47 days after Phil’s major leg wound, which occurred on October 28, 1944, and after three surgical procedures and extensive physical rehabilitation and time in a convalescent camp, Phil is on his way back to the front to rejoin his unit, the 3rd Battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment or the 3rd Infantry Division.[1]

Phil wrote his parents on December 14th and shared this:

Well, now I am out and on my way back to the outfit.

With good (or bad, however you wish to look at it) luck, Ishould be back within 7 or 8 days.

He boarded a train in Aix-en-Provence heading north to a replacement depo.

Most of the men sent to the replacement depots were returned to their original units, but some were shipped to new companies.

Although the journey north to Besançon took the most of two days and two nights, the train trip from there to Épinal was much slower, taking another day to travel the final ninety miles—a total of three days and nights with no heat.

After arriving at the replacement depot, the days lumbered by as Phil waited for his orders.

It would take 10 days to get back to the front.[1]

~~~~~ 

[1] Larimore, At First Light, 174.

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