Title
Sherrill Adams interview with Lindsey Peterson and Jennifer Jacobs
Subject
World War, 1939-1945-Iowa-Oral histories
Description
Adams served as an engineer in the Army. After training in Texas, they went to England to learn bridge building and explosives. He entered France 30 days after D-Day, and they experienced gunfire.
Publisher
Buena Vista University
Date
3/10/2011
Rights
These oral histories are available for personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that a credit line reads: "Courtesy of Buena Vista University Archives, Storm Lake, IA." Prior permission from the BVU Archives is required for any commercial
Format
video/mp4
Language
English
Type
Moving Image
Identifier
Interviewer
Lindsey Peterson, Jennifer Jacobs
Interviewee
Sherrill Adams
Transcription
SHERRILL ADAMS
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:00] Today is March 10th, 2011, and we are interviewing Sherrill Adams from Storm Lake, Iowa at the communications center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Adams was born on August 4th, 1922. My name is Lindsey Peterson and I will be the interviewer, along with Jennifer Jacobs.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:21] Okay. So, sir, before you before you entered the service and stuff like that, what were you doing before you were called up?
Sherrill Adams [00:00:29] I suppose just a laborer. Whatever you could do back [in] them days. Not much of anything, really. Painter, worked on a farm, or whatever you could find to do.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:47] And then you were drafted, weren't you?
Sherrill Adams [00:00:49] Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:50] What branch were you drafted into?
Sherrill Adams [00:00:53] The Army.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:54] OK, and then when you went to boot camp, can you talk to us-- what-- like, boot camp was like? What kind of an experience that was for you?
Sherrill Adams [00:01:04] Well, it was all experience. We was in Texas. Out there, it's the scorpions and snakes and poorest part of the country. I don't know. I guess, I guess that'd be about the size of it, really. Just whatever you had to do and they'd try-- ask you to do and you was learnin' all the time. They give you a different things-- they trying to find out what you could do, and I guess I didn't have anything, so they put in engineers. So, after that, we just trained for that. About the size of it, I guess, unless you got more answers or more questions for it.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:02:00] When you when you get on the ship to go overseas, what were you what were you feeling? Were you nervous? Were you scared? Can you talk a little bit about, like, what life was like on the ship?
Sherrill Adams [00:02:16] Oh, I don't remember about, you know, being nervous, except you just tried to follow what they told you to do. I never volunteered for anything. We got on a limey ship or an English or Scottish ship, whatever you want to call them, and the meals wasn't worth a darn. Most of it was soup, pea soup or bean soup or lamb stew or something like that. After we was on there a while we found out the balance of the ship, in the bottom, had raisins in, so we had a lot of raisins we ate. And then I got to know some of the cooks and stuff, and then we got ice cream and stuff after midnight or when things quieted down. So, I guess [chuckles] that's part of that then.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:10] What did you do to pass your time on the ship?
Sherrill Adams [00:03:18] Well, I'm not a gambler, so I guess I just sat around and twisted my thumb and talked to different guys and slept. And there wasn't nothin' else to do. We was in a convoy when we went across. You couldn't see all the ships, but you could see one once in a while. And we was under fire or partly-- supposed to 'a' been under fire off and on by a German boat. But it didn't happen that I know of. So you started waking up on that. That's about the size of that for--
Jennifer Jacobs [00:04:02] When you-- when you, you know, when you got overseas, can you talk to us about like, you know, your first combat experience, what you guys did as soon as you, you know, got there? Stuff like that.
Sherrill Adams [00:04:15] Well, we went to England to start with, and I was there about nine months and they had training, of bridge building and explosive and, you know, all that stuff. And in your spare time, you went to town. They couldn't keep you busy all the time. You done-- done quite a bit of sightseeing. I seen quite a little of England by going on trains here and there. That was a big experience. They had a lot of tea over there, and their fish and chips, I'd still like to get some of them. You never got tired of them. I never did, anyhow. And a lot of them Englishmen, they didn't like us, of course. When we went with their daughters, why that didn't help matters any either. So. I had one girl I went with about six months over there, and I suppose I could have brought her back if I'd wanted to, but I didn't want to split up from her mother. So. I guess that's about the size of that, too.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:05:31] So, then, while you were stationed in England, did you learn about where you were about to go, to see, you know, actual combat? When did you get your orders and stuff like that?
Sherrill Adams [00:05:44] You knew it was coming. You didn't know when. I guess we was ready to go. Engineers didn't fight-- as far as carrying a gun, well, we carried a-- just little carbines. Even all-- even all through Germany, that's all we carried. We wasn't supposed to shoot anybody or shoot at anybody. We was bridge building. And that's what the other guys was supposed to be doing was shootin' and that. They kept telling us, you know, well, you knew everything was coming for the bombin' [of] London and all that and blitz bombs and that. So you knew it was coming some time, but you didn't really know when. You just-- one day they picked us up and said, "You're going," so you went across then.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:06:43] So, then, did you go across in the invasion of Normandy, then? Is that what you did?
Sherrill Adams [00:06:49] I didn't go in to Germany-- er, France until 30 days after D-Day. There's only [unintelligible] 20 miles to the town of Carentan. And we set there for, oh, about a week, I suppose. When we did go into Carentan, we was under fire. The first afternoon you could see the shells and stuff landing out to the side of us there. And that particular night, like I told him [referring to someone off-camera], there was 280 guys killed across the road from us just, you know, just the other side there. So you've got-- got experience pretty quick. It-- you started learning how to dig a foxhole damn fast. So. And then they-- like I's told him, they had to back-- about 10:30 in the morning, they had to break through at Saint-Lo. And we was so close to it, the bombs looked like fence posts coming out of the planes, and you couldn't stand up. You had to be leaning against the concussion that was going back. And the next morning, that's when the breakthrough at Saint-Lo was and-- when it really got-- got going. Bridge-building was ahead of the infantry and the tanks and all of that. Puttin' a bridge is a [unintelligible] infantry. We had infantry assault boats that was-- then takin' the guys across rivers and bringin' 'em back and never got a scratch all of it or shot or anything in that-- in that length of time. So. Yeah, there's a lot of the major rivers, I can't remember all of them, that we [unintelligible] that we did work on. Moselle and I-- I can't think of all of them now. I got some maps, they're at home with the routes we had. And then they had papers like that they put out with them old-- oh, instructions and stuff on them. You're supposed to throw all them away. But I kept some. I still got a bunch of 'em at home where you [had] the routes on there. So.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:09:34] As you were, you know, building the bridges and stuff like that, was there combat going on, like, all around you or how-- how was that, you know, what happened when you were doing those kinds of things?
Sherrill Adams [00:09:46] We-- there was seven battle stars given in European theater, and I had five of 'em. So, there was combat most-- most-- most of the time, and it wasn't from the men. It was the old women sitting on the front porch with an air rifle shooting the guys in the temple as they drove by. So it was-- it was spooky. You couldn't-- you couldn't trust any of the-- especially the German people. The French wasn't so bad. But to Germany, when they was in through there, you couldn't trust-- trust any of them. A lot of the French was real helpful, you know, on helpin' you out and givin' you, oh, eggs and chickens and eatin' stuff. You'd trade your candy bars and stuff for-- for what they had. And they-- especially in Germany, well, in France, too, you had to turn in all your-- they was supposed to turn in all their guns and stuff ahead of time into the mayor or the burgermaster [i.e. burgermeister]. And we had all assessed any-- any and all of them that we wanted. All ya had to do was just go in, and you'd have rooms this big of, oh, Brownings, all gold inlaid stuff and all of that. You'd just go in and pick one up, whatever you wanted, but with drivin' a truck you didn't have room for that kind of stuff. I did bring back a Browning automatic 9mm that I carried under a shoulder holster most of the time. Lucky to get it back, though.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:11:43] You said that you had five battle stars. Do you remember the names of the specific battles that you were in? Or-- how did that feel when you got those battle stars?
