Memoirs Online

 CAPT. ROBERT ABRAHAM ... D-DAY

D-Day Death Still Real for Trooper By Katherine Hatch

There was a full moon and as Capt. Robert Abraham floated beneath his parachute toward French soil he could make out the cobblestones in the village streets.
   Seconds earlier, the 29 year-old army company commander had led 22 men out the door of a flak-damaged C-47, jumping into the bright moonlight at an altitude of 700 feet. They had missed their mark, but their orders were to jump anyway. No one was to return with the plane.
   "I didn't have much time to think when I was going down. We were so well trained and so oriented to what we had to do, the actual drop was just a way of getting there,
   "But I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't scared."
   It was D-Day June 6, 1944. The time was 2:30 a.m. and the place was the sky over the German-held Cherbourg peninsula.
   For Capt. Abraham and his men, World War II was very near. Now a. retired army colonel and executive officer of the Oklahoma Military Department, Abraham, recalled his personal D-Day experience on the occasion of the 25th anniversary Friday of the allied evasion of Europe.
   Abraham enlisted in the army in April 1941 and 15 months later he was training as a paratrooper in Camp Mackall. N. C.
   With other men of the 82nd Airborne Division, he was sent overseas for training early in 1944.
   I didn't know when D-Day would be -- the specific day --- but we were sent 1train in England and Ireland.  We heard that there was going to be an invasion and that we were going to be part of It."
   Abraham, who commanded regimental headquarters company of. the 508th parachute infantry. regiment;, was told about D-Day three days before it happened.
  "We look off from an airfield near Nottingham, England about. 10 p.m. the night before, The planes were to fly threes In formations of nine.
  "We rendezvoused with the other planes, over the south coast of England and flew In formation over the invasion fleet with our lights on so they would know where were.

   Flying southwest, plane pilots were signaled by submarine when to make their turn and head east toward France.
   "We flew, between the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, the Channel. Islands, at about 1,000 feet and Germans started firing. They had guns on the islands and there was bright moon light.
   "The plane went into some clouds and as we started out, the tail got hit. "They had said before left 'Don't bring anybody back. If you can't get where you're supposed to go, drop somewhere else, but don't come hack. We need every one there.'
   Because of the tail damage, the pilot couldn't make a turn he had to make so we went north of where we were supposed to be. It was 2:30 a.m. when we actually performed our leap. I was the first, one out. The last two who dropped landed in Cherbourg and were immediately taken prisoner but we got them back.
   Abraham landed 10 kilometers south of Cherbourg. about 8 kilometers behind Utah Beach.
   "We dropped in what appeared to be a command post of a German artillery unit. They covered the drop zone with fire for about 15 minutes and then, when the; planes left, the Germans quieted down.
   There were Germans "all around," Abraham said.
   We  were supposed drop right, back of the beach-head to prevent the German coastal divisions from being reinforced and to open up the beach for our men."
   It took Abraham and his men three days to reach their pre-planned drop area, "Ultimately, we had to go straight out to the beach and then come back around.
   We were In the area 35 days.. That was 35 days of combat.
   We went in with about 2,000 in our regiment. We took 1,300 casualties and 300 were killed, Some of. them are still hurled over there In Normandy.
   Paratroopers are a very proud outfit.  They like to excel."
   Out of the 150-man company commanded by Abraham, 100 men made it out walking. We left some over there, he said.

[The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK, 1 Jun 1969, Sun, Page 22]

THIRTY FOUR DAYS IN NORMANDY IN 1944
By Colonel Mark J. Alexander

For several years I’ve been promising my son, Mark, Jr., that I would write of my experiences in the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. At that time I was Executive Officer of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. After fighting in the invasions of Sicily and Italy, we had been training in Ireland and England for about six months in preparation for the invasion of Europe. Only a few of us knew that our next objective was Normandy, France.

    We displaced from our training areas in England to the airfields on June 3 with intent to jump into Normandy on the morning of June 5. However, stormy weather over the English Channel caused Eisenhower to delay one day, and the invasion was made June 6, 1944. My Regiment, the 505th, jumped at 1:30 to 2:30 AM on the morning of June 6, preceded by our pathfinders with a lead of 45 minutes.

