The Bedford Boys One American Towns Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice

ONE AMERICAN TOWN'S ULTIMATE D-DAY SACRIFICE

THE

BEDFORD BOYS

ex Ker

$25.00 US

$39.00 CAN

/

The poignant story of the boys from Bedford who landed on the beaches of

Normandy-and the small town they called home On June

6,

1944, landing craft dropped the

boys from Bedford, Virginia

—

in the shallow

Beach, part of the to hit the

— population 3,000

water off Normandy's

Omaha

wave of American

soldiers

first

beaches on D-Day. Within minutes

No

nineteen were dead.

other town in America

suffered a greater one-day loss.

Later in the

campaign, three more sons of Bedford died of

gunshot wounds.

you cannot

a story that 7

It is

easily forget

one that the families of Bedford It

was, and

Here

young men,

—from

anxious

is

the intimate true story

their friends,

the girlfriends they

made

the buddies they

barracks

never forget.

Bedford's longest day.

time

for the first

of these ilies

still is,

will

—and

in

and left

their

behind

in basic training,

England

to

fam-

the

to

from

bloody

beaches of Normandy. Based on extensive

inter-

views with survivors and relatives, as well as on diaries

and

letters,

some remarkable

The Bedford Boys focuses on

individuals

one of the most poignant II

— the

went

to

story of

and families

stories of

to tell

World War

one small American town that

war and died on

Omaha

Beach.

The

Bedford Boys

The

Bedford Boys One American Town's Ultimate

D-Day

Sacrifice

ALEX KERSHAW

V4 DA CAPO A Member

PRESS

of the Perseus Books

Group

Copyright

All rights reserved. in a retrieval

No

© 2003

by Alex Kershaw

part of this publication

may be reproduced,

stored

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

Designed hy Brent Wilcox Set in

1

1

-point Fairfield Light by

Cataloging-in-Publication data for this book First

is

The Perseus Books Group available from the Library of Congress.

Da Capo Press edition 2003 ISBN 0-306-81167-7

Published by

A Member

Da Capo

Press

of the Perseus Books

Group

http://www.dacapopress.com

Da Capo

Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S.

by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, Center, Cambridge,

MA 02142,

or call (800)

255-1514

or e-mail [email protected].

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9—07

06 05 04 03

1

1

Cambridge

or (617) 252-5298,

3

1

1

CONTENTS Acknowledgments

ix

The Bedford Boys

xi

Maps

xiii

H-360

1

War

7

1

D-Day,

2

Going

3

Moving Out

23

4

Cruel Seas

41

5

England's

6

"29, Lets Go!"

67

7

Slapton Sands

81

8

The Sausages

93

9

The Empire Javelin

to

Own

53

1 1

Wave

10

The

11

Dog Beach

129

12

"Medic!"

139

1

Every

14

Bedford's Longest

15

Bocage

173

16

The Longest Wait

189

17

His Deep Regret

197

18

Coming Home

209

19

Memorial

225

First

Man Was

121

a

Hero

1

Day

165

VI

49

Vlll

CONTENTS

The Bedford Boys and D-Day

239

Bibliography

241

Notes

243

Index

263

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book could not have been written without the help and cooperation of

many

extraordinary people in Bedford.

chanting town below the Peaks of Otter, kindness.

It

was

a great

honor

to

I

On

several visits to this en-

was treated with the utmost

spend so much time trying

men and

memorate such

a

nity that reared

them. Bedford represents

wonderful group of

all

the families and that

is

great

to

com-

commu-

and gracious

about America. I

would

like to

thank the following

perts for providing

me

relatives, veterans,

and various

ex-

with information and photographs, and in some

cases enduring several hours of interviews and many,

many phone

calls

over the last three years: Eloise Rogers, Johnny Powers, Earl Boyd Wilson, Dorothy

Goode, Hazel Clifton Pierce, Linda

D-Day Foundation, John

willer of the National

garten,

Gilley,

Carol Tuck-

Barnes, Harold

Baum-

Marcia Apperson, Mitch Yockelson of the National Archives,

Jimmy Kilborne of the Staunton Armory, Russell Bob Slaughter, Lucille Hoback Boggess, Ellen A. Wandrei and

Elizabeth Teass, Major Pickett,

her wonderful staff helpful Michael

at

the Bedford

County Museum, the astonishingly

Edwards of the Eisenhower Center, Bettie Wilkes

Hooper, the outstandingly patient Roy and Helen Stevens, Ray Nance, Eleanor Yowell, Elaine Cockes, Allen Huddleston, the marvelously hospitable Pride

and Rebecca Wingfield, Bertie Woodford,

Gamiel Draper, Bob

Sales,

Jimmy Green,

Jack Mitchell, Earl and Elva Stewart, Billy Parker,

Ivylyn Hardy,

Newcomb, Verona

Mary Daniel

Billy Parker,

Mabel Phelps,

Lipford,

Anna Mae

Heilig, staff of the Bedford Bulletin,

Beulah Witt, Ellen Quarles, David Draper, Michael Zimmerman, Sibyle Kieth Coleman, Gary Bedingfield, Laura Burnette, Octavia White

IX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

X

Sumpter, Kevan Elsby, Judy Monroe, George Gillam, Peter Viemeister,

and Linda

The

my

Gilley.

staff of the following institutions

research:

The New York Public

provided invaluable help with

Library, the

Sawyer Library

at

Williams College, Loyola Marymount Library in California, the Imperial

War Museum, Bedford County Museum, the

McCullogh Free Library

in

the National

Bennington, and the Eisenhower Center.

have been exceptionally lucky to have had such an astute,

I

Da Capo

and enthusiastic editor as Robert L. Pigeon of thank him and his team enough agent,

am and

D-Day Museum,

generosity.

My wife,

to

him

in every

skilled,

cannot

way he

My

possibly could.

I

for his long-standing patience, support,

Robin, and son, Felix, once again tolerated

absence and obsession and brought untold the Loerch family, and of course port.

I

for their support for this project.

Derek Johns, once again helped

enormously grateful

Press.

my

joy.

own,

I

would

also like to

my

thank

for their long-standing sup-

THE BEDFORD BOYS

Company A: C,

Abbott, Leslie

Sergeant

Broughman, Cedric C, Technician Carter, Wallace R., Private First Class

John D., Private

Clifton,

Coleman, Andrew

First Class

Private First Class

J.,

Crouch, George E. Technician Draper,

Jr.,

Edwards,

Frank

P.,

Captain

Fellers, Taylor N., Fizer,

Sergeant

Robert D., Sergeant

Jr.,

Charles W. Private First Class

Gillaspie, Nicholas N., Private First Class

Goode, Robert

L.,

Sergeant

Hoback, Bedford T, Private Hoback, Raymond

S.,

Sergeant

Huddleston, Allen, Sergeant Lancaster, James, Private First Class

Lee, Clifton

C,

Private

Marsico, Robert (Tony) E., Sergeant Mitchell, Jack, Sergeant

Nance, Elisha R. (Ray),

First

Newcomb,

Earl R., Sergeant

Overstreet,

Glenwood

Lieutenant

(Dickie) E., Private First Class

Parker, Earl L., Sergeant

Powers, Henry Clyde, Sergeant

Powers, Jack

C,

Private First Class

Reynolds, John E, Private First Class Rosazza,

Weldon

Schenk, John

B.,

A., Private First

Class

Sergeant

XI

Xll

THE BEDFORD BOYS

Stevens, Ray O., Sergeant Stevens,

Roy

O., Sergeant

Thurman, Anthony M., Sergeant Watson, James White,

Jr.,

W,

Gordon

Private First Class H., Sergeant

Wilkes, Harold E., Sergeant

Wilkes, John

Master Sergeant

L.,

Wingfield, Pride, Sergeant

Wright, Elmere

P.,

Sergeant

Yopp, Grant C., Sergeant

Company

C:

Dean, John

W,

Company

F:

Parker,

Master Sergeant

Joseph E.

(Earl's brother),

Companies A, C, and F were by Colonel Charles

D.W

Sergeant

part of the

1

16th Infantry Regiment

Canham. The 116th was

commanded

part of the 29th Division

commanded by Major General Charles H. Gerhardt. Brigadier General Norman D. Cota was Assistant Division Commander of the 29th.

Operation Overlord D-Day, June

6,

1944

Omaha Beach June

Dog

Dug

Dog

Eas\

Green

White

Red

Green

6,

1944

Red

Fox Green

Comp* uuiintr

I.

Colleville

Dog Green

at

June

Omaha Beach 6,

^a,;

\

iJi.

\

1944

D-Day, H-360

JUNE

1944, 12:30 A.M.: The

6,

Javelin,

steamed steadily across the English Channel.

sengers were thirty-four young ford.

They belonged

hundred man

A

Company

United States' 29th Division

American

her pas-

A, a select two-

Company Army of the

twenty months of arduous training,

had been chosen from among the 15,000 GIs

cal

Among

the small Virginia town of Bed-

116th Infantry's

to the

unit. After

men from

Empire

British troopship, the

to

in the

spearhead the most dangerous and

criti-

assault of the entire war.

Below decks, twenty-five-year-old Sergeant Frank Draper Jr. scribbled notes in his

diary.

rally ebullient,

The army had been

the making of him. Draper, natu-

with finely chiseled features and a superb physique, had

grown up on the wrong

side of the tracks in Bedford, poor even by the

woeful standards of the Depression. Since leaving home, he had become a first-rate soldier,

and he was determined

to bring

honor

to his unit as

well as to his hardscrabble neighborhood back in Bedford,

scavenged for coal as a boy to

be sure he was prepared

to

keep

his family

warm. As

—4 A.M. Hit water—4.30 A.M."

— 2.30 A.M.

De-

handsome farm

boy,

1

Twenty-four-year-old Sergeant Roy Stevens, a tried to get

some

sleep but was too

he wanted

he wrote himself a note:

for the next day, so

"Sleep in your trousers, shirt and gas mask. Breakfast parture

ever,

where he'd

afraid, so

he went on deck. Fellow

Bedford boys and other GIs were crouched

in small

groups

in the

darkness, trying to keep cards and dice from flying or tumbling away across the heaving deck, betting fortunes in poker and craps games:

"It

The Bedford Boys

2

didn't matter

whether you won or

lost.

money back

going to get a chance to win your

Roy scoured the blacked-out deck England a

camp, Roy had

at a training

whole

lot

of

dred dollars."

2

money and

anyway."

for his twin brother, Ray. "hit a streak at

given Ray half of

Perhaps Ray was using the

hands of rook, the Bedford boys'

The Stevens

You knew you probably weren't

last of

brothers had shared everything except

their

most intimate

fears

few

game.

favorite card

women

could remember: poker winnings, uniform, Red Cross

from home, and

hun-

a couple of

to play a final

it

in

won

blackjack and

maybe

it,

Back

and hopes. But

since they

parcels, in a

news

few hours'

would not share the same

time, after years of being inseparable, they

landing craft bound for the beaches of northern France. For the

first

time since they had joined the National Guard, a week apart in 1938, they would not be side by side.

They would

together.

arrive

on

They would not

Omaha Beach

Roy looked around. He wanted sounded and they went

together,

in different boats.

Ray before the

to talk to

to their action stations.

had bought

of the farm they

face their greatest test

and of

He wanted their

ship's

to

alarm

remind him

dreams of making

it

successful after the war, and he wanted to arrange to meet at the cross-

roads of a small village above

A

Omaha Beach

fellow Bedford boy, Lieutenant

few hours of

to get a

aristocracy,

sleep.

Ray Nance, twenty-eight, managed

Nance could

spoken.

much

He was

Nearby were

Guard

exiles.

as far

Like other Bed-

back

as

1933 out of

Nance was

highly intelligent and soft-

also fastidious in everything

he did and awoke around 2

as patriotism.

A.M., dressed in full

of

trace his heritage to British

George Washington, and Huguenot

ford boys, he had joined the National

necessity as

called Vierville sur Mer.

five

combat

He had not even removed his boots. from Company A. By lunchtime, three

gear.

fellow officers

3

them would be dead. In the

men

noncommissioned men's

sat in silence, alone

live to

write another.

few

men

dozed

fitfully.

Most

with their thoughts. Other Bedford boys lay in

bunks writing last-minute not

berths, a

letters

He

felt

home. Nance knew

responsible for

them

that all.

some would

He had grown

H-360

D-Day,

up with these men, trained them love letters to girls

he knew back

to

be superb

in Bedford.

3

censored their

soldiers,

The men under

his

com-

mand were family. Their parents and lovers had entrusted Nance and Company As Captain Taylor Fellers with their lives. At the same time that Nance got up, twenty-one-year-old

Sub-

British

Lieutenant Jimmy Green was woken by an orderly and told that his flotilla

commander wanted

command that told:

of the

but in

flotilla

A

would land Company eighteen

LCAs

him

to see full

urgently.

command The

in France.

Green was second

of the

flotilla

first

in

wave of boats

had twenty

craft all

LCPs [Landing

[Landing Craft Army] and two

Craft Personnel].

Green's

commander

him the boats would have

told

to leave earlier

than planned because weather conditions in the English Channel were so bad.

Green grabbed

a

cup of tea and

weapons from the Empire Javelin's lay ahead.

There would be heavy

a "bite to eat"

store.

He had no

changes

in

told his

men

about what

illusions

men and

his boats. 4

about the weather conditions and consequent

course and timetable, Ray

to eat breakfast:

his

casualties. In his last shore briefing,

he'd been told to expect to lose a third of his

As Green

and then drew

Nance went

to the officers'

pancakes, sausages, eggs, and coffee.

Few

mess

actually ate

the hearty meal, served by upbeat orderlies in starched white uniforms.

"Over breakfast, we Stevens.

"We were

—everybody was

scared.

Nance stepped through and and looked out

They were putting on

Nance gathered

heavy canvas curtain stopped

at the

light

his kit

Roy

breeze,'' recalled

laughing, joking, carrying on but you could

phony

After breakfast,

around and shot the

sat

a

good

and climbed up

tell it

front."

was

5

a gangway.

A

seeping onto the deck from below.

into pitch blackness. 6

He went

to the rail

dark waters, swelling ominously Suddenly, he no-

ticed Captain Fellers at his side. Fellers had, like

Nance, grown up on

a

farm outside Bedford. The two were cousins. Twenty-nine-year-old Fellers was

and

rolling gait.

He was

tall

and

thin,

with a prominent chin

suffering badly from a sinus infection and

looked tired and concerned. Before embarking for France, Fellers had

The Bedford Boys

4

confided in Nance, telling him that very few of the officers and

Company A would come back

men

had studied the Allied

alive. Fellers

ligence and countless aerial shots and concluded that

in

intel-

Company A was

being sent to face certain slaughter. Fellers

"We single

An

and Nance both looked out

to sea.

stood there awhile," recalled Nance.

word

to

each

other.

I

guess we'd said

gun broke the

anti-aircraft

"We

didn't say a word, not a

it all."

7

silence, tracer bullets spitting through

the sky, and then a searchlight caught the blaze of an exploding plane.

"That brought not an exercise." Fellers

A

still

it

home

to

me," recalled Nance. "This thing

didn't say a

word and then turned away and went below.

loudspeaker called the British naval crew to

knew

is real. It's

8

they would be next. Ray

Company A would assemble on

Nance made

its

his

stations.

way

The

troops

quickly to where

deck.

Bosuns' whistles sounded.

"Now, hear

As

this! All assault

thirty-four

Bedford boys emerged from below into the cold dark-

Nance touched

ness,

troops report to your debarkation areas." 9

every one of

them

lightly

on the arm. 10

"It

was

a

gesture, a goodbye," he recalled sixty years later. "They were the best

men

I

have ever seen

loved those men."

in

my

life.

It

was

a privilege to be their officer.

The men included husbands,

three sets of brothers, pool-hall hustlers,

a couple of highly successful Lotharios, a

minor league baseball player

destined for great things, and several Bible-reading, quiet young

who

I

11

desperately missed their mothers and dreamed of

Although they were supremely

fit,

many

cooking.

of the Bedford boys

slowly to their debarkation stations, weighed

been issued an assault

home

down by

jacket, a sort of vest-like

men

their kit.

moved

"We had

garment with many

pockets and pull-strap fasteners to yank off in a hurry," recalled one of the few privates

pockets

we

grenades, a

who would

still

be

alive

stored K-rations, a quarter

by

pound

smoke grenade and medical

kit

nightfall. "In the various

of

TNT

with fuses, hand

with syringe and morphine.

D-Day,

M-l

Besides our regular

ammo

slings of

entrenching stuff in." 12

bayonet, and a

The mens

The men's M-l Garand wrappers finally

On

weighed well over

kit

to the

German

to protect their

found a use

rifles,

among

rifle],

our backs,

pounds.

sixty

the few Allied

equivalents, were

wrapped

weapons in

that

cellophane

working from sand and water. Some

for their

5

we had two we carried an poncho and whatever else we could

clips [for the

belts across our shoulders.

tool, a

were superior

M-l Garand

H-360

men had

Army-issued condoms and tied them around

keepsakes, lucky charms, and even small Bibles that they wanted to

keep

dry.

Around each man's waist was buckled

which would

inflate

by squeezing a

CO-2

"Mae West"

lifebelt

tube.

The Bedford boys checked weapons and

home

a

kit,

exchanged scribbled

addresses "just in case," wished each other good luck, and tried to

bolster others

"This

is it,

who suddenly men,"

a

looked

terrified.

loudspeaker blared to the

up and put

sion. "Pick

it

end of the

line. 29, let's go!" 13

it

on, you've got a

men

one-way

of the 29th Divi-

ticket

and

this

is

the

Going

NONE let

OF THE BEDFORD

B

OY S

thirties,

Roy Stevens. "We'd dated each

schools, played baseball together.

Roy and

Company

his twin brother, Ray,

.

.

get

Back

in the

more akin

to

.

other's sisters,

And we were

week I]

big family," re-

gone

to the

so young!"

it

same

1

had joined the National Guard

A] and we'd matched for

War

outfit,

"We were one

apart in 1938 at the age of eighteen. "There

[World

combat,

than a military unit, for a "dollar a day" and to play soldier

with their brothers, cousins, and buddies.

joined a

to see

for military service.

they had joined their local National Guard

a social club

called

had intended

alone spearhead arguably the most critical American assault in

The boys had not volunteered

history.

War

to

a

week

had been one opening

[in

and he'd won," recalled Roy.

"I

we were something else. We wore these brown uniforms and leggings that we never did manage to

later.

wrapped up

We

thought

just right." 2

Bedford's prettiest

girls,

sipping sweet lemonade on the porches of

whitewashed antebellum homes, watched the Stevens brothers and their fellow National

Guardsmen march through Bedford

of July and could not help but be impressed. felt

every Fourth

The Depression was

still

acutely in Bedford and other rural communities throughout the

South

in the late thirties:

cast-offs

Smart uniforms were

and hand-me-downs that were

all

a bright contrast to the

most young men

in

Bedford

could afford.

The Stevens

brothers and their buddies enjoyed the attention their uni-

forms brought and the sense of

civic pride the

National Guard engen-

The Bedford Boys

8

dered.

Then

there were the two weeks of paid training each summer, at

New York

Manassas or

in

swank

where

hotels

and sometimes on Virginia Beach, close

wore revealing woolen bathing costumes and

city girls

them

the Bedford boys would sweet talk

away But above

Monday

all

a

as they jitterbugged the night

the Bedford boys were looking to pocket a dollar every

night after marching practice at the Bedford armory. 3

men

Like most of the

up on

to the

in

Company A,

the Stevens brothers had grown

farm just outside Bedford, a tight-knit community of three thou-

sand whose English ancestors had settled the area

By

in the 1700s.

1754, the town lay at the heart of arguably the most bucolic county in all

Virginia:

764 square miles of

tains reaching

rolling hills

4,200 feet above sea

and lush

valleys with

moun-

The county was named

level.

John Russell, the fourth duke of Bedford, who served

after

as Britain's secre-

tary of state before the Revolutionary War.

Even

Bedford was

in the 1930s,

The names carved most

all

back

to English

still

into headstones in

British; several of the town's

a quintessentially English

its

Greenwood cemetery were

merchants could trace

craftsmen and artisans; and

and heirlooms dated

to the early colonists.

in

The town was

"the best

little

in

1890 and

town

The Stevens

in

to this

box

at

first

Yorktown.

It

named was

day has signposts boasting that

re-

it is

family had farmed in Bedford since anyone could re-

and had attended

to

furniture

America."

member. Roy and Ray were two

their family

al-

their trades

many homes

Liberty after the Colonial victory over Cornwallis at

named Bedford

town.

a

of fourteen children (including triplets)

one-room schoolhouse before finding jobs

to help

through the Depression. Fiercely competitive, they learned

an early age and by the mid-thirties were regularly fighting each

other to earn a few cents: "There was a

we would

go out there some

filling station

home and who had box-

near our

nights with an older brother

ing gloves," recalled Roy. "He'd put up a kind of ring, call folks over, and

We

then take a collection.

we were done girlfriend in

never did see

he'd take the money, ask

Roanoke."

4

much

of that money.

somebody

for a

lift,

Soon

as

and go see

a

Going

The Stevens brothers were no

strangers to tragedy.

War

to

The

9

triplets all

died shortly after birth. In 1934, Roy had watched helplessly as an older brother died from a seizure.

"I

ened up so much, the doctor

was putting

boy/'

The

loss

had

left

on and he

later said, that his veins burst.

ing right beside him. First person 5

his socks

I

ever seen die.

Roy heartbroken but

also

I

He was

determined

just tight-

was standgood

a real to

do

all

he

could to protect his remaining siblings. After leaving high school,

towns

of the

Ray

largest employers, a mill called Belding

in a grocery store.

separable. "A twin ter,"

Roy worked on the production

is

a

Once

close." 6 For a

one

Hemingway, and

they knocked off for the day, they were in-

little bit

recalled Roy. "They

line at

different than an ordinary brother or sis-

depend on each other

few months, they even dated two

a lot more.

sisters,

Emma

We

were

and Jane

Thaxton, sometimes taking them to one of Bedford's two movie theaters

which showed such

classics as Bette Davis in Jezebel

Traceys Boys Town. The Liberty Theater, the

more conservative of the two cinemas.

at the heart of

and Spencer Bedford, was

In 1937, under pressure from

Bedford's powerful Ministerial Association, the theater's

manager had

stopped showing movies on Sunday. In 1938, the Stevens twins acquired a 136-acre farm as a their parents

and

as a place they

hoped

to

work on

full-time

home for when the

Depression ended." They got the property, complete with several pastures ideal for dairy farming, at a bargain price

were deferred until the

working

for several years,

but they

— $3,700—and payments

knew

they would have to wait

economy rebounded before they could hope

to

make

a living

it.

After the Wall Street crash in 1929, prices of crops had collapsed in

America, and hundreds of thousands of farmers had been forced to

sell.

In 1930, the Brookings Institution discovered that 54 percent of the nation's

farm families

By the

— 17

late thirties, little

million people

had changed

—earned under $1,000 per

year. 8

in rural areas. Small-holders

who

could actually afford to support families were a rare breed. Although farming had been in their blood for generations, however

much

they yearned

The Bedford Boys

10

Stevens brothers could do was hope and wait until prices

to farm, all the

of crops rose again. In the meantime, their day jobs and the extra dollars

they earned in the National Guard helped feed their siblings. In

August 1939, the Stevens brothers joined other Bedford boys

for

their yearly exercises, sharing a tent for thirteen days in northern Vir-

ginia near the

town of Manassas. They camped beside

young men from Bedford imaginary

some

lines,

in

Company A, who

a

hundred other

spent each day attacking

wearing gray armbands and shouting the battle cries of

of their great-grandfathers

who had won undying

glory in previous

wars.

Company A belonged World War

I.

1

16th Infantry Regiment

which had not seen combat since the trench

of the 29th Division, of

to the 1st Battalion of

The

1st Battalion's

Company B was drawn from

battles

the city

of Lynchburg, Virginia, twenty-five miles to the northeast of Bedford.

Company C hailed from Harrisonburg in northern Virginia. Company D comprised men from Roanoke, thirty miles to Bedford's southwest. Many Bedford boys would still be in Company A on D-Day. By then, Corporal Elisha Ray Nance, from a respected tobacco-farming family,

would be

a lieutenant.

Second Lieutenant Taylor N.

County board

the chairman of the Bedford

Fellers, the

of supervisors,

son of

would com-

mand the company after a series of rapid promotions. Company As privates first class that summer of 1939 included roaddigger Earl Newcomb, ex-miner John Wilkes, and twenty-six-year-old Earl Parker, a lighthearted young man madly in love with one of the prettiest and most popular girls in Bedford, Viola Shrader, who worked at Belding Hemingway.

Then

there were the

family was

Schenk, dening,

had

named

privates:

Weldon Rosazza,

nineteen,

whose

after an Italian town; twenty-three-year-old John

slightly built

who worked

buck

with penetrating blue eyes and a passion for gar-

in a

hardware

store;

and Grant Yopp, eighteen, who

lived with the Stevens family since the age of thirteen after his fa-

ther had deserted his family. three stripes on their arms,

By D-Day,

becoming

all

three would have earned

sergeants.

1

Going

Many

of these Bedford boys were aware of their

He had joined

the National

who had

1934, listing on his application an uncle

War

Division in World

man and sons

I

and two other

who had

William Wright,

Army

1st Brigade,

During the

War

1

towns distinguished

Elmere Wright, a twenty-four-year-old minor

history in arms, including

league baseball player.

to

relatives,

Guard

as far

back as

fought with the 29th

William Henry New-

Thomas

enlisted in General

J.

Jack-

of the Shenandoah, during the Civil War.

First Battle of

Manassas on July

21, 1861, Wright's an-

cestors and other Virginians had fought so valiantly that they inspired their fellow Southerners to victory.

was reputed

olina

son

like a

to

have shouted

General Barnard Bee of South Car-

to his

men: "Look! There stands Jack-

stone wall. Rally on the Virginians!" Ever

would be known

after,

the Virginians

as "Stonewallers."

The Bedford boys reenacted

the First Battle of Manassas during their

annual exercises that August of 1939. They

won

the reenactment

Mason-Dixon

against a group of 29ers, recruited from above the

line,

who wore

blue arm-bands. To have lost would have brought permanent

shame on

their

hometown. Then they returned

to

Bedford sweltering in

The

the lee of the hazy Peaks of Otter in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

peaks

— Sharp Top and

to rapture

ford,

Flat

—had

and poetry and accounted

'The Peaks of Otter

The boys had

Rifles."

inspired generations of Virginians

for

Company As nickname

Bed-

their kit,

and stowed

it

in their spot-

Bedford armory, when they learned that Nazi Ger-

attacked Poland. Although the Poles put up a fierce resis-

tance, their antiquated

army was no match

for the ruthlessly trained

superbly equipped Wehrmacht, which stormed towards

ning speed.

On

September

Germany. World War

On

in

9

unpacked

barely

less lockers in the

many had

Top

II

4,

had begun.

than thirty million in U.S. homes by then

war and that

I

"I

at stun-

1939, Britain and France declared war on

Labor Day, Bedford gathered around radios

pledge neutrality:

Warsaw

and

—

have said not once but

hate war.

I

to

— there were more

hear President Roosevelt

many

times that

say that again and again.

I

I

have seen

hope the United

The Bedford Boys

12

States will keep out of this

war

.

.

.

and

I

you

give

assurance that every effort of your government

my

assurance and

re-

be directed to that

will

end." 10

When Company A next met at

the Bedford armory in the basement of

the courthouse at the center of town,

would be for

some men predicted

were openly

called to active duty for a year. Politicians

America

to

come

to the aid of imperiled

that they

democracies

in

calling

Europe.

Other Bedford boys disagreed. Hitler wasn't Americas problem, Roosevelt

with

would keep

his

many Americans'

tion after the Great

had been

told.

word. Isolation was the sanest option and

reluctance to go to Europe's aid barely a genera-

War

of

As long ago

Washington had warned

1914-1918

— the war

in his Farewell

Besides, the last thing most boys in

and jobs

for twelve

to

end

all

wars, they

as 1796, America's first president

months of

George

Address against "interweaving

our destiny with that of any part of Europe."

families

fitted

1

1

Company A wanted was

to leave

serious military training. Fighting

the Battle of Manassas was one thing; a year in Uncle Sam's army was quite another. But as 1939

and more

likely.

drew

to a close, mobilization

Events across the Atlantic indicated that democracy

would soon be under threat across the

The

globe.

Poles had surrendered on October 5 to the

Russians,

looked more

who had

from the

also invaded

American press called

a

east.

Germans and

to the

There followed what the

"phony" war lasting until spring 1940 as the

French and British argued and prevaricated about what course of action

would be

in

both countries' interest. Meanwhile, Hitler

pose National Socialism on early April. Later that

all

of Europe.

Denmark

laid plans to

fell to

im-

the Nazis in

month, German stormtroopers frog-marched

through Oslo, capital of Norway.

On May tect of

10, Britain's

appeasement

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, an archi-

in the thirties,

was replaced by Winston Churchill.

But even the "Bulldog," as he soon became known, could not halt Hitler's lightning Hitler's

most

advance across Western Europe. Late that spring,

brilliant generals,

notably Erich von Manstein and panzer

3

Going

commander Heinz Guderian, Blitzkrieg attacks

By

orchestrated

had barely evaded capture of

1

successful

their expedi-

Dunkirk and stood alone. Only twenty-three miles of the

English Channel and brave young gaining complete

less

stunningly

War

on Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and then France.

July 1940, the British

tionary force at

man

to

RAF

prevented the Nazis from

pilots

hegemony over Europe: France had

fallen to the

Ger-

onslaught of Stuka dive-bombers and massed tank formations in

than

six

weeks.

That August,

as the Battle of Britain raged

Company A

skies,

at Virginia

soldier

by

about the

Beach.

again gathered for

Once more

day, drinking

its

above England's

annual training camp,

summer time

this

the Bedford boys spent two weeks playing

beer around campfires

availability of girls in the nearest

at night,

town. But

and speculating

now

there were de-

bates as well as drunken sing-songs of old Confederate war tunes. Should

America remain

from fascism?

isolated or should she save the world

There were new faces around the

fireside,

many

of

them

Bedford High School. Eighteen-year-old John Clifton, older siblings,

was nicknamed

D." and was

"J.

because he had delivered the Bedford Bulletin

"He was wasn't

a real nice kid," recalled

mean

or ferocious.

ingly

handsome, thanks

warm

eyes,

and

lips that

He was to a

known to local

Gamiel Draper,

quiet,

and

nice."

all

fresh out of

who had

around town

homes

as a boy.

a schoolmate.

12

five

He was

"He

also strik-

Cherokee ancestry: high cheek bones,

always seemed set to smile.

Another recent high school graduate was Gordon "Henry" White,

who had joined

the National

Hitler invaded Poland.

sionate about farming.

Of

Guard

all

in

October 1939,

the Bedford boys,

a

few weeks

after

White was most pas-

As a young boy, he had raced

home from

school

every afternoon, changed into work clothes and stuffed apples into his

pockets to snack on as he labored until nightfall on his family's farm.

"He

liked to plow,

he just liked

to

be out on the farm," recalled

Octavia White Sumpter. "He just liked the Eighteen-year-old

dirt."

Raymond Hoback had

his sister

13

joined the National Guard

that spring, wanting to be with his older brother, Bedford. Like the

The Bedford Boys

14

Hoback brothers had been

Stevens twins, the

on

raised

a small

farm just

outside town.

Army

Bedford, twenty-four, had sewed in the Regular

E of the 35th Infantry before joining Company

Nicknamed "Motor-Mouth," he

Don Juan

carefree

told

tall

stories

A

Company

February 1937.

in

and pretended

knew he was devoted

but everyone

with

to

be a

to his fiancee,

Elaine Coffey

"Everybody thought [Bedford] was married Stevens. "If you asked him, he'd

you a dollar I'm

not.'

You never knew what he'd say

Hoback had

Elaine Coffey and Bedford

a

Roy

to her," recalled

bet you a dollar

say, '111

am, and

I

next."

I'll

bet

14

tempestuous relationship,

often arguing about Bedford's wild ways. But they had been in love with

each other

for

most of

their

young

lives.

Elaine, twenty-one, a petite

brunette with a snub nose and slim hips, had ditched her previous boyfriend for Bedford as soon as he had returned, tanned and lean, from a posting to

wanted

to

Hawaii

in

1936. Since they could remember, they had always

be together. They had

in fact

been childhood sweethearts, pass-

ing notes to each other at age nine in a two-room grade school. 15

In contrast to his brother, self-disciplined officers

—

ideally suited to

and men such

several years.

as

two-door Chevrolet.

New

He was

"Raymond was more eventually

In

—he

left

first

the eyes of

Company As for

school in the eighth grade and worked

Deal roads, saving enough

to

buy

a

$750

often to be found with his head in a Bible.

become

his platoon sergeant.

keep

in step. Finally,

just couldn't get the rhythm."

September 1940, Congress passed

the

life in

sincere [than Bedford]," recalled

soldier but he could never

him

army

hard-working, and

Ray Nance, who had been with the guard

Raymond had

as a laborer building

who would

Raymond was modest,

Roy Stevens,

"And he was

we

just gave

a great

up on

16

a selective service

bill,

ushering in

peacetime draft in American history. Eight hundred thousand

men were

called to arms, dwarfing the

which had been limited

to seventy-five

numbers

in the

Regular Army,

thousand men. Senior

officers in

5

Going

Guard

the National

began

change

to

and those with

in

to

War

1

talked ominously of mobilization. Subtly, things

Company A.

Officers grew

more

serious.

"essential" civilian jobs left the unit.

On

Older

men

September

8,

President Roosevelt declared a state of emergency and called for the creation of an Office of Production

armament and other every

way

materials to defend America and help Britain in

"short of war."

October

In

Management, which would produce

it

into the federal

was announced

army

for a year,

Company A would be mobilized beginning in early 1941. None of the that

Bedford boys had seriously considered that joining the National Guard

would actually lead

months

to twelve

in the

Regular Army. Most had

never been outside Virginia. All but the married

and not one had ever

parents,

would be the

bilization

ruary

3,

many

lived with their

fired a shot in anger. For all of

the next few

jobs, finding relatives or friends to

out wills, and in

still

them, mo-

great test of their lives.

first

The Bedford boys spent

men

fill

months arranging

their places

cases arranging

life

to leave their

on the farms, making

insurance.

On

Monday, Feb-

1941, they reported to the Bedford armory, were issued

new

The new shoulder patches on

their

woolen uniforms, and then sworn

in.

uniforms, inspired by the Korean

were one part blue, one part

gray,

monad symbol

that represents

life,

explaining the 29th Division's popular

name, "The Blue and Gray." The colors represented the deliberate mix of Northerners and Southerners in the division, which had been formed after Reconstruction.

"Six officers

fantry

.

.

.

were duly inducted," reported the Bedford

emonies were transfer

men

and ninety-two enlisted men of Company A, 116th

and allegiance.

... In

.

.

.

and around the armory, young stalwart

commands;

Induction into the United States

great organization of fighting .

cer-

wearing their country's uniform casts an atmosphere reminiscent of

responses.

.

"The

brief but impressive as the khaki-clad line took the oath of

the war-torn days of 1917-18. Crisp, sharp

.

Bulletin.

In-

hangs the future of

men who know no

this nation." 17

quick, snappy

Army adds defeat;

credit to that

and upon

whom

The Bedford Boys

16

Just twenty-four hours before, Wallace R. Carter, barely eighteen, had enlisted in

Company

A. 18

baseball team, which ford,

A

drew

Wallace had worked

Mud

popular player for the

Alley Wildcat

players from the poorest streets in Bed-

its

at a

Bedford pool

hall after high school.

The

job paid a pittance but Carter usually had a thick wallet thanks to his ball." 19

winnings "playing eight

"[Wallace] was a fun-loving guy," recalled Morris Scott, a childhood friend. "His family

had so much fun extra a

dime

poor.

together.

for a movie." 20

young man of

jumped

was

We were

He

all

attended

Beneath

fierce emotions.

poor, but

lots of

we

didn't

He

movies.

know

it;

always had an

his fun-loving exterior, however,

He

we

was

once, according to Roy Stevens,

off a bridge after falling out with a girlfriend. Fortunately, his fall

was broken by

a

bank and he was only

slightly injured.

Before Wallace Carter and his fellow Bedford boys

Guard

the day of their induction, National eighth and

sixty-first Articles

and going absent without

rigors of military discipline.

they'd received for any

of

leave.

was

the crimes of desertion

a disturbing introduction to the

They now faced

misdemeanor

the armory on

officers read out the fifty-

War concerning It

left

far greater penalties

at school.

"The

officers

than

would read

out those articles a few more times in the coming months," recalled Roy Stevens. "They wanted to

make

sure

we

hadn't forgotten them." 21

Stringent medical examinations the following Saturday reduced the enlisted in

Company A

to eighty-six

men. Roy Stevens was deemed

fit

but ordered to get dental repair work, as were other Bedford boys whose teeth, like those of so

Army embarked on thousands of

its

many

a massive dental

program

prevent hundreds of

to

gum

from becoming casualties of severe

soldiers

ease. In 1939, the U.S.

dentists

inductees in 1941, were so bad that the U.S.

Army had

had pulled more than

just

250

dentists.

fifteen million teeth

dis-

By 1945, 25,000

from American

men

allowed to wear general-issue uniforms so long as they had "sufficient teeth (natural or

artificial) to

Because new barracks

to

subsist

on the Army

ration." 22

house the 29th Division

at Fort

Maryland were not completed, the Bedford boys stayed on

Meade

in

in

Bedford

Going

for a fortnight, attending training sessions at the in

time for supper.

was

It

War

17

armory and going home

more akin

a strange interlude,

to

to

being

at col-

new

lege than in the army. Boys sat around the kitchen table in their

uniforms, listening to the Grand Old Opry on the radio, doing their chores before bedtime, milking the cows before dawn.

On

February 17

—the day before

their departure

—the Bedford boys

marched behind the towns widely acclaimed Fireman's Band

High School,

a

stately brick building fronted

to

Bedford

by forty-foot white

columns, where a farewell party and dance were held until the early

Over two hundred people danced the night away, alternating be-

hours.

tween formal square dances and wild and often drunken

Cans

of "Old Virginia" beer,

ten cents.

A

thick haze of cigarette

Strike also cost just a

and

dime

—hung

their girlfriends as they

jigs.

nearby Roanoke, were

in

smoke

—

a

in the air

all

of

pack of Camels or Lucky above the khaki-clad boys

leg" to

twanging banjos playing

When

the home-stilled whiskey ran

"shook a

by Old Grandpa Jones.

billy classics

out, the

brewed

band packed up and the Bedford boys took

off

home

hill-

or into the

night with their dates.

next morning was "right cool" 23 as the Bedford boys gathered at

The the

station at the heart of

rail

called

"Mud

Alley."

It

was

town near the hardscrabble neighborhood

a clear

day with wonderful

visibility

— the

Peaks of Otter, snowcapped, pierced the bright blue skies. Roy Stevens

remembered

that perhaps as

many

as three-quarters of the boys nursed

heavy hangovers from the night before. Most of the town seemed

to turn

out for the send-off before the boys boarded trains headed for the 29th Division's

main camp

at Fort

Meade.

As the Bedford boys embraced families and loved ones, many looked sad and close to tears.

would shame themselves and cording to Roy Stevens, its

rose

when

men mixed overs.

it

several

None

their friends.

who was

more

cried, however, afraid that they

leaving

bottles of

But plenty

home

felt like

it,

ac-

for the first time. Spir-

whiskey were produced and the

with the Cokes they were drinking to ease their hang-

The Fireman's Band broke

into an upbeat

marching song and

"

—

to

board the

The Bedford Boys

18

Company A

then

finally

formed up on the platform, ready

train.

Twenty-one-year-old Jack Powers, over

hundred pounds from

—

muscle

and weighing two

six feet tall

— stood proudly

in line, a

few yards

his brother, Clyde, five years his senior, "a clean-cut guy,

more con-

servative

and

all

of

it

a little shorter than Jack,

Powers brothers had grown up

Looms

mill,

where

their father

Jack could see his

in

who was more

Bedford not

far

outgoing." 24

from the Hampton

worked.

little sister,

sixteen-year-old Eloise,

beaming

as she played clarinet in the forty-strong Fireman's Band.

out of school to see them all

going on a big adventure."

man who practicing. Some hearted

"We'd been

would remember Jack being

a

handsome,

A, and 27

floor with him.

a kitten,

and

I

"One

to

Tommy

a

Bedford

girl

my

memories of

of

best

26

Dorsey tunes as well as any

man

in

enjoyed a spin around the dance [Jack]

was [when]

I

had

had taken him out of the box and was playing with [him]

on the front porch," recalled tens,

big-

neighborhood children got together and

of the

many

let

"He was always

recorded some songs. Those wax records didn't survive long.

Company

him

25

loved to dance and play the guitar.

Jack could jitterbug

at

she recalled. "They looked like they were

off,"

Sixty years later, Eloise

The

Eloise. "[Jack] stepped

and he was so heartbroken, he gave

me

on one of the

his skates to

make up

kit-

for

the kitten." 28

Also standing in formation was Harold Wilkes. The same age as Clyde, curly-haired, five-foot-eleven-inch Harold was nonetheless the Powers's uncle.

"My

mother's father was married three times," explained

Eloise over sixty years

later.

one of them was Harold.

"With

He

his third wife,

he had two children

lived just over the road, so

over at each other's houses. Harold was very close to us sidered

A

my mom

as his

mom."

we were all,

new

and he con-

29

front-page report in the Bedford Bulletin raved about

the boys looked in their

always

how

splendid

uniforms. "Not only the physical appear-

ances but the splendid attitude which they have shown has been the

9

Going

to

"There has been an entire lack of grousing or complaining.

most of the Bedford boys found

citing challenge.

and how

erly

cally that tests

They learned how

to strip a

and immunization

it

.

The town

it

life at

Meade an

Fort

and address

ex-

officers prop-

back together so mechani-

blindfolded, and they were given physical

were issued M-l Garand

nightlife in local

many

.

shots. After painting their hastily built bar-

new

sent on exercises with

like

to salute

weapon and put

some could do

racks, they

.

empty." 30

feels strangely first,

1

hometown paper added.

subject of discussion and commendation/' the

At

War

allowed to

rifles,

fire

them, and

radios and motorized vehicles.

towns was even better than

Beach, and un-

at Virginia

of the Bedford men's homes, Fort

The

Meade had

central heat

and running water. According

to the

29th Division's

weather blew across [Fort Meade].

.

freezing

official history, "cold, .

Barracks orderlies stoked

.

fires

clumsily in their inexperience, as they cursed the complicated furnace units.

But the weather was no complaint of the men,

roads,

and

less

for

it

meant frozen

time spent in cleaning of overshoes, or in pushing the old

two-wheel-drive trucks out of the mud, an assignment which became theirs

when

the temperature moderated." 31

By summer 1941, boredom had become mind-numbing routine and close-order not used to taking orders

week

were homesick. Leave was

in,

week

a problem.

drilling

out.

rarely granted

began

Above

The

constant,

to grate

on

men

the Bedford boys

all,

and passes issued

for

no longer

than two days. Yet the drive to Bedford alone was seven hours, weather permitting. Despite the distance, Bedford

ends, often taking several other Bedford sided station wagon. Lucille, "and

"He charged two

would pack

in as

many

At Fort Meade and other bases

came

a

Hoback

men

got

dollars a piece," recalled his sister

as

he could

in the

fit."

