The Wilmington morning star., 1944-01-13
With
The AEF
Ry KENNETH L. DIXON

L.
-RHBehind the siege and cap
ture of San Vittore are scores of
tales of individual heroism-tales
of a personal courage which has
been demonstrated so often along
this front that the fighting men
honestly consider it only part of
their common everyday conduct.
Not the least of these is the
story of the litter bearers and the
medical aid men typical of the
reasons why many a soldier calls
them 1.-The guttiest guys of ALL"
For three days advanced pa.
trolls of bearded doughboys were
within the borders of this war.
crumbled city, meeting the Ger
mans in hand-to-hand street and
house notwithstanding them out
with bullets, bayonets. and rifle
butts.
No one but these marked patrols
went in-no one except the un-
armed litter bearers and aid men
with. the red cross brassards on
their arms.
They picked up the wounded
carried them on stretchers a mile
and a half or more, crawling be.
hind rock walls part of the time
inching through brush-covered
mine fields.
Often they were in front of their
own infantry. There was no front
line in San Vittore and the Jerry
infantryman had no time to look
for an armband when he came
around a corner and met dough.
boy.
Four litter bearers found them
selves cut off along narrow
street two nights before the fight.
ing ceased. They slipped into a
wrecked house and huddled there
in the dark - Fred ]. Kovach 10.
of Ashland, Wis; Alphonse C.
Mauer, 20, Pittsburgh, Pa; John
w. Rawls, 20, Pomaria, S. c.: and
Stanley Polnik, %, of Maplewood
| IN. J.-PIlVdteS dill.
Someone knocked on the door.
Stan asked for the password and
they heard feet scurrying away
IA jerry" someone whispered.
They sat there and sweated, wait
ing for the German to return with
reinforcements, waiting for the
thud of grenade through the win
dow. They could hear firing echo
ing in the streets outside. There
was burst of German machine
pistol close by, then a single shot
They still wish they knew th'
name of the doughboy who, they
feel sure, shot it out successful,
with the German who discovered
them. They wondered if he was
wounded-if perhaps he was ole Of
the many they carried out Of San
Vittore later that night along the
muddy draw up the terraced hill
to where the jeep waited.
Only jeep could get through S
the men rugged it up to carry lii
tiers, sometimes lengthwise fror
: the radiator to the rear seat o
( the right side, sometimes eros
r wise behind the driver. Thea, wit
at least one aid man holding tn
filters in place, the jeep starte
slowly back through a mined DIV
grove.
] All this was done in the Nigh
with only moonlight and the stead
f flash of German shells to guild
feet and tires away from tn
! thorns and detonators of mine!
: Driving one jeep was PFC Che!
e ter Pettigrew, Is, of Fort WORT
E Texas. He and PFC Elmer E
: land, 81, of Rockdale, Texas, wer
4 hospital collecting company emel
: gency workers who had brougt
' a load of bandages and litter
!. down to the end Of the jeef trai
. A heavy barrage had just starte
l when the litter bearers came W
carrying a young lieutenant who's
: abdomen was ripped and torn b
: machine gun burst.
K Hes in bad shape, needs NOR
S plasma quickly" painted one Of tn
: bearers. Cant wait for the Uthe
jeeps. Can you get him through.
yeah, said the two beardet
: Texans. They laid the httel
d lengthwise, Eiland held it and Pet
e tigrew drove. Shells were bursting
: all over the slopes as the jeel
t crawled along with agonizing slow
t ness to keep from jolting tn
t wounded man.
On the road, men taking cove
: in the bitches yelled at them Il
i stop the jeep and hit the dust
r Can't" they yelled back and KEEP
r going. They got through and tn
/. lieutenant got plasma. He ma.
r live-thanks to the litter bearer
. and medical aid men of San VIZ
, tore.