Fort George G. Meade: The First 100 Years

waved as they drove straight though the checkpoint at the
front of the German encampment, and the guards were
so startled and amused by the singing soldiers, that they
held their fire to see what they were doing. My visitor
was informed that he and the captain parked the jeep and
stumbled into the German’s billet area. They each chose a
bed and collapsed into them as if they were home.
And that’s where he found himself when he woke up.
Before the German sergeant left, he told my visitor not
to worry. He would be untied, he would be fed and then
moved to a Prisoner of War compound in Germany.
The German paused for a second before he said, “Oh
yes, I was also asked by my commander to thank you for
providing him with a brand new American jeep.”
My visitor acknowledged that besides being somewhat
embarrassed for having been captured in such an ignoble
fashion, he was equally worried that knowledge of how
he was captured could result in having to reimburse the
Army for the cost of one Willys jeep.
***
(Pg. 142) Vintage bottle of Calvados, an apple brandy from
the Normandy region of France.(Image) US Soldiers test
experimental jeep on Fort Meade, c. 1942.