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 AMERICAN LEGION MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 2012

Zane Schlemmer was honored by the American legion magazine for his generous donation of personal time supporting various veteran-related organizations.

Living on the east coast of Oahu Island, Hawaii has many side benefits and for that and many other things in his past life he considers himself as "truly blessed."

 The article recounts many facets of Zane's life, past and present.

Tuesday, June 1, 2004

Isle vet returning to France for reprise of D-Day jump

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM

Surrounded by memorabilia, Zane Schlemmer poses with aphoto of a sign from a street in France that is named for him.
He will be returning to France this week for a D-Day celebration

For nearly 30 years, D. Zane Schlemmer tried to hold back the memories of his first combat jump into Normandy 60 years ago.

"I tried not to think about it," said Schlemmer, 82, who has lived in Hawaii for more than three decades, "but it kept cropping back up."

"In 1974, I made my first trip to Normandy and it was the best therapy I could have gotten. The people we liberated were so grateful."

Schlemmer, accompanied by his son and three grandchildren, will return to France this week to participate in the 60th anniversary celebration of D-Day. The invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, turned the tide of World War II, paving the way for an Allied victory.

Re-enactors on Saturday will recreate the 82nd's jump near the town of Sainte Mere Eglise, which was the heart of the American airborne operations.

"I would have loved to make that jump," said Schlemmer, "but the Army said I am too old, but they will allow us to march in with them."

Schlemmer was a 19-year-old sergeant from North Canton, Ohio, when he joined the 17,000 paratroopers of the 82nd "All American" and the 101st "Screaming Eagles" airborne divisions in the drop near Sainte Mere Eglise and Carentan.

But many of the three C-47 Dakota troop transports were driven off target by darkness and German anti-aircraft fire. A member of the 82nd's 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Schlemmer landed at 1:30 a.m. in an orchard in Picauville — more than a mile away from his drop zone.

"My helmet covered my eyes," Schlemmer said, "when I moved it above my eyes I could see the tracers coming up at me — red, yellow, and white. It looked like the Fourth of July."

Besides landing in the midst of a German division, Schlemmer said the Army didn't prepare the soldiers for the size and height of the hedgerows. "They were huge barriers."

The town of Sainte Mere Eglise, where the first American flag was raised in Europe, to this day still honors its liberators, Schlemmer said.

"They try to keep it in the same way. Every year there are American flags everywhere. It's a heart-warming experience."

Schlemmer landed in Picauville, west of Sainte Mere Eglise. The town named a street — Rue Schlemmer — after him.

Schlemmer was wounded on July 3 and taken to England to recuperate. "Of 2,100 soldiers in my unit who jumped with me," Schlemmer said, "only 915 returned to our base camp in England."

In September 1944, Schlemmer made his second combat jump with the 82nd into Holland and fought at Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge.

On Saturday, Schlemmer made his annual Memorial Day pilgrimage to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific to honor his colleagues buried there, including retired Col. John Battkin, who served in his regiment in the 82nd Division.

"This was such a memorable and wonderful Memorial Day," Schlemmer said, "especially with the dedication this weekend of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C."

Copyright © 2004 starbulletin.com. All rights reserved.
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Translated extract of France-Amerique, July 5-11,2003ded

Memory - on July 4th, a symbolic gesture of American-friendly French people, on both sides of the Atlantic.

A Red Rose on American Soldiers' Tombstone

"French people will never forget". It is the best answer American-friendly people could give to the controversy that occurred lately and that has been fed by some media during the War in Iraq. "They have forgotten" was the title of a New York Post front page article showing a picture of American Soldiers' tombstones in Normandy.

A symbolic gesture that has never been done before: a red rose will be laid on every tombstone in order to celebrate the American Independence Day Anniversary on July 4th. Here is the press release spread by the associations, located on both sides of the ocean, that have founded and signed this initiative.

"The friendship and alliance tradition between France and the US have always meant a lot to French people. And this has been going on for more than 225 years. Whatever circumstances and divergences in opinion exist between us, we wish to affirm this deep feeling. We cannot forget, we do not forget and we will not forget the ultimate sacrifice made by American heroes to set France free during both WW1 and WW2.

In order to show our gratefulness and the depth of this feeling, we have launched an initiative that has never been done before: a symbolic gesture. Indeed, on July 4th, a red rose will be laid on all 11 monuments dedicated to missing soldiers and on the 60,511 tombstones of American soldiers who died in France during WW1 and WW2.

The 4th of July, anniversary of America's Independence Day, is a historical date for France too. France has supported the American Independence and has even been the first country to recognize the USA as a nation. This year is the 225th anniversary of the friendship treaty signed by our two countries in 1778.

This initiative comes from a wide collective will. It has been immediately approved by all the French associations contacted both in France and the US. One of them, "Les Fleurs de la Memoire" (Flowers of Memory) was created 3 years ago and has already several thousand of French families in its members. They have committed themselves, in writing, to one and only mission: they will put flowers, at least once a year, on the tombstone of an American soldier who died in France. The parents and their children will have to do it during their whole life. This shows again the deep feeling of friendship that brings American and French people together.

