PILSEN, CZECH REPUBLIC---There was an elderly gentleman sitting at a hotel breakfast table this morning here in Pilsen, his quiet eyes looking around at those near him, private thoughts to start another day.
John Ingram is eighty-six years old now and those eyes have seen more than most; he is retired cotton and peanut farmer from Opelika, Alabama. He does not hear quite like he used to and walks a bit slow now, but back in 1945 when he first came to Czechoslovakia, he was eighteen, a private first class in the 90th Infantry Division and he was known by his buddies as "Machine Gun Pete."
"The 90th Division was a work horse for General Patton and Third Army, everybody followed us. We were the first ones to reach Czechoslovakia. They would not let us enter the country so we went south along the German-Czech border," said Ingram, remembering those days sixty-seven years ago just like yesterday.
Ingram is one of the stars of the show at the Pilsen Liberation Festival, the special guests of a city which has never forgotten the sacrifices he and other members of the Greatest Generation made on their behalf those many years ago.
Ingram's eyes have a sparkle in them as talks about meeting the great General Patton but a certain amount of fear as well.
"I fell out with General Patton when he told me he was going to court martial me because I let my feet freeze, the first ones got purple hearts but after that he was going to court martial you, if you did not take care of your feet," he laughs.
Ingram said he to this day still has to protect and take care of his feet.
Here at the Festival, Ingram and his brothers-in-arms are treated as royalty. Thousands annually turn out for a quick peek at these old men who were once young and rolling into their town with smiles and hugs and not guns and fear.
For these Army veterans it's a chance to remember a special time and the beginning of special friendships that have lasted a lifetime.
"I got the name 'Machine Gun Pete' because I could take out a Nazi at five hundred yards," He added, "Anything worth doing is worth doing right."
After the war Ingram returned home, got his bachelor's degree from Auburn University with his GI Bill, and then ran his farm. But back in the day, that was the farthest thing from the mind of Machine Gun Pete.
"I was eighteen years old, could not vote- not even buy a beer. When we got to Germany, we crossed the Main River on the way to the Czech Republic. I held on to the tank and my machine gun. I did not want to fall off the tank so I held on for dear life," Ingram laughed.
On this visit, he met another Ingram, no relation, it turns out. Earl Ingram is from Pinehurst, North Carolina and in 1945 was a Platoon Leader in the 2nd Infantry Division.
History tells us that Patton wanted to desperately liberate Czechoslovakia before the Russians, but on multiple occasions did not get approval from General Dwight Eisenhower. Finally the order to move out came- an order that would forever change the life of Earl Ingram.
"The partisans of Pilsen rose in rebellion of the Germans on the 5th of May 1945. The 16th Armored Division was ordered to get to Pilsen with great haste. By eight o'clock on the evening of the 6th of May, the tanks were in Pilsen. When the shooting had stopped I saw the happiest most grateful people in my life," he fondly remembered.
Ingram stayed in a house just outside Pilsen which was owned by two ladies, he remembers. Earl has been back to Pilsen eighteen times now for the Liberation Festival, but most of all he remembers coming back in 1995.
"When I came back in 1995 I found the area I stayed in 1945, I found the building where I stayed. When the ladies who lived there were asked if any Americans stayed there in 1945 their first word was "Ingram". You can only imagine my feeling when she remembered my name. The one lady she put her hands on my face and said 'That's Ingram.' I wondered what I might have done back in 1945," he laughed with his wife by his side.
"After meeting those ladies I had to return each year," Ingram said as his eyes teared up a bit.
The march of time showed in Ingram's eyes as he explained those two women are gone now, "The life cycle," he said.
But that will not let him stop coming back to Pilsen each for as long as he can. "I Never expected to get back here, never crossed my mind that I would meet again the people I first met in May of 1945." He has not forgotten them and they have certainly not forgotten "Ingram."
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