Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
6:06 | It happened three times to Charles White. The young Lieutenant had to assume command when the company commander was wounded. One time, he used his position to get rid of an unpopular officer by transferring him out of the unit. When Germany surrendered, preparations were made to head to the Pacific.
Charles White was a "90 Day Wonder" out of Ft. Benning when he shipped out to the European theater. Right away, the fresh Lieutenant was cold, wet, and miserable. At the Maginot Line, he had to take over his company when the captain was shot.
With no real winter gear, there was a lot of frostbite among the troops in that bitter German winter. Charles White's unit was summoned to the Battle of the Bulge, but then sent back to France, where he was wounded by shrapnel and had an eyeball-to-eyeball shootout with Germans in the forest.
The unit started with 187 men and 6 officers. At the Siegfried Line, that number was reduced to 35, and Lt. Charles White again had to assume command when the company commander was hit. The exhausted men were ordered into yet another encounter when they started taking tank rounds. It was friendly fire and a most unusual order was given while they tried to get word to the Allied tanks that were firing.