Sherrill Adams [00:11:55] Well, I can't-- I can't think what they are now. I-- I can't-- what the number of it was. There was Rhine and, of course, the Battle of the Bulge, and I can't think what the other three or four was. But we was constantly under fire most-- most, all the time [unintelligible] where I was anyhow.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:12:29] You just mentioned the Battle of the Bulge. Can you tell us what that was like, what your experience was when you were there?
Sherrill Adams [00:12:39] Well, it was exciting. If-- there's some pictures here, if you-- when we get through-- whatever, you can look at 'em and see what-- what it was like or-- natural pictures there. It was colder 'an hell, and we didn't have any more than what your boys got on right there for warm clothes. And you slept wherever you could. Or anyhow you could. I carried, oh, a sleepin' bags and whatever and comforters out of the houses. You could get some of those big, old, thick comforters. And then you always carried a rock or two and throw them on the fire at night, and then throw that in your sleeping bag and stuff with you. And I drove truck, so I cut out part of the floorboard and made a funnel coming off of my manifold and stuff right up into me to-- for the heat and stuff. And one of the motor pool guy[s] was going to have me turned in for disassembling a truck or whatever you want to call it. But it never did go through, I guess. So, you had to look out for yourself.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:14:15] Captain Gledhill [Jared Gledhill, ROTC officer on BVU campus] said that you were in Bastogne. Can you talk about your experience there?
Sherrill Adams [00:14:26] Well, it was cold there. A lot of snow. For one deal on Christmas Day, this wasn't Bastogne, this was Liege. We went through this one town and stopped and well, a girl was standing there in the door and, of course, you're always talking or whatever and-- and we'd got ready to go, why we kept on goin'. But the captain come by and seen me talking to her, and we got paid that day. And as I was going through the line, he said, "Would you like to take my Jeep back and have Christmas dinner with them people?" And I said, "Why, sure." So it was only about, I don't know, three or four or five blocks or whatever, very short time we stayed in that town that night. So I went back and had Christmas dinner with them, and we got paid that day, too. That was-- I can't think what year it was now, but that was a Christmas Day and no place to spend your money. So that was out, too. It was Bastogne, we was surrounded by Germans. I guess we really didn't know it, but we was. And it was just colder 'an, colder 'an heck there at that particular time. But they got a break-through. We went on through somewhere, I can't remember. And probably about that particular time, it took us 48 hours to put up one bridge, Bailey Bridge. We'd put it up in the dark, and the next morning there was a tank-- two mornings in a row, a tank was sitting over there in the evergreen trees. And the first morning they didn't catch it, but it blowed the bridge up on us. And so we went back and we-- we didn't really didn't put the bridges up, we just had the equipment. We had to make darn sure we had all the pins and everything, extra pins and that. And the combat engineers put the bridges up. But we helped-- we had to have everything to do it. We'd help tell 'em how to do it if they didn't know. And this tank blowed the first bridge up, then it blowed the other one up on us. Finally we got the third one, but the snow give 'em away for when-- the second morning or third morning they could see where the tank was, and it shook the evergreens, and so he didn't last long. That-- then while I'm thinkin' of that, a lot of snipers over there in the rural-- rural area of the coal country where they had the big tank-- buckets and stuff going around through there. The Germans would climb up in there, the snipers would, and snipe ya off if they could. And that was interesting when they found out what one of them was in-- cut loose their 50 calibers and that kind of stuff, and it'd just shine, you know, it was-- Oh, I'd hate to be in there for the ringin' like, a big bell. So, that was-- yeah.
Lindsey Peterson [00:18:07] About how long did it take to put up one of the bridges that you helped with?
Sherrill Adams [00:18:13] It depend[ed] on how many pieces there was to it and how long it was, and how you had to put it across. You'd build it on this side, and then to take a big bulldozer and push it over and and then it'd balance on the other side. It depended on the situation of the train or whatever it was to do it. It was easy to put up. They just had the sides and big pins and everything fitted right together. It was a back breaking deal. You had to carry all of it but-- it was-- they had it pretty well down. Pretty simple to do. You had to make sure you had all the pins and stuff for the guys to do it with, though.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:19:01] While you were there, I know that Patton was in charge. What was that like? Did you ever have any experiences with him? What did you think of him? You know, just being the normal-- being a normal soldier, you know, what-- what did you think of him?
Sherrill Adams [00:19:17] The time I did meet him, he was a nice guy. We was setting in, I think, France-- well, when they had the breakthrough at Saint-Lo, that was his big deal-- that to break through-- it was-- I can't-- the sixth, I believe, 10:30 in the morning, there were 2,500 bombers come-- beside the fighter planes that had to break through. And the next day, that's when we took off and-- and went down through there. We happened to be settin' along a road, waitin' to move, which we did set quite a bit and move. A lot of night driving we had to do. And we were setting there with our helmets off. And he come along there and he just happened to stop. And he-- he didn't-- he wasn't a preacher. And he told us to get our helmets on. So we said, "Okay." And then we knew right who then he was for he had his double pistols on him. He said "That feels so damn good with our helmets off, I'm going to take mine off." So he took his off and stood there and talked to us a little bit. And then he decided to go on. But that's the only time that I know that I've ever been that close to him. But he had a job to do and he got it done.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:20:48] As you made your way through France and you started to make your way into Germany, did you notice that the people were much more hostile toward you, the Germans, or how did that feel? Were you more anxious as you entered that area or--
Sherrill Adams [00:21:01] You know, I think you could probably tell right to the border if you had time to set and stop. The-- the French people was real friendly, especially the girls. [laughs] I don't know how [laughs] they [were] glad to see you and-- and all that. And so was the women. Hell, they'd run up to your truck and kiss you and hug you and, you know, just happy to have what-- and well, you're talking about French, when we first had to break through there in France, there was livestock and stuff laying on the road that was killed, and they'd be laying there. When you go by one time, you come back next time the hams and loins and everything would be gone. So it was-- and as far as privacy or anything like that, the-- the women had no privacy. The toilets was-- no-- when you went, you went. You didn't give a damn where you was and who you was. Whether you guys want to know that or not, but that's what the situation was. No, there's no-- no embarrassment, especially in France. And that was a dirty country, a lot of it was, you know. The drains went right by the front door, the back door. The horses and the cattle and the horses in one side of the house and the people and the cattle and this in another side. And the hogs were just right on the other side there, too. You didn't drink any of the water there. All you had was their wine and cognac and that stuff. Matter of fact, I carried a five-gallon can on my truck, and that's all that was in it was wine most of the time. So, it was-- it was free. You go in them cellars, and there's just big barrels and barrels and barrels and you couldd have been an alcoholic if you'd wanted to.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:23:19] As you were building bridges, did you take part in building the Rhine River bridge?
Sherrill Adams [00:23:25] Did I? [laughs] Uh, oh. Yeah, we did. We was the first ones there. There's a picture here of an infantry of assault boats that we took people-- the infantry across the river to start with to establish a head over there. And then we hauled the stuff for the Remagen railroad bridge that they blowed up. And that was the first place I'd seen a jet aeroplane. And that thing went up and down that river just like a shot. It looked about like one of them blitz bombs or whatever, only you could see it.
Male voice [00:24:15] Did you know what it was?
Sherrill Adams [00:24:16] Huh?
Male voice [00:24:16] Did you know what it was when you saw it?
Sherrill Adams [00:24:18] I don't think we probably did, to start with. Word probably didn't take long for it to get out. I can't remember, but I can still see it goin'-- goin' up river there, so.
