This continues my excerpts from the World War II diary of my uncle, Frank M. Arnold II, an Army chaplain, pictured here about a decade after the war with son Frankie, daughter Jean and wife Florence, right. The first installment told of his time in the United States, Scotland and England in 1943 and ’44.
Where you see ellipses, they were part of his entries. I am not sure whether they signify breaks between multiple entries in a single day or whether he just used them a lot or whether he was not typing everything from his handwritten diaries (I doubt this). I will not use all the entries, but will publish entries that I use in full. I will not try to explain abbreviations unless I am pretty sure of them. My commentary will be in italics, but mostly this will be his actual entries, which speak well for themselves. Uncle Frank occasionally commented in French or German. I provide translation in italics using Google. We pick up the story in July 1944 as he prepares to cross the English Channel:
7/9 0415 wakened, loaded aboard LCT 614. Rain, wind, cold, wet. Pulled out at 1400. 1430 turned back — too rough. Left again 2230.
7/10 Rough and stormy all day.
7/11 Lying off St. Marie du Mer about 25 mi. from Cherbourg. Listening to big guns. Waiting for tide. Countless cargo and warships in bay. 1800 hrs landed and went to transit area “B.” Passed indescribable hell. Dug in. Quite a bit of noise during the night.
7/12 Moved to Port Baille, c. 7 mi. behind front. Can hear artillery constantly. Bivouaced in Normandy Apple orchard — no blossoms. Hiked to closest town where friendly natives produced cider and tried to teach us the language. Kids were friendly — as usual. Women doing family washing in primitive public troughs. Kids begging “shoo gum” and “bon bon.” Except for vegetables the country has obviously been bled white. Ragged clothing, makeshift shoes, etc… Fields still full of mines.
7/15 Made rounds to schedule services for tomorrow. Most of the French seem stunned and dazed. We have a lot of trigger happy Joes who are shooting everything in sight.
7/16 Five outdoor services: 1) under a camoflage net, with a tank for altar and pulpit; 2) at a machine gun outpost emplacement; 3) Under a 76 mm cannon of a TD; 4) in one of Normandy’s innumerable Apple orchards; 5) Ditto. Happy day! 14 letters and 5 other pieces of mail.
7/18 Being shelled this morning by German time fire. Good old slit trench! Moved to For’d Collecting Point, just behind the doughboys. Ministered to my first casualty — shrapnel wounds in back. Ministered to a number of casualties. Small arms fire on three sides of us. What a night! Up all night. Sorta’ rought for our boys. But they are the greatest men in the world.
7/19 More aerial activity. Shot down ME 109 pilot who bailed out a few hundred yds from us. Very Super Man attitude. The Nazis are plenty good with their mortars, and use them heavily. We are attacking a very heavily fortified line — concrete dugouts, etc. Two hills in partic. are giving us trouble. We got shelled pretty heavily again last night. Goering SS Troops (Grenadiers) are opposing us.
7/20 What a day of living hell! Up all night. 1800-0600 145 casualties.
7/21 To bed at 0700. Woke at 1400. They say Joe Bowman relieved me. I don’t remember. 2200 — nicely bracketted by shell fire. If they are trying to miss us they are doing well.
7/22 Quiet. Our boys took Raids. Scheduled services for 8th, 35th and 37th.
7/23 First thing — Sgt. Albright and Cpl. Bruss killed by 88s. Frank Allen hit in both legs. Mahoney hid under a half-track filled with TNT and Dynamite!!! Shortly several hundred P47s dive-bombed something. Funny the way the normal functions of life go on at the front. You dive desperately into a slit trench, then you get out and continue with your laundry. How many times today have I dived? Our artillery pounded them all night.
7/27 0900 they took another tremendous art’y barrage. They must really be dug in. The seem to be surrounded. We are dropping leaflets urging them to surrender. Some are. Visited Monarch Cemetery — 6400 graves. PWs doing labour. This is one of the most beautiful evenings I have ever known. War just in front of us — but close your ears and look up — and what do you see? The bluest sky imaginable, lacy clouds so low you can almost touch them, drifiting out of the West right toward you. Brilliant golden sunset glowing through the trees and silhouetting them in slender beauty against the deep blue and gold… A pale white crescent of moon directly overhead. The clouds are many-tinted: yellow, purple, pink and white…The angry drone of many P47s brings me back to my senses. Subtract war and add Florence, and this is heaven. What an indescribably blue sky!
The next four entries tell of moving swiftly and taking German prisoners, for whom Uncle Frank acted as interpreter. “We are kicking Adolph’s Supermen around at a terrific rate,” he writes.
8/1/44 Wonder what this month will bring. Having a brief breathing spell. B24 pilot shot down in June rescued by our boys today. Had been hiding out from Germans. Again we took a lot of prisoners and Germ casualties. Germ M.D. who spoke good English helped us all day with Germ casualties; Hard workers, and good soldiers. Lots of Russians, Poles, Czechs, etc. in German Army. We (CCB) lost Callahan and Smith in a tank. This business of m.g. (machine gun) and small arms fire at all 16 pts of the compass is not so good. German prisoners all tell the same story: tired, hungry… I was uncharitable today. Asked a German officer, “Wo ist die Deutsche Luftwaffe?” (Where is the German Air Force?) Then it came — 20 of them. They wagged their wings at us (aid station), and then strafed twice all around us. Didn’t land a bullet in our area, but the air sure whistled. Nun habe ich die Luftwaffe gesehen. (Now I have seen the Air Force.) They got several of our men. Wonder where our planes are. Luftwaffe had us in the ditches during the night. French: “Vive l’Amerique! Vive la France!”