There must not be any doubts about this friendship, it has always survived and will always survive. As President Roosevelt used to say: "No other nations are more united by history bonds and mutual friendship than French and American peoples".

Published on: Friday, Nov 4, 2005

508th Parachute Infantry Regiment to be reactivated

 By Kevin Maurer
Staff writer

The three paratroopers from the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment held their ground against the withering fire of the German counterattack. 

Dug in on the side of a hill in the Normandy countryside, Cpl. Ernest T. Roberts, Pvt. Otto K. Zwingman and Pvt. John A. Lockwood held off a battalion of German infantry with tanks for two hours while their comrades set up a better defensive position during the early hours of the D-Day invasion. 

Months later, 1st Sgt. Leonard A. Funk led more 508th paratroopers in a counterattack to clear a landing area in Holland for glider-borne troopers and artillery during Operation Market Garden. Funk received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions. 

These stories - along with others from World War II, Vietnam and Grenada - are part of the history of the 508th. The unit's history will pick up again with its reactivation as part of Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division. 

Division officials announced Thursday that the 508th will become the unit's fourth brigade. The announcement comes as the 82nd is starting to reorganize under an Army plan to make its units more effective. 

The 82nd Airborne is expected to grow by almost 3,500 paratroopers as it adds the 508th. The division will have more helicopters and add support soldiers. 

The overall Army plan calls for growth from 33 combat brigades to 48 in an effort to provide more forces to rotate overseas and decrease reliance on reserves for combat units. 

The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment will be made up of the 3rd Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, said Lt. Col. Michael Wehr.Historical links

The 508th jumped during the D-Day invasion with the 82nd. The regiment remained with the 82nd when the division jumped into Holland and fought at the Battle of the Bulge. 

The regiment was deactivated after World War II. It was reactivated in the late 1950s and fought in Vietnam, Grenada and Panama, before being deactivated again in the 1980s. In 1996, the unit was reactivated as the 1st Battalion of the 508th and assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy. The battalion was part of the 173rd's combat jump into Iraq in 2003 and is serving with the unit in Afghanistan. 

With the 82nd activating the 508th, the battalion in Italy will be redesignated.

Troop stability

One byproduct of the transformation plan is more stability for the division's paratroopers and their families, Wehr said. 

Under the new system, the brigade combat team - with all of its support, artillery and engineering units - will train together. 

"If you are part of the team, you know what your schedule is," Wehr said.

Soldiers can expect to be at Fort Bragg for an average of seven years. Long tours means less turnover, improving training and readiness. It also allows military spouses to find and keep better jobs, officials said. 

Wehr is overseeing the transformation process, which will begin in January. 

The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment will undergo reorganization first. The 3rd Battalion of the 505th will be re-trained and become the RISTA - an acronym for the division's reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition squadron. The unit will be re-flagged the 73rd Cavalry Regiment, Wehr said. 

The unit will be equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles and other intelligence-gathering devices. 

Most units - such as the 3rd Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division - avoided deployments while they were being reorganized. The 82nd will be an exception, its leaders said. The division will continue to be the Army's first-response force, said Brig. Gen. Rodney Anderson, assistant division commander for support. 

"It is all about what the nation needs," he said. 

Staff writer Kevin Maurer can be reached at maurerk@fayettevillenc.com or 486-3587.

WARTIME REMINISCENCE

Augusta Airborne Trooper Puts "Lie" on Nazi Story

   Another lie was given to the Germans  --- this time about the annihilation of the 82nd Airborne Troops --- by a letter from Cpl Jesse B. Evans to his mother, Mrs.. J. B, Evans of 1709 Walton Way.
   He said the 82nd, instead of being annihilated as the Germans claimed "did some rough fighting and wiped out the Germans as we went in. Ask any German about the 82nd and he won't have anything good to say about it."
   Cpl Evans was wounded in the invasion and is now in England recovering from a wound in his arm.  He left two  close buddies, Larry Palmer of the Milledgeville Road here and Bob Bennett from Tennessee, over in Normandy.  Evans who was the 12th paratrooper to leave his ship, didn't see the other two for five days.
   "When we did get together it was like this", he wrote.  "Bob came up and we were standing  talking and worrying about Larry when he came running up.  He had a real heavy beard and he was really looking rugged.  When he saw Bobby and me, tears ran down his cheeks, I was never so glad to some anybody my life."
   Evans joked about the daily danger they all faced.  He said that his platoon sergeant told him that if the war didn't end soon he (the sergeant) would be taking nerve tonic for the rest of his life.  Evans said the war gets on nerves at first, but doesn't last long. He set out claim to be the champion fox-hole diver.
   "I can dive 100 yards for my foxhole in 1-100th part of a second.  And I can hide behind a blade of grass."
   In another part of his letter Cpl Evans holds out hopes of getting home for Christmas.  "It certainly would be swell if we could have a quiet Christmas together. It would be the very think [sic] I need to settle my nerves."
   Charlie Evans, a brother of Jesse, is also with the American forces overseas, and participated in pushing the Germans out of Rome.  Both young men are active workers in the Woodlawn Methodist Church.

