Recognizing the military service of men and women from Arenzville, Illinois.
Recognizing the military service of men and women from Arenzville, Illinois. |
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Jack Burrus | ||
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Continued, page 2 of 2 East Meets West In Leipzig, while some units of the 69th Division were fighting a fierce tank battle inside the city's rail station, Jack's unit was held back and ordered to stop where they were -- which happened to be right in front of a luxury hotel. "We took it over in a hurry. I swear that the carpets were two inches deep. The beds were great -- it was the first time we had been in one for weeks -- we had also caught up with running water and electricity. The first thing you do when you take over a place like this is to look for the 'goodies.' Somebody found them, too. A whole basement full of stolen French champagne. "The champagne cache story had an unfortunate ending to it though. When we pulled out the next morning there were bottles of champagne everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't leave some our machine gun and mortar ammo behind in order to squeeze in a few more bottles in the jeeps and trailers. Everything went along fine for a day or two. Then some GI -- I think he was in our anti-tank company -- imbibed too much of it and shot his 1st Sergeant. The order came down immediately from the Regimental commander, 'there will be no more alcohol in any vehicle or on any person from this day forward. Period!' I can still see one of our Lieutenants emptying a small bottle of Black & White scotch whiskey that he had carried all the way from England for the sole purpose of celebrating VE Day -- I'm sure that he had tears running down his cheeks!" North of Leipzig, one of the patrols of the 69th Infantry went past its assigned route and ended up at Torgau on the River Elbe. On April 25, 1945, elements of the 273rd Infantry Regiment met soldiers from the Russians' 58th Guard Division at Torgau. The long-awaited link up between the western and eastern fronts occurred, and the troops knew that the war's end could not be far off.
Once the US Army got word about the link-up, official ceremonies to acknowledge the historic meeting were quickly arranged, and several high-ranking generals rolled into town for photographs. "Security was tight when the Generals came to town," wrote Jack in his post-war notes. "I remember the day that General Hodges, commander of the 1st Army, and Genl. Bradley, commander of the 12th Army Group, came to Torgau. We had riflemen lined up on both sides of the road about 6 feet apart for miles. Don't know if I had to or not but I got in on the lineup just out of curiosity as I'd never seen a 4-star general before. I'm not sure if we were there to protect them from the Germans or from the drunken Russians." Jack wrote a descriptive letter home to his parents about the celebrations that followed:
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Copyright 2005, Molly Daniel. This page last updated
11/16/2017. |
