'As Lonely as a Man Can Get': The True Story of D-Day, as Told by Paratroopers

[Bundbuster]

The men who leaped from planes into the world’s greatest battle tell their harrowing story, in their own words.



https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/06/06/d-day-normandy-world-war-ii-paratroopers-00161916

Eighty years ago, hours before the Allied forces launched a million personnel across the English Channel to fight Hitler’s Third Reich in Fortress Europe, U.S. and British paratroopers painted their faces black, shaved their heads, handed letters to loved ones out the windows of their planes and took to the sky. Some would never again feel the ground beneath their feet. Some would drown in the flooded fields below them. One would have his cigarettes shot out of his pants mid-air. But all of them, together, would triumph in perhaps the greatest undertaking in all of human history, defeating fascism in Europe and changing the world forever.

Sgt. Dan Furlong, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne: I landed flat on my back in a cement cow trough. It was full of water. There was a farmhouse back up about 150 yards from where I dropped, so I snuck up to it, and inside I could hear Germans talking. I was going to sneak away and then one came out — maybe he heard me or something. He came round the corner. I was standing flat against the wall, and I killed my first German right there. I hit him on the side of the head with my rifle butt, then gave him the bayonet treatment. Then I took off, ran like hell.

Pvt. John E. Fitzgerald: Shortly, I met a captain and a private from the 82nd Airborne Division. We decided to band together for safety in numbers. No sooner had we moved out when another wave of planes appeared overhead. They were some of the last elements of the flight to be dropped. German anti-aircraft guns opened up all around us. We spotted a gun firing nearby and knew we would have to try to knock it out. With all the noise, we were able to crawl to within 25 yards of it. The gun was firing from a raised platform. Surprisingly, it had no protection. The captain gave us a brief plan of attack: “Let’s get those bastards!” The private from the 82nd set up his Browning Automatic Rifle and pulled back the bolt. He fired several short bursts and hit the two men on the right of the platform. The captain threw a grenade that exploded directly under the gun. I emptied my M-1 clip at the two Germans on the left. In a moment it was all over.

Pvt. John E. Fitzgerald: Most of us were exhausted. I laid down against a stone wall and immediately fell into a deep sleep. When I awoke a short time later, it was almost dawn. While looking for water to fill my canteen, I spotted a well at the rear of a nearby farmhouse. On my way to the well, the scene I came upon was one that has never left my memory. It was a picture story of the death of one 82nd Airborne trooper. He left a graphic heritage for all to see. He had occupied a German foxhole and made it his personal Alamo. In a half circle around the hole lay the bodies of nine German soldiers. The body closest to the hole was only three feet away, a potato masher [grenade] clutched in its fist. The other distorted forms lay where they fell, testimony to the ferocity of the fight. His ammunition bandoliers were still on his shoulders, empty of M-1 clips. Cartridge cases littered the ground. His rifle stock was broken in two, its splinters adding to the debris. He had fought alone, and like many others that night, he had died alone. I looked at his dog tags. The name read Martin V. Hersh. I wrote the name down in a small prayer book I carried, hoping someday I would meet someone who knew him. I never did.

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Much more, with fantastic photos, at this memorable article, from the book When the Sea Came Alive. Copyright © 2024

[Bundbuster]

1. Excerpted from this book

[Danascot]

3. I listened to an interview on NPR today with Garret Graff

the author of When the Sea Came Alive. It was well worth listening to.

You can listen to it at the link below starting at about 12 minutes in. There's also a transcript at the bottom of the page.

https://the1a.org/segments/voting-d-day-and-democracy-through-a-different-lens/

[Bundbuster]

4. Thanks for the link. Freedom of speech, freedom of listening

Remember 1A and all our other freedoms fought for 80 years ago.

Shitler & MAGAts would love to strike down most of those freedoms.

[Probatim]

2. A close relative to one of my in-laws dropped to Corregidor in WWII.

He said he watched as half of the guys around him were shot before they hit the ground.

That's the only bit of knowledge he ever shared with family about his time in WWII.

[dalton99a]

5. Kick