Post by floydragsdale on Jun 17, 2011 11:29:05 GMT -5
Tired as G.I.’s might be, there were situations when a soldier simply could not lie down. Particularly true if the terrain was muddy and gooey to cite one instance.
Yankee ingenuity, or necessity being the mother of invention, usually came to the rescue.
There were days during the Bulge Campaign when our outfit hiked for many hours at a time. One hike I recall was about eighteen hours long with ten to fifteen minute brakes at intervals along the way.
Soldiers would go to sleep while hiking. They just staggered into a ditch. Of course, that usually woke them up immediately. Once I wandered (went to sleep) into the column of troops on the other side of the road. One of the men said, “Ragsdale, move over”. My sleepy reply was, “Just push me and I’ll move”. Days later some of the guys teased me about that remark.
A soldiers body could tolerate the lack of sleep just so long before things began to happen to him. During breaks on that eighteen hour long hike some of us would form a huddle of three or four men; put our arms around each others shoulders, then lean forward and go to sleep standing up.
With a lack of food plus a very long march, some of us were at the point of physical fatigue. It didn’t take any practice to learn how to go to sleep standing up. It just came naturally. We didn't sleep very long while in those huddles, yet a few moments were better than none.
Floyd,
424th Regiment.
Yankee ingenuity, or necessity being the mother of invention, usually came to the rescue.
There were days during the Bulge Campaign when our outfit hiked for many hours at a time. One hike I recall was about eighteen hours long with ten to fifteen minute brakes at intervals along the way.
Soldiers would go to sleep while hiking. They just staggered into a ditch. Of course, that usually woke them up immediately. Once I wandered (went to sleep) into the column of troops on the other side of the road. One of the men said, “Ragsdale, move over”. My sleepy reply was, “Just push me and I’ll move”. Days later some of the guys teased me about that remark.
A soldiers body could tolerate the lack of sleep just so long before things began to happen to him. During breaks on that eighteen hour long hike some of us would form a huddle of three or four men; put our arms around each others shoulders, then lean forward and go to sleep standing up.
With a lack of food plus a very long march, some of us were at the point of physical fatigue. It didn’t take any practice to learn how to go to sleep standing up. It just came naturally. We didn't sleep very long while in those huddles, yet a few moments were better than none.
Floyd,
424th Regiment.
