At Dawn

Our orders were to march to the coast and board ships. In doing so we marched past a barracks of WAC's. They sang "We Don't Want Any Bacon, All We Want Is A Piece Of The Rhine."

After being wounded at the Battle of St. Lo, France, I asked the nurse what we were to do if the First Aid Station was bombed in the night. She said, "Don't worry, there is a big white cross on top of the tent. They won't bomb us." I asked why she wore a steel helmet and what were the jagged holes in the tent wall from? She said, "Oh shut up."

The following day a C-47 Flying Boxcar loaded the wounded. The pilot said, "Leave your shoes and steel helmets behind or we'll be overloaded." I said, "I'll leave my pants if that would help."

Choosing to touch lightly on the horrors of war, Alfred Beard's true story is filled with interesting characters and humorous details of a soldiers everyday life. At Dawn takes you from Basic Training to Normandy and the Battle of St. Lo where, out of 360 men, 320 were killed or wounded. All in 48 hours time.