[Criminal Number 18F]

I was definitely wrong, there ARE two general Scales, and my guy was John Scales. I lost touch with him after his tour as DCO of Special Forces Command; at that time he was a BG and he might have retired. I knew him from LTC on up -- a very good guy, IMHO.

The TV and book Scales is Bob Scales, and he was a Major General on active duty. He commanded the War College for a while. He's apparently no relation to John. I definitely don't know him.

I had heard when I was a pup, from an old War Two SGM, that McAulliffe's reply at Bastogne was actually, "Balls!" which at the time was too coarse for public consumption. The German officer had to have it explained: "I know the word, but not in this context, sir." To which McAuliffe said, "Tell your commander, it means F U, sir... did you understand that?"

Makes a great story... might even be true. They stopped those tank units, and that's definitely true.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Yasotay]

I don't even want to tell you how many times I have got the person wrong. I've also heard the same tale that you wrote about .... "Nuts" is just hard for me to believe with WWII paratroopers, "Balls" or "F U" was much more likely. No matter what was actually said, Bastogne was one hell of a battle.

One of the good things about Hudson High is that if you want (I did use it also ... most cadets did not), it has the best military history undergraduate program in the world. I actually got to talk with the lead company commander of Abrams TF that broke through to Bastogne (no I don't remember his name). Talk about a stud with BIG BALLS! He actually had TWO different Shermans shot out from him (I think he had two DSCs)and I remember just being in awe in his presence.