32

United States discipline be-

widespread problem that summer as morale

lows, mostly because of resentment that the their families

and jobs

for

home most week-

with him in his wood-

fell to

men were

distressing

being kept from

no clear reason. Very few were convinced by

The Bedford Boys

20

warnings Hitlers

in

Congress and the press that America would be next on

for conquest.

list

magazine printed a story on August

Life

lessness and

boredom

Times ran an

article that

staff

when

needed

caused an uproar among the army's general

Army: "They compare

without a schedule of

men

The

did not believe they were

team

to a football

it

in training

games." 33

That November, Company Carolina.

8 about "the growing rest-

of the great civilian army," and the Neiv York

the paper reported that most

in the

1

A

again played war, this time in North

entire 29th Division split into "Red"

and "Blue" armies

which chased each other through woods and frosted

river valleys.

The

Bedford boys again joked and argued around campfires each evening about

who had been

many

a 29er, the

the

men

The

To the fury of

killed or taken prisoner that day.

outspoken broadcaster Walter Winchell claimed that

of the "29th are hiding in the hills of North Carolina." 34

military

games stretched

were soon shivering

into early

in sleeping bags

December. The Bedford boys

and cursing army

life

as never be-

When December 7 arrived, they were slogging through North Carolina mud and ice. A bitter wind blew. Their destination was a tented fore.

camp

at A. P. Hill in Virginia.

Meade, where they expected the

They would then to

take trucks back to Fort

be discharged and sent

home

early in

New Year.

As the men trudged along with upturned together to keep

warm and

damned army and back

talking about

to their families

collars,

rubbing their hands out of the god-

finally getting

and

jobs, orders

suddenly came

along the line that they were to stand down. There was astonishing

news.

Men

nese had

quickly gathered around radio sets. That morning, the Japa-

bombed

Waves American

Pearl

Harbor

in Hawaii.

of torpedo-bombers and fighters had killed citizens

more than 2,500

and wounded another thousand. Six of the

greatest battleships

had been irreparably damaged

ginia, Tennessee, Arizona,

or sunk: West Vir-

Nevada, Oklahoma, and California. In a matter

of minutes, an estimated half of the United States' naval lost.

U.S.'s

power had been

Nearby Hickam Field airbase had been peppered with bombs. The

Going

Air Corps lost

all

but sixteen of

been attacked so viciously and

its

to

War

2

1

bombers. America had never before

effectively.

In Bedford, people also learned of the attack on their radios. Lucille

Hoback, twelve-year-old

sister of the

Hoback

church that Sunday morning and listened sister,

my

it

meant the boys would be sent

men eager to sign At Camp A. P. Hill, the

outrage, and anger.

nearby South

days, there

was

a rush

Bedford boys reacted with a mixture of shock,

to see a

and Lucilles brother

his brother Ray,

Gene Autry western

Hill, Virginia.

interrupted the movie.

coming

up." 35

Roy Stevens,

Bedford Hoback went in

off to war," she recalled. "That

father never left the radio. In the

of local

ema

with her parents, a

to reports

and another brother. "Everybody was very worried because we

thought day,

brothers, returned from

Another news

The men went

that night at a cin-

flash

to a local bar

on the bombing

and started drinking.

Bedford described the Schofield Barracks that had been bombed

Hawaii

— he

had been stationed there

beers, growing angrier with every sip.

"I

in 1936. didn't

in

They ordered more

even know where Pearl

Harbor was," recalled Roy Stevens, "but we had those beers and we got right still

mad. Man, we were so confident

be

home

The day Fort

—we were going

to

wup them and

for Christmas." 36

after Pearl Harbor,

Meade. During the

stretch their legs

trip,

and have

a

Company A boarded

trucks

the caravan stopped so that the

bound

men

for

could

smoke. Second Lieutenant Ray Nance and

several other officers gathered in a ditch

below pine

trees, out of the bit-

ing wind.

A

few yards from Nance, the 116ths regimental chaplain

portable radio and tuned needles,

Nance and

it

to a

news

his fellow officers

station.

soon

On

set

up

a

a carpet of pine-

sat transfixed as

they

lis-

tened to President Roosevelt make what would become perhaps the

most famous speech of

his Presidency.

Dressed

Roosevelt stood alone at the rostrum in the

in a

formal morning

House

of Representatives

and opened a black notebook. The entire Congress then stood and gave him the

first

joint ovation since 1932.

Roosevelt gripped the rostrum.

suit,

in

unison

The Bedford Boys

22

"Yesterday,

December

7,

1941

—

which

a date

will live in

infamy

—the

United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked. Hostilities exist. ritory

is

no blinking

and our interests are

at the fact that

in grave danger.

forces

inevitable

The chaplain turned trucks.

They were

from poverty.

Now

had bought

of our people

.

ter-

our

—we

Company A clambered back

"in for the duration." it

in

.

37

so

off the radio.

our people, our

With confidence

—with the unbounding determination triumph — help us God." gain the

armed will

There

.

The buck

a day

onto

had saved them

a ticket to the frontlines.

As the trucks

neared their camp for the night, the Bedford boys did not sing or joke as usual.

"We kept our

much

to say.

war."

38

feelings to ourselves," recalled

The president had

laid

it

on the

Nance. "There wasn't

line.

We

were going

to

Moving Out

IT

WAS AFTER DARK ON

December

8

when

Meade. Company A formed up and then marched

at Fort

rison. Extra sentries

the Bedford boys

now on

high

alert. In their

wondered what would happen

they be shipped out West, bound for the Pacific?

Christmas before going

for

A few

days

later,

to

the Bedford contingent, Fellers

to

them

next.

Would

Would they be allowed

war?

The only

career military

announced

would be granted, though they would be

man among

that Christmas furloughs

short.

tough disciplinarian and fiercely ambitious, Fellers had worked

hard to

command

his fellow Virginians' respect.

well-to-do family, "a real through,"

1

any other also

barracks that night,

Captain Taylor N. Fellers returned from a two-week

officer training course in Georgia.

A

into the gar-

had been posted around supply dumps and outside

the gates: America was

home

the trucks unloaded

officer in the

knew

"A

lot

that Bedford

1

he commanded more intimately than did

16th Infantry.

He had grown up

would be looking

was expected of

to

him

Taylor," recalled his

Woodford. "He was always very serious even as competitive

spirit.

long, long way."

Nicknamed

He was

all

oldest child of a

and lanky country boy through and

tall

men

he knew the

The

soldier

with them.

to bring its

younger a

He

boys home.

sister,

Bertie

boy and had

a very

—everybody thought he would go

a

2

"Tail Feathers"

track team, Taylor

way department

was one of

by fellow sprinters on his high school

six

children and had joined the local high-

straight out of high school, eventually

23

becoming

a fore-

The Bedford Boys

24

man.

remembered Taylor doting on her and

Bertie, ten years his junior,

a sister, Janie,

who had

polio

and was forced

piano lessons for Bertie, ferried her Nazareth Methodist Church, wrote with

gifts at

and we had

all

to

Sunday school

to

He

wear braces.

to her regularly,

paid for

at the local

and showered her

Christmas and birthdays. "He was the oldest

in the family

looked up to him," remembered Bertie. "He just

felt like

he

He was promoted

to

to take care of us." 3

In 1932, Fellers joined the National Guard.

sergeant in 1935 and then took military correspondence courses to qualify for officer training.

Bedford County

His job on the highways paid better than most

Depression and he was able

in the

coupe, a notable status symbol in rural Virginia thirties,

he joined Mason Lodge No. 245

in

to

buy

at that time. In

a

in

Buick

the late-

nearby Forest, Virginia.

In early 1940, Taylor converted a schoolhouse in his birthplace,

home, and soon after moved in named Naomi Newman. He jokingly

Cifax, ten miles from Bedford, into a

with his bride, a striking blonde

from officers training school

told his family, after returning

that

one day he would

"and get a black

Anson

Peter

Fellers,

from Georgia

Back

in

Bedford County,

wives of Bedford men,

on Main

Street,

who

were

from what might be their Bettie Wilkes had, on

Wilkes of to see

cook

all

his meals." 4

His father,

in the

Bedford Bulletin that their

el-

command Company A. in the

young wife waited nervously

store

to

and mother, Annie Elizabeth Leftwich-Fellers, were

immensely proud when they read dest son would

Southern gentleman, buy a farm,

live like a true

woman

in Georgia,

to

weeks

after Pearl Harbor, Fellers's

hear from her husband. Several other

shared coffee and gossip in Green's drug-

also set last

August

Company A. When

on squeezing whatever joy they could

Christmas together. Eighteen-year-old

10, 1941,

married Master Sergeant John

she heard about Pearl Harbor, she vowed

John whenever and however she could before he was posted over-

seas. If

he couldn't come

to her,

she would go to him.

John Wilkes had grown up on

a 149-acre

farm nine miles south of

Bedford, one of eight children. His father, Leo D. Wilkes, a plainspoken

Moving Out

man

with a

West

Virginia.

moral code, worked as a coal miner in North Fork,

strict

he could, but

He would send money and return to the farm whenever he was much missed by John and his siblings. "Daddy said

he didn't want any of

his boys going

Wilkes Goode, one of John's farm.

.

.

.

John was

all

sisters. "That's

He

boy.

down

played

Money was

why he brought

ball,

he married

record player, and then,

my

protected me, helped

my mother when

filled

5

electricity

Momma

came, a

playing.

She'd play them

and John loved dancing

all,

He was just

a natural."

with music.

"My Daddy

because she loved music.

would be something

Polka."

us up on a

scarce but the Wilkeses never "went hungry or cold."

Their farmhouse was a joyous place, often to say

Dorothy

a mine," recalled

mother with the cows and the two mules we owned."

used

25

had

radio,

We

had

a

and always there

a banjo, a guitar

and

a piano.

to tunes like "Beer Barrel

6

After leaving high school at sixteen, John worked part-time mining

He

feldspar on a local farm. extra dollars

and quickly proved himself

had ever seen. Because of pline,

He wanted

As with Taylor tion; the

men

things

Fellers,

he was quickly promoted

.

nose!'

Bettie Wilkes

.

.

We

also played poker,

Sam

Ruff.

Sam was

and

a different

as passionate as she

at a football

game

at

in the

at

all.

to cross

him.

"He used

and he used

to

to joke

man

in John:

That

little fella

—he

7

deeply sensitive, romantic,

was about movies and bowling. 8 They had met

her high school, the

outside Bedford. "John and

growing up

master

seventy pounds lighter

right.

John would say and then laugh."

saw

to

furlough back in Bedford one time and got into a

with a fellow called

my

self-disci-

done by the book, the army way, or not

than John, but he just happened to hit him

broke

few

a

Company A

and immense

long before the war," recalled Roy Stevens.

how he was on

make

he detested any kind of slacking or insubordina-

play a lot of pool in town.

fight

to

he inspected each morning were careful not

knew John

about

father,

Guard

as tough a soldier as

his trustworthiness

both inherited from his

sergeant.

"I

joined the National

I

Academy,

just

typical of

most young people

late 1930s,"

she recalled. "[We]

were probably

prewar America of the

New London

The Bedford Boys

26

had not traveled were things

in

beyond the confines of the farm or be learned

like the jitterbug to

"Deep Purple" a

far

to

be sung, money

to

be saved

movie which was an unheard-of four hours

most respects, safe and carefree." Christmas 1941

long!

but there

dances, songs like

at local

to see

village,

Gone with

A

time to be envied

9

Bedford was not carefree. The community

in

A

crowded the town's Methodist and Southern Baptist churches. ford Bulletin editorial advised: "This Christmas season give

way

and

to forebodings

despair, but rather

niversary of the Prince of Peace as the

men

Bed-

not a time to

use the an-

most appropriate time

in

which

mind and

body,

to the

world the peace and justice he proclaimed two

10

Special services were held in recognition of the

thousand years ago." county's

is

we should

to dedicate ourselves to the task of striving, with spirit,

toward bringing

Wind,

the

in arms. After singing

gregations prayed, above

"O

Little

Town

of Bethlehem," con-

for the safe return of their loved ones.

all,

Some

parents were confident that the following Christmas the seventy-odd

Company A from Bedford would be back home and the war over. Others now regretted the day their sons had joined the National Guard.

men

in

That Christmas was especially poignant year-old Dickie Abbott,

Dutch,"

who

his father

had done

so.

regretted the decision.

now

a possible

a beautiful old inn,

"The

aged seventeen, Dickie had begged his

in Bedford. In 1938,

ther to sign papers allowing

above

lived

for the parents of twenty-

him

National Guard. Reluctantly,

to join the

Three years

The papers

with America

later,

that

fa-

had made

his

at war,

he now

son so happy were

death warrant.

Dickie Abbott typified his fellow citizen-soldiers from Bedford. rode around town on horseback, rolled his

own

cigarettes

He

from tobacco

he grew himself, kept an elaborate scrapbook, and was utterly devoted his large God-fearing family. sitting

down with them

There was nothing he enjoyed more than

after a long

fresh buttermilk, cornbread,

to

and

day

in the fields

and feasting on

fried chicken.

Dickie had been raised mostly by his grandmother, Mrs. W. B. Abbott,

and shared her infectious sense of humor.

A

joke was never far

Moving Out

from

his lips.

"He loved

"He was

just a fun guy," recalled his cousin Morris Scott.

You could

to laugh.

27

tell

him anything and he'd

just laugh." 11

Before he returned to Fort Meade, he promised to write to his family

and wanted them

to

send

all their

news

as often as possible, especially

about his grandmother. For the married

men

denly painfully precious.

Company A that Christmas, time was sudEvery moment with their young wives was to

in

be savored. They made love knowing they might not see them again.

had married nine-

In 1940, twenty-six-year-old Sergeant Earl Parker

The couple were eager

teen-year-old Viola Shrader.

soon as possible.

One

whom

would experience

the Piedmont Label

Company, which

of three brothers,

combat, Earl had worked

at

to start a family as

of

all

printed labels for canned goods, after graduating from Bedford High School.

He had grown up on

Earl's

POW, ing.

youngest brother,

a 300-acre beef

Billy,

farm just outside Bedford.

who would

later

become

a

recalled Earl's great passions as a boy being baseball

Able

to hit a

to take turns

dime

at thirty-five yards

with his brothers

when

with a .22

rifle,

German

and hunt-

he was forced

they hunted quail and rabbit

to-

gether with a .410 gauge shotgun. "Every shot counted because bullets

were expensive back then," recalled eighty-six. "Earl didn't

Billy,

who was hunting

have any clear idea what he wanted

to

at

age

do other

than get a job that paid money. Like everyone else he joined the guard for the dollar." 12

All too quickly the

and share "I

he

don't

a ride

back

know how

day came for Earl Parker to Fort

to leave his

young wife

Meade.

you'd go shoot anybody," Viola told Earl just before

left.

"If

it's

me

or them," he shrugged,

"I

guess

In bitterly cold weather, in the second

practiced anti-invasion procedures on goal

was

to

ward

I'll

week

have

in January,

Cape Henry

off groups of 1st Division

to.'"

Company A

in Virginia.

marauders pretending

Their to

be

the enemy. "Digging gun emplacements in the frozen ground wasn't

The Bedford Boys

28

easy,''

recalled one of the defenders, "but

crafts

through icy surf was worse.

erwise."

sions

'Leather Necks' were paralyzed

water and had to be rescued.

after hitting the icy 13

Many

wading ashore from landing

Ironically, three years later

who would join

forces to invade

it

War

would be the

hell, real or oth-

is

1st

Omaha Beach on

and 29th D-Day.

new weapons and

In April 1942, while the Bedford boys tested

fended the Eastern seaboard, Britain and the United States planning

staffs to

Divi-

set

up

de-

joint

coordinate operations against Nazi Germany. Their ul-

timate goal was a successful cross-channel invasion intended to defeat Hitler in the west. But such an operation, eventually

would be the

lord,

would not be

feasible until, at the very earliest,

Whenever

summer

possible, the Bedford boys tried to get

gether to pay for gas the loan of a

if

who owned

Pride Wingfield,

mouth" Bedford Hoback

a

a shiny

1943. to-

weekend pass and

Company As

clerk,

1938 Plymouth. Others paid "motor-

buck each way

Nineteen-year-old mess sergeant Earl

with a friend from Roanoke. But

and

home, clubbing

they were lucky enough to get a

Earl Parker often drove back with

car.

codenamed Over-

greatest logistical challenge in military history

when

for a seat in his station

Newcomb

usually

wagon.

came home

his friend couldn't get a pass,

he

paid Bedford Hoback the buck without a word of complaint. That spring,

he had gotten engaged

to a feisty nineteen-year-old

mother of

three, Elva Miller.

Elva was a remarkably resilient and mature young

many

woman,

as

of her working-class peers in Bedford. She had been brought

were

up

to

work hard and make the best of even the most meager opportunities.

Her

may

father

had

set the

—he had turned

and running

its

In 1935, Elva

Bedford woolen struck.

his

hand

a filling station to

pression was at

had

example of how

muddle through come what

anything to

make

make ends meet

in

a buck, selling cars

1932 when the De-

worst.

had joined the production mill,

meeting

in

Hampton Looms, the long after. Then tragedy

line at

and she was married not

She was widowed

crash. Before

to

to

1938 when her husband died

Earl, she struggled to bring

in a car

up her three small

Moving Out

children,

Bill,

Nancy, and Garland, on

$10 a week. While she was bent over

little

more than her

loom from 7 A.M.

a

mill

29

wages of each

to 3 P.M.

day, her aunt cared for her children in Elva's home, a five-room log cabin

on the outskirts of town.

Newcomb had joined

Earl

dreamed

farmer, he

to

find. After a

CCC

Farm

in Kelso at the foot of the

camp

for

erosion on

soil

brought

much needed

New

period of unemployment, he

Deal.

Newcomb

Nicknamed

revenue

to

to

Fancy

The

CCC

Depression-era communities

like

also

Bed-

money.

their

On summer maneuvers and

pro-

He

month and

also learned to

cook

with the National Guard, he

this led to his eventually

becoming Company

sergeant.

and

nately, Earl

due

acres.

enrolled for two years, pocketing $30 a

also prepared meals,

pass that

at

by 1942 as well as pre-

billion trees

helping to build a road up into the mountains.

camp's mess.

New York,

"Roosevelt's Tree Army/'

more than twenty million

where enrollees spent

Elva's

like Elva's fa-

unemployed Americans who benefited from the

venting

As mess

of a

Peaks of Otter.

gram planted an estimated three

in the

The son

Corps was one of the great achievements

Civilian Conservation

the 500,000 young

Earl

was forced,

unemployed men, mostly from

of President Roosevelt's

ford

in 1934.

be accepted into the Civilian Conservation Corps, which

ran a

The

Guard

of working the land but

any job he could

ther, to take

was lucky

the National

Earl's

wedding date was

set for

June 27, 1942. Unfortu-

could not get a pass in time. But Bedford Hoback was due a

weekend and agreed

to

come home," explained

swap

his for a later date.

Elva. "But his brother

"Bedford was

Raymond

didn't

have a pass. So Bedford told Earl to take his pass because he would wait until

he could ride home

that way."

summer:

14

in his car with

Sadly, neither

When

Raymond.

It

would be cheaper

Bedford nor Raymond made

Earl returned to Fort

Meade from

his

it

home

that

honeymoon, he

Company A was moving out. On August 17, 1942, Company A marched with full kit onto an old train. No one knew where they were headed. Soon, the stale air in their

learned that

The Bedford Boys

30

compartments got depots, the

men

sticky.

After an endless day shuttling between drab

were headed

realized they

to Florida.

When

the train

fi-

nally stopped, they formed up and marched into the vast military base at

Camp

Blanding near Jacksonville, until recently

sion,

which had

The

1st

home

to the 1st Divi-

just departed for England.

Division would, by November, be part of Operation Torch, an

Allied invasion of North Africa. Torch

was

aimed

partly

at relieving pres-

sure on the Soviet Union, which had fought a ferocious battle against

the

Wehrmacht

since June 1941

when

dred divisions of his best soldiers Barbarossa, as the

German

the bitter winter set

in,

Hitler hurled

at Stalin's

more than

hun-

a

Red Army But Operation

When

invasion was codenamed, had failed.

Hitlers finest armies

became bogged down

in

desperate sieges. In the Pacific, the

Americans had

just

begun

to turn the tide against

Japanese forces, which had since Pearl Harbor swept across a vast ex-

panse of ocean, conquering Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaya,

and the Dutch East Indies craft

had surprised

a

in rapid succession. In

Japanese

fleet cruising

hundred miles northwest of the Hawaiian

damage

June 1942, U.S.

towards

and

Islands)

Midway

(a

inflicted so

air-

few

much

that the Japanese lost naval air superiority in the Pacific. After

Midway, the Japanese would

fight a largely defensive

war against the

"third-rate power" they had so viciously attacked at Pearl Harbor.

On tities

the homefront, America was gearing up to produce the vast quanof material

democracy

in

and other arms needed

Europe and the

were quickly being converted

masks.

Hampton Looms was

enemies of

throughout the nation

wartime production.

Rubatex began

to

produce rubber gas

also converted to military production, turn-

ing out woolen uniforms. Like

comb

Pacific. Factories

to

In Bedford, a plant called

to defeat the

many workers

across America, Elva

New-

and her fellow loom-operators had to work harder but started to

Hampton Looms increased wages by six cents an hour after management made a deal with the local Textile Workers Union. Earn-

earn more.

Moving Out

would continue

ings

to rise

31

throughout the war: For most Americans,

world war had brought an end to the Depression.

Other developments were not quite so welcome. Rationing began in

May

1942, with most citizens limited to a pound of sugar every two

weeks and twenty-five gallons of gas each month. In Bedford, the

on sugar use caused widespread complaint because so many

strictions

homes their

re-

on

relied

own

it

to

produce

The

sustenance.

fruit

limit

preserves to

markets and for

sell at

on consumption of gas was even

less

popular because Bedford had no public transportation to speak of and cars

and trucks were essential

to

movement around

the far-flung

community.

While America girded

to

become

the free world s arsenal, and as total

war raged around the globe, the Bedford boys got accustomed

new

barracks in Florida.

now

at least a long day's drive. For the

But

frustrating.

They were

further from Bedford than ever

for the unattached,

married men, the distance was

Camp

Blanding's proximity to

bustling Jacksonville, forty miles away, was a distinct

camp

every other

mous throughout brothels,

back-room gaming

somewhere

lar craving,

Despite

its

improvement on

or base they'd stayed in. Jacksonville's nightlife

The

the U.S. Army.

or

tables,

of roads and block-houses that

another thing going for

under canvas. To their

it.

all

city

its

If

a

in Jacksonville

GI had

a short

easy;

many

At

least

walk away.

hastily erected buildings

looked the same,

Camp

back

to

it.

and maze

Blanding had

The Bedford boys would not be sleeping

delight, they

had bunks beneath roofs that

Finally, the living

looked

like

it

palm

was going

nei-

trees to

be

of the boys quickly developed deep suntans.

one of the Bedford boys wasn't the

what Jacksonville had get

fa-

a particu-

would cater

ther sagged dangerously nor leaked. Pristine white sands and

were

was

had dozens of nightclubs,

and cinemas.

some woman

vast drabness, with

to their

to

to offer. All

slightest bit interested in

Sergeant John Schenk wanted was to

Bedford so he could marry his fiancee, a bewitching and

smart elementary school teacher, Ivylyn Jordan.

The Bedford Boys

32

John and

both twenty-five, had met on a blind date the day

Ivylyn,

Company A was

inducted into the federal army The date was arranged

who had heard Schenk

by a mutual friend

say

how

he strolled past her and a friend one afternoon

The two had dined in the pitch

first

town and were

darkness of Route 122 just outside town.

and

They were

in-

night they sat up and talked in Schenk's car "I

talked and

"We

talked and talked until three in the morning," recalled Ivylyn. lock, stock

as

downtown Bedford.

at a small restaurant just outside

That

stantly infatuated.

in

was

pretty Ivylyn

fell

barrel." 15

rarely apart in the following days.

At night, they

jitter-

bugged. By day, they planted rows of vegetables and tended John's gar-

"He was

den.

a very

good gardener.

We gardened every day we could. He

loved being outdoors," Ivylyn remembered. gust 24, 1942.

Then

it

was

off for a

16

two-week honeymoon

tage in Natural Bridge, not far from Bedford.

husband and wife talked of

a partner

John

in

wrapped

gether, to

Moneta,

said.

—

his

to

make

life.

"We wanted

a

boy and

a girl, at

a

in

all

too soon.

They returned

to Ivylyns apart-

few miles from Bedford, and spent

a last night to-

each others arms, vowing they would find some time

would be 10

P.M.

day.

"We had an appointed

each night, and mine was

to

be

she

5 P.M.,"

18

On

her stoop the following morning, Schenk took his slim wife in his

arms, kissed her and turned. "I

manager had promised

be alone and think about each other every

time

John had been

17

The honeymoon ended ment

nearby as

got out of the army They would be able to give

their children a decent start in least," Ivylyn said.

in a small cot-

A creek babbled

starting a family after the war.

a clerk in a Bedford hardware store; the

when he

They were married on Au-

"He asked me

did. ...

I

made her swear to stand

not to

move an inch

on that porch and wait

waited a long time."

until

he

re-

for him," she said.

19

When Schenk arrived back at Camp Blanding in early September he found Company A again preparing to move out. This time, the 29th Division

was headed overseas. But thousands of men were

still

on

fur-

Moving Out

lough,

some

as far

away

as Baltimore.

33

Telegrams were dispatched across

the States. In nearby towns and Jacksonville, trucks fixed with loud-

speakers drove through the streets crowded with soldiers, blaring orders

camp. Those watching that summer's

hit

Dandy and Casablanca, were amazed when

the

for the division's return to

movies, Yankee Doodle

— order "RETURN TO

BASE"

Cagney and the luminous

—flashed on screens, replacing James Bergman.

Ingrid

Two rail lines left Camp Blanding. One went north, the other west. Which would they take? No one wanted west. That meant the Pacific, the death islands of Guadalcanal and an enemy who would show no mercy sibly

If it

was

end up

in

to

be north, they would follow the

North

Africa.

To

1st Division

and pos-

man, the Bedford boys preferred sand

a

to jungle.

There was

send

little

port. All other

equipment had

be removed from uniforms ing the identity

move

—

be issued,

to

in massive crates for trans-

be waterproofed, and

a precaution against

Wilkes heard that

She called other wives and

and take the

had

all

insignia

German

had

to

spies detect-

and destination of the 29th Division.

in Bedford, Bettie

out.

to

a quick telephone call or

New weapons

Cosmoline grease, and stored

treated with

Back

make

time to do more than

a hastily prepared telegram.

train to Florida?

boys. Elaine Coffey

worked

fiancees.

would be

It

in the

same

Company A was Did they want

their last

mill as Bettie.

Their manager said they could both take a day

off.

chance

about to

to join

her

to see the

She was up

for

it.

Viola Parker eagerly

joined the group.

The

girls

clothes and

pulled out their best

summer

make-up

and headed south. Viola was especially

into valises,

frocks,

crammed

a

change of

anxious to see Earl: She had just discovered she was pregnant.

The

train

was packed with

soldiers

and with other families from Bed-

ford hoping to see the boys one last time.

Among them was

sixteen-year-

Company As Frank Draper Jr. Verona had never missed a day of school or been tardy. "My mother took me out of school for a whole week so we could go down to Florida together,''

old Verona Lipford, sister of

The Bedford Boys

34

Verona recalled.

"It

was so

on her suitcase

to sit

we made

death. But

full

of soldiers that Viola, bless her heart, had

That

in the aisle.

"We had

Blanding:

my Kodak

picture with

fore they left

a great time.

Brownie.

American

shown on

graph,

soil."

It

To

of

asked one of the

I

was the

comfort

down It

her.

don't you

a sultry

and

The

keepsakes, fighting back tears.

one

for

be

her a ring and tried

Company A

milled about. Other

men, handing over

light started to fade.

coming back, you can believe

There was time

to

he told her as tears streamed

wives, relatives, and girlfriends mingled with the

"I'm

photo-

last time.

evening.

still

into

the boys together be-

He handed

cry," 22

her face and they hugged one

was

to

to take a

September 22, 1942, Elaine Coffey was able

"Now

all

21

alone with her fiance, Bedford Hoback. to

last of

men

this day, Bettie cherishes the

the cover of this book.

The afternoon

just shaking us

and slipped with them

Bettie Wilkes got her girlfriends together

Camp

was

train

20

it."

that,"

John Wilkes

told Bettie.

Then Master Sergeant Wilkes

last kiss.

stepped away. "Well, looks like time

we

Wilkes turned towards "All right,

Company A.

men!" he shouted.

The men snapped the

got to shove off," he said.

"Fall in!"

into perfect formation.

Not

a

head turned towards

women.

"Forward, march!" Wilkes ordered. "Hut, two, three, four! Bettie and the other Bedford girls

looked very

fine," recalled Bettie.

Company A marched up an

Hut ..."

waved goodbye. "Oh my, they

"They made us

feel proud." 23

incline towards the train station.

The

girls

jogged alongside until they could follow no more, choking back sobs,

watching

until the silhouette of

ness over the brow of a tion

wagon and

hill.

Then they

disappeared into the dark-

traipsed to Bedford Hoback's sta-

set off in silence for the day-long drive

Meanwhile, the Bedford boys bling,

Company A

and joking. "For

all

sat in their train,

we knew, we could be

home.

chain-smoking, gam-

fighting in a

few weeks,"

Moving Out

35

Newcomb who sat in a nonsmoking compartment with men and played poker. "But no one seemed too bothered.

recalled Earl

three other

We were

in a pretty

good mood. We'd got used

being moved around

They were going

all

the

to sitting in trains all day,

time." 24

north, thank

God. The Japanese would have

until they'd licked

Uncle Adolf. Armed guards were posted

doors whenever

stopped.

ian:

The

The men were not

polite stranger asking

cover German.

someone

it

When

said they

main staging area

about

word

to say a

to wait

at the train's

to

any

civil-

the army might be an under-

life in

they passed through their old base, Fort Meade,

must be going

for troops

to

headed

Almost twenty-four hours

Camp

Kilmer in

New

to Britain.

Bedford boys

after leaving Florida, the

wearily filed off their train in a

Jersey, the

downpour

New

at a station in

Jersey.

They formed up on the platform before Master Sergeant Wilkes and awaited orders, sodden uniforms soon clinging to their skin.

Overseeing the transfer of the tall

and lean

officer,

16th Infantry to

1

Colonel Charles "Stoneface"

one of the most gifted soldiers of sergeant, he Point.

A

Camp

25

Kilmer was a

Canham,

forty-six,

his generation. In 1921, as a lowly

had been accepted into the

elite military

academy, West

notorious "ball-buster" with a Hitler-like moustache and iron-

rod posture, he had been brought into the 29th Division to toughen up the National

Guardsmen and

turn

them

into effective killers. Before the

year was out, the Bedford boys would fear and detest him.

Around "Well, "It

we

A.M., a major with an artillery battalion noticed

got

them

off the trains pretty fast, didn't

could've been a lot faster

Canham. In

1

if

Colonel?"

you'd poked them in the ass," snapped

26

Camp

Kilmer, the Bedford boys were surprised to discover that

some men's wives were waiting

New

we

Canham.

in

motels and campgrounds in nearby

Brunswick, thirty miles from Manhattan. Most were from Mary-

land and Baltimore,

When

home

to approximately half the

the Bedford boys arrived in their

doughboys headed

new

29th Division.

barracks, built to process

for Flanders in the last war, they

were greeted by a

The Bedford Boys

36

barrage of orders and

and the army,

it

new

The boys were headed

regulations.

overseas

seemed, was determined they would take everything

they could possibly need with them.

"New

World War dishpan

coal-scuttle helmets replaced the flat First

denim

version and blue

fatigues

were exchanged

Bob Slaughter

herringbones," recalled

of

new-issue green

for

Company

D, then seventeen

years old. "Photographs were taken and identification cards given that

would be carried

from the army. Immunization

until our separation

shots for every disease

known

where the sun doesn't shine."

to

27

man were

given in both arms and

Slaughter had grown up in Roanoke,

the nearest city to Bedford, and at age fifteen, with his parents' consent,

had joined the National Guard age

—

Beach

Virginia

to

two," he recalled.

six foot

be with his buddies.

"We

"I

got a dollar every

was

tall

my

for

and went

drill

to

summer." 28 Slaughter would grow another three

in the

inches by D-Day.

Meanwhile, Bettie and her

on Sunday, September 23.

had arrived back

girlfriends

When

accompany

her.

to follow

"We thought

New York,

where we were due

Their train was again

The journey seemed ness. Every

let

me

out,

on Monday

The

track

if

she was

New

we boarded night." 29

needed

repairs.

sick-

all right.

that anymore," Viola finally replied. "If I'm not

all right,

you know." 30

The early

to last forever.

troops.

they might be in

And Viola now had morning

few minutes, Bettie asked

"Don't ask I'll

crammed with

to arrive

him. Viola Parker

worn

Jersey for a while," explained Bettie. "So, tired and a train to

late

she got home, Bettie discovered John's

new whereabouts and immediately decided again eagerly agreed to

Bedford

in

train

shuddered

autumn

chill

was

to a halt in in the

air.

New York's

Bettie

Pennsylvania Station.

and Viola crossed

An

a sea of uni-

forms and suddenly found themselves on a sidewalk, overawed by Manhattan.

It

was

up and marvel

seemed

to

their first time in

New York. They

couldn't help but look

at the skyscrapers jostling for attention,

touch the

stars.

lit

up so high they

Moving Out

They walked were checking

several blocks until they

in,

found a decent

hotel.

a ballroom.

As they

They

they heard the familiar sounds of a big band.

lowed the notes and peeked into

37

fol-

The legendary Tommy

Dorsey had just played. His road crew was packing up trombones and double basses and moving on for another

gig.

Late into the night, Bettie and Viola tried to get a

men

Camp

at

Kilmer.

They were

told the

call

camp was

through to their

They kept

sealed.

but no messages could be given to the men. They put their

calling,

heads down for a few hours. The next morning they decided

to return to

camp was surrounded by

Bedford. "Earl wrote later [that] the

looking through wire wouldn't have been great," Viola recalled. a foolish trip, but

At

I

was

wire and 31

"It

was

trying/' 32

two Bedford boys were, however, allowed out of the camp.

least

Ray Stevens and pencil-mustached nineteen-year-old Sergeant Grant Collins Yopp were lucky

enough

to

be issued twenty-four-hour passes.

Stevens and Yopp headed for Washington, D.C., and finally got off a streetcar at Third Street Northwest.

an apartment shared by Yopp's

young

wife, Elsie Foutz,

It

was

sister,

a short

walk from there

Anna Mae

who both worked

to

Stewart, and his

Washington central

in the

post office. After a few drinks, the "I'm

I'm

gonna go kick the

men

got to talking about going overseas.

shit out of the

Germans," said Yopp, "and then

coming home.''

Ray wasn't

so gung-ho. "Well,"

he

said, "if

I

go over,

I

won't be coming

back."

you know better than

"Ray,

Ray was deadly

to say things like that," said

He had

serious.

could take his share in their farm

The 29th was among the

way

to

first

already told his brother

—he wasn't going

to

Roy

that he

come home.

divisions to pass through

Camp

Kilmer on

Europe. The extensive preparations were infuriating and frus-

trating as everything, strictly

the

Anna Mae. 33

down

by the book. Every

to

packing replacement buttons, was done

man was

issued two

kit

bags

—A and B —one

The Bedford Boys

38

for a ship's hold,

and one

to carry

on board. The

list

of contents for each

took minutes to read, and there were frequent changes to the

men

lists.

The

spent days packing and repacking their bags.

Finally, early

on September 26, 1942, Company A formed up outside

barracks and then marched to the nearest train station in

New

Brunswick. As their train moved slowly towards Hoboken, the

men

its

waved

to

crowds lining the route,

had not yet become jaded

at the sight of

Hoboken, the men learned

In lantic

and honking horns. Locals

flying flags

that

boys leaving for war.

many

on the most impressive ocean

of

them were

to cross the At-

—the magnificent,

liner in history

81,000-ton Queen Mary, launched to great fanfare and praise in 1936, the year Hitler had occupied the Rhineland. Two-thirds of the 29th Division

— 15,000 troops —would

rest

would take her

The

liners

cross the Atlantic aboard the Mary.

sister ship, the equally

had been requisitioned

in

The

imperious Queen Elizabeth.

March 1940 by

the British

Admi-

ralty.

Ferries took the Bedford boys across the dark.

choppy Hudson River

Because of blackout conditions, the ships

west side Man-

at the

hattan docks were indistinct silhouettes until the

men walked down

gangways onto the piers owned by the Cunard-White Star again, Colonel

Canham was on

after

patrol, barking orders.

line.

Once

There were no

more bands, no cheering crowds. Nervously, the fore

men formed

long lines and then inched forward. Be-

them loomed the Mary but she looked nothing

Ribbon record holder they'd seen newsreels.

Her

bright red, black,

in the

like

the dashing Blue

pages of Life magazine and

and white coloring had been masked

with what the British admiralty called "light sea gray." 34 As they got close, the

Bedford

men had

to

crane their necks to take in her

full size;

the sun deck was seventy-five feet above the water line.

Boarding was done

strictly

forward with his number chalked on his helmet, his called out.

He answered

man stepped last name was

"by the numbers": As each

with his

first

name and middle

then checked off by Transportation Corps

men

initial,

and was

wearing red and gold

Moving Out armbands. The Bedford boys, carrying heavy duffel bags, wearing

combat uniform

— including cartridge

belt,

walked aboard and were given directions

canteen, and

to their berths.

rifle

39

full

— then

As they headed

below, they were handed a letter from President Roosevelt. "You are a soldier of the

United States Army,"

for distant places

where the war

is

it

stated simply. "You have

being

fought." 35

embarked

Cruel Seas

BEDFORD BOYS DID NOT

THE

expect to find the

art

deco op-

ulence they had read about and seen in newsreels. But they were

how

surprised by six

spartan the conditions on the

Mary

Her

actually were.

miles of carpet had disappeared, as had 450 deck chairs, 220 cases

of china,

wooden and

and

silver,

door.

Now

crystal

walls of sandbags, endless hinged metal shutters,

a drab decor greeted the

In the

A

from the famous dining rooms, and every

new

passengers.

section of the ship, deep

down

in her bowels, a long

way

from the lifeboats on the upper decks, the Bedford boys dumped their packs and realized

this

was going

to

be no pleasure

eighteen inches between their bunks stacked in

would have tain,

to lie

Gordon

on them and wait

Illingworth, gave orders allowing

Bedford Hoback had crossed

hundred thousand ten thousand

rum

last journey.

certain

to

There were just

tiers of six.

them

Hawaii aboard

soldiers in the entire U.S. army.

men on

the

Mary

alone.

to

move

— there

about.

his exact destination

they

1

a troopship in the less

Now there

than a

were over

Thoughts of garlanded hula

cocktails in coconut shells

Now

And

hours until the ship's cap-

But that was before the war, when there were

mid-thirties.

serving

for several

trip.

girls

had no doubt buoyed Bedford's

was unknown. One thing was

wouldn't be any lounging around on surf-pounded

beaches wherever they were going.

Hoback walked over From

experience, he

was calm,

it

to

knew

was better

choose a "rack," as the bunks were he'd be better off in a top bunk.

to sleep

below and be able

41

If

called.

the ocean

to get out of the

The Bedford Boys

42

berthing quarters without having to clamber

The Bedford boys

his guts out just a

Mary

the

felt

pull

sounded the

were able

to

many opted

so

A

move around

if

There

to sleep.

few inches above.

away from the

steam slowly down the Hudson River and through nally Captain Illingworth

over five men. But

bunk was the only place

the crossing got rough, the top

would be no one puking

down

all-clear,

and then

pier

New York harbor.

Fi-

and the Bedford boys

deck. But they could not yet go up on top,

to stay in their racks.

The Mary, designed

to

accommo-

date three thousand at a push, was bursting at her seams with a vast

human

cargo.

wearing

Men crammed

The Mary moved down

the river leading towards Ellis Island. Finally,

permitted to go up on top. They found a deck already

crowded with other companies, ing

and

Manhattans skyscrapers Ray watched

his brother

kit bags,

and shouldering guns. 2

lifebelts,

Company A was

every passageway, lugging heavy

all

smoking,

glide by.

From

New York's

it

appeared, and

the sun deck,

all

watch-

Roy Stevens

skyline disappear into the dis-

tance to be replaced by endless gray waves.

For

many

of the

men,

their last sight of land

was an emotional mo-

Company As two hundred men were leaving American shores for the first time. They knew many of them would never return. "I feel scared," Ray told Roy, voicing many of the men's feelings. "I ment. Almost

never

felt

all

of

scared like this before." 3

Roy was confident They'd be lucky

if

they'd be

back soon enough. Ray wasn't so

they even got to Britain

—three thousand miles

sure:

across

an ocean infested with dozens of "wolf-packs" of German U-boats. The

enemy was

hellbent on sinking the Mary, thereby knocking out an entire

U.S. division and landing a crippling blow to American morale.

Dubbed

the Gray Ghost because of her color and speed, the

Mary

had

so far outrun every attacker, her elusiveness so infuriating Hitler

that

he was

who sank

now

her.

offering a

But

$250,000 reward

how much

Bedford boys were crossing

to the first

Nazi submariner

longer would the Mary's luck last?

The

at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic;

U-

boats were sinking more than 187,000 tons of Allied shipping every

43

Cruel Seas

month. In

the Allies were very close to defeat, barely managing to

fact,

more ships than were being sunk. And

build

the

if

be a chance

a successful attack, there wouldn't

Germans

did launch

Bedford

in hell of the

boys being fished from the Atlantic by a merciful enemy.

The

day aboard the Mary was particularly bad for John Schenk,

first

who

suffered acute seasickness. Like most

been

to sea. Yet

day

he managed

men

to write to his wife

aboard, he had never

and

to think of

promised time. "He was so sick he could not stand up,"

at the

"Whenever he was on

called Ivylyn.

water, he got very nauseated."

Perhaps the Mary's only design fault was her tendency to

when

her each re-

4

heavily

roll

the wind got up. This motion was exaggerated by her zigzag

which changed

course,

at least every eight

minutes, and by her speed.

The fastest an attacking U-boat could go was twelve knots on the surface and just seven thirty- two knots.

war

drawback

rolling

—

far less

their first injuries of the

falling to the floor in corridors

was nothing compared

as a troopship

take showers.

Noncoms

sands quickly

filled

—lack of

and cramped quarters.

to the Mary's

ventilation. Officers

most serious

were allowed

to

could not, and the stench of unwashed thou-

make matters worse, most

every deck. To

went without showers: None wanted

men when

than the Mary's top speed of

many men nursed

Before long,

—bruises from

But the

submerged

to

officers

be caught naked in front of their

an alarm sounded.

While the weather was brisk and

cold, the stench

was almost bearable.

But when the Mary headed south, so she could be out of range of U-boats for as

much

forced

of the crossing as possible, higher humidity and temperatures

some men

was soon

fierce

ocean breezes.

were allowed Idleness as possible

traction

is

to sleep

with handkerchiefs across their noses. There

competition to go on deck and

Many wished

to sleep

the

was the

to

one's lungs with clean

summer

on the top decks under the

enemy

was done

they were on a

fill

men

occupied.

when men

stars.

of discipline and morale in

keep the

crossing

all

armies:

As much

The most popular

daily testing of the Manx's anti-aircraft batteries,

were commanded from a platform

set

up on the Veranda

Grill

dis-

which on the

The Bedford Boys

44

boat deck. There were sometimes contests between artillery companies

who could be quickest to fire the guns. 5 The men were expected to attend several lectures during the crossing. The most popular was about their destination, England. Every man to see

Army

aboard was also given the U.S.

