# Quote — Lynn Compton, Call of Duty

> Sergeant Bill Guarnere sat with me on many of those nights. He was much more softhearted than he ever let on. In the series, it shows us together in a foxhole. In the background we can hear the Germans singing "Silent Night" not far away from us. I hand Guarnere a picture of my girlfriend back home, lamenting to Bill that she was finished with me- just in time for Christmas. I don't remember that ever happening, but this often did: Bill and I were supposed to take turns staying awake and sleeping. Often I'd wake up and he'd say in his South Philly accent, "Aw, go back to sleep, Lieutenant. I got it." I'd protest, but he'd always insist.

- Author: [Lynn Compton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lynn-compton.md)
- Book: [Call of Duty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lynn-compton/call-of-duty.md)
- Page: 137
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lynn_Compton#Call_of_Duty:_My_Life_Before,_During_and_After_the_Band_of_Brothers_(2008)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/lynn-compton/call-of-duty/sergeant-bill-guarnere

## More from this book

> As young people, my generation would see a lot of death. I don't think I ever grew accustomed to it. It came in darkness and fervor, by our airplanes, rifles, parachutes, and tanks. But there was something about that first death I experienced the summer of 1939 when I was just eighteen, years before the war, that stayed with me so strongly. Those first few seasons after my father died were dark indeed.

p. 54 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lynn-compton/call-of-duty/as-young-people.md)

> Sometimes the greatest signs of strength are demonstrated when you relive the hardest parts of your life. I'm not a man easily given to emotion. I hate to cry. Yet there are three things that cause me to tear up today. One is when I talk about the love I have for America. The second I'll tell you about later in this book. The third is whenever I remember by dad's suicide.

p. 53 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lynn-compton/call-of-duty/sometimes-the-greatest.md)

> Just before Christmas, 1944, we got word that the Germans had closed the circle around Bastogne. This meant that the 101st Airborne was now completely surrounded by the enemy. Dick Winters said once that being surrounded was no problem for paratroopers- we were used to that. For me, it's hard to describe the feeling of isolation. The heavy fog meant that we were cut off from any help from the sky. We were alone, out in the woods, surrounded, with desperately low supplies. We were in day-to-day survival mode. Build the occasional fire. Melt some snow. Find something to eat. Cook it in your helmet. Stay out of harm's way. Just do what you need to do to get through the day.

p. 138 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lynn-compton/call-of-duty/just-before-christmas.md)