The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1945-02-08
Shot By Enemy
Only 30 Feet Distont
Continued from page u


Continued from page II
know anything until I later found
myself being cared for by my own
men. They later found that a shot
had also gone through my KNAPP
sack and they located a bullet i'm
beded IN my back. How it got there
l don't know"
Badly Wounded
The bullet from the high powered
German rifle struck Luscher in the
arm a few inches below the left
shoulder and badly shattered the
bone. Undoubtedly the force of the
blow Whirled Luscher and second
shot from his enemy probably
struck the knapsack as Luscher was
whirled from the effect of the first
shot. Lieut.. Luscher also states that
later his helmet was found lying a
few feet from where he lay. 1t was
punctured in several places by bull
let shots. Luscher thinks other Ger
mans saw the helmet and shot at
| it, thinking it was on the head of
an American soldier
This incident removed Lieut.
Luscher from the fighting and it
will be many months before he is
fully recovered. But before that ac-
ton came his way he had been in
other fighting that showed him
what war can be like. He and his
| men were holding section of the
line one day near one of the Nor
mandy hedgeroWs that appeared in
the news SO frequently while the
fighting was going on through that
section.
Fought Like Demons
THE Germans must have spent
most of the afternoon crawling
along behind that hedgeroW." said
Lieut.. Luscher, and suddenly they
burst through the hedge charging
us with fixed bayonets. When a
German soldier starts a charge most
Of them will cease firing. Under
such conditions the American SOL
der has been taught to shoot from
the hip and most of them are very
good at it. AS those Germans
charged, we opened up on them and
surely slaughtered them. But nat
urally few of them got through
to our lines. And then it was every
man for himself | ran out of am
munition and started swinging my
rifle. / never saw so many bayo-
nets around my head before. I
swung my dubbed rifle, kicked and
bit-anything to kill and keep from
being killed That's war. But we
turned back the charge
That war is indeed hell is fur
ther seen in Lieut.. Luscher's state
ment that one soon loses any COM
junction about killing. Especially
is that true after seeing ones COM
rades killed and wounded all around
one. I'VE were out on patrol one
day, said Luscher land were NOV
ing through the hedgeroWs. no
ticed that one of my men--a fine
young felloW-Was hating in a
hedgeroW instead of moving on
through. walked up to him, took
him by the arm and said, What's
the matter, Johnnie2' when he
pitched forward. | turned him over
and saw that he had been shot
through the head. He was caught on
"a Hawthorne tree and my touch
was enough to dislodge him and
send him crumpling at my feet. That
was one little incident. There were
many others like it,"
Does the average CT soldier have
a grasp Of the issues involved and
what it is all about?" Lieut.. Lusch-
er was asked.
To Get Job Finished
Il found that most of our men
are fighting first to get a bad job
finished and to get back home to
their wives and families and To
their former jobs. A large number
OF them are also wondering about
the sort of peace that is to follow,
and whether or not their sons will
be called to 60 through what they
are now experiencing as sons If
the men who fought and helped win
World War / Many Of them have
a deep understanding of the con-
flicting forces that are now battling
to determine the nature of our fu-
ture civilization. They know it is
fight between liberty and tyranny"
Far Behind the Times
Lieut. Luscher was stationed in
northern Ireland and in England
for some time before joining IN
the invasion Of the continent, He
says there is still bitter religious
controversy in that part of Ire
land. He is convinced that both Ire
land and England are SO years be-
hind the times. AS one example he
cites the fact that fish and meat
markets have no fronts to the builo-
ings; they are wide open to every
sort Of contamination. Dust from
the dirty streets rolls up over the
meat and flies swarm over it BY the
thousands.
My commanding officer fire.
quently sent me out to talk to or
carnations similar to our Rotary
clubs and chambers of commerce
They wanted to know Of living con-
ditions in America and when | tried
to tell them that nearly every