    After we displaced to the airfields, I am proud that General Matthew B. Ridgeway, the Division Commander, came to me and said that he had decided to jump into Normandy with my Regiment rather than go by ship and boat, and would I pick a plane and jumpmaster whereby he had the best chance of landing in the chosen landing area. I picked an experienced jumpmaster, Lieutenant Dean Garber of Headquarters Company, and a plane on the right side of the flight formation where the jumpmaster could best see the beckoning lights of the pathfinders. The General sat in with Headquarters Company for loading and jump instructions on the 4th of June.

    This, I believe was to be the General's fifth jump. The General jumped with Headquarters Company as planned landing within 100 yards of proposed drop area where his field command post was planned, and was soon joined by elements of his Division staff.

    After a delay of 24 hours, General Eisenhower finally gave the order to launch the invasion on the morning of June 6. We had been nervously standing by at the airfields for some 36 hours and the men were ready to go. Training and timing of an invasion by 150,000 men and support units was a tremendous undertaking. In addition to combat and service troops, thousands of ships and 821 C47 airborne troop transports were involved. This included 20 pathfinder ships and three hours later, 103 airplanes, each towing a WACO glider carrying glider troopers, jeeps, antitank guns, and supplies.

    Finally, on June 5th, we received the anxiously awaited orders to "GO" on the morning of June 6, 1944. Takeoff and assembly of aircraft from several airfields, and circling to get into formation takes a great deal of time. We were circling in the air a half hour before heading for Normandy in a flight of V's. In my ship with me as jumpmaster were 18 men from our Regimental Headquarters S2, Captain Patrick Gibbons, my orderly, Chick Eitelman, and others. The other half of the Regimental staff were in another plane with the Regimental Commander, Colonel Ekman, and our regimental S3, Major John Norton.

    After assembly in formation we headed for Normandy. There was a quarter moon and an occasional cloud. Standing in the open door of the C47, I could see thousands of ships below. We headed southwest to pass northeast of the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, turning back to the southeast to cross the Normandy coast between the French towns of Bricquebec and Saint Sauveur le Vicomte to jump in the area immediately southwest of Sainte Mere Eglise. We were subject to heavy antiaircraft fire as we came into the vicinity of the two islands and intensive fire as we crossed the coast into Normandy. Intermittent clouds covered the 1200-foot approach elevation at which we were flying. We were to fly lower to an elevation of 800 feet for the jump. Flying in the intermittent clouds caused the formation to begin to disperse--some higher--some lower.

    In my plane we were in the clouds for almost all of the flight across Normandy. The red warning light came on and I waited for the green jump light as we flew through the clouds. I was afraid to jump without the green light for fear the other aircraft might be flying right behind us and at a lower elevation. I was about to jump without the green light because I knew we had passed over the intended drop area. We were still flying in the clouds and rapidly approaching the north coast of Normandy when the green light finally came on. I led the jump into the clouds at an estimated elevation of 800 feet as we landed very quickly.

TWO MORE TALES ABOUT GERMAN POWS IN HOLZHEIM

There are at least three stories to be told of German POWs in the Holzheim, Belgium.  One is that of Sgt. Leonard Funk and the reversal of their fortunes when a group of Germans overcame their G.I. guards.  That story has become well known, even famous, as Sgt. Funk was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics that day.  Two other related stories are less well known but definitely worth the telling.

 While attending the 1995 508th reunion in Cody, Wyoming, Worster Morgan, Hq Hq, submitted a copy of a letter from Tom Angress written from Berlin, Germany.  Worster had been the Platoon Sgt. and later Lieutenant in charge of S-2 (Intelligence) Section of Hq Hq.

   The question had been asked, "Who spoke to the German prisoners at Holzheim, Belgium, before they were led away to the rear?"  Worster believed the speaker was Tom Angress.

   [The readers] know the story of Sgt. Leonard Funk's heroics at Holzheim, who when we went to check on the prisoners, found a German officer in charge [instead of their American captors who had been overcome]  demanding that Funk give up his weapon.  Funk responded by giving the German officer his Thompson submachine gun firing full blast.  Thus Funk was able to subdue the rebellion and secure the prisoners.

