World War II Chronicles

A Quarterly Publication of the World War II Veterans Committee ISSUE XXXVII, Winter 2006/07

Heroes Then.

Heroes Now. World War II Chronicles A Quarterly Publication of the World War II Veterans Committee WWW.WWIIVETS.COM ISSUE XXXVII, Winter, 2006/07

From the Editor -In This Issue- A Gathering of Valor Across the Generations by 4 Tim Holbert Heroes A recap of the American Veterans Center’s Ninth Annual Conference. From November 9-11, 2006, the American Veterans Center and World War II Veterans Committee held its Ninth Annual Confer- Special Feature ence. Here, some of America’s most distin- guished veterans from World War II through Operation Iraqi Freedom gathered to share High school students in attendance at the American Veterans Center 2006 Awardees Ninth Annual Conference take turns shaking their experiences with young students, fel- hands with recipients “Bud” 10 Each year, we honor several of the low veterans, and an admiring public. In this military’s great veterans in an effort to preserve Day and “Hershey” Miyamura, prior to a panel issue, we print several of the stories as told devoted to the Medal. The conference and promote their stories of valor. In this issue, by these heroes of the Greatest provided several hundred students an we recognize our 2006 awardees, heroes from the Generation...and the latest generation. opportunity to meet, and learn from, some of Greatest Generation and the latest generation. America’s greatest heroes.

Articles

A Conversation with Lt. Harry W.O. Kinnard The Doolittle Raiders 11 The man responsible for Gen. McAuliffe’s famed 16 Five veterans of the legendary on response to the German demand for surrender at remember their mission - and their leader. - “NUTS!” - recalls his experience.

E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry, 101st Airborne Fallujah: Two Years Later 20 : The 25 In what was the toughest battle of Operation Iraqi Veterans of one of the most celebrated units of World Freedom, four veterans recount their experiences, and War II share their stories, from Currahee to the Eagle’s remind us that the tradition of valor continues among Nest. this new generation of heroes. Only from the World War II Veterans Committee General James H. Doolittle A Portrait by Sam Ryskind

He was an aviation pioneer, a brilliant pilot, and one of the greatest leaders in the history of the United States Armed Forces. He was beloved among the men who served under him, and always led from the front. And for his daring raid on Japan in April, 1942, was awarded the Medal of Honor. Now available from the World War II Veterans Committee is this full-color, limited edition print reproduction of artist Sam Ryskind’s portrait of General Doolittle. Measuring 20”x24” in size, the painting was commissioned exclusively for the World War II Veterans Committee, with 400 prints signed by five of Doolittle’s Raiders, including Col. William Bower, Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, Maj. Thomas Griffin, M/Sgt. Edwin Horton, and Maj. Gen. David M. Jones. A limited quantity of signed and numbered prints are available for a donation to the World

War II Veterans Committee of $500. Unsigned copies are available for ____. To order, call 202-777-7272 ext. 220 or e-mail [email protected]

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 2 From the President Remembering Admiral and Mrs. Thomas Moorer

On March 22 America lost a great lady. On that day Mrs. Car- Speaking of the role women played in World War II he said, rie Moorer, widow of the late Admiral Thomas Moorer died “They’ve never gotten the credit they deserved.” after a long illness. Mrs. Moorer navigated innumerable moves during her husband’s Admiral Moorer had one of the most distinguished careers in long career, including duty stations in Japan and Britain and U.S. Military history. A graduate of the many places in between. She took the U.S. Naval Academy, he was a junior lead in raising four children and was a naval aviator at Pearl Harbor when the superb homemaker and hostess as well Japanese attacked. One of the few pi- as a trusted advisor. lots to get his plane off the ground, Lt. Moorer was dispatched on an all night Following Admiral Moorer’s death I flight to look for the Japanese fleet. approached Mrs. Moorer with the idea of naming the Committee’s planned He saw extensive combat in World War new headquarters after him. She and her II and was decorated with the Distin- family readily agreed and we are pre- guished Flying Cross and , paring to launch an ambitious capital and enjoyed a meteoric rise through the drive to acquire the funds for this ef- ranks of the Navy. Admiral Moorer fect. The new Moorer Center will also served as Commander of both the At- include a tribute to Mrs. Moorer. During full military burial honors for Adm. lantic and Pacific Fleets (the only man Thomas H. Moorer at Arlington National to ever do so) as Chief of Naval Op- Cemetery in 2004, Mrs. Carrie Moorer receives the If you would like more details on the erations and as Chairman of the Joint National Ensign from retired Vice Adm. Joe P. capital campaign please write to me at Chiefs of Staff. Moorer, Adm. Moorer’s surviving brother. the following address:

Tom and Carrie Moorer had a long and loving marriage and World War II Veterans Committee were true partners in life. The Admiral was a featured speaker 1030 15th Street, NW at the first seven of our national conferences and he frequently Suite 856 spoke with affection about his wife. , DC 20005

“They say a wife can make a man successful or happy.” he said. I hope you will join with me in completing this living memo- “Mine has made me both successful and happy.” rial to a great American hero – and to his wonderful wife.

He related how, after Pearl Harbor, his young wife had to make Sincerely, her way back to their home in Alabama, traveling by ship, train and bus for several weeks with an infant in her arms. James C. Roberts President World War II Chronicles

World War II Chronicles, Issue XXXVII, Winter 2006/07. A quarterly publication of the World War II Veterans Committee, 1030 15th St, NW Suite 856, Washington, DC 20005. Telephone: 202-777- 7272. Fax: 202-408-0624. The World War II Veterans Committee is a division of the American Veterans Center. World War II Chronicles is mailed to donors to the World War II Veterans Committee who make a contribution of $50 or David Eisenhower - Honorary Chairman more per-year. Contributions help to fund the Committee’s various James C. Roberts - President speaker conferences, student programs, the National Memorial Day Tim Holbert - Editor/Program Director Parade, documentary and oral history projects, and this publication. To Jim Michels - Director of Development make a contribution or subscribe, call 202-777-7272 or e-mail Michael Paradiso - Publisher [email protected].

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 3 Valor Across the Generations By Tim Holbert Editor

Everywhere one looked, from November 9 through 11 at dents in attendance to come forward and shake the hands the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia they of these two men. Miyamura received the Medal of Honor saw a hero. Gathering there for the American Veterans for his service on April 24-25, 1951, where during an Center’s Ninth Annual Conference were distinguished intense battle north of Seoul, he killed over 50 Chinese veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Opera- attackers before being felled by an enemy grenade. He tions Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Here, they was captured and held as a POW for the next 28 months. met with and spoke to their fellow veterans from across the generations, a grateful “Bud” Day needed little in- public, and several hundred troduction to the audience. high school and college stu- Shot down by the North dents, eager to hear of their Vietnamese on August 26, experiences in service to 1967, Day was seriously America. wounded and captured. Despite being tortured and The conference proved to physically spent, Day es- be a who’s who of Ameri- caped from captivity, nearly can heroes, and featured reaching the safety of a unit such legends as veterans of of U.S. Marines. He was the “Doolittle Raiders” and eventually recaptured, and “Band of Brothers” from sent to the infamous World War II, former pris- “Hanoi Hilton.” Day be- oners of war from Vietnam, came one of the great lead- Veterans of the legendary Doolittle Raiders led a wreath laying cer- Medal of Honor recipients, emony at the National World War II Memorial on November 11, 2006, ers among the Vietnam and decorated veterans of part of the Ninth Annual Conference. Assisting the Raiders and POWs, and was later Iraq and Afghanistan. Join- providing color guard were kids from the Young Marines program. awarded the Medal of ing them were such promi- The conference provided an opportunity for hundreds of young Honor for his heroism. John nent veterans as Lt. Gen. people to meet some of America’s greatest heroes. McCain, his cellmate in Dave R. Palmer, former Superintendent of West Point Hanoi, would call him “the bravest man I have ever met.” and noted military historian; Dr. Lewis Sorley, veteran of Vietnam and the preeminent historian on the war today; At the conclusion of the panel, Malone told the students, Lt. Gen. Harry W. O. Kinnard, aide to Brig. Gen. An- “Each generation has an obligation to future generations thony McAuliffe during the and com- to make things better. Your turn will soon be here.” mander of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in Viet- nam; and Brig. Gen. R. Steve Ritchie, the only Air Force For the next panel, four young men who were not much ace pilot from Vietnam. older than the students in attendance, their time has al- ready come. Moderated by former Marine Lieutenant While the conference provided an opportunity for these Wade Zirkle, the panel featured decorated veterans of veterans to share their stories with each other and the Iraq and Afghanistan, young men who have already an- public, the focus was on the many high school and col- swered their country’s call. Among the panelists was David lege students, who were given the opportunity to learn Bellavia, who as an Army staff sergeant during the battle from some of America’s greatest heroes. During a panel of Fallujah, single-handedly cleared a house full of insur- featuring Medal of Honor recipients George “Bud” Day gents, and was later nominated for the Medal of Honor. and Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura, Lt. Col. George Malone, recipient of the Navy Cross during Vietnam and “America does not owe this generation anything,” Bellavia panel moderator, invited each and every one of the stu- said. “I think we owe America, and that’s why we fight

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 4 for our country. We volunteered for this.” He continued, popped a few aspirin, and rejoined his men in pursuit of “I think that the enemy today completely underestimated the enemy. For his actions, he was awarded the Navy what we have to offer. If they are going to take us on, Cross. Now, as a drill instructor, he is charged with forg- they better wear their hardhats and pack their lunches.” ing the Marines who will continue on the fight in Afghani- stan and Iraq. If SSgt. Viggiani is any Following the three days of speaker ses- indication of the kind of Marines sions and wreath laying ceremonies at America is producing, the insurgent the war memorials, the event was capped forces do not stand a chance. off with the annual awards banquet, this year expanded to honor veterans of not Leaving a different impression was only World War II, but each era since. Timothy Connors, who despite being Presented with the Audie Murphy Award one of the great young heroes of Iraq, for Outstanding Service in World War II could have walked through the room were the legendary “Doolittle Raiders.” largely unnoticed. Now a college student Given the Ray Davis Award and Joe at Holy Cross, the 23-year-old Connors Ronnie Hooper Award for Korea and might have been mistaken for one of the Vietnam respectively were Hiroshi many ROTC students who were in at- Miyamura and George “Bud” Day. Also tendance, or possibly the grandson of on hand to be honored were the men of Baseball Hall of Famer and WWII one of the veterans of World War II. In 3rd Platoon, E Co., 28th Marine Regiment, veteran Bob Feller shares his experiences fact, Connors, sitting at a table with the th with one of the young students 5 Marine Division—the men who attending the conference. World War II Marines who took Iwo Jima scaled Mt. Suribachi leading to the famed and their wives, might have appeared flag raisings during the battle for Iwo Jima. slightly out of place. However, once his story was read, it quickly became clear that he belonged right alongside these Despite the great heroes of the past, it was the heroes of heroes of yesterday. Then-Cpl. Connors was the veteran the present who left the most strik- of a dozen house battles during the ing impression on those in atten- brutal fight for Fallujah two years dance. Honored with the inaugural ago, the most house fights ever re- Paul Ray Smith Award for Outstand- corded in American military history. ing Service in Operations Enduring During a particularly vicious fight, Freedom and Iraqi Freedom were Connors was responsible for retriev- Marine SSgt. Anthony Viggiani and ing the body of a fallen comrade, Sgt. Timothy Connors. Until re- saving him from falling into enemy cently, Sgt. 1st Class Smith was the hands, and is believed to have taken only Medal of Honor recipient from out Omar Hadid, Abu-Musab al- the current struggle against Islamic Zarqawi’s top man in Fallujah. He radicalism. He was killed during the Heroes of the Greatest Generation and the latest was later awarded the . generation. Col. “Bud” Day (right), veteran of initial invasion of Iraq in a firefight three wars and recipient of the Medal of Honor, where he was credited with saving with Marine SSgt. Anthony Viggiani, recipient of The evening ended with a tribute to the lives of dozens of his comrades. the Navy Cross for actions in Afghanistan. the soldiers of the 101st Airborne who fought in World War II, and those who are continu- SSgt. Viggiani, presented the award by Sgt. 1st Class Smith’s ing on their tradition of excellence in Iraq today. Veter- widow, Birgit, stood out in a room full of heroes. Cur- ans of the now-famous “Band of Brothers” bestowed rently a drill instructor for the Marine at Parris Is- medals upon six current servicemen of the 101st who re- land, Viggiani, wearing his “Dress Blues,” looked the part cently returned from Iraq, a symbolic passing of the torch of the legend that he has quickly become. On June 2 of from the Greatest Generation to this latest generation. 2004, then-Sgt. Viggiani led a counterattack against an As a crowd gathered around them all to take photographs, enemy militia in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, master of ceremonies Gene Pell remarked, “Folks, this is personally taking out several fighters who had wounded what it is all about.” Seeing the heroes of yesterday and his men. Shot through the leg in the process, he merely today together, no more needed to be said. WWII

