WW2 Vet George Perrine's Story PART 4
PART 4
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We were lucky enough to meet this fine fellow - George Perrine, United States Army, 2nd Armored Division – on D-Day 70th anniversary, 2014. He is sharing his story, in his own words, of his time during the war.
It is a long tale so we will be posting it over a few days so look for the rest of the story.
By George Perrine
After Fourteen days with a two day break, I came to the conclusion that war can get your hurt! I never one time felt that I would be killed! I never considered that I would not return to the U.S. Many ties I had the feeling that I probably would be wounded but not killed. In fact, I never purchased G.I. insurance for I had no doubt that I would not be killed in action.
You have to have some conviction other than death or I feel you would be headed for a section 8 discharge. The most steadying influence on me was that I could not let my men down when I was in command, for I felt sure they would not let me down. Often they might be soldiers you didn’t even know.
They may have been assigned to your crew the day before, but you would do anything to see to it that you help up your end of the bargain and If felt and expected them to do the same. Many of our men laid down their lives for that reason.
We both had the same opportunities but fate took over. I felt badly that we would get a new replacement assigned to the platoon, fresh from basic training, and without a chance to provide him some “on the job training” he would be placed in combat situation. That is what it was all about. You could say, “Don’t do this or don’t do that” but under pressure he would do just the opposite. Not because he was dump or stupid, he just never had a chance to learn. His training time was too short and not realistic using live ammo, with lots of artillery close overhead.
We had men killed; many more wounded. You knew it could have been you. A soldier would be standing beside you and he would get hit. The other way around and you could have been the one to get hit and everyone would be asking, “What happened to you, George?” That’s the way it was. You learned not to dwell on things that you had no control over or you would soon be a candidate for the psycho ward. In ending you could say, “We both had the same opportunity but fate took over and one of us had to lose.”
Due to the losses of scout section personnel, I found myself out of my armored car and in command of a jeep with a four-man crew. Let me be honest, I had never commanded any scout vehicles and had very little experience in scout activities. I felt quite naked sitting in a jeep with the windshield down after sitting behind the armor of an armored car. The only armor I had were the buttons on my shirt. I was fortunate as the other car commander was wise, well trained, and experienced.
He led; I followed and learned. I soon discovered scouting was a new game. You don’t react, you act. If you have to react, you have lost.
By this time the German Army was trying to escape east out of the Falaise Pocket back to the Seine River at Elbeuf. By August 26th, Elbeuf was in division hands and the Falaise Pocket was shut tight. No more Germans escaped across the Seine River heading for Germany.
We were used primarily for flank protection of the division attack. This gave me some time to look over the destruction of German equipment that had been abandoned. Allied air forces prior to D-Day destroyed all bridges across the Seine from Paris to LeHavre. The Germans had destroyed most of the equipment we saw, as they did not have enough ferryboats to remove the escaping soldiers and their equipment. They chose to save the soldiers and destroy the equipment.
The division then made a road march east to the Seine River near Paris. Two days for maintenance and rest and it was off to war again. The battalion crossed the Seine River August 29th by pontoon bridge and headed northeast for the Belgium border.
Continued......
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