   The next day six troopers were selected to march the prisoners back to the rear.  By this time the group of prisoners had increased to about 300 -- so it was said.  The POWs had already overcome their guards once, therefore, the command was issued, "Shoot to kill if an escape is attempted."

   Before the Germans were led away, a small German-speaking American paratrooper lectured the prisoners.  Whatever he said made the Germans laugh.  The speech and the humor must have been effective -- for the troopers had no problems taking the prisoners to the rear.  Among that guards that cold fearful night were Hq Hq men: Howard Brooks, Leon Israel Mason, Chris Christensen and Zig Boroughs.

   Fifty-two years later, Tom Angress wrote, "I am virtually certain that the 'small trooper' at Holzheim was I.  It had been a rough 72 hours with virtually no food, the regiment was cut off, and nobody [had] any idea what we were facing."

* * * * * * * * * *

   Don Hardwick, Hq Hq, was involved in another incident related to the same German POWs from Holzheim.

   Lt. Hardwick was the officer in charge of taking the prisoners to the rear.  The German officer POWs were in the front of the column.

   When Hardwick heard a Tommie gun fire several rounds, he hurried to determine the cause of the firing.  As he approached the head of the column, Hardwick noticed the German enlisted POWs enjoying a big laugh as they watched their officers pushing an American Jeep out of a snow drift.

   When the column came upon the Jeep, one of the guards, "Bugs" Cehrobec, ordered the lead POWs to push the jeep.  They refused, saying, "We are officers."

   A few rounds fired near the officers' toes quickly downgraded their officer status -- to the delight of the enlisted German prisoners.

[These two articles appeared in the Summer and Fall 1996 editions of the 508th newsletter.  At the 508th St. Louis reunion held in the Fall of 1996, Joe Ricci said that he, Fred Taylor and Fritz Nitschke, all of Hq Hq, were also on that guard detail in Holzheim.]

Still another article appeared in the Summer 1999 edition of the newsletter as a memorial to Sgt. Leonard Funk had been dedicated at Camp Blanding on June 19th of that year.  In that dedication ceremony it was said:

  The Medal of Honor citation mentioned the number of Germans Funk killed at Holzheim (twenty-one), but Leonard Funk did not gloat over killing so many of the enemy.  His C Co. buddies described him as grieving that day over the loss of his good friend Co. Clerk Edward W. Wild who was killed that very same day. 

He was also observed by a member of C Co. after the killing, comforting a German soldier, who died while in Leonard Funk's arms.

MASS BURIAL OF INTERNEES IN GERMANY

  Writing of the funeral of 200 concentration camp internees who were buried in the middle of a German town Master Sergeant Werner T Angress [Hq Hq, 508th] of Richmond tells of the German population and army officers who were forced to file through the lines of dead by the Americans in a letter received by Dr. Curt Bondy, professor of psychology at the Richmond Professional Institute from "somewhere in Germany"
   Sergeant Angress who recently received the Bronze Star for meritorious service in Normandy volunteered to jump with the 508th Parachute Infantry on D-Day as a Prisoner of war interrogator.  His citation states "At all times Sergeant Angress carried out his work in a superior manner and was highly aggressive showing a high degree of initiative in gaining information from prisoners of war that proved valuable to the tactical operations of the organization."
    One of the 26 boys who came to this country as refugees from Germany five years ago, Sergeant Angress volunteered for military service in the American army the following year. Twenty-two of the 26 of which Dr Bondy was in charge are now in the armed forces.
   Upon coming to this country the group of young refugees lived on a farm, Hyde Farmlands, near Burkeville, Virginia, purchased for them by a Richmond man.
   Sergeant Angress's account of the funeral which took place May 7 in the public square of a German town follows:
   "Today we buried the dead that we found in the concentration camp right outside of our town. We buried them in the public square of the town right opposite the castle of the Grandduke and the whole population as well as the captured German generals and higher ranking officers had to attend.
   But, before I go into details, I would like to tell you a few words about the concentration camp.  We found it outside of the town alongside the road in a wood clearing.  It is just a small camp with about 10 buildings behind the usual barbed wire and it housed from 200 to 300 slave laborers. The sight was the most horrible one I have ever seen. The place was filthy and smelled of decay of dead bodies and foul turnips; gnawed on turnips were lying around on the barrack floors, in addition to the filth and dead bodies of the inmates. You found them all over the place, piled up head to feet in the latrine, in the so-called wash room, in the barrack comers. Two hundred of them lay there unburied simply starved to death. Their limbs partly fallen off their bodies already, were as thin as sticks. It was a repulsing sickening sight. Their bodies were shrunk, only bones and skin. And over a thousand more bodies were being dug out of mass graves by the German population right then, while I was up there. But six kilometers away were people living in a town as good as you can imagine, a bit rationed but not suffering, in nice houses with dogs and cats that had to be fed and with good clothes to wear.