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 5 Audie Murphy Award For distinguished service in the United States military during World War II

The most decorated soldier of World War II, Audie Leon Murphy was born to sharecroppers in 1924. He joined the Army as a private in 1942, shortly after his 18th birthday. Throughout his three years of active service, Murphy fought with the 3rd Infantry Division in nine campaigns in the European theatre. He received every medal the Army had to offer including two Silver Stars and three Purple Hearts. He received the Medal of Honor for his valor in repelling six German tanks and their supporting infantry near Holtzwihr, France. Murphy also received five medals from France and . While rising to the rank of , Murphy killed over 240 Germans and single- handedly eliminated a tank. He was deactivated on September 21, 1945. After the war, he became nationally known for both his wartime heroism and his leading role in films. Audie L. Murphy is and will remain one of America’s most heroic sons. The Doolittle Raiders

Col. William Lt. Col. Richard Maj. Thomas M/Sgt. Edwin Maj. Gen. David Bower E. Cole C. Griffin Horton M. Jones

On April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25 bombers launched from the airstrip of the USS Hornet, situated deep in enemy controlled waters. Their destination was Japan. Still reeling from the , these last few months had gone poorly for the Allies in the Pacific. Determined to strike back at Japan and boost American morale, American war planners had conceived of an idea in which twin-engined Army bombers could be launched from an aircraft carrier. Tapped to plan and lead this difficult and dangerous mission was the famed aviator and engineer, Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle. Doolittle’s task was enormous. Gathering together 24 crews at Eglin Field in Florida, he had to teach them to lift off in a B-25 at 50 miles per hour after a 500 foot taxi— less than half the speed and distance pilots were accustomed to using. In order to lighten their loads, the bombers were stripped of all unnecessary equipment, while extra fuel capacity was installed. Each was loaded with four 500-pound bombs. On April 2, the USS Hornet, with crews and bombers aboard, left Alameda Naval Air Station enroute to Japan. Two and one-half weeks later, an enemy patrol vessel was sighted about 650 miles off the coast of Japan. The vessel was quickly sunk, but not before sending a radio warning to the mainland. Recognizing that time was of the essence, Doolittle decided to launch the attack immediately, despite being 200 miles further from the Japanese coast than planned. The already dangerous mission now faced an alerted Japan, poor weather, a longer trip that would tax already perilously-limited fuel supplies, and an estimated arrival time during the middle of the day—a much easier time for Japanese fighters to attack the B-25s. After a successful launch, all 16 planes proceeded directly to their military targets in the cities of Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka, and Tokyo. In spite of anti-aircraft fire and Japanese fighters, all 16 planes successfully reached their targets. Clear of Japanese resistance, the new fear was making it to friendly territory before running out of fuel. Fifteen of the planes raced toward the coast of China, while the 16th flew toward Russia, where upon landing, the crew was interned for several months. The other fifteen crews were forced to bail out or crash land off the coast of China or over its coastal mountains. One crew member was killed bailing out, while two more died while swimming ashore. Eight, were captured, and subsequently starved and tortured by the Japanese. Following a mock trial, three of the eight were convicted of charges of which they were never made aware. The next day, all three were executed. Immediately following the raid, Doolittle told his crew that he believed the loss of all sixteen aircraft, combined with the relatively minor damage inflicted on Japan, had rendered his attack a failure and he expected a court martial upon his return to the United States. Instead, the raid provided a tremendous morale boost to a country that was in desperate need of good news. At the same time, Doolittle’s attack struck fear into the Japanese command, which recalled fighter units back home to defend against further raids—a strategic shift that would have huge consequences at the next turning point of the war—the Battle of Midway. For his actions, Jimmy Doolittle was awarded the Medal of Honor and promoted to Brigadier General, while each of the Raiders received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Raymond G. Davis Award For distinguished service in the United States military during the Korean War

Raymond G. Davis was appointed a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1938, following his college graduation and ROTC training. Throughout his military career, Davis fought in three wars and fourteen different campaigns. He rose to the rank of general, while earning 18 American and seven foreign awards. Among these included the Navy Cross, earned for actions at Peleliu during World War II and the Distinguished Service Medal during Vietnam. However, it was in December of 1950, near the Chosin Reservoir in Korea, that Davis would earn the acclaim that has made him legendary. While carrying his wounded along, he led his battalion over icy ridges to rescue a stranded rifle company. During this mission alone he was credited with saving over 1,000 Marines from certain death and 6,000 additional Marines from possible destruction. For this, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, and remains one of the great heroes in Marine Corps history.

Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura

On the night of April 24, 1951, Corporal Hiroshi Miyamura waited with his five riflemen and ten machine gunners for the expected attack of the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF). The 3rd Infantry Regiment was situated north of Seoul. The UN forces had recently recaptured the capital city, and their line had advanced farther north. The CCF had already attacked other areas of the line, and the Americans had been forced to withdraw. Holding Seoul was crucial for the Allied forces. Though not militarily strategic to the troops, the city provided the United Nations with extra clout when bartering with the North Koreans for peace. The Chinese had attacked other areas of the line on the 22nd, driving parts of the UN line backwards and collapsing the ROK 6th Division, several miles to the east of Miyamura and his men. Marines hastily attempted to fill the gap as over 250,000 Chinese troops prepared to attack on the early morning hours of the 24th. As darkness fell, the South Korean conscripts among Miyamura’s men deserted the company. The attack began, and the Chinese came in waves for hours. The Americans were forced to pull back as supporting Filipino and Korean regiments crumpled exposing their flanks. As they threatened to overwhelm his squad, Miyamura deserted his machinegun. Charging forward, he killed ten Chinese with his bayonet. He returned to his machine gun, firing until the gun jammed. Undaunted he bayoneted his way to the second machinegun, assuring his men that he would cover their retreat. Unaware that Miyamura was still fighting, American forces began dropping phosphorus bombs on his position. After killing over 50 Chinese, Miyamura’s ammunition was depleted. He made his way toward what he thought was the U.S. lines. A dying Chinese dropped a grenade after being bayoneted by Miyamura. It exploded filling his legs with shrapnel. He stumbled onwards until he was too weak to continue. After crawling into a ditch, he lost consciousness. The American troops continued to withdraw over territory they had gained less than six weeks before. Miyamura awoke the next morning to find hundreds of passing enemy soldiers. Hoping to remain unnoticed, he played possum. However, one Chinese was not deceived. He stood over Miyamura and in English told him not to worry—the Chinese had a lenient policy toward prisoners. Soon he was joined by other wounded Americans. After helping bandage each other’s wounds, they began their march to the prison camp. The UN line continued to retreat until the 28th of April. Able to halt the Chinese a few miles short of Seoul, the tide once again turned. As the Americans advanced north, this time it was the Chinese doing the retreating. The line became static as peace negotiations began with the North Koreans and Chinese. Miyamura spent the next 28 months as a prisoner of war. Poorly fed and with no medical attention, he lost over 50 pounds before he was released on August 23, 1953. Hiroshi Miyamura fought in one of the most savage battles of the Korean War. Through his personal sacrifice, he saved the lives of many while inspiring others to fight on against overwhelming odds. For his valor, Miyamura was presented with the United States military’s highest award—the Medal of Honor. Joe Ronnie Hooper Award For distinguished service in the United States military during the

The most decorated soldier in international combat in American history, Joe Ronnie Hooper, a native South Carolinian, joined the military when he was 19 years old. He was deployed with the 501st Infantry Regiment, , popularly known as the Delta Raiders in 1966. During his two tours of duty in Vietnam, Hooper killed at least 115 enemy soldiers. Surpassing both Sergeant Alvin York and Second Lieutenant Audie Murphy, Hooper earned 37 medals, including two Silver Stars, six Bronze Stars and eight Purple Hearts. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courage on February 21, 1968 in the battle of Hue during the Tet Offensive. Among his many acts of valor that day, he is credited with single-handedly destroying three enemy bunkers, eliminating the enemy in four more with grenades and killing additional Vietnamese with his rifle and bayonet. He accomplished these feats while he was wounded, refusing medical help until his line was restored. Hooper retired as a captain in 1972 at the age of 34, one of America’s great heroes of Vietnam. George “Bud” Day

On August 26, 1967, then-Major George “Bud” Day, commander of squadron of F-100s nicknamed the “Misty Super FACs,” was leading a mission over North Vietnam to locate military targets and call in air strikes on them. Suddenly, ground-fire hit his plane, destroying its hydraulic controls and forcing it into a steep dive. While Day was able to eject, he smashed into the plane’s fuselage, breaking his arm in three places. As Major Day descended toward the ground, North Vietnamese militiamen gathered below, eager to make him their prize. Upon being captured, Day was marched to a hidden underground shelter to be interrogated. Despite treatment that would break many men, Major Day refused to talk. His captors then staged a mock execution and hung him from a rafter by his feet for several hours. Figuring that Day was too weak to attempt an escape, the North Vietnamese took little care in tying him securely. They figured wrong as on his fifth day of captivity, Day untied himself and escaped. On the second night following his escape, Day was sleeping in thick jungle undergrowth when a nearby bomb or rocket explosion violently shook him awake, leaving him bleeding from his ears and sinuses and sending shrapnel into his leg. Despite his wounds, Major Day forced himself on toward the south for several days, eating berries and frogs, and evading enemy patrols. Nearly two weeks later, Day heard helicopters in his vicinity and stumbled toward the sound. Realizing they were U.S. choppers evacuating a Marine unit, Day hurried to catch them. Unfortunately, he arrived just as they were leaving the landing zone. His bad luck continued, as the next day, he ran into a North Vietnamese Army patrol, which shot him in the leg and hand before capturing him and bringing him back to the very same camp from which he had previously escaped. Once again, he was subjected to more torture. Soon, Major Day was moved to the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” The conditions were miserable – Day suffered from malnutrition, and his wounds were untreated. He was repeatedly tortured, at one point for 48 hours without rest. Finally, the enemy believed that they had broken him, as Major Day began to talk. Once again, they were wrong, as despite being broken physically, Day had the mental strength to provide them with false information on every important question. In February of 1971, a number of American POWs gathered for a forbidden religious service. They were suddenly interrupted by enraged enemy guards, who burst into the service with rifles pointed at the prisoners. At that moment, one of the prisoners stood, staring directly into the muzzles of the enemy rifles, and began to sing. The song was the Star-Spangled Banner, and the man was Bud Day. One by one, the other prisoners stood, joining in the anthem to freedom, their bodies broken, but their spirits strong. George “Bud” Day was released on March 14, 1973. Three years later, along with fellow POW James Stockdale, he was presented with the Medal of Honor by Gerald Ford. Colonel Day saw extensive service in World War II, and later served in Korea. He is the most decorated living American soldier. Paul Ray Smith Award For distinguished service in the United States military during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Paul Ray Smith was born in Texas in 1969. He enlisted in the in 1989 and was deployed with Bravo Company of the 3rd Infantry Division to Kosovo in 2001, rising to the rank of sergeant first class the spring of 2002. In January of 2003, he was deployed to Kuwait in preparation for what would become Operation Iraqi Free- dom. On April 4, 2003, two weeks after the invasion, Smith’s unit found itself engaged in heavy combat against superior numbers of enemy forces near Baghdad International Air- port. In the heat of the battle, Smith ran under heavy fire to a nearby mounted machine gun. While maintaining this exposed position, he killed nearly 50 enemy fighters before he was mortally wounded. His selfless actions saved the lives of more than 100 soldiers and repelled the enemy attack. For his valor, he posthumously was awarded the Medal of Honor—to date the only American service member to receive the military’s highest honor for Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom. Staff Sergeant Anthony Viggiani Operation Enduring Freedom

