Evening star., 1945-03-15


one Of his sons, Sergt. A. Grayson
Bishop. II, a veteran who lived
through it.
Sergt. Grayson was with the IA
nous 106th Infantry Division of the
LIST Army, which bore the brunt of
the break-through. Secretary of
War Stimson announced last Janu-
ary 18 that the 106th had suffered
1858 casualties, including 416 killed,
1926 wounded and TOOL missing.
A graduate Of Western High School
where he played football for three
years, Sergt. Grayson had never been
in combat when his division moved
into the "quiet sector chosen by
the Germans for their counterat-
tack. How it struck his particular
foxhole and incidentally recoiled, at
least temporarily, he recounts for
his family and those of six uncles
interested in his experiences. He
has so many relatives that his
father has pieced the letters to-
gether and had them mimeo-
graphed to save copying and to
keep the originals for his son when
he returns.
Other Brother Killed.
An older brother of Sergt. Bishop,
1t. Russell G.. Bishop, jr., former
swimming star at Western High,
was one of a crew of nine killed
near Madill, Okla. January 6, 1943,
when their Bit crashed on train
ing flight. A younger brother RAN
dolph, football and track star for
three years for Western and first
string tackle in his first year at
the University of Mryland last. fall,
is now at the Navy training center
at cambridge, Md.
Sergt. Bishops letter follows:
Dearest Mother and Dad:
Today I have received and read
your letters covering a period of
several weeks-letters which are
among the most touching I ever
read. You know now that God has
seen flt to preserve me from the
fate which a great many of my
comrades did meet. The story OF
just what did happen December 1e
and for the ensuing weeks there
after Is one I shan't easily forget;
I'll tell you what I'm allowed to OF
it. ] shall also inclose pertinent
articles in an airmail letter I'll write
in few minutes.
Well, when the ferries started
their big push. my outfit was inside
Germany, occupying "a holding po-
sition" on the Siegfried Line. They
came over about $50 in the morn
ing (dawn's at about $500, following
a tremendous barrage Of artillery,
mortars and rockets.
They hit us q Company with
probably two battalions and for a
couple Of hours things were hotter'n
Il all hell. dad, in actions such as
that you're aware of your own ac-
tions and that of those around your
immediate position: the overall pic
ture is almost impossible to grasp
until things calm down. &
I was occupying a foxhole in
which were two other men, my
squad leader. George La vigne, and
Johnny Wood, young kid from
upstate New York. George had an
.03, which is q sniper's weapon and
consequently not adapted for rapid
fire. vital in close-in fighting. Johnny
an MI (Garand rif1e) and had my
BAR (Browning automatic rifle).
First Warning.
| First knowledge we had of the
ferries penetration was when Dan
White in the adjoining foxhole
yelled Halt"
Hello, fellows" Is what he got fol-
an answer, so he says Who's
tbere?" This Jerry says, with q
helluva accent, "It;s just us guys
(all this at distance of yards D
and did we open up!
All of a sudden the draw In front
of my foxhole and the hillside
across the draw about 80 yards was
swarming with ferries, some draw
| ing carts with ammo, some leading
a pony cart with explosives, and a
gang Of others with every damned
type of weapon imaginable. La Vigne
grabbed Woods MI and I had
Johnny loading magazines for me
The whole squad threw everything
we had at those - in the draw
and few moments later there
wasn't any sound except the groans
and screams of the poor devils lying
there in that tiny valley, some of
them partly covered by a little
mountain stream which gurgled
right down the draw, cutting it in
two bloody halves.
Every time we'd hear 'em groan,
we would spray the damned place
with fire-soon there was silence.
This lasted perhaps five or ten min
utes, then from the hillside across
the draw: Halo, halo, halo.
George and knew the devils were
trying to get us to open up at the
sound Of their voices and thus give
away our positions; we were holding
our breath, though, wondering if the
rest Of the boys knew what was up
they did, dad, and all held their fire.
Then potato masher landed in
front of our hole and damned near
knocked us out of it.
No Telltale Trail.
Pineapples leave no telltale trail,
so chucked one back at 'em. Well,
there was silence a little longer, then
they really started coming off that
hillside in every direction, and the
draw filled once more. 1t was get
ting little lighter by then, and
shooting a damned sight easier. 1t
was helluva mess, dad.
was shooting so damned fast the
empty cartridges were about to
shove us out Of the hole. Johnny
was loading emptieS like q demon
and La Vigne was about to burn the
barrel out of Woods MI. Dead Ger
mans were all over the place, but
they kept on coming over the crest
LOT the hill in punches of five and
ten.
Then one of our sos (machine
gum, covering the point of the draw
opened up. That was more'n they
figured on putting up with, but they