A

phlet,

Short Guide to Britain,

friendly terms with the

He

look like a

they can hold

The mens

in Britain

bum"

you look

that

British

can be a pal in need.

mixed company

like it.

is

how

of advice about

to stay

—

'Tommy." Don't rub

It isn't

a

good idea

it

in.

Play

own

fair

to say "bloody" in

one of their worst swear words. To say

it is

offensive to their ears, for to the British this

your

on

Brits. 6

You are higher paid than the with him.

full

pam-

Special Services Division's

backside.

The

"I

means

British are beer drinkers

—and

7

Company A's mess sergeant, Earl Newcomb, was suddenly viewed with a new respect. His meals may not have been much to write home about but compared

first

taste of British food did not

to British "grub" they

Company D would

ter of

bode

well.

were gastronomic marvels. Bob Slaugh-

always cringe at the

memory

of the Mary's

bland, mutton-based meals. Actually, the food was remarkably good given the

number

eating

it,

and

vastly superior to the average Britons

diet at that time. It

took the Bedford boys most of the voyage to get used to other things

British.

Only

after several

rounds of rook, a popular card game, did some

understand the British currency, with bits,"

its

mysterious half-bobs, "tuppeny

half-crowns, shillings, and bobs. Private Nicholas Gillaspie, an

avid baseball player and fisherman before the war, was particularly skilled at rook.

"They

all

"Nick loved rook," recalled

loved that game.

They played

up with four brothers and gone twins. Tall, light-haired, quiet,

known

in

to a

and

it all

his niece

Melba Basham.

the time." 8

one-room school

He had grown

like the

Stevens

utterly dependable, Gillaspie

Bedford for his impeccable manners and constant smile.

was

45

Cruel Seas

The most

serious gamblers congregated in bathrooms along with the

heaviest smokers

—smoking was banned

Lucky Strike fumes,

men

most other

in

Spotters were posted to give advance warning of

up games. Junior

areas. In a fog of

kissed the dice and small fortunes goodbye.

officers, especially "ninety-day

MPs who would

break

wonders" with the rank

of second lieutenant, usually turned a blind eye, thankful that the

were preoccupied. In any case, many played stud poker

in their

men own

quarters in the former state rooms.

Company A had more than

its fair

share of heavy gamblers. For

twenty-year-old Bedford boy Wallace Carter, nicknamed "Snake Eyes"

because of

won

or lost, "Snake Eyes" always

pecially a

Then

who his

his passion for dice, the crossing

Western or the

there

could

way

sit

dime

to

for

hundred

Humphrey

day,"

dollars. 9

in

"We used

Newcomb

Bogart.

Company A,

to take their

time about

was not unusual, with so many men on board, relatives in other regiments.

have some

to

recalled. "Mostly,

because some of the boys didn't

They wanted

and even

a movie, es-

hours with an inscrutable face, and sometimes bluffed

games around pay

thing in one go.

friends

watch

was Earl Newcomb, the best poker player

just bet with quarters

It

a spare

thirties film noirs starring

to pots of several

pretty good

had

passed quickly. Whether he

On

we'd

like to lose everyit."

to

10

bump

into old

September 28,

less

than forty-eight hours after leaving America, Grant Yopp ran into one of his four brothers, Herbert, in a corridor.

since January 1942 ing

camp

air corps.

in

when Herbert had been

drafted and sent to a train-

North Carolina with an observation squadron of the army

Neither knew that the other was aboard. 11

The second day out was notable

many

They had not seen each other

for

another incident, one that put

of the Bedford boys on edge for the rest of the journey.

Roy

when

sud-

Stevens and several buddies were shooting dice in a hallway

denly the Mary pitched to one side so violently they thought she was

going to capsize. Their dice flew against a wall and then the Mar)' quickly righted herself. There was a nervous silence while several

picked themselves up and then loud sighs of

relief

and even

a

men

few brave

The Bedford Boys

46

"Some

jokes.

Roy Stevens.

of us thought: 'What

What

if

we'd gone over?'" recalled

could have been the end of 10,000 people.

"It

12

have been a terrible disaster."

from now on

alized that

if?

For the

first

time,

many

It

would

of the boys re-

and death would be separated purely by

life

luck.

When

he wasn't gambling, Roy bunked beside

deck. Ray could

sit

for

At

listen for a

few minutes

as

"We were berthed those boys

On fights

it

that long but he

Ray quickly summarized each chapter.

men

in his platoon.

we could keep an eye on them. knew where you were. For most of

close to the privates so

You knew where they were and they

Dad."

sit still

once an hour, Roy would go check on the

least

A

hours and read passages from a Bible or cheap

army-issue paperback edition. Roy couldn't

would

Ray on

his brother

must have been almost

like

being on a

trip

with

Mom

and

13

the third day out, tempers began to

between men sick of waiting

being woken by the snores of

fray.

in line at

men

There were rumors of

water fountains, tired of

inches from each other's faces, un-

able to get air on deck after dark, and resentful of the officers' privileges.

For those with appropriate rank,

it

seemed, the Mary was

still

a plea-

sure boat. In addition to showers, the officers had stewards to clean their kit

and serve food;

sun deck

was rumored

that they

Most noncommissioned men soon shared

the senti-

a Private

that

I

Eventually, the temperature dropped

the

even had the run of the

Sam Shapiro who had written to Yank magazine "Well win this damn war but can't face the trip back." 14

ments of June:

at night.

it

Mary began her approach

to Britain.

and the weather closed

They were now

in

in as

waters latent

with menace, close to the U-boat pens in the Brittany port of Brest.

October

1

the

,

Mary entered the

cruisers

British

Greenock.

When

that

Irish

On

Sea and was met by a convoy of

would escort her

to

the

Scottish

port

of

15

October

clouds in the

sky.

2,

1942, dawned, the sun shone and there were no

Several Bedford boys walking around up top enjoyed

exceptionally clear views.

They were

in high spirits; soon, they

would be

47

Cruel Seas

rid of the pitching

Mary and be

and

sleep.

a

good nights

able to get a bath or shower, decent food,

HMS

Five destroyers and a British cruiser, escort the Mary,

Curacoa was an since the

who continued

and provided essential protection

enough guns

yet have

The

her zigzag course that morning.

anti-aircraft cruiser

Mary did not

Curacoa, were sent out to

to

ward

off a serious air at-

tack by the Luftwaffe. Just about 10 A.M., the Curacoa reached her designated rendezvous

position five miles ahead of the Mary. 16

company each other zigzag pattern. For

its

The two

weaving back and forth

to the Forth of Clyde,

armament

to

boats were then to ac-

be effective, the Curacoa had

in a

to stay

close.

The Curacoa s

captain, John

Boutwood,

a veteran of

World War

serious reservations about the close-in escort system because

cations were not good

had taken two hours lamp.

What

between the

for a

message

On

ships. to

communi-

a previous escort run,

be passed

the Mary by

to

down under

escort.

It

it

signal

was extremely

cult for the Curacoa, built before the last war, to stay

Even on her

zigzag course, the

Mary clipped along

At 12.30

p.m., the

108.

ahead of the Mary. at

26.5 knots

—

1.5

AM DOING MY BEST WHEN YOU ARE AHEAD

Curacoa signaled,

SPEED 25 KNOTS ON COURSE WILL EDGE ASTERN OF YOU."

diffi-

17

knots faster than the Curacoa s top speed.

"I

I

Captain Boutwood went below

have lunch just after the signal was sent. 1

had

bothered Boutwood more were the standing orders forbid-

ding the Mary from slowing

around

I,

When he got back to

to

the bridge

he saw that the Mary was catching up with the Curacoa,

P.M.,

so he ordered a change of course for the Curacoa. 18

Aboard the

Mar}', Senior First Officer

Noel Robinson had been on

watch since noon. At 2:04, the wheelhouse clock chimed. utes

later,

back

few min-

Robinson noted that the Mary was now quickly gaining on

the Curacoa.

went

A

He

into the

ordered the quartermaster to "port a

wheelhouse

to the bridge,

to

check

he was shocked by

his course.

how

little"

When

and then

Robinson got

close the ships

now were

to

The Bedford Boys

48

each other.

When

the Curacoa rolled, Robinson could see

"down her

funnels."

Robinson turned "Hard-a-port!"

to the

wheelhouse.

19

The Mary's quartermaster spun

mammoth

turning such a

vessel

the wheel as fast as he could. But

was

a slow process.

.

.

.

Telegraphist Allin Martin was a radio operator on the Curacoa

s

lower

bridge:

The upper

bridge speaking tube clanged and

ber] indicated that

Queen Mary was

the

outside, where, to

bearing

white

my

down on our

any camera was

horror,

I

to

hand

a particularly

good view of

port quarter at about fifty yards range. as

num-

I

stepped

saw the enormous bulk of the Queen Mar}'

tall

as a

house and

within seconds of being torn apart.

was 2:12

"oppo" [opposite

Unclipping the bulkhead door,

available.

bow wave seemed

we were

It

if

my

P.M. Suddenly, the

I

it

seemed

dived for

81,000-ton Mary,

Her huge

inevitable that

my

lifebelt. 20

now moving

at

28.5

knots, hit the Curacoa 150 feet from her stern, breaking through three-

inch-thick armor and bulkheads as

On

if

they were cardboard.

deck, the Bedford boys could not believe their eyes. "There were

several of us there," recalled Earl

close to land

and we'd gone up

clean in two."

Newcomb. "We knew we were

getting

The Mary just

cut her

to get a first look.

21

when he felt the collision. "My first thought was that we Curacoa s stern going down one side

Corporal Bob Slaughter was sunbathing

Men

shouted and ran to the ships

had been torpedoed.

...

of the Mary, and the

bow down

coa still

s

crow's nest

was

I

saw the

rail.

—cut

the other

parallel to the water,

right in two.

and there was

a sailor in there

doing semaphore signals. His eyes looked enormous

frightened. All

"'God, here

we

we could do was throw are, haven't

British sailors.'" 22

life-jackets.

I

The Cura-

—he was so

remember

even got overseas, and we've

thinking:

killed all these

49

Cruel Seas

Deep below on gone over

a log

the Mary, the collision

—

a jarring

and

rowing boat had

felt as if a

a screech

but nothing spectacular.

Twenty-one-year-old Sergeant Allen Huddleston,

who had worked

as a

soda jerk in Lyle s drugstore in downtown Bedford before the war and

was married on

to Private

Nicholas Gillaspie's cousin, Geraldine, was lying

bunk when he suddenly

his

felt a

"small"

jolt. "I

looked out the port-

hole and saw half a ship going down," Huddleston said. "There were

people

still

in her." 23

Roy Stevens was

getting ready to disembark

pened. "The boat jarred.

saw the Curacoa sinking

The Mary's Captain

He

"Was

the collision hap-

was very quick. Soon, everybody was running

what happened."

upstairs to see

lided.

It

when

When

in the Mary's

Illingworth

Stevens got to the top deck, he

wake.

was

also

below when the ships

col-

immediately rushed to the wheelhouse.

that a

bomb?" he asked.

"No, Captain," the Mary's quartermaster replied, "we

the

hit

cruiser." 24

Aboard the forward section of the Curacoa, Captain Boutwood was still alive.

"Abandon

ship!"

he shouted. 25

There was suddenly a deafening screech

jumped

off the ship

shrouded the surface,

badly

area,

making

wounded

only Captain

it

as

steam pipes ruptured.

Men

wherever they stood. Clouds of dense black smoke

and

oil

from the cruisers fuel tanks soon covered the

harder for

men

to

hold onto wreckage.

started to slip into oblivion.

Boutwood and

a Lieutenant

Among

The burnt and

the ships officers,

Holmes were

still alive.

swam from the ship, knowing they could be sucked under Suddenly, the bow lurched into the sky and what remained of

Survivors

with

it.

the Curacoa sank. Escaping air created a final anguished groan.

The Cu-

racoa disappeared beneath the waves at 2:24 P.M., ten minutes after

being struck.

Aboard the Mary, Captain Illingworth struggled tions.

Although he could see many survivors

to contain his

in the water,

emo-

he ordered

his

The Bedford Boys

50

men

to

continue their course. There were more than 11,000 troops on

board: To stop would be to risk

their lives.

all

Seventeen-year-old Private Bob Sales of

deck

to get

some

He

air.

couldn't understand

Company B had gone on why the Mar}' did not stop

to pick up survivors.

man," a soldier told him. "The Mary,

"You're crazy as hell, in the

water

—

a

German submarine could blow

sitting

still

[us] off the face of the

earth." 26

They were only hours from Scotland, but would they make

how

it?

Indeed,

badly damaged was the Mary} Captain Illingworth ordered Staff

Captain Harry Grattidge

to find out. Grattidge

had been awakened by

the impact and had arrived on deck just as the remnants of the Curacoa

disappeared beneath the ocean. 27

The speed was

column

to the Mary's

forepeak

still

on the ship when

I

reached the forepeak. By the

light

could see the water racing in and out of the forepeak, a great

I

of

he rushed

damage:

to assess the

of a torch

Now

it

forming a kind of cushion from the collision bulkhead, the

watertight reinforced steel wall that rises from the very bottom of the ship to the

main deck.

If

that

of the Mary's chances.

not a crack.

Not

every length of

I

bulkhead were weakened

sweated through

a break.

I

wood you can

to the Captain." ...

home

to

me

anywhere

and

I

was

silent inspection.

find,

sick at

bosun. Get

much

as

But

had no equal anywhere

it

down

finally,

here and

you possibly can.

what we had done,

terrible impregnability of the

that she

did not like to think

turned to the bosun and the carpenter: "Get

strengthen that collision bulkhead as

at the strange

my

I

yet

I

I'll

report

marveled, too,

Queen Mary.

in the Atlantic,

It

came

perhaps not

in the world. 28

Relieved that the Mary had suffered no life-threatening damage, Illingworth set a course, at thirteen knots, for Greenock.

He

also or-

dered the destroyers in the escort to go to the Curacoa survivors' rescue. It

was well over two hours

after the collision

when

the rescue ships

Cruel Seas

reached the scene of the

disaster. Survivors

Some

last

held on with their

clung to

and

rafts

strength to debris. Captain

51

floatnets.

Boutwood was

pulled near death from the water by the crew of a whaleboat from the

Bramham

destroyer.

Only 101 men from the Curacoas crew of 439 were saved. Twentyone bodies would

wash ashore along the coast

later

of Scotland.

Mary from the boats quarterdeck had been

at the

Gray Ghost was the

last

liers

were called down

Nance and

to the Mary's

had been taken down and the

29th Division officers

killed.

The

thing they saw.

Later that afternoon, Lieutenant Ray his quarters

one

men who had

from the stern of the boat survived. All but a few of the marveled

No

floors

ten other officers in

main lounge. The chande-

planked

sat waiting nervously.

over.

Hundreds

Captain Illingworth

formed them that the tragedy could not be mentioned under any

of in-

cir-

cumstance. Information about the sinking would not be public until the

war ended.

The

tragedy's

shock

great

combat there.

impact on the Bedford boys was enormous.

to see that

before.

Was

on edge.

very

Now many

ing catastrophe, before they

own

On

eyes they had

October

die like those

omen? The near

who drowned

had even encountered the enemy, meant the

now

3, a bitterly

capsizing had set the

others worried that such a gut-wrench-

29th Division was cursed with bad luck. their

a

disturbed." 29

the collision yet another bad

superstitious

was

happen," recalled Roy Stevens. "We'd not been in

We'd never seen people

The men were

"It

seen

One

thing was certain

how expendable men were

—with

in war.

cold and overcast day, they finally arrived in

the Forth of Clyde and boarded "lighters" (old channel ferries) that took

them

to

side, the

Greenock

harbor.

war suddenly

skies as they

As the Bedford boys formed up on the dock-

felt

where they boarded an old Railway too

"It

very close. Barrage balloons

marched through terraced

was

happy that

train of the

the dirty

streets to Greenock's station,

London, Midland, and Scottish

gray, cold, raining," recalled

day." 30

filled

Roy Stevens. "We were not

The Bedford Boys

52

The men had no training

camp

idea where they were headed.

in the

Some hoped

for a

south of England. But others predicted they were

going directly to another port to board another troopship, this time

bound

for Africa.

Considering their luck, they could be digging foxholes

in the desert just in

time for Christmas.

England's

COMPANY A

CRAMPED

SAT

together in old British railway car-

Drab terraced homes gave way

riages.

crowding the greasy windows

rolling hills dotted with

to catch

some

the Scottish border country,

walls,

Own

to country.

glimpses of the

Men

landscape in

fall

parts uncannily similar to Virginias

patches of bluish heather, crumbling stone

crooked lanes, and sheep farms. In northern England,

junctions, gaggles of grubby schoolchildren, evacuated from

cause of the faced

Red Cross

As darkness

girls

tea. fell,

air raid siren

ing before.

candy and gum. At several

Blitz, called for

with piping hot

an

offered refreshment

"I

blackout blinds

wailed.

tried to get

back then we

came down

London

be-

tarts,

served

in the train. Suddenly,

The Bedford boys had never heard

some

dice.

didn't

some

stations, pale-

—crumpets and

The war was above them and

gambled and shot

at

1

all

sleep," recalled

We

around them

had been under attack

traveling through a county that years.

were soon

were

all

know what war

Bob

a real warn-

—they were

for over three

Slaughter. "Other boys

ready to go to war. But of course

was." 2

Early on October 4, 1942, the Bedford boys shouldered their hun-

dred-pound barrack bags and marched into an old Salisbury Plain, southwest of London. Their

was called Tidworth Barracks. had been used

men of

it

looked

It

at the turn of the

like a

wood anywhere,

Dark Ages

British

new home,

army base on

said an officer,

dated back to Elizabethan times and

century as a cavalry post. To most of the

prison,

all "steel,

very cold, austere." 3

53

The

brick, rock

—not

a plank

nearest towns were Andover

The Bedford Boys

54

and Salisbury with

magnificent cathedral, and just ten miles away

its

stood the ancient wonder of Stonehenge.

The Bedford

boys'

first

mass of straw and were

task

was

told to

fill

to "go get sacks."

The men discovered

cloth bags to form a mattress.

They then

placed them on "double-decker beds'' knocked up by a bad carpenter.

man

over six feet slept with his knees to his chin.

only source of

warmth

The

at lights out.

—two ancient

It

was

pot-bellied stoves

Company As

next morning, each of

ered there were just two bathtubs with claw feet for

By the second morning

at

Tidworth, the

1

D's

Bob

Slaughter. "To

make matters

four barracks discov-

called a kipper.

It

stank.

Then

a

And

they gave us cups of

our

all

money on candy

to

—what the

tea.

Not

just orange peelings

coffee.

PX

We

[the

felt like

company

Brits

The

and no

we were

store]

and

just horrible." 5

men had

recovered from sca-

began the longest training program any American infantrymen

in

World War

May

ber 1942 to

when

Company

—

Far worse was to come. As soon as the

endured

laid

bars. But the Coca-Cola had no sugar and

was served warm. Everything was

bies, they

over," recalled

there was bread and marmalade.

being starved. Each night, we'd go to the

spend

was

in the mattresses.

smoked herring

bread was hard. The marmalade was bitter sugar.

men. 4

fifty

worse, the British food rations were

was maybe

pretty meager. Breakfast

freezing, yet their

16th's 1st Battalion

all

Any

—was extinguished

low with a scabies epidemic caused by infested straw

"Everybody was just scratching and clawing

a

II.

1944.

It

would

The U.S.

last

over twenty months, from Octo-

chiefs of staff had not yet decided

invade Europe and they were concerned about the American

forces' lack of

combat experience and rigorous

training.

So they opted

to

turn the 29th into as strong an invasion force as possible. For seven days a

week, broken once a month by a forty-eight-hour pass,

was pushed

to its physical limits. Fifty

Tidworth. Each week, that

weeded out

fell

as

one

Bedford had arrived

man

after another

at

was

or assigned to a different unit.

The 29th wanted

number

men from

Company A

Division's

commander, Major General Leonard Gerow,

to prove that his troops, largely

made up

of National

Guard

out-

Own

55

any others

in the

England's

fits,

made

could be

and battle-ready

just as tough

army of the United

A

States.

Virginia Military Institute,

as

plainspoken and popular graduate of the

Gerow was keenly aware

of

how some

of his

fellow generals, namely Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, Chief of Staff of U.S.

Army Headquarters in Washington, D.C., belittled the National Guard troops under his command. If Gerow had to work his men twice as hard as other division commanders to prove West Pointers like McNair wrong, then so be

it.

"Endurance and strength monitor physical

tests called 'burp-up' exercises

were given

Corporal Bob Slaughter. 'Those

fitness," recalled

passed earned the Expert Infantryman's Badge and an extra

to

who

five dollars

in the monthly paycheck. Failing to qualify meant transfer to a noncom-

bat outfit." 6

To in

qualify, first the

men had

army boots and uniform, do

run a hundred yards in twelve seconds

to

thirty-five

across an obstacle course at a sprint,

push-ups and ten chin-ups, get

and then show themselves

deadly accurate with a Colt .45, the Garand M-l

[Browning Automatic

Rifle], the

exposed Salisbury Plain.

"It

and

a

be

BAR

standard issue submachine gun.

was done beneath sullen

All of this

rifle,

to

seemed

to

skies

me

the

on the damp and windfew months

first

in

Eng-

land the sun seemed to be rationed," recalled Slaughter. "Thick fog, a biting

wind and cold

December.

We

enough warm To mark

drizzle

were

typical

accepted bland, scanty food;

clothing."

its first

ally

little

sleep

and

rest;

and not

7

Christmas away from home, the 29th Division held

parties for evacuated British kids.

and gave them

weather during November and

as presents. For

two Christmas dinners: one

Men

took items from care packages

propaganda purposes, there were actuin early

December, staged

for

newspa-

pers back home, and one on Christmas day

At 10

P.M.

about Ivylyn. of

on Christmas, John Schenk took time It

to

be alone and think

had recently snowed and John had sent her a photograph

him and two other Bedford boys clowning about

ing British helmets.

It

cheered Ivylyn

—he seemed

in their shorts, wear-

to

be enjoying himself.

The Bedford Boys

56

The call.

highlight of any day for

Company As

would

Schenk and the Bedford boys was mail

named Ned Bowman,

mail clerk, a Pennsylvanian

deliver mail first to Fellers,

Nance, and other

officers, next to

Master Sergeant John Wilkes, and then walk into the barracks and out

mens names. Some

failed to get a letter

home were

from home or

into

deep depression

Red Cross

a

they

if

parcel. Packages

from

By 1943, the average GI received fourteen

each week and wrote one

many Bedford

Like

fall

shared around, and delicacies and ethnic foods were often

tasted for the first time. ters

boys would

call

letter a

let-

day unless in combat. 8

home

boys replying to letters from

that Christ-

mas, Schenk masked his homesickness with humor. He'd been forced to give

up

quite a

his habit of treat,''

smoking

drew

"I

a picture

9

Ivylyn promptly

and sent

Sometimes

ica.

of the boys

New Year's

By

Among

the

eral of the

South

first to

die

starting to

him

it

County men were

in

appear in the Bedford Bulletin.

was John Canaday, twenty-one,

He had been killed fighting More men from Bedford were being

Bedford boys.

Pacific.

told

a hu-

nostalgic since leaving Amer-

Day, 1943, over 1,500 Bedford

and death notices were

the only

from the Bedford Bulletin which

who had grown

service

"I

is

10

relatives sent clippings

many

is

went out and bought

she remembered.

it,"

would be waiting when he got back."

fascinated

cigar over here

he explained. ''The English think that Churchill

one who can smoke one." midor.

"A

a cigar after dinner.

a classmate of sev-

the Japanese in the drafted every

week

and those who had been deferred so that they could work farms were '

not happy over having to explain constantly

One man, whose and found

The

big

news from home

it

when

highway painted yellow." 11

was the crash of

a

B-25 bomber

the plane hit head-on at 10 P.M. on February

would crash

of the disaster

that winter

went out one morning

Sharp Top, one of the twin Peaks of Otter. Five

Many townspeople saw feared

they are not in service.

this reason,

his fence posts leading to the

into the side of their lives

son was deferred for

why

the

in the

bomber town

fly

itself.

men 2,

1943.

over Bedford so low that they

'Those

who reached

the scene

were sickened by the sheer horror of what they saw,"

ported the Bulletin. "All

lost

re-

the bodies were cruelly crushed and mangled,

England's

some were dismembered, and one one of the

men had

Own

57

of the searchers said that the head of

not been found

when he

left." 12

For the

first

time,

the war had truly hit home.

Back

in

England, the Bedford boys grew ever more miserable: The win-

1942-43 was one of the coldest on record

ter of

training program,

got worse.

MPs

much

five-mile "yomps." to

it

to

make

sure every

One New Yorker in

march out with heavy

be fighting frozen icicles

The damp

chill in

can't figure the

"I

man completed the weekly twentyCompany A recalled that it was "not

overcoats, covered with our

England seemed like

we could

remember back

on the Peaks

to the fire.

[of Otter]

Here the people

there

at

seem

to

in

mind

"Us yanks

home," Captain

when Dad used

he would come don't

ponchos and

other." 13

to penetrate everything.

the yard and take a look at the mountains, and ries

on marches;

tolerated

on one side and sweating on the

weather here

wrote his parents.

England, yet the boys'

spent outside, got far tougher as the weather

By February, shortcuts were no longer

were posted

unusual

of

in

if

Fellers

to go out in

he saw any snow

and pull

flur-

his chair closer

the weather at

all."

14

Eventually, the conditions on Salisbury Plain began to improve as spring approached.

the

first

daffodils.

The

And Company A began

commanders: Captain average, the

when

men were

they had

at least

and

colors brightened. Crocuses appeared

left

Fellers

and then

to earn the praise of battalion

was shaping a

first-class fighting force.

seven pounds heavier

—most

of

muscle

it

On

—than

America. Their chest sizes had increased by an inch

their self-confidence

had soared. Several sergeants were

se-

lected for officer training and Jack Powers earned the rare honor of

being chosen to join the 29th Division's

elite

combat

unit,

known

as the

Rangers, the American counterpart of the British commandos.

On March where

I

in

am

27, 1943, Captain Fellers wrote his parents "from

Company As

England" about

beginning to think

it is

hundred we

made

and several more

officers

cers too with a year or

swift progress:

hard to beat a Bedford boy for a

of less than a

left

more

there with will

some-

I

would say about

soldier.

Out

a dozen have

be soon. They are good practical

offi-

of regular non-commission service behind

The Bedford Boys

58

them. just

am

I

hope

I

truly

proud

to

warmer

to

and began

old

hometown

can carry them right on through and bring

In early May, the 29th Division

move

my

be commanding

On May

climes.

was ordered

all

outfit

and

them home. 15

of

to vacate

Tidworth and

formed up

23, 1943, the Bedford boys

journey that would take them 160 miles to the

a six-day

southwest. Four days were spent marching and two in the back of trucks. Exhausted, the Bedford boys finally

dropped

their packs in a

new

barracks near Ivybridge in Devon, twelve miles from the channel port of

Plymouth. The move was part of "Operation Bolero," a long-range plan for transferring

servicemen lied

and then accommodating almost two million American

in Britain in the

commanders had now

When

run-up

an invasion of Europe, which Al-

to

set for the

summer

of 1944.

the Bedford boys explored nearby towns and especially coastal

they were astonished to find palm trees growing in

villages,

some parks

because of the more temperate weather brought by the Gulf Stream's southwest coast of England. But

fect along the entire

tured north, they discovered far less hospitable terrain

when

—

ef-

they ven-

a deserted, god-

forsaken stretch of moorland called Dartmoor.

Some of the men recognized Dartmoor from the successful Hollywood horror movie, Hound of the Baskervilles, starring Basil Rathbone. Even

mid-summer, the area could be

in

wasteland portrayed

was

in the film.

also potentially lethal,

To

it

was

when

also starkly beautiful.

cate wildflowers, and the

weather.

a

a

compass, Dartmoor

mired with boot-sucking bogs and peaty

quicksand. But on the odd day clouds,

just as bleak as the ghoulish

GI without

the sun broke through dirty

There were wild ponies and

deli-

moss and heather changed color with the

16

Company A began

to

camp

out on the moors, even in the most de-

plorable conditions. "You couldn't stay dry," said Allen Huddleston.

"Water would always seep into everything. You'd sheet and before long the water would

come

lie

through.

down on your bed It

was

Roy Stevens remembered one awful evening when the men

pup

tents on the

moors

in a hurry

horrible." 17 set

up

their

because of a downpour: "Captain

England's

came along and knocked down

Fellers

proper

line.

Men

There were

still

Own

59

several tents that weren't in

them/' 18

guys in

did their best to fend off the blues. Wallace "Snake Eyes" Carter

water can with whiskey he'd bought on the black market and

filled his

took a good swig every few miles. 19 Others chanted caustic songs to take their

minds

One

verse

I

and

off their sore feet

was

want

particularly popular:

to

To follow

go again to the moors, their

winding

To stand again on In the cold

Oh,

I'll

and the

rain

and the

gales.

go out to the moors again,

carry

enough

me

well:

explosives, to hell. 20

To blow the place

When

trails,

their lonely slopes,

But mind you and mark I'll

blisters.

the boys passed through villages, locals often lined the route,

shouting encouragement, sometimes providing snacks and cups of If

the Bedford boys

came

across English children, they

chocolate bars and shower the prettiest

Spearmint

More

gum from

their

often than not,

C

with strips of Wrigley's

Roy Stevens walked ahead and

I

miles. hole.'

going.

We

would

him about what

talk all the way,

At night, he'd sometimes say

He just

loved saying that.

you something, he meant

It

was not

strolled

company

be-

line in a hike,

two of us up front together." For hours on end, out of earshot,

the old days back home, and kid

him

of the

would get up on the

they would joke, needle each other, and reminisce.

get

toss

rations.

side Captain Fellers. "Fellers just the

girls

would

tea.

all

it."

was

ask Fellers about

a tough kid

sometimes

he was, and

for twenty-five

as 'black as midnight's ass-

didn't waste his words.

When

he told

21

"yomp" and hard

down winding

He

it

"I'd

slog.

Many

evenings, the Bedford boys

lanes to nearby pubs

where they shared news

The Bedford Boys

60

from home and drank

comb, "but we I'd

been used

didn't

wood

know

"We

sat

supping

called

what

exactly

But we consumed

to.

The few hours

among

"bitter."

it

it all

warm

it

beer," recalled Earl

was

—

it

New-

didn't taste like beer

the same." 22

would be

pints beside roaring fires

the men's fondest memories of Britain.

Weldon Rosazza, Glen-

"Dickie" Overstreet, and other sociable Bedford boys were soon

copying the

Brits, treating the

lounge of their "locals," Ivybridge's "The

Sportsman's Arms" and "The King's Arms," as a

where they would tuck

into

home away from home

good "pub grub," play

darts, gossip, read the

"funnies" in Stars and Stripes, and listen to American jazz on the radio. 23 Liquor, or "spirits" as the Brits called

it,

was

strictly rationed.

What

little

could be found was drunk within an hour of opening. Around seven, the landlady would cry out:

"No more

spirits tonight,

gentlemen." 24

Corporal Weldon Rosazza, twenty-two, was the neatest and perhaps the most cosmopolitan of the Bedford boys, having lived for a while in

Washington, D.C., as a

had the

boy.

"He was

very charming, outgoing, and he

prettiest dimples," recalled his cousin, Ellen Quarles.

them and hated

to

be teased about

them." 25

"He hated

Rosazza had joined the Na-

tional Guard upon graduating from Bedford High School. His

Calisto,

had worked

as a

mechanic

at

father,

Bedford's People's Garage. His

grandfather had emigrated from the small Piedmont town of Rosazza in Italy in the 1890s.

Twenty-two-year-old Dickie Overstreet, one of eleven children, had labored since he was a small boy for his father outside Bedford.

He and

his family

who owned

had somehow got by

a

farm just

in the worst

years of the Depression through supplying vegetables and meat to Dickie's aunt,

"We were

who owned

the

Dutch

Inn, a boardinghouse in Bedford.

very, very poor," recalled sister

Beulah Witt.

"My

parents were

He was essential to running the farm. When he left, my father, Wilton, who was a carpenter, went to work in the shipyards in Newport News to keep us all." 26

very upset

when Dickie went

away.

Just before nine o'clock every evening, silence descended in Ivybridge's less.

pubs

The

as everyone sat

and waited

reports were mostly uplifting.

for the

On

BBC

news on the wire-

the Russian front, the Ger-

England's

mans were

61

in retreat after suffering a devastating defeat at Stalingrad. In

Africa, the Axis

Now

Own

had been routed, losing 349,206

the Allies were working their

way up

dead and prisoners.

in

the jagged spine of

Italy.

Throughout England, General Bernard Montgomery was worshipped with almost the same fervor as Churchill.

The

1st Division, after a

shaky

start,

had proved

their mettle, deci-

GI was an

sively answering the snide British accusation that the rior soldier to the

Tommy. After

Red One" had fought

its

way

Oran

the capture of

England

the 29th Division, sively, as

it

"England's

yet to see

"The Big

in Algeria,

across Tunisia, defeating Erwin Rommel's

Afrika Korps, and then spearheaded the invasion of shortly return to

Sicily.

They would

an invasion of France. As for

to prepare for

was now dubbed by other GIs, somewhat

Own."

few dozen of

All but a

combat and the

infe-

division

was

still

its

deri-

15,000 troops had

the only army based in

Britain.

27

After closing time at 10 P.M., the Bedford boys would trudge back to their barracks

cious

little

where some would write and read

time in the day to one's

town they'd

left in early

pre-

relatives,

now very different from

the small

letters

1942.

Shortages were starting to be in grocery stores

Through

—there was from

self.

they learned that wartime Bedford was

letters

felt

and by Saturday nights most shelves

were bare. Lines were

common

outside

many

stores be-

cause there were too few employees waiting on customers. Butter was rationed at four ounces a week; Tuesdays and Fridays were designated national "meatless days." Kitchen fat plosives.

To men's

delight,

was saved

women's hems

to

rose, in

be processed into

some cases

ex-

as far as

the knee, in a patriotic fashion craze aimed at saving material for uniforms.

Mrs. George ities

on morale

Women

P.

in

Parker noted in a bimonthly report to Virginia author-

Bedford that "labor shortage

is

acute in rural areas.

and children are picking berries who have never been

berry patch before. Huckleberries are being brought

mountains and are bringing unheard of prices but are .

.

.

.

.

.

in a black-

down from the in great demand

housewives are canning chickens and making sauerkraut."

The Bedford Boys

62

Driving for pleasure had been banned and in

reported Parker, had started to play croquet.

many

place

its

couples,

The townspeople were

'calm but anxious about the conduct of the war on the homefront. Disgusted with John L. Lewis and his nient with them, perhaps

unminding of John

L.

remembering

his obligation to labor

that vote in case of a fourth term

members back

a million of his

to

and not

had threatened

denounce

to

war production

to bring strike,

or-

work on May 20 twenty

minutes before Roosevelt went on national radio

though Lewis called off the

le-

for himself." 28

Lewis was leader of the United Mine Workers and had

dered over half

strike that

president was too

strikers; felt the

a two-day

to a standstill. Al-

he and other labor leaders were

granted wage increases.

The underlying cause ment among

for Lewis's militancy

was

a

widespread resent-

blue-collar workers that they were not sharing in the soar-

whom

ing profits of corporations, for

the war represented no less than a

rejuvenation of American capitalism. Approximately seventy big companies controlled three-quarters of wartime production industry, for example, profits

bosses at

and

in the textile

had risen 100 percent each

Hampton Looms and

year.

For the

other Bedford factories, times had never

been so good.

The Bedford boys Stars

and

Stripes, that

tions elsewhere in

also learned, through reports in Life

magazine and

while Bedford was adapting well to wartime condi-

America there was precious

little

harmony. As the Bed-

ford boys prepared to fight Adolf Hitler, in several cities racial tensions

had boiled

over. In

June 1943

in

Los Angeles, white GIs had attacked

blacks wearing "zoot" suits, sparking riots that led to the military declaring the city a no-go area for

all

American servicemen

control of the streets. In Detroit that June,

until

it

had regained

where 300,000 whites and

blacks had migrated to work in war factories, thirty-five people were killed,

600 wounded, and thousands

The most popular

jailed in

two days of

rioting.

attraction for the Bedford boys other than the local

pub was the American Red

Cross's Tidworth House, a magnificent

man-

Own

England's

sion that actually adjoined the 29th Divisions barracks

63

and had once be-

home

longed to the great British general, Wellington. The stately country

was now given over

to entertaining the troops,

tended weekly dances where, for the

Many Britain's

women

of these

women

belonged

time,

many met

English

at-

girls.

Land Army, responsible

for

wartime agricultural production. 'There were some robust

in that army," recalled

over a fence

if

Lieutenant Ray Nance. 'They'd pitch you

you stepped over the

endured three years of

all

first

to the

and the Bedford boys

line." 29

strict rationing

Delicate or robust, they had

and bombing, and

a well-paid

Brylcreamed Yank was the ideal wartime boyfriend. "We had chewing

gum, smart uniforms, American Stevens.

"We

Tommies

said." 30

cigarettes,

and money," confirmed Roy

were over-paid, over-sexed and over here'

really

as the

Radio operator John Clifton was particularly successful with English

women due ing

brown

to

an unbeatable combination of Southern charm, penetrat-

eyes, courtesy of his

muscular build. "He was gether," recalled Stevens.

Cherokee Indian

a real

Cassanova

"They knew how

ancestry,

to get the girls.

five foot six. Clifton

was

he'd snatch your girlfriend from under your eyes

At Bedford High School, with a gentle

spirit.

"J.

a slim but

—he and Rosazza ran

guys would go with them just to get their rejects. That bet he wasn't more than

and

Some

little

to-

of the

Rosazza,

I

a great guy, too, but

all right."

31

D." had been a quiet, trustworthy pupil

His mother, Minnie Lee, was proud that he had

nored the taunts of anti-Semitic local boys

when he had

Edith Bornstein, the Jewish daughter of a manager

ig-

started to date

at the

Hampton

Looms. Edith's delicate features and wonderful singing voice had

capti-

vated Clifton. But in England, according to letters home, he quickly

found solace

in the

soon engaged

arms of an English

ing heavy. looking." 32

also fell in love with

to their sister,

Mabel: "Ray

saw him the other night with

I

he met

at a

dance and was

to her.

Raymond Hoback Bedford wrote

girl

Raymond

later

is

a

an English

girl.

His brother

not married yet but little

Jewish

wrote to his parents about his

girl,

new

is

court-

right

good

girlfriend.

The Bedford Boys

64

"My mother

would

got terribly worried that he

stay

the war and marry her," recalled Lucille, his younger

John Reynolds, Company As runner,

According

certain they

One

to relatives they

Guard

Sunday afternoons

of

war had broken

out, Willie

One women

night,

takes her away!

I

tell

laughed about

pretty

went

their

separate.

much

He

it

to Virginia after the war.

him

they had a special bond

a runner, Fellers

Fellers

and

When

over." 33

Reynolds was responsible for

fer-

and battalion headquarters.

invited to a

was

dance organized by English

talking to a great

comes on

over, pulled

girl,"

recalled

rank on me, and

you, he got the biggest kick in the world out of that! for a long time." 34 Fellers's

marriage was

the rocks. "Fellers and his wife had fallen out. Before I'd

heard through the grapevine that they were about

called her the blonde

about her

—

to

join the National

she had agreed to John's

marches together, Stevens knew

much on overseas,

As

in the fire service. "I

Roy Stevens, "and then

like

bitterly regretted

Company A was

working

From

had

seemed

it

was remarkably close

to let

was

in love that

just reading his letters over

between Captain

rying messages

"It

nearby

in a

Marguerite Cottrell. "She would spend a

sister

joining the National Guard.

He

he had begged

so he could be with his friends.

with each other," recalled lot

were soon so

would be married when they returned

whom

sister.

who was working

of seven children, Reynolds, twenty-one,

his mother, Willie,

in Britain after

an American, Kathleen

fell for

Bradshaw, a nurse from Quinby in Virginia, hospital.

on

bomber but otherwise never

he'd just go out at night and have a ball."

Fellers also enjoyed a platonic relationship with a local

we to

said too

35

widow, a Mrs.

Lunscomb, who was soon mothering him and

several other officers.

"She kind of adopted him," recalled

younger

Woodford. "She

lived

on

a

Fellers's

farm and would

fix

Bertie

sister,

Taylor hot meals.

.

.

.

Tay-

house." 36

lor said

he couldn't believe she had a barn right next

Back

Bedford County, where cleanliness was next to godliness, swine

in

to the

were kept much farther from the kitchen.

Within

a year,

Sergeant Clyde Powers would be considering mar-

riage to a sweet-natured "rose"

named Pam Roberts whom he met

in

Own

England's

Plymouth; Sergeant Roy Stevens would be dating pudlian,

Mickey Muriel Peake;

37

a chirpy Liver-

and company clerk Pride Wingfield

would be seeing Doreen, Mickey's cousin. They shared taught their

girls to jive

and

65

jitterbug,

and

cigarettes,

tried to forget the war.

next dance, the next pub, the next forty-eight-hour pass were

all

The that

mattered.

When how

the Bedford boys ventured into towns and cities, they saw

dead and injured to

had been over 295,000

fleeting life could be. Since 1939, there in air raids.

John Wilkes wrote Bettie:

know our homes and towns 38

here.

Bombed-out

streets

aren't being

bombed

"It is

as they

very nice

have over

and orphaned children, meager meals,

and nightly blackouts were continual reminders of the suffering and sacrifice of

wartime Britons. They worked, on average, fifty-hour

weeks and subsisted on rations that would have been unimaginable back

Most had

in Bedford.

sweetened cup of

tea, or

war had not dented

Many

forgotten what fresh eggs, real coffee, a

an orange tasted

their resilience nor

like.

But three years of

total

diminished their generosity.

families boarding GIs saved rations to provide birthday cakes

and other

treats.

Passes in hand,

some Bedford boys took

their English dates to the

who was buried Nancy Astor, Britain's

grave of Pocahontas, the Indian princess from Virginia, at

Some female MP, who

Winchester.

first

visited another Virginian

invited groups to tea

been born near Charlottesville, one of the

Rumor had

it

Virginia boys after other

for

and sandwiches. Astor had 16th Infantry's hometowns.

she had lobbied the American high

would

stay in Britain as

Yanks had been sent into

Others from

bound

1

—

Company A headed

London,

principal

out,"

was where the

Roy Stevens explained. 39 As

overcharged for everything they bought in

London, and sometimes fleeced by canny English a

army of defense, long

straight for the nearest train station,

women, hung

men were

so that the

battle.

specifically Piccadilly Circus. "That

ladies, or rather the

often as not, the

its

command

horny Yank coming a long way

off,

even

"gals"

who

in the blackout.

could see

Roy Stevens

The Bedford Boys

66

lost a

month s pay when

"We met

night:

them. They

We

these two

girls

said: 'You give us

and were going

some money and

handed them some money but

Private

the

his libido got the better of

1 1

Bob

Circus

Company B was

Sales of

who

6th Infantry

didn't see

buddy one

a

have a great time with

to

we'll get all of us a room.'

again." 40

them

typical of the

young Virginians

in

saved their wages and then headed for Piccadilly

on painting the town

at every opportunity, hell-bent

and blue. As soon

him and

as they arrived in

red, white,

London, they hopped on

a "tube'' to

Soho, army-issue rubbers and crisp "quid" notes stuffing their wallets. In

Gerard

Street, Sales

tarts" sitting

and

his fellow Virginians then bartered with

on stoops, mascara

drawn on

lines

resemble

their calves to

stockings, calling out their price: "Half a pound, occasionally a

she was real good looking.

