Memorial

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Below is a citation from the book "Hemingway At War" by Terry Mort, page 237, describing the death of Cpl Watkins:

"It was not just the German defenders who inflicted casualties on the Americans. "Units throughout the 22nd Regiment received
artillery fire that they attributed to American artillery units. Incoming friendly artillery fire hit the regimental command post near Großhau during the day (November, 23rd), killing Corporal Harold Watkins, Colonel Lanham's old Regular Army orderly, who had recently returned for duty after being severely wounded in September, and wounding several others. Able company in the rear area also complained of short rounds from friendly artillery." "Eightball" Watkins was a Hemingway favorite, and his death, like so many other senseless deaths, troubled Hemingway deeply. As Hemingway's biographer Carlos Baker noted, Hemingway was severely distressed not only about Eightball Watkins but also about the meaningless deaths of the men of the 22nd. These casualties would be the subject of his nightmares for years going forward." Colonel Cantwell's brooding bitterness in Hemingway's novel "Across the River and into the Trees" comes into sharper and perhaps more sympathetic focus when placed in the context of the bloodshed in Hürtgenwald."