Cretteville, France 1900 hrs July 17th, 1944 Partly Cloudy 71° F Might as well start with the good news. The now-Captain saw it fit to frock me and then eventually get the paperwork to promote me to Technician Grade 5. It's no double stripes, but at least I'm moving up in the world. I sewed on my new chevrons last night after lights out. It's mighty nice to be wearing something other than a single stripe. Now on to the melancholy news. First contact was today. Early rise at 0500, set out at 0600. I won't lie, a good portion of my buddies, and even the Captain looked hungover as all hell. Must've been from that Chateau 'wine-tasting' party. Everyone from the Sergeant to the Captain got their buzz. I'll admit, I took a few gulps from a bottle, and I was a bit tipsy. But by no means was I hungover in the morning. Anyways, back to first contact. The 4th Infantry Division withdrew for R&R and we were on the advance by 0600. By 0900 we passed through the withdrawing 4th ID, and kept the roll going. 1000 hours and the Lieutenant reported that first platoon had contact, but we were moving again soon enough. It's 1900 now and we've made camp at Cretteville. Our pickets and sentries are posted and thank God my name wasn't drawn from that hat. Don't wanna be up much past lights out. [i]The next sentence is jotted down, as is the signature.[/i] Speaking of. TCH5 Earl F. Ball Co. A, 37th Tank Btn., 4th Armored Div. [hr] St-Jores, France 2300 hrs July 18th, 1944 Partly Cloudy 68° F Today was the real first engagement on the part of the infantry. Our platoon spotted a good concentration of tanks and infantry just north of St-Jores. We held back till 1400 when what seemed like the whole battalion began the assault. The infantry and assault guns were in reserve for a good portion of the engagement. This was until about 2030 when the infantry and assault guns were ordered to flank right and hit them in their left flank. We ran up on the entire force and caught 'em with their pants down. I must've scored about three Nazis and one of their halftracks before they withdrew. By 2200 we'd whipped 'em and they were on their way south with their tail between their legs. We made camp at 2230 and of course I was drawn for sentry duty by the Lieutenant. My shift starts at 0200 and goes to 0300 before getting relieved. Better grab some shut-eye before then. TCH5 Earl F. Ball Co. A, 37th Tank Btn., 4th Armored Div. [hr] Le Petit-Saint Germain, France 1730 hrs July 19th, 1944 Sunny 81° F Sentry duty was eventful. During my shift a patrol sighted at least a platoon of Wehrmacht and scrambled us picket teams. The squad of lucky sentries assembled and we plotted their courses on one of the Sergeants' maps. Didn't sleep after my shift ended. Heard artillery got called on them. Hope they burned in Hell. Worse yet, the infantry platoon was sent forward with the 2nd platoon. Didn't seem to cease fire the entire time. Used half of .50 Browning ammo reserve. Two malfunctions sustained during the firefight. Will have to inquire with maintenance if cleaning doesn't fix it. Just finished some A rations. Chicken and corn. Welcome difference from the C-cans or the overcooked whole chicken the Corporal tried to pass off as edible after getting it from a local and cooking it himself. Too tired to continue for today. Here's to welcome sleep. TCH5 Earl F. Ball Co. A, 37th Tank Btn., 4th Armored Div. [hr] La Regnauderie, France 1600 hrs July 20th, 1944 Sunny 83° F Today was pretty uneventful. We continued the advance southwards and encountered little to no resistance in the push. Hopefully they've just given up, cut off their swastika armbands, and gone home. I guess it's just wishful thinking. Finally got a good bit of sleep last night. Slept a lot better knowing that we sent the krauts running. Scrawling in this book gets me thinking about how long this'll go on for. Seems like every day's a year's length. The Lieutenant said we'd be home by Christmas. Damn do I hope so. TCH5 Earl F. Ball Co. A, 37th Tank Btn., 4th Armored Div. [hr] La Regnauderie, France 2130 hrs July 21st, 1944 Partly Cloudy 76° F Yet another day with no Germans. Better yet, we didn't even move. They had us on standby but there was no push. They even had us dig some shell-scrape fighting holes to sit in. Maybe the Germans giving up isn't too high of a hope. One of the tank commanders had a set of grill bars on his Sherman's engine earlier. Some local'd given him a chicken, some booze, and he'd acquired some seasoning from the battalion mess unit. Now this man was Cajun as Cajuns come. He laid to that bird with beer and seasoning as it cooked. I could've sworn I was back home when I bit into it. His crew and our squad all enjoyed a bit of it and we all joked with the Corporal about his terrible cooking skills compared to the Cajun. There's a massive amount of fire and artillery coming from the south. From ear it sounds like our guns, but what do I know? I just shoot the Browning. TCH5 Earl F. Ball Co. A, 37th Tank Btn., 4th Armored Div. [hr] Saint Sauveur-Lendelin, France 2000 hrs July 22nd, 1944 Mostly Sunny 79° F Third lazy day in a row. Really pulled a lucky hand on this one. We resumed the push, though. Not enough to write about today. Got a few replacements from battalion, apparently. Haven't met 'em. Oop, lights out. TCH5 Earl F. Ball Co. A, 37th Tank Btn., 4th Armored Div.