There was

also a

It

Red Cross

ing.

A bunch of girls from

on,

and laugh

was

hostel

when

it

came

beds.

When

pound

to that.

where we'd spend the night

Spain worked as maids there. They'd

made our

as they

just unreal

"cheeky

The

nice

were

girls

Then

be found

to

in

Covent Garden opera house converted ever saw in your

life.

you'd

you were screwing one of

them two

slip

you didn't

like,

It

was

shillings."

Covent Garden: "Churchill had dance

into the biggest

They had two bands

a girl

there.

One would

hall

you waltzed over

you

play for a If

you

to the stag line

and got another. Wrens, Wacs, always two hundred standing waiting dance. They loved to dance, those English

heaven

as

you could

get."

girls.

Man,

it

was

much

as Sales.

He

in Bedford, Viola

would be weeks

a boy,

couldn't stop thinking about his

had given

reached

pulled out a photograph to tiful as

birth.

and had agreed on

later, a letter

her mother.

to

as close to

41

Bedford boy Earl Parker also visited London but did not enjoy so

.

sing, carry

while then the stage would rotate and another would start up.

were dancing with

.

for noth-

them, the others would sing so the supervisor wouldn't catch on. the darndest thing you ever seen.

.

if

He had been a

Earl. Viola

show

name with

new

quite

family Back

convinced the baby Viola:

had named the

his buddies.

it

Danny.

girl

She was every

A

few

Danny. Earl bit as

beau-

"29, Let's Go!

JULY 1943, THE 29TH

IN

»

Division received a

new commander.

General Charles H. Gerhardt, forty-eight, replaced Major General

Leonard Gerow, who had been promoted said that

hell-bent on knocking even tional

to

command V

Corps.

It

was

Gerhardt was another polo-playing West Point prima donna

Guard.

more sense

into the apparently slovenly

Na-

1

Gerhardt immediately confirmed the rumors by appearing before the

men

dressed like a northern dandy in shiny cavalry boots and wearing "a

polished leather holster and belts, and decorative neckerchief." 2 But the division's

new

chief martinet surprised everyone and ordered an end to

the relentless training schedule and gave off.

the

men

seventy-two hours

Suddenly, Gerhardt was affectionately being called "Uncle Charlie"

throughout the division.

Gerhardt also devised a it

all

be used in every

drill

new

—

battle cry

and even had

it

"29, Lets Go!"

—and

insisted

emblazoned on signposts. And he

much weapons practice as possible: The men enjoyed firing made them feel like true soldiers. Typically, he led by example,

ordered as guns;

it

terrifying locals

by pulling out his Colt .45 and blazing away

at rabbits or

any other convenient target from his spotless jeep, the Vixen driver roared along

become

particularly adept at letting loose salvos at signs

British cars approached. lades.

He was

Tor, as his

narrow country lanes. Before long, many 29ers had

But Gerhardt didnt stop

especially fond of dropping

spotting planes as he

watched

his

men 67

at

and gateposts

impromptu

as

fusil-

hand grenades from Piper Cub

practice maneuvers on the moors.

The Bedford Boys

68

The honeymoon

down on

officers

vate, every

lasted a

few weeks. Then Gerhardt began

and noncoms

man under

alike.

Whether

crack

to

buck

a colonel or a

Gerhardt was ordered to look immaculate

pri-

at all

times and keep helmets strapped under the chin. Equipment and vehicles

were

to

be polished and as spotless as the

was forbidden, cers If

were

to

mens

uniforms. Stubble

mandatory every morning. And

a cold-water shave

offi-

keep their distance when conferring with "Uncle Charlie."

they didn't, he would quickly bark: "That's far enough!"

Although soon detested by many care.

He had

an infantry cers

and

waited twenty years, rising through the ranks to

division. Besides, there

men

Gerhardt didn't appear to

officers,

was good reason

command

for driving his offi-

harder than his predecessor. Gerhardt had been briefed on

plans for a massive Allied invasion of France,

codenamed

"Overlord."

If

they proved up to the challenge, the 29ers could be selected for the

most audacious and

risky

amphibious operation

in U.S. military history.

Gerhardt's time had come.

Overlord had been the goal of the U.S.

Army and

President Roo-

sevelt since the beginning of the war. If successful,

Churchill said, mark the "beginning of the end" of World rope. In January 1943, President Roosevelt,

and the

Allies'

decided

to set

Combined Chiefs

team, soon Overlord.

The

met

at

up an Anglo-American headquarters

known

as

War

II

Eu-

in

Casablanca and in

for the invasion.

COSSAC, would

would, as

Prime Minister Churchill,

of Staff had

would investigate possible locations

it

London

that

The planning

be responsible for the details of

invasion the team planned was set to take place as early

as possible in 1944.

Overlord would entail landing three divisions of thirty thousand

on beaches and dropping two airborne divisions nearby. The

succeeded Africa

in

two previous amphibious invasions

—but had

troops. Overlord failure

—

in Sicily

men

Allies

had

and North

yet to attack a fortified coastline defended by seasoned

would be the greatest

military

gamble of the war.

could deal a catastrophic blow to Allied unity,

doom

Its

the Jewish

race in Europe to probable extinction, and leave Europe under Nazi con-

69

"29, Let's Go!"

Success would depend on absolute surprise, superlative teamwork,

trol.

the weather, secrecy, a vast armada's effective deployment, air superior-

and then

ity,

who had

a full frontal assault

men

never experienced combat.

In early

September 1943, Lieutenant Ray Nance returned from

cial intelligence training

him

by tens of thousands of young

program

in Derbyshire.

be chosen

that the 116th Infantry could possibly

a spe-

Captain Fellers told to

spearhead a

29th Division assault on Europe. There were no specifics about where or

when. That was

were

on

to train to land

we had real

far too sensitive information.

a heavily

But from now on they

defended beach and seize

a very important job to do," recalled

"We knew

it.

Nance. "That's when the

work began."

COSSAC

had, in fact, decided in August at a conference in

Quebec on

the section of French coastline where the invasion would take place. Instead of the obvious stretch of beaches along the Pas de Calais, closest to Britain,

COSSAC

opted for those of Normandy, southwest of the port of

Le Havre, between the mouths of the Orne and Vire

rivers.

This stretch of the Atlantic Wall, as Hitler had called beach defenses

from southern France as the Pas

de Calais.

all

If

the

way

to Holland,

was not

as well

defended

bridges across the Seine could be destroyed, and

the Wehrmacht's response to the invasion thereby impeded, the Allies

would have

a greater

chance of landing enough

men and armament

to

enable an attack directly into the heart of Nazi Europe.

The Bedford boys were soon climbing cargo foot

beams, scaling

landing

craft,

shores. Every

take

cliffs,

nets

hung from

digging shapes in the peat moors to resemble

and storming banks of heather that doubled

man, from Gerhardt down

swimming

thirty-

as imaginary

to the lowliest private,

had

to

And there was no warm indoor pool to hand. the men had to swim in nearby ponds and across

lessons.

Whatever the weather, rivers.

That autumn, the increasingly

chilly

swimming

lessons were forgot-

ten for a few days as the entire division focused on baseball. Three

from Bedford played

for the

"116 Yankees"

in the Allied

Armed

men

Forces

The Bedford Boys

70

Inter-Army championship

London

finals in

in late

September: Elmere

Wright, Frank Draper, and Robert "Tony" Marsico.

The son ford

of Bedford's deputy sheriff, Wright had pitched for the Bed-

High School team and then

Texas.

The summer before

Of

all

women and

song had got

Stevens. "But in England he settled very tricky with the

ball.

I

man, the catcher got the

knew

down and

ball before

I

Another outstanding player

in the

"Mud

He had

and

Roy

He was

one time, and

to swing.

Everyone

3

116 Yankees from Bedford was Jr.,

Alley'' baseball

factory team.

basketball, football,

did real good.

even started

twenty-three-year-old Sergeant Frank Draper

Hampton Looms

to him," recalled

tried to hit [his pitched ball]

he'd be in the majors after the war."

tough neighborhood's

in

seemed most promising.

the Bedford men, his future

"Before the war, wine,

Browns farm team

Cubs had watched Wright and been im-

Louis Cardinals and Chicago pressed.

for a St. Louis

Pearl Harbor, several scouts from the St.

also

who had

played for his

team and then

been

for the

a star in high school

track.

Frank's two younger brothers,

Gamiel and David, had

also played for

Hampton Looms. "We were one, two, three in the batting order," recalled David. "My mother and father hadn't wanted us to play because was nicknamed they didn't want us to get hurt. But we did anyway. I

'Hammerhead' because cause ride

when we were

them

choir,

like

real

a horse.

run, field.

"He could do

He had

a

good arm.

Draper was as capable

He was

pigs

and

happy-go-lucky, sang in the

when he was back home."

By 1943, Frank had matured hitter.

called Frank 'Piggy' be-

young he would jump on the back of

they were

never drank, or smoked

powerful

We

of playing football.

into a superbly consistent outfielder

and

"He could

hit,

everything," insisted David.

He

could have

a soldier as

made

it

in the big leagues." 4

he was an athlete: resourceful,

calm and decisive under pressure, and highly organized. Alone among the Bedford boys, he kept a diary

—

a black

notebook

in

which he would

mostly jot a few quick reminders of his duties the next day. Thirty-four-year-old Staff Sergeant ford boy by five years

and a

Tony Marsico was the oldest Bed-

gifted catcher.

One

of ten children, Marsico

"29, Let's Go!"

had grown up

worked

come

The

Roanoke, Bob Slaughters hometown, where he had

in

Blue Hills golf course. His father, John, had

for a time at the

to Virginia 1 1

71

from

Italy in the 1890s. 5

6 Yankees faced twenty teams drawn from

all

the services in

the European Theatre of Operations, and played four games over four

days at the Eighth Air Force Headquarters, Bushy Park, in London.

Each team was allowed "They

let

those guys play ball because they wanted to keep

explained Verona Lipford, Frank Draper's

minds

off

The

men and one

to field fifteen enlisted

what was going

services

to

newspaper

sister. "It

was

them

busy,"

to get their

happen." 6

Stars

and

Stripes contained the following re-

between the 116 Yankees and the Fighter

port on the final

officer.

Command

Thunderbolts:

Led by field,

way the

their

peppery captain, Corporal Douglas

who came from behind

Mass.,

Gillette, of Spring-

the plate in the fourth to hurl his

into the hearts of the spectators, the field force Yankees

ETO

bolts, 6-3, in the final

stickmen got

ond and

Command

World Series by defeating the Fighter

Va., for a single in the sec-

third innings, but without success.

lead in the sixth

when two men were

safe

.

.

.

The winners took

rallied again in the seventh,

was out

Private First Class Joe Gubernot, of

second. Gubernot

field.

a

They

Sergeant Frank Draper, of Bedford, Va.,

getting his second triple of the game, but

when

the

on errors and scored when

batted ball got past the second baseman and went into right

score

Thunder-

played here this afternoon. The Thunderbolts'

Elmer Wright, of Bedford,

to

copped

came home on an

at the plate trying to

Shamokin,

Pa., hit to

error at first for the final tally of

the game. Wright allowed four hits and struck out five, while Gillette,

who worked on fanned

the batters

all

the way, was touched for three blows and

five. 7

Within eight months, three of the winning teams players would be dead, and another 116 Yankees player, "Chubby" Proffit, would be

awarded the Distinguished Service Cross

for gallantry.

The Bedford Boys

72

Soon

after the final

club's vice president, to

know your curve

game, Wright wrote

William O. DeWitt, replied: "We are mighty glad

ball

and your control are

when you

ready for some high class baseball

Back the It

in

Browns. The

to the St. Louis

America, on October

the

1 1

better.

think you will be

I

get back." 8

New York Yankees

had defeated

Louis Cardinals four games to one in a classic World Series

St.

was sweet revenge

for the Yankees,

who had been

final.

humiliated by the

Cardinals in 1942 and had lost three of their best players in the 1943 sea-

son

—Joe DiMaggio,

Phil Rizzuto,

and Red Ruffing

As winter returned, the Bedford and get home" 9 grew with every

—

to military service.

boys' impatience to "get the job

done

to

know

any thing about England," wrote a thoroughly dejected Grant Yopp

to his

Anna Mae,

sister,

and see

without

but also

many

This

is

one part of

now been

buddies had

his

and

gale. "If

"you will have to wait until the war

for yourself.

Yopp and

bitter frost

my in

life

I

am

England

you want

is

over and

aiming

come

to forget." 10

for fourteen

months

home leave. They were the best-trained men in the U.S. Army, among the most resentful. They had had enough of waiting and

felt that

the 29th Division had

being tested and ordered to

weapon use and tion book.

to

try

out

comply with every

become guinea

pigs, endlessly

new techniques in training and new addition to the army's regula-

"Everybody was always complaining, 'Get

it

over with. We've

been here long enough!'" recalled Bedford boy Allen Huddleston, "but few

didn't

years

if

it.

12

If

I

remember

he didn't have

When "where

mind.

Earl Parker saying he'd stay another five

to hit a beach." 11

an American evangelist erected

will

a

a sign in Ivybridge asking

you spend eternity?" someone scrawled

"in

England" across

the exact location of the Bedford boys' afterlife was in question,

one thing was action soon,

not: If the its

1

16th Infantry didn't get out of Britain and into

hard-won unity and resilience might crumble. After

three years in the regular army, there was one thing every with: Gerhardt's intuitive

war cry

—

agreed

"29, Let's Go!"

—Gerhardt's

There was, however, one morale booster eight-year-old Brigadier General

man

Norman "Dutch"

assistant, forty-

Cota. Tall and rangy,

"29, Let's Go!"

quiet and unassuming in private, from

up

to his

knees

baton, and

in

dawn

mud, clutching an

chomping on an

to

73

dusk Cota could be found

old walking stick as

if it

were

a

be heard

unlit cigar. His resonant voice could

even amid heavy explosions as he yelled encouragement and charged across banks of heather

open

to

and

fire to

fifty

yards from artillery units he had instructed

simulate the sound of war.

amphibious

particularly

assault,

specialist in infantry tactics

Cota would be the

Ray Nance. "You believed

in him." 13

Captain Fellers would often watch Cota and the confer: "Uncle Charlie,"

all

division's highest-

combat. "He was a plain, sound man,"

ranking officer in actual front-line recalled Lieutenant

A

far shorter

Gerhardt

who

swagger, barking orders at "Dutch,"

stood at the appropriate distance with his chin strap hanging loose. Cota

was the only man

in the

29th Division allowed to do

Yet again, another Christmas

cember

"Things are moving along strikes

mum.

we have our

fairly well,

all

generously that

staple items are

if

a person uses

complaining. There shoppers."

is

now

more desperate

Claus

will bring

in early

will take

but

you

December.

suppose you it

will

The

lots of things if

"I

sure hope

I

you are a good

will

Christmas

on Earl Parker,

little girl,"

and think she

is

day, 1944, the

tell

real sweet. all

he wrote

be there next Christmas.

my

love,

I

mother that I

wish

I

I

don't

don't believe I

said this,

could be there

Daddy" 16

29th Division no longer had Britain

Being a Yank armed with pass and a

much

for

"Dear Danny, Maybe Santa

us long to get acquainted. Don't

New Year's

self.

at a mini-

no reason

streets are full of

particularly hard

to see his daughter.

with you and Mother tonight. With

By

at all there is

know your Daddy when he comes home.

love her a lot

I

as

15

The weeks before Christmas were ever

such

difficulties

rationed, but they are rationed so

any judgment

plenty to buy.

De-

news from the homefront:

and complaints yet considering everything, these are Nearly

On

away from home approached.

friend of Captain Fellers sent

3, a

so. 14

fat wallet

to

it-

was no longer so

fun. In a massive build-up to the invasion of Europe, over 1.6 mil-

The Bedford Boys

74

lion other

Americans were soon crowding an area not much bigger than

They would share

Virginia.

this

occupied

'

with well over ten

territory"

million civilians, 1.7 million British troops, over 150,000 Canadians,

and 60,000 from other Allied nations, including

and parachute brigade. In

sion

comprise

six

armored

divisions, thirteen infantry divisions,

and 1,300 warships. Added

divi-

the Americans in Britain would

total,

borne divisions. Ports would soon be craft

armored

a Polish

jammed

and two

air-

with over 4,000 landing

to this colossal force

were 165 U.S. Air

Force squadrons.

As that

this

some

"American occupation" gathered pace, many 29ers discovered

had

Brits

finally

had enough of the braggart Yanks, spreading

venereal disease, packing every decent restaurant and pub, and stealing

70,000 British

their girls: over

women would

marry their Yank boyfriends

immediately after the war and return to the United States with them.

New 1944,

it

faces started to change things in

was under strength;

from Bedford. sions

Many

less

Company A

than a third of

its

too.

By February

remaining

men were commis-

of the original Bedford boys had received

and been transferred. Others had

failed increasingly stringent

physicals and stamina tests. Having formed the nucleus of the unit since Pearl Harbor, however,

most of those issuing orders were

still

Bedford

born and bred.

To bring the

1

batches of up to

16th Infantry up to fifty

full strength,

replacements arrived

men. Most were drafted northerners

year-old John Barnes, the son of devout Catholics,

twenty other noon.

17

New Yorkers

in the

"full

he had weighed

of foreboding" 1

and

still

Barnes's truck stopped and the a

many

others,

if

would

to the scales?

New Yorkers

filed into a

New

Baumgarten. The son of Austrian immigrants and a

after-

wondered what he'd have done

cocky and streetwise Jew from

Baumgarten had made

arrived with

induction medical in 1942,

19 pounds rather than 120. Like so

he have gorged himself and returned

They included

who

nineteen-

back of a freezing truck one grim

A pound over the cut-off weight at his

Barnes was

like

in

a

Quonset

hut.

York City, Hal

superb athlete,

remarkable fifty-four-yard return punt for his

"29, Let's Go!"

75

high school team the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed. In June 1943, he'd been offered a college exemption from the draft. His professors had

advised

him

to take

it,

for the opportunities

on July

"He

officer

first

Two

told us:

afforded his family, he was sworn into the army

it

and soon proved

10, 1943,

man, especially with "The

but he did not. Determined to repay his country

a

be a spectacularly gifted marks-

to

1903 Springfield bolt-action.

we met was Colonel Canham,"

recalled Baumgarten.

out of three of you are not going home.'" 18

Barnes and Baumgarten were ordered to go to one of the First Battalion's four

down

pathway between more huts and then someone barked:

a foggy

"You, you, lit

companies: "Able, Baker, Charlie or Dog." 19 They walked

you

—

fall

out here!" 20 Barnes and Baumgarten entered a well-

There they found

building.

a

heavy

tough-looking Virginian with

set,

three stripes on his shoulder.

"My name

is

Wilkes. Master Sergeant John Wilkes."

The men stood "You

ETO

men

at attention.

have been assigned

to

A

Company.

[European Theatre of Operations]

ready for combat. You

men

will

for eighteen

be ready

Another man stepped forward

—

have been in the

months and we

are

too."

and

tall

We

lean, with

two

silver bars

on

his uniform.

"My name

is

Captain Taylor

ble Virginia drawl. "This

company

in the invasion of Europe.

the war.

Good

luck!"

huts.

first night,

"Why

will

men

be

will

in

an almost

in the leading

unintelligi-

wave of

infantry

be part of a great force

to

end

21

Barnes's heart sank.

That

You

he said

Fellers,"

"What have

I

gotten into?" he thought.

the replacements

are they sending

bunked

in

Company As Nissen

you kids over here?" several Virginians

asked nineteen-year-old Baumgarten.

A couple

of days later, the replacements

nearby. For several weeks, they lived in

an increasingly

muddy

field.

were ordered

to sleep in tents

under sodden canvas without heat

To other

recruits

Roach, Gil Murdock, and Thomas Valance,

it

such as riflemen George

seemed

that the Southern-

The Bedford Boys

76

were deliberately testing the northern replacements, ostracizing them

ers

were deemed tough and

until they

fit

enough

to eat

Company A. "The Bedford men were Baumgarten. "When we came out of our

and sleep beside the one big

stalwarts of

like

called

tents to line

morning

for reveille, they

kidding with each other.

were

The

calling

all

captain

each other by their

knew

every one of

family/' re-

up

first

in the

names,

them." 22

After a month, the replacements were finally allowed to join the rest of

Company A under

site

a roof. Hal

Baumgarten

slept

on

a top

bunk oppo-

Jack Powers. "He was very good to me. He'd trained to be a Ranger

and wasn't too happy great soldier

to

and taught

be back

me

was disbanded]. He was

[his unit

a lot of tricks.

a

Bedford Hoback was also

" friendly. 23

At

first,

however, most replacements

made uneasy

bedfellows. "Those

boys from up North, you had to ride them or they'd ride you," recalled

Mess Sergeant they'd forget

had

to

Earl

who you

have them."

Other

Newcomb.

men

"You had to holler at them sometimes or

They

were.

didn't

want

bridled at

some

of the

new

even slower.

the infernal Yankees.

many tion,

a fierce

"I

still

The

night,

Civil

Among them

house lawyers. gets

you

preconceptions of

hicks.

Accents got

shared their grandfathers' contempt of

War was

not over yet, and there was slavery, reconstruc-

Captain Fellers would do a bed check before

Run and Gettysburg

find the battle of Bull

over again.

like

battles of the war.

wrote his parents. "They

them

Some

dumb

but mostly good-natured debate about

and the key

Each

be disciplined

city boys'

the Southerners in the 29th Division as thicker, drawls

to

24

It is

sit

around and smoke

going on," Fellers

their pipes

and

are diplomats, statesmen, politicians,

really interesting just to listen.

back from pass and

description you would

lights out.

starts telling

about a

fight

it all

and guard

And when one

girl

of

he met, from his

wonder how Heddy Lamar and Lana Turner ever

got so popular." 25

Before turning Fellers

in,

one of

A

Company's four lieutenants

would censor the men's mail

to

be sent

to

or Captain

America the following

77

"29, Let's Go!"

day.

The rhyming

ings fascinated Fellers.

"Those boys

"And from the

local mail

the local lassies too."

As

to express their feel-

there," Fellers told his par-

that the

same

tactics

work with

26

became more involved with preparations

Fellers

lied

back

seems

it

used

have a technique on some of

really

their phraseology to the girls they left ents.

men

slang and private codes

for Overlord,

more than ever on Master Sergeant John Wilkes

to deal

he

re-

with prob-

lems of morale or discipline. Wilkes was particularly tough on replace-

ments who and to

enough

didn't adapt quickly

strict regulations.

undermine the

A

bunch

Company As

to

rigid discipline

of rowdy, slack city kids were not going

he and Fellers had primed since Fort

fighting force

Meade. Wilkes had put on twenty pounds since leaving Virginia and when angry was so intimidating that one

huge

"wall" about to

ginia tobacco

fall

on him.

New Yorker

He

often

thought he looked

chewed

a potent

and on several occasions reminded new

stand to attention by spitting a large

wad between

brand of

arrivals

their legs.

like a

Vir-

how

to

Men quickly

learned to salute correctly with their heels firmly locked together.

One

morning, John Barnes woke up with a terrible pain in his jaw

Knowing Wilkes would make him

couldn't bear shaving in cold water.

shave, Barnes reported sick to another company's medical station.

desperate.

would be It

knew

really

I

couldn't

chewed

didn't take long for

out."

shaved every day!

From then

show up

to roll call

was

with stubble because

I

what Barnes had done.

to find out

for the last three weeks,"

Go back and

whose camp was known

to

he barked, "and

shave."

on, Barnes toed the line.

He

mild in comparison with the regimental fantry,

"I

27

Wilkes

had a skin infection

"I've I've

I

He

many

soon realized that Wilkes was

commander

in the

of the 116th In-

29th Division as "Colonel

Canham's Concentration Camp." 28 "The

officers in

Roy Stevens.

"I

had

England were scared a sore

on

my foot

to

death of Canham," recalled

one time from

all

the marching and

The Bedford Boys

78

I

had

you

go to

to

can't

shoe

off!'

aid so

first

wear

He must

if

wore

a proper shoe

men

on that

takes

it

and kept

thirty dollars

foot, you'll

the shoe.

men

him

like

to

'If

go barefooted. Take that

win

a

—he was

so

war." 29

returned from forty-eight-hour passes just a few minutes

perhaps having missed a

late,

Canham saw

a tennis shoe.

have been ashamed of himself sometimes

tough on the men. But

Even

I

in

camp

last train

from London, they were fined

month.

for a

Canham had

punishment, which led even Major General Gerhardt

decided on the

to

complain one

day that he was "too hard on the men."

"Goddamn commanding

it,"

Canham

replied, "this

I

the one

men

don't

mind

that thirty dollars but

thirty days." 30

they hate that 1

my regiment and am

it."

"You know," said Gerhardt, "the

The

is

16th's officers took their

cue from Canham, driving their

harder and harder that winter as the planned invasion got closer.

Company A now formed up ranks. If he

parade

will

saw

a sloppy

never march!"

for drill, Fellers

men

When

would prowl along the

uniform or stubble, he shouted

angrily: "This

31

Increasingly, soldiers vented their anxieties

and frustrations outside

camp. By 1944, there were outraged reports about GIs' heavy drinking

and boorishness throughout

she invited to her home: "Boys,

much

to drink

them

New

Lady Astor now

told the Virginians

you're out on the

town and have too

Britain. if

and any English people ask you where you are from

New

Jersey, or anyplace

but Virginia.

I

English people that Virginia boys don't drink and rough

it

York,

But Virginia boys did drink and many loved

to

rough

it

have told the up." 32 up.

"Most of

the boys never really drank before," recalled Roy Stevens. "The

knew how

down was

for

to drink.

We

didn't.

an hour and drink

a record!

We

drank

it

it,

They could but

down

if it

Tommy

take a bottle of beer and

lasted

tell

two minutes with

sit

us, that

in one." 33

Snake Eyes Carter and John Reynolds were among Company As heaviest "boozers." Both narrowly avoided being thrown in the lock-up for

drunken behavior. "Poor old Jackie [John Reynolds], he was

a real

79

"29, Let's Go!"

much one night he came back to the barracks and peed in John Clifton's bed. He was like a lot of those boys. Most of them didn't have much chance here wild guy," recalled a Bedford contemporary.

in

"He drank

so

Bedford but they were good-looking, and over there they put that uni-

form on and they were something." 34

Knowing in

their

Company A

"number would soon come

started to

"come

covered without a pass by

found himself

in

up," other "good-time guys"

a cropper," as local landlords put

MPs

one

night, Dickie Overstreet

Dis-

it.

suddenly

charge of a flamethrower, arguably the most dangerous

job in the infantry. 35 Sergeant Jack Powers, one of the finest soldiers in

Company

AWOL. Although Company A after his

A, also got busted, apparently for going

pleased to be back with his childhood friends in

29th Rangers had been disbanded, Powers was also dismayed that his

months of intensive

some spent with

training,

Scotland, had been in vain. For going sergeant's stripes,

same

making him

AWOL,

British

commandos

Fellers stripped

him

in

of his

had done the

a private first class. Fellers

Bedford Hoback for eating a sandwich without permission dur-

to

ing a march.

The demotion

didn't

seem

bother Bedford too much. In a

to

Mabel he expressed an ever more nonchalant view

his sister

was smoking

far too

much, but what the

going to enjoy himself

hell, life

happy?

I

too but

I

smoke too many, more than will die

happy with

In nearby Ivybridge, the

my it

who had

day,

not

and

let I

many

but so

them

die

cough much

out.

a battleground at

There was nothing

New

like a

week-

good

fight

replacements were advised

to

and bypass the town when they received

their

John Wilkes spent many Monday mornings disciplining

men

to the nearest city

pass.

why

kills

cigarettes." 36

to relieve bottled-up aggression.

first

pack each

town center was now

ends as drunken GIs slugged

head

a

He

life.

was short and he was

come what may: "Smoking never

people and they were going to die anyway. So

of

letter to

fallen afoul of

MPs

in Ivybridge

over the weekend.

Increasingly often, the fights in Ivybridge had to do with race. In

America, blacks were

still

segregated. But in Britain there

was no color

The Bedford Boys

80

divide.

many

Black soldiers were treated the same as white GIs,

Southerners. "The truck

company over

to the fury of

there was black," recalled

Lieutenant Ray Nance. 'They'd meet the outfit in the pubs, and the troublemakers would get to work. There was something going on pretty

much all the time with the black men." 37 What most upset many Southerners was the sight of English women dating black Americans. 'The men were not used to seeing that, and couldn't get used to

Nance

A

it,

though I'm sure they could

if

they had tried,"

said. 38

black lieutenant, Joseph O. Curtis, was also stationed in the area.

That March, he wrote know, the more

to a friend

back

see of the English, the

I

in segregated

more disgusted

America: "You I

become with

Americans. After the war, with the eager and enthusiastic support of every negro

who

will

have served in Europe,

send white Americans back ica."

shall start a

movement

England and bring the English

to

to

Amer-

39

In local pubs,

from the bat was

and

to

I

Company A

1st Division. like: horrific

Fellers's ranks.

of weeks.

If

be shipped

would be

One

ran into blacks but also weary veterans

They were and very

brutally honest

when asked what com-

short, especially for officers of

They could expect

to fight for

no more than a couple

they were lucky, they'd receive a "million dollar"

home

Nance's

wound and

as an invalid. The only other way back to Bedford

in a coffin.

day, as the 29ers

marched along

in perfect formation,

"29, Let's Go!," a 1st Division soldier shouted back:

be right behind

you!" 40

"England's

Own" were

so

"Go ahead

goddamned

chanting 29, we'll eager, so

naively gung-ho, and so well-disciplined they even kept their chin straps

buckled.

7

Slapton Sands

THE COUNTDOWN

TO THE

March 1944. Company As boat teams and the exercises the thirty

men

real thing finally

became

serious.

1

From now

train, eat,

60mm

The teams included two

officers, a

man machine gun

men responsible for and four men armed with

for

blowing holes

harmony

four-man

crew, five

obstacles, five riflemen,

in wire.

to "assault

head by neutralizing

until

and sleep

D-Day,

together.

mortar crew, a fourdemolition of beach

Bangalore torpedoes

Everything they did was focused on working in

enemy beaches and be all

in early

four platoons were reorganized into six

each boat team would

in

began

able to establish a beach-

obstacles and pillboxes." 2

Suddenly, the Bedford boys found themselves with very specific roles that they

would perfect on the moors and

sault training centers

at a specially built series of as-

(ACTs) around Woolacombe and Braunton on the

south coast. Buck privates as well as General Gerhardt praised these cilities as

superb.

Ray Stevens, Roys brother, led thought to be the most accurate

He was

fa-

a

man

so proficient, in fact, that he

mortar squad and was widely in the

company with

was placed

in

the

60mm.

charge of training the

company's other squads.

John Schenk, Company As communications sergeant, was now sponsible for making sure that the six boat teams walkie-talkie radios

and that the

men

operating

enormous pressure. Far shorter than Captain

all

had operational

them could do Fellers,

re-

so under

Schenk would

scurry after his captain on maneuvers relaying orders to each of the

The Bedford Boys

82

teams. "Tail Feather" Fellers darted around with a sprinter's pace,

prompting some Bedford boys Fellers

"Long Legs."

enough

or exited

When

to

the Bedford boys did not form up quickly

mock-up landing

goddamned

slow, too slow, too

we

"Several times

left

nickname Schenk "Duck Legs" and

craft clumsily, Fellers

would bark

"too

go on a

full

slow!" 3

our headquarters

at Ivybridge to

dry-run operation," recalled John Barnes, a rifleman in Roy Stevens's boat team. "This would involve marching to the railroad station near the

assembly point.

village or a truck

through Ivybridge, railway tracks.

up

lining

like

its

We

left

houses dark and people

often thought at the time,

I

sheep off

forced us to obey

no further? Was

camp

why

to the slaughter that

when our

silent,

did

and marched

up the

we

go?

.

.

hill to .

the

Were we

we knew was ahead? What

heads, our hearts, and our feet wanted to go

the fear of military discipline?

it

at night

Was

it

patriotism, love

and country?" 4

of flag

The

trains

and trucks took the Bedford boys

Weymouth. Then

the

men would walk

to a sealed

in their boat

camp

near

teams up gangways

onto a British troopship, the Empire Javelin, to be ferried to Slapton Sands.

An

area designated on England's south coast since 1943 for prac-

ticing large-scale

beaches

in

amphibious

assaults, Slapton

Sands resembled several

Normandy: gently sloping stretches

of sand

and shingle

flanked by a five-foot-deep salt marsh. Several miles out at sea, in pitch blackness, the Bedford boys would

crawl

down

LCVPs

cargo nets flung over the ship's side and step into bucking

(landing craft, vehicle and personnel), which would take

Slapton Sands.

The

Eisenhower, would boats, with

Allied

all

later credit these craft,

winning the war.

commonly known

allow a fast

even

in

The

and could carry up

into

combat

boats were thirty-six feet long and

made from plywood with

exit,

as Higgins

5

other crafts combined.

ten feet wide,

to

Supreme Commander, General Dwight D.

Over 20,000 Higgins boats would carry more Americans than

them

a

metal ramp that lowered to

to thirty-six

men

quickly to shore

rough seas. Highly moveable and powered by a very reliable

Slapton Sands

diesel motor, the Higgins boats only defect

was

that

83

shipped water

it

heavy seas, causing acute seasickness. The

and bounced around

in

British equivalent, the

LCA

(landing craft assault) was produced in far

fewer numbers, but had benches to

sit

down on and some

protection

from the elements.

Over

several weeks,

Company A

refined their landing techniques on

two-day exercises and tried

to

now

barbed wire blown by Bangalore torpedoes.

as they crawled through

keep their nerve: Bullets flew overhead

"The beauty of the Bangalore was that they blew aprons of barbed wire

men

by exploding sideways and not towards the wire," recalled rifleman

enabled us

The men

to

blow

Hal Baumgarten of boat team number

They

fired at targets.

smoke was used caused too

it

dug

confusion and would not be employed on

sumed

in the beach, in all

and then

firing

D-Day, thereby providing crucial protection. Mines had

and then carefully uncovered with bayonets.

Dummy

When

real to

it

was

beach on

be scouted

positions stormed

homes emptied

Wilkes's boat team. Fifty years

Roach was

later,

in

he would

Master Sergeant John

vividly recall the proce-

dure for storming a beach:

As the boat would land

at the

tenant would be the

one

riflemen

who would be

pedo people and wire

beach, the ramp was dropped. The

by four or

five

by Bangalore

tor-

off the boat, usually, followed

in a position to fan out, followed

cutters, then the flame thrower

lieu-

and

his assistant,

then the demolition team which carried pole charges of TNT, then sec-

ond

in

command,

in

[my

of

before.

Assistant flamethrower George

first

as-

the beach had been se-

cured, the Bedford boys had to climb bluffs and seize

months

—

itself.

blown

into craters,

beach exercises that craters would pepper the

British residents only

D-Day

from awkward positions

and concrete pillboxes blown with TNT.

first,

was decided that the smoke

Machine-gun operators practiced jumping down or

'They

tested different forms of grenades. At

to provide cover but then

much

six.

of barbed wire rapidly" 6

many rows

a path through

barbed

in front of the

boat], Sergeant Wilkes.

.

.

.

The Bangalore

tor-

The Bedford Boys

84

pedo people would run up

where the barbed wire was, throw

to

charge across the barbed wire, explode follow on and

from

us,

fire at

it

so that the riflemen could then

the pillbox which was usually situated at a distance

and then the flame thrower would

activate his flame thrower at

come up and

the embrasure and then the pole charge people would their

TNT packages

against the embrasure

and blow

a hole in

it.

down

very quick you had to stay

The U.S. army allowed

alistic

to

Company

bruised egos

some

elite

realized

keep your head." 8

to

among

SS combat

Hitler's

most

A, there were minor injuries

"loss of lives

when Bedford boy Andrew Coleman

and

casualties,

on Slapton Sands.

— sprained

until

ritu-

fanatical followers.

in every fullscale rehearsal

—but no serious casualty

units, the al-

masochism attended the

Hal Baumgarten, there was

which were hushed up," In

In

to 15 percent: a cathartic

preparations for killing

According

low as you could

percent casualties in training, far less than

for 5

Germans and Russians.

lowance was 10

as

lay

7

"Man, Slapton Sands was tough," recalled Roy Stevens. "You

the

a pole

ankles, cuts,

and

one particularly cold day

collapsed with

pneumonia

aggra-

vated by the cold and wet conditions.

Coleman had grown up

in a lovely old two-story

home on Grove

Street in the heart of Bedford, the son of a widely respected carpenter.

Perpetual pain had cast a long shadow over his

life:

For most of his

youth, Coleman's mother had been severely crippled with arthritis. "She lay in

bed

in a

room downstairs,"

recalled Sibyle Kieth

wife of one of Andrew's nephews. "She couldn't

any of her

fingers, hands.

She had

In the hospital in England, Bright's disease,

The

which made

move her arms, her

terrible pain."

legs,

9

Coleman developed

his

Coleman, the

a kidney complaint,

"whole body and stomach swell up." 10

infection rapidly developed into chronic nephritis

which causes

progressive, incurable kidney damage. In the days before dialysis

and

kidney transplants, patients could expect only a slow and agonizing death.

Coleman was soon

the end of April 1944.

11

so

ill

that he

was shipped back

to

America by

Slapton Sands

85

Boat teams practiced over and over until the assault procedure went like

clockwork.

If

teams couldn't get

it

they were taken out onto

right,

the moors where they trained until Captain Fellers was satisfied.

Sunday

drizzly

March

in late

when

nique for blowing up a pillbox

package into the

was

pillbox's slit

perhaps because of a faulty or

The death stunned killed

team was

a boat

the

man

killed; the

damp

by an explosion. "Seeing that [man

"They

all

seen

[to pieces]."

you

it,

see.

we were

And

his

a

trying to perfect the tech-

assigned to lobbing a

TNT

TNT

exploded in his face,

fuse.

the Bedford boys.

anything else the whole time

On

No

one had yet seen

man

a

boys more than

die] hurt those

in training," recalled

Roy Stevens.

body was mangled, blown pretty well

12

Even on practice invasion runs, John Schenk found time each night at

10 P.M. to stop and think about Ivylyn. Back in Bedford, she was

struggling to recover from headaches

On March

nightmares.

mare, "I

God had

she had

17,

this violent

exchanged sentences with God.

my husband

gether.

John and

when he came By

April,

seemed on form

I

wrote

back."

I

headache," explained Ivylyn. I

would probably be

said to

him

that

also

Would they kill?

speculated as to where and

some

on edge. Tempers

Men

World War

are carried out."

15

I

was had

he could lives to-

flared. Officers

wondered how they would

per-

would they

find

disgrace themselves or

fire for

when

the

first

time.

Over and

over,

said,

they

they would finally gamble with death.

of the Bedford boys read Liberty magazine's bold

prediction: "There will be no needless loss of in

didn't think

There was no way of knowing, veterans

they would behave under

Army

I

"It

a widow.

the time to each other about having children

all

particularly short fuses.

April,

In the night-

13

14

Company A was

in actual battle.

That

woken up screaming.

provoked by

because we had not had our children and our

the courage to fight and

how

partial paralysis

John would not come back.

told her

was awakened with

the beginning of understanding that

take

and

II if

life in

the

the orders and plans of our High

American

Command

— The Bedford Boys

86

But the experience of American troops

from reassuring. At Anzio, the Germans had contained the

far

Allies effec-

preventing them from reaching Rome, and causing demoralizing

tively,

casualties as they

Monte Cassino, bogged down

bombarded trapped troops

the Allies had also

met

in a battle of attrition that

Normandy

belly" as Churchill

had predicted

in

—

far

mountainous spine did not augur well on French

threatened to

from

I.

it.

slog

for the Allies

and become

become

was no

Italy

The

week. At

after

as bloody

"soft

under-

up the country's

once they had

ar-

soldiers able to

impose severe casu-

they fought defensive actions in Italy and on the Eastern

where the Russians had

Front,

week

soil.

The Germans were formidable alties as

for

fierce resistance

World War

as those fought in

rived

was

in Italy that spring

1944 attack. But they were

far inferior to the Allies in

tary intelligence. In order to

summer

yet to launch their massive

maximize

matters of mili-

this critical advantage,

Over-

lord's

planners set up Operation Fortitude, a plan to convince the Ger-

mans

that the Overlord forces

were double

and that

their actual size

the invasion would take place on the Pas de Calais far from the Cotentin peninsula. Fortitude created

phantom

divisions, a British Fourth

Army preparing to invade Norway, and a U.S. First Army Group, commanded by General George S. Patton, that was poised to land on the Pas de Calais any day. Run by an ultra-secret intelligence committee, "The Twenty Committee" (so-named after the Roman numerals XX double cross), Operation Fortitude was arguably the most successful of

all

after

preparations for Overlord.

D-Day they

still

It

so convinced the

Germans

that even

believed that the main Allied attack would be in

the region of the Pas de Calais.

On had

April 13, Sergeant

told

"Looks

him

like

that

Raymond Hoback wrote

who

most of Bedford's young men had now been drafted:

they will get

all

we come back. Well, the 26, Company A performed

the boys before

army won't hurt them much." its final

to his parents,

16

On

April

dry-run invasion on Slapton Sands, Operation Fox, sailing on

the troopship Empire Javelin from

Weymouth and

landing at

dawn

in

87

Slapton Sands

British-built in

LCAs. The boat teams worked

in perfect

barbed wire were quickly blown, the beach

men

were no casualties. The

for the real thing.

enough

be the

cially

to

exits secured,

Company A had proved

29ers to land in France.

hard and competed to be the

Nance. "We had

tried to

pride and honor.

And

it

and there

returned to their barracks confident and

keyed up

first

harmony. Gaps

first

on the beach," recalled Ray

be the best in training.

We

worked.

was good

it

"We had worked espeIt

were chosen

was

to

a

matter or

be the

first to

land." 17

Many

29ers believed they deserved, simply by virtue of having

spent so long in England, to be

first in line to

invade Europe. They

had trained longer and harder than any other American

division. Al-

though they had never seen combat, they were tough, risk-taking, and aggressive troops. General

Gerow and General

Gerhardt's training

regimes had given the Bedford boys great stamina and a proud, almost cocky, confidence.

Time and

again, British officers

American buck

private

was not

would

concede that while the

later

Tommy

good as the

as

in saluting

other barrack-room discipline, he was often more gung-ho.

were paid three times

as

much, had been reared with

and

The Yanks

a "can-do" atti-

tude, and were supplied by a vast industrial capacity. But the crucial dif-

ference lay in memory.

bloodbaths of World che. There ticians

—

The Somme, Paschendaele, and other

War

I

had

was no enthusiasm

a generation

left

scars

in the direct line of fire of

British psy-

among

British tac-

and then walk across

German machine

guns.

had charged towards death during the

three generations ago.

on the

had been culled between 1914 and 1918 due

callous orders to "go over the top,"

cestors

permanent

for full frontal assaults

horrific

Company A had

war or the resentment of senior

No Mans Land

The Bedford

Civil

to

War

boys' an-

but that was

not grown up with a loathing of

officers that

had resulted from the mas-

sacre of Britain's youth.

Their lack of combat experience actually increased their confidence,

some

historians have argued.

