I Co, 506 Pir, 101 Ab

[Airchallenged]

I know I skipped a story but I did it on purpose. I skipped the story of Bill Galbraith and those that fought with Col Legs Johnson at the Locks. I am preparing to send a letter to Mr. Galbraith and will wait until I receive a reply to post his full story.

[Holly6]

Originally Posted by Airchallenged

I know I skipped a story but I did it on purpose. I skipped the story of Bill Galbraith and those that fought with Col Legs Johnson at the Locks. I am preparing to send a letter to Mr. Galbraith and will wait until I receive a reply to post his full story.

Thank you for re-starting this thread. I missed it the first time around and was totally mesmerized by reading the posts. I will await any future efforts.
These are quality works.

thank you.

[Airchallenged]

Thank you for re-starting this thread. I missed it the first time around and was totally mesmerized by reading the posts. I will await any future efforts.
These are quality works.

thank you.

Thanks Hal,

Will post more tomorrow. After this tough it is mostly small stories/general information.

[Airchallenged]

Operation Market was the airborne half of Operation Market-Garden. The First Airborne Army (1st British AB, 101st and 82nd US AB, Polish AB Brigade) was to prop along what would become known as "Hell's Highway" Highway 69. The Red Devils, under MG Roy Urquhart, would be dropped furthest into enemy territory near Arnhem and seize the Bridges there and at Oosterbeek. They would be followed the next day by the Polish Paratroopers. The 82nd AB under James Gavin were in the middle at Grave and Nijmegen. The 101st, under Maxwell Taylor, was the closest to the Allied line and would land along Highway 69 from Eindhoven to Son, and Veghel.

Off to class............................................. ......................Back from class.

On September 17th 1944 the 101st Airborne took the southern of two routes to Holland. The southern routes passed over the Allied and then enemy front lines while the Northern route came in behind the enemy. There were 1,051 Troop Carriers and 516 Glider/Tug Combos carrying the men of the 1st AAA. The 502nd jumped first on DZ "B" NE of Son and was to capture St. Oedenrode between Son and Veghel on Highway 69. The 3/506 was the first serial of 45 planes from the Regiment to jump on DZ "C" immediately below DZ "B". They were given the mission of seizing the DZ before the 1/506 arrived. 1/506 would land and immediately move to the Bridges at Son. HQ/506 and 2/506 came next and were to also move on Son but from the north. From there the entire Regiment would move south and seize Eindhoven. The 501st had its own DZ "A" north near Vehgel.

From all accounts the 132 planes and 8 CG4 Gliders made it with little losses. One plane and two gliders were the extent of the losses. If I recall correctly the entire crew of the Plane survived being shot down soon after crossing the front lines and all were harbored by the Dutch I believe. The two gliders collided in midair on the decent to the DZ if I recall correctly. The only contradiction is that the official report says that at least four planes received heavy enough fire of which two went down of the DZ in addition to the one lost going over the German MLR but I will have to check on that. It must be noted though that all the parachutists jumped from there planes (including the four that went down) and some of the crews in the hit planes as well. The two planes held out long enough for all the troopers to jump before crashing. The BN S-3 says he saw only two planes go down. Only 7 troopers did not make the jump. IIRC from the reports I saw most were due to Reserves Deploying. I know one man's gun went off when he was standing up (it was an accident) and there was some other reasons too but I know know of them were from men refusing to jump.

[Airchallenged]

The only Casualty I know of on the jump in I/506 is a maybe. I have come to the assumption that 1Sgt. Paul Garrison, who broke his ankle in Normandy (more on that to come when the skipped story is posted), landed in a way that aggravated his leg. He had had barely enough time for it to heal when he returned to England (He had been returned sometime between the 8 and 13th of June).

After the Germans blew the Bridge at Son the attack was held up while the Engineers built the now famous (among 506 scholars) foot bridge. I/506 was the last unit to cross the bridge and it is believed that Lt. Santarsiero was the last man across.