8/2 It is good to see country not pulverized — and a whole church building again. Boy, O boy, the infantry was never like tis! We have no flanks — are surrounded by MG, mortar and small arms fire… We must have captured the whole Wehrmacht — 5000 in one day…all tired, hungry, poorly clothed… This is really beautiful here in Brittany. The battle has passed very fast, and wheat fields, orchards and homes are largely intact. Quite refreshing…It is a strange thing to be the first American troops in these towns. The people stay up all night to greet the passing parade…and what a greeting! ME 109s got us again today. They must have an agreement with our boys not to disturb each other…Got mail. Hallelujah! Germans are using horses to draw their artillery…Many Nazis are clutching moldy black bread. One can not help feeling sorry for them.
8/4 Up all night again — and on the move…Toujours move, jamais dormir (Always move, never sleep) … We took many prisoners, including 6 Russians whom we abandoned to their own devices when we found that thanks to three bridges being blown by Fr. civilians we ourselves were prisoners…We shall see…Well, we got out…What an emotional people these are…”Victoire!” I’m “beaucoup fatigue.”
This next day had to be multiple entries. Note the change in tone and activity:
8/7 War wouldn’t be so bad if it were always like this…The enemy runs so fast we never quite catch up All we are doing is touring the country and receiving the plaudits of the citizenry… Picked about a quart of black raspberries at one halt…Good! Had delightful interlude at Arzano to the tune of heavy bombing and strafing ahead…Quite a bit of Art’y. exchange…Many road blocks and tank traps bar entry to city. Naval C.O. wants to give up. Wehrmacht won’t…!!! This peaceful day suddenly turned into something. We pulled into a bivouac area that was hot…4 1/2 hours later — I don’t think I could live thru that twice. Got a Purple Heart. Ernst and Keating both hit. My peep (cousin Frank, who provided me with his father’s diaries, says “peep” was Army slang for Jeep) burned up with all my belonging…Am blood all over (not my own)…2100 hrs got my first meal of the day.
8/8 Spent a good part of the day looking for and burying dead. We had 121-87-34 (I presume this means 121 casualties, with 87 and 34 being the breakdown between dead and wounded, though I don’t know which would come first). My peep and trailer are gone. Everything is burned to a pile of ashes. Sniper took a shot at me while I was burying dead. He was good — but not good enough.
8/9 Shelled again during the night. For every one that comes 20 go. Why doesn’t Jerry realize the futility of it all? Began to get in a few German casualties, which may be good. But we still seem to be pretty much stalemated. Wonder how the war is going in the rest of the world…1915 — we are preparing to withdraw several miles…Fr. Crane has joined me here…A few of our P47s sure raised a lot of flak…Got my peep and trailer back… 8 shrapnel holes in windshield, many more in vehicle…Moved to area adjacent to beautiful, swift-flowing stream where I got a bath. Paradise!
8/11 E.P.C. recommended Ernst, Keating and your humble servant for Silver Stars (for performance under fire on Aug. 8)… General Dagar approved…Apparently another quiet day…
8/12 And a quiet night…I even undressed!! Made the rounds to schedule services. Held services for CCB and one Co. of the 24th. Bathed in the stream again…
That’s a little over a month of combat action. Continue reading “This is the day that Satan hath made,” “16 below: What a day to ride a jeep” and “Visited Nazi extermination camp.”
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing. Amazing how the small joys of life shine through his thoughts in such a terrible situation.
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I had hoped that the diary would say a little more about the day Frank was wounded, but we just get this,”Got a Purple Heart today.”! I know that it was a relatively minor wound, but it didn’t seem so to our mother. As I recall, Frank’s letter to my parents said, “I stopped a piece of shrapnel with my ribs.” Only now, as an adult , can I fully realize how hard those days were on my parents, who were SO proud of their son.
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As a current Army chaplain, this diary reminds me of the great privilege it is to serve Soldiers and God. We serve not in isolation, but as part of a rich heritage of over 25,000 US Army chaplains who have served with Soldiers under the most challenging conditions for nearly 234 years. Thank you for sharing his diary with us.
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[…] Google) are in italics. Earlier installments told of assignments in the U.S. and England, of his first few weeks of combat in France and of continued fighting and a rest break. Now he returns to action late in 1944: Frank Arnold in […]
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[…] is the World War II diary of Army Chaplain Frank M. Arnold II, my uncle. I have published three earlier sets of excerpts. Uncle Frank used ellipses a lot. I am not using every entry here, but if I use an […]
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Thank you so much for publishing these memoirs. Frank Arnold is my dad. I was just a toddler during these days, and my brother and sister were not even born yet. Such a courageous story, told with such humility.
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