 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
Isadore Levine
Meanwhile, Pvt. Isadore Levine sat on the ground in the S-2 section, his infantry
M-l rifle lying beside him, listening to all these gory reports, growing even paler, and
writing down what was applicable.
Then fate struck!
There was an unexpected violent storm in the English Channel. We hardly noticed
it inland, but it did so much damage to supply ships and facilities for landing supplies on
the beach that very little could be unloaded for weeks, and we began to feel the pinch.
We did not miss any meals, but we were severely limited in the amount of ammunition
we were allowed to fire in a day.
Among other things, the flow of replacements was halted. The infantry continued
to take casualties, however, and soon they were so depleted that something had to be
done. Orders came down from Division Headquarters that all men who had infantry basic
training but were now in non-infantry units would be reported for reassignment to
infantry rifle companies.
Pvt Levine was violently ill. His pallid face turned from white to pale green, and
his hands shook so that he could hardly hold his clipboard and pencil. He barely managed
to stagger to the battalion aid station, dragging his infantry M-l rifle behind him.
Dr. Davis reported that he had the classical symptoms of shock, symptoms
impossible to fake, and that he would have called it battle fatigue if Levine's job had not
been one of the safest on the beachhead.
Major Peach was disturbed. Clearly Levine would be useless to any rifle unit in
his present condition: he would soon have to be evacuated as a mental case if he were not
killed or wounded first. And we would lose a good journal clerk. After some thought,
Peach got in his jeep and went to the division CP to talk to the G-l. I don't know what was
said there, but he came back with a reprieve. Isadore Levine was exempted from the
order.
Pvt Levine's recovery was swift. He turned in his M-l rifle and got a carbine (the
weapon of artillery enlisted men) instead. He was never called upon to fire it, but he kept
it beside him as he made entries in the journa1. And he was forever grateful to Major
(later Lieutenant Colonel) Peach.
As he grew more accustomed to his job, and as things became more routine, he
found time to relieve his loneliness by writing letters. And he was lonely, for he had few
friends in his new home. He was a newcomer, and his job didn't give him much contact
with his peer group. So he became what we now would call a networker: he wrote, not
only to his immediate family, but to classmates in the high school he attended in New
York -
dozens of them, according to Lt Rodman, the battery censor, who had the job of
reading all letters written by members of Hq Btry and cutting out any passages which might
have been of value to the enemy.
59
|
 |
|