The Company's first casualties came the next day in the assault on Eindhoven by 3/506. I/506 was on the right and H/506 on the left with G and HQ/506 following behind. Capt. Kiley and Bill Galbraith were in the middle as the S2 team advancing behind a armored vehicle of some nature (Bill had been a member of I/506 and Kiley had chosen him as his runner but more later). H/506 began to fall behind and Kiley sent Bill to tell Major Horton to have them move up. Bill ran off and found James Brown his old MG leader (Bill was James Assnt Gunner) who was acting BN Radioman and gave him the message. James sent the message and them the radio was shot out of his hand. Bill says he seemed unphased and said goodbye and they parted ways. That was the last time the two would talk. Upon returning to Kiley he gave him James' maeesage and then told him to get better cover. Kiley said that would be a bad example to the men. He barely got the words out when a sniper hit him in the neck. He died instantly. Bill had nothing to do so ran to join his old platoon 2/I/506.

Mean while 2/I/506 was leading the advance on Eindhoven. Pfc. Marion Hove and George McMillan were the lead scouts. George says they used the cover and advance move to enter the out skirts of the city. Lt. "Sandy" Santarsiero and I think Dave Dillan and Bill "Joe" Chivvis were close behind. Anyway as they made it closer to the center of the city Sandy passed John Kiley and told him he shouldn't be at the front dressed how he was (He was dressed much the same was as Brewer was, Binocs, collar insignia) but John said he had to show the men he wasn't scared and give them courage. Sandy regrets not being more forceful to his friend. Marion Hove was hit in the foot as he tried to cross the street and the two with Sandy drug him to safety. By this time Bill was back with 2nd Platoon because an 88mm opened on them sailing over all of there heads. The next one hit near Bill and Sandy. Bill's legs were messed up really bad. Sandy dove into an old shell hole and I have no idea would George did, probably stayed in the doorway. The second shell that came in blasted Bill out of the doorway and hit him in the right shoulder. A Dutch civilian risked his life to run into the street and drag Bill into his house.

Some BN level officer came out to Santarsiero and admonished him for taking cover in the shell hole. Sandy pointed out a dead soldier possibly one of three I/506 men killed that day. It may have been either Pfc Francis Swanson, a Normandy Veteran, or Pvt Victor DeLuca, a replacement. The officer left Sandy after that. The Third I/506 men to be killed that day was S/Sgt Frank Rick, the newly promoted 3/I/506 Platoon Sergeant.

[Airchallenged]

Four other men were killed while in Holland and on the Island. Pvt. Marvin Descant of Louisiana DOW on the 19th. Pfc. Frank Cress (Tom will recognize this name) was probably killed in the shelling of Uden on the 24th. Pvt. Clark Harmon and Pvt. Laurel Callihan were killed in the German counter-attack on Opheusden on the Island, the same attack in which Maj Horton was killed, on the 5th and 6th of October, respectively.

Besides Hove I know that one of the replacement Sgts, William Barret possibly of 1 platoon, was wounded in the attack on Eindhoven. 2Lt. Mickey Panovich, the XO of First Platoon, was wounded sometime near the beginning of the Island but before new replacements arrived (October CIB has three new officers but only two were transfered out while in Holland). He was in a firefight with 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon in an isolated house when a mortar round dropped in and hit him in the legs. They squad had been on patrol and resting in the house when the Germans approached. One of the new guys stuck his gun out the window and the Germans had spotted it. Then PFC George "Ed" Albers and Sgt.Ted Dziepak had to drag him out of the house. Dziepak left Ed alone to drag the now unconscious Lt with rapidly swelling legs back to safety. After what seemed like forever Ed says two medics showed up with a stretcher and took Panovich away and checked Ed to make sure he was fine (he was covered in blood from the waist down). After loading up with MG ammo Ed ran the gauntlet to get back to the squad. Sgt Zeep chastised (which would have been much because the two were friends) Ed for forgetting grenades. They pulled back soon there after when the building caught on fire.