The VIII Corps was to jump off with the 79th, 8th, 90th and 83rd Divisions abreast, and were to move
south of the V Corps, thus encircling and heading to the east.
A big fight was expected the following morning, but the enemy withdrew from the island on the night of
the twenty-seventh and so when we fired a large concentration for the jump off, we fired at a bunch of
empty foxholes. The afternoon of that day, the twenty-eighth, we moved to La Buisson, a small town to
one side of the island. On our road march to this new position one could readily see why the artillery
had little effect on the enemy. They dug their holes on the side opposite from where the shells were
coming. Their system included what looked like a bunch of rabbit tunnels so that they could go from
one place to another without exposing themselves. Shells would come in and just bounce off, exploding
in the air, harmlessly. White phosphorus was the one shell that had effect for it would set things ablaze.
After setting up in this new place a few rounds came in, but other than making a few people jittery, there
were no bad effects. The only casualty in this position was a boy from C Battery who managed to walk
into a booby-trap. He was pretty well cut up, but not serious enough to be evacuated.
The twenty-eighth was rather an inactive day, except for a few fire missions, but a rather amusing
incident occurred. Upon entering the courtyard of the Headquarters one was greeted with a terrific
stench. A cow had been hit by a white phosphorus shell and the process of decay had already set in.
Not knowing how long they were to be there, Sgt. Sutherland was detailed to remove the carcass. Cpl's
Kirby, Brown and Repettro were tagged for the detail. They dragged it away with a Jeep and in the
process of the digging a hole Brown and Kirby had to leave because of the odor, much to the amusement
of Repetto, who not long after was seen frantically searching for a gas mask to finish the job.
That afternoon we march-ordered, passing through part of Periers, a very much smashed up town, where
the Germans upon leaving had severely booby-trapped everything, thus denying any use of the town;
and passed on to a small group of farm buildings to the east of the town. We noticed that the people
seemed to be getting more and more friendly as we moved further inland. They were losing that
bewildered and skeptical look that we have been running into formerly.
During the evening we learned that big things were happening out there in front of us, also that we were
now part of the Third Army, having been attached to the First Army for the initial landings. Everyone
started thinking that now things would be stepped up with Patton behind us. It was rumored that
General Patton, after having sat back in the rear with all his armor idle for as long as he could stand it,
bellowed at General Bradley to get his men aside and let some fighters through. A good thing that he
was kidding for there would be a lot of mad men that he would have to account for.
From July twenty-ninth up to and including August first we had a training schedule, movies, and a few
brisk hikes. The most important thing was the news that we were receiving the activities of the armor,
General Patton's armor, that swift, hard punching super-blitz men, who had exploited a breakthrough
and were swiftly streaking for Brittany, and also heart of France.
During the training we were visited by Captain William E. Hokle, our former S-3, who was later
transferred to the Army Civil Affairs Corps.
So the 90th come to a halt, the first in two months, Patton's armor was moving to and through
Coutances, Avranches, and beyond to cut off the Brittany Peninsula. The unbelievable had happened,
we were moving out of the boxlike hedgerow country. Larger fields, better roads lie ahead. We could
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