A Final Polish

After maneuvers the men came back to Shelby, scraped off the mud, and began again the endless task of cleaning up their equipment. The Combat Team was commended for proficiency by Major General Charles H. White, Commanding General of IX Corps, and Major General Charles L. Bolte, Commanding General of the 69th Division.

The entire Combat Team now began the business of brushing up on its small-unit tactics, reviewing and correcting the weaknesses that had turned up during the last hectic weeks in the field. Twenty officers and 210 men left for George G. Meade, Maryland, for transhipment to Italy and the 100th Battalion.

There was also a certain amount of combat firing and review work on marksmanship to be completed, as well as some of the fundamentals of soldiering that had by necessity been allowed to fall into the background during the months in the field. All was peace and quiet on February 21, when 40 replacement officers joined the Combat Team from various infantry replacement training centers. With them came a whole host of new and exciting rumors, the most prevalent of which was that the unit would go overseas without going on extensive maneuvers.

No sooner had the officers gotten the rumors squelched that it was announced that the Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, would review the Combat Team. Early in the morning of March 4, the Combat Team was drawn up on parade, officers and men at ramrod attention, polished and pressed to within an inch of their young lives. As the Chief of Staff marched down the line, many of the men were surprised that he was very tall and every inch the soldier. His keen eyes probed and prodded here and there in the ranks, missing nothing. Several times he stopped and asked a man a question. Then, as quickly and briskly as he had come, he was gone. Colonel Pence returned and announced to the men that General Marshall had been pleased with what he had seen. The men relaxed and a tiny ripple of conversation ran through the ranks. One lieutenant heaved a great sigh and muttered more to himself than anyone else, “Well, that was the kiss of death.” Ten days later, the Combat Team was directed to prepare for overseas movement.