Battered Bastards of Bastogne Read online

  Yesterday we saw our first U.S.O. show in France. Marlene Dietrich had arrived with a large group of celebrities and entertainers. Her show was a big hit with the troops. Mel Ott, my boyhood baseball hero, was shooting the breeze with us. Mel had played for many years with the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. As a boy, I had tried unsuccessfully to get his autograph. I had it in my pocket now on a dollar bill but for some reason it no longer seemed so important.

  PFC. Leonard Swartz remembered that some of the troops of the 502nd Regiment got a special treat when the star dined with them. He wrote:

  Marlene Dietrich marched to chow with ‘B’ Company. The guy behind her ‘goosed her’ with his mess kit handle. She went up in the air about two feet. The company commander was furious. The guy was restricted to camp.

  I can remember the show Marlene put on for us. She had that sexy gown on and on stage she looked like a million bucks.

  As one of the youngest troopers in the 101st Airborne Division who had participated in all its campaigns, PFC. Paul Martinez had this memory of Mourmelon:

  The thing I remember most was getting to see Bobby Breen and Mickey Rooney with a U.S.O. show in our camp theater.

  Furloughs

  As the 72-day campaign came to an end, a limited number of 30-day furloughs to the United States were authorized. Drawings were held to determine the lucky recipients.

  Sgt. Richard L. Klein remembered that communications sergeant Chester Wetsig was the lucky recipient of a 30-day furlough. He wrote:

  Call it a hunch or whatever, I gave him my beloved luger to mail home for me when he reached stateside. It never would have made it through the series of hospitals that were to follow.

  In an oral taping, S/Sgt. John H. Taylor recalled that in his company certain stipulations were made before a soldier qualified for the 30-day stateside furlough. He related:

  One of the men (in a drawing) was to get a 30-day furlough back to the states. The requirement was that it would be one of the only remaining Toccoa men who had made all the missions. Several NCO’s, including Sgt. Borden, took their names out of the hat. Clemens got the furlough. It was not the man the company commander wanted to get it but it went that way.

  Another platoon sergeant from the same unit, S/Sgt. Vincent Occhipinti, spelled out the requirements in even more detail. He wrote:

  Two 30-day furloughs were granted to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the first week in Mourmelon. Company names drawn out of the hat had given one of these two furloughs to ‘F’ Company and our company commander and the 1st sergeants and three platoon sergeants were to make the decision of who got the 30 days off—back to the states—to start after arrival at the Port of Debarkation, New York City. One of our ‘F’ Company members, who was loaded with money, offered to pay almost any price for the furlough. He was serious.

  After a complicated method of elimination of persons in ‘F’ Company, we whittled the list down to about 12 people still eligible to get the furlough. Criteria included: originally with ‘F’ Company since September 1, 1942; never busted rank for any reason; never in the guard house for any reason; never had VD or similar diseases and a few other insignificant reasons—in other words—a Mr. Clean. The names of the dozen people left were placed in a hat and the final draw was made. It went to PFC. William Clemons of the 1st Platoon. After he got over the pleasant shock, he left for Paris to meet the other lucky winners and eventually shipped to the States.

  One of the fortunate winners of the stateside furlough was PFC. Stanley Stasica of “H” Company who got the second furlough issued by the 506th Regiment. He wrote:

  I won the 30-day pass for our outfit and Pete Bussone, who had a wife and daughter at home, offered me a thousand dollars for it, which I turned down. Had I given it to Bussone, Pete would be alive and maybe I’d have been killed in his place.

  In his diary, T/3 George Koskimaki noted the issuance of 30-day furloughs to lucky troopers:

  December 10, 1944—Spent a quiet Sunday afternoon after sleeping most of the morning. Some boys left for 30-day furloughs to the States yesterday. Butler, of the MP’s, was the lucky man in Special Troops.

