JOHN COMPTON

 John Compton served with the Army, 63rd Infantry Div., European Theatre.  The following is his story: 

"I was hauling replacements (new infantrymen) up to the front line and one of the replacements was a guy from Bonne Terre.  Once I stopped at a mess hall in Augsburg, Germany and Johnny Cole saw my truck had "Bonne Terre Belle" painted on the door and asked if I was from Bonne Terre, MO.  He was from Desloge.  After the armistice in Germany, he was sent to Korea, was taken prisoner and they starved him to death. 

"I volunteered for combat duty with an outfit that General Patton had.  It was an old M-12 tank with a 155 long rifle that shot concrete piercing shells.  We tried to knock out the bunkers and pill boxes on the Seigfried Line, Deadshime, Germany.  I got lost one time and asked a German lady for directions.   She sent me into enemy territory but luckily I came across a reconnaisance jeep that pointed me in the right direction.  While returning, about 40 German soldiers surrendered.  They were tired and hungry and knew that the war was coming to an end. 

"One particular day on a full field inspection General Patton came up to me nose to nose and asked if I had any underwear! 

"I pulled into Mannheim, Germany and the enemy started firing at us.  We were given orders to back out and use artillery to level the city.   When we broke through the Siegfried Line we liberated a prisoner of war camp at Bucken, Germany."