Male voice [00:24:36] Did it just make a couple of passes? Did it-- did it--
Sherrill Adams [00:24:42] Just-- just one pass. Yeah, it just made one pass up through there. And you wondered what-- what it was, so. And that's the only one that I ever seen over there. Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:25:03] When you were, you know, in your foxhole at night, can you describe what that was like for you? Oh, when-- was a lot of, like, bombings that were going on at that time? Did you feel uneasy, were able to get a lot of sleep?
Sherrill Adams [00:25:15] [Laughs]
Jennifer Jacobs [00:25:15] What was that like?
Sherrill Adams [00:25:18] [Laughs] Oh, the first night in France when they-- our Bailey bridges had big I-beams on them and in our trailers and stuff we crawled underneath there, and you could hear the stuff bouncing around here and there. So it was scary. It was spooky. You-- it made you wonder what-- what could happen. And there's other times that you did-- dug foxholes and depending on where you was. But most of the time, I stayed under the-- between the trailer wheels and the big I-beams 'cuz there wasn't a whole lot of area around there, that except ground shrapnel, that would get you. It was-- it was spooky.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:26:21] Do you remember if there was a lot of casualties in your unit? Did you lose any friends during the war? You said that you yourself weren't wounded, but did you see anything?
Sherrill Adams [00:26:31] We lost-- quite a few guys. We wasn't supposed to do any shooting or anything. So the ones that was killed was [by] snipers or shrapnel. I carried a duffel bag on the driver's side of my truck, and I still got it at home, and it's got shrapnel holes in it. So that was-- I guess about the closest I ever come to being killed is one time I was setting beside a building waitin' to unload, and they got them big outside chimneys on and somebody-- or the chimneys got shot and all the bricks and stuff fell in the back of my truck, like from me to you. And they're-- all the top of the cab was a canvas top. So, I'm sure if I'd been another four foot back, I'd have been under that stuff. That's as close as I can say I was killed or hurt or anything.
Lindsey Peterson [00:27:43] How did you stay in touch with your family and friends back home?
Sherrill Adams [00:27:49] Well, what I did write back, they couldn't read it. So it was damn hard to keep in touch with 'em. But like the different towns over there, you would write something on the little cards about this and that. Like the town of Troy over there. The town I was from had a guy's name by Jim Troy. And I told 'em that I'd seen Jim Troy or Jim today. So they followed you with that or the sentence you started out with: Nancy or put the names in a big-- bigger number or bigger letter on there, and then they could kind of follow you that way. But there's no other way you could keep track, you know, that I knew of any. I wasn't smart enough to do a lot of that Secret Service stuff.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:29:05] When you found out that you were about to be discharged, how did you feel about that? Were you ready to go home? And then when you got back home, what was that like, readjusting to the life of a civilian again?
Sherrill Adams [00:29:16] Well, it was good to see all the-- the folks. I didn't have the best taste in the world, and I needed another oper-- or needed an operation. And they wanted you to stay in service and get that done. The government took care of it and I told them, "Hell no, I've had it this long, I might as well take it home with me." So I-- I-- I did bring it back with me. And I-- I never wanted to go, but when it was time to get out, I was willing to get out. I'm probably different than a lot of people but that's my-- that was my feelings.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:29:57] And some of the things that, you know, we talked on the phone earlier, you mentioned that you went on an Honor Flight to D.C.
Sherrill Adams [00:30:02] Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:30:03] Will you talk about what that was like for you to see the, you know, the war monument that's there and stuff like that.
Sherrill Adams [00:30:09] That was exciting, too. Interesting. Just like the service. If it hadn't been for the government and free, I'd never got it done. Oh. It was-- appreciated everything that Hy-Vee done for us. There's a bunch of good people above. They made their money, and they spent it that way, and we all thanked them for it. And it was a nice bunch of people to talk to, and I guess they took their high hat off and come down with us and was just like we are. So, I appreciated it. We even-- when we got back to Des Moines, me and my-- well, my brother, he was in service, too, but he was up in the Aleutian Islands, about very few miles from Russia up there. So we both went on Honor Flight together. His boy worked at Des Moines, and we had some pull down there. He did. So they got us two on the same flight and the same bus and all that. And when we was getting on and off the bus all the time, why this one guy looked for the Adams boys, and there we was most of the time around there somewhere. Yeah.
Male voice [00:31:30] What did you think of the memorial itself?
Sherrill Adams [00:31:33] It was-- [crosstalk]
Male voice [00:31:35] --the monument--
Sherrill Adams [00:31:35] --it was all interesting. I-- I don't know. I'm not too good at expressin' anything, but I guess it's the best-- the best you can do. It was-- it was-- well, what they done, you know, with-- with our-- with their money or our money or whatever. And it's there forever unless they get bombed, you know, out or whatever. A lot of-- a lot of work went into it. A lot of money. Yeah, it's-- I don't know.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:32:26] When you were back home and you heard about, you know, the victory in Japan, how did you feel at that time? Do you, you know, really excited, you know? Talk to us a little bit about that.
Sherrill Adams [00:32:37] Well, yeah, you'd be excited for there's no more-- no more war there. You-- you didn't have to worry about your life, only accidental or whatever. We was, well, they pulled us out of the Battle of the Bulge [unintelligible, but probably "before"] it was over with. And they pulled us out and sent us on oh, light duty or whatever you want to call it. So, they put straw in-- in our trucks and put a five-gallon can of nitroglycerin in each quarter-- corner and the center. And that's what we hauled as being, what do you want to call it, on our recreation or whatever, freedom. And, hell, that was more dangerous than the war was. Five cans of nitroglycerin settin' in there. And just after that, they started to send us down to Nice and Marseilles, France, to go over to Japan. And that's when we heard it was over with, on the way down to there. So, it was a good thing to get that over with. Rest up awhile. Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:34:02] Was the training that you took the place in for Japan, was it different than that training which you took place in, you know, back in boot camp? Did they teach you, you know, different tactics?
Sherrill Adams [00:34:12] No, there was no-- no training to it. We just done rec-- recreation and got an order to go. And you just-- just ordered. I guess they figured we had enough experience to-- to go down there. Whether they needed help or whatever, I don't know what the deal was. Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:34:40] Are there any other stories that, you know, you would like to talk about or something that you forgot to mention or we forgot to ask?
Sherrill Adams [00:34:49] Oh, I don't know. There's things that come up just talking there. One, when we crossed one river there and then we left there and you go out through the field, you know, drivin', we went out through and there was a house settin' out in the country. A great, great big house below a cliff and what brought it to me, your tankman here [referring to Jared Gledhill] was talking about it. In front of that house, there was two German tanks on fire burning when we drove up there, and not too far away, there's American tanks that was having problems, too. And we, me and Bauer, grabbed our cots and went in that house that night. When we come out the next morning, there was dead Germans in the straw pile there on the front door. And when we put our cots up that night, I kicked something that-- a rock or we didn't know what it was. Got up the next morning, there was a hand grenade laying over there, a dud that hadn't gone off. I can still remember that I kicked it with my right foot and we said, "Hell, we were lucky there." And back on behind the cliff, the snipers would-- was-- had all kinds of pots and stuff built up where they was staying. And we set there for a couple days and got to see all that, and we went up around their trails. We didn't get off the trails but went up around the trails. And there was dead Germans laying all over. That was one time. Another time I can think, we stopped along the road is all, night drivin' and I stepped out of my truck, and I stepped on something soft, and I didn't know what-- what it was. But then you got out and started feeling around and felt the stuff, then you'd-- it was a German there. You could feel the way the insignias of his coats and stuff was. It [he] was run over right there on the road.
