Sgt. Joe Bullard squad leader in the 2nd Platoon of D. Co. spent a quiet
night on a road block in front of the drop zone near Vox Hill, Sept
17/18, 1944, but toward morning things heated up. The German 88s, 20mm,
and small arms fire zeroed in on their position. Several paratroopers
were killed and others wounded and the platoon was cut off from
rejoining the rest of D Company. Lt. Tutwiler surrendered the platoon to
avoid further bloodshed.Two members of the 2nd
platoon, Louis Guzzetti and [Albert C.?] Anderson decided they would
make a run for it rather than surrender. Lou Guzzetti said, "We were
shot at, but were probably running so fast the bullets couldn't catch up
with us,"
The Jerries marched the healthy paratroopers
(including James Rizzuto) off toward Germany and moved the wounded into
a Dutch home. Among the wounded was Joe Bullard who recalled, "The
Germans stripped us down to our shorts — even took our dog tags; then
they used our uniforms to wear on patrols."
Joe and another wounded GI were placed in a bed together. Joe said, "A
Dutch woman gave me a quart jar of canned meat which was the only food
we had before we were found by our troops."
Two days after they were captured, D Company
counterattacked using mortars to prepare for the assault. Joe remembered
the shells hitting the roof of the houses and the slate shingles falling
down through the ceiling on his bed, so he and the other wounded soldier
got under the bed to avoid the falling debris.
Paratroopers from D Co. found Bullard under the bed. He and the other
wounded were then evacuated. Bullard described what followed:
"For a time I lapsed in and out of consciousness. When
I became more alert, I realized I was hearing voices in another
language. All the other wounded were speaking German, but the medics
were speaking English. Without my dog tags and uniform, the medics
assumed that I was a German and I ended up in a tent full of German
wounded. It didn't take me long to convince the medics of my true
identity and they moved me to a hospital for Americans."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Note 1: Anderson missed the Normandy jump; he had been held back in base camp in
Nottingham because he couldn't obtain $10,000 G.I. insurance.
Colonel Lindquist tried to get it for him but the Colonel's request was
denied. Anderson made the Holland and Ardennes operations,
however. Ironically, he never made use of the insurance
after all but probably didn't mind.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Note 2: When James Rizzuto and Joe Bullard attended
the 508th Reunion in Charleston, SC in 1997, they saw each other for the
first time since Rizzuto marched off as a prisoner of war leaving the
seriously injured sergeant at the road block, Sept. 18, 1944 --- a
special reunion 43 years later.
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