I scurried out of the area and spent the night in a hedgerow. Just before daylight I discovered a German unit was deploying on the other side of my hedgerow. Again, I quickly vacated that unwelcome area. A short time later I wandered into a large field that looked like it had been an impact area for large artillery shells.

I found an area where the shells had detonated among a group of paratroopers.  Among the dead, I found Harry Higgins' body, it was stripped of his jump jacket and still had a white mark where he had worn a wristwatch.

I spent the next four days and nights moving cautiously up and down lanes and roads, hiding in hedgerows, and avoiding large German units and motorized patrols. Finally, on D-Day plus 6, days, I found the 508^th PIR. I lay down and slept all day.” 

In August 1944, Bill Goudy was promoted to Section Leader in the 81mm Mortar Platoon and he commanded two mortar squads.

On September 17, 1944, Bill led his section on the jump into Holland and into the city of Nijmegen.  That night Bill’s section supported the assault troops trying to  capture the  highway bridge over the Waal River.   

Early on September 18, the battalion was ordered to break contact with the Germans in Nijmegen, and return to the drop zone.  During the night, German infantry with antiaircraft guns had occupied the drop zone. 

This German force was capable of destroying the 82^nd Airborne Division glider-borne forces (three artillery battalions, engineer equipment and ammunition) scheduled to land in the area, around noon.   

Bill Goudy's mortar section supported the battalion’s attacking rifle companies as they rapidly cleared the drop zone of Germans, killing or capturing them, and destroying the antiaircraft guns. The gliders landed safely, and countless American lives were saved. 

In December 1944, in Vielsalm, Belgium the two mortar platoon officer forward observers were wounded and evacuated.  Thereafter, Bill Goudy served as both a Section leader and as a forward observer.

Bill performed courageously, employing mortar and artillery fires to support 508^th PIR operations, through the densely forested Ardennes, and Siegfried Line fortifications.