Male voice [00:37:10] What was it like driving at night?
Sherrill Adams [00:37:12] Hell.
Male voice [00:37:15] Did you drive completely blacked out, or did you have--
Sherrill Adams [00:37:17] Yeah, we had the little lights, you know, little oblong lights there, yeah, and that's what most of our driving was, was night drivin'. One time, we was talkin' about that, I's [I was]-- you're always probably tired or whatever it was, this one time I was tired of settin' there in my truck. Went to sleep, and here come a-- one of the-- the corp[oral] or somebody [come] along and tapped me on the shoulder and say, you know, "Wake up, let's go." So I did. But they always check the whole line to make sure everybody is awake and a-goin'. Otherwise you drove all night or whatever, and you-- you was tired most of time. It was-- yeah, yeah.
Bill Feis [00:38:08] So, what did you do during the day? If you drove a lot at night, what did you do during the days? Did you-- did you just sit tight and wait for the night to come? Or did you drive--
Sherrill Adams [00:38:17] Yeah. You set there and waited for your time to come. Them two little cycles that I showed you, me and Scray (sp?) had them, and we would get on them and ride around through the part of the country or whatever we could. We was always tradin' chocolate and pineapple and that stuff for chickens and eggs and-- and that kind of stuff. And we done quite a bit of ridin' around just for that. You'd go into houses and just like walking in here, you'd take whatever was there. You wanted it, you could carry and take it. Jewelry or blankets or forks or knives or any of that kind of stuff. But you can only a handle so much so-- and then if you did take it, you left it and picked up somethin' else somewhere else. So, you-- you had your freedom. One time we's lookin' around this old barn, and it had a whole bunch of corn up there or wheat, and I was kickin' around in it, and there was a pair of black dress boots that they wore. And I was goin' to take them, and that German, he cried, and he said, "Oh, don't, take them" and this and that. And I said, "Okay, you can have 'em" and left them there, but, you know, you just-- you had all the freedom, especially in Germany. There was no-- yeah.
Sherrill Adams [00:39:55] [Segueway. Mr. Adams has gotten out a photo album and points to photographs] These here is the Siegfried line between Germany and France, where they had them for years and didn't think anybody'd go across them, but they did. They just made roads up over the top and no problems. And this is one of the big theaters or USO deals where they'd have shows and stuff. See, this is Nurnberg. That's a big Nurnberg stadium here. That was old "Pop" Knox. He was about the oldest guy in the bunch.
Male voice [00:40:38] How old was he?
Sherrill Adams [00:40:40] Oh, I can't remember now. I suppose, probably 30, 40. Probably 40 at that time.
Male voice [00:40:49] That was pretty ancient.
Sherrill Adams [00:40:50] There's a house we was in. There's them little cycles that we had.
Male voice [00:40:58] Where did you get the-- where'd you get the bikes at? Were they just layin'?
Sherrill Adams [00:41:02] Just like going up here to the Honda shop and get 'em. I had a big Indian before-- one time and you couldn't handle that. But these little ones, you could pick 'em up and throw them up on your load or whatever. They just had a little gas engine, and you had to pedal them to get 'em started, so. Yeah, that's-
Male voice [00:41:31] Where's--
Sherrill Adams [00:41:31] Well, that's one of the bridges we was working on, I believe. The way it looks from here, anyhow. This is in Nurnberg, I believe it is, ain't it?
Male voice [00:41:47] Yup.
Sherrill Adams [00:41:48] This is a Nurnberg motel. And there it is afterwards. And here is the stadium in Nurnberg. Ol' Hitler used to give speeches out of this corner up here. And I'm not sure what them pictures are. This guy here, his name was Coke. Remember that.
Male voice [00:42:22] Did you have other guys from Iowa in your unit?
Sherrill Adams [00:42:25] Oh, we heard a Mahoney from down by Iowa City, but that's the only one that I know of. [coughs] This is up there in the Battle of the Bulge. A little snow, a lot of snow on the ground. [coughs]
Bill Feis [00:42:45] Now, are these guys that you knew in the picture?
Sherrill Adams [00:42:48] Yeah, they was guys that I knew. Um-hmm. I can't think what their names are now.
Bill Feis [00:42:55] Were they-- were they in the 72nd or were they in other units? You just knew--
Sherrill Adams [00:42:59] No, it was in our [crosstalk] they was in our company. Hm-hmm. Yeah, these-- all these guys was in the-- in the same company I was.
Bill Feis [00:43:08] It looks really cold.
Sherrill Adams [00:43:09] It was cold. And we had nothing for shoes or jackets or anything. Only our wool pants and underwear that you could find, whatever. Yeah, it was cold.
Male voice [00:43:30] Where was this one taken at? It looks like he's sitting on a-- a gun of some sort.
Male voice [00:43:35] That's a pillbox, I believe. Probably a German pillbox he's settin' on there. [Unintelligible] second engineer. There would be times we wouldn't see the-- anything from headquarters for two or three weeks [at] a time. We just had our orders and-- and go that way. This is a-- bridge, I don't know which one it was. Now I can't-- [crosstalk]
Male voice [00:44:15] --Sherrill in front of bridge--
Sherrill Adams [00:44:16] Yeah, this is the Moselle River here. And there's the Pont de Terre. (?) And I can't remember all of 'em. This is a railroad bridge there in Nurn-- that-- Rhine River.
Bill Feis [00:44:30] Now, is this you in your truck? Or is that someone else? [crosstalk]
Sherrill Adams [00:44:39] Oh, I can't tell you.
Bill Feis [00:44:41] It says "On P.W. run with Snubby Muck, Marseilles."
Sherrill Adams [00:44:47] Yeah, they'd-- sometimes they'd unload their trucks and put us on PW [prisoner of war] runs, haulin' guys back and forth. We did liberate one camp and Sar Union (sp?) over there, of a German prisoner of war camp.
Bill Feis [00:45:12] Okay.
Sherrill Adams [00:45:13] We took two guys back from there back to the mess house or whatever and they couldn't eat as much is what you could hold in your hands. They [were] just skin and bones. Never got their names or anything, you know, always wishin' you did later on. But you never-- you just-- you know-- just forget. I think this is the railroad bridge across the Rhine River, too-- I believe it is. You know, that was just some of the people we met over there. This one here, I went with her for about six months over there. I could have probably brought her back, but I didn't want to break her from her mother or maybe vice versa, I don't know. [laughter] There's all kinds of-- the people you meet over there. You did meet, anyhow. I don't see the picture in here [of] that gal up in Belgium there.
Bill Feis [00:46:33] There's one right there says Belgium. Is that her?
Sherrill Adams [00:46:36] No. She was an Amish or an Amish person. They were the big, long skirts and-- and hair all bundled up and that. Amish or whatever you want to call 'em, the hook and button outfit or whatever. Bobbie had took my old book and took it to Pierre and started being one of them book clubs or whatever, you know, doing that. And so she got a lot of my pictures out there. I never did get the book finished.
Bill Feis [00:47:20] You know, kids. What are you going to do, huh?
Sherrill Adams [00:47:23] This is the Battle of the Bulge, I believe. Yeah. I don't know what the ideas they had us out there in that snow and stuff for. We didn't have nothing else to do. So I suppose they done that. [Let's] see, is the Remagen bridge?
Bill Feis [00:47:48] It says, "The location of where the pontoon bridge was across the Rhine River."
Sherrill Adams [00:47:57] Mm-hmm. Yeah. That was a pretty hot time over there.
