The Pin Man

Another day on the job hunt has me reflecting on jobs I’ve had in the past…I’ve run my own lawn mowing service, was a starter at a private golf course, worked clean-up crew at a concert venue, worked for a tent rental company, was a busboy for two days, worked at the Michigan State on-campus bookstore, was a house boy at a sorority, a salesman at a camera store and for the past going-on 19 years, have been in advertising. All that got me to thinking about jobs I really wouldn’t want. Of course you say, beggars can’t be choosers, but wait until you hear about this one…

Dates back to WWII and was told to me by WWII guide extraordinaire and all around great guy, Paul Woodage of Battlebus Tours in Normandy (www.battlebus.fr). I was in Normandy, one of my favorite places on Earth, after arranging a trip for the production of a documentary on Detroit’s WWII veterans, called “Detroit: Our Greatest Generation (www.detroitgreatestgeneration.com/). We were there with Captain Merle Barr and his son Bradley, who also is currently serving with the USAF. Merle was with a combat engineer battalion and landed on D-Day in the second wave. More on this to come, but for now, back to Paul’s story.

It related to engineers in WWII and the unfortunate occurrence of having to serve as the “pin man”. You’ve all probably heard of having to be the “point man” – leading a group of infantry into hostile territory – essentially, if they shot you they knew the enemy was present – you were a sacrifice or sorts. Well, it turns out the pin man had it just as tough.

As the allies made their way across Normandy there were several rivers that needed to be crossed and there wasn’t always means to do so for obvious reasons – The Germans destroyed them to slow the advance, they were destroyed by bombes, etc. So the engineers were called upon to erect bridges.

These bridges were assembled in sections, each of which was held together by large steel pins. And who put these pins in? Yes, the pin man. German snipers learned to wait until the pin man was perched precariously over the water, ready to pull a pin from his sack and push it into place, before they took the shot, sending the dead engineer and the sack of pins into the water. Again to slow down progress – the team of engineers then had to wait for another set of pins to be delivered up the supply chain. The Army finally learned to deliver extra pins, but the pin man job still existed for some poor guy.

So, I while may not be working, I’m damn glad I never had the job of “pin man”!