  Orders From Washington

  With the battle fronts relatively quiet in the early days of December, General Maxwell D.Taylor had responded to an order to report to General of the Army George C. Marshall in Washington to help resolve some issues that would have an effect on the airborne divisions in Europe. Feeling the 101st Airborne Division was in the good hands of Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe, General Taylor had departed. He wrote:4

  Arriving in Washington with my aide, Capt. Thomas J. White, on December 6, I called on General Marshall and set about carrying out his desires. These included not only discussions with his staff but also visits to airborne activities out of town.

  General Taylor also had an opportunity to visit with his family, which he hadn’t seen in two years. Capt. Thomas L. White had served as aide to General Taylor in Africa, Sicily, Italy and Normandy. For the Holland operation he had served as a liaison with the parachute artillery assigned to the 506th Parachute Regiment. Capt. White describes how his assignment differed radically from other 101st officers after the return from Holland. He wrote:5

  A few days after we were relieved of combat duty and were recuperating near Rheims, France, I was ordered to report to General Taylor immediately. Because of our long past association, he offered to take me back to the states for approximately two weeks to brief the Pentagon on airborne operations.

  I was thrilled with the idea of being home for Christmas for the first time in many years.

  Relatives in Paris

  Shortly after Paris was liberated and the civilian postal services went into somewhat normal operation in the liberated sections of France, PFC. Walter F. Zagol began to make contact with relatives living in the Paris area. After arriving in the Mourmelon area, Zagol requested and was issued a special pass to visit those relatives. Zagol related:

  I met my uncle and aunt for the first time. I could talk a few words of Polish and a couple words of French. My aunt knew a bit of English. I made arrangements to be with my relatives for Christmas.

  Passes

  When the troops arrived on the scene in Mourmelon from the Holland campaign, they were chagrined to find they were restricted from going into town on pass due to the misbehavior of some of those who had arrived earlier.

  There had been problems in Rheims and Mourmelon with some of the early visitors from the Division showing too much exuberance when they had too much to drink. In one instance, the first sergeant and all three platoon sergeants had been sacked and sent to other units. They were replaced by a new top kick and three new staff sergeants, all highly respected leaders in their former units.

  A machine gunner who was also adept as a rifle grenadier, Cpl. Glen A. Derber, had this recollection of the restrictions:

  I had nothing to do with the fiasco in Rheims so the restriction to our area as the result of it, hurt, after having been in combat so long. They let a few out on pass, starting with the officers and working down through the ranks because they must have realized you can’t keep combat vets cooped up.

  PFC. Robert W. Smith, who served as a medic for “A” Company of the 501st, remembered that the people of Rheims eventually forgave the troops.

  It seems that the advance echelon that was sent down to Mourmelon to clean up the camp for us raised a little bit of hell in Rheims and got a lot of people upset and so when we got there we did not get a very warm reception. They all seemed to warm up to us later.

  It had been a long time since PFC. William J. Stone and his buddies had been to town on pass so their group kept a constant watch on the battery bulletin board as to when passes would become available and the first from the group to spot the listing would sign up each of the men. It didn’t turn out to be a big deal for Stone. He remembered:

  When we arrived in Rheims, shortly after noon on the day of our passes, the shops and l
arger stores had merchandise displayed in their windows and we were anxious to buy gifts to send home. The shops and stores had merchandise but they were closed and would not reopen until 3:00 p.m. We wanted to shop first and then relax in cafes but given the situation, we reversed the order of events and took ourselves to the cafes. None of us had spent much time in cafes during the past three months and so we took full advantage of the opportunity for food and wine—too much advantage of the opportunity for wine. By the time the stores had reopened, some of us were unable to go shopping. My friends dropped me at the Red Cross where the lovely lady director allowed me to sleep on a couch in her office. By the time my friends claimed me it was time to board trucks for the return to Mourmelon. The trip to Rheims had, for me, been a washout.