It

was

to the Allies'

advantage that so

many

The Bedford Boys

88

men had

not seen combat; young

men who

are far less likely to rush headlong towards

have seen the horror of war Naivete can perhaps be a

it.

powerful weapon. Only one of the eleven American divisions in Britain before

—the

D-Day

The Bedford

1st Division

boys' senior

lieved the troops

longed

firefight

But

figured,

vital to

in the last

among many

The boys

resistance.

didn't

—they beneed

because they did not envision

to

be

a pro-

senior

success in such a risky operation as Over-

weeks before D-Day confidence evaporated

American generals and

their self-assurance to slip

disasters of

little

also confident

on the beaches.

Confidence was lord.

commanders were

would meet

combat veterans, they

—had seen combat.

World War

II.

officers.

What caused

was witnessing one of the greatest

Near Slapton Sands,

in

military

one night of mis-

communication, panic, and organizational chaos during an invasion dress rehearsal,

beaches. terrible

Many

more Americans died on survivors

all

but one of the Overlord

and witnesses viewed the catastrophe

as a

omen.

On April

27, 1944, barely twenty-four hours after the Bedford boys

had

practiced their Omaha-invasion scenario by storming Slapton Sands for the final time, Operation Tiger sion

—began

—an invasion

after dark. Twenty-five

rehearsal for the 4th Divi-

thousand

men were due

to land

on

Slapton Sands, which had been prepared to resemble Utah Beach in

Normandy Three hundred

Navy providing an

British Royal

any German

because the

had been and the

thirty-seven ships were involved, with the escort and protection from attack from

The men needed

craft patrolling the channel. 4th's previous exercise

"far

on Slapton Sands, "Exercise

men who

Lyme

Beaver,''

from successful: co-ordination between units broke down took part remember

it

mainly for the confusion." 18

Shortly after midnight on April 28, nine into

the practice

Bay, close to Slapton Sands.

German

torpedo boats

moved

Lured by heavier than normal

radio traffic, the E-boats suddenly found themselves in the midst of

eration Tiger.

Op-

89

Slapton Sands

German havoc

E-boats, "Schnellboote," were designed to wreak

in the channel.

A

hundred

feet long,

maximum

armed with two torpedoes

and powered by 6000-horsepower Daimler Benz engines, painted black for nighttime

camouflage, able to attack

knots, the boats also carried two tracer bullets that

up

lit

far

from

20mm

at a

maximum speed

40

of

cannons, which fired green

their source to prevent Allied vessels

from quickly identifying their position. The rehearsals slow moving

LSTs

(landing ship tanks) were no match.

Because of widespread confusion among the British escorts, that night the E-boats were able to get close enough to the Tiger convoy

(codenamed T-4)

to

launch their torpedoes. Warnings had been issued

about the Germans' presence but no preventative action taken. The

was an unmitigated

sult

One LST was trapping many of the

disaster.

other burst into flames,

seriously crippled.

re-

An-

victims below deck.

A

sank immediately, sending hundreds of U.S. 4th Division soldiers

third

to their deaths.

As bodies washed ashore along England's South Coast

in the days

the official death count rose to 749. Quartermaster soldiers on

after,

LST 531 were among the hardest hit. The 3206th Quartermaster Service Company was virtually destroyed. Of its 251 officers and men,

board

201 were killed or wounded.

Navy Medical Corpsman Arthur

U.S.

LST

Victor survived the sinking of

507, which had been 'packed with about 500 soldiers

ous [vehicles], jeeps, trucks other, top

.

.

deck and tank deck.

.

.

.

.

amphibi-

loaded from one end of the ship to the

We

were

a floating arsenal." 19

Like hundreds of other survivors, Victor would spend the night clinging to a

By

also I

life raft

been swallowing

started puking.

good fall

as his

countrymen slipped

3 A.M., the channel waters

it

felt

away

I

by hypothermia.

into death

were "almost unbearably

cold. ...

had

water that made me nauseous, and my pants to feel the warm. remember how my thighs." 20 Victor watched buddy after buddy

pissed

pouring over

I

into the black waters, unable to struggle on. Soon,

half of those

I

oily tasting salt

who had

clung to the

life raft

after

more than

507 sank were dead.

The Bedford Boys

90

man

After three hours in the water, a

ships engine. Another LST, 5

1

LCVPs

lowered three

5

by Andrew Higgins wards

to

He had

Victor.

Number

515, had

come

to the rescue.

a

The

and one of the boats designed

into the water

storm enemy beaches quickly made

way

its

to-

held a fellow survivor's hand most of the night but

man

now, only minutes from rescue, the

came

ludicrous thought

shouted that he could hear

to

mind

that

I

gave up.

"I

was so mad

could have killed [him]."

that the 21

Julian Perkin, a British warrant officer candidate, arrived off Slapton

Sands aboard appalling.

HMS

Obedient near daybreak on April 28: "The sight was

There were hundreds of bodies of American servicemen,

full battle gear, floating in

heads blown

off.

.

.

.

the sea.

Many had

their limbs

literally

scooping up bodies.

The dead were buried

wounded were

It

was

craft with their

a ghastly sight!" 22

were

told to

word

anyone before the invasion. "We

to

keep our mouths shut and taken

to a

camp where we were

quarantined," recalled 4th Division infantryman Eugene Carney.

we went through two

for

the mess line

example,

29,

we

"When

weren't even allowed to talk to the

we wanted two

fingers. If three, three

On April

The

segregated for days from other troops and, according to

survivors, told not to say a

If,

ramps

graveyards around England.

in military

some

cooks.

their

Those the doctor pronounced dead were pushed

back into the sea [where] small American landing

down were

and even

in

potatoes,

we were

told to hold

up

fingers." 23

corpsman Arthur Victor joined other

survivors

who were

taken to a "dilapidated barracks, under guard, for three days, and ordered, under threat of court martial, not to discuss the incident with

anyone outside our immediate group." 24

On

the evening of April 29, General Eisenhower wrote to General

George C. Marshall, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of ton.

The

disaster

meant

Overlord's success.

"We

that the Allies

Staff, in

Washing-

had no reserves of LSTs,

are stretched to the limit in the

LST

vital to

category,"

wrote a concerned Eisenhower, "while the implications of the attack and the possibility of both raiders and bombers concentrating on

major ports make one scratch his head." 25

some

of our

Slapton Sands

More worrying

to

Eisenhower than the communications

91

failure that

had exacerbated the disaster was the 4th Division's woeful performance

once

had actually landed on Slapton Sands. Harry Butcher, Eisen-

it

hower's aide, was, like his boss, deeply troubled by "the absence of

toughness and alertness of the young American officers

They seem

this trip.

to regard

happy time.

are having a

war

They

as

whom

one grand maneuver

saw on

I

which they

in

are as green as growing corn.

.

.

We

.

should have a more experienced division for the assault than the 4th

which has never been vision that

in a fight in this war." 26

was not green, the

the joint operation to seize

and due

1st Division,

the 29th Division's inexperience,

it

Omaha

But there was only one

had been slated

the

knowledge,

Germans

survivors,

it

concerns about

to join the 29ers in

Beach.

Secrecy about the Slapton Sands disaster was crucial.

mon

to

became com-

If it

would have an irreparable impact on morale and

to Overlord. Yet despite the

rumors spread

fast

di-

through

many

gag order imposed on

alert

many

Some were

officers' quarters.

so shocked by the scale of the botch-up that they began to question their roles in Overlord. officer,

some

The

Taylor Fellers,

survivors

area for the

1

tragedy also affected

who may have heard about

were temporarily housed

16th Infantry. "He was

all

at

it

could have been us guys.

We

hands.

It

"It

when he

A

well: "It

me

told

upset him a whole

about

lot.

He

had done exactly what they had

made

us even more

had these young men's

lives in

our

deeply affected us." 27

Officers

pany

We

commanding

the disaster because

done, only two days before them. [Operation Tiger]

aware of our responsibilities.

A's

Blandford, near the holding

excited

the disaster," recalled Lieutenant Nance. said

Company

Nance and

about the

Fellers did not say a

disaster.

According

to

would have given us something

ready had a

lot

So did the

had happened

on our

word

to

anyone

Roy Stevens, else to

else in

this

was

worry about.

.

.

.

Com-

just as

We

al-

mind." 28

Allies' senior intelligence officers.

to the officers involved in

What, they wondered,

Operation Tiger

who knew

the

The Bedford Boys

92

details of Overlord? Staff headquarters for

a panic.

"There was a whole day

when

it

General Montgomery was

was seriously contemplated

ing to alter the [D-Day] operation because of the knowledge

enemy must now be presumed most everything we

to

have

—the

in

try-

which the

detailed knowledge of

al-

planned." 29

But over the following days the bodies of every intelligence officer

were found, even though hundreds of other corpses were never recovered.

It

was "one of those amazing miracles which characterize

Overlord was intelligence In

still

know

a secret,

it

war." 30

seemed. But only on D-Day would Allied

for sure.

Company A, one

thing was certain: Captain Fellers had changed.

Before Operation Tiger, he had been infectiously confident and assured.

Now

he was

full

of doubt.

self-

8

The Sausages

ON May

At LAST,

^Jl trucks

1944,

18,

and were driven

to

the Bedford boys climbed into

containment camps

in preparation for

Operation Overlord. The camps were called "sausages" because they

were located alongside roads and actually resembled sausages on maps.

By D-Day they would contain over two million men, the

greatest gather-

ing of personnel in the history of war.

The Bedford

boys' "sausage"

was code-named D-l and located ten

miles north of Dorchester, a half-hour truck drive from the English

Channel.

"Its tents

contained the entire

recalled Hal Baumgarten.

the

camp

.

.

A

"Company

1st Battalion,

was

116th Infantry,"

in the northeast corner of

Foxholes were dug in the calcified English earth. There

.

were outhouses with collecting ularly burned,

pails.

and shipped away

The

collected excretions were reg-

for fertilizer.

The

acrid odor of the

smoke was very unpleasant." At the southwest corner of D-l stood an old English ancestral home, Doulish.

The Bedford boys were now way out would be on

a truck

sealed off from the outside world.

bound

for

Weymouth where

board the Empire Javelin and then cross to France.

sued

to

anyone

for

The

only

the boys would

No passes would be

any reason. "Sentries were posted everywhere

to

is-

keep

us from escaping," recalled John Barnes. Barbed wire curled along high

perimeter fences, giving D-l the look of a

At

first,

the

men were

kept busy with

POW enclosure.

final kit preparations.

Every square

inch of their uniforms had to be gas-proofed, waterproofed, and then cam-

93

The Bedford Boys

94

ouflaged. That done, they sat for hours, speaking

thoughts, writing letters to loved ones.

many

Overlord but

little,

They could not

own

nursing their

write a

word about

hinted in letters that they were about to see action.

Captain Fellers ordered his

be especially attentive when cen-

officers to

soring the men's mail. John Barnes remembered that 'any attempt to pass

on news of the upcoming invasion was censored by cutting out the

Any

fending words.

deleted. I'm sure our letters looked "It

was

tenant

with

my turn

Nance

illegible

more

like

to read the boys' letters

recalled.

"Once,

I

came

words repeated over and

over.

It

for."

my

wife

LOVE YOU

knows what

it

1

censor them," Lieu-

across a suspicious-looking

letter,

some kind

looked

like

Nance

called the private

the letter into his office. "This doesn't

said. "Well, I

ribbons than anything else."

home and

code, which we'd been warned to look out

who wrote

of-

any person, place, or thing was

slight reference to

make

sense,"

of

Nance

means," said the private.

were the only words the private had almost learned

to

write. 2

Earl Parker wrote as often as he had promised, at least once a week,

never failing to

tell

Viola about the latest "flick" on base, as the Brits

He had seen around England. He asked called films.

kept the boys

his first castle in Scotland

about Danny,

name because she thought

now it

and other

sites

over a year old. Viola had

would make Earl happy.

Dickie Abbott had always written "cheerful letters" to his grandmother.

He

hadn't realized

When

England.

farm with Uncle all

down

in the

how much he

he came home, he wrote, Jerry."

But

in his

"I

and help you and bring you

tle

Dickie

is

On May

"I

most recent

would letter,

like to

he was

work on the

"sad, blue

and

dumps." 3 His grandmother wrote back expressing so many

other grandparents' hopes:

each dear child

loved her and his parents until he got to

pray our Dear Lord to be with you, protect

safely

in the service of

the prayer of

home. God

bless

and be with you, and

our country. Dear God, be with dear

Grandmother and

24 Raymond Hoback wrote

all

the folks back home."

to his parents.

lit-

4

He had been

in

the hospital with severe nosebleeds, a medical condition that ran in the family, it.

and had consequently been offered

Nothing was going

to separate

him from

a discharge but his brother

and

had refused friends. 5

The Sausages

John Schenk asked Ivylyn then added: "Only God, a now."

6

He hoped

had turned

hair

That sion

spring,

send him

to

lot of

Schenk had

also a

when

had the opportunity

commission

home

sent from

canned ham and chicken. Ray

and

a belt,

me

she saw him: His

to avoid the inva-

in a different outfit.

—candy, good cookies,

tried to get

home, and he wanted

"Ray

recalled Ivylyn Schenk. "They

second lieutenant]. But John thought

a lot longer to get

and

luck and a deep foxhole can help

Nance and John [Schenk] were buddies,"

we

billfold

7

— he had been offered

[as a

new

she would not be disappointed

gray.

shared packages

a

95

John it

to take the

fruitcake,

commission

would mean he would take

to stay

with the Bedford men." 8

Company A would have felt tantamount to desertion. On May 27, Sergeant Grant Yopp celebrated his twenty-first birthday. Two days later, Captain Taylor Fellers assured his family all was well and that as "soon as we take Hitler, we'll be back." He was looking forward Leaving

to his thirtieth birthday

Back

on June

in Bedford, several

wives shared news from the boys over coffee in

Some joked

Green's drugstore.

10. 9

that

Company A had an

official letter

who mimicked each man's handwriting and repeated the same message. Many had read a poem their men had sent in letters as a jibe

writer

against the censors:

Can't write a thing

The censor

to

blame

Just say I'm well

And

sign

my name

Can't say where we're going

Don't

know where

we'll land

Couldn't inform you

met by a band. 10

If

In their letters from

were

America

just as careful as their

men

to the

men

in

Company

A, the wives

about what they wrote. The U.S. Gov-

The Bedford Boys

96

ernment's Office of

War

Information had warned citizens in the "interior

men

zone" not to unsettle the

possible. "Dear John" letters,

even marriage, could send

announcing the end of

men

market

many

drafting of

as positive as

a relationship or

over the edge.

The news from Bedford was mixed. for black

They should be

overseas.

Several

men had been

prosecuted

There was widespread concern about the

activities.

fathers in Bedford that

signs that severe shortages might be

March. But there were

coming

an end.

to

On May

also

3,

the

Office of Price Administration in Washington ended meat rationing ex-

cept for choice cuts of beef.

May

often the most beguiling

is

month

Evenings are

in Bedford.

scented with jasmine, the Peaks of Otter blaze with rhododendrons, the days are mild without too

and

early

He had

summer was

much

humidity. Ivylyn

John's favorite time, as with any keen gardener.

planted white pines around his parents'

a windbreak,

plants were

Schenk knew spring

and Ivylyn often wrote describing flourishing. Despite a drought she

home before the war as how the trees and other and other

"victory" gar-

deners were confident of eventually producing even more food than the year before.

President Roosevelt had urged Americans to cultivate plots wherever

home

they could and by 1944 "practically every

ground"

in

with even a small plot of

Bedford had a victory garden. In a report

to the

Common-

wealth of Virginia Conservation Commission, Bedford native Mrs.

George Parker noted that "experience has taught [townspeople] what plant,

how

to cultivate

it,

and how best

While vegetable patches sprang up had battled

to stay solvent.

to save their 'truck.'" all

over town, Bedford's farmers

By summer 1944, finding

local

and harvest crops was nearly impossible. The previous

POWs

had been trucked into the county

at

worked

came from

the foot of the Peaks of Otter, where Earl

in the thirties. In early 1944, the

camp had

conscientious objectors, more than half of them of Brethren, Mennonites, or Quakers.

Of

men fall,

to plant

German

and other

to pick apples

crops. But the largest pool of "captive labor"

camp

to

11

the old

fruit

CCC

Newcomb had

started to

members

house 153

of the

Church

over ten million American

97

The Sausages

men

World War

drafted in

approximately 43,000 became conscien-

II,

tious objectors, three times the total in

World War

nority Six thousand were sent to prison but

grams

News cals.

one

like the

the

at

CCC

camp

I,

but

most ended up

in

work

of the arrival of conscientious objectors had incensed

Bedford Bulletin, and several Clippings had found their

to

men based

many

men

lo-

in the

the newspapers editor.

vitriolic letters to

way

pro-

in Bedford.

There had been a paid advertisement denouncing these

soldiers,

a tiny mi-

still

in

England.

Two Bedford

Lloyd Ayers and Jesse Jones, wrote from their base ''somewhere "[We] hate to think we're fighting for these fellows, who,

in England:"

able-bodied and perhaps in perfect condition, (except in mind) are

shunning what a

come we can

really true

return home.

my part.'

American must endure so going to be a great day

It's

we can

say 'did

foot of

good old Peaks of Otter." 12

that in years to

when

it's

over and

Don't forget the yellow flag pointing toward the

Bedford native Rebecca Lockard, a perky eighteen-year-old, worked in a "five

and dime"

objectors.

store in Bedford that

was popular with many of the

"They would come into the store and be seen elsewhere

around town," she recalled. "They weren't thought of that you didn't want

objectors.

who worked

as

maid

Men

in

mind

were scarce around here. There was

a girl

town who even married one and had

By May 1944, the Bedford boys were not the only absent two thousand

men from

also in service, roughly

placing

many

men where

Over

County were Mrs. George

one

in every fifteen inhabitants.

reached their places of work. in

sons.

14

—not

a drop to be

have doubled up, shared rides, walked

though

a child." 13

the town and surrounding Bedford

Parker noted: "Gasoline scarce

close,

and

didn't

with them, but some

to associate

them being

women

highly,

No

when

had

at times.

possible,

industrial plants have

instances labor shortage

is

acute.

Workers

and somehow been forced

Women

to

are re-

possible." 15

Every week, there was news of another Bedford man's death overseas.

The Bedford

Bulletin

bands

in this

war inevitably resent comments that the casualties are only

a fraction of

what some extravagantly pessimistic people predicted they

commented: "Those who have

lost

sons or hus-

98

The Bedford Boys

would

be. In the

dier, or

den of

homes

been darkened by the death of

that have

a sol-

have welcomed back the shattered remnants of youth, the burwar's tragedy

have been worse."

16

is little

lightened by the reassurance that

By May 1944, gold

it

might

death of a

stars signifying the

son were displayed in two dozen Bedford homes. By wars end, there

would be another hundred had

window."

a star in its

—

so

many

that

it

"seemed

as

every house

if

17

Despite the death notices appearing in the Bulletin every few days, boys

volunteered, eager to serve.

still

also joining the 15,

women's wings of the armed

twenty-seven

who had

And by

women were named on

joined up. "They would

cated,

.

.

.

Most had

similar

and certainly unprepared."

an incomplete

and

backgrounds

Bond

would go

many bond

after

ment appeals

—untraveled, unsophisti-

18

and collections

drives,

Bedford "responds conscientiously

—war bonds, scrap metals, waste

Bedford people

to

at local

of

to all govern-

paper, fats, etc." 19

American prisoners had

white heat, and has helped to boost the Fourth

auction sale of bonds which brought more than local

ominously:

News

"infuriated

Loan Drive which was launched January 29 by the Lions Club

One

high.

still

Parker proudly informed the state authorities that

inhuman treatment

of Japan's

in mili-

precedents. Whatever people could spare, they

all

effort.

of locals

the courthouse," re-

off they

drives continued to be well supported,

gave to the war

On April

list

Mrs. George Parker also noted that the town's morale was

churches exceeded

were

girls

services in droves.

rally in front of

called Bettie Wilkes, "say their goodbyes, tary buses.

1944, Bedford

War

in

an

$50,000." 20

campaign, funded by several Bedford businesses, asked

"How many

of our boys from Bedford won't

come back? No-

body knows the exact number. Nobody. But the number who do come

—on

back

their

own two

feet instead of in a flag-draped

exact proportion to the job

we do

here

at

home."

box

—

will

be

in

21

Several Bedford wives suspected their husbands were about to be in-

volved in an imminent invasion of France.

ported on the possibility every day.

The

When

radio

and newspapers

re-

not at factories, they spent

evenings trying to stay busy, knitting, canning goods, and preparing care

99

The Sausages

men

packages for their

—anything

to

keep them from worrying

an

for

hour or two.

Each Tuesday, Bedford library

Bettie Wilkes joined other wives in the

bandages

to roll

wounded

for

basement of the

There was some-

soldiers.

thing of a competitive element to the work, with ambitious targets

The

set.

wrapping was sometimes interrupted by air raid sirens, sending fam-

ilies to

basements and reminding them

their

windows.

Many

A bell

to pull

rang at 9 P.M. to warn children of the wartime curfew.

of the wives, reported Mrs. Parker,

'parental

homes

conservation of

helping haul

blackout curtains over

or doubled fuel." 22

wood

up

for

had returned

companionship, convenience, and

More than

ever they relied on each other,

each others' homes, sharing rides

to

driven buggies, which had

made

a

comeback because

to

in horse-

of gas rationing,

caring for children while friends worked at Rubatex or

Looms, pooling resources

to their

Hampton

send Bedford boys special care packages

for their birthdays.

Like other wives, twenty-year-old Viola Parker tried to stress the positive in

her

letters,

although

life

was increasingly hard without

Earl,

what

with trying to get by and support Danny. By day, she worked on her parents' farm,

where she and Danny were

hood bedroom, Danny

in a small crib in

living.

an adjoining room. Every night

that May, Viola drifted off to sleep with the to her ear. After a

The

dial

was

few

restless hours, she

set to a station in

Viola slept in her child-

low whisper of a radio close

would wake up and lean

closer.

Washington, D.C., that was usually

first

with breaking news. 23

When

they weren't writing letters and watching movies at

camp D-l

,

the

Bedford boys relieved their tension through physical exercise and games of baseball

and tackle

threw curve

balls at

at college.

football.

Frank Draper

and Elmere Wright

Jr.

Hal Baumgarten, who had been a

''Whenever we had spare time,

I

pitched to me," Baumgarten said. "Wright was ble sponge in the glove.

He was

first-rate

catcher

put a glove on and they fast.

I

had

to

put a dou-

big too, about six foot three, and he had

a large, prominent nose like the guy in the cartoon

— Dick

Tracy." 24

The Bedford Boys

100

John Barnes recalled playing a game organized by Jack Powers, the Ranger, that was meant to

confidence in one other.

instill

"We were

When my turn

the line.

came,

my

the line and landed straight on

A

few days

now

I

down without

my

Company

down

flew in one bounce over out." 25

containment camp, section Sergeant

charge of two squads of machine gunners, pracboy, Sergeant Robert

Goode,

A. "The aim was for the other guy to take you

We

using a weapon.

ankle,"

I

was knocked

unarmed combat with another Bedford

a jeep driver in

ing

in

so light that

head.

after arriving in the

Allen Huddleston, ticed

was

I

put

to

our trust in our buddies by leaping upon their open arms and bounce

ex-

Huddleston

both went

He would

said. 26

down and

sit

fell

badly, break-

out the invasion.

Close by the famous Life photographer, Robert Capa, entered a simi-

containment camp, or "sausage." Capa had volunteered

lar

first

wave with the

"we were

1st

Divisions 16th Infantry. Before long, he recalled,

suffering from the strange sickness

all

Being amphibious troops had only one meaning

happy

in the

to land in the

water before

known

we would be

for us:

we could be unhappy on

as 'amphibia.'

the shore.

.

.

.

There

were different degrees of 'amphibia' and those who were scheduled the

first to

reach the beach had

it

"Amphibia" affected everyone having seemingly off

steam

as

if

made

their

threw a

clip of

differently.

M-l

Some men became

fate.

they were at high school again. 1

One

incident caused a few

16th Infantry's 1st Battalion.

all

them up

his tent.

on edge.

"On May

Company B of the from Company A to Company B

in training in

was transferred

1

28

20,

16th Into bring

John Barnes was

sur-

when Second Lieutenant Edward Gearing came

into

to strength," recalled

prised one morning

set

last-minute changes to boat teams.

men were blown up I

Someone

directions. Fortu-

no one was injured, but many men's nerves were

fantry [and]

serene,

.30-caliber bullets into a burning barrel. Bedford boys

There were many sixteen

be

Others regressed, letting

ran for cover as the bullets exploded, ricocheting in nately,

to

worst." 27

peace with

minutes of panic throughout the

un-

Gearing asked Barnes

sistant to his flamethrower.

Hal Baumgarten.

to join his boat

team.

He needed

"Do you have any objections

an

as-

to using this

The Sausages

weapon?" Gearing asked. Barnes said he'd he managed

to light the fuel spitting

some

the jet in the direction of

ford boys Harold Wilkes, Charles

Stevens, Gearings second in

Bob Slaughter had spent mandos

"We

ing:

movies

new

Fizer,

They were quickly

boat

team. 29

He

ablaze.

They included Bed-

Clyde Powers, and Sergeant Roy

command. several

months

ate the best food,"

go to the range and

ball, cards,

a go. In a nearby field,

training with British

com-

Highlands. Conditions in the "sausages" were a

in the Scottish

pleasant surprise.

it

from the flamethrower and pointed

haystacks.

then met the other members of his

give

101

fire all

—good

For breakfast you could

recalled. "[It was] easy

the ammunition you wanted

liv-

play foot-

to,

The Red Cross women were

times.

tell

he

there, too.

them how you wanted your bacon, and

of

course they had powdered eggs, and flapjacks or whatever. They gave us

lemon meringue

pie.

We

hadn't seen that since the States." 30

The "good times" ended when

company comman-

the 1st Battalion's

ders were called to a briefing on their specific role in Overlord. talion's

four companies, plus a

company

of Rangers,

The

bat-

would land on "Dog

Green," one of eight sectors of a beach codenamed Omaha, somewhere across the channel.

Omaha was far the

one of

five

beaches targeted by the Allies

most heavily defended. In

a sixty-one-mile front.

beaches

all,

five divisions of

The Americans would

and Sword beaches

Day, "Operation Neptune," detailing

inches thick. Essentially, vehicles onto ships that ness. This force

waves forty

seize the

after

it

to the east. all

but the

D-Day, and by

men would

— Utah and Omaha— and the Canadians

seize Gold, Juno,

for

land on

westernmost

and British would

The

overall plan for

air assault,

entailed loading 185,000

D-

was three

men and 20,000

would cross the channel under cover of dark-

would then be landed on the beaches

H-Hour, scheduled

for

in successive

6:30 A.M. on the American beaches,

minutes after sunrise.

Before the landing craft headed for the beaches, an airborne force of

20,000 would

arrive over "drop zones" inland in a

thousand transport

The Bedford Boys

102

planes and gliders. These paratroops would secure

German

tions,

vital

communica-

defensive installations, junctions, and other objectives,

thereby aiding the rapid establishment of a beachhead. Before Allied troops actually stormed the Calvados coastline, a massive

bombardment would

soften beach defenses.

throughout the 29th Division that

made

ever

just prior to

an assault.

B-24 bombers would drop 1,285

It

was widely believed

would be the heaviest bombing

this

On Omaha,

tons of

from H-30

bombs on

to

H-5, 280

thirteen target zones

Germans' beach defenses. Many

that covered every strongpoint in the

generals believed that the Allies' superiority in air power

—the Luftwaffe

—would be the

decisive advan-

had been tage of

May 1944

crushed by

D-Day

Naval

The

largely

would begin

fire

forty

minutes before touchdown on Omaha.

battleships Arkansas and Texas

would

fire

from 18,000 yards

shore; from a tenth of that distance, eight destroyers

rounds also

German

at

open

off

would throw 2,000

defensive installations. Various smaller ships would

few minutes before H-Hour.

fire until just a

When

the

first

wave of troops was three hundred yards from Omaha, nine LCTs armed with rocket-launchers would

fire

any of the defenders, thought

man 716th

wave. The

the coalition

it

basically a

protected

it

DD

tanks of the 743rd

DD

fire

from the water's edge

for the

tank was an Anglo-American development that,

like

symbolized, had strengths and weaknesses. Designed to

from a

it

Sherman tank

"skirt,''

"floating''

would swim ashore, having been launched 6,000 yards

use a propeller to power

ters

If

resistance.

minutes before H-Hour,

Battalion

canvas

Germans.

be inexperienced elements of the Ger-

out to sea, and then provide covering first

at the

invaders would also be aided by specially designed amphibious

vehicles. Five

Tank

thousand rockets

Division, were capable of action after this firestorm, they

would surely not put up much

The

to

a

fitted

LST

[landing ship tank], the

DD was

with special exhaust vents and a bulky

pneumatically raised, which covered most of the tank and

from the

but tended to

seas.

swamp

The

tanks were highly effective in calm wa-

with potentially

fatal results in

heavy seas.

103

The Sausages

It

would not be machines, however, but men who would determine

success or failure on D-Day.

On Omaha,

by Major General Clarence R. Huebner, would land

to the east of

Ger-

29th Division. During D-Day, the 29th Division's 115th and

hardt's 1

commanded

the 1st Division,

16th Regiments would be under

sumed command

of

Huebner s

them on the day

of specially trained Rangers

control until Gerhardt re-

after the landings.

would attack

a series of

Two companies

cliffs,

Point du Hoc,

Omaha Beach. The Americans would, meanwhile, land companies of 200 men in waves of seven boats on each of eight sectors. Company A would land on Dog Green first and spearhead the 116th Infantry's ground assault. Colonel Charles Canham would command these "Stonewallers" on the beach. marking the

far

The Bedford tide

—

western limit of

boys'

first

a journey of five

With covering

challenge would be to cross

at

low

hundred yards dotted with defensive obstacles.

provided by sixteen

fire

Dog Green

DD tanks,

the Bedford boys would

engage the German defenders concentrated in emplacements and a concrete pillbox at the

time, they

mouth

of a crucial

would provide covering

Special Engineer Task Force

fenses to allow

The

crucial

Once

sur Mer.

LSTs

draw codenamed D-l At the same .

fire for

who would

to deposit

demolition experts from the

clear lanes through

thousands more

D-l draw led up 150-foot bluffs the Bedford boys had secured

it,

men and

Mer,

six

aided by the other com-

was

to

And

so,

If

won

liberate

eight miles away. it

to

succeed, the Bedford boys

that the Allies

were coming and had prepared ac-

Overlord succeeded, their eventual defeat was inevitable.

given the enormity of the threat, Hitler turned to his most

liant general, the

be

inland, taking

overcome formidable obstacles.

The Germans knew cordingly

town of Isigny

a hugely ambitious plan. For

would have

move

hundred yards from the beach, and then

their final objective, the It

vehicles.

to the village of Vierville

panies in the 1st Battalion and Rangers, they would Vierville sur

beach de-

or lost

maverick "Desert Fox"

— Erwin Rommel. "The war

on the beaches," Rommel had declared upon

bril-

will

first visiting

the beaches in January 1944. "We'll have only one chance to stop the

The Bedford Boys

104

enemy and first

that's

while he's in the water, struggling to get ashore.

twenty-four hours of the invasion will be decisive.

Germany,

as well as

will

it

be the longest

and

Intelligence reports

day."

Normandy

it,

and covered by water

Huge

A

coastline.

to stop

walls, thickets of

For the Allies,

Rommel

waist-high stake with a mine attached to

iron crosses covered with limpet

beaches

.

lethal obstacles along the

high tide, was Rommel's

at

.

31

photographs made clear that

aerial

had ordered the placement of ingenious and entire

.

The

own

invention.

mines were scattered across

amphibious vehicles and tanks. Tank

traps, defensive

barbed wire, and acres of minefields were also spread

along the entire coastline from Brittany to the Pas de Calais and beyond.

On Omaha, with the

the most heavily defended sections of the beach bristled

range of

full

German mines,

traps,

and obstacles. Because the

only clear exits from the beach, other than by infiltrating up steep bluffs,

were four gully, or

gullies, these areas

Germans had

draw, the

manned by

were the most heavily

men who

seventy

at least

up

set

fortified.

At each

Stutzpunkt (strongpoint)

a

operated

MG-42 machine

guns,

mortars, and armor-piercing howitzers.

The most formidable Stutzpunkt was designated as D-l, overlooking

would land tralize

H-Hour.

at

was

continuous

a

It

combat

tactics that

ammunition rifle,

its

MG-42 machine gun

the

neunests

could provide an arc of line.

in

times faster than any American equivalent, was to maintain,

many German

for the

fire

more Americans than any other weapon

kill

fired three

the Bedford boys

bombing and DD-tank

along three hundred yards of water

fire

more durable and easy

issue

vital that

panoramic view of Dog Green and

The MG-42 would Normandy.

base of the Vierville draw,

Dog Green, where

the D-l Stutzpunkt and especially

which had

far

It

at the

MG-42

and was so essential

riflemen were loaded

to

German

down with

extra

rather than for their slow-firing standard

Mauser Karabiner 98k, which was

bolt-action, unlike the

superior American M-l.

The Bedford boys could trigger

fire

and then slam a new

the

M-l

clip of eight

as fast as they could pull the

rounds into the gun

in just a

The Sausages

few seconds. But that the

in

combat, they would soon

realize,

105

wouldn't matter

it

gun allowed them greater firepower than any German rifleman.

In a firefight against

German squads armed with MG-42s,

armed only with the M-l would be cut

a rifle platoon

to ribbons.

During their briefing by 29th Division intelligence experts, Captain including Lieutenant Ray Nance, examined a

Fellers

and other

officers,

model

replica of

Omaha Beach

built to scale

and

up on

set

a so-called

"sand table." They were not told the date of the invasion. Nor were they

where

told

Omaha was

the channel."

The

Normandy, "only

in

that

it

was

briefing deeply troubled Fellers.

According

to

called

them where they were

what they were going

going,

pany commander, Taylor

and deny that beach normally talked Fellers

me

Fellers, told

to

do

to

later that

etc.,

he

told

my com-

said, 'Colonel

and get on that

cliff

any infantry group/ And he wasn't a fellow

who

can take one Browning automatic

I

Nance: "When the

and the battalion commander

company commanders were

[Canham],

France across

in

32

like that, [but] later

he

said,

rifle

'Ray we'll

all

be

killed!"' 33

and other skeptics were assured that inexperienced troops of

the

German 716th

ing

would quickly decimate these inept defenders and destroy pillboxes

Division were holding

and other obstacles. Others were things on the beach ... tleships

it

would be

would blow everything

Omaha.

Besides, heavy

told that "there a piece of

off the

map

—

would be no

cake" 34

bomb-

living

and that "the bat-

pillboxes, artillery, mortars,

and the barbed wire entanglements. Everything would be blasted smithereens

—

a pushover."

to

35

Several of the 29th Division's most senior officers shared Fellers's reservations. Brigadier General

tant

Cota, the 29th Division's assis-

commander, would lead the Blue and Gray

had studied

in great

believed that

The

Norman

assault

on Omaha.

He

depth various amphibious landing plans and firmly

bombing the beach, even

best time to attack, he argued,

in daylight,

was

at night

would be

when

the

not see and surprise could be maximized. "The beach

is

ineffective.

enemy could going to be

The Bedford Boys

106

fouled-up in any case," insisted Cota. "Darkness will not substantially alter the

—not enough

percentage of accuracy in breaching

to offset the

handicaps of a daylight assault." 36 Cota's views were ignored. After the officers had been briefed, platoon leaders were assembled

and

Roy Stevens studied the sand

their roles outlined in detail.

with the replica of

Omaha

table

memorizing every contour,

for a long time,

every possible place for cover, and particularly the Germans' defensive positions. Stevens noted that at

yards of

flat

low

sand between the water and the

knew how

training, Stevens

long

were some three hundred

tide there

it

cover, a sea wall.

first

would take

a fully loaded GI, with

over sixty pounds on his back, to sprint to the sea wall

but an eternity

if

he was constantly under

bombed, creating protective pecially

if

DD

From

But

fire.

—about

a

minute

the beach was

if

might not be so tough,

craters, the going

es-

tanks led the advance and the pillboxes and machine gun

nests dotting the flanks of the

draw had been bombed

effectively.

Stevens listened carefully as an intelligence officer pointed to a

"promenade" road that ran

parallel to the

beach and then sloped steeply

towards Vierville sur Mer. Before the road

left

the beach at the D-l

draw, there was an old house just to the east. This would be the

The

jective for Stevens's boat section.

briefing over, Stevens

men and explained what lay ahead. "I what we were facing. We were really going his

all right.

That was

Company

B's

for sure."

Bob

many

some

fire,

his

same pubs and tramping around

Sales asked about the threat of har-

company commander, Captain

pacosta, replied: "Don't you worry about that.

and

air force will

take care of

"They also told

all that."

us," recalled

had

to

be dug

The

naval

Bob Slaughter to

of

bombardment

Company

D, "that

be twenty-two strong

one or two of them would be manned.

in real well

Ettore Zap-

38

where we were landing, there was going points, but only

Company

after

of the Bedford boys after eighteen

of the

When

moors and parade grounds. rowing machine gun

them

do something now

would land sixteen minutes

Sales

of drinking in

to

tell

37

A. By now, he recognized

months

have

ob-

assembled

wasn't too keen to to

first

because there would be

a

.

.

.

Then we

counterattack

af-

"We were poor but we

know

it." The Powers family in 1928; oldest brother and above Jack. To sister Eloise's right is Archie Russell. Clyde, Billy, and Jack would all experience combat. One would be killed on D-Day; one would endure a brutal POW camp; and the other would be severely

Clyde stands

didn't

to the left of Billy

shell-shocked. Eloise Rogers.

!

"We were

so young!" Left to right: Billy

Parker, Pride Wingfield, at

m^B ^mmm

•

^W ^PUPf Wi^WRm

and Earl Parker

Wingfields childhood home, where he

this day. Earl Parker would be on D-Day. Wingfield transferred to the Army Air Force in 1943 and was at home in Bedford on D-Day. Rebecca and lives

to

killed

m

'

„,„

Pride Wingfield.

m'

~'~

%%%

.

Mm

*

"Who

said eat?"

The Schenks run to suphome in Bedford. John

per outside their

Schenk

"--,

is

to the far right beside his

bride Ivvlvn. /it/vh Hardy.

young

I

he wrong side of the tracks. Frank Draper

Jr. s

childhood

home was

only yards from

the Norfolk and Western railway line in Bedford. Draper collected coal from passing trains to keep his family

warm

during the Depression. Warren Draper.

The Bedford Fireman's Band, 1940. sister of

Company A

leader at center.

Bedford

in

Sixteen-year-old clarinet player Eloise Powers

brothers Clyde and Jack Powers

The band played when

February 1941. Eloise Rogers.

—

stands to the

left

of the

band

the Bedford boys were mobilized and

left

most respects, safe and carefree." Master Sergeant John young bride Bettie near a waterfall in Bedford County, summer

"A time to be envied in

Wilkes with

his

1941. Bettie Wilkes Hooper.

m Top

left:

Harold Edward Wilkes, one of the fortunate few to return home. Eloise Rogers.

Top

right:

Frank Draper Jr., superb athlete and even better soldier. Warren Draper.

Above:

Glenwood "Dickie"

who would be

Overstreet,

badly

wounded

on D-Day, one of the most sociable and popular Bedford boys. Beulah Witt.

.'."I-

Right:

Dickie Overstreet, center, with family shortly before shipping out.

Beulah Witt.

-*

Clyde Powers and Jack Powers on furlough in edford,

summer

1941.

Eloisc Rogers.

Bedford boys

at

camp

A.

P.

Hill in Virginia, 1941

ter of front row. Pride Wingfield.

.

karl Parker

combs

his hair at cen-

"He was

all

Fellers, the

soldier."

Captain Taylor N.

Bedford boys' hometown com-

mander. Bertie Woodford.

"We shared

everything." Sergeants

and Virginia Historical Association.

Roy and Ray Stevens, twin

brothers.

Roy Stevens

"Exact opposites." Brothers

Omaha

Raymond and Bedford Hoback. Both would be

killed

on

Beach. Lucille Hoback Boggess and Virginia Historical Association.

Left: Leslie Abbott, the first of the

come home

Bedford boys

to

Company As

best dice player. U.S. Army.

in a casket.

Army. Right: Wallace "Snake Eyes" Carter,

U.S.

Left:

John Clifton, Company As "Casanova" who had Cherokee Indian ancestors.

U.S. Army. Right: Charles Fizer survived

D-Day

only to die a few days later in the hedgerows of

Normandy. U.S. Army.

Left:

Nicholas Gillaspie, the mild-mannered Southern gentleman. U.S. Army.

Right:

"He

just liked the dirt."

White. U.S. Army.

Quiet and deeply religious farmboy Gordon Henry

Left:

Andrew Coleman, the

first

Bedford boy casualty. U.S. Army.

Right:

Clifton Lee, fiercely patriotic and thought to have died beside several of his friends

within minutes of landing on

Earl

Parker,

among

the

Mary Daniel

the only father

Bedford Heilig.

boys.

Omaha

Beach. U.S. Army.

Above: Earl Parker on

maneuvers

in

North Carolina

a

few months before Pearl Harbor.

Pride Wingfield.

Below:

Company B from Lynchburg, just after the at Fort

Bob

Bedford boys

The boys from this company would land second wave on Omaha Beach. Picture taken

Virginia.

in the

Meade, February 1941. Seventeen-year-old Bob Sales kneels

Sales.

at front.

Top left: Ace poker player and Company Newcomb. Top

right:

A

mess sergeant Earl Newcomb. Elva

Robert "Tony" Marsico, one of the few

came home. Laura

who landed on Omaha and then

Burnette.

hi

iRM

H ?,/,!..

"He had

the prettiest dimples."

Weldon

Rosazza, one of the Bedford boys

enjoyed great

women.

success

Ellen Quarles.

with

who

English

who played for the undefeated "116 Yankees" in 1943. London, summer 1943. Left to right: Elmere Wright, Tony Marsico, Pride Wingfield, Frank Draper Jr. Pride Wingfield.

"1

16 Yankees." Bedford boys

Photograph taken

in

E.T.O. World Series Baseball Champions, 1943. Victorious "116 Yankees" players

with uniformed Colonel Charles

Canham,

center.

Middle row:

right

to

Bedford boys Draper, Wright, Marsico. Three of the team would die on

Beach

in a

matter of months. Bettie Wilkes Hooper.

left

Omaha

Lieutenant

Ray Nance,

the only surviving officer

who landed on D-Day with Company A. Ray Nance.

Company As

officers a few weeks before D-Day. Left to right: Lieutenant Ray Nance, Lieutenant Edward Clearing, Lieutenant John Clements, and First Sergeant John Wilkes. Ray Nance.

Left:

John Wilkes and John Schenk in England before D-Day. Ivylyn Hardy.

Below:

"Who

says England doesn't

get snow?" John Schenk, far right,

and friends standing

outside their barracks, winter

1942-43. Ivylyn

Hunk

Pride Wingfield and John Schenk

in

[vybridge,

England,

summer

1943. Ivylyn

Hani).

"We on a

really

right,

were overpaid, oversexed and over there." Dickie Overstreet, in uniform "gals," a Company A buddy, and English children outside

with two English

swimming

pool,

summer

1943. Beulah Witt.

The Sausages

107

terwards that

the

armor,

we had to be worried about. We would have to use and the German Panzers would try to drive us back into

the

sea." 39

But the counterattack would

Company A

Victory was not in doubt.

fail.