 I found several survivors in the camp yet and talked with them. They still wore their striped suits, they looked more dead than alive and their faces regardless of age looked old. They showed me their numbers which were tattooed to their arms. they told me of their suffering. And even if they had not done so the sight out there talked louder than these people could. I don't want to tell you any more It is one dirt spot in the history of Germany which will never be washed off.Mayor Makes Speech   The burial ceremony was rather impressive The population was assembled and had to file through the lines of dead which were placed beside their individual graves. The faces were uncovered, the rest of their bodies was wrapped In white sheets which had to be furnished by the population. We soldiers stood alongside the graves behind the white crosses. Men, women and children walked through, their heads bare, their faces sad or sullen. Some of them refused to go. We made them go. Then all of them went back to their places opposite the cemetery and the mayor of the town made a little speech. He said that it was up to the people of X to wash off this undoing and that all decent people and Christians were shocked and sorry. He looked pathetic in his white hair and his black top hat talking into the loudspeaker which was held by one of our officers. After that the dead were lowered into their graves while the band played funeral music. I forgot to mention the group of German officers led by five generals who stood in front of the population at rigid attention with faces of stone and stared into nothing. I would have liked to know what they thought. Their faces betrayed nothing. In front of them, facing the row of graves, stood our two generals and their staff.
   "When the bodies were lowered, the chaplains said prayers for the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish victims and one chaplain read a speech in German and English telling once more the story and explaining why those people were buried in the middle of the town. He said that it was the crime of every German, actually committed by cruel guards, or indifferently tolerated by the people. He warned the people never to allow again any party or any man to arise and do things like that. He appealed to the human decency to atone for these crimes.
   Our national anthem followed We saluted and so did the German officers while the tune was played. Then the bugles sounded taps
   "That was the end of the ceremony Thus were buried 200 human beings, Dutch, French, Poles, Russians and Jews buried by their former oppressors and by the liberating Americans who had come too late for them In the middle of a German town."

 [The Times Dispatch, Richmond, VA, 04 Jun 1945, Mon, Page 5]

508TH'S LAST "COMBAT" MISSION

Darrell Apple reports, "Occasionally I read about the last jump of the 508th from Frankfort that is referred to as the 'aborted mission'.  It was before the the last unit jump which was a demo jump for the Russians in Berlin.  It has to be in the HQ HQ Regimental records.  I've read in the newspaper where it was referred to as the aborted jump because the Russians withdrew their tanks. This, as Winston Churchill stated, was to prevent Stalin from sending his tanks into Vienna. 

For the HQ&HQ the mission was not aborted. We were two C-46's of Pathfinders (my team) and staff officers including a Colonel that was new to us. I recall his name was Jack Shannon.   I was a Pathfinder and communications T-5.  We were about 72 total and set up HQ and two drop zones.  After the Troopers set up the circle of defense and dug in, we waited.  Some of the Troopers fraternized with the Russian tank troops. 

The Regiment was already preparing to go stateside and about all we had for "heavy" were some 40mm Bazookas and 50mm machine guns. There was a great rush as the Pathfinders were departing at 2 a.m. from a grass field, with about 3 hours lead time.  If the jump was more than four Companies the Pathfinders usually jumped 36 on two zones with 18 to a C-47 per drop zone.

This drop was different. We had 2 C-46s (double doors) and my plane had a new Colonel and 36 total. We knew this was a biggie because the cooks served us hot mush with butter and milk at the airfield. The Catholics got Last Rites and the Protestant Chaplin passed out two bandoleers of 30 cal. to each, plus 4 hand grenades. This was not a monthly training mission.

We flew south several hours and got into mountains. We passed over a couple castles, circled over a beautiful two lane divided highway and dropped on a plain very near a castle.

