“Killing a man with a bayonet is a horrifying experience. One young German officer came at me full tilt. He fired at me with a pistol and screamed as my bayonet, sharp as a razor, slashed across his throat.
All around was screaming, swearing, and puffing and crunch of body against body. We were all tangled together killing and dying. After endless minutes of this, the Germans threw their hands up and we had our hill.
I went back to the Officer I had slashed. He was still alive and motioned to me to help him. I stepped over him with my rifle ready. His pistol was out of his reach and as I neared him he quickly reached up with a knife and almost stabbed me in the lower groin.
I drive my bayonet clear through his throat pinning him to the ground and kept it there till his eyes glazed over. Here was a man I had just butchered. I began to retch, and only coffee and a part of a K ration came up. That was my transition to the unreal world of animal behavior.”
– Richard F. Proulx. US Army. World War Two.
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As we always say here at Battles and Beers (TM) Every soldier has a story, and every story deserves to be told.
