The Battalion: The Dramatic Story of the 2nd Ranger Battalion in WWII (Stackpole Military History Series) by Black Robert W

Author:Black, Robert W. [Black, Robert W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780811752619
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Published: 2013-08-01T05:00:00+00:00

There were opportunities for trading and scrounging and men used their wiles. Medic Frank South and a jeep driver took three German pistols and went back to the beach area looking for alcohol. They found an LST unloading cases of ten-in-one rations. This was home cooking compared to the the assault rations the men had been eating. The Navy did not care where the rations went as long as they had an officer’s signature. South reasoned that Capt. Duke Slater was missing in action and therefore would not mind, so he got two cases of rations by signing Slater’s name.4

On the nineteenth, Slater, Lieutenant McBride, and nineteen other men who had been on Dog Company LCA 860 that sank on the way to Pointe du Hoc returned to duty. Slater became the battalion operations officer (S-3) and Lieutenant McBride, who was senior to Kerchner, took over command of Dog Company. In a surprising move, Col. Eugene Slappey, formerly commander of the 115th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division, was given command of the two-battalion Ranger Group. The division commander, Maj. Gen. Charles Gerhardt, did not find Slappey sufficiently aggressive. Lieutenant Colonel Rudder reverted to command of the 2nd Battalion. It appeared that no thought had been given to the role of the Rangers after the invasion.

On June 20, the kitchens and hot food arrived. Awards came as well. On the twenty-first, Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodges, who had been appointed commander of U.S. First Army, awarded Distinguished Services Crosses. On the twenty-third, Maj. Gen. Charles Gerow of the 29th Division made a short speech of gratitude and awarded Silver Stars. In total the officers and men of the battalion were awarded eight Distinguished Service Crosses and fourteen Silver Stars for their performance during the invasion of Normandy.

Perhaps even more anticipated than medals was mail from home. The mail clerk stood on the hood of a jeep calling out the names and handing out letters and packages. Below him were faces showing hope, joy, or disappointment. Some fortunate men got letters every time. Bill Klaus was one of those as Olive wrote everyday. She told him of their child and the scrapbook she was keeping. Olive and the baby were living with her parents, and there was a Blue Star service flag in the window representing Bill. Olive was also doing her bit on the homefront, serving as an aircraft spotter on a New Jersey hilltop. Bill wrote at every opportunity. What the men wrote was censored by battalion officers, and the letter was later photographed and reduced in a process called V Mail.

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