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| Kelly Stumpus |
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Achillies "Kelly" Stumpus was a parachute jump trained artillery officer who joined the 101st Airborne Division as a replacement in England after the Normandy invasion. Kelly was assigned to Headquarters Company of the 907th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, a support unit of the 101st Airborne Division. Right after Kelly joined the unit, Operation Market Garden, the invasion and liberation of The Netherlands began. Since Kelly was one of the few jump trained officers of that glider battalion, he was selected to jump into Holland with the initial parachute invasion as leader of one of a few advance teams. The remainder of the battalion was scheduled to arrive with their guns by glider on the second day.
Kelly had a successful jump into Holland on September 17th, 1944 near the town of Son (pronounced Zon). He spent the next couple of days scouting positions for some of the guns from his unit, as they would be in support of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Unlike most of the regular parachute infantry regiment soldiers, Kelly did not need to be up on the main line of resistance fighting the enemy. He actually had a couple easy days waiting for the balance of his unit. He met some of the locals who lived next to the drop zone, had an opportunity to get a bite to eat at one of the local restaurants in Son, and slept in the courtyard of a convent in the same town the first night.
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| Kelly at the convent in Son |
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| Kelly with locals next to the Drop Zone |
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On September 19th, Kelly was back on the drop zone near Son awaiting the arrival of his battalion. The large open area south of the town was then redesignated as a landing zone for the gliders. Unfortunately most of the battalion hit such bad weather after taking off from various air bases in England, that they had to turn back. Since the weather was so bad, some of the gliders were seperated from the main force while they were being towed across the English Channel by the C-47 Skytrains of the Troop Carrier units. They were not aware that an order had been given to return to base in England, and therefore continued forward into the bad weather. Some of those gliders were shot down or forced to ditch on land or in the channel, but several of them made it to the landing zone. Due to the poor weather conditions, the gliders that were forced to turn back to England had to wait until September 23rd before making the trip to Holland again. This time most of the remaining gliders of the 907th GFAB arrived at the landing zone, but many other were destroyed by German anti-aircraft fire (FLAK) on their way, or crashed while landing.
Once the unit arrived and went to work in suport of the 501st PIR, one of Kelly's assignments was to fly in the battalions Piper Cub airplane to act as a forward artillery observer. This was very dangerous work for Kelly to be flying over enemy positions seeking out targets for his battalions guns back behind the American lines, but fortunately after 3 days straight of flying these missions, he was still alive and well. Sadly, on the fourth day when Kelly was given a break from his assignment in the sky, the officer who replaced him, and his pilot, were both shot down by the enemy and died.
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After the Market Garden operation was over, the 101st Airborne division moved to Mourmelon, France for rest, recouperation, and resupply. Not long after their arrival Hitler made his last big push of the war and the 101st was needed once again to stop the attack. Kelly and his team were sent in as an advance party of the 907th GFAB before the remainder of the 101st arrived. No parachute or glider was used this time, it would be a "tailgate jump" from the back of large trucks for most of the division, but Kelly would arrive to the battle zone in Belgium by jeep. Once he arrived, Kelly was supposed to help coordinate the position of the battalions gun batteries, but instead, when he arrived to the freezing cold location, he was assigned by his battalion commander, Col. Nelson, to be the artillery liason to the headquarters of the 3rd Battalion, 501st PIR.
Kelly took his jeep and the three members of his support team and headed toward the town most Americans had never heard of, but which would soon become a household name, Bastogne. At about 3-4:00 am, they arrived in the center of Bastogne and Kelly had his driver park near a barber shop. Three of them went inside to get warm, while the fourth man took the first watch, standing out in the cold trying to find the commander of the 501st PIR as various American units passed through town. They each took turns outside until a little after daybreak when Kelly was finally able to make contact with LtCol Griswold and his 501st PIR HQ Company.
Kelly and his team immediately followed LtCol. Griswold and his men through the town in an easternly direction to an area called Mont. This area east of Bastogne was where the 501st PIR CP would be established. Kelly parked his jeep behind the CP building and began to make contact with all the battery positions of his battalion.
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Kelly was not the only liason officer of the 907th to be assigned to the 501st. While he coordinated his battalions artillery support with Col. Griswold and the 3rd Battalion, fellow Lieutenants Charles Spruill and Stanley Walkuw were assigned in the same positions with the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 501st.
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| Kelly and team at the 3/501st CP |
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| Making grub near the 3/501st CP at Mont |
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| The 3/907th liasons to the 501st PIR |
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