Lt. Buck Compton commanded 2d platoon. He was very close to his men, too close in the opinion of the officers. “Compton was a close friend of mine,” Malarkey said. “He didn’t like the status symbol in the Army. He was more friendly with enlisted men than he ever was with officers.” He was especially close to Guarnere and Toye.
When he came out of his foxhole, Compton saw carnage all around him. The nearest wounded were his friends Guarnere and Toye, their legs dangling from their bodies, their blood turning the snow bright red all around them.
Compton started running to the rear, shouting for medics, or help of some kind. He finally calmed down at the aid station; it was found he had a severe case of trench food. He was evacuated.
Compton had won a Silver Star at Brécourt Manor on June 6, 1944. He had been wounded later in Normandy, and again in Holland. He had stood up to everything the Germans had thrown at him from December 17 to January 3. But the sight of his platoon being decimated, of his two friends torn to pieces, unnerved him.
Source:
Ambrose, Stephen Edward. “The Breaking Point.” Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004. 201-2. Print.
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