I'm sure everyone of us in the ditch would have died instantly. Another shell burst on the road in front of us and it was time to clear out, machine gun or no machine gun. So one by one, we made a dash for the rear of the house, scrambling over logs like an obstacle course. Then there was the basement and safety -- let the tank shell us! Darkness came and with it the Germans left, and Woerth was ours. I slept on a mattress that night and was on guard only two hours, 4 to 6 in the morning.