WW II 3rd division 15th regiment Infantry Officer "I REMEMBER"

Description: I COMBINE SHIPPING $1.50 per book. FREE SHIPPING for orders over $60. Send books to your check-out cart. E-Bay will automatically adjust shipping costs. PACKAGING & SHIPPING RULES: 1. Individual books Under $18.00 are shipped in padded poly envelopes. 2. Individual books Over $18.00 are shipped in a poly envelope inside a box. 3. Buy Three or more books and the order is shipped in a box.ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS LISTING:From the internet: "Only one time in the history of the United States Army have steel sleds been used to carry infantrymen into battle. I rode on one of those sleds," writes Livermore WWII veteran John Shirley. After ten months of stateside army experience, Shirley was assigned to I Company, 15th Infantry Regiment of the Third Infantry Division, which was then fighting at the Anzio-Nettuno Beachhead on Italy's central west coast. "I was 19 years old," he continues. "I welcomed the adventure and excitement, but I didn't want to die." Surviving Anzio-Nettuno wouldn't be easy, especially in a sled. "The German army had three and a half months to establish their defensive positions around the beachhead," Shirley says. "German artillery and mortars were zeroed in on the fields we would have to cross. It would be a formidable task to attack and overrun their positions. The day we would try it would be my first day in combat." Battle sleds, an invention of Brig. General John O'Daniel, were torpedo tubes sawed in half lengthwise with runners placed on the bottom. They were just deep enough to carry one prostrate, nervous soldier. Sleds linked together like enormous sausages would be pulled in a tank's tracks, one chain of six sleds on each side. The idea was to enable an infantry squad to accompany a tank into battle without being exposed to small arms fire. Sled Team duty was dangerous, leaving men unprotected from above and vulnerable when tanks hit mines. In his book, "I Remember: Stories of a Combat Infantryman in Italy, France & Germany in World War II," Shirley writes that the day his division broke out of the Anzio-Nettuno Beachhead, May 23, 1944, was one of the worst single days of fighting any US Army division endured. We lay on our stomachs, heads down, in our sleds. We couldn't see a thing, and with German artillery shells landing nearby, there wasn't much inclination to look," he remembers, adding that within minutes the tanks had stopped, leaving the men in a field of grain with machine gun fire all around. "As I crawled about 100 feet, my body hugging the ground, I came upon a sight that was a great surprise - the edge of a wide and deep anti-tank ditch. Looking over, I saw what was left of the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry, all crowded together along the bottom. These were the survivors of the first hour and a half of battle, from my own I Company, and what was left of L and K Companies." During the ensuing battle, Shirley saw his Platoon Sergeant trip a booby-trapped land mine ("He was blown into the air eight feet, and came down like a limp rag doll"). Shirley shot a German rifleman firing towards the anti-tank ditch. "I just killed my first enemy soldier," he says. "I had been through my Baptism of Fire. Why I was spared to live where so many had died is part of the continuing mystery of life. I was lucky, I was grateful, and I was glad the first attack of the Battle Sled Team was also the last." Shirley's straightforward, unadorned prose makes "I Remember" both starkly compelling and impossible to put down. He takes readers by the hand and brings them into battle, from the beachhead to Rome to the Vosges Mountains. "I only included ten war stories because they all had a beginning , middle, and ending I could remember," says Shirley. "I cannot remember certain battles some of my comrades remember well. Combat battle is a unique experience. No two people see a battle the same way. No one else could have written these stories." After one battle, Shirley was eating a loaf of dark bread and can of lima beans with ham left by retreating soldiers when he saw a German face down in the dirt with a horrendous head wound. "Part of his skull bone was gone and a portion of his brain was exposed," he writes. "Suddenly, the soldier tried to raise up a little on one elbow. Half of his face was gone. It didn't seem possible that he was alive. He uttered a faint sound and collapsed. I had killed my share of enemy soldiers, but I had never killed a prisoner or a wounded man. If ever a mercy killing was justified, I was sure this was one, but I hesitated; it seemed wrong, yet it seemed merciful and I ended the poor man's life."To be put in such a position, let alone at the age of 20, is unimaginable. Yet it is the combination of Shirley's fortitude and compassion that led to continued success following his service.After earning a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with a V device for valor, and a Purple Heart for his service,Shirley was discharged from the army. He attended the University of California, Davis and became a veterinarian, practicing in Livermore from 1954 to 1987. In 1951, he married Helen Freeman, with whom he has five children. He served on the Livermore City Council from 1958 to 1966, two of those years as mayor, and has a long record of volunteer service including decades with the Livermore Rotary Club.

Price: 19 USD

Location: Livonia, Michigan

End Time: 2025-01-01T22:17:11.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.65 USD