Clinton Township Newsletter

3 J u l y 2 0 1 8 "I used to make issue of the fact that for a short while, in WW2, I was the second man in the 35th Infantry Division to set foot on foreign soil. Brigadier General Miltonberger was the first, and right behind him was me – carrying his bag. I went over as buck private, and I was quickly promoted to the highest rank of private. The advance detail was120 – 60 were officers, and 60 enlisted men. Since I was fresh out of training at Fort Bragg, I was the last man assigned to that detail, We landed in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It was a beautiful countryside. On our left was a perfectly laid out symmetrical patchwork of farms, with beautiful green grass growing, which you could see from the ship, the Queen Mary – or was it the Queen Elizabeth? They were both used as troop transport at that time, and were the largest ships on the ocean. They had been pleasure boats up until the time England got involved in the war, but they were put into service for the armed forces to help England fight the war. (I can't remember which of the two ships we were actually on – this old soldier's memory is failing.) We had left New York and were escorted out to sea by two destroyers on either side of us for 200 miles. We were too fast however – we were the fastest ships on the ocean at that time. The next day the advance detail went down to the south of England, and saw all of the sights that could be seen from the north of England to the south of England. That's where the advance detail of the 35th Infantry Division went into training. (Part of our training was held in the country.) From Scotland we proceeded to England, crossed the English Channel (from England to France), landed in Normandy, France on D+21, and proceeded south to join General Patton's Third Army on his trip across Southern France in World War II – The War to End All Wars. Once, with weekend passes, we were held up in Nancy, a large city in the south of France. Since we lacked cleaning supplies, we had cleaned our uniforms in gasoline. On the way to Nancy, we saw a gleaming jeep coming towards us on a narrow, tree-lined road. I said, "That has to be General George Patton, the Commander of the Third Army. No one else has a jeep like that." Sure enough, General Patton passed us, and a short time later, I was cut off by the same gleaming jeep, and was forced to pull over to the side of the road. The General wanted to know who we were and where we were going. I jumped out first, as the driver of the jeep, and started to explain that we were four soldiers of the Third Army, heading to Nancy on passes. He shouted at us, "DON'T YOU MEN SALUTE GENERALS ANYMORE?!!" That's when I started to explain that, as the driver, to take my hands off the wheel in order to salute would have been incorrect. He said, "NOT YOU – you were driving!" He then bellowed, "YOU SOLDIERS ARE NOT IN THE CORRECT UNIFORM!" (Meaning we weren't properly dressed) He wanted to know where our neckties were. We looked at each other... we hadn't seen a necktie since we left England, three months earlier! Neckties were a key part of the uniform; however, one didn't go into combat in full dress uniform, usually. We were, however, in appropriate attire for what we were doing. ...continued on page 4 Carol Beder's 908-735-8080 Office 908-334-2164 Mobile VTuschak@yahoo.com Vicki Tuschak Sales Associate For this July issue, I'm r e - r u n n i n g t h e c o l u m n (from 2010) in which our original owner and editor, Fred Keesing, a WWII vet, raconteur, age 97 at the time, dictated to me this story about meeting General Patton in France. Fred passed away a month after this column ran, and his obituary stated that "Fred helped Patton win the war." I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you enjoy your July! – Julie Fl�nn

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