Ted Getzel Works

Louie #7

(Now)

I know the war left him hollowed,

But prideful of whom he followed.

(Early 1945 for Louie –I am 8/1955)

Louie: I loved General Patton; I don’t care what anyone else says.

Me: What do they say about him?

Louie: That he was a crazy bloody lunatic. But he was the best of them all, better than Ike, that strutting peacock Montgomery or that murdering coward Mark Clark. That snot bag Montgomery claimed he cut off the Bulge- those English didn’t do shit. Ten times as many Americans died at the Bulge as English. Then we had to sit a couple of times, because they gave our gas to him-if they gave Patton what he wanted he would have been in Berlin before the Russians. Montgomery might have been the Hero of El Alamein, but he was the Bullshitter of the Bulge. Patton didn’t hide at his headquarters us regular soldiers would see him all the time.

Me: You saw him a lot.

Louie: Saw him and shook his hand once-right up at the front. He asked: “How’s things going Sergeant?”I answered good sir, good. Right up at the front-he wasn’t afraid of nothing except losing. Loved that man. Wait here got something I want to show you.

Louie jumped up from the green living room couch and went into the big bedroom. I sat and looked at the blank dark gray 12” screen in the huge mahogany cabinet of our Dumont TV, Radio, record player combo. We had just finished watching a rerun of an episode of “Crusade in Europe” a show based on the President’s memoir of the war. I thought about the final installment of Davey Crockett that was going to air that night. Davey at the Alamo- I knew I’d be sad.

Louie came back from the bedroom with a small piece of paper held between his thumb and forefinger. He sat down right next to me. The paper was folded and brown and shiny with age. Slowly, carefully, using his thick working man’s fingers he began to unfold the paper.

Louie: This was a speech Patton made to us just before we were going into Germany. No one was supposed to hear it. But us, his men. But there was this guy. A clerk or someone that knew shorthand who wrote what he said down. He typed it out and made copies that got passed around.

I looked at it when he had finally unfolded it. It was smudgy, greasy and had little tears at some of the folds. The letters were bluish and uneven.

Louie: Like I said we were just about ready to go into Germany itself. We were loading up on ammunition and supplies. My men were going to be building a bridge. Then we were going to hit the Siegfried line and blow up what the bombers hadn’t all ready taken out.

He began to read slowly:

Patton:"Up to now we have been in France, Holland, Luxemburg and Belgium our allies. So if we wanted something, say fresh eggs it was our duty as good allies to pay for what we wanted. We are about to cross into Nazi fucking Germany. No SOB across that line is an ally. From now on if you want something I want you to take it. We’re not paying for anything; they’re the enemy and we’re going to make them pay for everything they’ve done. If you want eggs take them, take the chickens to wring their necks and have a good meal. You want milk take milk then shoot the cow and have some steaks!

Louie looked up at me.

Louie: We’d get to a farm pond and through in a charge and clean out all the fish!

He resumed reading.

Patton: Sure, we want to go home. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin. And when we get to Berlin", "I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I'd shoot a snake!"

". The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one either. We'll win this war.. We're not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we're going to rip out their living goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. You’re going to shoot those Hun bastards; then when they’re lying on the ground we’re going to take our bayonets starting at their balls and then tearing up to their necks cut the bastards open, and chokethem with their own guts, We're going to murder those lousy Hun cocksuckers by the bushel-fucking-basket. War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. Cut off their balls. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you'll know what to do!"

"I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls rip them off and stuff them in his mouth and choke him. We’ll kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose!"

" The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that. There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you WON'T have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, "Well, your Granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana." No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, "Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named Patton!"

Louie: I loved that man. He pushed us hard all right but he was with us all the way.

Slowly and carefully he refolded the speech.

That night after I watched Davey Crockett die at the Alamo I lay in bed and fantasized about having a quad fifty just like my dad and mowing down Santa Anna’s troops by the hundreds and saving Davey and Jim Bowie.