By Diana McFarland
Smithfield Times News editor
Spending 100 days on the front lines in World War II earned Pete Keen membership in the illustrious “Sons of Bitche.”
Keen was just 22 years old, a replacement soldier turned scout, fighting one of the last major battles against Germany as the war wound down in early 1945.
But through most of the war, Keen worked at Newport News Shipbuilding.
“At the time they needed ships, so I was deferred for two years,” he said.
By the time he was drafted in late 1944, Keen’s wife Grace was five months pregnant with their first child.
Like most new soldiers, Keen went to train at Fort Hood, and Grace followed. She rented a small house near the post and waited for any chance to see her husband before he left for Germany.
“In those days, you didn’t know if you’d see your loved ones again,” she said.
Eventually, she returned to Newport News, where Keen took advantage of a six-day leave to see his newborn son, Junior, before heading off to Europe.
Keen arrived in France, along with 15,000 other soldiers, aboard the Queen Mary. He arrived in Goetzenbruck, Germany in January, 1945, where American troops were hunkered down in a defensive position after a battle in December.
In March, the Americans began their drive that ended in the “Battle of Bitche” — one of the first defensive battles that ended the war, Keen said.
Living outside in March, in Germany, was a wet and cold affair. The soldiers sought out any dry patch of ground to sleep, their hands on their rifles and their helmets as pillows. Keen knew exactly where his rifle was — day or night — in the event they had to react suddenly and without warning.
“It was the best friend you had,” Keen said.
If they were close to a town, the Americans would take over a house or two and spend a night in a warm bed.
There were two hot meals a day, provided by the chow wagon, and supplemented with K rations.
Since the Germans were stationed on higher ground, the Americans were regularly showered with mortars, machine guns and artillery fire.
“There was a lot of shooting going on, but not so many killed,” he said. Because they shot at German soldiers from a distance, it was hard to tell how many went down. The Americans also burned houses occupied by German troops.
Keen was a “first scout,” for the 100th Infantry. His job was to run ahead of the troops and locate the enemy as the platoon slowly advanced.
“Anyone that tells you it wasn’t scary is a damn liar,” he said.
“You didn’t know what the next minute holds for you.”
As a scout, Keen tiptoed through fields littered with landmines, a safe pathway marked only with a ribbon.
One of Keen’s most terrifying incidents occurred when his group invaded the small village of Jagstfeld, Germany.
The townspeople had been told to defend the village at all costs, Keen said.
The American soldiers, including Keen, were ordered to find a house and occupy it. When they rushed through the front door of one house, Keen was horrified to see four armed German SS soldiers at the top of the stairs.
Unknown to Keen, an American lieutenant in another house had his rifle aimed, through an upstairs window, on one of the German SS soldiers.
The lieutenant immediately shot the German, which caused the remaining three to fall into disarray, Keen said.
Keen and his fellow scouts raised their rifles and ordered the three remaining Germans to surrender.
“The Army teaches you the element of surprise,” Keen said.
Read the rest of Keen's story in the November 11 issue of the Smithfield Times. Papers can be purchased at newstands, or subscribe by calling 357-3288 or online at www.smithfieldtimes.com
