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JOSEPH GI WW II

"Tell Me A War Story Dad"

In 5 and 1/2 hours of cassette audio tapes this 30th Infantry
Division forward observer tells his true story from the
landing at Omaha Beach, to St. Lo, Mortain, Falaise Gap,
Paris, Malmedy, Stavelot, Herleen, Huertgen Forest,
Aachen, the Autobahn, the women, Harz mountains near the
Czech border and the ride home to NY on The Queen Mary
rooming next to Admiral Stark, Commander of the Atlantic
Fleet, General Hobbs and Harrison, and Medal of Honor
recipient Francis Currey.

It is a miracle he survived, as time after time he escaped
death by inches. He was put in for the Medal of Honor
twice, but denied. He received the Distinguished Service
Cross and the French Cross of War ( Croix De Guerre )
signed by Charles De Gaulle. His actions at Mortain led
directly and swiftly to the liberation of France.

The Battle of the Bulge was just one of a number of other
tough fights his 30th engaged in and he was proud to say the
30th never failed to take an objective and never lost an
objective from 1860 through 1945. They defeated Hitler's
own 1st SS Division twice !!!

This heartwarming true story told by the real WW II
infantryman himself is a no holds barred perspective that
will shock you, make you laugh, make you cry and make you
proud and thankful to be an American.

I am a songwriter and I'm sure my gift for storytelling comes
from my father. As a small child, I used to say " Tell Me A
War Story Dad " and asked him to record them for me in
1977. He died in 1978. My son, who is named after him,
sadly, never met his grandfather.

It is with these tapes that you and he can come to know and
love him as I did. For those who have lost loved ones in or
after the War - God Bless You - you will come to know,
respect, and love the spirit of freedom that makes our
country great.

This audio/book is dedicated to all of those who never lived
to tell their stories to their kids - may they rest in peace -

...thank you Lord for that peace that passeth all
understanding and sleep that mends the ravelled ends of
time. In combat Dad found comfort in the 23rd Psalm.

9/16/2000

Dear Friends,

I apologize if the stories on these tapes offend you or your
loved ones. Please understand they were recorded in private
and intended for my ears only.

It is with great reluctance that I am making them available
to the general public as some excerpts taken out of context
could offend many groups and individuals.

There are few that he did NOT insult. The name calling is
just this infantryman's way of venting frustration and I've
forgiven my Dad for these comments, he meant no harm. I
hope you will forgive him too. He was a kind hearted man
and everybody loved him.

He passed away at age 54 in a motel room where he lived
out his life as a security guard. He lived through WW II
somewhat intact. What he never recovered from - was the
loss of his kids through his divorce with my Mom. That
seemed to take a greater toll on his well being than all the
close calls with death he had experienced; seeing his friends
heads blown off right next to him, surviving the freezing cold
of the Huertgen Forest, or fighting Hitler's own 1st SS
Division.

He died financially broke and alone, without those who truly
loved him.

Well, if you're up there listening Dad, just know that we
really really loved you,

" More Than The Whole Wide World ".

We will always love you -

you, and the hundreds of thousands of men who fought
beside you - YOU will never be forgotten if I have anything
to say about it.

As a child and until recently, I never realized how unique my
Dad's WW II experience was. He was a forward observer in
General Omar Bradley's First Army, the 30th Infantry
Division which was often on the front lines of the toughest
battles. (Eisenhower was Bradley's immediate superior.)

He was a forward observer who is usually in front of all the
troops, somewhere up high in an attic of a farmhouse or high
up on a hill where he can be blown to bits, so he can view the
enemy to call in artillary and mortar fire by radio.

Life expectancy was only days and many never made it
home. Only the Scouts were further forward and sometimes
they were behind enemy lines. The 30th was nicknamed by
the German high command - Roosevelt's SS and they
defeated Hitler's own 1st SS Division at Mortain and again
at the Bulge.

