| Description | His experiences as an infantry platoon leader in the European Theater during World War II. Education at U. S. Military Academy, 1940-43; basic infantry training at Fort Benning; assignment to the 66th Infantry Division, Camp Joseph Robinson, Arkansas, 1943; transfer to the 94th Infantry Division, early 1944; comments about the quality of non-commissioned officers; assessment of draftees in his platoon; comments about personnel from ASTP [Army Special Training Program]; initiation to combat in France; operations with Free French forces; night patrols; the art of "digging in"; Battle of the Bulge, December, 1944; his arm and knee wounds due to friendly artillery fire; capture by troops from the 11th Panzer Division, January, 1945; escape and recapture; permanent internment at Hammelburg, Germany; POW camp life; abortive attempt by General George S. Patton to free American POWs; his second escape on March 27, 1945, in the midst of Patton’s rescue attempt; recapture and his third escape; his twelve-day journey back to American lines; debriefing; reunion with his father, General Alexander R. Bolling, Sr., commander of the 84th Division, in Hanover, Germany; assignment to a rifle company in the 84th Infantry Division; race to the Elbe River and the end of the war in Europe. |
