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My Dad participated in the 1941 US Army GHQ Maneuvars in Carolina as part
of VI Corps, 26th Infantry Division, 181st Infantry Regiment under Major General Karl Truesdell. VI corps was the Blue Army battling IV Corp (the red Army).
I thought some of you might be interested in this excerpt from US Army's 50th Anniversary
Commemorative Edition of the book about the Maneuvars. It's pretty funny and concerns the
VI Corps engineers and the Maneuvars Umpires.
"Umpires also supervised the construction of obstacles and the execution of demolitions.
Since General Headquarters considered it impractical to actually block roads and blow up bridges, engineer units were required instead to simulate such operations in detail. In the
case of roadblocks, real obstacles were to be constructed at roadside. To demolish a bridge,
GHQ required the engineers to assemble the necessary materials and to place similar charges on the span. Bridge replacements involved the actual construction of a new bridge beside the
theoretically destroyed one. The umpire who watched over demolitions was required to leave with a sentry a signed declaration stating that the bridge had been properly destroyed so that umpires with other units encountering the obstacle could then prescribe appropriate repair measures. Col Dwight David Eisenhower related the following tale involving such circumstances:
An umpire decided that a bridge had been destroyed by an enemy attack and flagged it accordingly. From then on, it was not to be used by men or vehicles. Shortly, a corporal brought his squad up to the bridge, looked at the flag, and hesitated for a moment; then resolutely marched his men across it. The Umpire yelled at him:
"Hey, don't you see that the bridge is destoyed?"
The corporal answered: "Of course I see it's destroyed! Can't you see we're swimming?"
Don't you all think that's a great example of why we won the war??? Ingenuity!
BTW - today would've been my Dad's 95th birthday, so would you all give a salute
and a tip of your hat to him today? T4 SGT Francis Howard - a good son, brother,
husband, and father who served his country well and with honor.
Mary Ann (his proud & grateful daughter)
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