Bill Feis [00:48:02] This one says, "On the move." Is this-- the trucks with your--
Sherrill Adams [00:48:05] Yeah, that's our infantry assault boat. Each one of them is a boat, and they would set butt to butt like this table. And go twice as big and paddle guys acrost [i.e. across] and yeah. That Rhine River and several of the others, some time[s] was just about the color of that chair, of the blood and stuff. A lot of gas cans and stuff floating up and down and dead hogs and cattle and GIs and Germans, you know, yeah. It was interesting, guys.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:00] Today is March 10th, 2011, and we are interviewing Sherrill Adams from Storm Lake, Iowa at the communications center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Adams was born on August 4th, 1922. My name is Lindsey Peterson and I will be the interviewer, along with Jennifer Jacobs.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:21] Okay. So, sir, before you before you entered the service and stuff like that, what were you doing before you were called up?
Sherrill Adams [00:00:29] I suppose just a laborer. Whatever you could do back [in] them days. Not much of anything, really. Painter, worked on a farm, or whatever you could find to do.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:47] And then you were drafted, weren't you?
Sherrill Adams [00:00:49] Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:50] What branch were you drafted into?
Sherrill Adams [00:00:53] The Army.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:00:54] OK, and then when you went to boot camp, can you talk to us-- what-- like, boot camp was like? What kind of an experience that was for you?
Sherrill Adams [00:01:04] Well, it was all experience. We was in Texas. Out there, it's the scorpions and snakes and poorest part of the country. I don't know. I guess, I guess that'd be about the size of it, really. Just whatever you had to do and they'd try-- ask you to do and you was learnin' all the time. They give you a different things-- they trying to find out what you could do, and I guess I didn't have anything, so they put in engineers. So, after that, we just trained for that. About the size of it, I guess, unless you got more answers or more questions for it.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:02:00] When you when you get on the ship to go overseas, what were you what were you feeling? Were you nervous? Were you scared? Can you talk a little bit about, like, what life was like on the ship?
Sherrill Adams [00:02:16] Oh, I don't remember about, you know, being nervous, except you just tried to follow what they told you to do. I never volunteered for anything. We got on a limey ship or an English or Scottish ship, whatever you want to call them, and the meals wasn't worth a darn. Most of it was soup, pea soup or bean soup or lamb stew or something like that. After we was on there a while we found out the balance of the ship, in the bottom, had raisins in, so we had a lot of raisins we ate. And then I got to know some of the cooks and stuff, and then we got ice cream and stuff after midnight or when things quieted down. So, I guess [chuckles] that's part of that then.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:10] What did you do to pass your time on the ship?
Sherrill Adams [00:03:18] Well, I'm not a gambler, so I guess I just sat around and twisted my thumb and talked to different guys and slept. And there wasn't nothin' else to do. We was in a convoy when we went across. You couldn't see all the ships, but you could see one once in a while. And we was under fire or partly-- supposed to 'a' been under fire off and on by a German boat. But it didn't happen that I know of. So you started waking up on that. That's about the size of that for--
Jennifer Jacobs [00:04:02] When you-- when you, you know, when you got overseas, can you talk to us about like, you know, your first combat experience, what you guys did as soon as you, you know, got there? Stuff like that.
Sherrill Adams [00:04:15] Well, we went to England to start with, and I was there about nine months and they had training, of bridge building and explosive and, you know, all that stuff. And in your spare time, you went to town. They couldn't keep you busy all the time. You done-- done quite a bit of sightseeing. I seen quite a little of England by going on trains here and there. That was a big experience. They had a lot of tea over there, and their fish and chips, I'd still like to get some of them. You never got tired of them. I never did, anyhow. And a lot of them Englishmen, they didn't like us, of course. When we went with their daughters, why that didn't help matters any either. So. I had one girl I went with about six months over there, and I suppose I could have brought her back if I'd wanted to, but I didn't want to split up from her mother. So. I guess that's about the size of that, too.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:05:31] So, then, while you were stationed in England, did you learn about where you were about to go, to see, you know, actual combat? When did you get your orders and stuff like that?
Sherrill Adams [00:05:44] You knew it was coming. You didn't know when. I guess we was ready to go. Engineers didn't fight-- as far as carrying a gun, well, we carried a-- just little carbines. Even all-- even all through Germany, that's all we carried. We wasn't supposed to shoot anybody or shoot at anybody. We was bridge building. And that's what the other guys was supposed to be doing was shootin' and that. They kept telling us, you know, well, you knew everything was coming for the bombin' [of] London and all that and blitz bombs and that. So you knew it was coming some time, but you didn't really know when. You just-- one day they picked us up and said, "You're going," so you went across then.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:06:43] So, then, did you go across in the invasion of Normandy, then? Is that what you did?
Sherrill Adams [00:06:49] I didn't go in to Germany-- er, France until 30 days after D-Day. There's only [unintelligible] 20 miles to the town of Carentan. And we set there for, oh, about a week, I suppose. When we did go into Carentan, we was under fire. The first afternoon you could see the shells and stuff landing out to the side of us there. And that particular night, like I told him [referring to someone off-camera], there was 280 guys killed across the road from us just, you know, just the other side there. So you've got-- got experience pretty quick. It-- you started learning how to dig a foxhole damn fast. So. And then they-- like I's told him, they had to back-- about 10:30 in the morning, they had to break through at Saint-Lo. And we was so close to it, the bombs looked like fence posts coming out of the planes, and you couldn't stand up. You had to be leaning against the concussion that was going back. And the next morning, that's when the breakthrough at Saint-Lo was and-- when it really got-- got going. Bridge-building was ahead of the infantry and the tanks and all of that. Puttin' a bridge is a [unintelligible] infantry. We had infantry assault boats that was-- then takin' the guys across rivers and bringin' 'em back and never got a scratch all of it or shot or anything in that-- in that length of time. So. Yeah, there's a lot of the major rivers, I can't remember all of them, that we [unintelligible] that we did work on. Moselle and I-- I can't think of all of them now. I got some maps, they're at home with the routes we had. And then they had papers like that they put out with them old-- oh, instructions and stuff on them. You're supposed to throw all them away. But I kept some. I still got a bunch of 'em at home where you [had] the routes on there. So.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:09:34] As you were, you know, building the bridges and stuff like that, was there combat going on, like, all around you or how-- how was that, you know, what happened when you were doing those kinds of things?
Sherrill Adams [00:09:46] We-- there was seven battle stars given in European theater, and I had five of 'em. So, there was combat most-- most-- most of the time, and it wasn't from the men. It was the old women sitting on the front porch with an air rifle shooting the guys in the temple as they drove by. So it was-- it was spooky. You couldn't-- you couldn't trust any of the-- especially the German people. The French wasn't so bad. But to Germany, when they was in through there, you couldn't trust-- trust any of them. A lot of the French was real helpful, you know, on helpin' you out and givin' you, oh, eggs and chickens and eatin' stuff. You'd trade your candy bars and stuff for-- for what they had. And they-- especially in Germany, well, in France, too, you had to turn in all your-- they was supposed to turn in all their guns and stuff ahead of time into the mayor or the burgermaster [i.e. burgermeister]. And we had all assessed any-- any and all of them that we wanted. All ya had to do was just go in, and you'd have rooms this big of, oh, Brownings, all gold inlaid stuff and all of that. You'd just go in and pick one up, whatever you wanted, but with drivin' a truck you didn't have room for that kind of stuff. I did bring back a Browning automatic 9mm that I carried under a shoulder holster most of the time. Lucky to get it back, though.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:11:43] You said that you had five battle stars. Do you remember the names of the specific battles that you were in? Or-- how did that feel when you got those battle stars?
Sherrill Adams [00:11:55] Well, I can't-- I can't think what they are now. I-- I can't-- what the number of it was. There was Rhine and, of course, the Battle of the Bulge, and I can't think what the other three or four was. But we was constantly under fire most-- most, all the time [unintelligible] where I was anyhow.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:12:29] You just mentioned the Battle of the Bulge. Can you tell us what that was like, what your experience was when you were there?
