DECORATIONS

The 83rd Division suffered 15,013 combat casualties during the war but only five Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded to the Division, and four of these were posthumous. There is little relation between decorations awarded and deeds performed. Most of the big generals with row upon row of ribbons across their chests have never been under fire. Highly decorated units are usually that way because they had time to prepare the voluminous papers required in recommending decorations, or they had a good romanticist as publicity officer, or both. The 329th Infantry had neither.

It had been too busy fighting to prepare the recommendations; usually the required witnesses were dead or in a hospital somewhere; in addition when it was in reserve everybody needed the time to wash their clothes or take a bath. By the end of the war, seeing the mass of decorations on the coats of men who had hardly been under fire, the veterans of the 329th would wear only the Combat Infantryman's Badge. The only time they really resented the decorations was when the precedence of men going home was based upon a point system, part of which was the number of decorations the man had received. The lack of decorations was mostly the fault of regimental headquarters because it didn't push the matter.

A few incidents were partly responsible. Lieutenant-Colonel Quincy Sanders commanded the 3rd Battalion in the first attack in Normandy. Wounded in the arm during the morning, he continued to push the attack with his arm in a sling. In the afternoon he was again wounded but, still able to walk, he continued in command. When the RCO visited the battalion in the evening, Sanders protested vigorously when he was ordered evacuated. His battalion had broken the German line in Normandy and made an advance of about a mile through a series of defended hedgerows. He was recommended for a D.S.C., but the recommendation came back disapproved, with the endorsement: "He was only doing his duty as an infantryman." This lead us to the belief that the infantryman was supposed to do the fighting and take the casualties and the others were supposed to get the decorations.

If Sanders' leadership in Normandy did not warrant a D.S.C., it was hard to imagine what kind of action would. Later, when Lieutenant Magill took his Reconnaissance platoon of twenty-four men through eighty miles of German occupied territory and talked General Elser into surrendering his army of 20,000 men, Magill was recommended for the Distinguished Service Medal, but the recommendation was turned down. Later so much publicity arose over his exploit that the high command changed its mind and awarded him the decoration. After the establishment of the bridgehead over the Elbe River, the RCO told the Division Commander that DSM's for the three battalion commanders in the regiment who led the drive would be appropriate, but was told, "DSM's are usually General Officer's decorations." Our officers usually referred to the Distinguished Service Medal as, "the General Officer's Good Conduct Medal."

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