WAR DEPARTMENT McNamara - 406
Bureau of Public Relations
PRESS BRANCH
T
el. RE 6700. Brs. 3425 and 4860
SIS Release B-982
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The tough role played by Paratroopers in the European war is vividly portrayed in the combat story of 21-year-old Private George E.
Bueche, an Airborne Infantryman of New Roads, Louisiana.
A member of the 508th Regiment of the 82d Airborne Infantry (All American) Division, Private Bueche was in combat for 32 consecutive days after landing on the shell-swept terrain of the Normandy beachhead early in June of 1944, later jumped almost in the laps of the Germans on the Holland border.
"Virtually all the time I was in combat was spent fighting behind the German lines,” the young Paratrooper declared at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, shortly after arriving in the United States for a furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Bueche.
"I consider myself about the luckiest guy in the world when I look back on some of the spots I was in over there. Except for a slight scratch on the leg from a German sniper's bullet, I got by unscathed. It's tough to think about many of my buddies who weren't so lucky. They are sleeping over there under white crosses. But they died like heroes and I’m mighty proud of every one of them."
The Louisiana soldier administered first aid to himself and didn't bother to report his leg wound, so he doesn't wear the Purple Heart. However, he has been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge for exemplary conduct against the enemy.
His roughest combat was on the Normandy beachhead, but Private Bueche's most dramatic encounter with the Nazis was when he jumped with 100 other Paratroopers in Holland.
more
SIS Release B-982. Page 2.
"We landed right on top of a German garrison a few hundred yards fron the German border," he related. "I mean that literally. A number of my buddies
landed on the roofs of Jerry barracks. The Germans were taken completely by surprise. It was late at night and the whole garrison was asleep. Even the sentries didn't know what was happening until we landed and started blazing away with automatic weapons.
''The Jerries cane screaming out of their barracks and we mowed then down by the score. We were outnumbered about 20 to 1, but we really gave those Germans hell for a while. That was our mission — to kill as many as possible of them and put the fear of God in the rest while we waited for a relief force the following day. That was one of the most spectacular and effective moves the Paratroopers staged in the European war.”
Private Bueche has been in the service 26 months, 19 of which were spent overseas. He received his basic training at the Infantry Replacement Training Center, Camp Blanding, Florida.
- 30 -
Sent direct to: Herald New Roads, La.
Banner, "
State Times, Baton Rouge, La.
Advocate, "
Army Times
Outfit
Infantry Journal