Greg Beaulieu : Dick Winters journal 4 3/12/17
Miss. Kish English 10H pd 2
After a long journey my men and I were very tired and damaged. We knew that needed to move to an area where we could all heal and needed to get away from danger caused from the enemies. So this meant that we needed to move out and find somewhere new to stay so we decided to travel through the snow and land in Alsace. After that Captain Nixon ordered me to send a patrol across the river and behind other enemy lines to procure for interrogation.
Then our Company had to travel across the river to secure our prisoners in 4 separate boats, but when we arrived there were only 3 boats there remaining, we were only able to secure 2 prisoners across the river, and we lost Private Jackson during the journey. After that the company and I went back to Mourmelon we finally were able to shower after all the battles.
It felt good to be back and be able to shower again we were very smelly and needed to refresh before the next battle that we ran into. Just some time after we were settled in Nixon was demoted to battalion staff from Regimental staff because he had excessive drinking problems that occurred. Then I was assigned to 2nd Battalion C.O. Captain and I was very proud and knew that I would be the best to help my battalion. Later we then traveled into Germany as an occupation force instead of a Combative Action. That was later when the Army enforced a strict policy called the Non-fraternization between soldiers and the German people to create less chaos. We later occupied land on an area on the Rhine near West Bank near D?sseldorf. This was where we later made more than 325,000 German soldiers surrender in April of 1945. Then after our company liberated the people of a Displaced people camp, this was where European people were imprisoned by the Nazis. The displaced people were workers and fraternized with the American troops. Following that my battalion was the first to reach Hitler’s Eagle Nest. I was very proud of my men and myself for my leadership in being the first company to reach his beat, it felt so good to be first and made me appreciate the love for my job. Later when we arrived at the nest i discovered something crazy and important. I found a gigantic cellar filled with liquor and wine from across the globe in Hitler’s home. I knew this meant he had been defeating other nations and taking their important and expensive products. When the Germans saw us in the surrounding rural areas they celebrated the end of the war thinking they had won. This angered me because I knew me and my company had what I takes to defeat Hitler and Germany. Germany later surrendered to the allied forces. After that our company traveled to Zell am See in Austria, we arrived in Zell am see with unshaven faces, and dirty uniforms. After we arrived Spiers spotted a Nazi hiding in the mountains, so he gathered as much information about the nazi man. Following this something horrible happened, a drunken soldier shot Sgt. Chuck Grant in the head. This was very sad for me and the rest of the company, but we had to carry on with the rest of the mission and finish the goal of beating Germany. Then our company was later deactivated from the army on November 30,1945. This made me very sad that we were done, and I knew I was going to
Miss everyone I have been with along the journey. Some important things happened after the war, Sgt Floyd Talbert was a veteran of easy company who later became overwhelmed with emotional scars and drifted away with the rest of his life, and Herbert Sobel never later recovered from his disappointment of being sent away, and losing Easy Company. He spent the rest of his life blaming Easy Company for his life’s ills after the war. This showed me how upset he was for Getting sent away, and I was very proud of everything he had done in camp in the beginning, and he was the main reason Easy Company finished the job.