Thoughts From Bob

This entry is taken from an email from David Scott, Bob’s dedicated and loyal son.  As administrator of the blog, I am including it.  Also, here is a link to Bob’s story about his experience in WWII.  Click here!

I spent the past few years trying to get Doc to write a book about World War II.  I was never really able to get him to get excited about doing it because he spent the past 65 years trying to forget the horror of the war he fought in so valiantly.  Doc lied about his age to enlist in 1943 when he was just 17.  During the Battle of the Bulge in the harsh winter of 1944 Doc’s company in Patton’s 6th Armored Division was pinned down by a German artillery barrage.  The Germans were firing 88 mm anti-aircraft, more commonly known as flack, canon shells at the troops on the ground.  This rain of hot explosive shrapnel was devastating to the troops as the shells explode above the ground and the soldiers could not escape the rain of metal in their fox holes.  Doc always told me that you think you cannot dig in frozen ground, until you hear the whistle of the German 88s coming in.  Then he said you can dig real fast using the folding GI issue shovels as a pick.  He said the nut that holds the folding shovel in place would freeze solid and he would have to pee on the nut to loosen in up. 

The Sergeant in Doc’s company soon realized that unless they could call in some artillery support Doc and all his men would soon be wiped out.  “Scott,” yelled the Sergeant, “Do you think you can run back to the U.S. artillery fire base and tell them to direct fire on the German 88s?”  “Sir, Yes, Sir,” replied young Doc.  Doc was the company runner and he often told me that he was in the best shape of his life after basic training in the states.  Doc ran back to the U.S. fire base taking heavy fire from the Germans and was able to direct the U.S. Artillery to wipe out the German 88s.  Doc was awarded the Bronze Star for Heroism for his actions.

Doc often told me that he was protected by the prayers of his mother Eunice during the war.  He was convinced that even thought he was the company runner and often was right up front as the point man in his company he was never hit because the Germans just could not see him.  He believed he was protected by the Lord.  He told many horrific stories of people getting blown up standing right next to him but he was never hit.  He did suffer horrible trauma during the war and even today shows signs of Post Traumatic Shock Disorder.  He is on 100% disability due to his loss of hearing and the frost bite on his feet.  During the war the medic wanted to amputate his feet because of the frost bite.  Doc refused to let the medic do that and today he struggles with the decreased circulation in his footies.  There were 256 men in Doc’s company, only 13 made it back to the states alive.  War is hell.

One of the best trips we recently took is to the WW-II memorial in Washington, D.C.  I was invited to give a talk at the Defense Advanced Research Program Agency (DARPA) and took Doc with me.  It was a real challenge as Doc had to take his wheel chair but we managed to tour a lot of the city.  DARPA is one of my favorite agencies and we are now working on ways to detect improvised explosive devices (IEDs).  IEDs are killing and wounding a lot of soldiers in our current wars.  Doc and I met a veteran from the D-Day invasion at Normandy.  He had some truly amazing stories of the invasion of Europe.  Doc is registered at the memorial and you can view his record there if you visit the memorial.  You can also see Doc listed on the registry.

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