The Brave The Strong

Clem, with the cat on his soldiers, and his team take a break from military training at Camp San Luis Obispo, California 1943. The Second World War was raging in North Africa and Charlie the paperboy and his cat Snuffy were important part of the team. Each day Charlie  would bring the latest newspapers, hot off the press, for the men to read. They typically went straight to anything that Ernie Pyle, the war correspondent, who was currently embedded with the infantrymen in North Africa  had written. 

In the photo above it looks like they are watching us...Clem and his Communications team on the California beach. They are curious to see what you will do when freedom is being threatened. They took up the challenge and were willing to risk their lives for the cause.

Photo below: Ernie Pyle handing out cigarettes to US troops - somewhere in Africa or Italy. 

The story of Buddy starts in Normandy, France where he was rescued from a bombed-out barn by soldiers of the US 35^th Division (*). He was a French farmers dog, but he soon became indispensable to the green American soldiers by his ability to hear incoming missiles, creeping enemy in corn fields, and his knack in picking up the scent of German soldiers on the front lines. His proud demeanor endears him to the whole Division and in particular the men in HQ Company, among them “Red-One”, “Hog-Jaw”, “Shuffler” and “The Rebel”.

After the breakout in Normandy, Buddy accompanies the American infantrymen as they advance through France and cross into Germany. After a two-day rest for a Christmas, in the ancient French fortress city of Metz, the hungover soldiers are then ordered to lead Patton’s spearhead into Bastogne to rescue the soldiers of the 101^st Division. The 101^st had been encircled, along with thousands of Belgian civilians, and they were running out of supplies and hope. Buddy rides in the back of a Red Ball Express troop truck with the remnants of the 35^th Division and new replacement soldiers fresh from the USA into the Bastogne perimeter.

On the outskirts of Bastogne, in the hamlet of Marvie, they defend the city from the last Nazi offensive. After one of the largest artillery barrages in the Western Front, the American forces push the Germans back across the border and end up on the Elbe River meeting Russian soldiers when Germany finally capitulates in May 1945. During their march across Germany, they witness firsthand some of the atrocities that had been committed by the fanatical followers of Adolph Hitler.

(*) Buddy is fictional, but the story is based on my uncle Clement McGuire’s service with the 35^th Division.