We were told to look out for a radio jeep dropped along with other gear packs. Sgt. Paszek drove the jeep into the compound but he and I could not get the radio going as neither had training on that equipment.  Col Shannon was pacing and finally came over and said, "If you start the engine the S.O.B. will work".  Bingo!!

We usually encoded messages but Col Shannon went voice to Frankfort (where General Eisenhower was Supreme Allied Commander at the I,G. Farben buildings. The 508 was Honor Guard) and said only "We are in place". We all dug in.

Early the next day a Sgt. came back from patrol and said we "ought to see those huge Russian tanks" not far away. We were not aware the mission was canceled.  Another Sgt. came into our compound with a strange duffle bag full of all kinds of loot - gold teeth, silver items etc., and said, "those Russians went crazy over my Mickey Mouse watch".  Col. Shannon took the "loot" and told him, "we don't collect that".  The second morning I was driven in the jeep (our only transportation) to a rural road junction and dropped off as road guard to direct "traffic" to our area.

For several hours into the night trucks of infantry passed by.  When I got on the last vehicle about 11 p.m., the Capt. asked if Patton's tanks had arrived.  I didn't know.

When I got back to the compound the Russian tanks were gone and we were packing to fold. We loaded our gear in a few of the trucks that brought in the infantry and headed back to. Frankfort.  I believe we were in Bavaria. I was not aware the bigger mission was aborted.

We closed out Heddernheim (Frankfort) and the Regiment caught a train/bus to our port of debarkation for home.

About 20 years later I was reading Churchill's WW-2 (5 volumes) and he wrote briefly about this: Stalin was unhappy about the partitioning of Vienna and sent his tanks down to force a repositioning of the four zones.  In Berlin Russia had direct access.  In Vienna he had to go through either French, English or U S to get to Russian can't recall).  Churchill said It was very tight. Stalin would have had to run over the 508 (all we had was 40mm bazookas). Looking back, all the brass knew it was a suicide mission for the 508 (Last Rites, etc.).

Seems a Russian General knew Patton wanted to challenge Russian's tanks, and was roaring up from Vienna with his tanks on lowboys, and that Russian military and population were nearly depleted while U S had just reached our peak in production of military/air force equipment.  Moscow would probably have been the third A-bomb and there would have been no occupation by U S troops.

Darrell L. Apple (37761553RA)

TWICE CAPTURED
Pfc Roland E. Archambault (Medic)

     About 30 of us got together as soon as we landed and defended a hedgerow until the afternoon of 6 June.  Our party then retreated leaving me to look after seven men who were too badly wounded to move.  We were surrounded and taken to a barn near the German  divisional Hq.  The next day 160 of us were taken by truck to ST. LO.   On the way we were strafed by Allied planes, and 19 of the 160 were killed and 48 wounded.  About 15 km out of ST LO I was sent down the road to get a cart.  I made off into the woods and hid, but two days later I was recaptured by some Germans who did not know that I was a n escaper and who sent me to another regimental aid station.  I tended wounded soldiers there for four days, did the same for a week at an evacuation hospital near ST LO, and then marched to VILLEDIEU where for 10 days I assisted Capt. KOLEMAN whom I [found] working in an operating room there.  We were then sent to MORTAIN over night and from there to the hospital in RENNES where I was put to work with a French PW in the X-ray room.

   JUMPMASTER NOTES:  Pfc Archambault was a medic attached to Company B when he jumped into Normandy where he was captured on D-Day.  He was ultimately released to U.S. custody from the Stalag 4B Muhlberg Sachsen 51-13 POW camp in 1945.  Roland served as the Co B representative on the 508th PIR (WW-II) Association and received the O.B. Hill award in 1998.  He died on Jul 22, 2003 in Montana

POEM BY DAVID AXELROD, MD

WHY WE JUMP

I am a Paratrooper
I hail from every state in the Union;
I come from every walk of life;
through my veins, course the rich red blood of every nation.