In Mortain their command post was overrun by the Germans
and they had to engage in hand to hand combat. There were
no soldiers more fierce or ruthless than those SS troups. The
30th's reputation also made them Bradley's and
Eisenhower's choice for the roughest assignments like the
Battle of the Bulge which they were secretly and swiftly
rushed into - to defend Leige, France and stop the Germans
from splitting the Allied armies in two.

S.L.A. Marshall, the army historian, called the 30th " the
Finest Infantry Division in the European Theatre of
Operations." Bradley, Eisenhower and Patton called them
the "Rock of Mortain".

Bradley said to Secretary of the Treasury, Henry
Morganthau as Morgenthau looked over the battlefields
skeptically after Mortain , "This is an opportunity that
comes to a commander not more than once in a century. " (
Page 375 of A Soldier's Story by Omar Bradley).

The 30th had just held Hill 317 and Mortain against all odds
surrounded for 5 days by the Germans commanded by Hitler
himself, who was determined he had to beat them at
Mortain.

They became known as The Workhorse of the Western
Front, yet received very little publicity, unlike General
Patton.

Frank W. Towers, the Exec. Sec-Treasurer of the the 30th
Infantry Division Association confirmed my Dad's accounts
that "...General Hobbs was anti publicity and ran off all of
the press and photographers..."

A small group of the 30th determined the fate of France in
that battle of Mortain and my Dad was awarded the French
Cross of War for his actions there by Field Marshall Juin,
the only other field marshall in France's history was
Napoleon Bonaparte. Biograhpers have written that Juin
aspired to become as great and powerful as Bonaparte.
During wartime he outranked De Gaulle who was only a
politcal leader.

This is my tribute to the 30th and ALL the brave men who
fought in WW II.

Sincerely,

Frank D. Joseph III

JOSEPH GI - WW II

"Tell Me A War Story Dad"

The true American heroes of WW II were the "poor
damned dogface infantrymen"

who fought and died for our freedoms one precious yard at a
time.

The lines on a map, we call borders, were changing minute
by minute and things were often in a state of mass confusion,
pain, and chaos. The following excerpts

have been extracted verbatim from the audio tapes which
will soon be made available to the public.

These tapes have been stored away since 1977 and the
stories were very confusing to me until recently, when
writings by other authors connected the dots geographically
and chronologically.

These first hand accounts, by a soldier WHO LIVED to tell
them, are very rare and especially unique, as they were
recorded on tape by the GI himself in his own voice as he
expressed his true feelings and emotions, without regard for
political correctness.

My Dad honed his storytelling skills as he was interviewed
after the War by reporters from all over the world every
Tuesday and Thursday. He also repeated them to his friends
and family for years after returning home.

The prestigious stateroom he and Medal of Honor Recipient,
Francis Currey, occupied on the cruise back to NY harbor
at General Hobbs request, was next to Generals Hobbs and
Harrison, who were next to Admiral Stark on the Queen
Mary.

Today this area is steps away from the boardroom where
Churchill signed the D-Day invasion orders in 1943 on the
Promenade Deck, Picadilly Circle just this side of the
circular bar located in the bow. He tells the stories of this
voyage also , with 500 nurses on the deck above and 15,000
troops on the decks below.

His entire story must be heard.

Here are just a few excerpts:

" The Germans were running for Germany. After the battle (
of Mortain )

was over, Eisenhower said he stood in one place and he
could walk 100 yards in any direction on rotten flesh... ( the
Falaise Gap ).

Well, we began to move forward then, we moved up to the
left of Paris, I guess about 15 miles and after the war was
over, a friend of mine was watching TV one night, one of
these war movies & he said ' I saw you walkin up this little
grade, up toward the center of a little town and the caption
read -

The First Time Americans See Paris -

and in the background was The Eiffel Tower and he said all
of a sudden the picture stopped !! That's the last I saw of
you, but I know it was you !

I said well, I'll tell you what happened.....

at that moment - out of nowhere this big German SS man
jumped up on a wall behind us and cut loose with his
submachinegun and we all dove into the ditch..."

Regarding Operation Cobra

We were being bombed by our own air force ! They were
dropping 500 pound bombs on us and one man paced it off
the next day - one of our 3 Star generals had been blown 120
+ feet through the air - by his own bombers. You won't read
that in the history books, they reported he was killed by
shrapnel.