On June 2, 2004, the First Battalion, 6th Marines launched Operation Asbury Park, an mission that aimed to push deep into the Taliban stronghold near Dey Chopan, Afghanistan. Prior to this expedition twenty-four-year-old Sergeant Anthony Viggiani and his men in Charlie Company had seen little combat as they uncovered considerable caches of arms, ammunition and ordnance. However, their luck was not to continue. That day near Siah Chub Kalay, they were ambushed by anti-coalition militia (ACM) and proceeded to fight an intense seven hour battle with the enemy. On the following day as the company entered the village of Khabargho, they spotted approximately 20 heavily armed men fleeing into the nearby mountains. Squads led by Viggiani and Sergeant Ryan West moved after the enemy. Realizing that the Marines would be hard to escape, the ACM left five fighters to cover their retreat farther into the mountains. Three hid in a cave on the right side of the valley; one positioned himself on the opposite hillside, while the fifth fighter waited for the Marines in the valley floor. The Marines made their way over the rough, rock strewn terrain into the valley under intense fire. As the Marines on the left slope descended into the valley, Lance Corporal James Gould was hit in the calf by a 7.62 round. Corporal Randy Wood helped him find shelter behind a rock. They were targeted with a heavy barrage of bullets from the cave across the valley. One of the bullets ricocheted off a nearby rock and cut across Wood’s cheek. As Viggiani made his way down the right slope, he saw a break in the rock. When he leaned through the opening, he spotted a piece of cloth. Realizing he had found the ACM’s hideout, he fired his rifle into the opening several times, paused and fired again; but the hostile firing continued. Realizing that rifle power was futile and a grenade was needed to eliminate the enemy, Viggiani sprinted toward two nearby Marines to retrieve one. As he returned to the cave under heavy fire, the ACM fighter across the valley hit Viggiani in the leg. Blood oozed from the wound above his boot. Intent on reaching the cave and eliminating the enemy, Viggiani did not notice. He quickly made his way over the rocks. When he reached the cave, he pulled the pin and tossed the grenade inside flattening himself against the rocks for protection against the oncoming explosion. With the three fighters silenced, help reached Gould and Wood. The Marines were able to eliminate the others; and in less than ten minutes after entering the valley the Marines were ready to move out. It was then that his comrades noticed the crimson stain above Viggiani’s boot. Encouraged by his fellow Marines to return to the aid station, Viggiani refused, determined to continue with his company deeper into the mountains after the enemy. After taking two aspirin, he was once again on the move. For his relentless determination in destroying a brutal enemy, Viggiani was awarded the Navy’s second highest award for valor, the Navy Cross. Paul Ray Smith Award Sergeant Timothy Connors Operation Iraqi Freedom

On November 15, 2004, the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Division, came under fire from three sides as they attempted to clear a section of twenty houses in the eastern section of the Iraqi city of Fallujah, long known as a hotbed of terrorist activity. The city had been declared secure two days previous; the Marines were now eliminating the remaining insurgents. As the Marines in Battalion 1/8 took cover, LCpl Travis Desiato was shot down in the corridor of a small one-story, three room house. Fearing for Desiato’s safety and feeling responsible as he had allowed Desiato to fight that day, Corporal Timothy Connors decided to investigate the situation. Connors, already a veteran of eleven house fights and the battalion’s most experienced squad leader, cautiously moved towards the entrance. As he entered, he noticed the main room on his right was empty. A corridor on his left led past a second room into a back bedroom. Against the bedroom wall in plain sight was Desiato’s body, stricken by a hail of bullets as he had fallen to the floor. LCpl Matthew Brown followed Connors into the house. After confirming that Desiato had been killed, Connors entered the corridor, determined not to let his fellow Marine’s body fall into enemy hands. A barrage of AK fire greeted him. Quickly stepping back and grabbing a SAW, he let two hundred rounds fly into the backroom. Silence reigned. Connors grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin. Pulling his arm back to throw the grenade, he glanced down the corridor. His eyes locked with a man with a full beard and wild hair, his arm also back and armed with a grenade. “Grenade!” Connors yelled as he pulled Brown into the room on his left. After the explosion, they moved out into the courtyard. Making his way down the narrow alley to a small window, he raked the room with bullets and quickly retreated before the insurgents could get to the window and return fire. Next Connors threw a stick of C-4 down the corridor and ran to take shelter under the overhang of another house with three other Marines. The C-4 blew. Before the Marines could react a muzzle poked out of a hole in the roof and sprayed the wall a few feet above their heads with bullets. Connors threw a grenade into the opening, the explosion silencing the enemy. The main Marine force had pulled back to a larger house about thirty feet away. After lobbing a few more grenades at the house, Connors and his companions joined their fellow Marines. Corporals Eubaldo Lovato, Camillio Aragon, Brad Donaghy, and Lonnie Longenecker returned with Connors to the house. The other Marines provided covering fire. They entered the house; a short burst of fire came from the back room. Aragon and Longenecker threw a few grenades into the room and were greeted with silence. Suddenly Donaghy noticed that Desiato’s SAW was missing. Apparently it was in enemy hands. Not knowing if there was anyone else in the room, Connors and Aragon inched down the hallway. When they reached the door of the room, Aragon fired his pistol into the room. Silence. As he re-cocked, they were met with two hundred rounds of SAW power. The stream of bullets flew past. The two Marines stumbled backwards to the door of the next room where Lovato was pulling the pin on a grenade. “Frag out!” he yelled. After reaching safety, they decided that they needed more firepower. Tanks were called in. With the house now breached, the Marines rushed forwards, killing two insurgents attempting to escape. They discovered six insurgents in the room. The one with the thick beard and wild hair that had lobbed the grenade at Connors resembled Omar Hadid, a notorious terrorist who Abu Musab al-Zarqawi reported martyred but whose body was never identified. Hadid was known for being particularly brutal, and was the leader of the Fallujah insurgents. The battle for Fallujah was one of the toughest fights in recent American military history. There, the Marines and Army attacked room by room, reminiscent of the battle of Hue City, three and one-half decades earlier in Vietnam. Prior to the taking of Fallujah in November of 2004, many insurgents believed that the United States military would never fight in such close combat, that they would rely on air and artillery strikes. This attitude changed with Fallujah, as the insurgents learned that the choice to stand and fight the Americans would be a fatal one. Timothy Connors, in his four-hour battle to retrieve the body of his fallen comrade, personified the toughness of the United States Marine Corps in Fallujah. He would end up fighting at least a dozen of these vicious house-battles, the most in recorded American military history. For his courage, he would be awarded the Silver Star, and is a worthy successor to those Americans who fought at Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, and Hue City. A Conversation With Lt. General Harry W.O. Kinnard, USA-Ret

Then-Lt. Col. Harry W.O. Kinnard parachuted with the 101st I jumped into that operation as the regimental executive Airborne Division into France on June 6, 1944. From there he officer of the 501 Parachute Infantry Regiment, which was would lead his men through Normandy, then into Holland, before one of three parachute regiments in the 101. I had about finding he and the rest of the 101st surrounded at Bastogne during one week on that assignment in Normandy, and I then took the . It was there that he gained everlasting fame over the 1st Battalion, whose commander had been killed by suggesting General Anthony McAuliffe’s one word response to in the assembly area. We completed the Normandy opera- the German demand for surrender: “NUTS!” tion and went back to England on the 17th of July in 1944. He planned a number of operations for after the Normandy Harry W.O. Kinnard would rise to the rank of Lt. General, and operation, all of which were cancelled due to the fact that led the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in Vietnam. At the Ninth Patton was moving so quickly across France that our drop Annual Conference, in a conversation moderated by Gene Pell, Gen- zones were constantly being overrun before we could get eral Kinnard recalled his experiences, from D-Day to Bastogne. there. But on the 17th of September, operations that we had planned for Holland did take General Kinnard place. It was an enormous operation I would like to say that I am delighted named . to be here. It is a pleasure, and an The “Market” part was the land por- honor, to be able to talk to you about tion, the “Garden” was the airborne. some of the things that I experienced, We had the British Airborne in the because a lot of them, you will want Arnhem area, the 82nd in the to repeat. A lot of them, you do not Nijmegen area, and we were in from want to repeat. So you have to make Eindhoven up to the town of Veghel. that distinction yourself. The 101st Airborne Division, I think, is one of My unit, the 1st Battalion of the 501, the finest fighting units, if not the fin- was assigned as an assault unit of the est fighting unit, in any army in the 501 with the task of capturing four world. Fortunately, they were that way bridges, two over the Aa River and in World War II, and we needed every two over the Willems Canal. I stud- speck of that capability at Bastogne. ied that plan a little bit, and wondered what would happen if we were to I would like to start, however, drop south of the Willems Canal; with our Normandy operations so Col. Paul Danahy, Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, and my battalion, as I said, was to make then-Lt. Col. Harry W.O. Kinnard at Bastogne. you get a feel for what happened. December, 1944. the effort to capture all four In the Normandy operation, the bridges. I looked at the map and 101st dropped in behind Utah thought what happens if the Ger- Beach (not Omaha Beach), and as a consequence, because mans blow the Willems bridges before my battalion gets we were able to take the Germans off the beach, the 4th there? We would never make it to the other ones. So I stud- Division coming in over Utah Beach had almost a free ied the ground, and while I knew it would be very tight, by ride…very few casualties. Omaha, however, as you know dropping at 400 feet, we were able to put our men between was a terrible bloodbath, and I think it was primarily be- the two bridges; in other words across the Willems Canal cause there were not enough airborne troops to take the but short of the Aa River, and thus be able to take all of Germans away from the beach line. the bridges.

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 11 I told my men not to even try to assemble in their units, but champagne…lots of good champagne. So I was holding a just get up and go straight toward the bridges that were party in my quarters. I got a call about 9:00 that night from closest, and we would organize as we go. Well, I think it General McAuliffe, who was the acting division com- was a good plan; we were dropped at 400 feet, but it was mander—McAuliffe was actually our rear guard commander. five miles away laterally from He said, “Harry, come on over where we were supposed to be. to the headquarters, I’ve got to It was an improvement over talk to you.” So I told the guys Normandy when I was seven at the party to continue the miles from where we were sup- party, and I went over there. He posed to be. We moved into said to me, “I don’t know much town and captured the bridges, about this, but there’s been a and the rest of the operation breakthrough, and we’re mov- was difficult and prolonged. We ing out in the morning.” I re- were told we would be in Hol- plied, “Moving out?” We were land for 72 hours, but we were just flat on our backs. We had actually there for 72 days. We guys all over France and Gen- came back late in November to eral Taylor back in the States. Mourmelon, a town near But in any case, we rounded up Reims in France. enough trucks to take off early American GIs make their way through the battered town of in the morning, though we were Gene Pell Bastogne during the German siege. short on all kinds of personal But you didn’t get any rest af- weapons—grenades, rifles, and ter the 72 days, obviously. so-forth. When we went out the next morning to fight the Germans, we were being is- General Kinnard sued equipment as we were marching our way out of town. You are exactly right. We did not That is not the way you want to run get any rest. We were told, however, a railroad, but that’s the way we had that you guys are entitled to a good to do it there. rest. Send your people on leave and give them passes. General Maxwell When the 501 moved out on the Taylor, our division commander, road, 1st Battalion (I had been made went back to the United States the G-3, the operations officer of thinking that this was a good chance the division during the Holland op- to get our table of organization eration because our G-3 had been changed. We had another of severely wounded, so I am no officers telling the British how we’d longer with the 1st Battalion) won the war in Holland. moved out to meet the Germans, Men of the 101st Airborne move out of Bastogne in and they met them only about a On the dawn of the 16th of Decem- preparation for a counterattack against the Germans. mile and a half down the road. The ber, the Germans held a surprise 501 moved out and was able to stop party for us. Hitler very carefully planned this operation them, and then we just gradually built this thing up until personally, and he’d been smart enough to order no radio finally, we were totally surrounded on the 20th of Decem- communications on the part of the German army, which ber. Worse yet, we had lost our hospital unit which had was very fortunate for them, as we were “reading their mail,” taken a position outside of our perimeter, in a place which or in other words had broken their code. normally would have been safe. Of course now that we had been surrounded, there were no safe places. So they Back at Mourmelon we were right next to what the soldiers were captured. We were left with only the medical person- in the division called “the bottling works,” which held nel organic to the units, and we got some help in the form

