Platoon, Company C, 51st Engineer Combat Battalion, along
with Private First Class Andrew Salazar of the same unit,
was immediately behind the gun. The half-track, with its
driver from the 526th and with Captain Jewett, was backed
into N23 on the opposite side of the road from the
antitank gun, ready to pull out in the event of a tank
attack that might overrun the position.30
Several more men from Company C and the 526th were in
a ditch along the road back of the antitank gun. Just
beyond the underpass on the Stavelot side Staff Sergeant
Fred Salatino was manning the .50-caliber antiaircraft gun
in a 2 1/2-ton truck, along with Technician Fifth Class
A wire was strung from this truck back to
Jacob Young.
the company CP in the Trois-Ponts railroad station.31
About 200 yards up the Stavelot road beyond the
antitank gun, Lieutenant Green posted a combination
outpost and getaway consisting of Technicians Fifth Class
Robert Logan and Elmer Helton and Private First Class
Milbert Brown of Company C.Brown as driver had his jeep;
up until that time Helton had been an air compressor
operator and Logan a truck driver, but they were pressed
into service for reconnaissance. The plan was to have the
three watch the men with the daisy chain and then alert
the gunners and the rest of the squad if a tank
approached.32
Firing was heard in the vicinity of Stavelot during
Shortly before noon, a
the early part of the morning.
Tiger Royal tank nosed around the bend toward the AT gun.
Frazier and Bieker strung their mines, but could not
resist the temptation to take a few shots with their
rifles at the heads of enemy tankers that protruded from
the lead tank. Several other tanks soon followed the lead
tank, which stopped at the daisy chain. Brown, Logan, and
Helton say that the tank started firing its machine gun,
so they returned with their jeep to Lieutenant Green's
position with the simple report,
"they're comming!"
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