Remagen, anyone been there?

Thats not a truck. Its a landing craft.

 

Yep, you are right Jeff,i never noticed the patch. But it was the same crossing for us. Notice how they ducked the German fire from the east bank. It looked like hail hitting the water from machine guns

 

I first joined them after finishing my basic training in Camp Wheeler Ga.. I was with them for a couple of months. It wasnt a bad place.I was only 18 yrs old at that time. The local gentry were good to us. They held a lot of watermelon festivals for us. I liked that. We were close to Louisiana and Arkansas..

You visited Louisiana and Arkansas while in basic training at Camp Wheeler?

 

I read that there were 5 German officers charged with treason by Hitler for not destroying the bridge. Four were hanged and one escaped for he was a prisoner of the Americans????????

 

LOL! No Jeff.It was from camp maxey Texas.. Georgia was much further away

 

Ok guys;I am coming to the end.
On Merch the 7th. we were loaded into trucks and were transpoted south to Remagan. It was in the early morning hours,it was dark.Again we were back into hill country.At the entrance to the toiwn of Remagan we dismounted the trucks. We walked through the streets of Remagan in the dark. We walked hugging for cover as we advancedThere were white sheets hanging fromn the windows. It was very eerie. I was scared to death. I expected to be shot at any time.We all were. This spell was broken by music and singing coming from our rear. As we huddled in cover. We saw this crazy GI wearing a top hat,playing
an accordian and singing.( WHEN THE SAINTS COME MARCHING IN). That nut inspired us. We no longer cowered as we advanced.
Hell,after performance, we then advanced in battle formation,confident that nothing could hurt us.
At daybreak we looked down and saw the Rhine river.Then the bridge.By now the 9th armored gained a foot hold on ther east bank.Reinforcements were rushed over as fast as possible. The bridge being narrow and damaged could only handle so much traffic. So a Bailey(pontoon bridge) was built just north of it.
The engineers suffered great casualties from German 88MM cannons. But they did it. We were immediatly loaded into trucks . I was never so glad to get out of that truck to seek cover for we crossed under fire to reach the east bankWe spread out and advanced to clear any Germans off of the high ground.

 

I forget the exact dates. This happened 65 yrs ago.From the 8th of March,we were busy consolidating our lines.In the meantime more reinforcments were pouring in.By now there was no one going to chase us off of the east bank.
During the next few days we spent clearing more ground. I was no longer in view of the river.But the Germans sent in thier secret jet fighters the ME 262,to bomb the bridge. Our P38 and Mustangs could not catch them but managed to keep them clear of the bridge. Gi's were firing MI at the jets ,50 cal,and anti aircraft guns were firing away. What went up had to come down. Flak and metal was falling down. I was glad to have my helmet on.Failing in this. The Germans sent frog men down stream to plant explosives on the bridge. They were spotted ,and killed or captured.We were constantly reinforced.My regiment the 394th.Recieved the first black combat soldiers of the war. They perfomed very well.

Next my capture

 

On the morning of March 12th 1945( I know this date well. I still have in my possesion the original telegram from the war dept. to my mother,advising that You son Frank has been reported missing in action somewhere in Germany)
Any how,that morning we were assembled to attach the town of Bad Honnegan.There were three of us line men laying wire so the Co. would have communication with HDQS. We went down one hill then started up another. There we met resistance. We fired back called in artillery and cleared out the resistance.We achieved our goal by taking the high ground. I remember standing to the company commander looking down at Bad Honnegan. It looked like a picture post card. Suddenly the line went dead.Since Iwas in charge of the line men i proceeded first holding the line in my hands retracing our steps.With my eyes on the wire. I heard a commanding voice. I looked up and in a thicket were a bunch of Germans in camaflouge uniforms with weapons aimed at me. I had no choice but to put my arms up in surrender. My carbine was still on my shoulder.Suddenly a shot from somewhere shot out and the German holding the Panzerfaust fell. All hell broke loose. I jumped in a ditch.After that I dont know what happened. I suspect that they threw a grenade in on me. I had shrapnel wounds,my arm was shattered, I got a bullert in my shoulder and suffered a head wound.
I rember coming to at times and saw that I was supported by someone.
Next my treatment as a POW

 

On the morning of March 12th 1945( I know this date well. I still have in my possesion the original telegram from the war dept. to my mother,advising that You son Frank has been reported missing in action somewhere in Germany)
Could you post a picture of this?

 

Jeff;
I will look for that telegram. But how do I post a picture of it? Let me work on it.

 

Jeff;
I will look for that telegram. But how do I post a picture of it? Let me work on it.
Get a digital photo of it, we'll tell you how to do it.

