Hill continues, We were from assorted units; and had little equipment, little food and water, no communications, no officers and no information.
We were, however, a thorn in the side of the Germans opposing us and we surely kept them from trying to reinforce their troops defending the beaches or Germans trying to retreat from the beaches. We could not have done much more with what we had.
Those of us who were in that field refer to it as ‘Hell's Half Acre.’ S.L.A. Marshal in his book ‘Night Drop"’ refers to us as ‘A Pack of Strays.’ I guess that's a fair description of our group, but we did some good with little equipment and no guidance.”
Raymond Hummel was promoted to Hq1 1st Sgt. and served throughout the duration of World War II.
During its independent operations, the "Hummel" band was near another isolated group commanded by Captain Jonathan Adams, which was having an equally rough time. Yet neither group ever felt the near-presence of the other and of Colonel Shanley's movements Adams knew nothing at all.
In the beginning, the Hq1 Officers were not faring any better than the enlisted men were. Lieutenant Gerald P. Guillot (Hq1), landed 400 yards north of the Douve River, within a stones throw of Montessy village, where he assembled a small group of men.
Guillot, 6 men and six equipment bundles had landed in the same field, a coincidence among the many misadventures that first night. The equip-bundles contained three light machine guns and ammunition.
Guillot told the assembled officers and men "I know this is the Merderet River. It is useless for us to mount these machineguns with so few men. There are more paratroopers around here. I will stay here. You go out and round them up."
The searchers were unsuccessful, they did not find any men but they returned with three bazookas, another machinegun and more ammunition. It was 0430 AM and first light was breaking.
Guillot told the group, "We have no choice but to stash the heavy weapons and move out." They hid the weapons and ammunition and moved southwest, the wrong direction. At a farmhouse, they learned the river was the Douve and the location of a
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