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 12 of two nurses, one doctor, and some medicine from the and fall in the snow, and if you didn’t see where he went people in the village, who were of great help to us all the down he would freeze to death. way through. Another thing that we had going for us was the 705th Tank Besides that, we had asked General Middleton, who was Destroyer Battalion under a guy named Templeton. They the commander of the 8th Corps and our commander dur- were given the order to get to Bastogne and the saga of ing this operation, if we could stop all stragglers coming how they got there, I don’t know it in detail, but they had back through Bastogne and use them. He agreed that we to fight and bypass everything you can think of to finally could do that and wrote us a note to that effect so we could get through to us. But they were a very good unit, and had have it in writing. We stopped all strag- the latest gun, a really hot 76mm, that glers, and if they were not shell-shocked could take out the Royal Tiger tank. and totally out of it, we gave them something to eat and let them rest, and Gene Pell we formed them into “Task Force A lot of historians think that Bastogne SNAFU.” That was the title of the non- was one of the key turning points of organic people who came back individu- the war for no other reason than that ally. Now when they came back indi- had it not been held, and there had been vidually, as did several artillery battal- a breakthrough by the Germans to ions complete with their ammunition, , for example, and they divided we put together a whole battalion, and the American and British armies, that put them into position. It was extremely that war could have gone on a very long important, because our artillery was time. As General Patton was once probably the biggest single reason that quoted as saying, he was one of the we were able to hold on there. few who believed that the war could still be lost. Gene Pell Did you have any real knowledge of General Kinnard the size of the enemy force you were I personally think that Eisenhower Then-Lt. Col. , G-3 for the facing? 101st Airborne Division. made a serious mistake when he let it be known that he was taking anybody’s General Kinnard bet that the war would be over by We did not. Even after the fight began, the really good in- Christmas. He was voicing that to a lot of different people, formation we got was tactical information we got when we and a lot of us believed that it might be the case, but there captured somebody and identified him. We captured Ger- were all kinds of things that resulted from that; all of our mans from seven different divisions: four Panzer divisions, replacements that we got in, or almost all of them, were two infantry divisions, and one parachute division. I’m not people that were not prepared to fight. It was because they saying that all seven of them were fighting all the time, in turned the spigots down prematurely. fact we had no way of telling exactly what units were in- volved in all of the attacks, but still there was still a lot of Gene Pell Germans no matter how you sliced it. One other thing in Were you aware at the time of how significant the place our favor was the snow and the cold. While it was bad for you were would turn out to be? us, it was worse for them trying to attack through it. It was tough, tough going. The Ardennes, as you know, is always General Kinnard bitterly cold during the winter, and this particular winter We thought it was very important because of the fact that was the coldest it had been in 50 years, and man that’s cold! it was the hub for seven roads. It was the most important The snow, when it came, was up to your chest. A guy would road and railroad center in the Ardennes, by far, and we be fighting in the woods, and he could be hit not too badly knew that they would be hard-pressed to get any kind of a fight going if they did not have that town.

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 13 Gene Pell “To the German Commander: So it’s getting close to Christmas, 1944, you’re surrounded N U T S! by a very large German force so confident that it will suc- ceed that they have the audacity to send a party forward to The American Commander.” call on General McAuliffe and his staff and order an un- We gave it to Bud Harper and asked him to deliver it, and conditional American surrender. And thereby hangs a bit he said, “I would be delighted!” So Bud Harper took it back of World War II lore that you were largely responsible for. to the Germans, who were still blindfolded. He said to them, “Major, I have your answer, I will put it in your hand.” The General Kinnard major said, “Is it affirmative or negative?” Bud replied, “It On the 22nd of December, sometime in the morning, four is decidedly negative. It says, ‘NUTS’!” Germans—two officers and two enlisted men—under a white flag came to our glider regiment and said that they The German said, “Was ist das???” He was totally non- had an ultimatum. So the plussed by what this could enlisted men were held mean. Bud told him that it there with that platoon, was “Decidedly non-affir- while the officers were blind- mative,” and that it meant folded and led back to the the same as “Go to hell!” He next level of command, the said to the Germans, “And company command. Then I’ll tell you another thing. If the call went in over wire, you persist in your attacks, as I remember, that they had we’ll kill every goddamn this demand for our surren- German in your units.” The der. We told them to bring it German replied that they in, and they showed it to me would also kill many Ameri- and the G-2 at the same cans, that this is war. They time. I mistakenly had General Kinnard with several Maryland ROTC students at the awards then left. To some extent, thought that there were banquet, which capped off the Ninth Annual Conference. they carried through with some Germans that wanted what they said was going to to surrender to us, but quickly found out that it was quite happen. They had said there would be quite a bit of the opposite. bombing and artillery, and that night we got re- ally a lot of bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe, one of which We took the demand in to General McAuliffe, and told him landed right on a medical collecting point. We had about we had a surrender ultimatum. He thought that it was some 20-30 wounded who were killed by that, and we had one Germans wanting to surrender to us, same as I did. Right Belgian lady nurse, who was a wonderful woman, and she away we replied, “Oh no, they are telling us to surrender.” was killed too. He said, “Us surrender? Aww, NUTS!” Gene Pell So a big discussion ensued as to whether we should reply. Tell me about what it was like when you woke up one morn- Well yes, we should reply. Should it be in writing? Well they ing and the skies were finally clear for the first time in weeks. wrote to us, so we had better write back to them. Tony then said, “Gosh, I don’t know what to tell them.” At that General Kinnard point, a smart-aleck colonel named Kinnard piped up, “Sir, We were running extremely low on artillery ammunition, what you first said would be hard to beat.” He replied, “What which was bad news, because as I said, we were relying do you mean? What did I say?” I told him, “You said, heavily on our artillery. The weather was such that we ‘NUTS!’” The guys on the staff all wagged their heads in couldn’t get an air drop at first. When the air finally cleared enthusiastic agreement, and so we sat down and very on the morning of December 23, the fire-bombers came in quickly wrote: big-time. They really had a turkey-shoot, since with all of the snow they could see where the tanks were at in the woods. They killed a lot of German tanks and troops. WWII World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 15 As Christmas, 1944 approached, the men of the 101st endured, despite being completely cut off from reinforcements and supplies. Seeking to inspire his men to hold out just a little longer, General McAuliffe decided to inform them of his response to the German demand for surrender in an address to be read on Christmas Eve. Impressed with Lt. Col. Kinnard’s wit, McAuliffe tasked him with composing the address. The lines he penned would soon become legendary...

24 December 1944

Merry Christmas! Headquarters 101st Airborne Division Office of the Division Commander

What’s merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting—it’s cold—we aren’t home. All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades of the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battal- ion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one Ger- man Parachute Division. These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were headed straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stem the advance. How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division’s glorious history but in world history. The Germans actually did surround us, their radios blared our doom. Their commander demanded our surrender in the following impudent arrogance:

December 22nd 1944

“To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne. “The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompré-Sibret-Tillet. Libramount is in German hands. “There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note. “If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A.A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours’ term. “All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well known American humanity. The German Commander”

The German Commander received the following reply:

22 December 1944 “To the German Commander: N U T S ! The American Commander”

Allied troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied Armies. We know that our Division Commander, General Taylor, will say: “Well Done!” We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas. A.C. McAuliffe Commanding The Doolittle Raiders

It was perhaps the most audacious attack of World War II. On C.V. Glines April 18, 1942, sixteen specially outfitted Army B-25s, each with Ed Horton, as the engineer gunner, was the only member a crew of five men, lifted off from the USS Hornet, hundreds of of his plane back in the tail of the aircraft at the time of miles away from their target—Japan. Led by Lt. Col. James H. the bomb run. Doolittle, these 80 men, who came to be known as the “Doolittle Raiders,” guided their bombers through hostile skies to hit military Edwin Horton targets in Japan. The men realized this could well be a one-way trip, I emptied the fuel tanks as we went across the China Sea. and in fact, all of them either abandoned their planes or went down We hit the China coast and bailed out, landing without a lot in what could have been hostile territory. Three men died abandon- of trouble. ing their planes, while eight more were captured by the Japanese after reaching China. Three of those men C.V. Glines were executed, with a fourth dying of Bill Bower had his own escape malnutrition and beriberi. One crew from the aircraft. was held for over a year by the Sovi- ets after landing in Vladivostok. William Bower I was up front, so I just gathered Still, the Doolittle Raid proved a tre- the other crew members in the mendous morale boost in the early little alcove in the back of the dark days of World War II, and cockpit, and we flew for hours would become one of the most legend- until we got over China, or at ary feats of the war. At the Ninth least we knew we were over Annual Conference, five of the sur- something other than ocean be- viving Doolittle Raiders—Col. Wil- cause there was land underneath. liam Bower, Lt. Col. Richard Cole, It was the middle of the night, Maj. Tom Griffin, M/Sgt. Edwin One of the sixteen B-25s that participated in the Doolittle Raid and so I just said, “Let’s get out Horton, and Maj. Gen. David M. takes off from the USS Hornet on April 18, 1942. of here!” and pulled the hatch. Jones—participated on a panel to share their memories of the raid. The panel was moderated by the Raiders’ official historian, Col. One by one they jumped out, and there I was all by myself. C.V. Glines, and consisted of questions and answers from confer- The engines quit, so I just followed them out the hatch and ence attendees. landed on top of a hill. There was a tree right next to us, so I wrapped up my parachute, got under the tree, and went to Question sleep. When dawn came, I was happy to see that I had stayed For those who bailed out, though you were prepared and where I was, because about 20 feet in front of me was a warned that you might have to do this, what was it like to cliff that went down several hundred feet. actually have to jump out at night over unknown territory? I climbed off the mountain, got down to the bottom, not David M. Jones having any idea where I was or what I was going to do. I Well, it was pretty simple. We were scared as hell! As you walked along a path in a kind of dream…it was very pretty know, some people attempted to land in the water, as well country. All of a sudden I met a man who had a hat on, and as the beach, and that did not work very well. But most of he came up to me, looked at me, and he smiled. Somebody us did like I did and went out the hatch, into the black. had told me that the Japanese won’t smile at you, but the Chinese will. So I smiled, and thought I was in good hands, and it turned out that I was. He took me into his house, and

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 16 it was kind of odiferous…it sure didn’t smell like our homes. ing the ground. I tried to get my chute, but it was caught up In one corner was a little bucket that they all sat on to take in the tree, so I just unbuckled my chute and walked away. care of their business, and in a similar bucket they had food. I spent the rest of the night huddled down someplace on They were so kind. They fed us rice and whatever else they the mountainside. The next morning, I got together with had and took care of us (I say us because my crew came in two men of my crew, and we wandered down through the over a period of a few hours), then the Chinese took us to Chinese countryside for that whole day, and it rained the a central point and got us on a train. The Japanese harassed whole time. us the whole way. As long as we were on that train the Japanese would come by and strafe it. We would get off the Late in the afternoon we went up to a farmer’s house, and train and watch them strafe it, and get back on. It was kind indicated to him that we wanted to dry our clothes, since of a comedy scene, really, as far as the war was concerned. we were so wet. We went into the house, and were standing around a big potbellied stove, when we looked up and saw Me, and my whole crew made it safely into India to New there were Chinese soldiers with rifles pointing in through Delhi. From there I came on home; it wasn’t long before I every window, and an officer at the door with a proclama- found out that Jimmy Doolittle tion written in Chinese, I guess had been promoted and selected it was a warrant for our arrest. I to go to England and start the went up to him—we’d been war down in . So I joined taught that if you had any oc- him and spent the rest of the casion to talk to the Chinese war with the 12th Air Force. It you would say, “I am an Ameri- was quite a pleasure to be able can” in their language. But there to follow him. were so many different dialects in those days before television C.V. Glines and radio were as prevalent that Tom Griffin was the navigator if you were 50 miles from one on his aircraft and he also had point the Chinese couldn’t un- to bail out. derstand you. So this officer just pushed his pistol a little closer Thomas Griffin to my face. I was, as he said, the navigator Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle wires a Japanese medal to a 500-pound on Plane #9. It just so happened bomb, shortly before his raiding force took off for Japan. They held us prisoner all that that we got farther inland into China than the others before night and the next day they marched us down to a village we ran out of gas. Flying across the China Sea, the storm about a half-mile away. Mingled in with the men who came became much worse, and when we got to where we figured walking out of the gates of this old village were some Cau- there was land, we pulled up to 10,000 feet so we would casians in black robes; it turned out they were American not hit the mountains in that part of China, and just pro- missionaries headquartered in St. Louis. Of course, they ceeded westward until we ran out of gas. We were 300 miles identified us, and from that time on the Chinese treated us inland. That experience of bailing out at 10,000 feet in the very well indeed. They helped to get all of our people to- middle of the storm was quite an experience. I bailed out gether that they could over a period of weeks. and pulled my rip cord, but the tremendous currents you have in a big storm like that just threw me all over the sky. C.V. Glines This happened to all of the fellas who pulled up and bailed Dick Cole, as co-pilot for Lt. Col. Doolittle, recognized an out. My chute would collapse sometimes, then it would blow order when he heard one. Colonel Doolittle said, “Bail out!” over to the side and fill up with air again. I thought that I So he did. might be losing all of my air, and I was for awhile. Richard Cole The first thing I knew that I was near the ground, a tree When he said the words, “Bail out!” for me, that was the branch hit me in the face. Next I know my shoe was touch- scariest time. Standing in an airplane that was about to run