  When it came time to issue 48-hour passes to Paris, 1Lt. Thomas J. Niland missed out on the luck of the draw but did get one brief pass. He wrote:

  We drew straws to see about the rotation of passes to Paris. I lost and wasn’t scheduled to go until after Christmas. However, I had one Sunday off and some of us went to Rheims, had a nice dinner, toured the cathedral and walked the streets. This was my one free day on the continent of Europe.

  Pvt. Lester A. Hashey had injured his ankle on the September 17th jump in Holland and, although he had been treated in hospitals in England, he was still assigned to light duties. While recuperating, he did manage to have some social life but with a lot of company. He wrote: “I dated a girl in Mourmelon and took her to a movie. Her mother, father and grandmother—the entire family—came along.”

  PFC. William True was one of the lucky ones to get a pass to Paris shortly after arriving from Holland. He wrote:

  ‘F’ Company had been among the lucky units to get 48-hour passes to Paris before December 18 and I recall feeling sorry for the guys who hadn’t made it. I met and had a date with Mlle. Helen Dubreuil in Gay Paree and at least had that memory to cheer me.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE ALERT

  War correspondent Fred McKenzie of the Buffalo Evening News had met General A.C. McAuliffe and Colonel Paul Danahy by coincidence in Paris where they were participating in a press conference outlining the 101st Division’s role in the Holland campaign. At their invitation, he accompanied the two officers to Mourmelon where he planned to interview western New York veterans of the 101st in their roles with the Screaming Eagle Division. McKenzie had been assigned quarters with the division staff officers. His plans changed suddenly on Sunday evening. He wrote:6

  On Sunday evening, December 17, there was a suddenly called general staff meeting. Knowing something was afoot, I stayed up until Colonel Danahy returned to our quarters with the announcement, ‘Well, Fred, you are going to be with us for a while.’

  Then he explained that the division had been assigned a mission and that I must be restricted to camp for two or three days until released. I knew that Germans were attacking and suspected the division was being summoned to meet the thrust. I knew it might prove to be a dangerous step, but I said:

  ‘How about going along with you, Colonel?’

  ‘We’d be happy to have you,’ Colonel Danahy replied.

  We didn’t discuss possibilities much thereafter. It just seemed I should go along, so we retired. The next day began the most awesome ten days I might conceive in the wildest of nightmares.

  The 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion had arrived from southern France on December 12. Veterans of parachute drops in Sicily and southern France as well as supporting roles in major engagements in Italy and in the French Alps, the artillerymen were expecting to join the 17th Airborne Division when it arrived from England. At the moment, they were attached to the 101st Airborne Division only for rations and administrative purposes. On the evening of December 17th, its commander, along with the other major unit leaders, was called to a meeting at Division Headquarters. LTC. John T. Cooper, Jr. describes what happened at the gathering:

  A few days later we got the call to meet at Division HQ. Upon arrival, I found a seat with the other artillery battalion C.O.’s and listened to the General explain about the breakthrough and that the 101st would get cracking and go to Werbomont. It was a somewhat lengthy meeting and many questions were discussed and some decisions were arrived at.

  There was a long discussion on how many trucks it would take to move a company, a HQ company, a battalion, etc.

  An artillery battalion commander, Carmichael, asked ‘how much ammo to take?’ The staff, after due consideration, came up with the answer, ‘a basic load.’

  There was not an officer in the room including all the infantry colonels, their staffs, or any of the General’s staff, that had any idea of where they were going or any idea of how many trucks they needed and, to make matters worse, they had never given consideration as to how the trucks were to be loaded once they arrived.

  After the meeting broke up, I went in for a private talk with Colonel Tom Sherburne and General McAuliffe. In the hustle and bustle of getting ready to go, the General had forgotten about my battalion and that we were attached only for supply and administration. We were to be assigned to an airborne unit that was scheduled to arrive any day but the General said, ‘I wish I could take you, as the 327th needs a direct support battalion.’ He asked me how many trucks I would need to make the trip. I told him that. I did not need any trucks for the move, but we would need all we could get to haul ammunition.