Sherrill Adams [00:12:39] Well, it was exciting. If-- there's some pictures here, if you-- when we get through-- whatever, you can look at 'em and see what-- what it was like or-- natural pictures there. It was colder 'an hell, and we didn't have any more than what your boys got on right there for warm clothes. And you slept wherever you could. Or anyhow you could. I carried, oh, a sleepin' bags and whatever and comforters out of the houses. You could get some of those big, old, thick comforters. And then you always carried a rock or two and throw them on the fire at night, and then throw that in your sleeping bag and stuff with you. And I drove truck, so I cut out part of the floorboard and made a funnel coming off of my manifold and stuff right up into me to-- for the heat and stuff. And one of the motor pool guy[s] was going to have me turned in for disassembling a truck or whatever you want to call it. But it never did go through, I guess. So, you had to look out for yourself.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:14:15] Captain Gledhill [Jared Gledhill, ROTC officer on BVU campus] said that you were in Bastogne. Can you talk about your experience there?
Sherrill Adams [00:14:26] Well, it was cold there. A lot of snow. For one deal on Christmas Day, this wasn't Bastogne, this was Liege. We went through this one town and stopped and well, a girl was standing there in the door and, of course, you're always talking or whatever and-- and we'd got ready to go, why we kept on goin'. But the captain come by and seen me talking to her, and we got paid that day. And as I was going through the line, he said, "Would you like to take my Jeep back and have Christmas dinner with them people?" And I said, "Why, sure." So it was only about, I don't know, three or four or five blocks or whatever, very short time we stayed in that town that night. So I went back and had Christmas dinner with them, and we got paid that day, too. That was-- I can't think what year it was now, but that was a Christmas Day and no place to spend your money. So that was out, too. It was Bastogne, we was surrounded by Germans. I guess we really didn't know it, but we was. And it was just colder 'an, colder 'an heck there at that particular time. But they got a break-through. We went on through somewhere, I can't remember. And probably about that particular time, it took us 48 hours to put up one bridge, Bailey Bridge. We'd put it up in the dark, and the next morning there was a tank-- two mornings in a row, a tank was sitting over there in the evergreen trees. And the first morning they didn't catch it, but it blowed the bridge up on us. And so we went back and we-- we didn't really didn't put the bridges up, we just had the equipment. We had to make darn sure we had all the pins and everything, extra pins and that. And the combat engineers put the bridges up. But we helped-- we had to have everything to do it. We'd help tell 'em how to do it if they didn't know. And this tank blowed the first bridge up, then it blowed the other one up on us. Finally we got the third one, but the snow give 'em away for when-- the second morning or third morning they could see where the tank was, and it shook the evergreens, and so he didn't last long. That-- then while I'm thinkin' of that, a lot of snipers over there in the rural-- rural area of the coal country where they had the big tank-- buckets and stuff going around through there. The Germans would climb up in there, the snipers would, and snipe ya off if they could. And that was interesting when they found out what one of them was in-- cut loose their 50 calibers and that kind of stuff, and it'd just shine, you know, it was-- Oh, I'd hate to be in there for the ringin' like, a big bell. So, that was-- yeah.
Lindsey Peterson [00:18:07] About how long did it take to put up one of the bridges that you helped with?
Sherrill Adams [00:18:13] It depend[ed] on how many pieces there was to it and how long it was, and how you had to put it across. You'd build it on this side, and then to take a big bulldozer and push it over and and then it'd balance on the other side. It depended on the situation of the train or whatever it was to do it. It was easy to put up. They just had the sides and big pins and everything fitted right together. It was a back breaking deal. You had to carry all of it but-- it was-- they had it pretty well down. Pretty simple to do. You had to make sure you had all the pins and stuff for the guys to do it with, though.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:19:01] While you were there, I know that Patton was in charge. What was that like? Did you ever have any experiences with him? What did you think of him? You know, just being the normal-- being a normal soldier, you know, what-- what did you think of him?
Sherrill Adams [00:19:17] The time I did meet him, he was a nice guy. We was setting in, I think, France-- well, when they had the breakthrough at Saint-Lo, that was his big deal-- that to break through-- it was-- I can't-- the sixth, I believe, 10:30 in the morning, there were 2,500 bombers come-- beside the fighter planes that had to break through. And the next day, that's when we took off and-- and went down through there. We happened to be settin' along a road, waitin' to move, which we did set quite a bit and move. A lot of night driving we had to do. And we were setting there with our helmets off. And he come along there and he just happened to stop. And he-- he didn't-- he wasn't a preacher. And he told us to get our helmets on. So we said, "Okay." And then we knew right who then he was for he had his double pistols on him. He said "That feels so damn good with our helmets off, I'm going to take mine off." So he took his off and stood there and talked to us a little bit. And then he decided to go on. But that's the only time that I know that I've ever been that close to him. But he had a job to do and he got it done.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:20:48] As you made your way through France and you started to make your way into Germany, did you notice that the people were much more hostile toward you, the Germans, or how did that feel? Were you more anxious as you entered that area or--
Sherrill Adams [00:21:01] You know, I think you could probably tell right to the border if you had time to set and stop. The-- the French people was real friendly, especially the girls. [laughs] I don't know how [laughs] they [were] glad to see you and-- and all that. And so was the women. Hell, they'd run up to your truck and kiss you and hug you and, you know, just happy to have what-- and well, you're talking about French, when we first had to break through there in France, there was livestock and stuff laying on the road that was killed, and they'd be laying there. When you go by one time, you come back next time the hams and loins and everything would be gone. So it was-- and as far as privacy or anything like that, the-- the women had no privacy. The toilets was-- no-- when you went, you went. You didn't give a damn where you was and who you was. Whether you guys want to know that or not, but that's what the situation was. No, there's no-- no embarrassment, especially in France. And that was a dirty country, a lot of it was, you know. The drains went right by the front door, the back door. The horses and the cattle and the horses in one side of the house and the people and the cattle and this in another side. And the hogs were just right on the other side there, too. You didn't drink any of the water there. All you had was their wine and cognac and that stuff. Matter of fact, I carried a five-gallon can on my truck, and that's all that was in it was wine most of the time. So, it was-- it was free. You go in them cellars, and there's just big barrels and barrels and barrels and you couldd have been an alcoholic if you'd wanted to.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:23:19] As you were building bridges, did you take part in building the Rhine River bridge?
Sherrill Adams [00:23:25] Did I? [laughs] Uh, oh. Yeah, we did. We was the first ones there. There's a picture here of an infantry of assault boats that we took people-- the infantry across the river to start with to establish a head over there. And then we hauled the stuff for the Remagen railroad bridge that they blowed up. And that was the first place I'd seen a jet aeroplane. And that thing went up and down that river just like a shot. It looked about like one of them blitz bombs or whatever, only you could see it.
Male voice [00:24:15] Did you know what it was?
Sherrill Adams [00:24:16] Huh?
Male voice [00:24:16] Did you know what it was when you saw it?
Sherrill Adams [00:24:18] I don't think we probably did, to start with. Word probably didn't take long for it to get out. I can't remember, but I can still see it goin'-- goin' up river there, so.
Male voice [00:24:36] Did it just make a couple of passes? Did it-- did it--
Sherrill Adams [00:24:42] Just-- just one pass. Yeah, it just made one pass up through there. And you wondered what-- what it was, so. And that's the only one that I ever seen over there. Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:25:03] When you were, you know, in your foxhole at night, can you describe what that was like for you? Oh, when-- was a lot of, like, bombings that were going on at that time? Did you feel uneasy, were able to get a lot of sleep?
