article from undated edition of Devil's Digest |
Sgt. Gushue's Bayonet No Stranger To Jerries In Red Devil Campaigns
The bayonet according to the Oxford Dictionary, is a "stabbing
blade attached to the end of a rifle.".
There are a million Infantrymen who will tell you that is what the
bayonet is supposed to be and there is a handful of others who will say
there isn't a damn thing wrong with that definition.
One of this handful Is Sgt. Charles A. Gushue, of A Company and
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His bayonet has done a little more than stand
parade ground inspection.
Holder of the Bronze Star and one of the 15 Distinguished Service
Crosses awarded members of the 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment, Sgt Gushue
speaks from practical experience when he recommends the army's most widely
used can opener as "the best thing to finish a Job you started out to do,"
Just how many times Sgt. Gushue has practiced what he preaches is
anyone's guess. Certainly, like most paratroopers, he had had plenty of
opportunity.
There was the Initial jump In Normandy when he landed deep In Jerry
land to fight in a small group until captured on D-plus 6. Escaping on
D-plus 10 he rejoined Company A, picked up a Bronze Star for heroic action
with a machine gun during the attack on hill 131 on 3rd of July 1944.
In Holland while leading his squad as the point of Lt. George
Lamb's second platoon patrolling into the city gave one of the best
demonstrations of what a bayonet could do that has been seen In this or any
other war.
According to citation orders awarding him the DSC. the nation's
second highest combat honor, Germans cut loose on the platoon with heavy
automatic fire from close range. In the darkness control was momentarily
lost and then:
"Sergeant Gushue, acting upon his own initiative, reorganized his
squad and led it against the enemy position. He threw grenades and charged a
machine gun position bayoneting three Germans and forcing the remainder to
withdraw. Upon encountering resistance near the approaches to the Nijmegen
bridge. Sergeant Gushue single-handed, assaulted one machine gun position
and bayoneted four Germans. The action of Sergeant Gushue enabled his
platoon to to seize and hold a position near the bridge until contacted by
British armored unit's three days later,,, |
On that particular night, the 17th of September 1944, the
22-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gushue 29-59 Gaul St., Philadelphia,
Pa., was not the only Company A trooper cutting up Jerries with steel
instead of lead. There was S/Sgt, Alvin Henderson, Gushue’s buddy who was
mortally wounded in the bloody battle that brought liberty to Nijmegen.
In the posthumous award of the DSC to S/Sgt. Henderson citations
orders record that he killed two Germans in hand-to-hand fighting and
bayoneted four others …
He led his patrol in the accomplishment of three separate missions
during the attack by his battalion during which time he personally destroyed
lour enemy machine gun positions and assisted in the capture of six
prisoners. When the point of the battalion advance became pinned down by
enemy machine gun fire in the city of Nijmegen, Staff Sergeant Henderson led
a squad from the advance guard and pushed forward destroying this enemy
position. He attacked a circular plaza to his front and cleared 13 of the
enemy. Later at the bridge he personally destroyed two machine gun positions
and caused the crew of the third to withdraw. During this attack he was
killed by enemy fire."
This is a war in which every unit, particularly those of the United
States, puts its faith and achieves success on the strength of tremendous
fire power. Perhaps it Is true that the bayonet is the Army's forgotten
weapon, a zero factor in the future's big picture.
But the bayonet can still do the job, seize an objective, turn the
tide in a campaign —providing it is in the hands of such men as Gushue and
Henderson. Like every other weapon, no matter how modern or complex, the
bayonet is as good as the man who uses it.
|