I was back in graves registration where they lay the bodies
side by side, looking for a friend of mine. I saw a man I
recognized from seeing him in the U.S. before the war. It
was 3 star General Leslie McNair. They had stripped 2 stars
off his shirt so the germans wouldn't know we lost a 3 star
general. 5 minutes later Patton would have been right there
with him. Luckily Old Blood and Guts lived to lead his 3rd
Army."

" One thing made the American soldier the greatest fighting
man the world has ever seen. He had known FREEDOM -
and he had the FIRE OF FREEDOM BURNING in his belly
and he wanted to get back home to it. "

Joe, as my Dad was frequently known, talks about his good
buddy Willie( Waldo Pierce)

" We had a real funny thing happen there.

I ran into 'Willie', Waldo Pierce, he was firing a bazooka
and I'd run into him a couple of times. He was with A
Company and things kind of settled down and we stopped
for about a day...

Willie and I were walkin back the road lookin for somethin
to loot or some kind of mischief to get into...Sometimes you'd
find a great big slab of bacon in the basements of these
farmhouses, or if you could find a chicken - that was like
gold !

So I was on the left toward the ditch and Willie was on the
right walkin along this road. Here comes the old regimental
commander, this little old guy named Colonel Johnson, from
Missoula Montana. I'll never forget that. He was a full bird
Colonel

so he had this on his license plate. You never saw that -
except for the generals located in the rear - a one star for a
one star general, a two star and so forth but no one else !
NOT a Colonel !

and the old man insisted you salute that license plate when
you saw it !!!!!

Well HELL !!! In combat you don't salute anybody !

Most officers don't want to be saluted cause if a sniper sees
that -

he'll blow his head off !!

It's another reason nobody wears any insignia.

You can't tell if a man is a Lieutenant or a Captain or what.

So here comes old Colonel Johnson ( who out ranks all of
them) down there with his jeep driver. So I looked off into
the field and Willie ( Waldo Pierce) did too - We looked the
other way.

The jeep driver slammed on the brakes and backed up & the
old man stood up !!!!!!

His favorite punishment was --- since he couldn't court
martial you or anything --

what the hell, anybody would take a court martial and 5
years in Leavenworth

to get back to the states !!!

So they couldn't do much to ya so he'd say :

' I'll make you the first scout, in the first platoon, of A
Company !!! '

Of course that was as far forward as you could get.

So the old man looked at Pierce, he was the closest to him,
and said :

' SOLDIER, IF YOU DON'T SALUTE THIS JEEP - I'LL
MAKE YOU THE FIRST SCOUT, IN THE FIRST
PLATOON, of A COMPANY !!!!

& Willie Pierce looked at him and said :

' LIEUTENANT !!! ( That's about 5 ranks below Colonel )

I AM THE FIRST SCOUT,

IN THE FIRST PLATOON,

OF A COMPANY !!!!!! ' and he was !

( A fate worst than death itself )

The old Colonel got a funny grin on his face,

saluted Pierce, sat down and told the jeep driver - Go On -

and they drove away.

We laughed about that for the rest of the war.

It's funny how those old infantry officers - if you bucked
them and you had them dead to rights - they kind of liked it.
It gave them the impression they had some men BY GOD
with some guts and of course

No man in his whole damn regiment had any more guts than

Willie Waldo Pierce !

Pierce went from scout to platoon leader in about 30 days
cause he was the only guy left out of 54 men. Well, he lead
his platoon at 6 AM one morning - so fast -

to an objective he was ordered to reach by 10:30 AM,

he reached it by 7:00 AM !!

and was fighting the Germans in front and taking his own
artillary fire from the rear.

He was like a one man army and his men said

'This guys NUTS !!! The hell with this - we're not following

this jack ass anymore ! '

So they replaced him with an old Sargent named Pinky so if
the Lieutenant got it Pinky would command the platoon and
Pierce could go off and fight the war wherever he wanted -
by himself !

