American Valor Quarterly Issue 12 - Spring 2015 | Page 26

were three divisions that jumped at
Market Garden: The 101st Airborne
Division, then the 82nd Airborne
Division, and finally, the British 1st
Division. The mission was for us to
sweep through Holland by way of
Arnhem, the so-called “Bridge of Fire”
where the British had landed. Once we
crossed through Holland, then we were
instructed to head east toward Berlin. If
we successfully met our objectives, once
we turned to head for Germany, there
would be nothing there to stop us from
reaching Berlin.

I did have the opportunity to do other
things in the Army that wouldn’t have
been in combat or in the line of fire, but
I wanted to be where the action would
be. Paratroopers seemed to be the best
way to be a part of that action, so that’s
what I signed up for.

National Archives

My first action was during an Italian
campaign through Naples and on
through the mountains of Italy. When
we couldn’t break the German line,
we arrived on landing ships at the
Anzio beachhead in what was called
Operation Shingle; one of the bloodiest
campaigns of WWII. Roughly 30,000
allied troops were killed during the
fighting at Anzio. That excludes those
who were wounded or captured. It was
a bloody battle which the Germans
responded to with some of their best
troops, determined to drive us off the
beachhead and take their assault to
another theater.
While we were in close combat with
the Germans, I was injured for the
first time. Fragments from a hand
grenade exploded and I had some
shrapnel lodged in my skin. But that
didn’t take me out of action. It was later
when I was involved in a close range
firefight that I was shot in the arm, and
eventually evacuated and hospitalized.
Ultimately, we left Anzio in June and
went to England to prepare for a jump
into Holland on Sept. 17, 1944.
Before the Normandy invasion,
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PARATROOPERS OF THE 82ND
AIRBORNE DIVISION PREPARE
TO BOARD THEIR C-47S FOR THE
DROP INTO THE NETHERLANDS
IN OPERATION MARKET
GARDEN - SEPTEMBER 17, 1944.

the Army was looking for volunteer
pathfinders, who jump in ahead of the
airborne forces to set up electronic
devices to help guide them into the
jump zones. That was critical because
these were night jumps when visibility
was low. My request to be one of the
pathfinders was turned down because
my battalion commander wouldn’t
release me. Knowing we’d be in
combat soon, he didn’t want to give
up any of his experienced guys. I felt
bad that we weren’t going to be in
Normandy because I felt we wer HB