A Tribute to Edsel Vincent Colvin June. 2014 | Page 13

The men tried to discover how the Germans had spotted them because
of how dark it was and how quiet they were. The next day after they captured
the town, they were told that one of the soldiers had lit a match to light a
cigarette. He had thought it was covered enough to where it couldn’t be seen.
In a matter of minutes the artillery barrage had hit. Edsel described this as “as
a tough way to learn a lesson.”
After about a month of Edsel being involved in the war, he was walking
down a street with his squad. He had to walk on the side of his feet because of
blisters on his feet. In addition to that Edsel also had a bad case of
hemorrhoids. Blood was running down his leg and getting in his shoes. A
captain in a jeep came by and asked what was wrong. He told him that he had
blisters on his feet. He was taken to an Aide station. When he got there the
doctor noticed the blood from his hemorrhoids. Edsel was told he needs
surgery right away. He was sent to the main hospital and received surgery for
his hemorrhoids. During all of this the Germans were getting ready for their
last big offensive war, the Battle of the Bulge. He had missed it due to his
blisters and hemorrhoids.
Edsel was put back into duty two weeks after his surgery. Some of the
fiercest battles happened when Edsel was recovering. There were only 2 left in
his squad when he returned. These were the only ones from the original squad
that came from Camp Howze.
Edsel was walking along a road after he returned to duty. He saw
movement in a bush and it turned out to be a wounded German soldier. He
went back and reported it to his squad leader. They went back to the soldier
and the soldier yelled out “White Russian, White Russian, not German!” This
meant that he was forced by the Germans to be in their army. The squad
leader shot him anyway. Edsel was devastated.