Here's another long read but hope you find it informative.

Note:- Gen. J.C.H.Lee was known to us Combat GIs as J***S C****T Himself!! Not affectionately!!

Gen. J.C.H.Lee was in charge of the supplies for all of the ETO and he had a tremendous staff. He was ordered by Gen. Eisenhower NOT to move to Paris but to a location in the suburbs around Paris. However,he ignored Gen. Eisenhower and moved all of his people(the total 10,000 sticks in my mind-wrong see correct number below) into Paris and immediately set up shop. The first order of business was to requisition ALL of the hotels and in some cases apartment buildings for his people which was exactly what the Krauts had done and this made the Parisians more than a little PO'd. Again a NO NO to Ike!!!!!

This type of requisitioning meant that his people had the choice quarters-heated and safe from the elements. Their quarters in many cases had running HOT water and even Maid service. Since they had the control of the supplies coming in they had many items before the Front Line Troops even knew they were available such as combat boots,sleeping bags etc. They also had access to their pick of the cigarettes,candy,soaps,rations etc. which many of them used to please their "girl friends" and believe it or not they had access to the Jerry cans of gasoline which was sold to the civilian population for big bucks.

There was one unit (and even the Col. who was the CO was involved) the 716th RR BN. that went so far as to sell railroad cars of supplies to the blackmarketeers. Ultimately they were caught and went to prison but that is another story. The CID Div of the MPs requested help from an Intel Group due to the magnitude of the operation-that's how I know. It was a huge operation believe me!!

The thing that frosted us was that before the rules were changed if a man got to Paris on leave he in many cases would be assigned a COT in a school gym for quarters,using a community shower if there was one and eat in a mess hall type of place. Remember the Rear Echelon Commandos could be eating in a dining room with all the fancies that went with it.

You have no idea of how the REC's lived while we were freezing our butts off, had only rations to eat and many were not hot food. We had no hot water to wash or shave but that should give you the big picture of the difference. These guys were better off than many of the men that were Stateside.

Paris was taken in August but we didn't get any extra blankets and never saw a sleeping bag until long after they had them and they also had the shoepacs to keep their feet dry before we got them even though they weren't much better than our boots. Sorry to run on but even today this gets me POd big time

Question Posed to me "Err- Top!!:-

I kinda remember reading on this story a long time, but I am not sure. Was that general, JCH Lee, relieved for defying Gen. Ike?"

My Answer:-

Both General Omar Bradley and J. C. H. Lee, Communications Zone (ComZ) Europe, ordered the release of prisoners within a week of the war's end. This SHAEF order was countermanded by Eisenhower on May 15, 1945.

This I know to be true but whether or not Gen Lee still had Supply I can't say positively but he was still on the SHAEF Staff. I had no access directly to SHAEF

NOTE:-

I have to correct my figure of 10,000 as above to what follows:- "They stated the obvious at the height of the supply crisis, Lee had spent his precious time organizing the move, then used up precious gasoline, all so that he and his entourage could enjoy the hotels of Paris". It got worse. With 29,000 SOS troops in Paris.

It was a good thing that the men "on the line" didn't know that these many men were in the rear while men from the front were RTU(return to unit)ASAP after being wounded or that units that were not up to full complement had to draw troops from the Repple Depples(Replacement Depots) fresh from the States in some instances and in the ETO only weeks!!!

By March 1945, there were 160,000 SOS troops in the Department of the Seine. Many had never heard a shot fired or were ever in the Field!! The irony was that because they had been in the ETO longer than some of the COMBAT TROOPS they had amassed more of the required Points for discharge and were able to go home before some of us did.

We had another name for them but I'll not use it here.

Sgtleo

This is a story I have tried for years to forget without any success - UGH!!

This one is not pretty to relate even today:-

Outside the town of Rennes,Normandy there was a school that we used one night because it was open ground all around so we felt it would be a good spot to bed down for the night with only a few awake on a rotating schedule.

Next morning as we were leaving three little girls came up from somewhere and asked if they could get the music box that was on the teacher's desk. One of our guys had been admiring it all the night before but since everybody was exhausted they told him to leave it alone. Thank God he did!!!

We let them get it and they skipped off down the road towards the town and just about got out of sight down the road when there was one H**L of an explosion. One of the first guys to reach them was a Medic and he signaled us to slow down because it was too late for the kids(all three).

Some one of the Krauts had apparently booby-trapped the music box so that when it was wound up it would get the one that wound it up.

Fortunate for us but fatal for the three little girls.

Why things like this happened could never be explained to me!!

