April 10, 2001
The Great Adventure of a World War Two Rifleman

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

At the annual American University Women book sale in our area last year, I purchased a first edition of a collection of World War II reports by Ernie Pyle, the famous “GI’s war correspondent” who was killed in combat on Okinawa.

The Pyle book is largely devoted to the grinding foot-soldier’s campaign in Italy, with detailed accounts of the kind of life the infantryman led in a combat zone at Monte Casino. Pyle offers a lively third-person account of the constant fear, discomfort, uncertainty and confusion that characterize a combat soldier’s existence.

World War II has been dubbed ironically as “everybody’s favorite war.” Certainly there have been a lot of books and movies about that war and the kind of people who waged it. Perhaps in an effort to instruct newer generations for whom that war and the people who fought it are as remote as the historic conflicts of the ancient Greeks and Romans, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw recently wrote The Greatest Generation.

First-Person Account
Now comes an unusual new book that offers an extremely personal first-person account of what the last seven months of World War II were really like for an infantry replacement.

The Letters of a Combat Rifleman, written by Charles Davis, is a paperback published in 2001 by Dorrance Publishing Co., Pittsburgh, PA. In 249 pages, Davis traces his career as an infantry replacement in the 104th Oregon “Timberwolf” Division, beginning in Belgium in November 1944 and ending a few weeks after the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. The action is spread across Belgium, Holland, France and Germany, ending after the final link-up with Russian troops at the Mulde River. The infantry advances across western Europe mostly on foot, step by dangerous step, but sometimes on trucks and occasionally—when the final push is on—hanging on tanks.

Before I review the book itself, I should say a few words about Davis. The author is now well into his 80s, and lives in Pennsylvania, not far from where he was born. He was drafted late in the war, close to 30 years of age—older than most of the infantrymen of that time. A hunter and target shooter before he entered service, he established the Twin S Gun Club in Lehigh County, PA, after the war and served as its chief instructor for 30 years as well as club president.

Davis has been a newspaper reporter, a farmer, a justice of the peace, a machinist, a gunsmith and a teacher as well as a combat infantryman. He was pro-gun before he entered the service and has remained steadfastly so ever since. In many respects, he is the model of the American citizen soldier who understands and cherishes all the rights and freedoms that he fought to preserve.

Considering the many combat actions Davis participated in, perhaps he is right in crediting his “guardian angel” for bringing him through the war unscathed. The same cannot be said for many of his buddies in Love Company of the Timberwolf Division—including many experienced combat NCOs and officers.

The title, The Letters of a Combat Rifleman, is derived from one of his main resources—the censored letters he wrote home to his wife, Jean, which she saved. Davis’ other main resource, besides his memory, is the official history of the Timberwolf Division, a history that is apparently frequently at odds with actual events Davis and his company experienced.

His account of his war experiences is laced with occasional criticism of the kind of training he and other infantry replacements received both in the US and in Europe. He is also critical of the Army caste system.

Narrow Escape
At one point in his story, Davis asked to be allowed to transfer from company HQ to one of the platoons because of his dislike for a lieutenant who has been made company commander after the captain was severely wounded. The transfer is allowed and Davis is not manning the .50-caliber machinegun on the company CO’s jeep when it heads in the wrong direction and everyone aboard—including a long-time Davis combat buddy—is killed by enemy fire.

Davis also recounts many occasions when friendly fire is the main cause for casualties. Fairly early in the book, he is an eyewitness on Christmas Day 1944 to the shooting down of Maj. George E. Preddy Jr., the leading fighter ace in the European theater, by US ground troops. Preddy in his P-51 had already shot down two German fighters over Belgium that day and was chasing a third near the ground on the frontline when he was killed by friendly fire. Davis claims to have been close enough that bullets fired at the German plane, which was also destroyed, were striking the snow near him.

In a latter account, Davis tells how almost a whole platoon was killed or wounded by friendly fire as they fought to encircle the main force of Germans in the Ruhr Valley. And how many were lost in an overcrowded boat during a practice night river crossing.

Springfield ’03
The Letters of a Combat Rifleman is filled with fascinating detail, including why Davis managed to be armed with a scoped Springfield ’03 most of the time instead of a Garand, and how he became the only sniper in his company. Of course, he often is also carrying a German carbine, a Thompson or a machine pistol in different situations.

The book is exciting, whether Love Company is at the Battle of the Bulge, trying to cross a river or open ground, or frequently in fighting house-to-house.

The detail is enlightening and may not surprise veterans of military service. It includes comments on rations, long intervals between baths and/or showers, and the constant struggle to keep warm or find a dry place to sleep while on the move.

Quotes from the letters he wrote his wife also provide important insights as well as frequent tenderness. If the book has a flaw, it is that the proofreading is sometimes jarring. But that is unlikely to cause anyone to put it down.

This is a first-person account of a combat infantryman’s lot in World War II that ranks with some of the best such. Readers will not be surprised to learn of Davis’ pride in learning early on that he has won the Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

And veterans who read the book will not be surprised that most of the time during combat, Davis and his company don’t really know where they are or where they are going at any given moment. Maybe no one else did either, if one can judge from this brief quote from a chapter about the Battle of the Bulge:

“The torture started when we had to get up at 4 a.m. in order to leave the lines and walk back and get aboard the trucks for the long, cold trip to Belgium. In typical US Army fashion the convoy drove right through Vervies without knowing that they had passed the city they were looking for. The trip took eight hours. Just try riding for eight hours in an open truck in December without anything to eat….”

Early in the book, Davis notes that “war is a great adventure for a rifleman—if you survive.” The Letters of a Combat Rifleman recounts that great adventure very well.

You can order the book from Jean Davis, 9140 Janes Lane, Dept. GWK, E. Greenvillle, PA 18041 for $18 plus $3 postage & handling. You’ll be glad you did.