Mon, Nov 23 2009
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At Random: John Avery By Johnna PinholsterAvery said they were told it was vitally important to count to three before throwing the grenade If not, the enemy would have time to throw it back. He was 20 years old when he stepped foot on European soil. He had never been outside of South Georgia before being shipped off to basic training, he said. Avery’s Army training took him to Oregon, California, Arizona and Colorado. While in basic training in Oregon, Avery’s first wife died in childbirth. His son lived and Avery came home for two weeks before heading back to training. He boarded a boat bound for Europe in New York, he said. “I spent about a year and half in training and about a year and half over there,” Avery said. Avery’s unit landed in France and from there went to Antwerp, Belgium, which the division took from Germany, he said. “The first night I got there I prayed to the Lord to send me back home,” Avery said. “It was the last time I prayed over there.” Seizing Antwerp allowed the Allied forces to carry supplies into Belgium for troops, Avery said. From there the unit went to Cologne. “We crossed the country fighting the Germans,” Avery said. Though Cologne was a city under siege when Avery and his 113 Regiment came into town, he said that he never fired a shot. Avery said he had been told that many people in Cologne did not agree with what Hitler was doing. When Avery got to Cologne, someone else was supposed to lead the troops he had been driving, to take part in the attack on the city. 
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