A supply truck arrived carrying an issue of shoepacs[1] complete with arctic socks and felt insoles. “Where were you six weeks ago, when we needed you?” Phil and his the men shouted at the drivers.[2]

The men were moving almost daily from one village to another. The weather warmed. The sun shone, and the snow began to melt. The ground got mushy.

Dirty clothes, blankets, and sleeping bags were picked up by the Quartermaster Company and sent to a G.I. laundry.

Portable showers capable of handling 215 men per hour were brought in; [a company would be] moved through them as a company. The water wasn’t hot, but at least it wasn’t ice cold either. Soap and lather, scrub and scrub—it took a major effort to remove six weeks of dirt and sweat.

Movies arrived, including Rhapsody in Blue, Buffalo Bill, and Our Hearts Were Young and Gay. Stars and Stripes, Yank, and Kangaroo Khronicle brought news of the outside world (not as welcome as one would have supposed, because the news from the Pacific showed that the war there had a long way to go.[2]

~~~~~

But there was still a war to fight.

Patrols were frequent as the Company lines were thin, spread out over an area almost four miles long. The only way to ensure security to the positions was to send men out to keep the Germans from moving into the Company lines.

Along the bank of the Rhine there were small cottages, farmhouses, a boathouse. The residents of these structures had long since evacuated, leaving behind a small stock of wandering chickens. The population of the abandoned fowl had boomed and the chickens seemed to be everywhere. Along with the chickens came nests of daily fresh eggs.

Each morning patrols were sent out along the Rhine with two objectives. Keep the Germans on the other side of the Rhine, and recover as many eggs as possible.

In one abandoned farmhouse a stock of hanging sausages and hams was located. The daily supplement of smoked pork and fresh eggs became a welcome change to the usual canned ration diet for the men of the Company.[3]

~~~~~

This reminded Phil of a story from two months earlier:

A much perturbed and highly irritated French woman ran screaming into the company C.P., complaining to the commanding officer that six of her prize chickens had been stolen.

Private Hardy R. Draughun, a runner and self appointed cook, was summoned to appear before the C.O. in connection with the missing chickens.

“Sir,” replied Draughun, making imaginary calculations, “My G-2 report states: 2 killed in action, 2 missing in action and 2, when last seen were being ‘coaxed’ down the road at bayonet point, as prisoners of war.”

~~~~~

[1] shoepacs: Insulated, quasi-waterproof winter boots with rubber bottoms and felt sole inner liners (Stannard, 311).

[2] Ambrose. Band of Brothers, 24-225.

[3] Poyser. Fighting Fox Company, 254.

[4] The Third Division Front Line. November 4, 1944. Vol 1, No. 3, page 6.

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