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At approximately 01:14 AM (12:14 AM for the Germans in Normandy) 1st battalion of the 506th PIR began jumping from their planes into the anti-aircraft fire filled skies above the Normandy coast. As a result of cloud cover and the anti-aircraft fire, many of the C-47 pilots were off course, too low, or traveling too fast. Several planes released their jumpers too soon or too late. Thus many paratroopers did not land at their assigned drop zones and were instead spread all over the Normandy region. I was one of the fortunate troopers who actually landed near my scheduled drop zone. I came down in a field somewhere west of the town of St. Marie-du-Mont. My landing was fairly uneventful, however I was on my back and unable to move for a short time as a German machine gun was shooting indiscriminately into the field, just above my head.
I laid my .45 caliber pistol on my chest while I paused and got my thoughts together. It was about that time I realized I had been hit by a piece of schrapnel in my right hand between the thumb and forefinger. The wound was minor, but it was bleeding. There was no time to worry about it though, the machine gun had stopped firing, it was time to move. I quickly cut myself out of the parachute harness. This was my only way to get free as everything had tightened up too much to release after the force of jumping.
While I was lying on ny back and struggling to free myself, a figure came walking up to me in the darkness. I could not make out whom it was, but he must have been a “friendly”, because after looking down at me for a moment, the person walked off to the edge of the field. After I was up off the ground, I grabbed my necessary equipment, but left behind the radio I had been carrying as it had been destroyed when I landed. I proceeded to the same spot on the edge of the field where I had seen the figure walk to a moment before. When I got there, I ran into Captain Herbert Sobel, who was the Regimental S-4, or supply officer. Captain Sobel seemed to be in a bit of a daze, but may have been the figure who briefly stood over me on the field.
Captain Sobel didn’t say a word, but instead just walked off in the opposite direction of where I needed to go. I hopped over the bushes at the end of the field and began to carefully proceed along the edge of the road that was on the other side. I was going to make my way towards exit #1 at Utah beach which was the objective of 1st battalion. It was pitch dark, so my movement was slow and cautious. I had only gone a short distance when the front door of a two story structure across the road from me opened up . As I quickly took cover in a ditch on the side of the road, a squad of German soldiers came running out and towards the beach. Luckily they never saw me.
While in the ditch, I met up with a couple of other 101st troopers who were also taking refuge there. Two of them were Staff Sergeant Isaac Cole and 1st Sergeant Buster “Buck” Rogers, both of 1st Battalion 506th HQ company. S/Sgt Cole and I were both billeted together on the second floor of the 1st Battalion HQ building back in Ramsbury. The small group decided to stick together and soon proceeded down the road in the same direction the Germans had gone.
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After a few moments, we met up with T/5 Rosario Rizzo, also from 1st Battalion HQ Company. He had been in the same plane as me. Rizzo had jumped right behind me and was carrying a container on his back with two homing pigeons in it. Unfortunately Rizzo struck the slate roof of a farmhouse as he landed, breaking the container on impact, and freeing the birds. We later found out the birds did return to England as trained, but obviously without any messages attached.
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| T/5 Rosario Rizzo of 1/506th in Ramsbury |
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A little further down the road, we began to enter the town of St. Marie-du-Mont. Things were actually pretty quite as we entered, but suddenly another 506th trooper came barreling around the corner and ran into our small group of about five or six paratroopers. He was all worked up and just kept yelling “Give me ammo, give me ammo, I’ve shot all mine up”. A couple guys in the group, including me, handed him ammunition, which he took and then ran back around the corner. Immediately we heard a couple shots. Cautiously peering around the corner, We saw the trooper lying dead in the street with our ammunition spread on the ground around him.
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| St. Marie-du-Mont town square |
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Up the road in front of us was a town square with a church in the center. The church had a high bell tower, so some of the guys in my group and I decided to go up and use it as a lookout. We made it across the square and into the church without incident. Once we worked our way up to the top of the tower we discovered it was wide open and we would have a great view of the town and beach once the sun came up.