  I left that meeting very much disturbed about the apparent disorganization of the total show and with the understanding that if I chose to go, they would be glad to have us, but I would have to talk to Bud Harper and work out a deal with him.

  I went back to my unit and called an officers meeting—all officers. I explained to them what had happened and that we could stay in Mourmelon or go with the 101st to Werbomont. If we go to Werbomont with the 101st, we will have to support a glider regiment.

  This sounds silly as hell, but we had jumped into Sicily with Colonel Jim Gavin’s regiment and the 82nd Airborne Division. Later, when the 82nd went to England, we were detached (456th Para FA Bn) to stay and support General Frederick and the First Special Service Force through the Italian campaign to the capture of Rome on June 6, 1944, and later combat—teamed with the 509th Battalion for the Southern France campaign up to the French Alps prior to moving from the front line in southern France to Mourmelon.

  We had all the parachute bravado and disdain for the glider troops.

  Needless to say, our discussion at that meeting of officers lasted as long as General McAuliffe’s and we discussed only one thing. Shall we go and support a damn glider outfit or stay in Camp Mourmelon. (As it turned out, the damn glider outfit, 327th Infantry, turned out to be one of the best units that we served with during the entire war!)

  I gave the officers all the information that I had. My staff arranged the order of march and the battalion was loaded and ready to move the next morning before the trucks began to arrive for the rest of the division. Some of our trucks were not unloaded from the trip up from southern France.

  Capt. James J. Hatch was operations officer for the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment. He had gotten back from Paris in late afternoon and felt a bad cold coming on as he hadn’t slept much while on pass. He asked Major Doug Davidson, the regimental surgeon, for his best cure for an oncoming cold which seems to have done the trick. He wrote:

  I have no idea what it was but I ate an early supper and hit the sack and fell asleep immediately. About 9 p.m., I was shaken awake and told to report to Regimental Headquarters on the double. Since in Paris, I didn’t follow any military news and wasn’t aware of the big German offensive.

  The Division was alerted by SHAEF since we were in SHAEF reserve to be ready to move the next morning, combat loaded to a point to be determined later. I was to assemble the regimental staff plus all the battalion S-3’s and S-4’s to issue the orders to prepare their units to be ready by 0900 the next morning. We would move by 10-ton trucks plus our organic trucks and
jeeps. We decided to take 3 days rations and all the ammo we could carry. It was a very short and limited verbal order and all I can say is Thank God we were now a very mature combat-wise outfit. With those limited words the outfit was ready without panic to board the trucks when they arrived. We had all kinds of conflicting info where we were to go. We were advised where the breakthrough by the Germans was taking place. We had two problems—lack of maps for that area and no winter boots or clothing and here it was mid-December. We finally had a very few maps but the wrong scale. However, they showed the roadways. We were headed for Werbomont.

  Platoon sergeant and acting platoon leader Robert M. Bowen describes the assembling of the company officers and top non-coms to hear the reports that had been passed down to the company commanders by the regimental and battalion leaders.

  The leaders of ‘C’ Company assembled in the orderly room. It wasn’t a happy gathering. Instead of passes to Paris, we were facing a trip back to the front. Memories were still fresh from the loss of friends in Normandy and Holland. Emotionally and physically, most of us were drained. Months of little sleep, a diet of ‘C’ and ‘K’ rations and the gradual diminution of our platoons had had their effect. We were not looking forward to more of the same.

  Capt. Preston Towns had led the company since April. He had shown good judgment in all the actions the company had been in, bringing it through with a minimum of casualties.

  “I can’t tell you a goddamned thing about what we’ll be doing except at this time we’ll be in Corps reserve,” he said in a southern drawl. “That is what they tell me, but I don’t believe it. I know you’ve got men who can’t take any more of this shit, so I want you to single them out and leave them behind. Draw ammo and rations from the supply room. Remember, it’s winter. Take overcoats, overshoes and extra blankets. We leave as soon as the trucks get here, so get cracking!”