A piece I did for the Daily Southerner several years back from an oral history of a World War Two veteran I interviewed.
Remembering
“‘Ole Blood n’ Guts”
by
Dana Lee Stone
“It was his blood, and our guts.” George Osborne of Tarboro laughed as he
recalled his experiences in Patton’s Army during World War II. “He was the greatest general and his men
loved him. They respected him, and he
respected them. He wouldn’t ask his men
to do anything he wouln’t do. He was our
greatest leader, and had no fear. I saw
him three times up at the front. At the
Rhine River, he led his men across, wading in front of them.”
George Osborne is 94 now. Originally from Wallace, North Carolina, Mr.
Osborne was drafted (“my wife wouldn’t let me volunteer”) into the Army during
World War II. He served in France,
Germany, and Austria, part of the 65th Division, 565 Signal Corps.
During his first days in boot camp,
Osborne said there was a particular sergeant who came into the barracks to give
the men a little advice. “Boys,” he
said, “there are three things to do in the Army, and if you do ‘em, you’ll get
along fine. Keep your bowels open, your
mouths shut, and don’t volunteer for a damn thing.” Osborne earnestly admitted, “I’ve stuck to
that pretty well.”
He continued, “they sent me to Camp Shelby
in Mississippi where I had basic training, then to New York to get ready to go
overseas. They put me on KP. I noticed they had some hams hanging up and I
asked, ‘what’s that, horse meat?’
“They said, ‘no, that’s beef.’ And I said,
‘no cow ever grew that big!’
He was warned not to say anything about
the horsemeat, because “the boys wouldn’t eat it.” Osborne recalled how he looked over to see a
soldier eating it: “hey, buddy, that’s pretty good horse meat, isn’t it? Someone
in the background neighed like a horse, and don’t you know that boy put his
plate down, and wouldn’t eat anymore.”
Osborne continued his story by describing
his deployment. “We got shipped to la
Havre, in France. They had supplies for
3,000 men and here 30,000 came in on this convoy. They put us in these tent camps. For the first two weeks, the only things we
got to eat were a spoonful of powdered eggs, a half a canteen of coffee, and a
piece of bread. They had garbage cans
for the trash, but no garbage ever went in them.”
As a driver, Osborne covered a lot of
territory during the war, covering most of France, Germany, and Austria. He told me about on his most memorable
experience in Germany, when he encountered German SS troops. “We were out in the woods and they asked for
volunteers. Me like a crazy fool, I
volunteered…We were out crawling through the woods when a shot came through. BLAM!
I felt the heat when it went across the back of my neck. I looked around from where I saw the flash,
and I didn’t even take aim. I shot. The bullet hit him in the head…This
experience broke me from volunteering. I
don’t volunteer for anything anymore.”
Osborne elaborated on one of the most
controversial incidents of the War, the famous “slapping incident” that
involved General Patton. “I didn’t see
it,” he explained, but this boy was laying out and Patton slapped him. I think the boy was scared, mostly. Patton slapped him in the face with his
glove.”
The incident led to Patton being
reprimanded. Osborne offered, “a lot of
people think it was the worst thing Patton could have done, to slap that boy,
but I don’t think so. I think it brought
the boy to his senses.”
Recalling the death of General Patton,
Osborne reflected: “he was killed in a
wreck. He wanted to go into Russia and
we all thought that the CIA was behind the accident. That was really a sad time, when Patton died.”
Osborne is obviously proud of his
experiences during World War II, even though he claims not to have done “very
much.”
“Our Division went the furthest and the
fastest of any Division over there,” he said.
Surely these memories went with him on a trip several years ago to West
Point for a reunion of the 65th Division. “You know,” he said, “I may be the oldest one
in it now. I was 92 then, and I’m 94
now.”
Nowadays, George Osborne can often be found
at the Roberson Senior Center in Tarboro, where he goes for lunch and to
socialize with his many friends.
"It isn’t worth the risk. In the end if a person does get a knee infection they will have to have the original unit removed then a special box unit put in place for 3 months. The person will not be able to bend their knee for the 3 months. Then once the area tests clean of an infection they will do another full knee replacement. Imagine how much pain and suffering the person will go through not to mention the cost compared to an antibiotic before dental work. Not worth the risk and a law suit would suck for the dentist considering they refuse to give the prescription when the surgeon has said they are to provide it for the rest if the patients life. Until there is actual proof saying there is absolutely no chance of getting an infection I think they should have to provide a prescription for the antibiotics. Just my opinion especially since I have had 4 knee surgeries and I would be so angry if I got a knee infection from dental work!!" (FROM CANADIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE)
THERE'S A MUCH GREATER RISK WITH NOT GETTING PRE-MEDICATED AND THEN GETTING A KNEE INFECTION, THAN NOT RECEIVING ANTIBIOTICS.