I have seen this guy, looking through my field glasses one
day. I was about as far forward as you could get with an
infantry platoon and about 300 yards ahead of me was one
lone stone wall.

I had to stop firing mortars over there, cause there was
Pierce !

on our side of the wall - the Germans were on the other -
throwing concussion grenades over at him to try to knock
him out and take him prisoner. They were bursting all
around him and he's running down the right side of that wall,
throwing hand grenades over the wall once in a while. Then
I see him stick his M1 rifle around the wall and fire about
three rounds and walk around the wall.

I said Damned if that don't beat all ---

This guy would actually fight his own war if you gave him a
chance - he was unbelievable !

We enjoyed some good times together -- occaisionally if we
got a little time off -

we'd go looting or meet a couple of Belgium or Dutch girls
or something and ...

but Pierce and I always had alot to drink, especially coming
through France.

We'd get in these cellars and the fella's - being the first ones
there -

they'd get all kinds of wine and champagne. I can remember
throwing a case of champagne off the jeep so I could have
room to sit down.

That's how well loaded, Snerd had the jeep rigged.

Pierce eventually got hit in the face with a phosphorus
grenade -

his own - it was defective.

As he pulled the pin it exploded and I carried him for 2 days
on my back to get him back to a hospital unit. Each nite
when the wind blew - his face would light up and glow from
the napalm like substance imbedded in his skin. He died
before we reached the hospital,

the finest soldier that ever fired a round in the U.S. Army. "

" ...Now we were going for Aachen, Germany and some
idiot said - if we took Aachen, the war would be over. Of
course that turned out to be a bunch of bullshit. So we kept
on fighting in these little towns.

This sniper wounded one of our men and then 3 medics, one
by one, who tried to drag each one to safety. We never did
get him. He wouldn't kill them, it took two men to carry one
wounded to the rear -

so he took out 12 men with 4 shots and it just goes to show
how smart those German infantry and SS men were. "

"... and there in front of me was the Autobahn, 1,000

yards off to my right.

They must have had one of their own forward observers
there among us , hidden, cause they dropped 3 mortar
rounds on top of our own mortars set up behind a
farmhouse. One round hit my friend Coski at the waist and
cut him in half.

His legs seperated and his body fell down between his legs (
He was still conscious - it happened so fast) and that really
got me cause he was a good friend of mine. "

"... there was an artillary forward observer with me, a damn
good one, he had 2 radio men, a jeep driver and himself and
he had gone back for maps...

They were coming back up when they hit a box mine, a
steamer trunck full of high explosives buried in the road.

It killed the 2 radio men, the jeep driver, and blew Burke out
over the countryside - I don't know how far ! It blew him so
hard it blew his shoes off and blew the liner right out of his
tin hat !

Those were so tight you couldn't pry them off, but it didn't
actually hurt the man.

He came up and was white as a sheet and told me what
happened and said he was in no mood for any nonsense !

The Germans would run a motorcycle up and down that
Autobahn and do close order drills with 50 man platoons just
to draw our fire - so they could pinpoint our positions and
fire on us. Well -- Burke and I weren't going to fall for that...

We were in the basement of my observation post, sleeping on
sacks of potatoes.

An old farmhouse - and this lilly livered cowardly Sargent
radioed Burke for the 2 nd time that night -- and told him to
fire on a tank that was closing in on his postion -
IMMEDIATELY !

Well - we went running outside to see what the hell was
going on and sure enough it was that damned motorcycle
rider again and we weren't going to obey that order cause it
would give our position away. That's what the Germans
wanted !

So Burke went back in and got Stouffer on the radio phone
and said

' Stouffer, you SOB, you get scared every time a mouse farts
in the next room !

If you ring this phone one more time tonight, I'm going to
come over there and stick this phone up your GIZ ! '

He didn't say a damn word, just signed off and we finally got
a couple of hours sleep.

Well the next morning we were up in our observation post on
the 4th floor and here comes a heavy weapons officer, a 1st
Lieutenant by the name of Rose, a big tub of

guts and kind of a pain in the ass. He didn't have anything to
do, being the executive officer, he just wandered around
looking for things to get into.

