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| Art Petersen |
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Arthur Max Petersen was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1924. He later moved to Southern California with his family and attended Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles. In 1942 after graduating from high school, Art enlisted in the U.S. Army in Monterey California.
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After enlisting, Art volunteered to join the newly forming Airborne branch of the Army. He was then sent to Camp Toccoa, Georgia for basic training. Art arrived at Toccoa in time to be placed in Company F, the last company of the second battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. This regiment was being put together as an experiment to prove it was possible to take men fresh off the street and turn them into highly trained fighting troops. This effort was being led by the regimental commander, Lt. Col. Robert Sink. Once formed and trained, the 506th PIR would later become part of the 101st Airborne Division.
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Basic training at Camp Toccoa included the usual marches, formations, and basic weapons training, but it also included what was probably the most hardcore physical training of any military unit in the world. Runs of several miles carrying packs and weapons weighing well over 100 pounds were routine occurrences, but this camp also had the steep terrain of Mt. Currahee to add to the training. Three miles up, and three miles down, and it was not unusual for this mountain to be run more than one time a day.
In addition to the goal of getting the men of the 506th into the best shape possible, the tough physical training was also designed to eliminate weaker men who would have problems later in combat. But Art stuck it out through those tough couple of months, made the cut, and was ready for the next phase of his training, the parachute jump.
When the 506th was done at Camp Toccoa, it was time for the regiment to move to Fort Benning, Georgia to complete their jump training. Although trains ran directly from Toccoa, the 2nd Battalion of the 506th was instead scheduled to march 115 miles to Atlanta, Georgia. This march was made in an effort to break a highly publicised marching record recently set by the Japanese army. The three day march began on December 1, 1942, and the 2/506th succeeded in breaking the Japanese record, but the 3rd Battalion would break this record the following week.
Once in Atlanta, the 2nd Battalion boarded trains for the remainder of their journey to Fort Benning. By the time they arrived, the 1st Battalion of the regiment, who had arrived by train before them, had already convinced the cadre of trainers at Ft. Benning that "Stage A", the physical training, was not needed for the 506th. To the surprise of the cadre at Benning, every member of the 506th PIR was in better physical shape than the average soldier, and probably than them as well.
The 506th began their parachute training as class #49 on the 14th of December. Art went through the training, at first jumping out of stationary towers on the ground, and then later out of real airplanes. He made the five required jumps to earn his jump wings which were awarded to the 2nd Battalion during a ceremony at Fort Benning on January 3rd, 1943.
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| One of the training towers at Ft. Benning |
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| One of the tall Ft. Benning towers |
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After jump training was completed, the 506th PIR was given a couple weeks off for leave. This gave Art and the other members of this elite unit time to show off their newly earned jump wings. But on February 26th, the 506th moved to Camp Mackall, North Carolina, where they would go through detailed weapons and tactical training.
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In early September, 1943, Art and the rest of the 506th PIR headed to Camp Shanks New York. They would soon leave the camp and head into New York harbor to board the troop ship HMS Samaria. On September 5th, 1943, the day after boarding the Samaria, members of the 506th PIR left pier 90 in the New York harbor bound for England. This finally answered their question as to who all their long months of training would be used on. Obviously it would not be the Japanese in the Pacific, but rather the Germans in Europe.
After an uneventful (no German submarine attacks) but uncomfortable trip across the “pond”, HMS Samaria and the 506th PIR arrived in Liverpool England on September 15, 1943. The regiment was piled into trucks and carted off to various locations in the English countryside to be billeted and to set up for their final preparations before going into battle.
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More than eight months later, on the evening of June 5th, 1944, Art and the remainder of the 101st Airborne Division boarded C-47 transport planes. They were about to begin their part in the Allied invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europa.
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| Art and his squad on the eve of D-Day |
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Art was part of serial number 12, which was comprised of 36 planes of the 435th Troop Carrier Group. These planes were to carry the 2nd battalion of the 506th PIR from Upottery Field in England to the skies over Drop Zone “C” in the Normandy region of France.
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Art and his stick of paratroopers jumped from their plane around 01:20 on the morning of June 6, 1944 to prepare the way for D-Day landings at Utah beach. Unfortunately, like so many of the paratroopers of the 101st, Art did not land on his assigned Drop Zone. Instead of Drop Zone “C” near Hiesville, he was misdropped and landed farther northwest in the town of St. Mere Eglise. That town was actually in the targeted sector of the 82nd Airborne Division, not the 101st.
Art experienced a lot of action there, and for a short time was fighting with Major Richard Winters and other members of Company E, 506th PIR, the men of the now famous "Band of Brothers". But all the men and units of the 101st were equal in battle, they all had the same training, and now the same challenges, no one unit of the division was better than another.