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Just after sunrise, a tracked German vehicle came shooting down a road and made a right turn into the town square below them. The vehicle was an ammunition carrier with an open top. In addition to the driver, there were also a couple other German soldiers inside the vehicle. Everyone in our group immediately opened fire on the vehicle, killing everyone inside of it. As a last effort before dying, the driver must have thrown the vehicle in reverse because it jerked backwards and struck a wall throwing all the dead Germans into the air.
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As the sun came up that morning we were able to observe lots of action below in the town, and also had a great view of the invasion fleet and landing forces coming ashore to the northeast at Utah beach. We stayed in the tower until around the early afternoon, but then a couple of the guys and I wanted to move out to try and find the remainder of 1st battalion.
It was probably a good thing I did leave, as the church tower was struck by artillery in the early afternoon. Two rounds were fired at the steeple by Captain Lloyd Patch, from 1/506th HQ Company, and his men. They used one of the German cannons they captured with the 502nd near the town of Holdy. They thought the Germans were using the church steeple as an observation point. The first round missed, but it came close enough to give 1st Sgt. Buster Rogers and his group who had decided to stay in the tower, a warning to leave quickly. The second round struck home, but fortunately nobody was injured.
As we left the town of St. Marie-du-Mont, we passed by a number of dead and wounded Germans, as well as American paratroopers. One paratrooper that I saw was leaning against a wall on the outskirts of town. He was alive, but his jaw had been completely shot off.
Eventually We worked our way southwest to the small town of Caloville where we met up with several members of 1/506th and our commander, Col. William Turner. There were probably a few hundred paratroopers in this area from the 101st as well as some from the 82nd airborne. As a result of the many paratrooper misdrops all over the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy early that morning, not one of the American airborne units was complete, in fact, every large group was a commingling of various units. The town of Caloville had become a major meeting point because the command post of Col. Robert Sink of the 506th PIR had been established there. A temporary POW enclosure had also been created in the area and I took my turn on guard duty of it's occupants. The Germans counter attacked throughout the evening and early morning, but the paratroopers had fortified the area well and were able to repel the attacks.
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At 04:30 the next morning members of 1/506 and 2/506 were to step off on an offensive from Caloville. The objective was to reach the town of St. Come-du-Mont to the south. I was involved in this offensive, but instead of being Col. Turner’s driver, I was used as a forward scout on the left flank of the assault. The progress was slow, but we captured the town of Vierville in the morning, and moved on further south towards our objective. Around the town of Beaumont, we ran into heavy German resistance. Col. Sink requested a couple tanks from the landing force at Utah beach to move forward and assist us. Unfortunately, at about 4:00 in the afternoon, Col. William Turner was shot and killed in the Beaumont area as he popped his head out of a tank he had climbed into.
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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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Later that evening, as our battalion unit made it’s way to the les Droueries area, My friend Pfc. Charlie Tyra showed up. Charlie was a truck driver and was dressed in the drivers green coveralls. He had come ashore at Utah beach with the seaborne elements of the division, and although he usually drove a truck, he somehow arrived in our area in a jeep. Charlie had made the decision to ditch the jeep and stay on the frontline with me, and although I do not remember the details, he must have fought with us that night and the next day as we finally captured St. Come-du-Mont.
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A few days later on the 11th of June, the 1st battalion moved south towards Carentan. As we proceeded down the slop from St. Come-du-Mont towards the road and causeway to Carentan, 1st Lieutenant James Holmes stopped near me to observe through his binoculars a German soldier in the distance. Lt. Holmes watched through the glasses as the enemy soldier pointed his rifle right at him and shot. The Lieutenant was struck in the elbow by the bullet and began screaming, “he shot me, I can’t believe he shot me”.
