Samuel P. Armitage
Service Company, 131st Field Artillery

Having spent many years with the 26th Infantry Division and with the outbreak of war, I applied for OCS in 1942. In January 1943 I graduated with Class 47 from the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill and was assigned to the 36th Infantry Division at Camp Edwards in Massachusetts. This was a break for me as my home was in Massachusetts. I became a member of Service Battery 131st Field Artillery and was assigned the duty of Battalion Motor Officer. In April 1943 the Division was alerted for duty overseas. We shipped out of New York on the Brazil which was a sister ship to the Argentina. These ships had been commandeered for movement of troops overseas. We went south along the United States east coast and then crossed to the coast of Africa and then on to the Mediterranean, landing at Oran, eleven days later. We made camp at Magenta and then moved to Rabat where we set up in a cork forest. This move was made to prevent any ideas that the Spanish or Germans might have about French Morocco. We traveled through many cities including Tlemson, Oudja, Fez, Mebnes and Sidi Bel Abbis. The French Foreign Legion had headquarters here. There was much battle training taking place. General William H. Wilbur was in charge of this training. We advanced with rolling artillery fire, used live grenades. We crawled under barbed wire with machine guns firing over head. One interesting problem had us crawling along a hedge toward a ditch. As we reached the edge of the ditch we were in front of a target and a soldier with a rifle took aim at the target and fired. By that time we had dropped into the ditch and started running while small explosive charges were thrown into the ditch causing a cloud of dust, dirt and stones as we ran. There were some troops who were injured but this was serious business!

I had a touch of Malaria about this time. I was treated with Atrabrine, a substitute for Quinine which was in short supply. I could not tolerate the Atrabrine so I had to be given Quinine. I recovered to live another day.

General George Patton had a gathering of Officers and key personnel of the division prior to the invasion of Sicily. In his usual gruff way he explained his ideas toward attacking the enemy. He stated that he wanted guts on both ends of your rifle, "Your guts on one end and German guts on the bayonet end." He decided to use the 45th Division to attack and invade Sicily.

Just prior to 9 September we started loading equipment for the trip to Italy. On the morning of the 9th of September I went over the side of the troop ship and down a rope ladder to drop into a LCVP. It was quite a thrill in the early light of day! We circled the ship until all the landing craft were loaded and then headed for shore. Landed waist deep in water and struggled onto the beach where I met Major Lassetter and as the guns came ashore each one in a Duck, they were hastily put into firing position and as I was now the Battalion Ammunition Officer I was able to get together with Sgt. Lattimore, my ammunition sgt and we directed the ammo trucks to the gun positions as each truck came ashore. The Germans had excellent observation on the beach but we were lucky and survived. My luck at landing was good, however my bedroll with all my gear was in a disabled truck back in North Africa. Slowly but surely we moved inland away from the beach. Capt. Kershner, CO of Battery A, a friend of mine while we were at Camp Edwards, was killed by a sniper on the road to Naples. Progress was slow moving north to Naples and beyond. Christmas was spent in the town of Venafro on Route 7 north of Naples. The Battalion Commander, Lt. Col. Taylor had a great desire to be right up front where the action was taking place. One time when I spoke to him about a road under fire over which I had to move a convoy of ammunition trucks, he informed me that I was getting paid to be shot at! After the Rapido River fiasco the Division moved into position for the battle to take Cassino. In the bivouac area I soon decided that it was not safe to sleep above ground as I found a hole in my pillow caused by a piece of shrapnel. It did not take me long to dig a hole and cover it with ammunition boxes banked up with dirt. The battle for San Pietro was bloody and costly and the experiences of a regiment of the 143rd Infantry was filmed by John Huston, the movie director. In the area where we were bivouacked in front of Mt. Cassino there were many mules and much skinners. These mules were used to carry supplies to the troops in the hills. During the air raid on the Monastery at Cassino by the US Air Force some bombs were released prematurely and landed in our area. Many mules and personnel were killed. I managed to jump into a "slit trench" or latrine which was messy but at least safe for the moment. The British who lost some trucks and equipment made a sign which said "American precision bombing" with a large arrow pointing in the direction of the target.

While on a trip to pick up ammunition we spotted four German soldiers on a back road. We captured a Lieutenant, a Sergeant and a couple of Privates. As we were not returning to our area until the next morning, we found a farm and had the farmers lock them up in his pig pen and shed. The next morning we turned them in at a prisoner collection area. Ernie Pyle spent time with the 36th Division while we were in the Mignano and Venafro area. He was later killed in the Pacific war area.

