"I left the States on June 6, 1944 and arrived in England June, 20, 1944. I left July 19, 1944 for France and arrived on the beach at 9:00 a.m. on my 22 birthday -- the 20th of July 1944.
I was assigned to deliver 250 men to St. Lo, 30 miles East. I was assigned to 1st Platoon, F company of the 120th Regt. 30th Infantry Division as a Squad Leader. There I was with my bazooka and BAR teams, in the lead of the Company on the 22th of July
The big bombardment was 24th & 25th when Lt. Gen. McNair was killed near us. We also lost 170 men. There were over 3,000 Bombers dropping their loads on top of us. The “front” looked like a new plowed western field with no trees, just powdered dirt.
I spent the night near La Madelane. I led this Company of riflemen all the way to St. Lo and entered the line as squad leader July 26, 1944 with the 1st platoon, 3rd Squad, F Company of the 120th regiment in the 30th Infantry Division. The platoon had just lost 3 men out of 30 and was under machine gun attack. The hedge row was full of dead and wounded men and I pulled a dead Sergeant out of his fox hole and jumped in.
The next day we jumped off in the attack with a couple tanks.
On the map we followed the Vire river on the west side near Canisy, to Conde Sur Vire to Le Mesn L Raoult on 28th and Tessy-Sur-Vire on 1st of August.
Upon reaching the outskirts of Mortain we were attacked by 9 FW190 with rockets and we lost 50 wounded and 5 KIA along with two trucks.
By the 5th of August we entered Mortain, France, a nice small town built on the west side of a very high hill . You could almost see the sea about 15 miles away.
My squad and I moved into a graveyard about 6 p.m., spent the night near the town's graveyard and after midnight 4 or 5 Germans artillery shells landed at places in the graveyard. What a mess and odor!
The next morning I moved my men into a long trench near the railroad bridge on the edge of town. The next morning all Hell broke out! We began one of the biggest battles of three!!!!!!! "
-- Uncle Frank
