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To: nickcarraway

Thanks for the photos.

My grandfather was in the 307th Ammunition Train of the 82nd Division. Although late to the front, they were hip deep in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

The 307th was split into truck and horse units and Pop, being a farmer, was not in the automotive portion.

He told stories when I was young-like delivering artillery shells to the guns then being run off by the crews because the resupply wagons would draw enemy fire.

The worst was when he was running down a road with an officer when he came upon a poor dying soul (of unknown origin) crawling across the trail with his intestines out.
He wanted to stop to help but the fire was coming ever closer and the officer turned the whip on Pop forcing him to run over the man to get back to safety.

This bothered him greatly to his dying day.

What a sad thing was this war.


16 posted on 08/08/2013 4:24:24 PM PDT by SnuffaBolshevik
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To: SnuffaBolshevik
He wanted to stop to help but the fire was coming ever closer and the officer turned the whip on

As harsh as it seems, the officer did the correct thing.

With the man's guts hanging out, the likely hood of him surviving in an pre=antibiotic world were practically nil..

Weight that against the odds of getting hit by incoming shells and you see why the officer whipped the horses onward.

There would have been at least two more bodies in the road(more if the wagon still had live artillery shells on board)

It's the horrible mathematics of war...
45 posted on 08/11/2013 12:44:48 AM PDT by RedMonqey ("Gun-free zones" equal "Target-rich environment.")
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