Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
3:59 | Sherwood Merchant was one of a group of eager recruits who shipped out to the European Theater late in the war. In the support battery of a field artillery unit, he was fortunate to be behind the front lines, but he still had to endure the coldest winter on record.
Keywords : Sherwood Merchant France German Belgium Luxembourg Germany Russian George Patton 3rd Army winter snow Field Artillery 105mm howitzer Service Battery
Sherwood Merchant was drafted in 1942 and his difficulties began right away during the induction physical. They continued at basic training where he was the only Southerner and the only lefty in his outfit. Assigned to headquarters because of his mastery of that rare and valuable skill, typing, he was still eager to ship out.
The GI's were always looking around for souvenirs and most of them had quite a collection. Sherwood Merchant reveals what he did with his and then relates a sadder memory about something he found in a frozen apple orchard. When the unit had time, one of his jobs was movie projectionist and he showed films to the men in both castles and caves.
Before deploying to Europe, Sherwood Merchant had undergone winter training in Upper Michigan. He says it was probably worse than the combat conditions. Although his unit regularly commandeered German homes, their relations with the civilians were warm and friendly. That continued into the postwar period as he stayed on for occupation duty.
