They Served

The story continues: Our crossing was June 12, 1944, D+6 or six days after D-Day. There were no bullets flying by us, but we could hear the big guns not far away. The sunken ships, downed planes, burned out pill boxes, wrecked tanks, trucks, and with the beach area plowed with large naval guns and bombs, one could see that it had to be one of the bloodiest battles ever fought. We hit the beach at 8:35 a.m.

Our mission was to build a fighter strip near Bayeux at Vaucielles on the La Dame River for the 9th Air Force Fighter Bombers. Our strips were always built as close to the front line as possible, so the planes could carry a large bomb load and return for another mission immediately. Our first strip was really quite close to the front because there had not been a breakthrough. The many hedgerows in Normandy had provided good cover for the Germans.

Because many dogfights took place overhead, we pitched our pup tents under the apple trees to protect ourselves at night. This broke the fall of the shrapnel from the planes and anti-aircraft guns. Here I attended my first Catholic Mass. A French priest said Mass on the hood of a jeep under the apple trees. It sounded like Latin to me!

You can take a farm boy to war, but you can't make him forget the farm. While walking to my pup tent under the old apple trees to the chow line for breakfast, a gentle cow allowed me to fill my mess cup with milk. Sure did beat the dried mild we had for our cereal!

June 27, 1944. The strip was completed and already occupied by P-47 fighterbombers, two squadrons of the 9th Air Force. Like hauling wheat to the elevator, they loaded a thousand-pound bomb under the belly and a 250-pounder under each wing. They took off for the front and returned for another load, then were gone again as soon as they were reloaded and refueled. All our efforts seemed worthwhile when we saw this activity.

Our 846th built several fighter strips for the 9th Air Force through Normandy and Brittany on our way to Paris. From Paris we took a northern route through Brussels, Belgium, repairing and rebuilding existing German airfields.

December 25, 1944. Christmas day! The weather was very cold, and we had the day off. We survived the Battle of the Bulge on an airfield near Liege, Belgium. Due to the Bulge, we had no mail or Christmas presents. Our mailman was shot on a mail run out of Liege. However, the mail caught up with us later. Better late than never!

December 26, 1944. We went back to work again in very cold weather. The snow was 10 inches deep. The food rations were rotten. The Germans began to retreat again, so things could have been worse.

Our last location before entering Germany was Maastricht, Holland, on April 8, 1945. We were to build an airstrip operational as a frozen ground strip. After a long trip from our chateau at Wavre, we set up six-man tents in zero weather in eight inches of snow. My squad had a large coal-burning stove. We were very comfortable until the ground thawed out from the stove's heat. Then we sure had a muddy mess.

After Maastricht, we went on through Rosemond, then Cologne to Krefeld near the Rhine River. From there the fastest thing in Germany was the retreating German army.

Wherever we were, there was always someone who needed something we had to trade, like candy, cigarettes and soap. I was approached to trade cigarettes for silk. The German soldier claimed it was from the Japanese Embassy in Rome. I thought the material would make a lovely wedding gown. For eight packs of cigarettes, I received more than enough for a floor-length silk wedding gown. I had no bride in mind, but I knew God would take care of that.

April 18, 1945. We made a short stopover in Hanover before leaving for Bremen April 25, 1945, where we were when the war ended May 6, 1945.

May 7, 1945. My squad was assigned guard duty at Cuxhaven to help guard a capitulating German division. This is where my collection of pistols and rifles are from.

The 846th Engineers rebuilt the airfield at Cuxhaven before going south through Kassel to Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, where we built the large airbase in use by our Air Force today.