Murphy Scott recalled being told he would be in week and then Company A would be shipped back to the

Paris in a

rifleman

states to train other units. 40

Among America's most senior generals, there was no such optimism. General Omar N. Bradley, commander of American forces on D-Day, recalled that "Overlord represented both [Hitlers] greatest danger

and

greatest opportunity. If the Overlord forces could be repulsed

trounced decisively on the beaches, Hitler knew time indeed before the Allies tried again

might yet

—

if

it

ever.

would be .

.

.

his

and

a very long

The Third Reich

41

prevail.

Bradley's superior, General

was "seething with the

Eisenhower

—

overall Allied

commander

gravity of the invasion," according to a recent bi-

ographer, Carlo D'Este. "His health again deteriorated from a plethora of

As D-Day neared

ailments. ... a day." 42

At the end of

April,

V

smoking had increased

his

packs

to four

Corps commander General Gerow had

written to Eisenhower outlining serious reservations about cooperation

between the

on the beaches. Eisenhower rebuked Gerow, an old

stacles

his skepticism.

simply

Gerow

replied that he

was not being "pessimistic" but

Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was also

telling a senior

Pentagon

John

official,

had "Turkey on our

liked to have

J.

side, the

General

Sir

Danube under

in

Normandy

in

best

it

Staff,

it

may

British

had faced

Only hours before H-Hour he wrote

he was "very uneasy about the whole operation. At the

will fall so very very far short of the expectation of the

people, namely

worst

The

1940 before the British Expeditionary

Force's narrow escape at Dunkirk. in his diary that

threat as well

[Overlord]." 44

Alan Brooke, chief of the Imperial General

Germans

of doubts,

full

McCloy, that he would have

Norway cleaned up before we undertook

the

friend, for

"realistic." 43

Britain's

as

and American assault troops and defensive ob-

British navy

all

those

who know

nothing about

bulk of the

its difficulties.

well be the most ghastly disaster of the whole

At the

war!" 45

The Bedford Boys

108

It

was

essential that the 29th Division

and other invading Allied armies

have complete confidence in Overlord even not.

And

May

so in late

if

some

of

its

architects did

every general of standing with the invasion

forces appeared at various "sausages" to rally the troops. "In the final

we embarked,"

days before

recalled Bradley,

"I

made

a point of visiting

as many American units as I could, both to allay the growing rumors that we would suffer heavy casualties and to give the men some final words

of encouragement." 46

On May

29th Division's

16th Infantry.

1

wooden platform on single

camp holding

30, Bradley visited the D-l containment

a

Some 3,500 men

windswept

the

stood around a small

Bradley spoke slowly into a

hillside.

microphone. "You should consider yourselves lucky," he con-

show on

cluded. "You are going to have ringside seats for the greatest earth." 47

Baumgarten stood

Private Hal

helmets shined with

band played.

I

wear mine.

My

going to drown

When Roy

my head new

including best

was

buddy

told

shaved.

Finally,

A

me

$10,000

whom

left

life

their

it

altered for a closer

didn't

Hal,

it

it

it's

was too

—

fit

a deci-

Bedford boy, Stevens

insurance policy. Frank Draper

at the time,"

Canham

weapons and

to

kit for

recalled lining

"We were

where we were going

they

wear

a lot of I

Jr.

made

a fiancee, Nellie

he wished he had married before leaving for England.

a large whetstone.

Colonel

'don't

mother even though back home he had

Thomas Valance

was called

not to

—

bitterly regret. Like every other

men checked

Private

Division

had been given

Stevens tried on his assault jacket, he found

also issued a

McKinney,

We

"Our

you.'" 48

would soon

his out to his

talk.

assault jackets for D-Day.

loose around his shoulders so he had sion he

pep

Our bayonets gleamed. The 29th

oil.

had had

new equipment,

listening to the final

he

also issued said.

spend

up

to

the last time.

Company

sharpen his bayonet on

some French

francs, script

it

"There was no explanation exactly

49 it."

ordered that a message be read to

the containment camp: "There

is

all

the

men

one certain way

before

to get the

109

The Sausages

War is not child's play and requires hatred of the enemy At this time we don't have it. hope you will get it when you see your friends wounded and killed. Learn to take care of yourself from the start. Remember the Hun is a crafty, intelligent enemy

out of action and that

is

to kill

him.

I

and

fighter

have any mercy on you. Don't have

will not

each one of you Happy Landing and come off those hell."

it

on him.

...

To

craft fighting like

50

At a meeting of

man Cota

warned: "This

you've had so

far.

General Nor-

his staff officers, a cautious Brigadier

.

.

.

is

The

different air

from any of the other exercises that

and naval bombardment and the

support are reassuring. But you're going to find confusion.

on schedule and people are going

craft aren't going in

wrong

place.

Some

won't be landed at

all.

to

The enemy

The landing

be landed will

try,

have some success, in preventing our gaining a lodgement. But

June

2,

Company A was

in the

and

will

we must

51

improvise, carry on, not lose our heads.

On

artillery

camp

ordered to break

the following

morning. To their dismay, the Bedford boys learned that Captain Fellers

was

lying in a cot

on the second

converted for military use

at

the southwest corner of their

had a bad sinus infection and would not be Morale plunged. That fusely,

home "sausage." He

floor of Doulish, the ancestral

fit

to lead

them on D-Day.

had trouble sleeping. Sweating pro-

night, Fellers

with a bright rash on his face from the infection, he

a matter of hours

Bedford's sons to

At some point

that in

Master Sergeant Wilkes would order thirty-four of

fall in

and then board trucks bound

for a

in the night, Fellers struggled to his feet.

ficer tried to get

knew

him

to

channel

port.

A medical

of-

go to a military hospital. Instead, Fellers dis-

charged himself and returned to his company. "He'd been with those

men

a long time

wanted

to see

the sick bay.

and trained with them," explained

it all

He

the

way through."

too got to his feet

52

his sister, Bertie.

Grant Yopp was also

and returned

to

the advice of medical personnel. According to Yopp's

some kind

of respiratory illness.

he went AWOL and rejoined

why

did he do that?'

When

laid

Company A sister:

"He

up

in

against

"[Grant] had

he heard about the boys leaving,

his buddies. I've always thought: 'Oh, gosh,

He just wanted

to

be with his buddies." 53

The Bedford Boys

110

Company As mess ford boys George

busy

sergeant Earl

checking that

Company A were

to feed

Newcomb was

the mess.

in order. Fellers

—he should not have gone."

54

to go in [with the

to those boys,

I'll

Roy Stevens morning:

suddenly appeared in

his appearance:

"He looked

so

Fellers confide in a fellow officer: "I

Bedford men].

If

don't

I

and something happens

never be able to go back to Bedford again." 55

recalled seeing Fellers appear before the

our

"It really lifted

Fellers said, "I've trained you.

Company A

frantically

As Newcomb prepared Company As

meal on dry land, he overheard

want

Bed-

his cooks,

the equipment and supplies

all

shocked by

sick

final

two of

Crouch and Cedric Broughman, had been

for several hours,

needed

Newcomb and

spirits. I'll

We

men

early that

had our leader back again." 56

die with you too

if it

comes

to that." 57

loaded into trucks and then joined a huge convoy trundling

south towards the sea. "Hedges that lined the narrow, winding roads were

green and fragrant," reported the Baltimore News-Post. "Gorse splotched the broad and rolling moors with gold.

From

the tops of

hills,

patches of farms spread in kin-folk shades of brown and green." In

towns and

villages,

olive gray trucks

crowds soon formed, lining the road as the drab

sped along with

MPs

Children were held up for soldiers waiting to

move

irregular 58

directing traffic at every junction.

to kiss

closer to the coast. Every

when

the trucks dawdled,

few miles, the

men gaped

at

huge stockpiles of weapons, trucks, explosives, and endless rows of jeeps

and

artillery

They were

part of an invasion force so vast

it

had

filled

most of southern England with troops and supplies. Thirty-nine sions

were leaving the crowded "sausages." Over 175,000

involved with Overlord on

D-Day Standing by were

1 1

divi-

men would

be

,000 planes other

than strategic bombers, and 6,939 boats were assembled along the coast

—the

greatest invasion

Company A side.

finally arrived in

Again, Colonel

in history. 59

armada

Weymouth and formed up on

Canham prowled

Company A marched

towards

its

the dock-

the wharves, barking orders.

troopship, the

Empire Javelin.

"Are you ready, men?" asked General Gerhardt, as he stood watching

on the dockside. "Yes,

sir,

general!" replied Bedford

Hoback. "We're sure ready" 60

9

The Empire

COMPANY A Javelin.

Javelin

HMS

FILED UP THE gangway of the

From

the main

deck, British

Empire

Sub-Lieutenant Jimmy Green

watched

as the Bedford boys and their fellow Stonewallers of the

Infantry

came

ing craft that

hours.

1

aboard.

in

Company A was scheduled

Green and other "the Suicide

somehow

to land at

—the men under

sacrificial. 'Actually,

we

Fellers looked so

—"H-Hour."

young and

naive,

we were

all

quite proud of

2

Green had already met Captain

Fellers during

maneuvers near Slap-

ton Sands. Their conversations had been brief and mostly limited to gistics

and landing procedures. As the Empire Javelin now prepared

leave harbor "It

was

on June

4,

Green and

Fellers's first action.

He

Fellers got to

told

me

fire

over their heads to give

need

they'd

all

above his men.

It

that Fellers

to

were National Guard,

fire.

He

asked

if

I

could

got near the beach, and

them moving

would ask him

said

forward." 3

to place covering fire

betrayed a lack of confidence. During exercises,

had been composed and

friendly, if a little too serious for the

"He regarded us navy chaps

as rather lighthearted in our approach.

Fellers Brits.

when we

lo-

other better.

them some encouragement. He

the help they could get to get

Green was surprised

know each

his troops

and he was worried how they would react under put them ashore as quickly as possible then

A

also referred to ourselves as the sui-

cide wave," recalled Green, 'and to be honest

the label."

6:30 A.M.

had already dubbed Company

British naval officers

Wave"

16th

command of the flotilla of six landCompany A in Normandy in a matter of

Green was

would deposit

1

1

The Bedford Boys

12

Although we were serious and professional, we talked about Wrens and [soccer]

matches rather than what we were going

had changed since they had

son, Fellers eyes, Fellers

was

as

if

now seemed

to do."

met

last

For some rea-

in April. In Green's

very reserved and enormously burdened.

It

he "had a premonition of doom." 4

As the Bedford boys

Empire

settled into their berths aboard the

Javelin, at Allied

Headquarters General Eisenhower faced the most mo-

mentous choice

of his

wave action were predicted wrote

"Low

life.

clouds, high winds, and formidable

make landing

to

"The meteorologists said that

later.

ble, naval gunfire

would be

inefficient,

boats would be rendered difficult."

a

air

most hazardous

affair,"

he

support would be impossi-

and even the handling of small

5

Should Eisenhower order a postponement or proceed General Montgomery, who would

command

all

planned?

as

land forces in Nor-

mandy, said the invasion should go ahead. Eisenhower deliberated and then decided question

would have

it

now was whether

form and land

as

to

be postponed one

day, until

June

6.

The

the largest armada ever assembled could re-

planned within twenty-four hours?

Many

ships were

al-

ready in the Irish Sea, where gale forces had caused considerable prob-

lems and confusion. All Eisenhower could do was hope and pray that his staff

would be able

to reorganize in time. 6

That afternoon, Company

came

that the invasion

A

learned of Eisenhower's decision. "Word

had been changed from June

5," recalled

Robert Walker of the 116th's regimental headquarters

staff.

Captain

"We

heard, along with every kind of rumor imaginable, that in the U.S.

also

it

had

already been broadcast that the invasion had begun. There was surprisingly

little

reaction

Or maybe

to the situation.

The his

among

the troops, as it

eternal wait resumed.

was

just

if

everyone was already

because they were good

Roy Stevens

tried to stay busy,

the British food aboard

He

—too much

fish.

soldiers."'

sharpening

He

didn't like

So he bought plate

after plate

bayonet and dagger and visiting the Javelins canteen.

of cookies.

numb

shared some with his equally nervous brother and a

tery Earl Parker.

A young man who

jit-

had been an acrobat distracted them

Empire

The

113

Javelin

by walking down steps on his hands. "We knew somebody was going 'and

die," recalled Stevens,

At 9:30

P.M.,

wasn't going to be long."

it

RAF Group

to

8

Captain James Stagg, chief meteorological

for Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, stood just

officer

SHAEF

inside the entrance to the library at

headquarters, Southwick

House, near Portsmouth, England. Before him, the leaders and architects of Overlord settled into

"Gentlemen," Stagg

said,

couches and armchairs.

"some rapid and unexpected developments

have occurred over the North Atlantic. In particular a vigorous cold front ...

is

now and

approaching Portsmouth

areas tonight or early tomorrow.

proved weather from will

Monday

.

.

.

through

will pass

There

will

be

channel

all

a brief period of im-

afternoon. For most of the time the sky

then be not more than half covered with cloud and

not often be below two thousand to three thousand feet.

its

base should

Winds

will de-

crease substantially from what they are now. These conditions will last

over

Monday

night and into Tuesday."

Stagg answered several questions concerning relatively

good weather would

tions reliably

last

how

long the

window

of

and whether he could predict condi-

beyond the next three

to four days.

Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory looked grave. "With the

cloud conditions Stagg has given us," he said, "there's certain to be culty getting markers

down

accurately,

and the bombing

diffi-

will therefore

suffer."

Eisenhower's deputy, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, also looked anxious. Air power, he believed, would win the war and

make

all

He and Mallory had fought hard to secure RAF Bomber Command and the United States

the difference on D-Day.

enough bombers from

Strategic Air Forces in Europe.

had threatened

It

was only

to resign that they

after their boss,

Eisenhower,

had been given the requisite planes

that April.

Tedder agreed with Leigh-Mallory:

and medium bombers

will

Eisenhower looked over

"Yes, the operations of the

probably be a at

bit chancy."

General Montgomery.

heavy

The Bedford Boys

114

"Do you see any reason why we should not go on Tuesday?" he "No," replied Montgomery without hesitation.

"I

asked.

go!" 9

would say

Late into the night the question of whether to launch Overlord or not

was debated. Just about 4:15 A.M. on June back and forth slowly

5,

Eisenhower again paced

another meeting of Overlord's top generals in

at

the library at Southwick House. "His head was slightly sunk on his chest, his

hands clasped behind

his back," recalled

neth Strong. "From time to time he stopped

head quickly and rapid question at

him

.

.

.

then resumed his walk."

sat

down

5

and

still

fired a

10

Eisenhower walked over

for five minutes,

launch the invasion. At

to a sofa

weighing whether or not

to

A.M. Eisenhower finally said: "OK, we'll go." 11

By mid-afternoon on the

Men

as

turned his

in his stride,

jerkily in the direction of those present

Montgomery looked impatient and then

Major General Ken-

Empire Javelin was heading out

5th, the

to sea.

gathered nervously on the ship's main deck to watch the vast armada

dotting the horizon. Typically, to ease the tension, Master Sergeant John

Wilkes joked that every landing in France.

back of

12

man

in

Company A would get

Hal Baumgarten made

his field jacket

he had painted a

his

the Bronze Star after

way

large Star of

to the bow.

David using

dard issue "Eversharp" blue ink pen. He'd etched "The Bronx,

around

it.

the

his stan-

New York"

At the bow, Baumgarten struck up a conversation with Morris

Saxtein, a balding, overweight forty-five-year-old fellow

who had just joined

"Why

On

the headquarters staff for

Jew from

New York

Company A.

are you here?" asked Baumgarten.

Saxtein puffed on a pipe. "All

want

I

is

one German

—whether you

morning

like

it

.

.

.

You, Hal, will be a hero tomorrow

or not." 13

Baumgarten would never see Saxtein Earl Parker stood at the "It

was

a

solemn

about what

again.

Empire Javelins

thing," recalled

rail

with the Stevens twins.

Roy Stevens. "We

we would do when we

sat

got back home."

14

around and talked Suddenly, Parker

pulled out a picture of his sixteen-month-old daughter, Danny. "If

could just see her once," Parker

said, "I

wouldn't mind dying."

15

I

Empire Javelin

The

It

was

evening with dusk beginning well past 10 P.M. Groups

a bright

of officers huddled, cracking siping, signing

But

showed

it

each in

115

Mark Twain

jokes about the weather, gos-

other's 100-franc notes, trying to control their fear.

many

of their eyes.

were of not being equal

to facing

They were

as afraid of death as they

it.

As the Empire Javelin and hundred of other ships crossed the English Channel, General Eisenhower visited Newbury for the 101st Airborne, the

American paratroops

airfield, a

launch area

"Screaming Eagles," who would be the

to land

behind enemy

first

lines in France, shortly after

midnight. Eisenhower was not expected. Taking his time, he wandered

among

haircuts, chutes, eral

and packs neatly stacked

He

at their sides.

asked sev-

where they came from. Texans, Missourians, Californians, and

many

others cheered as they heard their

men good

After wishing the

them board

and leave Newbury on

gliders

of a press release in case things

Our

state

named.

their

way

to the blackness of

in his eyes. In his wallet

went

was

a draft

wrong:

terribly

landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfac-

tory foothold this

home

Eisenhower stood and watched

luck,

occupied France. There were tears

and

I

have withdrawn the troops.

My

decision to attack at

time and place was based upon the best information available.

troops, the air

could do.

If

and the Navy did

times to consult

ine photographs of to the deck, they

clouding over.

At 11

P.M.,

all

that Bravery

and devotion

to

The duty

mine

alone.

16

Fellers visited the Javelins operations

room

sev-

any blame or fault attaches

Meanwhile, Captain eral

Mohican

the young men, their faces blacked up, hair shorn in

to the

attempt

maps etched with red and blue

Omaha

Beach.

When

it is

lines

he and other

and

to

exam-

officers returned

could not help but notice that the evening sky was

The wind was

rising.

darkness enveloped the Empire Javelin.

blowing. Every officer

now had

the

same concern

weather could destroy the invasion just as

it

A

gale

was now

as their generals

—bad

had destroyed the Spanish

The Bedford Boys

116

A strict blackout was

Armada.

imposed and smoking banned on deck

fear that even a lighted stub might alert

German

for

E-boats and the disas-

Slapton Sands would be repeated.

ter at

Below decks, the 116th Infantry attended Barnes went

to

what he thought would be

religious services.

John

was deeply

his last mass. "I

my parents' (especially my mother's) great prayer was that would grow up to become a priest. When graduated from

conscious that [their]

son

I

high school, religious night,

I

had

I

life.

was

It

thought

morrow, and

become

a

I

didn't think

disappointment

a great

would make

I

I'd

and especially

to tell her that

to her.

a bargain with

a priest.

Then

bad bargain, either

for

I

was cut out

I

God.

As

My

I

to follow

prayed that

life

spared

to-

thought that was a bad deal,

Him

or me, so

I

said I'd take

my

chances." 17

The

crossing got rougher as the night wore on.

Many men became

thought that John Schenk lay groaning in his

terribly seasick.

It is

bunk, clutching

a sick-bag,

when he dozens who had

courtesy of the British navy,

wasn't up on deck vomiting over the ship's

rail

with

also taken their standard issue seasickness pills. British sailors

working

the decks briskly reminded the green-gilled Yanks to puke "to leeward,

mate

— leeward!"

Hal Baumgarten was also feeling under the weather as he talked with

Company As

Private

Thomas

chussets. Mullins gave feine

— not

profusely

with

if

Mullins, a medic from Worcester, Massa-

him some "APCs"

realizing the aspirin

—Aspirin Phenacidin Caf-

would make Baumgarten bleed more

wounded. Mullins was one of two medics who would go

Company As

headquarters boat led by Lieutenant Nance. The

other was Cecil Breeden, a soft-spoken and unflappable

who

called Colorado

Wilkes had pointed

Company A: "Be

home.

at

18

During

training,

that

man from Iowa

Master Sergeant John

Mullins and Breeden and then told the rest of

nice to them! You

may need them one day" 19

At 4 A.M., the Bedford boys stood on deck ready

LCAs

in

hung over the

sides of the

to

climb into the British

Empire Javelin suspended from

The Empire Javelin

For a few moments, they stood in silence.

davits.

ever each silence

man was

some communal

thinking formed part of

was broken

as

seemed

It

an officer read Eisenhowers

final

1

1

that whatprayer.

The

words of en-

couragement over the Javelins public address system:

and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are

Soldiers, sailors

about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven

many months. The

these

eyes of the world are

march with you.

prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere

with our brave

allies

and brothers

bring about the destruction of the

in

upon you. The hopes and

arms on the other

German war machine,

of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe,

company

In

fronts,

you

will

the elimination

and security

for

in a free world. 20

ourselves

Company A went to its boat stations. Groups of thirty men were assigned to six boats. An additional seventeen men, including Lieutenant Ray Nance, went

to a

seventh boat that would land nineteen minutes

after the others with vital

numbers would go thanked

men

his

be careful. "This

Roy

communications equipment. Boats with even

in to the right of the

for their is it,"

Stevens's boat

spirits, tell

gether.

now

him

he added. "This

was number

agement he could

is

the real thing." 21

five of

the seven. His brother Rays

trying to spot his brother.

back

that now,

in

Bedford soon working their farm

more than

ever,

Ray needed

in the darkness,

Roy saw an obviously

in Roy's boat team.

gling nerves

all

his to-

the encour-

get.

distressed Jack Powers,

the powerfully built, normally unflappable ex-Ranger

Clyde was

He was

wish him good luck, slap him on the back, buoy

they'd be

Roy knew

Nearby

to

Fellers

hard work during training and asked them to

was number two. Roy looked around, desperate by

odd ones. Captain

whose brother

Roy was surprised by Jack's

had gotten the better of him: "He was

behavior. Jan-

just carrying on, all

nervous. Things were very tense. Everybody was ready to go, ready to do

something

at last." 22

Stevens looked around.

It

seemed

that the

men

fell

The Bedford Boys

118

into

two groups. Those who had already decided they were 'going

die,"

and those who hoped

make

"to

Roy suddenly stumbled

into his twin, Ray. All the other Bedford boys

were shaking hands, wishing each other

Ray stuck out

Roy refused

hand

his

for

Roy

luck.

to shake.

it.

shake your hand

"Ill

to

through." 23

it

in Vierville sur

Mer," he said, "up

at the cross-

roads above the beach, later this morning sometime."

Ray bowed

head and held out

his

Tm not gonna make Of later

.

.

Since first to

again.

refused to shake Rays hand. He'd do

still

after they'd crossed

Omaha

Beach.

Company A would

land on

Omaha Beach

first, its

at

same

the

level as the deck.

They

in their boat

row metal gangplank,

them

On command,

teams and simply walked across a nar-

a yard in length,

boats that would deliver

men were

did not have to climb

nets and ropes as later waves of troops would do.

men formed up

it

hung above the

leave the ship. Their British-made landing craft

choppy water,

the

hand

his

24

course he would. Roy

.

down

it."

and then clambered into the

most heavily defended beach

to the

in

history.

Twenty-year-old Second Lieutenant Edward Gearing and Roy Stevens stepped into their a

craft,

LCA

buzz cut but you never realized

member

of their boat crew.

ginia

and was the kind who

men,

25

a very

good

officer."

911. "Gearing was just a kid with

it,"

recalled John Barnes, a fellow

"He had been

to a military

just took charge,

The kind

was sympathetic

of officer thirty older

follow, possibly to their deaths. "[Gearing] didn't stand

what

to do," recalled

Roy Stevens. "He did

Roy directed the boat team

to

its

academy

it.

He was

to all the

men would

back and a

tell

positions. His buddy,

Clyde Powers,

men

down. Powers's uncle, Sergeant Harold Wilkes, lumbered aboard,

medical

kit

crammed with

a quarter

pound

of

you

leader." 26

took a position on one of the three rows of benches for the

sault jacket

in Vir-

TNT, K

rations,

to sit

his as-

and a

containing morphine. John Barnes went to the back of the

The

Empire Javelin

1 1

boat and took his seat beside the flamethrower, a normally cheerful and slightly built

young man from Tennessee named Russell

were hollering back and forth

rail

into their boats.

men just

stepped over the Empire

think Roy Stevens shouted out to his

I

in different boats. 27

brother. Everybody had buddies

Sub-Lieutenant Green stood

LCA

in

910, giving orders to his

coxswain. Captain Fellers stood a few feet to his

how

boarded, Green was struck by

"They had go in

far too

We

light.

much

gale

weight.

know why

don't

I

in so heavily

sixty

the

didn't appear to

It

the craft from the mother ship.

was

A landing craft

in the

wave did not

"We

dark

hit

to

lower the craft

Green's astern. 29 There

difficult in the swells to

didn't

the ship's side or capsize," recalled Green.

calm conditions but not

first

kit.

weighed down." 28

number 911

be any damage.

pounds of

commandos, and they

British

was blowing. At 4:30 A.M., winches began

into the water. Suddenly, boat

As more men

they struggled to even stand upright

had worked before with

would not have gone

A

left side.

swaying boat, their packs stuffed with over

in the

"Guys

each other once the boats were hanging

at

out there," Barnes remembered. "The Javelins

Pickett.

want "It

to get

unhook

bashed against

was straightforward

in

in a gale." 30

carrying a group of the

1

16th Infantry's senior officers

would

later get

stuck for thirty minutes just below the Javelins sewage

outlet.

"During

this half-hour," recalled

of the ship's

company made

have sought since 1776.

one of the

officers, "the

bowels

the most of an opportunity that Englishmen

from the boat were unavailing. Streams,

Yells

colored everything from canary yellow to sienna brown and olive green,

continued

We

to flush into the

command

group, decorating every

man

we cried, and we laughed, but it kept coming. When we started for shore, we were all covered with shit." 31 As Company As landing craft formed up, Jimmy Green's coxswain in aboard.

LCA

cursed,

910 suddenly heard

a

beep through

down below had bad news. They were lision

had damaged the boat

after

have a look. Water gushed into

all.

LCA

his voice pipe.

taking on water

—the

The

stoker

earlier col-

Green scrambled along the deck 910's engine

room through

to

a small

The Bedford Boys

120

hole.

Green alone had Company As course and other

structions.

He

keep them

afloat,

decided

landing in-

vital

signalman could

to continue, confident that his

using a hand pump, long enough to

make

the beach

and get back. John Barnes stood

we were

in the

beach."

From

few

feet

water and away,

and they waved back. 32

a

We

from Roy Stevens

we

all

waved

men

911. "Once

in other boats,

the Empire Javelins deck, the seas had looked cold and

felt violent

and ominous:

just rolling

and

rolling,

"I

in 911, the slapping

waves

and there were white caps way out where we

Other Bedford boys began alone across

down

never saw water that bad. [The seas] were

were, [12 miles] from the coast.

let

LCA

were confident that we would get across that

choppy. Now, as Roy Stevens hunched

France,

at the

in

Omaha

It

to

was

really, really

rough." 33

wonder whether they would

Beach.

get to

10

The

ii6th's 1ST BATTALION headed

THE of

Wave

First

LCAs. In each LCA,

for the

coxswain in

LCA 910.

a voice pipe to the stoke hold,

petrol engines.

The

waves

in

a British coxswain steered the craft

cockpit that had light armor-plating. Sub-Lieutenant right beside his

beach

from a

Jimmy Green

stood

"The coxswain was connected by

1

where

a stoker operated

two powerful

stoker had to be small and extremely agile to get into

the hold through a small hole on the aft deck. There were two other

crew members

main

ship,

—one forward and one — aft

and the other

unhook the boat from the

to

to lower the landing-craft doors

and work the

boat's anchor."

Green had been ordered tain Fellers

watch.

and

The

his boat team.

his flotilla

now

LCAs

until

he landed Cap-

formed up, he checked

his

6:36 A.M.; he had just over two

beach was approximately twelve miles but

to steer a "diagonal course, "

twenty miles. The tions but

As

for

direct route to the

Green had

keep radio silence

Company A was Omaha Beach.

H-Hour

hours to get to

to

could move

the seas were,

if

making the

at

total

journey close to

about 10 knots in good condi-

anything, rougher than

when Eisenhower

had postponed the invasion. Nevertheless, Green was confident he would get Company A

Green gave the in

Omaha on time. order for Company As six boats to

two columns of three

craft.

could see Fellers and his

men

to

approach the beach

Whenever he looked over sitting in tense,

just boys, pleasant, fresh-faced country boys.

121

glum

his shoulder,

silence.

They looked

he

"They were

like nice lads

The Bedford Boys

122

on

around the

a trip

also thought they

The two columns

as

rest of [the British

seamen

our

in]

were a nice bunch. But not assault troops

flotilla

in the sense

were heavily laden with 60 pounds of equipment." 2

that they

fixed

The

bay.

of three boats ploughed ahead.

Green kept

his eyes

on a landing-craft control boat guiding him towards France. So long

Company As

craft followed the control boat,

Green had taken

course.

a tour of the boat

it

would

and been impressed by

of the art navigational devices, including one of the

equipment

nificent piece of

first

its

right

state

radar sets: "a mag-

showed the contours

that even

on the

stay

of land."

Five miles from France, the control boat broke away, signaling: "You're

on the

right course.

checked

There

is."

his course as the flotilla

men now

Company A was on

own. Green

its

plowed forward, bucking

in the swells,

puking into paper bags and even their helmets.

Suddenly, Green

came upon

making very slow

a

group of

Omaha

carrying tanks destined for

"What

it

LCTs

[Landing Craft Tanks]

Beach. In the heavy seas, they were

progress.

are they doing here?" asked Green.

"They're supposed to go in ahead of us," replied Fellers.

"But they won't get there

in

time for

might have

to go

ahead of them.

We

must

get there

"Yes.

The

Is

"

positions.

blown

in the

cluster behind

all

first

In the far distance,

air

as they

advanced and

A

A

with cover:

fired

on Ger-

would have only

and naval bombardment

Green spotted what looked

Omaha Beach

we

wave up the beach and were

and providing Company

them

think

"I

right?"

Without the tanks, Company

beach from

Green.

3

tanks were supposed to lead the

The men could

man

that

on time.

essential to destroying resistance

six thirty," said

craters

for protection.

like land.

started to take form. In the

A

murky

few minthe

utes

later,

tidal

waters off the beach looked as unforgiving as those out in the chan-

nel.

Company A

still

light,

cruised forward in two columns of three.

It

oc-

curred to Green that the legendary British Admiral, Horatio Nelson, had

employed the same formation greatest naval

at the battle of Trafalgar in

engagement of the Napoleonic Wars.

1805, the

The

Eleven miles out

at sea, a troopship carrying the

First

Wave

123

second wave from the

USS Charles Carroll, pitched and rolled in heavy swells. Colonel Charles Canham and Brigadier General Norman Cota struggled down a 29th,

LCVP

cargo net slung over the boat's side and boarded

They were scheduled

vehicles and personnel).

White, several hundred yards

at

to

A

heard a massive explosion. firing

enormous fourteen-inch guns erupted, shock

the ship's

waves threatened

Mer draw 4

westward. The battleship Texas was

to their right,

Omaha; when

on Dog

to land at 7.30 A.M.

to the east of the Vierville sur

Three miles from the beach, Company

The men looked

7 1 (landing craft,

swamp

By now,

the boats.

men,

severely seasick

in-

cluding John Schenk, barely had the strength to bail with their helmets.

Some had

collapsed with exhaustion.

Just after 6 A.M., Lieutenant

bow

of his

LCA.

beach, obscuring

many

at the

head down.

few

feet

of

smoke hung

of the bluffs.

Nance

told

him

to bring

it

command

Nance closed

off in

little

narrow

the

slot,

keeping his to repair his

heavy seas. Should he abandon it

later

on the

chance of setting up Company As

post. Clifton shouldered the

broken

set.

Medic Cecil

Breeden, broadfaced, five-foot-ten-inches, 180 pounds, sat nearby.

was emblazoned on an arm-band and

cross

slot

storm cloud over the

along and they would repair

beach. Without radios, there was first

like a

a

from Nance, John Clifton struggled

The antenna had broken

radio set. it?

A

A pall

Ray Nance peered through

A red

a canvas shoulder bag that

was crammed with medical supplies. 5 In

LCA

911, Roy Stevens watched a volley of rockets flash overhead.

'Take a good look!" a

man

shouted. "This

is

something you

will tell

your grandchildren!" "Sure,

if

we

live,"

thought John Barnes. 6

"There was a lovely firework display," recalled Jimmy Green. "The rockets shore, it.

I

went up

in the air

nowhere near the

was

furious.

and then down

in the sea

They

few

coast.

They'd come

doing! Bang, bang, bang!

It

all

killed a

that

way

about a mile off the

fish

but that was about

just to misfire. Doing, doing,

woke those Germans up who

were already coming, but that was

it."

7

didn't

know we

The Bedford Boys

124

The question

whether or not the planned naval bombardment

as to

with rockets and shells was woefully inadequate remains highly contro-

Many

versial to this day.

bombing did have an and

in

some

areas most

Out

after-action navy reports confirmed that the

Guns had been

effect.

Germans had

"Were on our way

to

coxswain gunned

someone

in,"

seem

to care

"We're sinking!"

Water gushed

Mer's church.

life

if

LCA

911s engines.

said.

men

beside him were so seasick

they lived or died. Mortars and

artillery fire

relt

LCA

into

Then

the craft

belt but as

and Clyde Powers.

Fizer,

8

to bail frantically.

Barnes

Omaha

drop into the seas. In Stevens's boat were fellow Bedford boys

Harold Wilkes, Charles

began

along

survived.

Stevens said a prayer. Most of the

began

all

sections were destroyed. But in the most heavily defended

at sea, a British

they did not

identified

911. Stevens whipped off his helmet and

John Barnes glimpsed the spire of

the front fall

ol

Vierville sur

911 disappeared beneath the waves.

away below. He squeezed the CO-2 tubes

in his

he did so the belt flew away The buckle had broken.

man

turned and grabbed a

He

nearby and managed to keep himself from

going under by climbing on the man's back. 9 \t

the head of the

were not

to stop

Jimmy Green heard

flotilla,

and turned around just

in

time to see

1

men from

911.

head above water, weighed down by sault jacket,

go under. His orders

"I'll

case, his boat

be back," Green

ate breaths

sixty

struggling to keep his

pounds of

kit as

well as his as-

sodden and crammed with ammunition, which now

well he couldn't get rid of

it.

fit

so

Stevens gulped sea water between desper-

and then grabbed hold of

a Bangalore torpedo.

Somehow, he

to stay afloat.

Clyde Powers was as a

shout for help

10

Roy Stevens could barely swim and was soon

managed

man

a

and pick up men from the water. In any

did not have space for the

shouted.

LCA

91

a

good swimmer, having spent many summer days

boy plunging into swimming holes and on the shores of Bedford

The

County Lake,

few miles from Bedford:

a

swim.

thirty that couldn't

I

would say

was quite

"It

was eight

it

[despite having tried to learn in England]."

swim,

like

those

who

his uncle

bunch

of the

who couldn't Those who could

11

Harold Wilkes, did their best

man wore

to

prop up

Mae West

but their

and packs were so heavy when soaked that even

men who

couldn't. Every

assault jackets

a

125

or nine

swim

Powers and

Wave

First

an inflatable

could swim had to kick hard simply to keep their heads above water. "I'm drowning!" 12 one of the

and saw

men

suddenly shouted. Stevens turned

his boat team's radio operator, Private

slapped Stevens in the face.

He wiped

salt

James

Padley.

A

wave

water from his eyes. Padley

was gone.

Aboard stallations

LCA

910,

men

could

on the beach

"Yes.

is

One

looked particularly

bottom of the D-l

at the

Green thought, "we've had

Green turned "This

see vague outlines of defensive in-

and other landmarks. Jimmy Green spotted some "nasty look-

ing pillboxes along the coast."

in there,"

now

lethal,

positioned

anybody

Vierville draw. "If there's

it."

to Fellers.

where we're going

Land me

to land,

that

is

this side [west] of the

OK?"

draw and the others on the other

side." 13

Green gave the command see any in

approach

He

still

couldn't

started to splash

around them with

greater frequency.

Suddenly, off to Green's

which ripped through

left,

arm

as

that the other

men

tried to get

he

bad," recalled Draper's trying to stand." dirty sea

14

water and began

Jimmy Green looked

He checked

sat in the

sister,

Finally,

an

LCA was

hit

by an antitank

rifle

just above the water line, tearing off

Draper's upper

draw.

at full speed.

Germans but everybody knew they were now ready and waiting

some strength because mortars

much let

to

middle of the

Frank

to lay

craft. "I

was

fell to

Frank

later told

down he was bleeding

Verona. "But he wouldn't do

Draper

bul-

it.

He

so

kept

the floor awash with vomit and

to lose consciousness.

at the pillbox

his watch.

It

looming

at the

mouth

of the D-l

was 6:25 A.M. He then saw something

The Bedford Boys

126

moving along the top of Omaha Beach. train going along say

from

thought: That's strange

ning a

—

Cherbourg

Vierville to

in the

middle of

a loud

bang

in

Green's right

(landing craft gun) with 4.7-inch guns.

like a

—along the

this lot, they're

all

somebody

significantly. "If there's it."

He

ear.

steam

coast.

I

run-

still

turned to see an

suddenly

It

let rip

LCG

with a barrage

draw and appeared

that hit the pillbox at the base of the D-l

had

me

train!"'

There was

it

looked to

"It

to

damage

thought Green, "they've

in there,"

15

The

LCG

and then disappeared

fired again

as fast as

had

it

After the ear-splitting naval barrage and the rocket display,

it

arrived.

was sud-

denly eerily quiet. There were the steady plops of mortars landing in the

water and the odd antitank round but still

out of range of

little else.

and machine-gun

rifle

fire.

seemed they were

It

16

Several hundred yards behind Green, out at sea, 91 struggling to keep from drowning.

l's

boat team were

"Our heads bobbed up above the

"We could

face of the water," John Barnes recalled.

still

see

sur-

some other

boats moving on to the shore." 17 Barnes grabbed for anything that might

help him stay alive

—an

M-l carbine wrapped

in a flotation belt,

and

then a flamethrower that was floating around with two belts wrapped

around

it.

The water was

freezing,

numbing

Barnes hugged the flamethrower for dear other men.

Then Lieutenant Gearing was

termination on his face.

whipped out

swam

a bayonet,

He grabbed

hands and

his life.

He

feet.

heard the shouts of

at his side, a fierce

look of de-

Barnes by his assault jacket,

and cut the straps

to Barnes's pack.

Others

over and helped free Barnes of over sixty pounds of deadly ballast.

Barnes kicked his legs and found that he was

now

able to keep his head

above water.

There was

a

operator. He'd his back.

crest of

—

head count. Just one man was missing gone down with

Roy Stevens

still

waves he could see

ing craft carrying

a forty-pound

clutched

at his

SCR

300 radio strapped

to

Bangalore torpedo. At the

Omaha Beach and

Company A. They were

Padley, the radio

the remaining five land-

closing on the beach.

The

In

LCA

910,

Jimmy Green scanned

had expected

to see craters

bombing

was planned

and the

that

blown to

all

First

Wave

127

the fast approaching sands.

along the beach

—the

He

result of the

precede the landing. But there were none,

above looked unharmed.

bluffs

Three hundred twenty-nine Liberator bombers had indeed dropped 13,000 bombs between 05:55 and 06:14 A.M., but because of thick cloud cover and fear of hitting incoming troops, their bombs landed well

The bombs

inland.

dents but

the sands of

left

Omaha was

Omaha and

as "flat as a pancake," in

The Bedford

boys' hearts sank.

Even

bombs had

if

the

craters for shelter: for high

cows and some

killed plenty of

Most

hit the

of the

its

French

local

resi-

defenders unscathed. Indeed,

Greens words.

beach, there would have been no

bombs were 100-pound

devices designed

fragmentation and had "instantaneous fuses" that would "pre-

vent cratering of the beach and consequent delay in the traffic across it."

would be

18

movement

of

Yet the Bedford boys had been assured that there

craters.

Green gave the hand

signal for

Company A

to

make

the final run to

the beach. His craft touched bottom about thirty yards from the shoreline

and then bucked up and down

in

lowered the ramp, and then turned to Fellers

thanked Green

heavy

surf.

"Good

Fellers:

for getting the

men

He opened

in

the doors,

luck."

on time.

The armor-plated door leading onto the ramp opened. stood, exited,

had It

and then clambered down the ramp. The middle row

him. "They went out in very good order," recalled Green.

filed after

"They

Fellers

didn't

to do."

need

to

be ushered out and about

— they knew what they

19

took over a minute for the other two rows to get out of the boat.

The enemy

still

figure of Fellers

held their machine-gun

and

his

water, snaking onto the

Green examined the ing, dark.

men waded, beach bluffs

fire.

Green watched

as the

tall

guns above their heads, through the

in a long line.

above the D-l draw. "They looked menac-

You knew the Germans were

there.

It

was

creepy, especially

The Bedford Boys

128

because of the silence. We'd been expecting the Germans soon as

we

arrived.

Green saw went back back

to

But they

Fellers

and

didn't. It

his

men

to work, ordering his

pick up

LCA

lie

to

open up

as

was the calm before the storm." 20

down on

a slight incline.

Green

coxswain to pull off the beach and head

911s crew

still

in the water. It

was H-Hour: The

Bedford boys had arrived on the shores of Fortress Europe exactly on time.

11

Dog Beach

FELLERS LAY WITH

CAPTAIN

yards from the D- 1 Vierville draw. to provide covering fire

down

too

much

would have

to

in the

because

his boat

team two hundred

Jimmy Green had

his landing craft

fifty

not been able

had bucked up and

heavy seas. There was only one thing

to

do

—they

run for the nearest cover, making sure they did not bunch

together to minimize casualties. All along the bluffs

vision lay in wait.

above Omaha, veterans of the German 352nd Di-

They had moved

ing the inferior 716th Division.

into the area in recent weeks, reliev-

They

totaled two regiments, almost

two

thousand men.

As

Fellers

dered their

and

men

his

men

to fire.

started to advance,

Above the

German

Vierville draw, the

officers finally or-

352nd opened up

MG-42 machine guns, firing over a thousand and several mortars. Two dozen snipers lurked in

with at least three

rounds

per minute,

nearby

trenches.

The

nine

men

gun

bullets

No

slaughter was fast and merciless. Fellers and the twenty-

in his boat died in a matter of minutes, riddled

by machine-

from several directions.

accurate record exists of the boat roster for

was probably

Day.

It

after

H-Hour. But

it

lost is

have been among those

with

many

Company A on D-

others in the chaos and carnage

thought that the following Bedford boys

who

may

died within yards of their captain: twenty-

two-year-old Sergeant Dickie Abbott; twenty-six-year-old Clifton Lee, the shy but fiercely patriotic private cally

whose eyebrows arched dramati-

above his pale face; twenty-three-year-old Gordon Henry White

129

The Bedford Boys

130

Jr.

who dreamed

of his mother's cooking; the well-mannered Southern

"gentleman" Nick Gillaspie; and the ace dice player, Wallace "Snake Eyes" Carter.

Less than

On

beach.

fifty

LCA

yards away, another

had

also

approached the

board were George Roach, Thomas Valance, Gil Murdock,

and the Bedford boys Dickie Overstreet and Master Sergeant John Wilkes. "We're going to drop this ramp and as soon as going to back out," shouted a British

ready"

bowman,

do, we're

you guys better be

"so

1

The ramp slammed down

into the surf

swung open. Lieutenant Alfred Anderson Valance and seconds

mans found at

we

later

their range.

and then the metal door

by Roach and then Wilkes.

