As the brand-new company commander of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, and perhaps the youngest company commander in WWII,[1] Phil and his men cleared 3,000 yards of ground in record time, killing scores of the enemy with no American losses.[2]

Once the prisoners were dealt with, the men finally stopped for a brief rest. Using Phil’s TNT technique,[3] they were able to quickly dig safe foxholes to huddle up in and get some rest while enduring the penetrating cold.

A sentry woke Phil just before dawn. He found his company in a bone-chilling, thick-as-soup fog that billowed in a thick layer five to six feet or more above them.

The soldiers’ matches couldn’t light stoves or cigarettes because the air was so damp. He couldn’t see a thing in the fog, but it was crystal clear just above it.

Suddenly, they heard the clanking sound of a tank approaching. Sergeant Edward L. Drabczyk stuck his head up just above the fog blanket and quickly ducked down.

“There’s a black X on the turret. It’s a Kraut Panther.”

The hair on the back of Phil’s neck stood up. He stood to take a quick look and didn’t know whether to fire or not, given the horrible visibility.

Some of the men wanted to attack, but Phil shook his head. “Let’s wait. There might be a group of Kraut infantry following behind the tank, looking for a fight. Spread the word to the men to stay down, be ready, and wait without a sound.”

In a few moments, the tank ambled off. Phil was surprised by how the thick fog muffled the sound of it.

The men celebrated the German tank’s departure after Phil called up a field kitchen to serve his new company a piping-hot breakfast.

At 1600 hours, Phil’s men were counterattacked by two enemy tanks and forty infantrymen, but his reinvigorated company quickly repulsed the attack. Once again, they killed Germans with no casualties of their own.

When it was over, the men captured a battery of 150-mm artillery pieces intact.

As a result of his first battle as Company Commander, Phil was nominated by his men for his second Bronze Star “for meritorious achievement in actual combat.”

As a result of his aggressive leadership and bravery, his company was the first to reach the battalion objective and seize the bulk of the battalion’s prisoners.[2]

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[1] Phil had just turned 20 years old and was a 1st Lieutenant. As far as I can tell, he was the youngest Company Commander in the Army during WWII. According to available information in 2025, the average age of an Army company commander in World War II was around 28-29 years old with a Captain rank. In Italy, Company Love had been led by Captain Maurice L. “Footsie” Britt, who had been awarded the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. Captain Britt wrote Phil’s parents, “You can bet your life that he really has something on the ball to be to be placed in command of a company and be as young as he is. He also has a nice collection of medals.” He added, “Company L is my first and last love in the Army and I am pleased that the Company has such a capable commander.” Britt had played professional football for the Detroit Lions in 1941 before entering active service. He was the first recipient of the top four combat decorations for valor awarded to an Infantryman by the US Army during World War II (the MOH, DSC, SS, and PS) and later served as Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas.

[2] Larimore, At First Light, 202.

[3] Phil taught his men a lifesaving winter TTP (A TTP, or Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures, incorporated the men’s evolving knowledge and experiences), an easy way to dig a winter foxhole in frozen soil. He instructed them to shoot eight rounds from their M1 into the same spot, then quickly dig out the loose dirt and ice with their trench knives, place a half stick of TNT in the hole, light the fuse, run like hell for thirty meters, hit the dirt until the explosion, get up and run back before the loosened earth and ice dust settled, and begin digging in the softer soil with their trench shovels. Within minutes, the men would have a habitable foxhole without expending too much effort, and even more importantly, not breaking a sweat that would then freeze.

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