He came up there with 2 men and a 50 Caliber machine gun
and Burke asked him :

' What the hell are ya doin ? '

He says ' well, I can hit that Autobahn with this 50 Caliber
from here and I'll tear them up pretty good '

Well we only had one window and we were looking out of it
in the attic in the front and we could stand back 5 feet and
the enemy couldn't see us. So this Nit Wit

set that 50 Caliber 5 feet back and we told him, ' even if you
hit anything on that damn road - you're not going to do any
damage after those slugs have traveled 1,000 yards ! ' They
are not very effective - it's like throwing a light rock at them
and the germans would get out there and do close order
drills - talk about GUTS -

if someone fired on them they'd all dive for the ditch and you
wouldn't get one.

So this dummy sets up the gun and lets go about 3 bursts and
the muzzle blast was so strong it blew the frame right out of
the window. These houses were stone and the mortar and
dust and crap flew out of that window and a German
observer saw us.

To show you how accurate they are - he fired one round, an
800 pound shell from a Big Bertha 360 mm gun( that could
have been 20 miles away and was so large it had to be
mounted on a railroad car ). It landed just at the left hand
side of the building and dug a hole so deep you could drive a
jeep right into that basement.

Of course Burke and I, the LT. and his 2 guys ricocheted
around in that attic for what seemed like 2 minutes ! It just
shook the living piss right out of us and I got up and said you
SOB !

For 2 cents I'd ram that 50 Caliber machine gun down your
God Damned throat and pull the trigger !!!

( Dad had an eloquent way with this vernacular )

He ran down the stairs - where he went - I don't know. The
poor 2 guys with him said well, we better take the machine
gun with us and I said :

Just let the gun sit and TAKE OFF !

We don't want you around here cause we had a good
observation post and you ruined it. Luckily, the Germans
thought that one round probably wiped us out and if we'd
been on any of the other floors below, it WOULD HAVE !

Luckily there was no one down there and they didn't fire on
us again. We continued to use that as an observation post
and it was a real fine spot "( compared to what Dad ? ) " -
right on the edge of that field. "

( the 30th eventually did take Aachen )

" ...Their are no atheists in combat "

After being awarded The Distinguished Service Cross and
The French Cross of War,

hung on him by Field Marshall Juin himself, signed by
Charles De Gaulle - Dad was so exhausted he was sent to a
hospital in the rear to recuperate. There he met an officer
named Francis Milleti, a beautiful Italian WACS nurse. Her
boyfriend was a pilot who dropped a bouquet of flowers at
the back door to the hospital and that's when Dad said he
knew - infantrymen really didn't have a chance against such
a precision air force.

" ... an officer never went out on a date with an enlisted man
- she could get broke and lose her rank. So after a few days
of flirting I convinced her to meet me 100 yards outside the
gate so we could go to town !

Now we're downtown and 3 blocks away I see a 1 star and
2 star general as they round the corner, walking straight at
us. Only an old soldier or a West Pointer would recognize
the DSC and most had NEVER seen the French Cross of
War ( Croix De Guerre ) and I was wearing all my medals
including 5 bronze stars.

Six paces was saluting distance and I saw them but Francis
didn't.

I thought uh oh... we're in big trouble. Here I was an enlisted
man with a female WACS officer !

I gulped -- then Francis gulped as they were now just 30 feet
away !

She turned pale white and tensed up.

We kept walking and I could see the 2 generals staring at
my medals.

They must have been West Pointers cause before I could
salute them --

they snapped a salute and looked right at me !!!!

I saluted them back and so did Francis and we just kept
walking.

( Laughter and Coughing )

I sat down on the curb to tie my shoe -- I felt I NEEDED A
REST after that !

and she said ' Hey they saluted US !!! '

I said Oh Yeah -- I told you, you wouldn't have any trouble
going to town with me !!!

( Laughter)

To order the entire 5.5 hours of casette audio tapes send

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May the spirit of the 30th Infantry Division never die