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My Talisman
continued wearing mine until just before VE Day. Later I heard that the FDC
personnel had gotten up a pool to see who could guess nearest to the date I would take
them off.] Again orders came from on high about wearing of the uniform, and again
unauthorized neckwear was prohibited.
This time I ignored it. In my mind, having that scarf knotted around my neck was
associated with rapid and successful campaigns. We hadn't gotten home for Christmas
1944, and I wanted to be sure we made it by Christmas 1945, or at least New Year 1946.
I got a number of hints that I was in violation of orders, but I managed to ignore
them - after all, I was second-ranking officer in the battalion, and entitled to some
privileges until Capt Jacobs approached the battalion commander, Bob T. Hughes, and
asked, "Colonel, how the hell can I be expected to enforce discipline in my men when
senior officers flout uniform regulations by wearing unauthorized rags around their
necks?"
Hughes called me aside and said, "Sorry, Bob, you've got to stop wearing that
damned parachute necktie."
"But, Bob," I protested, "this scarf is a good-luck charm. When I take it off, we
bog down. When I wear it, we take off like the proverbial ruptured duck." And I
proceeded to outline the history of the war and my talisman.
"Take it off," he said.
"I hope you realize that you may be jeopardizing the momentum of the war."
"I'll take that chance. "
So I took it off just as we entered Czechoslovakia. And sure enough, we stopped.
But this time it was because the war was over.
231, (232 blank)
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