European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 9, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                You Hove time to in the warm blankets of the hos flow you got your wound and what it Felt like at the by Irwin Baskind yank Field correspondent the first time in what seems to be a lifetime you Are no longer the simple Hospital cot beneath you makes you feel As if you were floating in the dry blankets cling to your still tired body like the furry col lie you used to hug to your you try to re Call All that has happened these last 10 it is you have fought steadily for More than a from the moment you joined your outfit As a just before it jumped off on this new your company has suffered your own Luck in avoiding injury before this still amazes the rain and mud and cold have numbed your body the 88s and mortars have numbed your wearily you try to make sense out of the or Ders your platoon Leader gives from out of the Jumble of words you somehow perceive Attiat you might have some in front of you is a Forest that Jerry has not seen fit to defend in but you can already hear the rifles of the snipers he has left behind to annoy the Bat Talion is to clean out this two Rifle companies move your with heavy weapons is to cover from the Hills your Job is to offer Security for a machine gun on the right you curse this bad for you Are too close to a although Jerry seems to have no observation on you Are enough of a Veteran to know that he had it zeroed in with 88s Long before you Ever occupied the you take your shovel off your Belt and Start digging your you smile feebly As you remember the times in training you goofed off digging on a dry run of a problem like theres no goofing off Here this is no dry slowly you scrape off the eve present mud and you Grunt when extra Effort is needed to make the hard ground you Are grateful for the exercise the exertion warms you the rain has but the sky is forever the cold is you Stop Only to Light a Cigar the acrid taste on your lips and the Pun gent smoke filtering through your nostrils have been your Only pleasure since you hit the you hear the whine of the 88 and youll never forget that you drop your shovel automatically As you fall into the its something youve done Many but this time you Are the ground heaves violently beneath your ears protest under the smoke pieces of Earth whirl before your you cant remember How Many More explosions you you lie on your hands folded under and watch the red blood flow from everything is you feel no if it were not for the sight of you would never know you were your first impulse is to swear but instead you sigh with this has been some thing you have always expected and now it is All you Start Back for the Aid station and ask your buddies near you if anyone else is you Are the Only casualty and now you really swear at your own failure to fall fast the Aid station is in the Village a few Hun dred Yards behind things have been quiet for the medics there and you Are overwhelmed by the attention everyone gives the doctor examines your arms there is a Sliver in your left Little there Are Small cuts below the right thumb and above the left and the fragments Are still in them but too deep to be taken out a t5 sprinkles on some sulfa powder and fixes the you drink the whole canteen of water with the wound someone pins a tag to your an ambulance comes by and picks you the Only other casualty in it is a very tired kid with a Bandage on one Side of his shrapnel Cut him badly but never went completely through the it will take a few weeks to leave a slight scar and give him a Good you try to look at your own wounds in that you dont seem to be badly Hurt your self and you Light up a thinking of the warm Hospital Beds you Are at the dark haired ser Geant reads your tag and adds a few lines to he rips your sleeve with a scissors and jabs a Needle into your from All they have drummed into you about care after being wound you guess it is you Are in another ambulance going to Clear there Are two serious cases with with a Bullet in the the other with the swollen Black feet of Trench you reflect bit Terly on the bad Luck of the last after All his close the rain and the cold got his it seems typical of the tragedy and cruelty of nothing seems fair any but your eyes Are fixed on the kid next to he has a quiet voice with a Trace of a Midwest Ern you watched him climb into the am the doctors Call it combat fatigue but the gis Call it blowing your a lot More descriptive he is so hysterical he can hardly walk he sits in his place and rambles on about nothing in youve never seen a Guy so bad suddenly his ram bling stops and he talks coherently of what you realize there Are some things you will always you get out Long enough to get another shot and a few More lines on the then you Are in another ambulance but you Are too tired to no Tice anything any Between puffs on a cigarette you try to reconstruct what has happened since you left the Forward replacement you sense from All the traffic and noise that you Are in a big City youve lived in one Long enough to you guess it is you say everyone nods your ambulance pulls up to a ramp and you hurry through the rain into a modern your eyes blink at the unaccustomed Glare of electric someone glances at your gives you a Hur ried looking Over and leads you to a your mind has begun to function a bit and you Ogle happily at All the nurses in the another medic shows you to a cot and helps you you lie Down and watch the fellow who came in with he has already found a pan of water and begun to clean you look hopelessly at your own their neat White bandages sur rounded by a thick mixture of mud and your medic comes in with hot he picks up your hands washes them As if he has done this All his you close your eyes in sheer Delight As he strokes at your dirty face with a you feel like a kid As he scolds you for playing in the he puts a tray in front of you and you remember it is thanksgiving the medic apologizes for fear the food is it has been prepared Early in the waiting for someone like you to be brought in you smile gratefully As he scolds you again for not being in time for your you lean Back to enjoy your Turkey and its the first hot meal youve had in four the night the cos jeep brought up some hot you Chew carefully on each you think of the c rations you ate the other Day in your not More than 10 feet from rotting bodies filling the air with the odor of the hot Coffee goes and you imagine you feel its warmth in your you relax with a someone comes in to Lead you to the xray you watch the sergeant fill out a card and you Admire the air of Confidence about him As he does his work with such a complicated one which you could never you try to strike up a conversation and ask him where he is you discover he lives a mile from your Home and went to school with your when your rays Are the doctor stud ies them a while and takes you to the operating this is one of the sights youll always re there Are six All very Doc nurses and technicians Scurry and your natural fear of such a room is multiplied by the tension about theres work to be done and you Are the work someone swabs your Arm with an the surgeon gives you shots to numb he picks up some instruments and starts you cant feel anything but warm blood on your wrist As he probes for the fragment in the he works on your and you Stop watching you try to joke with the nurse nearby with a comment on How easy they go in but How hard they Are to get soon the surgeons on your left hand and he tells you he gave up both pieces in the if he tried to get them he would do More damage than Yoli have two souvenirs of to show off but nevertheless you Are on your a Ward boy helps you to your your soft voiced medic Waits for he gives you another All the jokes about the Hook and Dart boards Rush through your Hes got some sulfa its so he adds some sleeping and you Are very grateful for now you Are in turning All this Over in your its hard to you Are still numb from concussion and the dope has begun to take suddenly you see clearly just How much you really have to be grateful