Page 99 - Lubbock Senior Link Magazine Fall 2019- Online Magazine

world war ii
Thankfully, the
Germans couldn’t
see us because of the
snow, so we inched
across the road,
crawled behind a
hedge and then ran
to nearby Neiffern.*
Near the end of our
long march, after
we took Landsberg
(in Bavaria), we
discovered a
concentration camp.
It was horrible. There
were bodies lying everywhere. But by then,
the fighting had lessened because of the heavy
air attacks, and the Allies had gotten the upper
hand.
I saw Gen. Anthony “Nuts” McAuliffe once.
He had been promoted to commander of the
103 after his famous response to the Germans
rd
demanding his surrender at Bastogne, Belgium.
The German commander didn’t know what to
make of his answer, “Nuts!”, but Gen. McAuliffe
successfully held off the Germans, and the
nickname stuck.
Finally, after 179 days of brutally cold weather
and dangerous missions, we heard that Hitler
was dead, and Germany had been defeated. We
joined the jubilation: “Hooray! The war is over!
Thank God, we are alive!”
World War II in Europe had ended. God had
graciously spared my life, but I lacked the
three points needed to qualify to stay with the
occupation troops, so I was sent home on a 30-
day furlough on July 15 and told we would be
sent after that to the Pacific front. I couldn’t bear
to tell my family. However, while at home, the
news was broadcast that two atomic bombs had
been dropped on Japan. Suddenly, wonderfully,
fantastically - the war was over! My family was
army
delighted I would not be
sent back into combat.
Dread and fear were replaced with joy and
unspeakable happiness! I was so thankful I had
survived.
After being discharged in November 1944,
I returned home and eventually enrolled in
Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas. As I left
for school, Dad said, “Take Greek!” That advice
changed my life. I graduated from Harding
in 1949 and received my master’s at Eastern
New Mexico University in 1950. I still had
G.I. benefits, so I went on to Texas Tech and
enrolled in the PhD program in History. I met
Mildred Smith, and we married December 25,
1951. Eventually, we had four children: Brian,
Pam (dec.), Nan and Jan (dec.) Today, we are
blessed with 11 grandchildren and 14 great
grandchildren.
As I was finishing my coursework at Tech, I was
invited to teach and serve as the Bible chair at
Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. I
accepted their invitation and served there until
1985. We moved to Rochester College (now
Michigan College) where I taught until 2001.
Mildred also taught school there for 15 years
before retiring in 2000. We moved to Lubbock
to be close to Mildred’s mother in Morton, and I
have continued to teach wherever I can.
Lubbock Senior Link 99