As the sun set, the final preparations were being made to break down the American Military Camp. A large canvas tent had been folded up by two soldiers and I believe a nurse. Such preparations would have happened weekly or daily for the men of the 75th Infantry, C-Company.
I was all sketched out and wanted to collapse into a warm bed.  There was still a lot of work to be done to break down the camp, so I found Flourent and let him know that I was going to drive back to the hotel and bed down for the night.
When on the front lines and one the move infantry soldiers didn’t always have the luxury of a full camp set up. Soldiers would sleep wherever they could, be it in abandoned homes, barns or churches.

I showed the woman who was so welcoming, my father’s military identification card. He was just 22 years old and going to Europe as a 1st lieutenant. A first lieutenant is the highest rank where you are out in the field with boots on the ground. Any rank higher and you are behind a desk. A company commander was often a Captain.  C-Company  had 3 platoons with 50 to 200 soldiers. Platoons are broken down into 3-4 squads with 18 to 50 soldiers, then each squad has 6-10 soldiers. A First lieutenant often would lead one of the platoons himself. Often acting as the tip to a spearhead.

A platoon leader was usually a 2nd lieutenant or 1st lieutenant. He would be armed with an M1 carbine rifle.

There would be 1 platoon Sargent or technical Sargent armed with an M1 carbine rifle.

There would be 2 light truck drivers, armed with and M1 rifle and M7 Grenade launcher each.

There would be 2 messengers, each a Private First Class armed with an M1 rifle each.

The platoon headquarters was mounted in 2n1/2 ton trucks or jeeps with trailers acting as weapons and ammunition carriers. One truck would be armed with an M2HB heavy machine gun for local anti air defense. Three bazooka were in the Company weapons pool. Each rifle Company would consist of three rifle platoons, a weapons platoon and a ead Quarters platoon. Each platoon was commanded by a 2nd Lieutenant or 1st

The 75th Infantry’s  1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions worked together with one battalion often protecting the flanks of another. For this European sketch research trip, I decided I was only sketching the movements of the 1st Battalion, C-Company which is the company Arthur would have been leading. Different Battalions would often set up camp in different towns. It is hard enough to keep track of the movements of one Battalion and Company, I can’t imagine keeping track of all 3.