The crucible of war

Still inspired by Ken Burns' "The War," we've done more sleuthing about Uncle Ed's World War II experiences. It's become clear that he was there for almost every major operation in Europe, the likes of which we middle-aged cousins have, thankfully, never seen. The old book pictured above is a rough soldiers' account of the history of Ed's 329th Infantry Regiment. The photo glued to the front of it was taken after the war; the photo posted below before the war. In the book we found tucked this letter written by Ed's old fishing buddy Don Mueller of Dressen, Wis. It read:

March 30, 2002

Dear friends and family of Ed Sprick,

As we all know, Ed never said much about his experiences during World War II. The only two comments I can remember were, "I got to see Paris from the back of an ambulance" and some talk about walking across Europe.

One time we were deer hunting south of Lake City and several of us met up in the woods. Ed had a habit of placing his shotgun butt on the ground and putting his hand over the muzzle while he stood and talked. A stranger came up and commented about this unsafe act. Ed's comment about carrying his rifle across Europe ended that debate.

When questioned about the war, Ed would tell his family that it was "in the book." Finally, after all these years, I borrowed the book from Elmer. I would like to make some comments in it.

Ed was an Army staff sergeant in World War II. I was an Army staff sergeant in Vietnam. The 12th Infantry of the Fourth Division relieved Ed's unit a couple of times in Europe. I was assigned to the 12th Infantry in Vietnam. How I wish Ed and I had known that when he was alive.

In Ed's photo album there is a small photo [above, on the book cover] of Ed in a plain uniform, wearing no stripes or ribbons except for a long rectangular rifle with a blue background. That is the Army Combat Infantryman's Badge (CIB).

For those who have been in combat, that picture is worth a thousand words. The CIB is awarded to soldiers who have been infantrymen in a combat zone for at least six months. Truck drivers, cooks, clerks, etc. cannot receive the CIB. In Vietnam, I was assigned to an artillery unit of the 12th Infantry. No artilleryman could receive the CIB. We tried hard to find a way to earn it. Our jobs might have been dangerous, but they were not infantry.

Several years ago, I wrote to the then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and asked him how he could wear the CIB. He was an Army general who had always been in the artillery. He wrote back and said Congress had passed a special bill authorizing advisers in Vietnam to receive the CIB. Yeah -- right. But that four-star general knew the real significance of the CIB.

Many times I have seen civilians in church or at events where a suit and tie were worn. On their lapel would be a miniature CIB. Nothing else had to be said.

On the back of the photo, Ed had written: "July 28, 1945, Swezel, Germany. To Elmer from the Sarge." Ed knew the significance of the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and it shows in that picture.

Don Mueller

We think we see a subtle difference between Ed's expression on the photo of him with the Combat Infantryman's Badge on the book, taken after he was fought across Europe and was wounded (click on it to make it bigger), and the one below it, taken on Sept. 8, 1942, before he shipped out. The war surely was the defining experience of his life. (And we thought it was his taking us all fishing!)

Uncle Joe thinks that Ed would have enjoyed the scrapblog history entries, but liked the fishing photos even more. In honor of his wonderful postwar self, we're posting again one of our fav Ed photos, Ed in a tree, below.