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After parachuting in with the rest of his regiment, Col. Sink had arrived in the town of Caloville around 04:00 on the morning of June 6th and established the command post for the 506th PIR. By the afternoon, many of the men of the 506th also made their way to Caloville and various units of the regiment began to reform. Around 5:45 that evening, the 2nd Battalion, along with the 1st battalion and 6 cannons from the 81st AAA, were in defensive positions around the CP at Caloville.
At 04:30 the next morning Art and the other members of 2/506, were to follow 1/506 as they stepped off on an offensive from Caloville. The objective was to reach the town of St. Come-du-Mont to the south.
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The progress was slow, but they captured the town of Vierville in the morning, and moved on further south toward their objective. Near the town of Beaumont, they ran into heavy German resistance but eventually fought through it.
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| Photo of 1/506 & 2/506 action areas on D+1 (6/7/44). Click the image to enlarge it. |
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Around midday, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 506th captured the town of Angoville-au-Plain. At 2:45 that afternoon, Col. Sink moved his CP forward into Angoville.
As the attack continued towards St. Come-du-Mont, Col. Sink requested a couple tanks from the landing force at Utah beach to move forward and assist with the attack. Unfortunately around midnight, the objective had still not been taken, so Col. Sink ordered the 1st and 2nd Battalions back to Angoville-au-Plain for some rest.
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The next day the attack on St. Come resumed with several skimishes being fought at the towns entrance between the 1st Battalion and the enemy. Art anf the 2nd Battalion stayed near Angoville with several fights of it's own. St. Come was eventually taken later that day. Over the next few days, more men of the 101st airborne division arrived in Normandy by glider and by sea.
A few days later, on June 11th, after a fierce two day battle, elements of the 502nd PIR spearheaded an attack into the important crossroads town of Carentan. Later that day, the 2/506 with guns from the 81st AAA Battalion followed the 1st Battalion into that town.
The enemy had fled the town towards the southwest so Col. Sink, fearing a counter attack, sent 2/506th in that direction to set up defensive positions. Early the following morning, June 13th, at around 05:00 AM, Art was part of an offensive south of Carentan to head off a counter attack by the enemy. As all three battalions of the regiment moved forward, Art's company was confronted by German assault guns. These self-propelled guns were similar to tanks, but with a much lower profile, which made them great support for the German infantry. Unfortunately Art's company commander lost his nerve at that moment and ordered F Company to retreat. Art did not understand why they were running for the rear all of a sudden, but he had to follow orders along with the rest of the company. This action left the right flank of the third battlion wide open, and could have created a disaster for the 101st. Fortunately the hole was plugged and the German counter attack was stopped.
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Several battles continued to be fought around the Normandy area, but as the 101st became more organized and settled in, some units were rotated on and off the line and put in temporary reserve. Bloody Gully was the last major battle the 101st saw during the Normandy campaign. Finally towards the end of August, the division moved up the Cotentin Penninsula towards Cherbourg in preparation to be sent back to England. On the 11th of July, 1944, the 2nd Battalion of the 506th PIR began boarding LST's at Utah beach. On July 13th, the 101st Airborne Division arrived at Southampton, England.
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On September 17, 1944, the 101st was again in the skies over Europe preparing to jump out of C-47 transport planes for an invasion. This time it was Operation Market Garden, the liberation of the Netherlands. Unfortunately for Art, he was struck and wounded by shrapnel in the plane right before the jump. Nevertheless, Art made the jump with the rest of his stick. Once safely on the ground, he was treated by a medic and then transported back to England. Art spent the next two months recuperating at a hospital in Plymouth.
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| On the way to France from Belgium |
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| Art rejoined his unit in December 1944, just in time to be shipped out in trucks to the Ardennes region of Belgium. Here Art and the rest of the 101st A/D would set up defensive positions around the town of Bastogne to protect it’s valuable crossroads from a large surprise offensive by the Germans. Art was wounded again and was sent to a building in France that was being used as a hospital.
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Art finished out his service time and was eventually discharged from the army at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro California on December 4, 1945. He spent that Christmas with family in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and began his adjustment back to civilian life. He later married his wife Gloria and had four children, Arthur, Martha, Sonia, and Sam and made their home in beautiful Santa Barbara.
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| August of 1945 in Austria |
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Art is a long-time active member of the Southern California Chapter of the 101st Airborne Division Association. Although they still live in Santa Barbara, he and Gloria attend many of the chapters functions in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas of Southern California. They have also attended a few of the 101st National reunions such as Toccoa, Georgia last year and Tampa, Florida the year before. Art also hopes to attend this years National convention has plans to attend the Remember September celebrations in The Netherlands in 2009.
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