Red Ball Members

Remembrances of Red Ball Drivers

From Walter Ruff

One rainy night in an apple orchard near St. Lo, France, a whistle blew about 2:30AM, and we all fell out. The 1st Sgt. asked anyone holding a blue card showing proficiency in driving a 2-ton GI truck who wanted to volunteer to drive the Red Ball, to step forward. I learned early in my army career to never volunteer for anything, but standing there with rain streaming off my helmet and down my nose, I figured what the heck, and did. The deal was two man teams per truck, 20 truck to a group plus one jeep to lead, and round trips from Le Havre or Cherbourg to Patton s rear near Metz hauling gasoline or artillery shells to his army. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, down French roads, about 24 feet wide, and generally lined on both sides with rows of tall trees. Although paved, they had obviously not been designed to carry these continuous heavy loads, and therefore had many potholes to be dodged. My partner was Pfc. Charlie Morgan from Pisgah, Alabama, a real character. The drill was one man would drive 2 hours, then a 10 minute break to answer natures call, when the other driver would take over. One night while hauling 155mm artillery shells, Charlie was driving, while I, in the passenger seat was trying to take a nap, using the gun rack at the edge of the seat as my pillow. We usually were number 20 in the column, which meant we usually drove faster to keep up with the convoy spacing. Charlie was helling it, when he hit what must have been the mother of all potholes, sending quite a shock through our truck, the force of which seemed to ram the end of the steel rifle rack up thru my skull. I of course immediately awoke, fearing the worst, and in the same moment in great pain, said “Gracious Charles, why don’t you be a tad more careful where you are going!!”. I’ll go to my grave remembering his immediate response. “I don’t know why you are so goddamned upset, it woke me up too!!”.

True story.

Ruff

Excerpt from the journal of Louis Coke – 327th Combat Engineer with the 102ID

All men with driver’s permits (and a few without) were to become Red Ball drivers hauling vital supplies to rail centers. I was very excited about it. Action at last and a chance to see some more of France. Before we left we heard a speech that further quickened our pulses. General Keating said, “Men, the 102nd Division will take its place in the toughest part of the Siegfried Line in the near future. I have the utmost confidence in your willingness and ability to carry the name of the 102nd to fame and glory.”

We rode for many long hours and by some miracle it didn’t rain. The farther we got into France the friendlier the people seemed. However, I developed a real dislike for French kids on that trip. One of the little stinkers slugged me right between the eyes with a big hard apple. It wasn’t even ripe enough to eat when I finally regained consciousness. As usual it was about midnight when we reached the area outside of Houdan. We pitched tents all over a hill and in the morning I found that I’d been floated right out of the tent. We found a better spot and made a fairly good camp. The chow was swell and we soon discovered that just about anything you needed could be gotten because Redball had priority. While waiting for the first convoy to pull out we sneaked into Houdan without passes. In about two hours many of the boys bought bracelets, _____ pictures, and some even found some cognac and beer. Girls were plentiful and friendly so I need say no more about that.

I didn’t get to go on the first convoy which had the best trip of all. They hauled medical supplies up to Liege, Belgium and came close enough to the front lines to hear artillery. A few robot bombs also dropped in.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the company learned to drive and except for a few men, all joined Redball at a different camp. Everyone seemed to think it might become permanent and rumors even had us changed to a Q.M. outfit.

I finally got my turn to go out. My driving was somewhat ragged, and with about five tons on my two and a half I had some thrilling moments. Our route was from Houdan to Paris loaded and then to St. Lo and the beaches from where we brought a load back to Houdan. The 102nd had the fastest convoys on the road and I believe we did a fine job of delivering the goods. I enjoyed it all tremendously. We saw so many towns, and so many beautiful girls waved and cheered us on.

We also saw how desperately hungry the French were. Grown men and women begged us for our “dog biscuits”. In Paris it was different. They had money and were only too anxious to pay a small fortune for almost anything edible. Many of the boys sold extra rations which they didn’t like or didn’t need. Even a can of 10 in 1 lima beans brought a pretty good price. I only know of one instance where anyone actually sold any of the load he was hauling. There are bound to be a few people like that in every outfit.

We lost our second man on Redball. Lomonacco was burned to death when his truck collided with a big Air Corps gas truck. Everyone felt very badly  about it because he was so well liked and was so intelligent that he was bound to have a brilliant future. The boys drove more slowly and carefully after that.

Redball ended as suddenly as it had started for us. The Division was alerted for movement and in a few days the first elements were on their way to Holland.

Annotation by Lou Coke’s daughter:
From the book “With the 102d Infantry Division Through Germany”
Roster of Company B, 327th Engineer Combat Battalion:
Lo Monaco, Gaetano, Pfc.
514 Park Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y