Sgtleo

In early November 1944 we got word that a man in our Co. was the remaining survivor and was to be returned to the USA ASAP.

Our BN CO. was a ring-knocker and he said that he had friends in Paris that could expedite this man"s return to the US. He wrote a letter and gave it to an Intel Lt. and said that I could use some R&R so I would be the driver of the jeep.

Upon arrival in Paris,we met what we called a "Snow Ball" MP complete with Class A ODs and some cut down white leggings,white gloves,lanyard and of course the helmet liner with a big MP on the front. He even had a white holster for his .45 on his white "Sam Brown Belt". Passing him he glared and blew his shiny brass whistle and approached with a real look of scorn on his face.

"Trip Ticket soldier" he barked(we didn't wear chevrons) and when I told he we didn't have one he told us to pull over to the side of the street as he was going to "write us up and possibly arrest us".

The Lt. asked him why and he said besides no papers,our dirty jeep had to be washed before entering Paris proper and we were not wearing Class "A's". We were a disgrace to the Army dressed as we were. Muddy boots,dirty ODs,we were also unshaven etc.

The Lt. told him off with some very colorful language and then handed him his Intel ID all the while he was pulling his carbine from the boot he had had attached to his side of the jeep. This LT. I had felt might be a candidate for a Section #8 review and when he stuck the muzzle of the carbine under the MP's chin I knew he was. Again he chewed the MP long wide and deep and said if he didn't back off he was going to squeeze off a round.

I have have no idea how far that MP ran but we then went on our merry way to get the man back to Michigan and I wanted and did get back to our unit without any further incident(s).

Sgtleo

The second paragraph I wrote to a present day soldier that thought his efforts has been for nothing so I wanted to set him straight.

I was lucky enough to be the 1st. Sgt. of a great company during WW II and to serve under the famous(some would say infamous Gen. Patton) and I was lucky enough to survive the war and get back Stateside relatively safe and sane because I knew my job and I did my job. I'll leave it there.

Quote "I have the utmost respect for men like yourself who wore a uniform whenever and did their job as they were required whatever the time frame was. You did not reach an E-7 rank by sitting on your butt goofing off. I mentioned Gen. Patton above because I have excerpted a portion of the speech he made to the troops before D-Day. I would ask respectfully that you read it and NEVER lessen the importance of your service. If I'm preachy "Tops" tend to do that(LOL)". End Quote

Please excuse his language but that was exactly how he spoke.

Here's the excerpted quote from Gen. pattons famous speech to the troops:-

"Patton stopped and the crowd waited. He continued more quietly, "All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. What if every truck driver suddenly decided that he didn't like the whine of those shells overhead, turned yellow, and jumped headlong into a ditch? The cowardly bastard could say, "Hell, they won't miss me, just one man in thousands". But, what if every man thought that way? Where in the hell would we be now? What would our country, our loved ones, our homes, even the world, be like? No, Goddamnit, Americans don't think like that. Every man does his job. Every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important in the vast scheme of this war. The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns and machinery of war to keep us rolling. The Quartermaster is needed to bring up food and clothes because where we are going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man on K.P. has a job to do, even the one who heats our water to keep us from getting the 'G.I. Shits'."

Patton paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the Goddamned cowards and we will have a nation of brave men. One of the bravest men that I ever saw was a fellow on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of a furious fire fight in Tunisia. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at a time like that. He answered, "Fixing the wire, Sir". I asked, "Isn't that a little unhealthy right about now?" He answered, "Yes Sir, but the Goddamned wire has to be fixed". I asked, "Don't those planes strafing the road bother you?" And he answered, "No, Sir, but you sure as hell do!" Now, there was a real man. A real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time, no matter how great the odds. And you should have seen those trucks on the rode to Tunisia. Those drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-*****ing roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting all around them all of the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of those men drove for over forty consecutive hours. These men weren't combat men, but they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it, and in one hell of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without team effort, without them, the fight would have been lost. All of the links in the chain pulled together and the chain became unbreakable".

Sgtleo

Hope you all have a liberal sense of humor I'm in trouble!!!

(Note this is not really a true WW II incident but..................)

Fifty-one years ago, Herman James, a North Carolina mountain man, was drafted by the Army.

On his first day in basic training, the Army issued him a comb. That afternoon the Army barber sheared off all his hair.

On his second day, the Army issued Herman a toothbrush. That afternoon the Army dentist yanked seven of his teeth.

On the third day, the Army issued him a jock strap. The Army has been looking for Herman for 51 years.

Sgtleo