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This book is dedicated to the American soldiers who
were killed in action with the 3rd Armored Division in Europe.
They did not want to die, and yet they gave their lives so that
we might come to final victory and peace.
Words are a difficult medium in which to express our reverence,
and the words of a soldier, especially, may be strange to the
mind of man untouched by the awful miracle of combat. We only
know that these dead were with us shoulder to shoulder in great
drives, in the mud and the fear and the flame in the night. When
the hot steel found them, and they fell, we cursed a little,
dry eyed; shrugged our shoulders wearily, and went on. Yet, be
sure of this: each individual death left a raw scar on our immortal
souls.
For that reason, this book is dedicated to those who were
more than brothers and who lie now in the soil they freed. Encompassed
by the 3rd Armored Division, they were our blood, and our sinew,
and our soul. We shall never forget.
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