A Veteran Writes

Most of us were not heroes, we were just ordinary guys. Heroes get medals for "Above and Beyond the call of Duty." We were only doing the "Call of Duty." On August 15,1944, I am on a dusty dirt runway outside of a small village near Rome. I am just a kid, almost nineteen, I had a few beers and I am feeling nice. Now at close to 2 AM, I am on a C-47 airplane roaring down a runway with lights about as visible as flashlights, marking the left and right sides. We finally lift off and we become airborne with a set course for Southern France. The invasion would be starting in about six hours. I and my fellow paratroopers didn't have to worry about airplane formations so we just tried to sleep.

 

 

With the uncomfortable seats, all the equipment I was carrying, and the tight parachute harness, I might doze a little but that's all and I could pray a lot. As we approached the coast of France over an hour later, I remembered the fear growing inside of me and of praying a little harder. And probably repeating to my self, "Dear God." Soon enough the red light came on to indicate that we were nearing our drop zone. It was still pitch black outside and we were not encountering any anti-aircraft fire. So at that point I started to worry about what might be waiting for us on the ground and the chances of landing in the vicinity of the drop zone. It was time for a little humor and the jump master got up and announced "OK, all you guys with the one way tickets, stand up."

 

 
We made our last minute equipment check, hooked up our static lines, faced the rear of the plane and waited excruciating moments for the green light. It may have been after 3:30 am by then. The green light flashed on and we moved forward, leaving the plane one by one. I remember getting to the door, saw the guy in front of me vanish and then just a big black hole, I made the sign of the cross and went out. Once out of the plane and the parachute opened, I always got that sense of relief. I checked my canopy, looked around and only glimpsed a couple of other chutes but worried when I realized I couldn't make out any ground features. Everything looked hazy and my first thought was they dropped us in the Mediterranean.

 

Then I broke through a fog bank and that is what was preventing me from seeing the ground detail. But they had dropped us low enough so that we would not spend too much time in the air. So suddenly, there was the ground and I had no chance to prepare to land. I hit like a sack of shit as they use to say in those days. Just got a little banged up, that's all. I quickly got out of my chute and put my equipment together, There I was all by myself in a foreign country, God knows where. But I was just fine so far, now I had to look for the other guys. I pushed the safety off my trigger guard, just in case, but hoped I didn't run into any Jerries. I was on solid ground now.

 

Have a Happy Veteran's Day.