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 17 out of fuel, and looking down into that black hole they and finally ended up boarding a 10th Air Force C-47. We were about to throw you into, in the middle of a thunder- were taken to Chunking, at the time the provisional capital storm in a foreign country—but there was no alternative. of China, and debriefed. When that was over we were taken My descent into China was uneventful, except for the rain. to India and re-outfitted. In my case, I went back to China. The fog was pretty thick, and we couldn’t see the ground, so there was a bit of apprehension wondering how and when Question you were going to hit. Fortunately, my chute drifted over a What did they have when they parachuted? Did they have pine tree and I ended up about twelve feet off of the ground. any weapons? Any food? What kind of equipment did they I decided I would spend the night in the have when they went out of the aircraft? tree, so I made a sort of hammock out of the chute, and spent the night there. David M. Jones I tried to sleep, but was a little nervous. When the word came for the pilots to man their aircraft, there was obviously At daybreak, I climbed down and gath- a small panic. Everyone had their ered up the chute, making it into a pack clothes at the cleaners. In the ship’s of sorts. I started off walking, and de- store, people were loading up on ciga- cided I was going to stick to the high rettes—15 or 20 cartons of cigarettes. country, as I thought that it would give Major Tom Griffin speaks during the Doolittle We grabbed every kind of cookie and me a lesser chance of being captured. I Raiders panel as seen live on C-Span. chocolate bar we could find. Most walked the whole day, and about dusk I came out onto a people carried a pistol. There were no first-aid kits that I cliff. Down below there was a flag flying, so I decided to know of. We were issued a pint of whiskey, and still have walk down there. I was accosted by a Chinese gentleman, the label from mine. When I jumped out, it was in the pocket and he smiled. So I thought maybe this was a good place. of my leather jacket, and I chucked it. I happened to find it He took me into a building that had a table and a chair. On the next morning. the table was a piece of paper that had a sketch of a two- tailed airplane with five chutes com- C.V. Glines ing out of it. I finally got him to un- Did all of you jump out with your derstand to take me where they had arms? With your .45s? taken the individual who had drawn the sketch. So he took me to another William Bower building, and when I walked in, I had a .45 caliber pistol that my there was Col. Doolittle. So I said, father carried in . When “Boy, am I glad to see you!” He I joined the service I somehow greeted me, and said that he was ended up with that. When I jumped happy that I wasn’t injured. Later out, I had it strapped around my on that evening, they brought in the waist. I held on to it all the way rest of the crew. We were in occu- down—I knew I had to hold onto it Col. William Bower shares his memories of the pied territory, and guerillas had Doolittle Raid with a group of students who attended or I would end up having to pay for picked up Paul Leonard, Hank Pot- the Ninth Annual Conference. it! Anyway, I kept it and didn’t need ter, and Fred Braemer. The next it in China at all, and carried it with morning, they moved us to a place where they had a tele- me throughout the rest of the war. And I still have that .45 phone. Col. Doolittle was not about to leave until he could today. account for the condition of every person on the raid. Question We were there about eight days. When he was satisfied that It’s an honor to meet you fine gentleman and thank you for he could do no more about the crews, they started to move your service. When you left the aircraft carrier in the morn- us. In the move, we traveled by just about every means of ing, what did you think were your odds of returning safely? transportation imaginable—donkey, boats, and so forth—

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 18 William Bower rately from everybody on the base. Davey Jones and Tom My feelings as I approached Japan were, “What a green, went to Washington to get maps. Maybe they had a clue as lush country!” As I approached Tokyo, my mission was to to where they were going. Were you cautioned Davey? bomb the naval yard at Yokosuka. We found it, with the help of some maps we got from National Geographic. Any- David M. Jones way, we found the naval yards, dropped the bombs, and We went up there in February to the old War Department went back down on the deck. We kept going along the coast and they brought materials to us. They wouldn’t let us go to until we broke out into the sea. the Library of Congress, in case We saw a few vessels along the somebody saw us. We were way, but they just waved instead brought sectional maps— of shooting at us. We kept go- French maps, English maps, ing and climbed up over the Chinese maps, and Yankee weather, until we ran out of fuel. maps. They did not have time My impression of Japan was, to reproduce the maps, so all we “My heavens! What a wonder- had were these black and white ful place!” It was so well mani- copies. So Tom and I took some cured, and didn’t look like a crayons and colored in the hostile environment. But as maps, before they shipped them soon as we got to China we out to California. These are the found out it was the opposite. maps that we used during the World War II Veterans Committee President James C. Roberts raid. So the two of us had a Thomas Griffin shows the newly unveiled portrait of Jimmy Doolittle to Air pretty good idea of where we Force Chief of Staff General T. Michael Moseley. The Committee It did not appear we were going commissioned the painting, which is planned to be donated to were supposed to go. The rest to make it to the China coast. the Air Force wing of the Pentagon. A limited number of prints of them got the message on the From the time we took off in were made from the painting, each personally signed by the 1st day of April, when the cap- Plane #9 until we ran out of gas Raiders who attended the Ninth Annual Conference. tain announced that we were and bailed out, we were in the bound for Tokyo. That was air for 15 ½ hours. In the early the first official word we had hours of that, by the best cal- as to where we were going. I culations I could make, we guess the old man knew quite were going to come about 100- a bit about what we were do- 150 miles short of China. But ing. we got that tremendous tailwind about five hours up Question from China, which got all of What was it like to train with our planes at least to the China Col. Doolittle? coast. Ted Lawson, who wrote The Raiders pose with the portrait following its unveiling. Pictured left to right: C.V. Glines, Col. John Doolittle (Doolittle’s son), General the book 30 Seconds Over To- Moseley, Thomas Griffin, David M. Jones, Edwin Horton, Richard David M. Jones kyo, was one of those who Cole, William Bower, the artist Sam Ryskind, and James C. Roberts. You must understand that in reached the coast. He put his the 17th Bomb Group, we were wheels down, and they cartwheeled in. old pros; we had been doing maneuvers for years. We knew the B-25s coming and going. And this speed-flyer named Question Doolittle showed up. You could have had any kind of a I have always wondered, with all of the coordination be- doubt, but in 30 seconds with him, you were sold. He didn’t tween the Army Air Corps and the Navy, how successfully spend much time with us at Eglin, as he was off running was the mission kept secret? around the country seeing that our airplanes were properly modified, and all of the 1,000 details that had to be taken C.V. Glines care of. He then came to Eglin, and off we went. It was They were cautioned, of course, by Col. Doolittle not to great. He was a leader with a capital “L.” tell anybody about the mission, and they practiced sepa- WWII World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 19 The Band of Brothers E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

On August 19, 1942, the first commander of the newly formed I heard was them complaining that, “they didn’t give me a 101st Airborne Division, Maj. Gen. William Lee, told his recruits chance, they kicked me out,” and such, and they kept talk- that while the 101st had no history, it had a “rendezvous with des- ing about the mountain, which scared the hell out of me. tiny.” And so it would, as the brave young men of the 101st ful- So they took me up to E Company, and I set up a cot at the filled that prophecy, parachuting into Normandy the night before D- end of the barracks. Day, holding out against all odds during the siege of Bastogne, and leading the drive into Germany, taking Hitler’s mountaintop retreat At the barracks, I started talking to two guys who lived known as “The Eagle’s Nest.” close to me in Astoria, Oregon. I kept question- It seemed at every turn, E ing them about this damn Company of the 506th Para- mountain I heard so much chute Infantry Regiment, was about. One of them, Tom there. No matter how tough the Burgess, said to me, “put going, these men hung together, your trunks on, we’ll run relying on each other to survive, you up there.” So the very and ultimately defeat, one of first night I’m there, after the most evil ideologies the they’d already run it once world has known. Along the that day, these two guys way, they became more than decided to run me up soldiers, they became brothers. E Company of the 506th PIR - the “Band of Brothers.” there to see if I could do Courtesy of Forrest Guth it. I didn’t do it as well as Five veterans of E Company came together at the Ninth Annual they did, but I made it through. That was my baptism of Conference to share their experiences. Moderated by Adam Makos, fire in Toccoa. If you were going to survive it there under editor of Ghost Wings magazine (www.ghostwings.com), the panel Captain Sobel, you had to run that mountain. For all the consisting of Lynn “Buck” Compton, Bill Guarnere, Ed “Babe” criticism about Sobel—and I participated in a lot of it I’m Heffron, Don Malarkey, and Earl McClung remembered their role sure—whatever we did, he did. If we were on a forced march in what has become one of the most celebrated stories of WWII. at night, he would be there. If we had to run the mountain, he would run the mountain. He wasn’t just a dictator, he Adam Makos would do the stuff that we had to do along with us. I will ask the gentlemen on our panel, who were trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, to share some stories or anecdotes Adam Makos from your time at Camp Toccoa, or your time elsewhere in After the men trained, and trained, and trained at places training. like Benning, McCall, Bragg, Shanks, they went over to England. June 6 came—that was D-Day—and most of the Don Malarkey men on our panel were there for the invasion of Normandy, When I arrived in Toccoa, it was the first week of Septem- France. Can you tell us about that? ber, 1942. I came to Toccoa with a shipment of guys out of Ohio. A soldier named Bob Rader, and another named Lynn “Buck” Compton Don Hoobler. The three of us ended up at Toccoa at the Well I might start out by saying that the scenes of the jump same time. I was put in a tent with five or six guys who into Normandy from the HBO miniseries were more cha- were getting kicked out of Toccoa. For a day and a half all otic than it actually was. I’m not trying to demean the HBO

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 20 series—they did a wonderful job for what they set out to five times. You were only supposed to wrap it around once. do. When we made the approach over Normandy at about It ripped his arm from the elbow to his thumb—ripped all 1:00 in the morning, I was standing in the door of one of the skin right off. When I saw him down on the ground, he the C-47s and could see the topography of the land and the said, to me, “Look Guarnere!” and he spit on it and wrapped other planes around us. Admittedly not all of the planes, or it up. That’s the kind of men you had in E Company— even a large percentage of them. But anyway it was not tough and hard. quite as noisy or with quite that much destruction as was depicted on film. I saw a lot of flak come up and a lot of Earl McClung tracers, smaller arms type stuff. I did not see any planes go I had a little better luck then the rest of these guys. I had a down, or see any on fire during my trip. That’s not to say it leg bag on, too, but I still had one on when I got to the didn’t happen, though. ground! I came down in a town named St. Mere Eglise, on top of a little shrine I guess the most memorable things from behind a church. That was about 13 km my experience are the funny things more from where I was supposed to be. There than the serious things. I had one of was not a place anywhere around me these famous leg bags that you could that I could find on the maps that we strap to your leg. I made the mistake of were given. Like Buck said, I don’t putting everything I had in there—my know how we won that thing, but we rations, my weapon, my ammunition. I did. had everything in there except my trench knife and my canteen. When I went out Adam Makos the door, the shock was such that my We’re fortunate to have with us today bag went flying off my leg, and I haven’t three of the men who fought at Brecourt seen it since! It’s kind of funny. Here I Manor. The fourth is Major (then Lt.) am, landing in France to fight the mighty Dick Winters. I’d like to ask if the men German that we’ve heard who fought at Brecourt Manor have any so much about, and I’ve got a lousy stories they would like to share about knife and a canteen. None of which that famous battle. The front page of the Times made me much of a formidable oppo- announces the landing of Allied forces in France - nent of the German Army. Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Don Malarkey At Brecourt, when Buck led us across The first guy I ran into after I landed was a guy from the before he dropped into a trench that the Germans had dug, 82nd Airborne. He’s not from my company, he’s not from I ran out into the field right up to that first gun. I got within my regiment—he’s not even from my division! So you can about 50 feet of it, pulled a grenade out and threw it. Be- get an impression of how scattered and screwed up we were. fore the grenade ever landed there was a hail of Tommy Frankly, from what I saw those first few hours, I don’t know gun fire that came out of the trench. Probably Winters, how we won the war! Buck, or Guarnere—maybe all three—and the gunners went down right away. One was dead and one jumped out and Bill Guarnere ran into the field. I ran up to the gun, looked down at the Buck forgot to tell you that ol’ Guarnere was there behind dead guy then out into the field and went brain dead and him. I had one of those leg bags, too. You packed so much ran out there thinking I was going to get a German gun or stuff in there you couldn’t even pick it up! Now Buck something. Compton was the jumpmaster. I jumped out behind him. Joe Toye was behind me. When I put the leg bag on my Lynn “Buck” Compton foot, my foot went sound asleep. I got that order to stand Again, at Brecourt, it’s not portrayed entirely accurately in up and I about fell down…I couldn’t stand up! Joe Toye the miniseries, not that it is a very big deal. It wasn’t a just fell out the door then! I’ll tell you something about Joe planned action the way it was represented to be. I had picked Toye; he had that rope wrapped around his wrist four or up about five or six guys along the way on the morning of