(Date of publication unknown, newspaper may have been the Augusta, [GA],  Chronicle]

He's Paratrooper

It's a WAC, --- no, its a paratrooper!
   One of the most unusual stories to happen around here lately concerns Cpl Jesse B. Evans, who is a paratrooper stationed in Nottingham, England.
   Over the AP wire came the following story: "Amid all the red-robed ceremony this ancient city could supply, 48 girls from 48 states drank toasts, ate luxurious food and rubbed shoulders with generals today in celebration of American-British friendship.
   Listed as the representative from Georgia was Cpl Jesse Billy Evans, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Evans, 1709 Walton Way.
   Thinking the Corporal a WAC, The Herald called to locate a photo of WAC Cpl Jesse B. Evans only to discover Cpl Hesse B. Evans is a paratrooper who has been in the Army for two years and overseas since December 1943.
   Maybe its a good thing for the Herald that Cpl Evans is in England.

[Notes:  It seems as though the AP was guilty of promulgating this error as the story cites " 48 girls from 48 states drank toasts ..."
   Also, the event that Jesse Evans attended took place in Nottingham's Council House and was hosted by the Lord Mayor.  The news article headlined NOTTINGHAM "AT HOME" TO THE U.S. ARMY] was captured in David Pike's book Airborne in Nottingham and begins on page 14.  Jesse's name appears in the middle of paragraph 2, page 15.

Sgt Evans Missing

   Sgt Jesse B. (Billy) Evans, member of the 82nd Paratroop Division, has been missing since September 17, according to a War Department message received by his parents,  Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Evans, 1709 Walton Way.
   The 22-year-old sergeant had written to his parents on September 16, the day before he was to have jumped ne Arnheim where British airborne troops met with disaster.
   Checking through the files of Sgt Billy Evans, one sees a colorful record typical of  a fine Augustan and American soldier.
   He has been in the Army over two years, goi9ng overseas in December 1943.  He participated in the invasion and was wounded.  After treatment at an English hospital he returned to the battle fields again.
   Evans ked about the daily danger he faced.  In a letter to his mother he wrote "I can dive 100 yards for my foxhole in 1-100th part of a second.  And I can hide behind a blade of grass."

While participating in the invasion of France, Sgt Evans,  Cpl Larry Palmer, of Augusta, and Bob Bennett, of Tennessee, became such fast friends that when Sgt Evans' mother sent him a dollar bill, the paratroops divided it searing to put the  three parts together again and go into business after the war.
   A brother, Charlie Evans, is also with the American forces overseas.    Both young men are active workers in the Woodlawn Methodist Church.
   His mother is director of the 11th district P.T.A., which held its annual meeting here at St. Paul's  Episcopal Church Tuesday.

[Note:  The newspaper falsely placed Sgt Evans in the area of Arnheim for this jump and used a bit of sensationalism by linking him to what was termed "where British airborne troops met with disaster"

Masses gathered to see Supreme Commander 'Ike'

   This article appeared in the Nottingham Evening Post, dated Saturday 16th June, 2007.recalling the excitement felt by residents of Nottingham when General Eisenhower visited their city. 
   The actual date of the visit was not stated, only that it "a few months earlier his plans had led to the final defeat of Hitler and brought peace to Europe."

Wollaton Hall Museum To Be Expanded

D-DAY PLUS 40 ANNIVERSARY REMEMBERED

Sgt. Weds Wac In Frankfurt

Sunday afternoon of Sept. 30, 1500 hrs., Wac Eleanor J. McKean and S/Sgt. C. W. Mullins of I Co., 508th Prcht. Inf. were married. The services were performed by Chaplain Koegan in the Wacs lounge which was very beautifully decorated with red roses and all the trimmings of a brides dream. The groom was dressed in his usual army apparel, but the bride wore a beautiful white gown made from silk of a parachute, and carried a bouquet of orchids. The bridesmaid wore a pale blue gown and carried a bouquet of roses, while the best man wore his usual army attire.
   Before the wedding, Wac Hope Lawrence sang "I Love You Truly", and "At Dawning", very

 beautifully. She was accompanied by an organist, Wac Mildred Palmer.
Major Bell with his mustache and fatherly look gave the bride away.
After the wedding the bride and groom were whisked away in a shower of rice and congratulations to the Country Club, where they were greeted by their many friends and a big reception. The tables were loaded with food (and a huge wedding cake. Champagne, punch, music, dancing, eating and all the trimmings were at the mercy of the guests for the entire evening.
Friends of the bride and groom were present to wish the couple the best of everything.

Source: DIABLO, 1945
(PDF version)