His only other hint of combat experience was the pistol. Other than his Veterans of Foreign Wars garrison cap, displayed proudly with his many antique John Deere replicas and the two, restored full-size B and G models he drove in parades and at antique tractor pulls, Grandpa didn’t display military memorabilia. The true professionals are usually quiet about such matters. I also better appreciated why he, like many troops who saw terrible things on the battlefield, didn’t like to talk about them. I’m still here.”Īfter enlisting I had a better insight of my grandfather’s life as a soldier. His only explanation was, “There were times men had me in their sights and I had them in mine. As a child old enough to construct questions but not really ponder, I asked Grandpa how he got the pistol. Specifics of duty after Normandy weren’t talked about, though Grandma said he suffered nightmares years after returning. Being limited to one item to bring back, he opted to keep the Mauser pistol but had to discard its wooden stock. There were a few stories about traveling by ship back home, which included being forced to discard various trophies by tossing them into the Atlantic. His stories of the war were sparse and tended to focus on typical enlisted man shenanigans: What he liked about range sessions, how much training he endured in the United States and England, and the time he and his platoon leader both “misplaced” their Garands after a notably drunken escapade somewhere in Europe. Melvin Bollig was not a historical figure, being one of many million enlisted men sent into war to do his bit and try to stay alive for a trip home.

C96 mauser disassembly