I joined "H" Company, 331st Infantry, 83rd Division on about December 26, 1944 as a replacement. We were in Ottre, Belgium at the time and I was appointed as a platoon messenger by my platoon leader. The town of Bihain which was about 2 miles from Ottre was just taken by our elements of the 330th Infantry and parts of the 331st too. The shelling all around was extremely heavy, since the Germans were attempting a counter-attack to retake the town.

My Lieutenant told me to into Bihain and contact machine gunners of the 2nd platoon and find out exactly where they were in Bihain and report back to him. I started down the road about 5 or 6 a.m. searching each house along the narrow streets and looking for someone in the 2nd platoon. All along the street there were G.I.'s hiding in doorways ducking the shells that were coming down and when asking some of them if they had seen or no where the heavy machine gunners were in town, they directed me to the end of the street and told me to check there. But getting down that street was extremely dangerous due to the shelling that morning. I did finally get to what looked like a doorway to a house. The G.I. standing there asked me who I was and to identify myself, which I did. He then opened the door slowly and told me to ask one of the officers inside perhaps they might know where the "H" Co. machine gunners were.

I then discovered that this was the 2nd Battalion Headquarters staff, commanded by Lt. Col. Leniel MacDonald. There was a small table in the center of the room, and a map of that area was spread out on it. The Battalion Commander was discussing the on going battle with his staff. They had a little candle stuck in a cut out potato for light and the scene around the table with the staff officers around is something I'll never forget. It was my 2nd or 3rd day in combat so to me it was quite an experience knowing that I was actually on the front lines.