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Charlie Tyra continued to move along with us and was behind me in the formation. One of our 101st medics had acquired a weapon and was also moving with us in front of me, but I noticed that he seemed quite nervous. At one point, when we were all spread out moving through a pasture, the medic happened to look back in my direction and beyond me. Suddenly he yelled “Lopes look out, there is a German behind you”. I ducked down just as he took aim and shot. Looking back over my shoulder I saw that my friend Charlie Tyra had been hit several times in the neck and chest. I jumped up and ran back in time to hear him say “aw Lopes” and then he died in my arms. Evidently the medic had mistaken Charlie for a German due to the color of the coveralls he was wearing, which made him look so different than the rest of us in our jumpsuits. I looked back at the medic but he was quickly moving away. What a sad moment that was for me, and I had originally been so glad to see Charlie when he had arrived a few days earlier.
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We continued our advance under fire from small arms and the occasional artillery round. One round came in and landed on the road to my left. I was not seriously injured, but the percussion did damage my left eardrum and it began to bleed. I still have hearing problems to this day from that incident. As we moved closer to Carentan, I spotted a German in a tree and shot at him. I was surprised however that the guy did not move. I was a good shot, so I was sure I did not miss, but he was still as a rock. A few other guys in the line also shot at the German after I did, but he still did not move. As it turned out, the German had tied himself to the tree, probably to keep from falling.
At 06:00 the next morning our battalion, combined with second battalion, began an offensive against German troops that were preparing to counter attack west of Carentan. This ended up being one of the largest engagements the 101st would fight during the war. The fighting was so intense that the battle area was later dubbed “Bloody Gully” or “Bloody Gulch”. During this battle one of the guys I was close to, T/5 Jack Brewer from 1/506th HQ Co., was wounded by shrapnel. As he was carried off the battlefield, Jack tossed me the Tommy Gun he had been firing. I threw my rifle down and was ready to use the Tommy Gun, but before I had a chance, an enemy round came through the bushes and struck the gun destroying the stock. I had to pick my rifle back up again.
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In the early afternoon a few US tanks came up from Utah beach to give us support. Their presence really changed the situation for the better and by about 6:00 pm the fighting was pretty much over. The 506th was then allowed to take a rest and moved into various positions around Carentan as they were placed into division reserve. As we moved back towards town, I saw Jack Brewer’s body lying on the ground near the Carentan field hospital. He had evidently bled to death.
This was the last major action the 101st saw in Normandy. Our division was spread out along a MLR (Main Line of Resistance) in the Carentan and St. Come-du-Mont areas. Other than the occasional sniper or artillery round, the fighting was fairly non-existent. During this time I was attached to a 1st battalion 81mm mortar squad. I remember one night we fired our two mortars towards the St. Lo area continuously for what seemed like the entire night. I was responsible for keeping the guns supplied with ammunition.
Finally around the 26th of June, portions of our division began moving towards the Cherbourg peninsula for new assignments.
On the 28th we moved to St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte on the Cherbourg penninsula. At about 6:45 that evening a tragedy struck our area. As I was sleeping in my foxhole, there was a large explosion nearby. Evidently a truckload of enemy ordinance that had been gathered by our regimental S-2 for inspection back in England had blown up. Two of our guys and a civilian were killed. PFC Elmer Husband, who was standing about 200 feet away talking to a local French woman and her daughter about doing some laundry, was struck in the back of the head by a small piece of schrapel and died instantly. T/4 John Goodman was probably killed as he was working on the truck because most of his remains were never found. Although the explosion was very close to me, I was thankfully saved because I was down in my foxhole.
A day or two later we moved to Tollavast and then on the 10th of July we began moving by truck to a new bivouac area behind Utah Beach in preparation for our return to England by boat. We boarded LCT #12 around 8:00 PM and set sail for the English coast at about 01:00 in the morning of July 11th, arriving at Southampton at about 03:30 that morning. Operation Neptune was now completed.
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| Click On The Eagle for Page #3 |
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