Men

began

Instantly, the

to fall in every direction,

John Wilkes was one of the few who managed

to get out of the shal-

lows and onto the sand, where he and George Roach started to

wards the base of the D-l

Vierville draw.

fire to-

Neither Wilkes nor Roach had

German.

yet seen a

are you firing at?" asked Wilkes.

don't know," said Roach.

don't

"I

know what

I'm firing

Wilkes and Roach spotted Lieutenant Anderson, of them.

a hail

and shrapnel.

of bullets

"I

Ger-

picked off

random, while others miraculously staggered unscathed through

"What

by

exited, closely followed

He waved

for

them

to follow

at."

thirty yards in front

him across the beach. Then

Roach was knocked down. The next thing he knew, the sea was

licking

There was no sign of Anderson or Wilkes. According

at his heels.

some eyewitnesses, Anderson was cut

in

two by

a

machine gun.

to

It is

thought that Master Sergeant John Wilkes was shot and killed as he fired his

M-l Garand

rifle at

the defensive installations at the base of

the D-l draw.

Dickie Overstreet also

made

it

to the sands.

flamethrower and picked up a dead man's

rifle

He had dumped

as he

waded

ashore.

his

He

then took cover behind one of two American tanks that had landed the

mouth

at

of the D-l draw. Suddenly, the tank took a direct hit, possi-

Dog Beach

Germans were

bly from a mortar. Overstreet realized the

any spot where vehicles

men

—knowing

clustered

—burnt out landing

he

The ammunition

in the tank started to ex-

took

"I

he recalled. 'That was when

finally

made

wounded

bullets

it

to the sea wall

couldn't

open the

running along the top of the

lie

finally

be taken

spend

six

I

called for

come

had

to

weeks recovering from multiple

"He

me when

to

Overstreet re-

He was

so nervous he

for myself." 3 Overstreet

many

bullet

tidal

Mae West and

he came home," recalled

runnels on

even

down by filling his

to the shallows

wounded, unable

lay

erate

it

his sister

his kit,

gas

instead.

to get

casing with air.

air to

back

to

his

help him get

Murdock had then

and was now crawling up the beach. Two

Murdock

4

one of

punching the CO-2 tubes on

mask

to fire a mortar.

Beu-

life."

feet of water in

Omaha, and had then fought

buoyant. Finally, he had surfaced and gasped for it

wounds. "He wouldn't

suffered from stomach problems for the rest of his

the surface, weighed

made

when he would

7,

England, where he would

Boatmate Gil Murdock had plunged into nine the

Dog Green

first aid,"

me.

do that

to

and then

to a hospital ship

about the war with

lah Witt.

kit.

"I

beside the sea wall until 4:30 A.M. on June

would

talk

aid

first

2

Overstreet in the stomach and leg but

got a guy to

"I finally

started running, criss-cross-

off,

got hit."

I

sector assigned to the 1st Battalion.

membered.

and immobilized

huddled behind them,

plode. Overstreet ran for cover.

Machine gun

zeroing in on

entire platoons could be

frozen with shock and panic.

ing,"

craft

131

men

A sergeant ordered Murdock to op-

got to the mortar

and

fired a

couple of rounds

but they didn't explode.

"Murdock, you

dumb

bastard," shouted the sergeant, "you're not

pulling the firing pins!"

Murdock managed

to get off several

more rounds, which

ploded, then began to crawl towards the sea wall.

but

it

He

tried to fire his rifle

was jammed with wet sand. Then he came across

gaping

wound

dock gave

it,

in his arm.

The

a soldier with a

soldier asked for a shot of morphine.

wished him luck, and kept crawling,

antitank obstacle.

actually ex-

Murdock found two men

this

Mur-

time towards an

already cowering behind the

The Bedford Boys

132

obstacle.

To advance seemed

marginally less

Men

fatal:

suicidal but to stay

where they were only

were now being picked

by

off

a score of

snipers along the bluffs.

Murdock suddenly "What happened?" looked

It

either

A

like all

spotted George Roach crawling towards them. 5

said Roach.

Company's

officers

were dead, and every sergeant

dead or wounded.

They

tried to catch their breath. Suddenly, tracer fire sputtered to-

A German

wards them:

machine gunner had spotted them.

Fortunately,

the tracers crackled above their heads. Every few seconds, another burst

went high by just

man

a

few

feet.

Murdock

wasn't lowering his aim.

target

Then he looked up and saw

—an antitank mine strapped

blow anything within several yards

They had

man

why

the Ger-

the German's

direct hit

would

to pieces.

As the group

soldier's left leg

A

to the obstacle.

Murdock, before

better get the hell away, thought

finds his mark.

one

that

couldn't understand

Murdock noticed

the obstacle,

left

was soaked

that Ger-

in blood. "You're

hit!''

damn fool," the soldier replied. "So are you." 6 Murdock looked down. Two machine-gun bullets had

he shouted.

"You

and ended up

in his right ankle.

"Look, I'm a good "Let

me swim

looked

at

swimmer and

you out

Murdock kept

He

pierced his leg

it.

a

to that

you're not that badly hurt," said Roach.

knocked-out tank

photograph of

in the

water out there."

his fiancee in the liner of his helmet.

Roach grabbed the helmet and threw

it

away

angrily.

out to sea.

They

finally got

"Let's get going."

Roach propped up Murdock

as they

swam

to the knocked-out tank.

A few yards away,

and down. They looked

closer. It

was the

bobbed up

three men's heads

tank's crew, their faces disfig-

ured by powder burns.

The tank commander

sat

behind the

turret.

from the knee down. His shin bone dangled useless.

shot?

They wouldn't

carry out orders.

His

left leg

in the water.

Could they

give

was missing

His

him

a

men were morphine

Dog Beach

Murdock crawled pulled out

there.

inside the tank turret, found a first aid package,

some morphine and gave

The commander

said

he wanted

Murdock and Roach he persuaded

Finally,

him

into the water

tide

was coming

his

the

commander

crew to

to

the shot.

to get to the beach.

disagreed. But the

and began

It

would be

commander was

safer

insistent.

do what he told them. They helped

swim

in a

group towards the beach. The

in.

Murdock watched

as they got closer to the shore. Suddenly, the cur-

rent snatched them, pulling

Murdock and Roach

them eastwards and then under. on the tank. Shells started

sat alone

To make matters worse, the

nearby.

133

tank. Soon, they stood

behind the

was

tide

turret,

starting to

to land

submerge the

and then actually on the

turret

to avoid drowning.

Roach shook

insisted

a landing craft.

He watched Roach swim

furiously

sight of him.

Murdock would soon be picked up by

a later wave.

Roach would

would

also

Murdock

for getting

him

away and then

lost

wished him good luck, and thanked him

his hand,

off the beach.

he could swim out and reach

a landing craft

be rescued, by an army control

from

craft,

and

also survive the war.

Back

in the shallows, their

boatmate Sergeant Thomas Valance cow-

ered in knee-high water, scanning the bluffs.

He

German. But the enemy was

bunkers and trenches

along the bluffs.

A

The

air

there,

hidden

in

crackled with bullets.

had walked onto the wrong end of a

spat from the concrete pillbox at the

It

seemed

firing range.

mouth

been immobilized by the naval barrage

couldn't see a single

as

if

after

all.

Company

Suddenly, tracer

of the D-l draw.

The

all

It

fire

had not

pillbox actually

faced eastward, allowing machine gunners a clean sweep across the

mouth

of the

draw and the

Valance fired

entire length of

at the pillbox

Dog Green

beach. 7

and several beach houses shrouded

smoke. They too were supposed

to

in

have been flattened by American

bombers. All around Valance, Bedford boys were dying. In some spots, the sea ran red. Valance struggled to keep his balance. his kit

and sodden pack

a bullet pierced his knuckle

As he threw

off

and exited through

The Bedford Boys

134

the palm of his hand. Valance

felt

only a small sting but his adrenaline

surged as blood spurted from the wound.

Not surf

far away,

Company As

Private

Henry G. Witt

rolled over in the

and faced Valance. "Sergeant," he cried hopelessly. "They're leaving

us here to die like

Just to die like rats." 8 Valance didn't feel aban-

rats.

He was determined to get out of the water, to push forward, to and then get Company A's objectives achieved, whatever the

doned.

find cover,

conditions. There

was

still

a job to be done.

Valance crawled towards the sea wall

at

the western edge of the

beach, where he finally collapsed, blood gushing from several bullet

He would

wounds.

there for the rest of the day along with a small

lie

Company A survivors. few dozen men from Company A who were

group of other badly wounded

Back still

in the shallows, the

alive

were having

a hell of a time simply

keeping afloat or moving

forward without exposing themselves to withering

fire.

The smartest

lay

with their nostrils just above the water so they could breathe but with every other inch of their bodies submerged.

Now

the

Germans were

shooting at anything that resembled a body, exploding the heads and bellies

of the prostrate, turning areas of the beach into a bloody slaughter-

house.

By 6:45

A.M., the

first

beach and pulled away.

The

wave boats had deposited Company

next wave to approach the shore included an

tenant Ray

A

Nance and seventeen other headquarters

LCA carrying staff,

Lieu-

including the

medic Cecil Breeden and Bedford boys John Reynolds and John

They came

on the

9

Clifton.

planned, nineteen minutes after the rest of

in exactly as

Company A. Nance's craft Nance's right

down!"

bottom. The British bowman, standing a few feet to

in a steel

lever to let the 10

hit

compartment

pulled a

ramp down. The ramp lowered but then stopped. "Get

it

shouted Nance.

The bowman yanked started to

at the front of the craft,

fall.

the lever again and again. Finally, the

Nance gave

it

a shove.

ramp

Dog Beach

"Up and

at

em

bowman.

mates," 11 cried the

Nance took two

down

steps

the

ramp and jumped

into the water.

wave crashed down, almost submerging him. He began sodden pack pulling

his

him down,

135

rifle

to

wade

A

forward,

above his head. The next thing

he knew, he was lying winded on the cold sand. Nance looked around.

He

couldn't see any other

men from Company

A. Feeling terribly iso-

lated,

he struggled on up the beach. Soon he realized what had hap-

pened

to

Company A

—corpses

lay

bumped

strewn across the sands and

against each other in the shallows.

Suddenly, he was not alone. of Nance's runners; to the

pany As Cassanova

and

useless,

it

—

left:

Men

appeared nearby. To the

his radio operator,

crawling, his radio

made him

still

on

He

a sitting target.

John Clifton

his back.

should

one

right:

The

—Comwas

radio

dump

it

fast,

thought Nance.

"Keep moving, keep moving," shouted Nance. "I'm hit," cried Clifton.

"Can you move?" asked Nance. Clifton didn't answer.

Nance ducked and then looked up Nance spotted "Spread

stacle.

mouth when verely

four other

Nance

had disappeared.

men huddled down behind

a steel tank ob-

shouted Nance. The words had barely

out!''

a mortar

wounding the

again. Clifton

round landed,

killing three of the

left his

men and

se-

other.

couldn't see a single

German. He

fired a

few rounds towards

A

piece of

few inches from

his face.

the bluffs but then another mortar shell exploded nearby.

shrapnel took a chunk out of his

rifle,

just a

"The Germans were so accurate with those things," Nance recalled, "they could put one in your back pocket

Tracer

fire

if

they spotted you." 12

spurted towards Nance, kicking up sand, ricocheting off

the stones, stitching the hard beach with bullets.

spotted

was

him and were zeroing

definitely the target.

the draw, half

way up

The

in.

fire

the bluffs.

The machine gun

came from

a

The Germans had snarled again.

bunker just

He

to the right of

— The Bedford Boys

136

Nance

positioned his body so he was facing the machine gun head

on, providing less of a target. If he did get hit, a shot to the head.

He

looked

at his rifle;

it

would be over quick

it

was

useless.

Wet sand had

gotten into the workings.

Nance held body began his right

—

a

to

his breath as the

shake with

Company A

terror.

Then

bullets got louder.

Another burst of

He

bullets.

volleys.

Nance recognized

his

looked to

rifleman was up on his feet and sprinting,

machine gun

ing to escape the

sound of the

try-

the runner.

It

was twenty-two-year-old John Reynolds. Reynolds stopped, knelt down and raised

saw him

his rifle to return fire.

fall

He

never got to pull the

Nance

trigger.

dead.

stopped spitting across the beach towards Nance.

Finally, the bullets

Perhaps the Germans had found another runner. There was no retreat for

man on D-Day

any

aiming for a

cliff-face three

Frank Draper

felt like

—he had

Jr.

to

push on. Nance crawled forward,

hundred yards away. Suddenly

had

hit

it

his right foot

with a baseball bat. Part of his heel

had been shot away. Bullets again stitched the sand, again heading direction. I

"They came so

close," recalled

thought there was no more hope,

anything up there. But feeling.

felt as if

I

Nance

lay as

I

still

I

Nance. 'Then, suddenly, when

looked up in the

something

felt

somehow

I

was going

settle over

to live."

for

line of bullets

me

again, like

my

its

He

strap

on

again.

warm

Germans

targets for the

wouldn't

let

me

14

sand and shingle with

looked deep enough for a

Nance

to

He'd

come back

tried in vain

his hands.

man

be.

Then he

disappear be-

surface.

Nance crawled ters.

It

got this

13

he was playing cat and mouse."

spotted a tidal pool.

I

didn't see

I

way, pass on to another target then

to dig a shallow foxhole in the

neath

now

Dog Green. "That machine gunner just

send a

me.

sky.

he could, hoping the machine gunner would

as

think he was dead. But even corpses were

above

in his

filled his

his

Some

as fast as

lungs and ducked down.

World War time

he could, slithering into the

later,

I

binocular case.

when he came up

pool's tepid

wa-

Suddenly, a bullet pierced the

Nance ducked down for

air,

again and

there was a soldier from

Dog Beach

New York

not far from him.

again turned to face

The machine gun

them head

on.

He

bullets returned.

told the

New

137

Nance

Yorker to do the

same. The bullets moved away.

Nance and the

cliff.

At

the

last,

pouring from his

New

they

Yorker scrambled across the

felt

shingle beneath them.

But

he was

Nance

He

yards towards

last

collapsed, blood

looked out to sea.

"I

recognized two [dead] officers. They were face up, lying in the water.

A

lot of

men were

men would The

tide

have

foot.

at least

caught by the

made

it."

tide.

safe.

Had we been on

dry land, a lot of

15

had crept up behind Nance, drowning Company A

no longer had the strength

to crawl.

Among

them,

it is

men who

thought, was Ray-

mond Hoback. Nance had trained them. He had tried to be good to them. He had read their last love letters. As he now lay on the bloodstained pebbles below Vierville sur Mer, he

them, every

last

one.

the finest soldiers

I

"I

was

their officer.

ever saw."

16

It

still felt

was

my

responsible for

duty.

.

.

.

They were

12

"Medic!"

THAN N AN C E

OTHER

,

thought that just one

it is

from Company As headquarters boat

He wanted

They must

follow his example.

get

up and

survived

—medic Cecil Breeden. As

soon as he reached the sands, he stripped off his pack,

and boots. Then he stood up.

man

other

men

shirt,

to see

helmet,

him, and to

free of the kit that could soon

drown them. "Medic! Medic!"

Breeden walked back into the water beach, away from the advancing

packs and began to help.

tide. Slowly, a

They now

supplication.

few others shook

They peppered

A

to ribbons but they

were

in

to save

them. The lazy machine gun-

By some

hit.

"[stayed] with his

vate Russell Pickett

not

could not crawl and American

ners shot rescuers in the back. Snipers aimed for the forehead.

As Breeden

still

who

soldiers

own necks

miracle, Breeden wasn't

the

off their

wounded men with arms outstretched

riddled

teenagers risking their

wounded men up

1

The Germans had cut Company satisfied.

to pull

came

to

work indomitably," 2 Company As

and found himself

Pri-

on wet sand. Just

lying

before his craft had landed, he had heard a "low rumble" and had then

been knocked unconscious.

him up the beach, now feet.

He

couldn't

move

A

dead man,

whom

he guessed had pulled

The

tide lapped at Pickett's

lay twelve feet away. his legs.

He

didn't

know how

conscious. All he had was a combat knife.

pack.

"I

around

began to feel

to think I'd

but

I

been

hit in the

Someone had back and

couldn't find anything wrong."

139

long he'd been un-

3

I

pulled off his

worked my arms

The Bedford Boys

140

Petrified he

would drown with the incoming

grabbed for

ately

He

nearby.

began

Mae West

preservers

desper-

among macabre

flotsam

put one under each arm and another around his chest and

He saw

to float ashore.

"Whitey"

life

tide, Pickett

—he only knew

names. "He got shot and

a

replacement from Ohio nicknamed

men

a handful of

Company A by

their real

knocked him down and he got up again and

it

they hit him again, in the

in

leg,

and spun him around," Pickett

"Then he crawled away, out of my

recalled.

even after he'd been

sight,

hit

twice."

Pickett recognized another man, a Lieutenant Fergusson, a recent

replacement I

knew him

who had

played football for the U.S. Army. "He was huge.

pretty well because he'd sneak around

us guys in training. He'd been hit real bad.

down

top of his head was

over his face. You couldn't see anything but a mass of bloody

flesh. It "I

The

and play poker with

was

like his scalp

can't see,"

"Turn

left

had peeled down over

his face."

shouted Fergusson.

and

go!" 4

Fergusson turned

left

but was cut

down

within a few yards by a ma-

chine gun. Pickett fought to keep his head above water as he floated towards

the shore with the tide. Eventually, he would be fished out of the water

and taken back

to the

Empire Javelin.

The Americans kept coming, Company B erator

Bob

Company

arriving at 7 A.M. Radio op-

Sales stood a few feet from Captain Ettore Zappacosta,

B's

commanding

officer.

As

right at the base of the Vierville draw,

up on the edge and see what you can

their craft

Where

in

"on target,"

Zappacosta told Sales

to "crawl

The beach was

a stone's

see."

5

throw away but Sales couldn't see anybody from just corpses.

came

Company A

fighting,

were the Bedford boys and their buddies?

Had

they landed elsewhere? "Captain," shouted Sales, "there's something wrong. There's ing everywhere on the beach!"

"They shouldn't be on the beach." 6

men

lay-

141

"Medic!"

on the beach but

Sales hadn't seen a living soul

was obvious that

it

plenty of machine gunners were in the bluffs: Bullets sprayed back and forth, tearing

A

bowman

British

down

up the beach

in puffs of sand.

he was going

said

Zappacosta was the

again.

immediately. "I'm

first

drop the ramp. Sales ducked

to

out.

MG-42

bullets riddled

I'm hit/' he called out. Every

hit,

Zappacosta down the ramp met the same

man who

him

followed

caught in a relentless

fate,

crossfire.

would have been

Sales

balance, and

fell

damned

He

he didn't get

struggled under water to release

thing off his back, he

yards in front of the craft.

Men

were

still

the ramp. "Everybody Sales said. "Those

Up

recalled one

only thing I

shoot."

it; if

knew he would never

fill

exiting,

still

I

was getting cut down

to the touch. "It

know

is

was the

in 1964. "I don't

that

I

his lungs with

He was

several

dropping the instant they appeared on

German machine guns

German

still

The machine guns were now enjoying open

as

—they

soon as they came

went

to

first

off,"

just ate us up." 7

above on the bluffs, triggers of the Germans'

guns were hot

lost his

He was

Sales finally ripped the pack free and surfaced.

air again.

season.

but he stumbled as he exited,

into the water off the side of the ramp.

wearing his radio. the

killed too

time

remember

I

MG-42 machine

shoot at living men,"

exactly

my machine gun and

how I

it

was:

shoot,

I

The

shoot,

8

Sales spotted one of the 1st Battalion's surgeons, Captain Robert

Ware,

a fellow Virginian with a flaming red

buzz cut: "He had brought

himself in on an early wave rather than later in the day because he there

was going

to

be a

lot

of

wounded.

When

that

knew

ramp went down,

they opened up and they got him. Just cut the boat to pieces. He'd got

me

a three-day pass to

London. Treated

my knee

after a river crossing in

my home in Lynchburg." 9 again. He couldn't see any other

England, came from near Sales looked around his boat.

A mortar

shell exploded,

stunning Sales.

Some

survivors from

time

later, feel-

ing "very groggy," Sales grabbed onto a log that had been part of a beach

defense.

A

live

mine was

still

attached to one end. Suddenly, another

The Bedford Boys

142

was

soldier

at his side,

helping strip off his heavy assault jacket so he

wouldn't drown. Sales used the log as cover, pushing

wood.

to the

he got

Finally,

in front of him, his face pressed

it

where he spotted

to the beach,

communications sergeant, Dick Wright, who had jumped

He was

pacosta.

saw Sales he

badly

wounded and had been washed

tried to raise himself

But before he could utter

thing.

up on

his

elbows

boats

his

off after Zap-

When

ashore.

he

him some-

to tell

a word, a sniper hiding in rocks along

the bluff shot him.

looked

"It

And

I

like his

head exploded. Pieces

lay there, just figuring I'd

done and seen me,

too.'

And

be next.

just fell about in the sand.

said to myself:

I

evidently something distracted him, an-

other boat maybe, a bigger target, because he didn't get me.

head

in the

waited.

reckon

I

I

far as

I

could, put

lay there thirty

my

got a

I

thing.'

had

I

pecting a to one,

little

fifty

man

And maybe

protection.

yards to go

to kill you.

and then

So

—

I

I

thought:

'If

to

my

buried

head, and

I

just

I

can get

to that

can get another gun or some-

a long way, especially

move

I

10

started using

I

real easy, I'd

my

arms over

minutes.

seen a wall, maybe 150 feet away.

"I'd

wall,

sand as

That sniper

when

dead bodies.

I

you're ex-

would crawl

another one. That was the only

protection." 11 All

men were

around Sales, Company B

being picked off as they

crawled forward. Those lingering on the water tinuous machine-gun careful here."

12

fire.

"Man,'' thought Sales,

Sales inched forward.

The corpses

others dotted the beach, every ten yards or so.

They'd smiled

at

him across

bars.

were raked by con-

line

have

"I

to

be awful

of Bedford boys and

Some

faces were familiar.

They'd passed him on cold parade

grounds. "I

never talked to a living soul from

Sales. "But

I

saw

their bodies.

I

don't

A Company remember

the names.

scared to death. But there was quite a few of them.

Company

I

crawled around

—there was nobody

been dead that quick. There'd be

a

body with

that day," recalled

It

was

I

was so

definitely

A

else that could have

legs off,

sometimes just a

143

"Medic!"

leg,

mangled

pacosta

parts.

I

—couple of

thirty feet of

heard

later that

great buddies

each other."

He'd made

on its

it.

—

Smith had been

him

hit three

"Them's

failed,

Private

times in the face.

"morphine

a

and then bandaged him.

socket,

jab,"

An

off this beach.

would be taken

off the

what

day," 16

he

lived,

into

They

felt like

an

beach that afternoon but would

re-

him

launch going back for wounded on Omaha. "There wasn't a

who

eyeball lay

15

turn before nightfall after persuading a doctor to allow

boat

Smith,

popped the eye back

pair stayed at the sea wall, both in shock, for

eternity. Sales

Mack

14

man," said Smith. "We gotta get

gotta send boats in for us."

The

Company B man,

base of the sea wall. Sales crawled over.

at the

his cheek. Sales gave

—were washed up on the beach within

13

Suddenly, Sales saw another

by a cluster of rocks

Captain Fellers and Captain Zap-

to join a

man

off

my

except me. Not one. Every one of them got killed that

said.

Some men from Company B craft did live,

Hal Baumgarten's landing

in Private

but not many. As his boat neared the shore, slightly to the

east of the D-l draw, icy water crashed in garten's waist.

Company

B's

and was quickly up

Baum-

Lieutenant Harold Donaldson leaned

against the door of the landing craft. "Well,

what the

ing for?" he shouted. "Take off your helmets

and

ricocheted off the

to

LCA. To Baumgarten's

left,

landing craft suddenly exploded, hit by an

hell are

you wait-

start bailing." 17 Bullets

another of

88mm

shell.

Company

B's

Fragments of

men and wood showered down. They moved forward, the thunder

of explosions growing louder and

—

Men exited as fast as they could into the crosshairs of yet another MG-42 machine gun. Baumgarten jumped, rifle above his head. A bullet skimmed his helmet. He landed in six feet of water, bright red from men mown down in louder.

Then

the

ramp was down.

front of him, including

Donaldson

Baumgarten spotted the sea

—

killed as

wall, three

soon as he exited.

hundred yards away Barbed

wire curled along the top. Beyond, a bluff rose a hundred feet or so and

The Bedford Boys

144

was veined with trenches linking

snipers, mortar crews, rocket launch-

and several MG-42s.

ers,

Baumgarten waded ashore, two waterproofed tanks

76mm

fired its

cannon

bullets spattering

Men

to his left.

at the

huddled against them. One

Germans along

hundred yards away. The other was disabled. turret.

The rubber

Where were

had

flotation skirts

around him. There were

now some two A dead man hung from its the bluffs,

fallen off both.

the other tanks scheduled to land at the D-l Vierville

draw?

A

machine gun opened up,

garten's

left.

A

bullet hit his

just

rifle.

German

chest."

wall, slightly to

There was a "clean hole

The seven

in front of the trigger guard.

stopped the

above the sea

Baum-

in its receiver

bullets in the receiver

had

bullet from penetrating the rifle to hit [his]

18

Another Company B man, nineteen-year-old private Robert Dittmar, fell

on

his

"I'm hit

back about ten

Baumgarten dropped a

feet away.

— Ma, Mother,"

he cried and then lay dead.

to his

"Czech hedgehog:" four

knees behind a defensive obstacle called

iron girders

Hoback

shape. Bedford

19

welded together

to

lay thirty yards to his left.

wounded. Three others from Company

A

lay

"There was a pillbox built into the bluff

to

form a

Hoback looked

motionless beside him.

my

right," recalled

machine gun could sweep the beach

What miracle condom from on the bluff

kept the

me

from being

mouth

slightly to

of

my

hit?

[a] rifle,

right

.

.

.

I

and

after

laterally

with

its

Baum-

The

pill-

deadly

fire.

garten. "It appeared to be camouflaged as a seaside cottage. box's

star-like

removed the protective fired at the shine of a

my

shot, the gunfire

latex

helmet

from that

area ceased." 20

Fighting back

from an

88mm

slicing his

felt

shell hit

upper

lip in

and gums were lying freely

good. But the feeling didn't last long. Fragments

Baumgarten

in the face, shattering his

two. "The roof of all

my mouth was

jaw and

cut up, and teeth

over inside," he would recall. "Blood poured

from the gaping wound." 21 The same

shell also hit

Bedford

145

"Medic!"

Hoback square to it

him was

lay

Elmere Wright.

Dick

just like

head dropped

in the face. "His I

was certain

Tracy's in the

able to stand. His limbs

was him because of

for.

Next

his nose;

cartoon." 22

He was in severe shock yet were unharmed. He quickly threw off most

Baumgarten washed blood from still

it

—he was done

his face.

of his kit and then slithered forward using corpses and "hedgehogs" as

There were no reinforcements landing behind him

cover.

Germans'

to divert the

Because beach obstacles had not been cleared on Dog

fire.

C

Green, Companies

two beach sections

D

and

had veered

to the east.

far off

The Germans above

draw had nothing to do but pick off anyone Meanwhile,

a

course and were landing

who

so

the D-l Vierville

much

as twitched.

thousand yards from the beach, John Barnes and Roy

Stevens managed to keep their heads above water. They could hear a fierce firefight

around the

Vierville draw.

As they bobbed up and down

in

the heavy swells, they also heard twenty-year-old Second Lieutenant

Gearings calming voice.

He

urged them to keep close together. That

the weakest stay afloat. 23

way they could help

Sergeant John Laird, a small Scotsman whose family hailed from near

Greenock pany A

in Scotland,

fight its

"Let's

"No,

swim

let's

way

out.

wait here," replied Gearing.

least a

"We

know how

far

it

was.

thousand yards, someone replied, but no one

can't

make

it,"

Gearing insisted. "Too

picked up by some passing boat."

Muscles cramped.

mia

Men

die, as their grips

far.

really

We'll wait and get

24

none stopped. Then,

as

men

Jimmy Green. As promised, he had returned his

started to

on floating objects and each other grew weaker, they

heard the "friendly shout of someone with a Limey voice" 25

Green and

knew.

clung to their buddies desperately, hypother-

setting in. Boats passed but

tenant

Com-

off the beach.

he called

in,"

Laird wanted to

At

thought they should swim ashore and help

crew started

back-breaking work:

to pull the

Some men were

in

men from

— Sub-Lieu-

LCA

910.

the water.

It

was

twice their normal weight. Green

The Bedford Boys

146

and

his

soggy

crew used

their seamen's knives to cut

away leaden packs and

kit.

Roy Stevens was jarred awake. He saw Clyde Powers clambering aboard Greens boat.

me

"Clyde, can you help

here!" Stevens cried.

"Sure." 26

Powers reached out and slowly hauled Stevens into the most of the time they had spent

in the water,

craft.

For

Powers had helped Stevens

stay afloat.

Stevens ered.

Mae

The

fell to

the floor and vomited sea water.

He shook and

shiv-

next thing he knew, a Brit was removing his assault jacket and

West. Another handed out cigarettes. Jimmy Green broke out a car-

ton of 200 Capstan duty-free "fags."

He

apologized as he handed

them

around. "Sorry, chaps, they're only British, no Camels or Lucky Strike on this boat." 27

LCA

910s engines gunned. They were heading out

Many seemed

were upset: They were leaving Roy's

surprised. Others

brother and their buddies to fight stances,

Green

state to fight.

said,

tried to get

Jr.,

"Draper was tank

rifle

bullet

alive

still

"How Green

to the

beach. They were in no

fit

Empire Javelin.

A Company men

shocked but conscious, and Sergeant

but unconscious," recalled Pickett. "[The] anti-

had gone through

his left shoulder

and upper arm. You

beating." 29

Draper was bleeding kill

to the

Under no circum-

covered in blood.

could see his heart

didn't get to

out alone. 28

warm. He recognized two

lying nearby: Russell Pickett,

Frank Draper

it

would they return

They were going back

John Barnes

into the channel.

to death.

He had

less

than an hour to

live.

"He

anybody," his sister Verona later said. "I'm glad of that." 30

about the others said they

had

all

[in

Company A]?" someone

asked. 31

landed safely on the beach, unaware of what

had then happened when the German machine guns opened up.

Around the same proaching

Omaha

time,

Company

in the fourth

D's Sergeant

wave.

A

Bob Slaughter was

ap-

few hundred yards from the

147

''Medic!"

beach, he stood up to get a better look at the bluffs, careful to keep his

head down: Bullets ricocheted

fierce

brush

Dog White

fire

and

a pall of black

smoke hanging over the

sector of the beach straight ahead.

down

The ramp came down. Slaughter

froze.

down

on select

in

craft,

in the surf, so violently

He

bronco."

rose

and

fell

off to the side,

it

was

as

down,

was

if

hit

craft

bounced up and

he were "riding a bucking

jumped

blocking their

in the water.

him spin

Slaughter

exit.

at his

landing craft

They were bleeding

hit.

One man

got caught

"like a top" as

But as

craft started to pull out to sea. it

The

He was

motor. Slaughter watched

The

to

every kind of caliber.

waded ashore then looked back

around

flailing

The Germans seemed

men

buddies from Roanoke had been

some

bluffs of the

with the ramp two or three times. The

hind him couldn't move.

eral

There was

Vierville sur

pouring

be zeroing

by.

Mer church steeple, the landmark to guide Dog Green. Had it. been bombed? Instead, Slaughter saw a

no sign of the

them onto

and whizzed

off the boat

it

up

sev-

badly,

in the craft's

he died.

left

the beach,

ramp

and quickly sank, taking two

British sailors with

A

A

Slaughter could see tanks.

—

be-

landing craft ablaze.

still

it.

GI running

to-

wards him.

A

shot cracked out.

The man went down, stumbling, screaming. "Medic! Medic!"

A

medic rushed

over.

The Germans

got

him

too, "just drilled him." 32

Slaughter finally got to the sea wall where he tried to catch his breath. Several hundred yards to Slaughter's west, Hal Baumgarten

consumed by

rage.

grabbed a dead

It

was

mans M-l

was now

so monstrously unjust, so one-sided.

all

He

carbine and quickly flopped back into the

water, pretending to be dead, joining a raft of corpses bobbing towards

the sea wall with the incoming tide. Baumgarten finally got to the water line.

Then

the wall. it.

To the

dry sand. But there were

From some unknown east,

reserve,

Baumgarten saw

on the sand, dying from

their

still

a

another hundred yards before

he found the strength

group of

wounds.

He

to crawl to

men from Company A, recognized a couple.

It

lying

broke

The Bedford Boys

148

watch them, scarcely out of

his heart to

their teens, crying for their

mothers, calling for their brothers.

"Medic! Medic!"

But where the

were the medics? Had they

hell

been slaughtered

all

too?

Baumgarten got up and ran the

wounded

lets

a

and sniper

of them. So

from

few

He

east along the sea wall.

feet closer to the wall, out of the path of

fire. 33

tried to pull

MG-42

bul-

But he could only help a few. There were so many

many young Americans with arms

outstretched, only feet

survival.

Baumgarten stood at

The

finally

base.

its

It

reached the D-l

was knocked

invasion looked like

it

Vierville draw.

A

Sherman tank

out.

had

summed up the situation: "Assault casualties. Enemy fire preventing

failed. 34

AV

Corps operational report

units in state of dissolution. Heaviest

leap across beachline.

Disembarked

crowded together within narrowest space. Engineers unable

units

to

clear passages through minefields or to demolish foreshore obstacles.

Armor and

vehicles immobilized on the narrow beach." 35

units in dissolution,

Company A had

leaderless ... a forlorn

ing of

vital

It

the assault

was now

"inert,

rescue party bent upon survival and the sav-

lives." 36

Baumgarten spotted

News,

little

suffered most.

Of

Virginia.

a

good buddy, Private Robert Garbed of Newport

Garbed was dead, facedown. He too had reached the

D-l draw. Along the way, he'd paid the ultimate

others from

Company A.

price, as

had 102

15

Every

A.M., BYhad7:30 won the

day.

Drive the

Man Was

a

Hero

THE GERMANS

above Dog Green thought they

They were about

do what Rommel had ordered:

enemy back

into the sea.

to

The few Americans

still

alive

were

simply target practice. There was no sign of reinforcements.

The commander

of the Wilderstansnest (defensive

emplacement) 76

telephoned the 352nd Division Headquarters. "At the water's edge tide near St.

Laurent and Vierville the enemy

the coastal obstacles,'' he reported. "A great

ten tanks

—stand burning

have given up their

at the

activity.

beach.

artillery

the

was well-placed and has

enemy A

great

in search of cover

many vehicles

The

low

behind

—among these

obstacle demolition squads

Debarkation from the landing boats has

ceased, the boats keep farther seawards. 7

is

at

The

fire

of our strong points and

inflicted considerable casualties

many wounded and dead

lie

on the beach."

among

1

Meanwhile, an increasingly concerned Brigadier General Norman Cota and Colonel Charles

hundred yards

Canham approached Dog White

to the east of the

beach, seven

D-l draw Their boat carried the 29th

Division's headquarters staff, including Lieutenant Jack Shea, Cota's aide. set at ter

Two hundred an angle

yards from the shore, they neared a series of timbers

in the water.

Engineers from the 146th Special Underwa-

Demolition Battalion were supposed to have cleared these deadly ob-

structions but they

had landed over

a mile to the east. 2

the timbers had Teller mines attached to

The

boat's

them with

About

a third of

rusted, barbed wire.

coxswain cut the throttle as they prepared to land.

A three-

knot crosscurrent and the surf swept them against a timber several

149

The Bedford Boys

150

times, forcing the Teller

mine

To

their relief, the

his motor,

maneuvered the

free of the obstacle.

mine did not explode. "The coxswain gunned

boat free, and dropped the ramp," recalled Shea. "Moderate small arms fire

was directed

Canham, and

Cota,

their staff crossed

deep water. Suddenly, they came

As they waded across

feet wide.

ramp was lowered." 3

at the craft as the

it,

was

a

Battalion.

The

was

fire

It

six

rounds from an

88mm

DD

gun

the D-l draw. Cota and

had been itself, all

this left

in front of the

tank of

D-l draw, were on

C Company.

It

had been

from the concrete pillbox

firing

Canham

men exposed

along the bluffs.

few yards past the water

line.

hit

at the

fire.

with

base of

realized the landing of crucial tanks

There was no covering

a disaster.

and

a

743rd Tank

minutes before H-Hour and many had already

been immobilized. Two of them, C-5, another

C Company,

tank of

and seventeen others stood

tanks had landed

One was

hit in the

DD

a

thirty

chest by machine gun

face down, dead, in the water. 4 available cover

deep and

In-

and

first

through three-foot-

Major John Sours, the 116th

S-4 intelligence officer,

The

fire

to a runnel, five feet

fantry's fell

under

to

from the beach

artillery fire

emplacements and machine gunners

5

The Germans were now

watching

firing flat-trajectory rounds,

where they splashed down and then adjusting

their

fire.

for

In a couple of

minutes, they were able to zero in on landing craft as they ground against the shore. direct

fire.

By the time ramps had lowered, most

craft

were under

Cota and Canham ran forward and reached the Dog Beach

sea wall, five feet high.

The

sea wall had small timber fences every

fifty

ted twenty or thirty feet into the sea. All along

it,

yards or so which jut-

men formed

bedrag-

gled and paralyzed jumbles of several different companies. Engineers

cowered next personnel.

to

They

medics, all

men from

the

2nd and 5th Rangers, and navy

shared the same plight. In Lieutenant Sheas words,

they were firmly "pinned down!" 6

Cota and

Canham crouched behind

werfer and mortar

fire

increased.

the sea wall as

Most rounds landed

German Nebel-

in the

sand beyond

Every

Man Was

some exploded among the groups

the sea wall but

a Hero

5

1

of Americans, causing

and heart-stopping panic. The Nebelwerfer rounds

horrific injuries

broke into very large hunks of shrapnel, commonly the size of a shovel blade,

back.

which

sliced

men

two

in

The Nebelwerfers were

which sprayed

far

if

hit in the

than the mortars, however,

less fatal

more fragments over

stomach or small of the

and caused most of

a wider area,

Omaha after the MG-42 machine gun. The longer men stayed behind the sea wall, the greater chance they stood of being blown to pieces. Shortly after H-Hour, squads from Company C had made their way up the bluffs of Dog White by way of a path marked clearly on their officers' invasion maps. Somehow, the men still the deaths on

pinned down behind the sea wall would also have

Beach

if

they were going to

But time was running

to find a

way

live.

Medics were already overwhelmed by the

out.

extent of the slaughter, working furiously with limited supplies just

bandages and morphine spikes and a few capsules of

where men

lay

Dog

off

—often Every-

sulfa.

with severe head and stomach wounds. The limbless

died quickly from blood loss unless comrades applied tourniquets,

which many

did, using strips of rope, belts,

and even torn pieces of uni-

form. Intestines and internal organs had to be pushed back into struck

dumb

by

terror.

men

There were so many wounded, so many severe

wounds were

cases of trauma, noted Shea, that 'gaping head and belly

bandaged with the same rapid efficiency that was dealt

to the

more

minor wounds.' 7 Lieutenant Ray Nance had

lost all

sense of time as he lay bleeding on

the shingle below the sea wall near the Vierville D-l draw. At point, if

he spotted what looked

the battle had been

driving the

1 1

"This thing

like a

German panzer

tank.

It

seemed

as

The Germans had counterattacked and were

lost:

6th Infantry back into the water. is

a failure,"

Nance

thought. "They're

mopping us

But then the sun caught the side of the tank. Nance saw the est white star" placed

stared at the

some

star.

on

Looking

all

at

American it

vehicles.

made him

It

was

feel better.

9

a

up." 8 "pretti-

Sherman.

He

The Bedford Boys

152

Then,

all

of a sudden, a navy

ing over him.

Nance was soaked and covered

medic looked immaculate, dry examine him.

started to

medic wearing green

as a bone.

He had been

in

from the way he handled himself under "This

is

He

was

lean-

and grease. The

in oil

and

knelt at Nance's side

combat

before. That

was

clear

fire.

worse than Salerno," he told Nance.

The medic gave Nance

a shot of morphine,

opened up

boot and dressed his heel wound. At some point, shot in the

had

overalls

hand and again

"million-dollar"

in his foot.

wounds

serious

He was one

enough

to

his hobnailed

Nance had

also

been

of the very lucky.

He

put him out of the war

but not life-threatening.

"Good

luck," said the navy medic.

Wounded men around Nance hadn't seen him: Nance was delirious the man was a figment of his imagination. But Nance knew he was real. He just knew it. Heaven-sent, the medic had saved him and moved on. Only God knew where. 10 Nance looked around, the morphine starting to kick in. He saw two dead men lying face up. He recognized both. One was an officer from D Company. Suddenly, he was aware of another man beside him: Cecil Then he was

gone.

—

Breeden.

Breeden checked Nance's dressings and said he had seen the bodies of Captain Fellers, John Schenk, and John Wilkes. All of

ably been killed by machine-gun

beach.

11

As

far as

Company A and

fire

them had prob-

within minutes of arriving on the

Breeden knew, Nance was the only

living officer

command of what was left of it. Meanwhile, Cota and Canham were moving from one group

another, urging

therefore in

them

to

his

left wrist.

of

men

to

arm themselves with whatever weapons they could

scavenge and then get up and off the beach. Suddenly,

through the

from

He

Canham was

shot

continued along the beach, toting a Colt .45

good hand, blood gushing from

his

in

wound.

"Medic!"

Canhams wrist Canham be evacuated.

Cecil Breeden arrived, wrapped a bandage around

and then quickly moved on. Cota suggested

Every

Canham weak

Man Was

a Hero

1

refused and set off along the sea wall, looking for a

anywhere

point,

up

to get

closely behind, reloading

Behind the sea wall

to the bluffs.

Canham's Colt

at the'

53

gully, a

His bodyguard followed

few minutes.

.45 every

base of the D-l draw, Hal Baumgarten

looked east and saw a figure, back straight, walking along the beach, "an angel of mercy,'

and patch up

bending down here and there

12

others.

.

.

.

When

Cecil Breeden finally got to Baumgarten,

he handed him twelve sulfa tablets and told him

He was

some

to drink

water.

badly dehydrated. Shells and mortar rounds began to land

around them. Breeden leaned

and put

comfort the dying

to

seemingly oblivious to the heavy

bandage on Baumgarten's

a pressure

Baumgarten

over,

tried to pull

all

fire,

face.

Breeden down, out of the

but he

line of fire,

slapped his hand away. "You're hurt now," said Breeden.

"When

I

get

it,

you can take care of

me." 13 In Baumgarten's eyes,

of all

D-Day" the

way

Breeden was "probably the

single greatest hero

Breeden would survive the war, accompanying Company

14

A

Germany, and would not receive a scratch. Despite long

to

and concerted

efforts

by

many

survivors, notably

Baumgarten, Breeden

died without receiving a military honor in recognition of his heroism on

Omaha Beach

—

heroism that sustained hope among those

a

who were

a

breath from dying.

According

to a

Army Medical

subsequent report by the United States

men

Department, because of the "actions and example of

like the

medic

many

of the

Breeden, [Company A] survivors found the

will to

rescue

wounded from

off the

beach

position

the advancing tide and

where the remnants of the company

Breeden

all

"Every

of

them might

man was

a hero,

cheek about over

his ear.

now and then

at

the base of the draw]. As

rallied.

