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Bill Douglas writes:
My father, William E. Douglas, Sr., had an amazing life. Born the son of
migrant farm workers during the depression, picking fruit in California
(just like in the Grapes of Wrath). Before getting called up for duty in
WWII, where he fought in Patton's Army, and was in, not one, but THREE
beach landings (like the first horrific 7 minutes of Saving Private
Ryan).
His 45th Infantry Division were National Guard, not
regular trained Army. So when the US Army awaited a massive attack from
Rommel's Panzer Dvisions, General Patton placed the 4 Regular Army
Divisions, 2 on each side, with my Dad's National Guard 45th Division in
the middle ... Patton was thinking the Regular Army Divisions would
offer protection to the less trained National Guard 45th. Rommel got
intelligence of what Patton's plan was, and on the day of the attack
Rommel sent everything he had ... right up the middle, right at the
45th.
My father had nightmares for the rest of his life about
that attack. But, he and the 45th, at least some of the 45th, survived,
and General Patton officially cited the 45th for their incredible
survival in the face of what anyone would have thought would have been
doom.
He served first, before all the above happened, in North
Africa (a camel bit him), oh yeah, and he was also shot, and then
suffered from Malaria. Then, he landed in Italy, France, and invaded
Germany.
Dad's final act in the war, was when his 45th Infantry
Division was ordered the night before to take over a German Army post
called Dachau. All they knew was that it was a German Army post, and
they were to take it.
When the entered the camp, the first thing
they saw were the trains full of bodies. Battle hardened men, who'd been
through months, or in the case of my father years ... the steeled and
jaded men ... fell to their knees and wept like children.
The
45th Infantry is known as "the first US Army Division to enter the
Dachau death camp. That too haunted my father for the rest of his life.
In honor of my father, I have spent most of my adult life as an advocate
of peace, and at times as an anti-war activist, and have been arrested,
served in refugee camps overseas, had M-16s pointed at me, etc. etc.
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