Dodging “Potholes…”

  After all the preparation and planning, I could still get lost occasionally.  We had to be at a railroad siding near Hohenfels at 0500.  Since we had been north to Baumholder the day before we were running late, rather than stopping in Stuttgart we continued driving to Hohenfels.  We were in a very small town looking for the turn to Hohenfels.  I had only been this way once before and it was during day light hours.

  We kept driving back and forth through the little town and couldn’t find the turn. We finally stopped about 0300 and checked the map. I told SSGT Melendez that we would go back through town one more time then head out to the other way that I knew would take us to Hohenfels. On the way back through town we came upon a farmer pushing a wheel barrow out to his field. I figured what the hell, I’ll try a little German on him and see if he will help us. I began by saying “Wo ist die Strasse” and he butted in and said in darned good English “The road to Hohenfels is 200 meters down the road then turn right.”  He didn’t miss a beat and didn’t even slow down.  To this day I have wondered how many GI’s he had given directions to.

  Our odyssey wasn’t over yet.  Once we found the road, Melendez tells me he has a short cut that he had used before and we could still arrive on time. Not wanting to be late I followed his directions and we were soon dodging huge pot holes in the road. A lot of the road didn’t seem to even exist!  After all the bouncing around and dodging huge “potholes” we saw an MP jeep about 100 yards ahead.  As we got closer the MP got out and stopped us.  He was almost screaming at us, “Where the hell have you been?”  About 10 seconds later there was a large explosion about a quarter of a mile behind us.

  We had just navigated the back side of Hohenfels and the artillery impact area! Melendez almost turned white, and got out of the jeep and vomited. We got to the main part of the base and then the railroad siding.  The sound of artillery shells landing in the impact area went on for almost another hour!