Steve Sirovica

ASN:36865469

PVT. STEVE SIROVICA WRITES FROM GERMANY

Cassopolis Vigilant News, Thursday, Jun 21, 1945

            Pvt. Steve Sirovica, son of Steve Sirovica, Sr., of near Dailey, in a letter to his parents written May 30 gives a history of his activities during 16 months overseas.  Steve is a graduate of Dowagiac high school.  That part of his letter covering his overseas experience is as follows:

            Now for a little inside information on what I’ve been doing and where I’ve been since I came overseas.  I left the States on Jan. 16, ’44, on a French ship, Ile de France.  We were all alone, that is, without a convoy, and we arrived in Glasgow, Scotland, on Jan 25th.  I went to a Replacement Pool in Cardiff, Wales, and stayed there until Mar. 1st, when I left for the 82nd Airborne.  I was in a parachute outfit for training.  I left there in April and went to a Glider Battalion for more training.  I made two practice glider rides and then on May 30th, one year ago today, we went to an airport in Swindon, England, to get ready for the invasion of France.  The paratroopers left the night of June 5th and we left on the night of the 6th, at 9:15 p.m.  We crash landed a little after 11:00 p.m. about 4 miles south of St. Mere Eglise.  Our pilot broke both ankles, but the rest of us came out unhurt, except for a few bruises.  We landed in enemy territory and were completely surrounded by Germans.  We had no idea where the other units were so all we could do was to lay in the ditches until morning came.  Then some more paratroopers broke through to us and we started to fight our way back to where our units were.  A buddy of mine and I got separated and we had to go on alone.  We finally joined our unit three days later.  The first sergeant had already reported us missing in action.  On June 16th we were being bombed by the Jerries.  This was about 2 in the morning.  It was dark as heck except for the flare he had dropped.  We were advancing across an open field when a bomb dropped about 500 yards to our front.  We thought we’d better go back a few yards and get in a ditch for cover.  I jumped over a hedge row and down into a ditch.  I hit too hard on my right leg and chipped a bone in my knee.  A medic came and took me to the aid station.  There they taped it up and wanted to evacuate me.  I stayed there two days and it seemed to be better so I went back to my outfit.  I limped around until July 14 when we were relieved.  We went back to England in the next two days.  My leg was getting worse so I went to the hospital on Aug. 10th.  I then went to a replacement pool and was reclassified and put in a limited service.  I came back to France on Nov. 19th to another replacement pool in Etampes.  I came to this rest center on Dec. 1st and have been with it ever since.  We are in General Patton’s 3rd Army.  So far we’ve been set up in these cities: Nancy, France; Esch, Luxembourg; Bad Salzungen, Germany; and now here in Viechtach, Germany, although we’re not running a rest center.  We’re waiting for a place to move to.  So you can see I’ve been to quite a number of places in 16 months.

            I have 58 points toward a discharge.  We took a physical the other day to see if we were fit to go to the Pacific.  I was put in D grade and that is supposed to be below induction standards.  Even though I may not go to the Pacific, I’ll be over here for some time yet.

            Well, I guess this is all for now, so I’ll close hoping to hear from you in the very near future.

            Your loving son, Steve