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 21 D-Day, when I ran into Winters standing by a barn with down until we were close enough to start throwing gre- about half a dozen more guys. We could hear this artillery nades. being fired off to our right, and we could hear some of it landing. Winters said to me, “I don’t know where they are Now we didn’t know how many guns or men there were. I or what they’re shooting at, but that’s some pretty heavy go back prior to D-Day when I jumped I found out a week artillery.” He said, “Why don’t you crawl out there and before that my brother Henry was killed in action in Cassino, take a look to see what you can tell is going on?” Italy. You can imagine that when I jumped on D-Day, you didn’t want to be a German. That’s why they called me My point is that we didn’t meet in a barn and spread out “Wild Bill.” I was a killer on that day, pardon the expres- maps and plan some grand strat- sion. It wore off of me, but I was egy. It was all by the seat of our a killer that day. We captured the pants. I crawled out across this three guns, and before we knew field and peeked through the it, it was four guns. Captain Speirs hedgerow, and I could see these from D Company had come up; two guys stoking this gun. I we were low on ammunition and thought I was going to take them grenades. He took off like a rab- all by myself. I jumped through bit, and knocked the next gun out. this hedgerow into this trench, We were very lucky, and I thank and they were about 20-30 feet God for the training we got from from me. I had this Tommy gun Captain Sobel and Dick Winters. that I’d picked up during the night, but I hadn’t had a chance Adam Makos to fire it. It was to replace the The 101st was supposed to oper- weapon I lost in the leg bag. So Waves of Allied paratroopers drop into Holland during ate in Normandy for about a Operation Market Garden. when I jumped in this trench, I week, but ended up being called was going to give it the old gangster business from the upon for a month. Afterward they returned to England movies and spray them with this Tommy gun. When I pulled where they refitted and rested and awaited the liberation the trigger, it went “plunk!” By that time Guarnere had of Holland. On September 17th that day came, when the jumped in the trench next to me and started firing. The two men of Easy Company jumped into the area of Eindhoven. Germans turned and looked at us, their jaws dropped, and they took off running. We let fly with some hand grenades Now it was before the invasion of Holland that “Babe” and I think we hit one of them, but that’s about all that Heffron joined Easy Company. He was a replacement for happened at Brecourt Manor—it wasn’t the master tactical the Holland operation. I would like to ask the panel to share stroke that it was portrayed to be in the series. I don’t mean some of their memories of Holland during the fall of 1944, to be a curmudgeon; I just want to be honest with you! starting with Mr. “Babe” Heffron. (laughter) Ed “Babe” Heffron Bill Guarnere We were supposed to be there for five or six days, and we What I remember about Brecourt Manor is that 11 men ended up being there for 78. And that was without a bath! made the attack. Now you go back to Sobel and the train- Anyhow, to get on with that, it was a pleasant jump. Mis- ing that we undertook. We acted automatically. We went takes are made in war; if they had dropped us closer to the through it a thousand times, and a lot of mistakes were Wilhelmina Canal we would have secured that. They made. This time, no mistakes were made. I was 60 mm wouldn’t have held us up until we had to hit Eindhoven mortar. Our job was to put mortars on those guns and keep the 18th…we dropped on September 17th. Sunday afternoon. them down. When we were out of ammunition, we joined A lot of the people of Eindhoven were still in mass, pre- the attack. We had machine guns on the right and left flanks. dominantly Roman Catholic in the south of Holland. We After the mortars came down, we had the machine guns had to wait until the 18th to march into Eindhoven. You from the side keeping them down. You kept their heads couldn’t get through the crowds—they had autograph books

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 22 they wanted you to sign. I signed “Mickey Rooney”…I any to say it; you’ll notice that we were in Normandy, we couldn’t sign Carey Grant! They wouldn’t believe that! were back in England, then Holland, then France and into Bastogne. The point being is that we were in and out. I But anyhow, there was one instance I couldn’t forget. Buck always like to tell people that we really feel that we had it Compton and Bill Guarnere were there. The leader of the easier, and that I would not want to trade places with the Dutch underground had come over to us. Buck and Bill set guys who were in the line divisions that slogged their way me up right at this short canal in the city of Eindhoven. across Europe or the South Pacific on a day to day basis. They said to me, “Heffron, cover that road over there, it’s So I wouldn’t want anybody to believe that because we’ve the only road they can come in on.” I had a light .30 caliber gotten this sort of publicity out of this “Band of Brothers” that I used to cover the road. One of the underground men thing, that we think we were a cut above anybody else. In came over and said to nobody in particular, “There’s eight fact I don’t think we did as much as a lot of other guys did Germans coming in on a wagon, pulled by a horse, and in this war. What we are, really, are representatives or a they have an artillery piece in back of this wagon. Would microcosm of young guys that were brought together from you give us permission to knock them out?” Buck Compton all walks of life, not professional soldiers, but were put said, “Sure, you’ve been here for together and made into a good five years, you deserve it.” So they fighting unit. That was the thrust went back to knock these Krauts of Band of Brothers. It was a char- out, which they did. There was one acter study, but it was also a study of them who was wounded in the of what can be done by a nation shoulder. He was about 19, six- that promotes freedom and inge- feet, blond hair and blue eyes. He nuity among its people. was holding his shoulder and moan- ing. I’ll never forget this. A little To progress to Bastogne, before we old Dutch lady, must have been got there we thought that the war about 85-87 years old, came over, was over. We didn’t think we were and she had a pocketbook. She going to have to make another asked him, “Where’s it hurt?” And Bill Guarnere recalls his experience with E Company. As jump. Back outside of Reims, we he said, “Here!” and pointed to his was most of the Ninth Annual Conference, the Band of were getting ready to play a foot- Brothers panel was carried live on C-Span. shoulder. And she said, “Good!” ball game on Christmas Day, and I and whacked him on the shoulder with her pocketbook. was out there coaching them. Our regiment was practicing She hit him again, and the Dutch people are letting her go on the morning that they called us to get ready to go to and watching her do this, which was completely proper. Bastogne. It was out of the blue. We really thought that the They were under the Germans for five years. After awhile war was over. My only contribution to this discussion is they finally said that he’d had enough, and the Dutch people simply to say that it was miserable, and the guys put up marched her off. They had to pick her up and take her off. with an awful lot of terrible living conditions. We were ha- So the Dutchman from the underground, he was laughing. rassed all night long, and couldn’t get much sleep. I could He said, “You know that lady had a brick in her pocket- remember hearing armor and mechanized vehicles moving book!” So we thought, boy, that was really getting even! all night, expecting that in the morning we would be look- ing down the barrel of a tank, but it never happened. I Adam Makos think that Bastogne is where my company showed its best. Easy Company’s next campaign came about unexpectedly, I remember sharing a foxhole with Guarnere at night where with the Battle of the Bulge and the Germans’ rush toward we had to stay awake two hours and sleep two hours, and the town of Bastogne. It fell to the 101st Airborne to hold he would tell me, “Hey Lieutenant, go back to sleep, I’ll on to the town at all costs. Gentlemen, can you tell us about stay up and keep watch.” He was that kind of a guy. I was Bastogne? sort of a rifleman with bars on my soldiers, the NCOs won the war, and they did it at Bastogne. Lynn “Buck” Compton The one thing that sticks in my mind is the weather. There is one thing I would like to say, and this is as good a time as

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 23 Don Malarkey Earl McClung We went up to Bastogne on the 18th of December, 1944, We got close to it and they told us we couldn’t get up there very poorly equipped. We had summer uniforms on. We because the road had been blown up. So I told my sergeant, each had an overcoat, which helped with the severe cold, hell, I don’t mind climbing over the rocks. I climbed up but the rest of our stuff was just the same things we had there and the one of the buildings up there that I went into during the summertime. was Goering’s place. It Very poor rations, insuf- was hit a few times, but ficient ammunition. had the most beautiful When the German surren- wine cellar you have ever der ultimatum came in on seen. So we got a lot of the 22nd, it was probably good stuff out of there; the toughest time during we even took it into Aus- our whole time there. But tria with us. They didn’t on the 23rd, hundreds of realize that the kegs we C-47s came over and had on the back of our dumped everything you trucks were kegs of co- could imagine—all kinds gnac. There was nothing of medical supplies, all going on up there…there kinds of ammunition, Immediately following the conference panel on the Band of Brothers, a session was no fighting, except for food. On the 23rd and on was held featuring six active duty soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division who a few civilians that were Christmas Eve, the divi- have served in Iraq. These six were honored at the November 11 awards banquet trying to steal things. It as representatives of the 101st Airborne and its service today. Their awards were sion was in very good presented by the “Band of Brothers,” in a demonstration that their legacy of was the end of the war, shape, and we were then valor continues among today’s military, and that this mantle of courage has been as far as we were con- able to defend Bastogne passed to a new generation. Pictured above (left to right) are the “Band of cerned. properly. But we were Brothers” of both generations: Cpt. Matthew Farmer, Cpt. Morgan Watt, Cpt. able to hold out—it was Matthew Cox, Bill Guarnere, Ed “Babe” Heffron, banquet emcee Gene Pell, Lynn Ed “Babe” Heffron “Buck” Compton, SSgt. Rex Swartz, Earl McClung, Lt. Christopher Rauh, Don the convincing of Malarkey, and Cpt. Willilam Jones. We went up into McAuliffe and his aide, Berchtesgaden on Harry Kinnard, to tell the Germans DUKWs. So we’re up on these “Nuts!” when they demanded we DUKWs, and riding through some surrender. Bastogne, Belgium, was German villages. A fella comes run- the toughest 30 days in the history ning out of one house and asked, of World War II. “Is there a medic in your convoy?” He was a GI, and somebody said, Adam Makos “I guess there’s one somewhere We’re going to fast forward a bit to here. What happened?” We thought the taking of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, one of our boys had gotten hit. He when Easy Company had pushed all said, “No, the Bürgermeister of this the way through Germany to the village killed his wife and three chil- Austrian border, and took Hitler’s dren; they’re lying on the couch in- mountaintop retreat. side the parlor.” So that stayed with “Buck” Compton and Rex Swartz - brothers from me. As we went up further, we One man played quite a part at the across the generations. didn’t fire a shot. There was an SS Eagle’s Nest, and he was probably the first member of the trooper dead here and there. After awhile we saw a French 101st to reach it. Mr. Earl McClung could you share your soldier on the left hand side of the road with some SS troop- memories of the Eagle’s Nest? ers, and they were kneeling down lined up single-file. And he was going down the line, shooting them in the back of the head. Which they justly deserved. But that’s what stayed in my mind. WWII

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 24 Fallujah: Two Years Later The Greatest Test of the Latest Generation

