By Chester Walker
I WILL BEGIN THIS STORY BY stating I was a member of the 401st GIR, 2d Battalion, Co. G from Normandy to Berlin. We were not officially in the 325th until some time in March 1945. We were part of the 325 but I will relate events relevant only to the 2/401 [which was in the first wave of attack across La Fière causeway on June 9]. I was a “first aid man” or medic for Company G.
We arrived in Normandy by Horsa glider in the morning about 1000 hours on June 7, 1944. We had a crash landing. We avoided a mid-air collision with another glider. The pilot changed directions and went between two trees. The wings were sheared off, leaving the fuselage to plunge into the ground. When it finally stopped, the floor was gone, my feet were on the ground, and my seatbelt was pushed up under my ribcage, making it almost impossible for me to breathe. I could not unbuckle it until someone cut the belt where it was anchored to the wall.
There were all kind of injuries—broken legs and arms, cuts and bruises. Both pilots were lying on the ground unconscious. There just happened to be two paratrooper medics nearby, who helped with the first aid that we could do. Out of 30 men, only 14 were able to move to combat. I remember some of the names of the men who were not injured: Dill from Georgia; Pat Black, from Newport News, Virginia; and Sergeant Ward, state unknown, who had a camera and took several pictures of the wreck. We heard later that one of the pilots and two glidermen died. I can’t say if this is true or false.
We landed somewhere between Chef-du-Pont and St. Mère-Eglise. The weather was fair, the apple trees were in bloom, and the countryside was all greened up, but the hedgerows were hell.
After doing some patrolling, we finally bivouacked near Chef-du-Pont in the late afternoon of June 8. After daylight on June 9, we learned we were going to attack over the causeway. What we did not know was we were going to get our baptism of fire. Not having any combat experience, we had no idea what lay ahead.
Prior to our jump-off time, Captain Sauls, our G Company commander, found a shorter route to the beginning of the causeway. It appeared to be a shortcut that farmers used. This was a wooded area and gave good cover. It was higher ground than the road. After it reached the ridge on top, it turned down to the level of the original road where the causeway started. On the right of this shortcut, just before coming to the road we left, were some buildings of stone and wood. On the left side there was a stone wall. At the end of that wall is where Captain Sauls made his move to cross the causeway.
After we entered the shortcut as far as we could go, everyone was ordered to get down as low as possible. The other medic with me for G Company was Raymond Michalski from Buffalo, New York. We were about halfway back from the head of the column. If I had been on the head end, there’s a good chance I would not be here to write this story.
The artillery support was to be supplied by the 90th Division, [which was] due to cross the causeway on June 10. I did not hear anything about tank artillery. At the top of the hill in the wooded area, an anti-tank gun started firing straight down the causeway at 1030 hours. At the same time, the 90th Division started firing. The anti-tank destroyed the German tank on the causeway.
At 10:45 hours Captain Sauls made his move, but there was no smoke cover. Machine guns were firing from different directions and mortar shells were plastering the area. About the time I reached the entrance of the causeway, the medic with me took a bullet in his wrist. I helped him bandage his wrist, and by that time wounded glidermen began to multiply. I encouraged anyone who could walk or crawl to get behind the stone wall, where it would be safe to patch up their wounds.
E Company was the next to come through, and the two medics with them were a big help with the wounded. It wasn’t too long until the machine guns were put out of action, but incoming mortar shells, artillery and sniper fire were still a problem. Jeeps with trailers bringing ammunition also came across the causeway. After unloading their supplies, they loaded wounded glidermen in their trailers and rushed them back to the first aid station.