Veterans History Project: Corporal William H. Behrends, U.S. Army

In his book “Brave Men” famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle wrote that “The front line soldier lived for months like an animal and was a veteran in the cruel, fierce world of death. Everything was abnormal and unstable in his life. He was filthy dirty, ate if and when, and slept on hard ground without cover. …he lived in a constant haze of dust or snow and moved constantly. He was deprived of all things that once meant stability –things such as walls, chairs, floors, windows, shelves, Coca-Colas and the little matter of knowing that he would go to bed at night in the same place he had left in...