At times a shower unit was brought into our area. This consisted of a trailer truck equipped with shower heads. We were given a short time to get wet, soap up and rinse off. Clean clothes were supplied. At other times we took advantage of whatever facilities were available to aid us in keeping clean. Keeping the artillery battalion supplied with ammunition meant many hours of work and miles traveled, mostly during the night to avoid enemy observation. At one time we were forced to travel along a railroad bed and hand carry the shells up over an embankment to a gun battery that had been cut off from road communications. In the early hours each morning the Germans made a practice of directing Nebelwefer rockets at us. There were six barreled rocket launchers and they made a sharp screaming sound. We called them "Screaming Memies." The Division moved to Minturno in early May to break through the Gustav line of defense. With this accomplished we moved back to Qualiano to get ready for a move to Anzio. One day while in this area we could hear a dog barking and this continued for some time so Lieutenant Kenneth Larsen and I went looking for the source of this racket. We found a large dog standing on its hind legs in a small ornamental well, which was half filled with water. We pulled him out and he ran off without so much as a thank you. We were now on the road to Rome. We entered the city on the fifth of June and the next day, June 6, allied troops hit the beaches at Normandy. We went as far north as Piombino and then pulled out of the line and returned to Salerno to prepare for the invasion of Southern France. At this time I was given a one week leave to go to a rest area at Sorrento, so my driver, Pvt. Turchetta and I headed in our jeep to the Grand Hotel with its soft beds and hot showers. While here I visited the Isle of Capri and Mt. Vesuvius which had erupted in March 1944. Also spent time in Naples and a visit to Pompeii. Second of August we headed for the beaches of Southern France. A landing was made on green beach on the Riviera. As our LST hit the shore a German plane dropped a bomb on an LST beside our ship. It was loaded with ammunition and there were a lot of shells exploding and flying around. A smoke screen was set up and, at the time, one of my men was in an ambulance in the tank deck of our ship with an appendicitis attack. As soon as the ship was beached we managed to get him ashore where he was transferred to a medical unit. US Forces quickly headed north on Route Napoleon. At Montelimar we had outrun the Germans nineteenth Army and as they tried to advance north they were destroyed by our artillery and air force. Mr. Billy Watson, a warrant officer and I traveled together, he with his supply trucks and I with the ammunition trucks. Colonel Taylor wanted us up ahead with the firing batteries. We carried our own kitchen unit, which consisted of a large gasoline fired stove and oven, in a one ton trailer and this was set up whenever and wherever possible. I had a Mexican American named Gilbert MacDonald for a cook and he ignored all enemy activity while he prepared all meals for the men of the ammunition and supply sections. It was here at Montelimar that I lost my first man to enemy action. Pvt. Thomas Posey was hit while unloading ammunition. I was not able to find out if he survived. The Division headed north toward the Vosges mountains and we reached the town of LeBoulay. Mr. Watson and I, after placing the ammunition and supply trucks in secure areas and seeing that the men found shelter in the local buildings, went to a house and requested a "chamber a’ coucher," a room for sleeping. This house turned out to be the home of George and Marie Nourdin and their children, Michele 3 yrs old, and "Jo Jo" (George) 1½ years old. They were of course fearful, having heard that Americans were not to be trusted, but under the circumstances there was little that they could do. We moved our bed rolls into a vacant room and with the battery kitchen in the area we were able to share our food with the family. We were in this area for some time and one night, Mr. Nourdin with a little French, some English and signs, indicated that he had to go for a "sage femme" (midwife) as his wife was about to have a baby and he wanted us to protect his children while he was gone. By the end of the next day a boy was born. I was asked to act as parrain (godfather) and plans were made to go to the next town with the father and an aunt who acted as godmother. I borrowed Captain Snodgrass’s, the battery commander, command car, which we enclosed with side curtains, as it was cold and in October.

In November the war had moved on and we had our Thanksgiving dinner in Laval. With Christmas just around the corner, I wrote home for gifts to be given to the Nourdin family and when Christmas arrived I received permission from Colonel Taylor to return to LeBoulay to visit the family.

Having traveled through the St. Marie Pass in the Vosges mountains we arrived in Alsace and on to Strasbourg. Sgt. Lattimore, Pvt. Turchetta and I found a house in Hunawihr where we had sleeping quarters. Christmas 1944 was spent in Sarribourg. The Division was now out of combat for work on equipment and to bring in troop replacements but on 3 January the Germans launched an attack, "The Battle of the Bulge," and the entire Division moved out. It was bitter cold and an open jeep was not very comfortable. With the increase in the forward movement of the Allied Forces I was transferred to the Air O.P. Lt. Ernest Sample was the pilot and quite often I flew with Capt. McMurray especially when we were looking for a new landing field.

With the end of the war in May 1945, the Division moved from Austria to Germany in the vicinity of Augsburg. I was assigned the task of taking a train load of 1300 displaced natives of Yugoslavia from Munich to Salsburg where they were turned over to the British. During the trip we had a problem with two groups. One group were supporters of Mikhailovich and the other group supported Joseph Broz, known as Tito. We were able to maintain some degree of calm and order until we reached Austria and were able to turn our problems over to the British.

In October the Division headed across Germany and France to an assembly area near Le Harve. Eventually the troops were loaded on a ship for a trip to the good old U.S.A. We arrived at Norfolk, VA and then transferred by train to Fort Devens for a long awaited family reunion.