When things calmed down, we did see some of the concentration camp survivors—gaunt people in

striped prison clothes celebrating their release. Company L did not enter the camp, but we later saw

photos of the stacked bodies.

            As we headed south to the Austrian-German border, we knew the war was just about over.

We did feel, however, that the taking of the Brenner Pass would be bloody. It was difficult to find

volunteers in the last two weeks of the war. “What, me become the last person killed? No way!”

            We were in the town of Mittenwald, staying in houses. As I went back in to turn off the radio—

don’t ask me why—a BBC newscast said the war was over in the south. Our big problem was to

convince a gung-ho barracks of German officer candidates that this was true. Their radios were dead.

After a day of negotiating and with discussions with their commanders on our radios, they finally gave

up. To say we were happy would be putting it mildly. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find anything to drink,

but even that seemed to be secondary.

            When we got to Innsbruck, Austria, it was decided to send two jeeploads of GIs south to the

Italian border to link up with the 88th Division traveling north through Italy. A major task force, including

Company L and the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion would follow at a leisurely pace as backup.

            In those days, before the superhighways, the road south from Innsbruck was very dangerous. About

30 miles south of Innsbruck, two of the tank destroyer half-tracks towing 3-inch guns lost their brakes. Both

drivers decided to drive into the hill instead of going over the edge. The 3-inch guns caught up with the

half-tracks, throwing the entire assembly high in the air. The half-tracks were both filled to overflowing

with black and white soldiers. This was the single biggest incident of carnage I ever witnessed. There were

broken backs, fractured skulls—one driver had his arm amputated, but no one was killed. All we had was an

aid man with bandages. The road was so narrow we had to bounce a jeep around to send it back to Innsbruck

for help.  AND THE WAR WAS OVER!