The American Veterans Center’s Ninth Annual Conference was held from Grounds Element at Marine Barracks in Washington, DC. The panel was November 9-11, 2006. Exactly two years earlier, United States soldiers moderated by American Veterans Center President James C. Roberts. and Marines were locked in a brutal struggle with enemy insurgents for the Iraqi city of Fallujah. When the history of Iraqi Freedom is written, the Jim Roberts second Battle of Fallujah—Operation Phantom Fury—will go down as the Sgt. Connors, can you begin by describing the preparations you iconic battle of the war. Fallujah had become a magnet for Iraqi insurgents made for the battle itself? and foreign jihadists, eager to make martyrs of themselves, all while killing as many Americans as they could. Timothy Connors When we started I was stationed By the time the battle began on No- at Al-Asad air base and we were vember 7, 2004, the city’s citizens had just doing counter-mortar ops all but fled. Remaining were several thou- going back and forth in the desert sand of the most fanatical jihadists in and outside cities. We really Iraq. They were fearless, vicious fight- weren’t allowed inside cities at ers, who had come to die. Many of them that time, and were just trying to were high on drugs—liquid adrenaline, stop mortar attacks on the base amphetamines, heroin, and 3- when we got the call that we were quinuclidinyl benzillate, also known as going to go into Fallujah. So ev- “Agent Buzz”, a hallucinogenic chemi- eryone I was with was very ex- cal weapon. This made the enemy fight- cited. It’s an honor to fight; it’s ers nearly impervious to pain, and able an honor to be a part of some- to fight on after sustaining wounds that Soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division prepare to enter a building in thing like this. For all of us to be would have taken down a normal man. Fallujah, November 9, 2004. A tactic of the insurgents was to hide in together, to be as close as we single rooms and wait for coalition forces to enter before unleashing a were, and be able to do some- flurry of small arms fire. There were an estimated 39,000 build- thing, and actually know we are ings with 400,000 rooms in Fallujah, and it was the grim task of the making some kind of difference was huge for us. American soldiers and Marines to root out the insurgents block by block, house by house, and room by room. They advanced through streets booby We went to Camp Fallujah where we trained every day for about trapped with mines and improvised explosive devices, and faced an enemy as a week until it was time to go in. The day of the actual invasion lethal as any our military has ever known. of the city we sat outside the city a few miles, and I watched in awe of the power we unloaded—missiles, air strikes, artillery At the November conference, four distinguished veterans of Operation Phan- rounds. The actual power that our country has prior to men go- tom Fury gathered to share their experiences. We are printing the transcript ing in is unbelievable. We all sat there in complete awe—you need of this panel to demonstrate to our readers that the valor and heroism of the to see it to believe it. The first wave went in and pushed probably men who stormed the beaches at Normandy and Iwo Jima, who survived the about a block or two in, and then we ended up pushing past bitter cold at the Chosin Reservoir, and who battled in the streets of Hue them to the Government Center. City lives on in the current generation of United States soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. David Bellavia I was an Army Infantry squad leader at the time. I think there was Participating in the panel were former Army SSgt. David Bellavia, who a preconceived notion about the war in Iraq, leading up to it, that single-handedly took out a house full of insurgents, for which he was subse- it was going to be a sterile war, with something like General quently nominated for the Medal of Honor and awarded the Silver Star, as Schwarzkopf with a laser pointer, showing bombs that blow up well as former Marine Sgt. Timothy Connors, recipient of the Silver Star and you don’t really see the aftermath of it. When you look at a and veteran of twelve house fights in Fallujah—believed to be the most of any fight like Fallujah, you can train all day and all night to enter and American serviceman. Also participating were Sgt. Matthew Ragan, a Marine clear a room, but training only gets you so far. It’s something you Battalion Senior Intelligence Analyst and Sgt. Jeremy LaForce, veteran of really can’t prepare for. You can train for the fundamentals over 1st Battalion 8th Marines in Fallujah and currently NCO in charge of the and over again but until you get into that first house fight, I think

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 25 pretty much all that training goes out the window. It becomes a Jim Roberts survival instinct. And one of the things this enemy has constantly Can you describe the battle plan for taking the city? taken for granted is the fight of this generation of Americans. I was really honored and privileged to fight with warriors from the Matthew Ragan Marine Corps and the 2/7 Infantry, in be what will truly be re- I was mainly worried about just my battalion but from what I garded as my generation’s Normandy. So when you see the abso- got, we were going to start from the north. We were going to lute lethality, the professionalism of the United States military— have a couple battalions down south of the city, and to try to Air Force, Navy Corpsmen, United States Marines, and Army push the insurgents all north. We knew that the Jolan district which infantry going toward one objective, at one time, it is incredible. was in the northwestern part of the city was the most heavily For all of the brothers and sisters we lost that entire year, we defended. It was considered the heart of the insurgency and it knew that that the capital of all evil in Iraq was Fallujah. So we all probably had the worst terrorists and insurgents. We knew the had a staked interest in taking it out. I echo what Sgt. Connors foreign fighters were mainly in there. And the foreign fighters said. It was a privilege to be a part of that offensive. were the ones who were going to stay and die, while the local insurgents were going to fall back. They were willing to die for Jim Roberts their cause but they were going to fall What were you told to expect before back and try to survive if possible. you went into Fallujah and how did it We pushed south from the northern match up with what actually happened? part of the city, and did a right flank to the river and then just continued Jeremy LaForce down until we cleared the entire city. We were told it was going to be the fight of fights, and to expect the worst. Jim Roberts And for the most part that’s what we Talk about the insurgents and jihadists. got. Some days were slow, and some days were just what you expected. For Timothy Connors most Marines and soldiers, most of From my experience in the house us joined to get into the fight and help A satellite photo of the city of Fallujah. U.S. forces, battles, you ran into two types. There out. But like David said, we lost a lot supported by Iraqi Army elements, entered the city from the were the ones where as soon as you of good people. It does tend to be- north, pressing block by block, and house by house, to clear went in and they saw you they started come more of a fight for survival, it the city of insurgents and hard-core jihadists. screaming and yelling, and pretty much doesn’t matter how much you train for it. It’s kind of strange to gave up. Then there were the ones where it didn’t matter how say but in a sense it becomes your 9 to 5 job, and you’re there to many of us there were, or how few of them, they were they make sure that the Marine next to you is able to come home were going to fight until it was over. During the fight, I didn’t safely. And that’s the big picture for us. know much about the drug use, but it would make sense. There were a lot of times when you would destroy a room with frags Matthew Ragan and they would still keep fighting. You would think to yourself Unlike my colleagues, who are infantry, I’m an intelligence analyst, that there was no reason why they should still be fighting. so we knew about three weeks before this thing kicked off that we were going to be going in. For me the buildup was basically After we pushed to the end of the city and we started clearing the trying to get everything prepared, knowing that there are 5,000 to houses, that’s when we ran into the majority of the insurgents. 12,000 enemy insurgents in there and trying to make sure that the That’s when we had to go back and clear every single house. Like squad leaders had everything they needed, including the maps and I said, there were different types of insurgents, but the one thing the intelligence that they might need. It was my job as a senior that was common through all of them was when they got there, intelligence analyst for the battalion to keep the staff informed of they were given money, weapons, a bunch of ammo, and were the enemy threat, but it was also my job to make sure that the told to go find a place to wait where they would be contacted. companies and platoons had their intelligence analysts so that’s That’s what every single one of them we captured said. They when we pushed down intelligence analysts to individual compa- were obviously not all contacted, but just left alone by themselves. nies. Everything they said is absolutely correct, it was a fight for Mostly if they were in smaller groups they would end up surren- our lives. My battalion lost 33 Marines, with over 75 others dering. A lot of the people we caught were not Iraqis. We caught wounded. It was just a horrible fight. Chinese, Saudis, Jordanians, and Chechens—some Chechen snip- ers were very well trained. It was a variety of nationalities.

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 26 David Bellavia the next thing you know they are shooting at you. But it doesn’t We found a house that had some Hezbollah flags in it. We had take much for your mind to get set right and get back in the some Palestinian passports. What really blew me away was the game. It is pretty strange; at first we couldn’t figure out exactly imagery provided to us by the intelligence guys—I have never how in the middle of a firefight when one of them would get hit, been a part of any operation that was more thoroughly gone rather than go down these guys would keep fighting. Later on over. To give you a quick background, the Fallujah Brigade was you figure out that these guys are on heroin and adrenaline shots left in Fallujah from April of 2004 until the start of the battle. and caffeine pills. This Fallujah Brigade was intended to be an Iraqi civil-defense corps that turned into Iraqi army, and was made up of locals It was crazy to see what these guys were on, and just how bad from that region. They were given Texas they wanted to get you. On the 26th of No- barriers—the large 15-ft high blast walls— vember we had gone into a house, and got Jersey barriers, and Hesco baskets. So when pinned down, shooting at each other the Fallujah Brigade proved a failure, the through a door. I lost my point man, and insurgents were able to take these barriers had my whole squad pinned down in a to fortify themselves in the city. As they got room. It’s kind of strange when you are ready for the battle in November we could shooting 5.56 and putting a dent in the wall, actually see on the intelligence imagery the other is shooting 7.62 and it’s coming where they put these barriers. We had the through. I’m not going to lie, we were eyes and ears when we went in to know scared. But in this sense it kind of makes which areas would most likely have IEDs. you want to prove the fact that it doesn’t We knew that there were a tremendous matter what you are shooting at us, we are number of roadside bombs that were put going to come and get you. There were in the ground. seven Marines in that house, and we lost the one, but we ended up taking the house What I really was not prepared for was the down and finding out there were 14 insur- amount of gear these guys were wearing. gents in there with a huge cache of weap- We were fighting guys with protective bal- ons, IEDs, and frags—they pretty much listic vests and Kevlar helmets; the Army had a little armory inside the house. It was had given their excess battle dress uniforms Perhaps the most famous photograph from something to see how far these guys were to the Iraqi army so these guys were essen- Operation Iraqi Freedom, by Lucian Read of willing to go to try to prove their point. tially wearing our uniforms. They were wear- World Picture News. Marine 1st Sergeant Brad ing our protection. The Marines’ uniform Kasal is carried from a house in Fallujah, David Bellavia is a little bit different but at the same time following an intense battle with insurgents. Just to touch on that, they would mark their Kasal was shot seven times during the fight, when you are looking at 300 meters and and was hit with nearly 40 pieces of shrapnel houses with different insignia. They would you see a guy running with that gear, you when he used his body to cover a fellow Marine have a flag on the outside, which would always pause cause you never want to be in from a grenade blast. Though he lost 60 percent mean perhaps this is the house that had a situation where you are shooting your of his blood, Kasal emerged from the house RPGs in it. You’d find houses with IV bags own. alive. The insurgents did not. and medical gauze. They actually had a pretty good plan of when in doubt, go and instigate on the Marine side The other thing was a lot of these guys had the atropine auto then run behind the lines and try to pick a fight over here. It injectors that we use for nuclear, biological and chemical attacks. seemed to me in an urban fight like that what this enemy is trying They were juicing themselves up—a couple insurgents we found to do is to get you to make the first inappropriate move. He with heroin needles broken off in their arms. If you’ve got to wants you to chase him through street corners so he can lead you dope yourself up for your cause, then your cause really isn’t all into an ambush. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to that worth it. We’re out there doing it on old-fashioned coffee maintain your battle plan even though all these things are jumping and Coca-Cola. up. A couple times there were squads that would chase a guy and walk into a platoon-sized element just unloading on them. Jeremy LaForce To touch on what he said about the insurgents doping themselves On 9 November there was an insurgent who walked down the up, it definitely plays a bit of a trick on your mind if you see street with a PKC machine gun, Rambo-style with a belt on his someone wearing what we thought to be Army uniforms and arm. He started shooting it wildly and motioned for us to come

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 27 and get him. There’s no way a sober mind does that. This all says Prior to going in we were trained extensively in techniques to something about accountability of the al-Qaeda leaders out there. clear the houses. But what I found most helpful for my squad Not only do they not care about innocent life, they don’t care was using our imaginations. I told them that if they had any ideas about their own soldiers. They are just throwing them out to the on how to get in, something that the insurgents wouldn’t think of, slaughter and that’s what happened in scores in Fallujah. to throw the idea out and we would try it. Instead of busting in the front door that they probably had covered by machine gun Matthew Ragan fire, I would rather climb up a different house, jump from house I want to add one point regarding the discussion of our uni- to house, climb down, and attack from the top. forms being compromised. If you really think about it, the Geneva Convention and the rules of war really need to be sat down and So just like our tactics changed, their tactics changed. The houses thought through, because these people are not abiding by the in Fallujah are usually set up the same. There is the main house rules of no-strike targets, for instance, or wearing our uniforms. with a small courtyard outside, surrounded by a wall. First we’d No-strike targets means such things as have to penetrate the wall to get into mosques, hospitals, police stations, and the courtyard; so what they’d end up such—things that you just shouldn’t tar- doing is drill holes through the walls and get because there will likely be innocent take machine guns and point them at people in there. Well we found multiple an area like the front gate, and tie a weapons caches, armories, hospitals, string to the trigger. As they heard us medical facilities, and weapons repair fa- come in they would be in a separate cilities inside mosques. They knew that room and start blasting the machine gun. we weren’t going to target those places. So we would be shooting at a machine We found C-2 nodes, places where they gun which had nobody actually firing did their command and control, where it. We adapted to whatever situation we they gather their intelligence inside hos- An American Marine entertains a young Iraqi following had and just moved from there. pitals and schools because they knew the battle for Fallujah. that we couldn’t target there. It’s just something that we have to David Bellavia deal with—going into a mosque, an already sensitive place, and The creativity of the American infantryman is amazing. You look finding these things and having to fight inside of it. A point I like back to World War II and Normandy, and to get through those to bring up is that it’s not all fun and games when we go out there hedgerows it took a young E-5 in the Army to come up with a and the media often twists it on us. We don’t want to go into plow to put on a Sherman tank. Throughout our history we’ve mosques or desecrate anything that’s holy to them and we don’t always had NCOs coming up with contingency plans using their want to kill any innocents. But sometimes bad things happen. creativity. That’s what will always make us elite, as Americans in general. The officer corps allows the NCO the creativity to come Jim Roberts up with their own plans in battle. We needed that creativity to Can you tell us about the strategy and tactics of the enemy? Things meet the challenges the insurgents met us with. There were a few like pre-positioning of weapons caches, and of the tactic of shoot- times I was in a house where we had made contact and there ing to wound rather than kill in order to draw in rescue forces. were mirrors that were broken off on all the corners which these guys used to look around corners into rooms like a periscope to Timothy Connors see where you were coming from. We found a house where they The hardest thing about fighting in cities is that you not only have created a maze of cinder blocks about eight-feet high. They tried to fight inside, there’s also a threat outside. There is a threat every- to arrange it so you were forced to walk through it while at the where. The worst part is when you are walking down the street, same time they had it covered by two machine gun positions on there is always the threat of a sniper, which is often difficult to the roof. You would want to break contact out of that maze, find. If you were out in the open, a sniper would take his shot at obviously, and right there was a 130mm ready to blow. one of your fellow Marines or soldiers, but not shoot to kill— he’d shoot to wound so he could get more Marines or soldiers to Fallujah is about the size of Tampa Bay, Florida. When it isn’t full come out to try and help pull the wounded one away. As they of insurgents it’s full of about 300,000 law abiding Iraqis. The went out to get him, the sniper would continue shooting. It was insurgents had shut off all buildings to the north and east and kind of like they were baiting us, because they knew we would west. What we saw were doors. They know that the American go get our men, and it didn’t matter how many guys went down, infantryman likes to get on roofs and take the high terrain. They all of us would still go after our fellow soldiers and Marines. cut that off from you and try to force you down avenues or kill

