Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:16 | In postwar Germany, Sgt. Harry Scroggs had a dream job. He ran a telephone exchange in Wieden, Germany, where he was across the street from the quartermaster and surrounded by German girls. He was not tempted because he was true to his girl at home. When he got home, he sealed the deal.
Keywords : Harry Scrappy Scroggs Wieden Germany postwar telephone German Czechoslovakia Venereal Disease (VD) cigarettes France Cemetery Christmas Cleveland GA
He had a scholarship to the University of Georgia, but he gave it up to help his sick parents run the family farm. In 1942, his country needed him more, so Harry Scroggs was drafted and went off to basic training. Somehow he wound up going through basic again at a different camp.
While still training stateside, Harry Scroggs was put in the communications section. His job was setting up and running telephones and switchboards in the field. He tells how he got the nickname Scrappy, and he describes how the communications section connected the spotter and the artillery battery.
After war maneuvers, Harry Scroggs was sent home for a leave and when he got back, his unit was gone to Europe. He continued training while D-Day was successfully executed and, eventually, he headed across the Atlantic on the RMS Queen Elizabeth. Then, in England, he prepared to cross the Channel.
Finally it was his time to cross the English Channel. It wasn't wide, but it was still the ocean, so when Harry Scroggs climbed down that long rope ladder, the landing craft was bobbing and bumping against the ship. The Allies had pushed inland, so he didn't get shot at when he was setting up his communications equipment.
His field telephone switchboard was set up in an abandoned house which took a direct hit from a German artillery shell. The reinforced walls held together and Harry Scroggs lived to keep following Patton's army into Germany. In one small town, he looked into a warehouse and is still haunted to this day at what he saw.
As he was driving his truck full of communications gear forward into Germany, Harry Scroggs heard and felt the bullet from a sniper go right through the cab in front of his nose. He squeezed down into his seat and hit the gas. When he got to his destination, he heard devastating news about his lieutenant.
The war was almost over, but still, Harry Scroggs saw a German plane strafing the Autobahn near Frankfurt. He didn't think much of halting his advance and letting the Russians take Berlin, but it wasn't his decision. When the Germans surrendered, he used his truck to repatriate Belgian and Dutch laborers and to transport an Army band to concerts.
