Secret Weapon

The worst thing where I was, was the smoke and the heat. At night there was a ball of fire at the end of the gun, yeah. Yeah. And sometime we fired it, but most of the time, I wasn’t there. If it was a big barrage, I wouldn’t stay there. You know, I didn’t have to stay there. I could get out. Generally help them, with the ammunition. I could ... whenever they need me, once they were firing. If there was a big barrage, I wouldn’t stay there. I also had a co-driver, so we were both the same situation. But the fire ball and the smoke, now halfway ... I think we were in Belgium. That was another secret weapon that came through the PA system and through the officers. And it was a secret weapon, nobody knew what it was. You wouldn’t know what it was. It came out to be smokeless cordite. What a thing that was. You know, before that, we were called to fire a gun. The infantry would be raising heck with us because they say, “Hey, you guys! The minute, with that big ball of fire and all that smoke, the German would just know right off the bat and fire back.” Now the guy would say “Hey you guys, don’t come in here and start that firing business!” I said “Just a minute.” I went and found some other guys. “Your officer ordered us. It’s for your own protection.” You know, I said “We’re going to blow up some ...” So, anyway. But the smokeless was the greatest thing and I walked in the front of a gun one time about 30 feet and there was only about ten spark flew out. No smoke. No flame. Oh that was great. That was one of the great ... it was a real secret weapon.