Sherrill Adams [00:25:15] [Laughs]
Jennifer Jacobs [00:25:15] What was that like?
Sherrill Adams [00:25:18] [Laughs] Oh, the first night in France when they-- our Bailey bridges had big I-beams on them and in our trailers and stuff we crawled underneath there, and you could hear the stuff bouncing around here and there. So it was scary. It was spooky. You-- it made you wonder what-- what could happen. And there's other times that you did-- dug foxholes and depending on where you was. But most of the time, I stayed under the-- between the trailer wheels and the big I-beams 'cuz there wasn't a whole lot of area around there, that except ground shrapnel, that would get you. It was-- it was spooky.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:26:21] Do you remember if there was a lot of casualties in your unit? Did you lose any friends during the war? You said that you yourself weren't wounded, but did you see anything?
Sherrill Adams [00:26:31] We lost-- quite a few guys. We wasn't supposed to do any shooting or anything. So the ones that was killed was [by] snipers or shrapnel. I carried a duffel bag on the driver's side of my truck, and I still got it at home, and it's got shrapnel holes in it. So that was-- I guess about the closest I ever come to being killed is one time I was setting beside a building waitin' to unload, and they got them big outside chimneys on and somebody-- or the chimneys got shot and all the bricks and stuff fell in the back of my truck, like from me to you. And they're-- all the top of the cab was a canvas top. So, I'm sure if I'd been another four foot back, I'd have been under that stuff. That's as close as I can say I was killed or hurt or anything.
Lindsey Peterson [00:27:43] How did you stay in touch with your family and friends back home?
Sherrill Adams [00:27:49] Well, what I did write back, they couldn't read it. So it was damn hard to keep in touch with 'em. But like the different towns over there, you would write something on the little cards about this and that. Like the town of Troy over there. The town I was from had a guy's name by Jim Troy. And I told 'em that I'd seen Jim Troy or Jim today. So they followed you with that or the sentence you started out with: Nancy or put the names in a big-- bigger number or bigger letter on there, and then they could kind of follow you that way. But there's no other way you could keep track, you know, that I knew of any. I wasn't smart enough to do a lot of that Secret Service stuff.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:29:05] When you found out that you were about to be discharged, how did you feel about that? Were you ready to go home? And then when you got back home, what was that like, readjusting to the life of a civilian again?
Sherrill Adams [00:29:16] Well, it was good to see all the-- the folks. I didn't have the best taste in the world, and I needed another oper-- or needed an operation. And they wanted you to stay in service and get that done. The government took care of it and I told them, "Hell no, I've had it this long, I might as well take it home with me." So I-- I-- I did bring it back with me. And I-- I never wanted to go, but when it was time to get out, I was willing to get out. I'm probably different than a lot of people but that's my-- that was my feelings.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:29:57] And some of the things that, you know, we talked on the phone earlier, you mentioned that you went on an Honor Flight to D.C.
Sherrill Adams [00:30:02] Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:30:03] Will you talk about what that was like for you to see the, you know, the war monument that's there and stuff like that.
Sherrill Adams [00:30:09] That was exciting, too. Interesting. Just like the service. If it hadn't been for the government and free, I'd never got it done. Oh. It was-- appreciated everything that Hy-Vee done for us. There's a bunch of good people above. They made their money, and they spent it that way, and we all thanked them for it. And it was a nice bunch of people to talk to, and I guess they took their high hat off and come down with us and was just like we are. So, I appreciated it. We even-- when we got back to Des Moines, me and my-- well, my brother, he was in service, too, but he was up in the Aleutian Islands, about very few miles from Russia up there. So we both went on Honor Flight together. His boy worked at Des Moines, and we had some pull down there. He did. So they got us two on the same flight and the same bus and all that. And when we was getting on and off the bus all the time, why this one guy looked for the Adams boys, and there we was most of the time around there somewhere. Yeah.
Male voice [00:31:30] What did you think of the memorial itself?
Sherrill Adams [00:31:33] It was-- [crosstalk]
Male voice [00:31:35] --the monument--
Sherrill Adams [00:31:35] --it was all interesting. I-- I don't know. I'm not too good at expressin' anything, but I guess it's the best-- the best you can do. It was-- it was-- well, what they done, you know, with-- with our-- with their money or our money or whatever. And it's there forever unless they get bombed, you know, out or whatever. A lot of-- a lot of work went into it. A lot of money. Yeah, it's-- I don't know.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:32:26] When you were back home and you heard about, you know, the victory in Japan, how did you feel at that time? Do you, you know, really excited, you know? Talk to us a little bit about that.
Sherrill Adams [00:32:37] Well, yeah, you'd be excited for there's no more-- no more war there. You-- you didn't have to worry about your life, only accidental or whatever. We was, well, they pulled us out of the Battle of the Bulge [unintelligible, but probably "before"] it was over with. And they pulled us out and sent us on oh, light duty or whatever you want to call it. So, they put straw in-- in our trucks and put a five-gallon can of nitroglycerin in each quarter-- corner and the center. And that's what we hauled as being, what do you want to call it, on our recreation or whatever, freedom. And, hell, that was more dangerous than the war was. Five cans of nitroglycerin settin' in there. And just after that, they started to send us down to Nice and Marseilles, France, to go over to Japan. And that's when we heard it was over with, on the way down to there. So, it was a good thing to get that over with. Rest up awhile. Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:34:02] Was the training that you took the place in for Japan, was it different than that training which you took place in, you know, back in boot camp? Did they teach you, you know, different tactics?
Sherrill Adams [00:34:12] No, there was no-- no training to it. We just done rec-- recreation and got an order to go. And you just-- just ordered. I guess they figured we had enough experience to-- to go down there. Whether they needed help or whatever, I don't know what the deal was. Yeah.
Jennifer Jacobs [00:34:40] Are there any other stories that, you know, you would like to talk about or something that you forgot to mention or we forgot to ask?
Sherrill Adams [00:34:49] Oh, I don't know. There's things that come up just talking there. One, when we crossed one river there and then we left there and you go out through the field, you know, drivin', we went out through and there was a house settin' out in the country. A great, great big house below a cliff and what brought it to me, your tankman here [referring to Jared Gledhill] was talking about it. In front of that house, there was two German tanks on fire burning when we drove up there, and not too far away, there's American tanks that was having problems, too. And we, me and Bauer, grabbed our cots and went in that house that night. When we come out the next morning, there was dead Germans in the straw pile there on the front door. And when we put our cots up that night, I kicked something that-- a rock or we didn't know what it was. Got up the next morning, there was a hand grenade laying over there, a dud that hadn't gone off. I can still remember that I kicked it with my right foot and we said, "Hell, we were lucky there." And back on behind the cliff, the snipers would-- was-- had all kinds of pots and stuff built up where they was staying. And we set there for a couple days and got to see all that, and we went up around their trails. We didn't get off the trails but went up around the trails. And there was dead Germans laying all over. That was one time. Another time I can think, we stopped along the road is all, night drivin' and I stepped out of my truck, and I stepped on something soft, and I didn't know what-- what it was. But then you got out and started feeling around and felt the stuff, then you'd-- it was a German there. You could feel the way the insignias of his coats and stuff was. It [he] was run over right there on the road.
Male voice [00:37:10] What was it like driving at night?
Sherrill Adams [00:37:12] Hell.
