One of the episodes that appeared in my War Memories book was passed over rather fast. It would be good to write it in more detail and give it a better explanation. I'm referring to the crash of the armored car in which I was badly bruised up. It is now fifty three years later and I'm having considerable discomfort in the area that my back was crushed. It makes me wonder if its an aftermath of by gone days coming back to haunt me.
It all started while my company of military Police went on maneuvers in Connecticut. We had left our home station of Camp Cathedral north east of New Bedford Mass. we passed through Rhode Island and on into Conn. Our convoy consisted of about thirty five vehicles. I was put in charge of a scout car and assigned the position of rear guard of the convoy. This scout car was a "White" made in Lansing Michigan. For some reason it had a reputation of going into a shimmy on occasion. When this happened the driver would have to come to a complete stop and then start over. The vehicle had been sent to maintenance but they could not find the reason for it and said that it was fit to drive. The driver had refused to drive it as being unsafe. The Captain gave him a direct order to get in and drive. So there was nothing for him to do but obey orders. We made the trip to Conn. with only a couple of tantrums and had our week of military exercises. On the return trip being the last vehicle in line we found ourselves going either ten miles per hour or going sixty to catch up as convoys do. It was sprinkling rain so the men had their steel helmets on. We were coming inside the city limits of Providence R. I. going done a hill with the road turning to the left at the bottom. Our speed had increased to close to sixty to catch up. It was here that the scout car decided that it was time to put on a shimmy performance.
I think that I should back up and give a description of the scout car. It weighed several tons with bullet proof wind shield and had a machine gun track all away around the passenger compartment on which they had mounted a thirty caliber machine gun. We had it locked in place directly over the center of the windshield. The sides were of five-eights inch steel boiler plate . There were two twenty gallon gas tanks , the reserve tank was under the passenger side seat as well as the battery. In front was a roller for pushing down small trees and shrubs. All in all a very formidable contraption. We were traveling with the entire squad of nine men sitting in the back along with our personal weapons and ammunition. I was sitting in the passenger seat next to the driver.
When the shimmy started the driver could see that he had lost complete control so I can still see him reach down and turn off the ignition. The road curved to the left at the bottom of the hill. Being in the City there was a curb and side walk along the road. A stone wall several feet high on the other side of the walk way. This wall was holding back the hill and was a bit solid. A utility pole stood between the curb and side walk. We traveled out of control hitting the utility pole square on going through it as if it were a match stick, crossing the side walk into the stone wall that didn't give any ground. We bounced off and rolled to the left our passenger flew out like pop corn. I fell against the driver as the vehicle rolled Landing in the gutter next to curb with the steel side of the car across my back pinning me so that I couldn't free my self. I can remember the wheels were still spinning as all four were straight up. All twenty gallons of gasoline from the reserve tank was spilling all over me. My first thoughts were what would happen if someone discarded a lit cigarette. A filling station was directly across the street from the accident and people were coming from all over. The rest of the convoy had gone on its merry way unaware of our predicament. My first thoughts were of a possible fire. The weight on my back prevented me from crawling free. I was trapped with several tons of scout car on top of me. The scout car was resting on the machine gun balancing it in the middle. A group of people were able to lift it up enough for the side to be rocked off me. A woman bystander grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me free. I can still remember the pain when she pulled me. Rhode I sland State Police arrived, loaded us all up and transported us to Providence hospital. They examined each. As I was in command and I didn't know how badly the men might be, I waited until last to be examined. The doctor blew his stack when he saw me. I was pretty badly bruised up. Why hadn't I been first. He put me on a stretcher and wouldn't let me off. They took x- rays but couldn't find any broken bones. The civilian doctors wanted to notify an Army hospital to come and get us so I spoke up and suggested the one at Fort Rodman which was located only a few miles from our base camp. A call was put through and an ambulance came to pick us up. I was strapped in a stretcher and rode the forty miles in a very uncomfo rtable ride.
When I think about this episode now there are several things that happened that is hard to understand. I'll go through them one at a time. Any of these things could have been disastrous to me if they had not happened, just as they did.
First; Why did the driver think to turn the ignition off when he lost control. It was a smart thing to do as it probably prevented the car from catching on fire. Being pinned under the car with gasoline spilling all over me , I could ha ve been burned to a crisp.
Second; Because it was raining we were wearing steel helmets. I had hit the bullet proof glass on the impact with such force that the glass shattered. Had I not had the protection of the helmet My head would have been a mess. I was told after wards that the helmet was caved in by the force of the impact.
Third; The utility pole that we splintered before hitting the rock wall acted as a cushion to slow us down thus deminshing the impact somewhat.
Fourth; The machine gun came to rest on the side walk and carried the weight in a balance allowing me to be pulled free. I was told that the barrel of the gun was even bent by the weight.
Fifth; Had I fallen in any other place than the gutter where I was protected by curb, The steel sides of the car would have cut me in two. Or if the accident had happened where there was no side walk or curb where the machine gun could carry the weight without sinking into the ground I'd surly been in a lot of trouble.
Sixth; Being in town and people running from all over and gasoline running down the gutter all that would have been necessary is for someone to inadvertently toss a cigarette on the wrong place.
Looking at the whole thing now decades later it seems to me I must have had a Guardian Angel looking out for me that day. All of those things couldn't all happen by chance. He must have been working over time. Or maybe it wasn't m y time to leave this world. Maybe God had some other work for me to do.