 

I forget the exact dates. This happened 65 yrs ago.From the 8th of March,we were busy consolidating our lines.In the meantime more reinforcments were pouring in.By now there was no one going to chase us off of the east bank.
During the next few days we spent clearing more ground. I was no longer in view of the river.But the Germans sent in thier secret jet fighters the ME 262,to bomb the bridge. Our P38 and Mustangs could not catch them but managed to keep them clear of the bridge. Gi's were firing MI at the jets ,50 cal,and anti aircraft guns were firing away. What went up had to come down. Flak and metal was falling down. I was glad to have my helmet on.Failing in this. The Germans sent frog men down stream to plant explosives on the bridge. They were spotted ,and killed or captured.We were constantly reinforced.My regiment the 394th.Recieved the first black combat soldiers of the war. They perfomed very well.

Next my capture
Franek, the jets may have been Arado 234 bombers as opposed to Me262, I could be wrong though. Please go on.

 

When I awoke and came to. I found myself laying on the floor of a German field hospital. I was covered with blood. Above me stood a German officer.Very sternly he asked me questions.Then he showed me the diary that I took from that dying German at Elsenborne.He asked me why I had it. I told him that I promised the German that I would see that his mother got it.(I lied)Apon hearing that,his mood changed. His demeanor changed. We talked for awhile,then he disappeared. In a little while he came back with a tag printed in German and pinned to my lapel
He to me to show it to my captors. I never did figure out what it said. The American shelling got worse ,so we were evacuated to a aid station in Marburg. Here they operated on me. Considering as to what they had to work with. They did a fair job. I woke up on a floor with other German wounded. It was then that I realized how bad I was shot up. My left arm was shattered.my thigh was torn apart the bullet was removed from my shoulder.my head was bandaged. I lost a lot of blood and was very weakA German officer came in and stood above every man and talked to them Those who could stood at attention. When he came to me, I tried to stand up but was too weak. He understood and moved on. The soldier next to me lost hsa left arm. There were maggots crawling all over it.(YUCK) bI lost count of the days,but I could feel my strength coming back.
One day a little old lady came in holding a basket,.She stopped at every soldier and gave them something. When she came to the soldier next to me without an arm. She shook her fist at me. I thought to myself OH OH. But then she kneeled beside me and puted her hand on my head ,and I think she said a prayer. She then rose and gave me a piece of punpernickle smeared with liverwurst and moved on. That was the first food that I had in daysI never forgot that. Even today I eat liverwurst and pumpernickle.
Apparently the Americans were coming closer. We were loaded on horse drawn wagons and evacuated again.It saeemed that I heard the word KASSEL mentioned. But it did not matter. My column was attacked by Allied fighter planes.We were bombed and strafed.Everybody scattered. Including me. I made it into the woods.After the planes left there were a lot of dead and burning vehicles. The Geraman mounted up again and proceeded on.No body looked for me.I looked down at the road and my wagon was still there but the horse was dead.
Now here I was alone not knowing what to do. I stayed in the woods until dark.I assumed that if they were going one way then I would go the other way. I walked that whole night eating sugar beets from the field.In the morning from the woods I noticed the Germans evacuating a town. When it looked safe I walked in. I heard motor noise.I looked from around a house and saw a American halftrack heading my way. I jumped out waving my arms. Jesus Christ. They opened up with a 50 caliber machine gun at me. I jumped behind a building. Then they pulled up beside me and laughed.They didnt know what I was. My clothes were torn and soaked in blood. I was taken to a aid station but was wounded too bad. They put me on a C47 to be taken to england.Upon take off the wheel hit a hole and the plane crashed. The plane did not catch on fire so I was safe. They tried again. This time it worked.
I arrived in England where they oprerated a number of times. But I needed further attention,so I was shipped back to the states. The war was over for me. I spent the next 16 months in various Army hospitals. I was discharged with a 85% disability rating.

 

Gotthard;
You might be right. Before this I never heard of a jet plane. I was just assuming that they were ME262 from what I read. I did see a Stuka dive and miss. I know what a Stuka was. At the time that this all happened I never knew what was happening.The pieces just fell into place after the war,by reading books and talking to others. The internet is a good place to search

 

Yeah, They did pound a bridge a bit didnt they???

 

Owen;
We landed in liverpool. There were more ships with the rest of my division that landed in other ports. We settled by Regiments in small towns. I was stationed in a place called Bridport. We sailed to LeHarve from Southampton. I dont know where I was in the hospital. I was too injured to venture out. In them days England was vewry quaint. Thatched roofs, coal burning fire places. It was like a new world to me.

 

Owen: Ha you are a great researcher, Yes I too was on the excellsior. But there were three or foer ships for our division. We all landed in different places. You have to remember we were just a bunch of kids just out of school. So England was like another world. We Americans were spoiled by English standards.A favorite saying you guys had for us was. Those F****** Americans are over paid, oversexed,and over here. Lol., The worst that I did was visit a small bakery in town and bought all of their crumpits???. We caught hell for that., the English were on rations,but the doillar went far.
Yes the ship that we came over on was a scum bag.
We lined up for food. The food was cooked by steam. As we lined up and the smell of the kitchen thinned the ranks. We all ran and puked over the side. I lived on oranges until two days before we hit Liverpool.
No I have never been back. I waited too long. Now I am too old.