R.H.- Every time D-day rolls around I think of the men of the greatest generation who fought for what was right in WWII. Uncle Roy Elliott and Uncle Grady along with the Crow boys and other cousins who did so much along with about 16 million others. This little story is about Uncle Roy Hill Elliott as I knew more about his story. The Hill was for Old Dr. Hill- who assisted Big Mama in his birth. Roy was 30 years old when he was drafted into the army. He became a T- Sgt. and served 30 months in the ETO. North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, Rome, Southern France, the Rhineland, and Central Europe were the principal areas of his service. Uncle Roy did not like to talk much about the war and when he did it was most often late at night as a pained look would wash across his face. Most of his stories were about comrades and humorous. Occasionally a melancholy tale would emerge. What follows are mere samples of a warrior from a small Northeast Mississippi farm. It was a huge shock to go from riding a horse everywhere you went to a troop ship on the north Atlantic in the midst of a storm. The rocking and reeling made him seasick which was an illness he had never known before. More than once a raging storm hit him and Uncle Grady as they crossed the mighty ocean. Uncle Roy told me it made him fall to his knees and pray. Soon he hit North Africa and was instructed about what to do and what not to do or say. Roy was shocked by people who while standing behind a wall that was shoulder high were going to the restroom in the gutter. In public while behind this partition they would talk and laugh while taking care of nature’s call. The people were so nice to the GIs who drove the Germans away. The meat of their dinners they would gladly share. Goat was the more common meat and was better than military rations. One day in Algiers a man brought him a dozen eggs. He took the Arab’s gift and with two of his best friends went to share the luck. One got some coffee from the cooks and the three men go outside of camp and wiped out their helmets which made great pots. One filled his with water from his canteen and dumped in the coffee. It was placed on a small chunk fire to boil. Uncle Roy broke the eggs into his helmet and used his knife to scramble those eggs. What a feast they had with their rations added to the mix. They used these pots for everything. Why the Brits even used this so not to miss a tea time.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 23:44:14 +0000
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