Page 211 - Always Virginia

Always Virginia 199

Jacksonville Journal and Courier
March 15, 1945
A. P. Correspondent In Belgium Tells of Work of Major John
B. Day

by Hal Boyle

Henri Chapelle, Belgium, March 15. —(Delayed)—(AP) [As-
sociated Press Wire Services]

All day long Sgt. Roy Steinhauer, of Fresno, Calif., sits before
a wooden table in a small Belgian farmhouse and lists dead men’s
effects.
Most American soldiers carry three things in to battle—a
picture of someone they love, a religious article of some kind, and
an American dollar bill.
“This is a typical case,” he said and pointed to a handful of
objects he was ready to pack for forwarding to the quartermaster
depot in Kansas City to be checked again and sent to relatives.
On the table were a few letters, a photograph of the dead sol-
dier’s wife or sweetheart, a pocket knife, a Catholic Saint’s medal-
lion, a pen and pencil, and a one dollar bill.

Testaments and Rosaries
“It is rare we find a frontline soldier who isn’t carrying a re-
ligious symbol of some kind,” said Steinhauer. “Protestant boys
usually have a New Testament in their field jackets and Catholics
have a Rosary or a St. Christopher’s medal.
“And most of them usually have one or two dollar bills stuck
away just for remembrance of the old U.S.A.”
From a window he can look out across shining white crosses
stretching as far as the eye can see in the largest Allied cemetery
on the western front. There are some 16,000 Americans, Bel-
gians, French, British and Poles buried there—although most are