Posted by Allan Wilford Howerton Joe was injured during our first few days on the Siegfried Line when a jeep carrying the company commander and two platoon leaders plus Joe hit a mine while on a reconnaissance mission. For Joe it turned out to be a million dollar wound as he missed the upcoming Battle of the Bulge, the hard slog through the Siegfried Line, and the long trek to the Elbe River. I later followed Joe as communications sergeant with one other man in between who was wounded by a falling tree in the Bulge. Somehow, I survived it all and lived long enough to write the memoir, "Dear Captain, et al.: the Agonies and the Ecstasies of War and Memory," fifty years later. That book, which I know Dr. Smith has read (thanks for purchasing copies of it), tells the story of the jeep incident and how it changed the company when Leonard R. Carpenter, for whom the story is named, became company commander. Life is unpredictable, especially in war. Had it not been for the jeep accident, Joe may never have met the French girl, particularly that French girl, and Dr. Smith would have a different mother. And I might not have survived as a rifleman to write the memoir. Or, perchance, I might have had a million dollar wound, married a French girl, and written a quite different story. What will be will be. Link: Sequel to Dear Captain, et al.
on March 25, 2006, 4:56 pm, in reply to "Sgt Joe A. Smith, Co K, 335 INF"
205.188.117.13
I remember Joe A. Smith very well. He joined K-335 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana with the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) group and, save for one other man, was unique for having any rank at the time beyond Private or Pfc. Consequently he became company communications sergeant. Joe was rather happy-go-lucky and nearly always had a smile on his face. He also had an apropos collection of four-letter words at his disposal which proved to be quite useful in Company K given the training setting in the Louisiana woods.
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