After walking in the direction the staff officer pointed out for
about a mile I came to the river and there was Col. Lindquist. He said
to me, "Am I glad to see you and your men. All the men in Regimental
Headquarters Company have their typewriters but no guns. If we ever do
this again they will each bring a rifle."
Then Col. Lindquist told me to move out down the riverbank in an
easterly direction. By now it was almost dawn and one could see fairly
well. We had about 200 men with us and as we walked along more men
joined us. One or two officers joined us and Col. Lindquist put them at
the point of the column.
We received some machine gun fire from the Germans but it was very high
and no one was hit. At one point we stopped for about 20 minutes near
the river in a wooded area. All the men sat down or lay down but the
colonel stood up all the time we were receiving gunfire, which was very
high over our heads. A few German artillery shells passed over our heads
too. Then the column started moving again. Col. Lindquist told me we
would cross a sunken railroad with a bridge over it and when we reached
the bridge we would get down on the tracks and continue walking until we
came to a farm where there were other paratroopers.
This we did and when we reached the farm we moved off the railroad into
the fields and I was told to hold my men next to the hedgerow until the
colonel sent for me.
We stayed in the field for about an hour when a runner came up and asked
me to follow him to Colonel Lindquist who was waiting for me in a barn.
The runner and I walked through one hedgerow and then a small apple
orchard where a dead paratrooper was lying. He was the first dead
soldier I had ever seen and I was surprised at how natural it was for
him to be lying there. We skirted around a high mound where some other
paratroopers were lying down. There was no firing from any one.
Just past the mound of earth we came to the barns where Col. Lindquist
was waiting for me. He asked me if I could take the house in front of
where we were standing. I asked him how many Germans were in it and he
said five or six. Then he said, "There are two American paratrooper
lieutenants in the basement but they have rifles and can't get the
Germans out."
I told the Colonel that I would try but I would like some covering fire
as I ran to the basement door. He said he would get the men around the
house to fire as I ran to the basement door.
I stepped out of the bam door and a German shot at my feet with a
machine pistol. The Colonel pulled me back into the barn. I then asked
him if there was a bazooka in the group and he had a man go around
calling for a bazooka man to come forward. Soon a man with a bazooka and
his helper showed up. I asked him to fire at a window where the German
had fired at me.
The bazooka man aimed at the window and fired. He missed the window but
hit the house and I ran for the door. No one fired at me from the house
as I ran from the barn to the house nor did any paratroopers fire at the
house. I ran in silence. I ran through the basement door into a very
dark room.
It took a few seconds for my eyes to get used to the darkness and then I
saw the two lieutenants standing next to the wall on the left side of
the door. One of them asked me to let him have my Tommy gun and 1 told
him Colonel Lindquist sent me in to take the house and I would not give
up my gun. He with drew to the wall and stood there.
I could hear the Germans running across the floor above me so I started
firing through the ceiling of the cellar, the floor of the room above,
and the Germans ran faster and fired down at me but their firing was way
off target. I fired in front of them and pulled the gun back into them
as they walked and ran across the floor. I could hear some of them talk
in a loud voice.
I carried ten 20 bullet clips for my Tommy gun in a canvas bag, and as
soon as I fired them all I ran back out to the barn and asked the
Colonel if I could get more ammunition.
Again he had a man go around collecting clips and loose 45 cal. bullets.
We soon had my ten clips filled. I ran back into the basement of the
house and started firing as I had the first time.
There was an opening to a stair well and I fired up it into the door at
the head of the stairs and received fire back from the Germans on the
other side of the door. Then I noticed a door next to the stairs on the
same level as I was and I fired into it and then kicked the door open
and sprayed the room with my Tommy gun. A strong smell of wine and cider
came out to greet me but no Germans.
I went back and forth from the basement to the barn for more ammunition
three or four more times when some one shouted for me to come out and
stop firing as the Germans were waving a white flag.
I walked out of the basement into the sunshine just as one of the
Germans threw out a dead German form the first story window. It
surprised me how he bounced on the ground. At the same time I saw the
white flag waving from one of the upper windows.
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