Male voice [00:37:15] Did you drive completely blacked out, or did you have--
Sherrill Adams [00:37:17] Yeah, we had the little lights, you know, little oblong lights there, yeah, and that's what most of our driving was, was night drivin'. One time, we was talkin' about that, I's [I was]-- you're always probably tired or whatever it was, this one time I was tired of settin' there in my truck. Went to sleep, and here come a-- one of the-- the corp[oral] or somebody [come] along and tapped me on the shoulder and say, you know, "Wake up, let's go." So I did. But they always check the whole line to make sure everybody is awake and a-goin'. Otherwise you drove all night or whatever, and you-- you was tired most of time. It was-- yeah, yeah.
Bill Feis [00:38:08] So, what did you do during the day? If you drove a lot at night, what did you do during the days? Did you-- did you just sit tight and wait for the night to come? Or did you drive--
Sherrill Adams [00:38:17] Yeah. You set there and waited for your time to come. Them two little cycles that I showed you, me and Scray (sp?) had them, and we would get on them and ride around through the part of the country or whatever we could. We was always tradin' chocolate and pineapple and that stuff for chickens and eggs and-- and that kind of stuff. And we done quite a bit of ridin' around just for that. You'd go into houses and just like walking in here, you'd take whatever was there. You wanted it, you could carry and take it. Jewelry or blankets or forks or knives or any of that kind of stuff. But you can only a handle so much so-- and then if you did take it, you left it and picked up somethin' else somewhere else. So, you-- you had your freedom. One time we's lookin' around this old barn, and it had a whole bunch of corn up there or wheat, and I was kickin' around in it, and there was a pair of black dress boots that they wore. And I was goin' to take them, and that German, he cried, and he said, "Oh, don't, take them" and this and that. And I said, "Okay, you can have 'em" and left them there, but, you know, you just-- you had all the freedom, especially in Germany. There was no-- yeah.
Sherrill Adams [00:39:55] [Segueway. Mr. Adams has gotten out a photo album and points to photographs] These here is the Siegfried line between Germany and France, where they had them for years and didn't think anybody'd go across them, but they did. They just made roads up over the top and no problems. And this is one of the big theaters or USO deals where they'd have shows and stuff. See, this is Nurnberg. That's a big Nurnberg stadium here. That was old "Pop" Knox. He was about the oldest guy in the bunch.
Male voice [00:40:38] How old was he?
Sherrill Adams [00:40:40] Oh, I can't remember now. I suppose, probably 30, 40. Probably 40 at that time.
Male voice [00:40:49] That was pretty ancient.
Sherrill Adams [00:40:50] There's a house we was in. There's them little cycles that we had.
Male voice [00:40:58] Where did you get the-- where'd you get the bikes at? Were they just layin'?
Sherrill Adams [00:41:02] Just like going up here to the Honda shop and get 'em. I had a big Indian before-- one time and you couldn't handle that. But these little ones, you could pick 'em up and throw them up on your load or whatever. They just had a little gas engine, and you had to pedal them to get 'em started, so. Yeah, that's-
Male voice [00:41:31] Where's--
Sherrill Adams [00:41:31] Well, that's one of the bridges we was working on, I believe. The way it looks from here, anyhow. This is in Nurnberg, I believe it is, ain't it?
Male voice [00:41:47] Yup.
Sherrill Adams [00:41:48] This is a Nurnberg motel. And there it is afterwards. And here is the stadium in Nurnberg. Ol' Hitler used to give speeches out of this corner up here. And I'm not sure what them pictures are. This guy here, his name was Coke. Remember that.
Male voice [00:42:22] Did you have other guys from Iowa in your unit?
Sherrill Adams [00:42:25] Oh, we heard a Mahoney from down by Iowa City, but that's the only one that I know of. [coughs] This is up there in the Battle of the Bulge. A little snow, a lot of snow on the ground. [coughs]
Bill Feis [00:42:45] Now, are these guys that you knew in the picture?
Sherrill Adams [00:42:48] Yeah, they was guys that I knew. Um-hmm. I can't think what their names are now.
Bill Feis [00:42:55] Were they-- were they in the 72nd or were they in other units? You just knew--
Sherrill Adams [00:42:59] No, it was in our [crosstalk] they was in our company. Hm-hmm. Yeah, these-- all these guys was in the-- in the same company I was.
Bill Feis [00:43:08] It looks really cold.
Sherrill Adams [00:43:09] It was cold. And we had nothing for shoes or jackets or anything. Only our wool pants and underwear that you could find, whatever. Yeah, it was cold.
Male voice [00:43:30] Where was this one taken at? It looks like he's sitting on a-- a gun of some sort.
Male voice [00:43:35] That's a pillbox, I believe. Probably a German pillbox he's settin' on there. [Unintelligible] second engineer. There would be times we wouldn't see the-- anything from headquarters for two or three weeks [at] a time. We just had our orders and-- and go that way. This is a-- bridge, I don't know which one it was. Now I can't-- [crosstalk]
Male voice [00:44:15] --Sherrill in front of bridge--
Sherrill Adams [00:44:16] Yeah, this is the Moselle River here. And there's the Pont de Terre. (?) And I can't remember all of 'em. This is a railroad bridge there in Nurn-- that-- Rhine River.
Bill Feis [00:44:30] Now, is this you in your truck? Or is that someone else? [crosstalk]
Sherrill Adams [00:44:39] Oh, I can't tell you.
Bill Feis [00:44:41] It says "On P.W. run with Snubby Muck, Marseilles."
Sherrill Adams [00:44:47] Yeah, they'd-- sometimes they'd unload their trucks and put us on PW [prisoner of war] runs, haulin' guys back and forth. We did liberate one camp and Sar Union (sp?) over there, of a German prisoner of war camp.
Bill Feis [00:45:12] Okay.
Sherrill Adams [00:45:13] We took two guys back from there back to the mess house or whatever and they couldn't eat as much is what you could hold in your hands. They [were] just skin and bones. Never got their names or anything, you know, always wishin' you did later on. But you never-- you just-- you know-- just forget. I think this is the railroad bridge across the Rhine River, too-- I believe it is. You know, that was just some of the people we met over there. This one here, I went with her for about six months over there. I could have probably brought her back, but I didn't want to break her from her mother or maybe vice versa, I don't know. [laughter] There's all kinds of-- the people you meet over there. You did meet, anyhow. I don't see the picture in here [of] that gal up in Belgium there.
Bill Feis [00:46:33] There's one right there says Belgium. Is that her?
Sherrill Adams [00:46:36] No. She was an Amish or an Amish person. They were the big, long skirts and-- and hair all bundled up and that. Amish or whatever you want to call 'em, the hook and button outfit or whatever. Bobbie had took my old book and took it to Pierre and started being one of them book clubs or whatever, you know, doing that. And so she got a lot of my pictures out there. I never did get the book finished.
Bill Feis [00:47:20] You know, kids. What are you going to do, huh?
Sherrill Adams [00:47:23] This is the Battle of the Bulge, I believe. Yeah. I don't know what the ideas they had us out there in that snow and stuff for. We didn't have nothing else to do. So I suppose they done that. [Let's] see, is the Remagen bridge?
Bill Feis [00:47:48] It says, "The location of where the pontoon bridge was across the Rhine River."
Sherrill Adams [00:47:57] Mm-hmm. Yeah. That was a pretty hot time over there.
Bill Feis [00:48:02] This one says, "On the move." Is this-- the trucks with your--
Sherrill Adams [00:48:05] Yeah, that's our infantry assault boat. Each one of them is a boat, and they would set butt to butt like this table. And go twice as big and paddle guys acrost [i.e. across] and yeah. That Rhine River and several of the others, some time[s] was just about the color of that chair, of the blood and stuff. A lot of gas cans and stuff floating up and down and dead hogs and cattle and GIs and Germans, you know, yeah. It was interesting, guys.
Original Format
DVCAM
Duration
0:48:54
Bit Rate/Frequency
80 kbps