 Most of the time the MPs had it fairly easy. They were mostly
responsible for keeping our own troops in line.
When we first landed
in North Africa, for instance, they put me and two buddies in the stockade
for a few days for hijacking a trolley in Oran, North Africa. We had a few
drinks, jumped on the trolley, pushed the driver off and let the passengers
ride for free. Nice guys right? We went about a half mile and the MPs caught
up with us. They knew we were just causing trouble so they took us to the
slammer where hundreds of other GIs were already stationed.
We didn't hurt anybody
or anything but we just got into mischief. In fact, they didn't seem to care
about stealing the trolley. They were more concerned that we didn't have
passes to leave our barracks. But there were some real problem soldiers there
who you couldn't turn your back on. The MPs had to treat everyone with caution.
Even when I went to the latrine they put a guard on you with a machine gun
in case you had any rabbit blood in you.
The Germans were raising
hell so they needed us on the front at Kasserine Pass They decided
that our hijacking escapade wasn't so bad after all. They needed us on the
front line.
I must emphasize that
although my buddies and me gave the MPs some trouble in Oran, the Germans
at Remagen gave them a lot more and we felt bad for them.
There is no doubt that
they were practically on a suicide mission. I had to work closely with them
everyday for about a week. They did their best to guide our troops and convoys
over the bridge until it collapsed. But the Germans were picking them off
constantly. They were generally easy targets and it got to the point where
they were sending new ones in every half hour. That was terrible. It was
bad enough that I had to cross the bridge several times a day but they had
it even worse.
One morning I watched
a German twin engine jet bomber with my binoculars from a high altitude trying
to take out the bridge. I told my buddies to hide because bombs were on the
way. And of course they landed in about 30 seconds but they missed the bridge.
The next day an MP stopped me and asked me where I was going and I said I
needed to cross the bridge. He told me it had just collapsed but I didn't
hear a thing as I slept soundly in the guard towers on the east side of the
bridge. Later, pontoons were used and our advance continued.
Incidentally, the bridge
didn't collapse until after we had secured it. I believe, but I can't prove,
that our engineers may have cut one too many steel girders in actually trying
to repair the bridge. I guess we'll never really know. The Germans tried
to dynamite it but had their own problems too. Yes, those MP's undoubtedly
went through hell and should be recognized accordingly.
P.S. As far as the patch
on our sleeve we wore the Tank Destroyer patch with the tiger combination
tank treads. The only time we covered it was during the Battle of the Bulge
when we covered everything in white to hide us in the snow.
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