Read Online We Who Are Alive and Remain by Marcus Brotherton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Marcus Brotherton
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just been attacked. The bus driver turned on the radio news, where we heard the details. A few women started crying. I didn’t know where Pearl Harbor was; I thought it might have been some remote U.S. military installation, but started joking with my buddy that if we lost the war we’d all be eating fish heads and rice soon.
Here’s a story that relates to Pearl Harbor—back when I was about 6, just before the Depression hit, I had what they called a wild tooth. My father took me to the dentist, who said I needed braces. My father said, “Pull the tooth.” The dentist argued, saying that pulling that tooth would be the worst thing for me and that my teeth would be crooked my whole life unless I got braces. Dad said, “You pull that tooth out or I’ll take him home and yank it out myself with a pair of pliers.” That was the way he was. The dentist pulled it. I didn’t know it then, but that small act would affect my whole life.
When Pearl Harbor happened, thousands of American kids my age immediately joined the military. I was the same way. Now, when it came to enlisting, the important thing for me was the quality of the soldiers I was going to be with. I wanted to be in the absolute highest-quality group where I would not hesitate to have my life depend on others’ performance. I signed up for the marines because I thought they were the best, but the doctor there said they couldn’t pass me because my teeth wouldn’t bite together. He said, “Come back and enlist in a couple of weeks. They’re going to relax the standards then.”
I was furious. It was just my teeth; the rest of me was in great shape. I said, “I’m not coming back, then—or ever! I’ll find something better than the damn marines. I don’t know what, but I’ll find it.”
Here’s the twist: if I had joined the marines then, I would have been in one of the very earliest groups to go overseas and invade the Pacific islands. My chances of survival would have been very slim.
When the marines wouldn’t take me I checked around. The rangers and the paratroopers were two other high-quality groups. I liked the idea of the paratroopers more, so I enlisted there. I ended up going to Toccoa with one of the first groups of paratroopers—all thanks to a wild tooth.
Buck Taylor
A bunch of friends used to hang out and eat ice cream in a little coffee shop on Ridge Avenue. That’s where we were when we heard the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. We thought, Hoo boy, what a mistake they made. The Japanese—we can just walk right over there. That was our first impression, anyway. Boy, were we ever wrong. Back then we thought Japan was not much of a country to be reckoned with. It was so small. The truth is that they were better prepared to face war than we were at the time.
It didn’t matter who you talked to—pretty soon all my friends knew we were going to be drafted. None of us doubted it. So I put on my thinking cap and figured out what would be the best thing to do. In school we had studied the history of World War I. It was all trench warfare, guys getting shot as they went over the top, and I thought, Boy, that’s not for me. But the paratroopers—you jump out of a plane and you’re on your own. If you survive, it’s to your own initiative. Fine, then; the paratroopers it would be.
In July 1942 I signed up. At the swearing-in ceremony I met four guys who would all become part of Easy Company: Forrest Guth, Rod Strohl, Carl Fenstermaker, and Walter Gordon, who was from Mississippi but for some reason had enlisted in Philadelphia. The four of us were eventually put in 3rd Platoon, so we were able to stay close through the war. We joined in Philadelphia, then went to Indiantown Gap for a couple of days where we got our group together. Then they put us on a train down to Toccoa.
CHAPTER FIVE
Cutting Teeth at Toccoa
Ed Tipper
In July and August 1942, young men from all parts of the United States gathered at Camp Toccoa,
Here’s a story that relates to Pearl Harbor—back when I was about 6, just before the Depression hit, I had what they called a wild tooth. My father took me to the dentist, who said I needed braces. My father said, “Pull the tooth.” The dentist argued, saying that pulling that tooth would be the worst thing for me and that my teeth would be crooked my whole life unless I got braces. Dad said, “You pull that tooth out or I’ll take him home and yank it out myself with a pair of pliers.” That was the way he was. The dentist pulled it. I didn’t know it then, but that small act would affect my whole life.
When Pearl Harbor happened, thousands of American kids my age immediately joined the military. I was the same way. Now, when it came to enlisting, the important thing for me was the quality of the soldiers I was going to be with. I wanted to be in the absolute highest-quality group where I would not hesitate to have my life depend on others’ performance. I signed up for the marines because I thought they were the best, but the doctor there said they couldn’t pass me because my teeth wouldn’t bite together. He said, “Come back and enlist in a couple of weeks. They’re going to relax the standards then.”
I was furious. It was just my teeth; the rest of me was in great shape. I said, “I’m not coming back, then—or ever! I’ll find something better than the damn marines. I don’t know what, but I’ll find it.”
Here’s the twist: if I had joined the marines then, I would have been in one of the very earliest groups to go overseas and invade the Pacific islands. My chances of survival would have been very slim.
When the marines wouldn’t take me I checked around. The rangers and the paratroopers were two other high-quality groups. I liked the idea of the paratroopers more, so I enlisted there. I ended up going to Toccoa with one of the first groups of paratroopers—all thanks to a wild tooth.
Buck Taylor
A bunch of friends used to hang out and eat ice cream in a little coffee shop on Ridge Avenue. That’s where we were when we heard the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. We thought, Hoo boy, what a mistake they made. The Japanese—we can just walk right over there. That was our first impression, anyway. Boy, were we ever wrong. Back then we thought Japan was not much of a country to be reckoned with. It was so small. The truth is that they were better prepared to face war than we were at the time.
It didn’t matter who you talked to—pretty soon all my friends knew we were going to be drafted. None of us doubted it. So I put on my thinking cap and figured out what would be the best thing to do. In school we had studied the history of World War I. It was all trench warfare, guys getting shot as they went over the top, and I thought, Boy, that’s not for me. But the paratroopers—you jump out of a plane and you’re on your own. If you survive, it’s to your own initiative. Fine, then; the paratroopers it would be.
In July 1942 I signed up. At the swearing-in ceremony I met four guys who would all become part of Easy Company: Forrest Guth, Rod Strohl, Carl Fenstermaker, and Walter Gordon, who was from Mississippi but for some reason had enlisted in Philadelphia. The four of us were eventually put in 3rd Platoon, so we were able to stay close through the war. We joined in Philadelphia, then went to Indiantown Gap for a couple of days where we got our group together. Then they put us on a train down to Toccoa.
CHAPTER FIVE
Cutting Teeth at Toccoa
Ed Tipper
In July and August 1942, young men from all parts of the United States gathered at Camp Toccoa,
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