I'm Tony, I'm Pat,. I'm lvan, I'm Frank,
I'm Rudolph, and Chang, Levi and Hank,
My grandfather rode the steppes of far flung Russia;
Nailed shoes in Czechoslovakia,
Pressed luscious grapes from off the vine,
To make Italian wine;
Planted the rice in his starving China;
Battered .the ice to sail his boats,
Out of Norway, to every coast;
Laughed at the heat of the desert sands;
Defied the cold, weathered the drought,
To pioneer a home in some far off land,
Yes, a congress of nations, from iron men wrought,
Fused in the fires of battles fought.

l hit the the silk over every land,
A vanguard for those who will follow later.
 I'm hard and I'm tough --- made of the right stuff,
That asks no quarter, nor gives no quarter,
And take it from me, I never bluff.
I'm briefed and checked while stars look down,
At 23:30 I leave the ground.
Two rows of men sit silent then,
Two rows on men on a mission, bent.
Fit and ready --- trained to kill.
Two rows of men, facing each other,
And what do we think, sitting there?
Well, your guess is good, just as good as mine --
But, remember! We're human! We all love life,
And because we love life, a fear is born;
No, nothing. to be ashamed of,
No veil to be drawn, nothing to hide.
For after all --- maybe its curtains for some.
It may mean we're starting our last long ride,
And well, try as we might,
There's tension in the plane, as we fly tonight.
But, thank God, it will pass, we know it will pass,
Yet for the moment, we're only humanly, downright scared---
We get to thinking of home and our childhood days,
Important things that once seemed small,
Our dog, the pony, the game of ball.
The Junior Prom, our first long pants;
Then suddenly your thoughts are broken,
As filtering through the veil of the past comes a prayer.
Out of the silence it comes, sitting there.
And you know you're not alone in your fear tonight,
That others are human ---just like you,
Just plain men, with minds and hearts.
Ready and wilting to do their part, yet--
No, nothing to to be ashamed of, that cold, sick feeling,
When your belly snaps tight, and your throat goes dry,
and you swallow hard, and glance at the guy across from you,
And wonder why, all this war, all this hell, this man made blight,
That ordains somewhere there'll be death tonight.

A half-hour!  An hour!  Now the feeling passes,
Gone is the dread, of what lies ahead,
Replaced by the present --- that's all that counts.
All that matters is your jump tonight.
Now, you check your gear, the hand grenades,
Your rope, the rifle, the shoulder knife,
The emergency 'chute across your breast,
Your automatics, two of them;
Then you cast a glance at the other men.
Yes, Tony, Pat,. lvan, Frank, Rudolph, Chang, Levi; Hank.
All are there!  Rarin' to go do their share.
Now, a buzzer sounds above the engines' drone,
Three short stabs as it crashes home,
The jumpmaster rises --- Our objective is near ---
Too late for any ifs, or buts,
As again that cold, icy hand grips hard at your guts,
And you wonder, oh God!  How you wonder!
Will your 'chute blossom out? Or --

Now a red light flashes! One final check! An order rings out!
Comes a klink [sic] of buckles, as you snap on the web,
Check the 'chute of the fellow just ahead,
You sense a cold rush of air from the starboard part,
Now, a green bulb burns in the [sic, line ends]
It's time!  The big moment has come!
Oh God!  Dear God!  Don't let me freeze in my jump tonight!
Don't let me freeze!  Please, don't let me freeze, 
Over and over, you breathe that prayer,
Fervently, humble, standing there.

Then, suddenly, it comes!  In a flash, it comes!
Poised there, in the open port  Crouched there, leg pulled up;
As you glimpse a stream, far below,
Silvery white in the moon's soft glow;
The fields of wheat beside the stream,
Where, in days of peace, the reapers glean,
As you grab the rip-cord, cold and bare,
Catch your breath, leap into space,
A curse on your lips, a muttered prayer;
Yes, it's then you know and understand,
You're jumping, tonight, for all mankind,
For every nation, in every clime,
For every heart that beats for peace,
And it matters not, the creed or race,
To bring to the world, a saving grace,
Of peace on earth, a blessed peace.
Yes, a congress of nations, the paratroopers,
Fit and ready, trained to kill;
Jumping tonight, that men may live;
Floating death from out the skies,
For anyone who ever tries,
To stop this world, in its onward march;
Silent death from out the blue,
Fighting for peace --- fighting for you;
Hitting the silk, unafraid,
sudden death --- AMERICAN MADE!