Some Oddities of War As Related By Frank Miles
By Frank Miles
With the Fifth Army in Italy (INS)
An Iowa soldier, who was killed in France in September of 1918, was the father of a son born the following January.
The son was killed in North Italy recently, leaving an expectant widow.
The widow of the World War I soldier married his closest comrade in service. He is now in the Pacific.
Two American infantrymen were wounded by fragments from an enemy shell while on reconnaissance in the Apennine mountains. While they were administering first aid to themselves, one fainted. The other carried his buddy more than a mile through deep snow to an aid station.
"He's awful hard hit and a swell guy do your damnedest on him, Doc" the carrier said to the medical officer.
Two minutes later he swayed and toppled over. He was dead.
The doughboy brought in for treatment has an excellent chance to recover fully.
Staff Sgt. Selmer J. Weland, Eagle Grove, and a comrade did field dentists of the 363rd infantry and their patients a favor by making tow lamp stands, which hold electric lamps so they shine directly into the mouths of men having teeth treated.
Sgt. Weland and his buddy regularly make automotive parts, which are often difficult to obtain and frequently turn in odd jobs, which require ingenuity and skill. If someone needs an odd size bolt to repair a vehicle or gun, he tells them and they usually come through. They have shown remarkable ability at fashioning intrisave gears, clamps and bars needed to speed the return of equipment to the front.
Pvt. Kenneth E. Briles, Webster City, a 91st division combat engineer, wasn't a tailor in civilian life but now he's making white camouflage suits for comrades who must go on patrol in the snow-covered mountains. Briles doesn't always provide a perfect fit but fighting the nazis here is no peacetime, holiday dress parade.
Source: Mount Pleasant News, March 15, 1945
