The next day was relatively quiet. Fat Norman cattle were grazing in the field behind the company’s position. Pvt. Woodrow Robbins, 1st squad machine-gunner, was dug in about 15 feet from Christenson’s foxhole.
”Hey, Chris,” he called out, “let’s get some of that meat in the field!” Christenson did not want to leave his foxhole, but Bill Howell joined Robbins as he crawled up to a cow and shot her. They butchered the animal, then returned with a hind quarter. Robbins cut up steaks for the whole squad. They fried the meat over open fires in their foxholes. That night, Robbins and Howell tied the remainder of the carcass to a tree to the rear.
They covered it with a poncho; the squad figured to be eating beef rather than K rations for a few days. What they had not figured on was all the shrapnel flying around from the incessant artillery barrages. It perforated the meat. At the next feast, the men of the squad were continually cutting their gums on shrapnel.
Source:
Ambrose, Stephen Edward. “Move Out!” Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004. 104. Print.
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