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 28 sacs. We saw newly bricked doors, closed off to keep us from of getting things done, and people get caught up on the word being able to get inside. They were ready for us. It’s the creativity “doctrine.” There is no way it should be. If there was then we’d of the infantryman which at the end of the day wins the fight. still be fighting with swords and shields. Everything changes. It’s just doing what you think feels right using people’s past experi- Jim Roberts ences so you won’t have to experience the same things they did. As David mentioned Tim was involved in 12 house fights. That’s clearing insurgents out of 12 houses, which we think is a record. Jim Roberts We don’t know anybody that approaches that, probably going One thing I have discovered in listening to the veterans of Iraq back to World War II. Was there a particular strategy for clearing and Afghanistan is that while they are all very articulate, they are a house, the point man for instance? also very modest in describing their own actions. I am very famil- iar with the records of Sgt. Connors and SSgt. Bellavia because I Timothy Connors wrote up their stories a couple weeks ago. David Bellavia as you In our training, you stack on doors and are supposed to rush into know is very talkative, but not when it comes to describing what rooms. The purpose is to overwhelm a room with fire so you he did. You should know he’s been recommended for the Medal can kill the enemy. But at the same time you take casualties your- of Honor and his story is almost quite unbelievable. I’d like you self. One of the first things you are to walk through November 10th. taught when you start training is that there is an 85 percent casualty rate, David Bellavia which to me is not acceptable. So Well, in a nutshell it was my 29th I soon realized that rushing into birthday—two years ago yester- rooms, in my mind, was not the day—and we walked into a com- best tactic. I decided that slow and pound. We had 1/8 to our west steady was the way to go. Either and they were in a pretty good fight, you to rush into a room and get a which was keeping us, a cell of lot of people killed, or you take about 6 to 12 guys, locked into one your time, go slow, and hopefully neighborhood. My XO Edward they’ll give up their position before Iwan, who was actually killed two you give up yours. Timothy Connors (left) speaks during the conference panel on years ago today, had the foresight Fallujah. Seated next to him is David Bellavia. to block off a neighborhood with War is a big chess game but once you are put inside a house, you Abrams tanks using their thermal imagery to keep these guys from are fighting a war inside that house and it is a tiny chess game— moving. We knew we had 6 to 8 guys in a block of about 70 you cannot make a mistake. There are times when you might look houses. And for the most part we cleared these houses, waiting out the window or doorway and five feet away from you is for the insurgents to set their trap. Finally, we walked in to one another head looking right at you trying to do the same thing. house and they unloaded on us. There were a couple guys on the That’s when the creativity comes in. Your training can only take bottom floor who opened up on our boys and got them pretty you so far, and there is a point where you over-train and lose good. We had some under-vest wounds in the stomach and some your creativity, lose your imagination, and that’s mainly when people facial wounds from broken glass and metal. get hurt. The best tactic you can use is your imagination. You have to outthink the people you are fighting or else you’re done. First of all, I want to say no one left Fallujah without a nick, a cut, a scrape, a gash, whether they are wearing a Purple Heart or not. You need to be ready to use everything at your disposal. I had a But once we were all inside the house returning fire from the lot of different tools I could use. Obviously you could call for other side of the door, these idiots shot from the window with a missile strikes, artillery, etc. It’s not just using the obvious, it’s also PKM machine gun belt-fed 7.62x54 and just unloaded on my using what you would not find so obvious. There’s a story from inner cordon. Kids got hit in the face and back, and for the most my company where another squad of Marines tried to clear a part what made that story just crazy, was these guys were taunting house, but the insurgents were barricaded in the middle of the us. We have young men that are screaming that they were hit in the house in a kind of bunker so it was very hard to go in and take eyes, shouting out their injuries, and these terrorists are making them out. The Marines happened to see a big bulldozer driving fun of them. From the position I was standing, it would have down the street, so they called the bulldozer over, covered it, and been great if I had had a Sgt. Connors to my right or left. But I the bulldozer took out every corner of the house until the house had a bunch of kids and they were scared. I was scared, we were ended up collapsing on itself. There are so many different ways all scared. From where I was standing I made the decision that

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 29 any one on this panel would have made which is assault by fire. was my mission and the mission of the four Marines that helped I’m not a very good mathematician and I thought there were two me. We all did it together, going back and forth, throwing gre- in the house but there ended up being six. I got caught and I nades, fighting within a few feet of each other, around doors and walked out by the grace of God. It was just dumb luck. I feel everything. It went on for awhile and it ended with a tank coming really fortunate and I treasure my life and my family because of it. in and shooting some holes into the room. Through small arms fire we ended up killing the rest of the insurgents. Jim Roberts Sgt. Connors you saw a lot of combat, and you were awarded It went on for four hours because there were six insurgents in the Silver Star. Could you describe the action for which you re- there and apparently they were using each other for shields. After ceived that award? one would die they would cover each other up with the body in the hopes that we would think they were all dead. We ended up Timothy Connors getting Travis’s body out and getting him home, which was our We were at the end of the city; we had pushed all the way down. main goal. That was what it was for. The other Marines with me The city bottlenecks at the end and received Bronze Stars, I think. It there were so many troops and doesn’t matter what people re- soldiers there, too many people in ceive as an award. I could have one area. So we kind of got gotten nothing, that wouldn’t have pushed ahead, there probably were mattered. I just wanted to get him 12 to 15 insurgents in the open and out. Awards are for the paper at we were pretty much chasing them home and your parents. down the street as they were run- ning out of the city. We got to the Jim Roberts edge of the city before anyone else Sgt. LaForce, Sgt. Ragan what did and were fighting them as they stands out in your mind? hid behind barns and behind houses. We were fighting them in Jeremy LaForce the open and we got the call that David Bellavia (center) with a group of the high school students My battalion lost 21 Marines in who attended the conference. Each day, the conference began with we were too far forward. My pla- speakers dedicated to World War II, working its way to the veterans Fallujah. Some of which were four toon sergeant made the call that we of Iraq and Afghanistan, giving these students an opportunity to or five at a time, going into houses had to fall back on the line so there learn from the Greatest Generation and the latest generation. and having a whole fire team get would be no fratricide where we would be shooting each other. hit. It is really something to see just how heartless people can We fell back and upon falling back we ended up getting sur- be—like David was saying they were making fun of guys who rounded. We were getting shot at from every angle. My platoon screamed out when they were injured. I think what is really im- sergeant chose a house to go into to use as a base until everyone portant is that we get the word out for everybody to know what caught up with us. That was the biggest house there and he made is going on there. I didn’t get the Medal of Honor or the Bronze the right call; it was the biggest, strongest house there, with two Star. Nobody goes out there and does it for an award. In a sense floors and a big roof, higher than any other house. So a squad it’s nice to get recognized for what you do but at the same time went in there to clear it out and a Marine by the name of Travis you’d rather have that soldier or Marine you just lost back with Desiato went into a room first. I think what happened was he you next time. The story needs to get out for those 21 Marines thought that there was a stack behind him and he got bumped by that didn’t make it home and for their families to know that they accident—a bump is a signal to go in a room. The other Marines didn’t pass away without somebody caring about them. It’s not a behind him weren’t ready and he ended up getting shot. I was matter of how many guys are shooting at you, it’s a matter of somewhere else dealing with a completely different situation. I getting back in there and getting that Marine out of there and heard someone yell, “Corpsman up!” which nobody likes to hear. bringing him home, knowing that he’s going home just like you. I ran back to the house and went inside to see what was going on, where everyone told me what happened. It was one big firefight Matthew Ragan that went on for about four hours. Our whole purpose was to I would like to finish by saying that war truly is horrible. One of get Travis out in the best shape possible so his family could bury my favorite quotes is from Robert E. Lee, who said, “It is well their son. I wanted them to be able to see their son before he was that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it.” And we all buried. So I looked at him, although he was shot up, he wasn’t in lost a lot of brothers out there, our own soldiers and Marines. as bad shape compared to others who had been killed. So that Thank you for coming and listening to us. WWII World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 30 ANNOUNCING... The American Veterans Center’s Tenth Annual Conference November 8-10, 2007 - Washington, DC

You have read their stories, now meet them in person. This November, some of America’s greatest heroes will once again gather in Washington for the American Veterans Center’s Tenth Annual Conference. From the great battles of World War II to the desert of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and all the years in between, this is your opportunity to spend a weekend with heroes. A full schedule will be available in the coming months. To receive information on the upcoming conference, contact the American Veterans Center at 202-777-7272.

Learn history from those who were there. To receive more information on the Tenth Annual Conference, call 202-777-7272 or e-mail [email protected] Thank You For Your Support!

“Bringing the legacy of the Greatest Generation to the latest generation” has been the motto of the World War II Veterans Committee since its incep- tion a decade ago. Through its various programs, the Committee has sought to provide an outlet for the veterans of history’s greatest and most tragic war to share their experiences with the public, and to preserve them for future generations. The continued support of thousands of individuals across America has allowed the Committee to expands its efforts over the years, instituting a number of quality projects, including:

The National Memorial Day Parade Annual Veterans Conference Held each year along the National Mall in Washington, DC, and featur- Every Veterans Day veterans gather to share their stories. The 2006 ing nearly 200 elements and over 100,000 spectators. conference was televised live on C-Span. Youth Activities and Educational Outreach World War II Chronicles The underlying theme of each of our programs is to build an apprecia- Our quarterly publication, which provides the opportunity for veter- tion of World War II history among young people. Students and youth ans to tell their stories, in their own words. groups are encouraged to participate in Committee activities, and the Committee sponsors essay contests, a high school and college scholar- Documentaries and Radio Series ship, and an internship program, all providing an opportunity for The Committee has a long history of producing quality radio docu- young people to learn about - and from - the Greatest Generation. mentaries in association with the Radio America network. Included is the award-winning World War II Chronicles on which this publication Supporting Our Troops is based, D-Day: They Were There and Pearl Harbor: 60 Years of In addition to featuring the stories of those currently serving in our Echoes. More recently, the Committee has sponsored two weekly publications and radio programs, and including them in the National radio series, Veterans Chronicles and Proudly We Hail, both programs Memorial Day Parade, the Committee is proud to sponsor regular featuring interviews with America’s great heroes. events for our wounded heroes currently undergoing rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

World War II Chronicles - Winter, 2006/07 - 31 Coming this May The 2007 National Memorial Day Parade Presented by the American Veterans Center

This Memorial Day—May 28, 2007—join over 100,000 fel- low Americans in Washington, DC as we honor our veter- ans and fallen heroes at the third annual National Memorial Day Parade. The parade, sponsored by the World War II Veterans Committee and its parent organization, the Ameri- can Veterans Center, will feature nearly 200 veterans organi- zations, marching bands, and youth groups, as well as active duty military personnel and an Air Force flyover.

This year’s parade will pay special tribute to our wounded heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the . The parade will begin at 2:00 PM and travel down Constitution Avenue along the National Mall.

Veterans’ organizations are invited to participate in the parade. To learn how, or to volunteer, call the American Veterans Center at 202- 777-7272 or visit www.nationalmemorialdayparade.com. WWII

World War II Veterans Committee NONPROFIT ORG. A Division of the American Veterans Center U.S. POSTAGE PAID 1030 15th St., NW, Suite 856 WALDORF, MD PERMIT NO. 30 Washington, D.C. 20005