American Valor Quarterly Issue 12 - Spring 2015 | Page 27
just so happened that the 30th Corps
had about 28 boats that would allow
two rifle companies to cross the river
in the first wave. I was in H Company
and the other company to cross with
us was I Company. We took positions
on our side of the river behind a big
dike and waited for the boats to arrive.
When they finally did arrive it shocked
everybody to see the boats being
brought in on British trucks called
lorries. They lifted up the back curtain
on the truck and peeled off these boats
like a deck of cards. The boats were
canvas with wooden staves that held
them upright and piece of plywood
flattened out the bottom. They didn’t
have a motor or any means propulsion
to guide us through the river’s active
current. To complicate things further,
while we were waiting during the course
of the day, it became clear the Germans
had been taking up strong positions on
the other side of the river expecting us.
It’s for all these reasons the Waal
River crossing is noted for its daring
and courage. To summon the valor to
travel in broad daylight in canvas boats
across this river in the face of enemy
fire certainly posed severe challenges.
Even when you got to the other side,
you had to traverse up to 800 yards
of open ground while machine guns
were opening fire on you. That was the
daring part of it. And the courage was
to be able to face these challenges and
overcome them. Of course, we took
heavy casualties - we had 48 men killed
and roughly 150 wounded. So the battle
was heavy and viewed as a very difficult
mission.
I was able to travel to Holland for
the 70th anniversary of the nation’s
liberation during the war and in my
return, I was able to cross the Waal
River again with men who paddled me
across and reenacted the whole season.
It was a special experience.
We were able to send word to the
British, whose tanks had arrived in
Nijmegen and were on the south end
of the Bridges, that we had control and
it was okay for them to cross. They
made it across and the bridges weren’t
blown, but they held up there and didn’t
proceed to Arnhem until the following
day, and by that time, we had lost the
National Archives
DUTCH CIVILIANS WELCOME THE MEN OF THE 82ND AIRBORNE.
SPRING 2015
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