[I]

I

it

not for

15

never saw a coward," Breeden later said

"When

I

found Baumgarten, he had

patched him up and went on

the boys trying to take that I

to a sheltered

Were

well have died on the beach."

with typical self-effacement.

glanced

move

remember,

it

took

six or

damned

more

to

my

his

way.

I

pillbox [at

do

it.

As

far

The Bedford Boys

154

as I

I

know, none of them

was

just too

Breeden

men were

busy

to

lived.

couldn't

know what was

Baumgarten

left

I

at

Bill" Presley,

you who any of them were.

going on around me." 16

about 8:15 A.M. All along Dog Green,

and determination on

starting to organize, terror

They included "Big

tell

their faces.

Master Sergeant of B Company. 17 Bree-

den saw Presley walking along the beach, seemingly oblivious lets

and shrapnel hissing

"What

all

to the bul-

around.

are you doing?" asked Breeden.

for a damn rifle that will work," said Presley, pointing up to Some of his men had moved past the sea wall. "Get down or you'll get hit," Presley ordered. "What the hell are you talking about?" replied Breeden. "You're a damn sight bigger target than me."

"Looking

the bluffs.

Presley grinned and walked on. Before long, he

M-l

waved

carbine,

By 8:30

at

came

Breeden, and then joined his men. 18

A.M., approximately five thousand troops

the 6,500 yards of ized something

back, toting an

Omaha

had gone

Beach. Out

terribly

had been landed on

at sea, naval

commanders

real-

wrong. According to the Overlord plan,

the 1st and 29th Divisions should be inland by now. But

when

observers

peered through binoculars and telescopes, they saw wave after wave of soldiers

jammed

some jetsam

together on the beach. Along the surf line lay a grue-

of dead

men, body

essential to forcing exits

parts,

and vast quantities of equipment

from the beach:

TNT

packages, boxes of am-

munition, wire-cutters, and countless Bangalore torpedoes.

communications equipment was especially dios

among

the

1

grave.

fire

was

loss of

Three out of four

16th Infantry battalions were useless.

Realizing that covering

The

essential, given that

ra-

19

most of the am-

phibious tanks were out of action or sunk, U.S. Navy and British Royal

Navy commanders brought a

their boats as close to the shore as possible,

couple actually scraping the sea bed, and trained their five-inch guns

on the

bluffs.

But where were they

to fire?

fighting for their lives along the sea wall salvos.

Only

a couple of the

had radios

men

to direct the ships'

Nonetheless, the warships opened up. At one point, desperate

The Bedford boys Allen Huddle st on.

leave Ivybridge

bound

for

Omaha

Beach, spring 1944.

Jack Powers, just before being selected to join the England, 1943. Eloise Rogers.

elite

29th Division Hangers,

"God was looking

after

me." Allen

Huddleston outside Company As recreation room, Ivybridge, 1943.. Allen Huddleston.

"What have Yorker

John

Company A

gotten

I

as a

into?"

New

who

joined

replacement

in early

Barnes,

1944. John Barnes.

"A

first-class fighting force."

orous training

in

Bedford boys from

England. Front row, right to

Company A

left:

Earl

after twelve

Newcomb

months of rig-

beside Roy Stevens.

Back row: right to left, John Wilkes, Andrew Coleman, Jack Powers, unidentified Cordon Henry White. Elva Newcomb.

dier.

Bob Slaughter

of

Com-

pany D, one of a mirac-

who landed D-Day on Omaha

ulous few

on

Beach

and

was

still

fighting at the war's end.

Photograph taken in Germany, March 1945.

Bob

Slaughter.

sol-

Boat

Team Number

to land

on

Omaha

Five,

one of seven Company

before D-Day. Standing in the back row, unidentified soldier, Lieutenant

from

left:

A

boat teams that were scheduled

Beach. Photograph taken near the D-l "sausage" a few days left to right:

Clyde Powers, Harold Wilkes,

Edward Gearing, Roy Stevens. Bottom

row, fifth

John Barnes. John Barnes.

Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower, pointand General Bernard L. Montgomery, far right, chief architect of Overlord, watching invasion practices in March 1944. National Archives.

The ing,

top brass. Allied

"The greatest armada the world has ever seen." Landing craft similar to ones used by Bedford boys are shown in foreground, LSTs (Landing Ship Tanks) behind them, in

an English port just prior to the invasion. National Archives.

[IMS Empire

Javelin at anchor before

D-Day The

Javelin

would transfer the 1st where the Bedford

Battalion of 116th Infantry to within twelve miles of France,

boys would then take the LCAs, visible hanging from davits along her sides, to the shores of France. Bob Sales.

"The Limey. Sub-lieutenant

Jimmy Green, officer in flotilla

took

British naval

command

of the

of landing craft that

Company A

Beach. Jimmy Kevan Elsby.

to

Omaha

Green and

Russell L. Pickett, flame-

thrower

Number

in

Five,

Boat

Team

from Soddy

Daisy, Tennessee. Russell Pickett.

Wounded GIs from

One

the

first

of an estimated 2,500

waxes on

American

Omaha

Beach. National Archives.

casualties on

Omaha

Beach. National Archive

iAjZMMAZMM fl*r

mum *km mum m

mmm

•&>>''<,

n-mf.

lit***** 7*/

MAvtvofmi* AT

"Dear

Mom

and Dad."

A

"V-gram" from wounded Clyde Powers to his parents

Bedford explaining where his brother Jack was buried

in

France. Eloise Rogers.

in

Right:

The enemy. German soldier killed by Boh Sales in Normandy on June 30, 1944 the

—

day Roy Stevens was almost killed by a

German "bouncing

Below

The

Bob

Sales.

:

ruins of the French city of St. L6.

prime objective after

Betty" mine.

D-Day was

ol surviving

The

Bedford boys

finally liberated in late July,

1944, after huge losses by both

and Americans. National Archives.

Germans

WAR DEPARTMENT IN

»« rw\n 201 Powers, Jack G. AG PC-H ETO 137 -^

emp

THE ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE

REPLY REFXH TO: -r

i

/-.

WASHINGTON

25, D. C.

1 August 19hh

Mrs. Alice P. Powers 102C Madison Street Bedford, Virginia

Dear Mrs. Powers: It is with profound regret that I confirm the recent telegram informing you of the death of your son, Private First Class Jack G. Powers, 20,363,657, Infantry, who was previously reported missing in action on 6 June l$kk in France.

An official message has now been received which states that he was killed in action on the date he was previously reported missing in action. If additional information is received it will be transmitted to you promptly. I realize the "burden of anxiety that has been yours since he was first reported missing in action and deeply regret the sorrow this later report brings you. May the knowledge that he made the supreme sacrifice for his home and country be a source of sustaining comfort.

My sympathy is with you in this time of great sorrow. Sincerely yours,

J. A.

QUO

Major General, The Adjutant General, 1 Inclosure

Bulletin of Information.

"With Profound Regret. Letter from the

War Department

to

Mrs. Alice Powers con-

firming that her son Jack Powers was killed on D-Day. Eloise Rogers.

"I

cant remember whose name

came

first."

Twenty-one-year-

old Elizabeth Teass, in

Bedford's

who worked

Western

telegram office the town's tragic

Union

when news of loss came over

the wires. Elizabeth Teass.

pew mtxM hmg

"1

me

the w

Letter

from

hey gave

go on."

ill

to

first

grade pupil Booker Goggin to

teacher

his

Schenk, sent

^

l<

y f%g' o^/3 a

a

pW

few

learned

Ivylyn

1944,

in July

days

Booker

after

that

teacher's

his

husband John was dead. The letter reads: "Dear Mrs. Schenk,

I

am

son") to

hear about your husband.

wish

I

you.

Come

hope

F&fi< fips

Kfl-fi,

could

you

teacher next

come to

see

will fall.

I

to see

me.

I

be

my

With

love,

Booker." Ivylyn Hardy.

'

2

« I

j

««c,,,,,. v >••<#,.,,

\

-

"Some found happiness." Roy Stevens with

new home

in

his wife

Helen

in front of their

Bedford just after their marriage on Groundhog Day, 1946. Roy

and Helen Stevens, and Virginia

Historical Association

"The daughter he never got to touch." Earl Parker's daughter, twelve-year-old Danny, in her scout uniform at the unveiling of Bedford's memorial stone in 1954. Man Daniel

He ilia and

\

irginia Historical Association.

Hal Baumgarten, left, and medic Cecil Breeden at the Colleville American Cemetery above Omaha Beach, 1988. Breeden saved many lives and treated Baumgarten and several Bedford boys on D-l)av. Hal Baumearten.

Fifty years later.

friends

died on

Roy Stevens,

Omaha

center, returns to

Beach.

where

his twin brother

Photograph taken on June

6,

and so many

1994.

Virginia

Historical Association.

Bob Slaughter with President George W. Bush D-Day Memorial in Bedford, June 6, 2001. Bob

at the

dedication of the National

Slaughter.

fO&a* «il£ Itllll'^i

*

They died

that others might be free.

eleven Bedford boys resting France. John Snowdon,

in

peace

The at

grave of John B. Sehenk, one of

the Colleville American Cemetery in

Every

men had

to

a Hero

1

55

use flag signals to stop a heavy barrage of their sector. But

most men, such

for

Man Was

Bob

as

was

Slaughter, the shelling

much-needed

a

boost to morale.

Since coming ashore, Slaughter had crouched wall. Suddenly,

recognized

he saw several

Canham,

his

arm

down behind

moving towards him. Slaughter

officers

good hand. 20

in a sling, a Colt .45 in his

"They're murdering us here!"

the sea

Canham

shouted. "Let's

move inland

and get murdered!"

"Who

the hell

that son of a bitch?" asked

is

one GI. 21

Every Stonewaller would know before the day was out, for

seemed

roam everywhere. "We'd have shot him

to

Company

A's Russell Pickett.

soldier." 22

in training," recalled

"But once the fighting started, he was a

Few

veterans disagree that

standing regimental

commander on D-Day.

true

Canham

Canham was

the most out-

Norman Cota was just as brave and inspirational. He also gave men hope when there was none. Some found the will to fight on simply by looking at him as he strode about defiantly, back straight, chewing his unlit cigar, mumbling ditties to himself when he Brigadier General

wasn't cursing the Germans.

Hal Baumgarten would never forget seeing Cota's rangy figure approach him that morning. set, officers

had been

It

first to

was

as

all

Robert

yelling for

him

Mitchum with

to get

he was immortal; from the out-

be picked off by snipers. "He was coming

from the west with a major, had a

were

if

pistol in

down.

He

one hand, and the fellows

looked very similar to the actor

his slanted eyebrows.

He was

very, very brave." 23

Dog Beach, others watched as Cota still moved from one another, now urging the Rangers to lead the way off the

All along

group

to

beach. Inspired by Cota, officers began to organize their

men

for

an

advance.

Cota had spotted five rifle

He mound. He

yards beyond

on the

a section of the sea wall with a

provide covering

it.

fire.

low

mound

of earth

ordered a Ranger to place a Browning automatic

then crawled after the

man and

ordered him to

Next, Cota organized the blowing of an opening in

156

The Bedford Boys

a thick

barbed wire fence that ran along the

promenade road beyond the sea

Smoke from

a grass fire

now

move while

the opportunity to

far side of a ten-foot-wide

wall.

partly

the

obscured the beach. Cota seized

German

gunners' view was obscured.

"Rangers, lead the way!"

The

first

man

to

run through the opening was cut

"Medic," he yelled. "Medic, I'm

A few

minutes

Many

of the

later,

hit.

down by an MG-42.

Help me." 24

he sobbed "Mama" over and over and then died.

men around Cota were

again paralyzed by

Cota

fear.

once more led by example, dashing through the opening. Troops lowed him across the promenade, through the gap field of

marsh

Vierville bluffs.

"A

single

and

into a

and several squads wormed

grass. Cota, his aide Shea,

way along shallow trenches and

their

in the wire

fol-

finally

reached the base of the

25

file

of troops,

composed

of

men

rifle

of the

1

16th 1st Bn,

and headquarters, Rangers, and some members of the 82nd Chemical Mortar Battalion (armed with carbines) then ascended the onally and to the right,"

Shea

later wrote.

bluffs, diag-

"They reached the crest

at a

point about 100 yards to the west of a small, concrete foundation (evi-

dently a

summer house) which

the bluff.

A few

lay twenty-five yards

below the crest of

anti-personnel mines were detonated during the ascent,

but they were not in great number." 26 It

was now about 9 A.M. Canham had

mand

post at the base of the bluffs.

with the

1st Division

He

set

up the

tried but failed to

on the eastern half of

Omaha

make contact

Beach. Suddenly,

several rounds of very accurate two-inch mortar fire landed

The mortars

wounded

killed

two

men

his radio operator,

three feet

com-

29th's first

on the

post.

from Cota and seriously

throwing him thirty feet up the

bluff.

Cota's aide, Lieutenant Shea, was blown seventy-five feet below but

only slightly hurt.

Cota carried on climbing, urging this

men

on. Again, the advance stalled,

time just below the crest of the bluffs. Someone yelled out that they

should take a look below.

A

lone American rifleman walked along the

Man Was

Every

promenade

him marched

road. "Before

been stripped of

An MG-42

interest."

snarled.

dived towards

German

weapons and who held

their

heads. Inasmuch as they were the

caused particular

five

first

Germans

the

who had

prisoners

their

157

a Hero

hands above

men had

their

seen, they

27

Two prisoners were cut down. The American Two other prisoners fell to their knees, as if

the sea wall.

German machine gunner to spare them. "The first kneeling German full in the chest," recalled

begging the

next burst

caught the

Shea, "and

as

he crumpled the remaining two took

to the cover of the sea wall

with

their captor." 28

Cota firing

Men was

reached the top of the

finally

from

bluffs.

Another machine gun was

hedgerow three hundred yards inland across

a

huddled out of

No

in charge.

sight

one

below the crest of the

the field instructing

The machine gun

them

hedgerow sur Mer. 1

to fire at the

as cover, until

field,

Mer and

was supposed

to

lane,

The remnants

and Rangers who had

meet

his brother

Ray

tial,

of the 1st Battalion

du Hoc

before the

at the far

also fought their

way

men

off the

entered

to

knocking out gun

Omaha

move

to

At the

Canham.

would advance further west

end of

Beach.

to as-

positions on cliff

It

was

also essen-

open the D-l draw so

that

inland and establish a beachhead. Cota

a patrol with three officers

wards the D-l draw.

move

Vierville

in the center of the town.

Germans counterattacked,

vehicles and troops could

formed

.

then headed for the crossroads where Roy Stevens

Rangers assigned that morning

tops at Point

.

Cota saw other survivors from the

crossroads, about noon, Cota reunited with Colonel

sist

to

.

using the

he reached a narrow lane 600 yards from

beach. There was minimal opposition as Cota and these Vierville sur

charge across

as they advanced.

along the perimeter of the

As he advanced along the

16th's 1st Battalion

hedgerows

in a

29 it."

men

his

them

Shea reported,

stopped as soon as the troops started

fire

across the fields towards

Cota then led

Cota asked who

bluffs.

replied. "In the face of the fire,"

"[Cota] passed through the men, personally led

a level field.

and two enlisted men and

set off to-

The Bedford Boys

158

The

tide

was turning

in favor of the

Americans

at last.

By now, other

groups had also broken through the beach defenses and were fighting

way up the

their

bluffs

Dog Green and

along

all

other sectors of

Omaha. Hal Baumgarten joined eleven other men, most

Now

wounded.

they were scrambling along a trench midway up the

dead Germans. One had

Vierville bluffs, stepping over off.

them

of

Baumgarten wondered

if it

was the man he'd

his

head blown

on

earlier that

fired

morning.

A machine

gun

fired

from a beach house nearby. Despite strong." 30

Baumgarten was feeling "remarkably through him.

He

spotted a German, took aim, and

second time he'd done so that the machine gun

men.

Company A and and have

B.

A small

Baumgarten would

By

5 P.M., his

killed at least ten

Adrenaline coursed fired. It

was only the

redhead tossed a grenade and

Baumgarten's group was

fell silent.

All afternoon,

day.

wounds,

his

fight

now down

to eight

on with the remnants of

group would be down

to

seven

men

more Germans.

More and more men were

getting off

Captain Robert Walker of the

1

Dog Beach and moving

inland.

swum

16th Infantry's headquarters had

ashore around 7:30 A.M. By 12:30 P.M., he was "about halfway to the top''

of the bluffs.

"I

heard the sound of someone groaning nearby and calling for

awhile,

I

help.

was about

It

investigate groin.

rested for awhile in a small gully," he recalled. "After

fifteen or

and saw

He had

it

was

twenty feet away. Cautiously a

German

soldier, gravely

went over

wounded

to

in his

He had a banpowder. He was

already been treated by a medical aid man.

dage loosely fixed over the wound, sprinkled with sulfa gasping, 'Wasser, wasser' "I

I

—German

assumed he had been given

for water.

a sulfa pill

which causes great

thirst. In

me and didn't know where to get any. He then said there was a spring. He called it 'ein born, about made my way over to the area didn't believe him but fifty feet away. German

I

told the

man

I

had no water with

'

I

I

he indicated. Incredibly, there actually was a spring, with apparently clear water in brought

it

it.

I

filled

to him. After drinking thirstily,

my

a sort of

water hole

helmet with water and

he thanked

me

profusely.

I

left

Man Was

Every

him some water

John Barnes, Roy Stevens, and other

at sea,

from their landing

shock had given way

Some had even

Omaha was

but could not. The battle for

The Empire Javelin was unnervingly

crammed with

wallet from his drenched

the notes on a

returned to the

bunk

the beach.

They were

fit

Only

quiet.

a

few hours ago,

its

took out his invasion currency, laid out later,

he

re-arm and take the next landing craft back to

told this

for further use

sential repairs. Besides, the to stay

raging.

and then went on deck. Some time

was not

possible.

The

LCAs

surviving

on D-Day. Most were badly damaged and

covered in gore and vomit. The

"We were

for sleep

down. The money was gone.

to lie to

still

Their

tags.

anxious men. John Barnes salvaged his

He

kit.

to dry,

men wanted

Several

were not

bunk

dog

lost their

deadening exhaustion. They ached

to a

sur-

boarded the Empire Javelin. Most were

craft

near naked beneath blankets.

decks had been

59

31

Twelve miles out vivors

1

canteen cup. Later on his groans became weaker

in his

and he soon died."

a Hero

had

flotilla

men were

on board, go back

to

to return to

England

for es-

too exhausted to fight effectively.

England, get re-armed and make

our way back to the company," recalled John Barnes. "Gearing had picked up a spare

rifle

and said he would hitch

craft.

He

NCO

leader, in charge.

ordered us to stay together and

a ride

left

on

a passing U.S.

Sergeant Stevens, our

There was no doubt that Stevens would get us

back since he was concerned about

his brother, Ray." 32

Bedford boys Roy Stevens, Charles

Fizer,

Harold Wilkes, and Clyde

Powers could hear a constant barrage, especially intense between midday and

1

P.M.

when

several

rected by shore observers,

American and

pounded the

British destroyers,

pillbox

now

di-

and trenches around the

D-l draw

The

explosions knocked several

men

in Cota's patrol off their feet.

"The concussion from the bursts of these guns seemed

pavement of the

street in Vierville actually rise

to

beneath our

make

feet," re-

called Lieutenant Shea. "I

hope

to hell they cut out that firing," said

the

one of Cota's men.

The Bedford Boys

160

The

batteries of the Texas battleship fired four salvos of four rounds

each. Fellow destroyer

McCook

then radioed shore that Germans were

fleeing the pillbox at the base of the

As Cota and rage stopped.

his patrol entered the

Smoke

and shrouded

draw and other strong draw from

points.

Vierville, the naval bar-

cleared, revealing a road frosted with concrete dust

in bitter-tasting cordite

fumes. The road led

down

Dog

to

Beach. "That

firing

made them duck back

probably

Cota. "But keep a sharp eye on those

cliffs to

They moved down the draw. "There were

into their holes,"

your

warned

right."

few scattered rounds of

a

small arms fired at the patrol, but a dozen rounds of carbine and pistol sufficed to bring five

fire

Germans down from

the caverns in the east

weapons

as

proceeded

to

wall of the draw," recalled Shea. "They were stripped of their

they reached the road, and herded before the patrol as the

mouth

of the draw." 33

The Germans

led the

draw and then Cota and

way through his patrol

Near the base of the draw, and were

it

a minefield at the entrance of the

Omaha

walked out onto at

Beach.

an aid station on Dog Beach, there

Rangers and dozens of badly wounded and dog-tired

a cluster of

Company A and B

survivors.

Among

the

wounded were Bedford boys

Dickie Overstreet, Anthony Thurman, Lieutenant Ray Nance, and the 1

16 Yankee baseball player, Staff Sergeant

Tony Marsico.

Anthony Thurman had been

shoulder; his nerves were also shot to pieces.

hit in the

He would

arm and the

never fully

re-

cover from the psychological trauma caused by D-Day. 34 Sergeant Marsico

had been

hit in

the leg and shot through the

he crossed the sands. I

didn't

know

it

"I

to

be

like that," recalled

didn't

make

it."

There was one Vierville

Marsico,

England along with

to a hospital in

rades from Bedford. "I'm no hero.

who

a rifle bullet as

thought [the invasion] would be pretty hot but

was going

soon be evacuated

arm by

I

know

that.

who would

his surviving

The heroes

com-

are the ones

35

last

—an antitank

obstacle blocking the road from the beach to

wall at the

mouth

of the draw.

An

engineer placed

Man Was

Every

a

TNT

charge beside

it

Hero

and the wall was blown around 1:30

Rangers moved up the draw and started

man

a

to

mop up

last

161

P.M.

Then

pockets of Ger-

resistance along the bluffs.

At enormous

cost, the

116th Infantry and Rangers had secured the

D-l draw. The challenge would now be

to

keep

Wanting

it.

to

check on

progress at the other end of the 29th Division's section of assigned

beach, Cota walked off along the promenade road leading to the next lage to the east, Les Moulins.

Later that afternoon, after securing Vierville, the'

beach

for

medical

"Thousands of bodies were lying far as

men began

to return to

Twenty-seven-year-old Private Warner

aid.

Company managed

"Buster" Hamlett of F

vil-

36

there.

hobble down

to

to the sands.

You could walk on the bodies,

as

you could see along the beach, without touching the ground. Parts

of bodies

—heads,

and arms

legs,

ing up and down, tagging the

American comrades, about."

—

wounded. As

I

Medics were walk-

stepped gently between

my

wave was

all

what being

realized

I

floated in the sea.

in the first

37

Lieutenant Ray Nance lay

an aid station on the beach.

at

had carried him that morning on

A

sergeant

hundred yards

his shoulder several

along the sea wall. "Late that afternoon," recalled Nance, "Second Lieutenant Gearing landed by himself.

up on what I

never

was

felt

getting

I

knew.

I

said: 'Hey,

I

so sorry for a person into.' 38

had not been

.

.

hardt,

P.M.,

when he

killed or

wounded. Of the

By

nightfall,

I

got

him

He

didn't

know what he

Company A who

five officers in

Nance's berth on

Nance and Gearing were

of the 29th Division.

came

left.

me and

—company commander.'

officer

Ray Nance spotted another

commander

it

over to

from

Gearing was the only

confident as ever as he waist.

He came

think you're

the Empire Javelin that morning, only

At 7

.

familiar figure

He

still

alive.

— General Ger-

looked as immaculate and

ashore, his shiny twin revolvers at his

Gerhardt would have

set

up

a

command

post in a

quarry near the Vierville draw.

For Hal Baumgarten, the battle was not yet over. Towards evening, he

had penetrated

all

the

way

to the top of the bluffs

and was headed

to-

1

The Bedford Boys

162

wards

a village to the

west of Vierville called Maissey

Baumgarten crawled along

le

Grand. As

a road he tripped a "castrator mine."

A bullet

shot through his foot.

"When

I

turned [my] shoe over, blood poured out

and dressed

sulfa denly,

my

Baumgarten. "Using

pitcher," recalled

my

which had

foot,

Baumgarten came under heavy

and crammed hedgerow.

back into

his foot

He

aid

first

kit,

He

stayed there with seven other GIs until darkness

had gotten more accurate

As Baumgarten and man.

"I

— Baumgarten suspected

his

"Help me, Jesus!" The others moaned "hallucinatory

I

my

left lip

dream

in pain.

39

Sud-

and

fell

shelling

been observed.

they'd

group moved forward, an

was shot through

German

MG-42 opened

up,

and

my

lost part of

men

upper jaw, teeth and gums." Nearby, one of the

right

it."

into the cover of a

then took off across the road to find fresh cover. The

hitting every

powdered with

I

tore off the dressing

and jumped

his boot

water from a

through

a clean hole

shellfire.

like

Baumgarten

shouted:

drifted into a

state":

pictured a box of goodies from

my mother

that

I

was opening back

in

Camp D-l. The homemade cookies, cake, and salami were shared with my Company A buddies. They were cooking the green mold covered salami (result of the long shipping time from the States), stuck on their

bayonets over an open

fire.

40

Back on Dog Beach, Thomas Valance Master Sergeant John Wilkes's boat P.M.

He had been

—one of the few

—watched darkness

placed on a stretcher in

a clearing

survivors from fall

around

1

surrounded by

barbed wire. Sometime after dark, litter-bearers moved him onto a

LST

loaded with

wounded and emergency medical equipment. He was

headed back

to

England. After three months in various hospitals, he

would return

to

Normandy and then

going back to America in "I've

eran's

December

fight

1945.

wondered over the years about one

Day 1987, "and

that

is

on through Germany before

why we,

in

thing," Valance wrote

A Company

on Vet-

of the 1st Battal-

Every

Man Was

a Hero

163

116th Infantry, 29th Division, were chosen to be the American

ion,

equivalent of stormtroopers.

Was

it

we had such

because

potential?

We

had no combat [experience], and the other troops that were around and with us in the invasion, such as the 1st Division, were highly trained.

was

it

we were

simply because

day drew

Finally, the longest

mated 2,500

considered expendable?" to a close.

Omaha, and

casualties on

less

There had been an

—

loss of 10

for the entire Allied invasion forces

percent given that just over 100,000

mandy, and

far less

esti-

than a tenth of that num-

ber on Utah, the other American beach. Total casualties

wounded

Or

41

—dead and

approached 10,000,

men were now

in

a

Nor-

than the 25 percent that Allied generals had pre-

dicted for infantrymen. 42

and hedgerows that had cost so many

All along the bluffs 1

16th Infantry dug in for the night.

Many

two days.

"We

we were both

about three inches deep.

was useless

and get some back

to

back

the

slept in well over

barely had the strength to scoop out shallow foxholes.

started to dig a foxhole," recalled

rock hard and

it

Most men had not

lives,

And

so,

my

private, "but the

ground was

exhausted by the time the hole was

standing there in the dark, aware that

Finally,

to continue, rest.'

totally

one

sergeant said,

D-Day came

in the shallow trench

to

Tuck it.

an end with both of us

throughout the

down

Let's just get

sitting

night." 43

Sometime near midnight, Hal Baumgarten awoke on the road above Omaha's

bluffs

and saw German

fighter planes above. All the

group lay dead from their wounds. Baumgarten

There was over.

little

To fend

pain

—

off the

just a cold

felt as if

men

in his

he was dying.

clamminess, and pins and needles

agony from four wounds received

in

all

twenty hours,

he had continually injected himself with morphine. To prevent dehydration,

he drank from his dead buddies' canteens.

Company D's Bob Slaughter saw the same waffe. "An enemy ME- 109 fighter plane flew from

right to left

Channel opened

belated attack by the Luftover the entire Allied

fleet,

above the barrage balloons. Every ship in the English fire

on that single airplane, illuminating the sky with

millions of tracer bullets.

The

heroic Luftwaffe pilot defied

all

of

The Bedford Boys

164

them

— not even taking evasive

through that curtain of

Company down

bunch

of

K rations

gun and

I

thought

it

it

with an old

me, back

to

woman

Around

at

3 A.M.

was very

for a blanket

back with another

was Bob Slaughter poking

my gun

"It

cold," recalled

could be so cold in France in June. So

was the old French woman

pointed

her and she ran

two medics

guy.

me awake

I

and

I

traded

slept with

woke up suddenly

trying to steal the blanket back.

off."

I

45

Hal Baumgarten into an ambulance.

lifted

men

"gave above and beyond, and [would] never be cited for their brav-

ery." 46

The ambulance took Baumgarten down

was placed on

a stretcher besides other

Incredibly, the battle

around him. "While

I

was

still

cross.

Then he

wounded

shot

not over for Baumgarten and the

was laying on the beach on

me

next to me.

But the destroyer

in the right

The

Dog Beach where he

to

wounded.

A.M. on June 7th, a sniper shot one of the aid

got

my

but he wasn't mov-

His uniform was dripping with the blood of his fellow Stonewallers,

who

got

Sales and several exhausted Virginians settled

dreamed

right beside

ing. It

wondered how he ever

I

snatch desperately needed sleep.

to

Sales. "I never

a

Bob

B's

action.

fire." 44

a stretcher,

men

right

through his red

knee and started picking

next shot would have gone through

McCook

offshore blasted

men

around 10

off

all

my

the

head.

away the sniper before he

to kill me." 47

Baumgarten's longest day was

finally over.

vived unscathed, the nightmare of

For the few

Normandy had

who had

only just begun.

sur-

14

Day

Bedford's Longest

JUNE radio.

Bedford, VIRGINIA.

6,

At 2 A.M., a stern voice interrupted a broadcast: "German radio

says the invasion has begun."

minutes

1

Company A had

after

It

was 8 A.M. on

She

instinctively

Newcomb woke up

time," she recalled. "His mail

"I

had been held up

because they were saying we might have

so rough.

I

in her log

couldn't sleep after that."

Bill,

and

had been worried about Earl

turned on the radio and heard about the invasion. ried

Beach, ninety

checked on her three children: Nancy,

Garland. They were sleeping soundly.

some

Omaha

landed.

Just after the 2 A.M. newscast, Elva cabin.

Viola Parker dozed next to her

for

Then

I

to pull out

some was

for

reason.

really

because

it

I

wor-

was

2

At 3:32 A.M., Viola Parker's radio announced that the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force firming

German

in

London was con-

reports of an invasion. Viola finally stirred at 4 A.M.,

turned up the volume on her radio, and heard: "Under the

command

General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong

began landing Allied armies

this

of

air forces,

morning on the northern coast of

France." 3

As the sun

rose, the bells of Bedford's central Presbyterian

Church

began peeling. Bells rang Florida.

The

all

across the United States that morning, from Alaska to

great crusade

In Philadelphia,

had

finally

begun.

mayor Bernard Samuel tapped the famous Liberty

Bell for the first time since 1835.

165

The Bedford Boys

166

New York,

In

Wall Street and then the money

war

efforts.

men and

The Dow Jones would

for the year. In

many

factories

news

were

all

to a

baseball games.

make space

their

"Mama

brought

Schenk

she sat there with recalled Ivylyn.

had not

told

me

"I

me what

me most knew

that

sat

she thought

we

of the day as

I

listened to

Across town, other wives and parents also rose the days

summer

would enjoy

John would be involved

first shift in

Newspapers

sky.

with her mother close to an

all

and

eating,

the reports,"

He

in the invasion.

anything directly but in a round-about way

Newcomb, worked

high

necks to watch

bulletins flicker across message-boards high in the clear

old radio.

new

for blanket coverage of the

Times Square, somber crowds craned

In her parlor in Bedford, Ivylyn

on

workers were told to go home.

stores,

as

cleared advertising and features to

of markets

war-profiteers returned to their

142 points that day

rise

and

Broadway shows were canceled,

invasion. In

marked the opening

a two-minute silence

early;

I

knew."

many,

4

Elva

like

several of Bedford's factories

producing war supplies. Bettie Wilkes switched on the radio while eat-

had

ing breakfast. At 7 A.M., she

where she made material used

be

to

for

at the

parachutes

used by the 101st Airborne on D-Day. thought John might be involved but

hoping recent

but

to get

will as

I

I

soon as

I

said:

'I

can.'"

5

Hemingway

plant,

— the same parachutes

caught the early news.

"I

hoped he was

through the war, begin our

John had

letter,

Belding

not.

We

were

lives together. ... In his

I

just

most

probably won't be able to write for a while,

Twenty-year-old Bertie Fellers prayed that morning for her brother,

Captain

Fellers,

and

for her

husband, Clarence Higginbotham,

who was

serving with the Engineer Corps in England. 'The previous evening,"

she recalled, "my mother and vice at

my

sister

and

I

had attended

Oakland Methodist Church near our home.

a prayer ser-

We knew

something

6

was going on even though we had not yet had news." Bertie had sent her brother a birthday card.

At 7:30 A.M., over at the

local

former

CCC

a

He

should have been thirty on June

just 10.

hundred conscientious objectors boarded trucks

camp

at Kelso.

farms before returning to the

They would spend

camp

at

5:30 P.M.

all

day working on

Bedford's Longest

As other Bedford residents went

Day

167

work, they picked up the Bedford

to

Bulletin from their mailboxes or in stores.

That week's paper contained an

ment

war bonds: "America

for

part as they are doing theirs

tions Zero Hour!"

men

7

It

was

—

.

employees

is it!

This

is

Don't

let

them down! Do your

Hour

America's Zero

—

Civiliza-

also reported that a plaque honoring service-

arms had been erected

in

this

.

.

eerily prescient full-page advertise-

left for service. It

at

Hampton Looms with names added

already held the

names

of Frank Draper

as Jr.

and Clifton Lee. Election season was well under

way

in

Bedford on June

W.

Sergeant Allen Huddleston's former boss, Dr.

was running hard

store,

who had been hoped

Lyle

to turn

A turnout

The

L. Lyle of Lyle's drug-

mayor against incumbent

J.

W.

Gillaspie,

The

"THE

town of the

State,

perhaps

vote would be on June 13, exactly a

week

after

Bedford into

of over 90 percent

Bulletin also

had begun

to

tourist

D-

was expected.

mentioned that parents throughout Bedford County

were worried about an outbreak of ties

1944.

challenged only three times during a fourteen-year-term.

of the South." 8

Day.

for

6,

them

urge

to

Medical authori-

infantile paralysis.

keep

their children

away from crowded

places until the epidemic was over. Nevertheless, local Girl Scouts were still

going from house to house canvassing for a forthcoming bond

rally

organized by the towns undertaker, Harry Carder. It

was

a beautiful

morning,

warm

but not too humid.

Up on

the

Peaks of Otter, ramblers noticed that the dogwood blossom had passed.

Rhododendron and

laurel

were

still

hood and May apple had taken the place of pers.

Cherry trees promised

Bedford's

Mud

Alley, trains

passed Frank Draper

worked

in

Frank

Sr.'s

Jr.'s

a

bumper

crop.

in

bloom, and monks'

trillium

Down

crammed with war

in

ladies' slip-

in the valley, in

supplies and troops

home. His mother and

garden, harvesting the season's

which they had planted

and

sister,

Verona,

first

vegetables,

March. Canning had started

in earnest.

Tobacco farmers throughout the county were

also starting to harvest,

hoping they would receive even higher prices

at the

Bedford Tobacco

The Bedford Boys

168

Market than they had the previous

had risen

year. Prices

significantly

since before the war.

Local stores advertised Father's Day

June

gifts for

18.

"Shop

early for

Fathers in the service!" they declared. Brightly striped broadcloth paja-

mas, sizes A,B,C,D, were a bargain Liberty cinema

— adults were charged

cal extravaganza

$2.98.

at

just

It

was

also bargain day at

twenty cents

musi-

to see the

Trocadew starring Rosemary Lane.

Around mid-day, Bedford

down and wrote

native Eleanor Yowell sat

to

her husband, a pilot based in England:

The

big

news came

been hard

for

me

this

to get

my

morning, and

anything done.

heart has

know

I

it

been so

is

full all

day

it's

a big show, probably

the biggest that has ever been staged in the world for that matter, but still is

so

that a

damn unnecessary

few people

business.

They

do.

boil

when you

think

and power control started the whole

who have

are not the ones

who

makes your blood

it

whom mone\

nocent masses of people at

that

it

We

pay ior

to

it

either;

arc having a prayer

2:30 this afternoon, and Dr. Gre\

churches everywhere are having sen

is

coming over

ices all

sen

it is

the in-

ice over here

to lead

All the

it.

day long. Lets hope that

these prayers will be heard for the good of everyone. 9

One man from Company A was

actually in Bedford

on June

In Octo-

6.

ber 1943, Sergeant Pride Wingfield had been accepted for training into the

Army Air

Force and was now on furlough from a

tened to the radio with his mother

in their

camp

in Missouri.

1933 home on

block from Bedford High School, which had graduated

week

its

He

lis-

Oak

Street, a

1944

class the

before.

Wingfield had recently started dating a pretty nineteen-year-old, Re-

becca Lockard, who worked

in a

beauty shop, Modernique, above

Green's drugstore. They would marry on October 22, 1945.

"I

was

al-

ways running down there, getting change or sandwiches," recalled Rebecca.

"It

was

a focus for

women

in the

community, especially us

Day

Bedford's Longest

women who had been we

knew what

all finally

behind.

left

When

169

word got back about D-Day, for." 10

the boys had gone over to England

At the back of the drugstore, twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth Teass

worked

at the

5 P.M. All

Western Union counter. Her hours were from 9:30 A.M.

morning she watched

townspeople came

as

talked over lunch, a Coke, or fresh coffee. There

conversation

in

where he was nursing weeks before he

his ankle

realized

"Somebody was looking

after

town centers across the

In

streets. Silence that

and

one topic of

how

me."

tives involved, reflecting

a radio in a rehabilitation cen-

back

to full strength. It

lucky he had been to avoid D-Day:

rest of Britain there

in his or

was no dancing

to blanket

own

her

much

is

in the

of the island:

thoughts, thinking of rela-

on the long years since Dunkirk. That

noon, King George VI addressed his subjects via the the challenge

would be

11

morning seemed

Everybody was caught up

for the

sat

England, Bedford boy Sergeant Allen

Huddleston heard about the invasion on

several

just

and

— D-Day.

Three thousand miles away

ter

was

in

to

BBC:

after-

"This time

not to fight to survive but to fight to win the final victory

good cause.

At

...

this historic

moment

surely not one of us

is

too busy, too young, or too old to play a part in a nation-wide, perchance a world-wide, vigil of prayer as the great crusade sets forth." 12 All along Britain's south coast, doctors

receive the

first

wounded from

and young nurses prepared

to

the invasion beaches. John Reynolds's

"sweetheart," the American nurse Kathleen Bradshaw, worked in a hospital in

Plymouth.

for several

Now

she

rian

Verrier,

worked

at the

Queen

Portsmouth. Early that afternoon, she went

South Parade Pier

pital.

Two

to see her

weeks.

Another nurse, Mary pital in

knew why John had been unable

days

and landing

to help transport badly

earlier,

craft.

Now

Alexandra's Hos-

down

to the Victo-

maimed men

to the hos-

Portsmouth harbor had been packed with boats gray boats slowly pulled into harbor,

with wounded. Verrier would later write:

crammed

The Bedford Boys

170

It

was

a privilege to serve those lads.

to hurry

They

up when they were

laid

on

to

or asked people

their stretchers waiting to

and

lay there with patience, a joke

burned said

They never moaned

One chap who was

a smile.

me, "I'm quite good looking

come

you know, nurse."

really,

in.

badly I

said,

"Your eyes are not bad now, they're quite saucy." So he said, "You wouldn't

us a

like to give

around and

I

kiss,

would you, nurse?"

down and

bent

kissed

We

him on

weren't allowed, but

burned

his horribly

I

looked

lips

with

the awful smell coming off his burns. 13

Back at a

in

America, another nurse

128-bed hospital

in

—

Richmond,

Eloise Rogers

Virginia.

—tended

She had

to the sick

started

work

at 7

A.M. in the busy civilian hospital, helping with the delivery of babies, taking temperatures, replacing dressings. She heard about the invasion

over the radio and immediately thought of her brothers, Clyde and Jack

Powers, as well as Wilkes, with

whom

many

of the other Bedford boys such as Harold

she had played as a young

girl. "I

were probably involved with the invasion. But that

meant

on with

my

adventure/'

later life.

when As

I

saw

far as

I

a newsreel.

That

I

day,

knew, the boys were

then realized they

only understood what I

was twenty, getting

still

away on some big

14

That adventure gave millions hope. In their cramped hideaway

in

Amsterdam, Anne Frank and her Jewish family heard of the invasion on their radio.

that

I

Anne wrote

in

her diary: "The best part of the invasion

have the feeling that friends are approaching.

We

is

have been op-

pressed by those terrible Germans for so long, they have had their knives so at our throats, that the thought of friends and delivery

fills

us

with confidence!" 15

That afternoon

in Bedford, journalists at the

Bedford Bulletin pre-

pared the following report:

News

of the invasion brought a feeling of uneasiness to hundreds of Bed-

ford county

the

army

homes

in

for

many

England. Old

of

them have

Company A

sons,

husbands and brothers

in

has been in training there for

Day

Bedford's Longest

nearly two years and probably was

men

hundreds of other Bedford county fight,

the

first

landing forces, and

will ultimately

be thrown into the

and among them some casualties can be expected. 16

Mrs. George

would send

Church

to the Virginia state authorities:

and chimes, but no whistles, have announced the beginning

bells

woman who voice,

"I

fore day.

A

feeling of

awe and extreme quiet

has a brother with the

don't

know how

A doctor,

laugh."

Parker also prepared a report that day which she

P.

of the invasion.

body

among

171

The

Army

to describe

sitting in a

home

in

my

England

feeling.

I

prevailing.

is

said,

One

with trembling

can't cry

and

I

can't

announcement be-

of illness, heard the

seemed stunned. There were no comments by any-

family

—

just a quiet tenseness.

Churches have been open

.

.

with sad-

.

faced worshippers going in and out constantly. Tears only occasionally. 17

At around 2

P.M.,

many townspeople made

their

way through

silent

streets to a stately brick building with a high steeple, the Presbyterian

Church. They

filed quietly

through double doors and took their places

dark wooden pews. Bright afternoon light streamed through glass

windows. Dr.

J.

them and asked them

voice, stood before

gram

[also]

cation to

H. Grey, a small, bony-faced

consisted of music ...

God

for

all

to pray.

man

tall,

at

clear

with a soothing

"The [services] pro-

marking the one theme of suppli-

guidance and divine aid in the struggle

in

which the

United Nations are engaged." 18

So many attended

—well over three hundred people —

that dozens

stood outside and listened to the service through the open doors. 19 Mrs.

Parker reported: "A crowded house, extreme quiet, and rapt attention

marked the simple, deeply the

spiritual service.

So many young people

in

congregation/' 20

As soon

as they

had returned from church

families tuned to the

now

news broadcasts on

later that afternoon,

many

The United

Press

their radios.

reported that the invaders had "met surprisingly

little

opposition

The Bedford Boys

172

from the enemy land forces and practically none from the German

on the beach losses were quite heavy from concen-

force, but at points

machine gun

trated

fire.

A

beachhead was quickly established, troops

began pushing inland and within foothold."

few hours had gained

a

That week's Bedford Bulletin, read by many that evening included a letter from a Mrs. H.

echoed the prayers of so many families that night

what had happened

to its sons

Who

the longest.

lads are

—

all

things:

in

sat in the

about

give

fifty

Bedford County

M. Lane.

It

from Europe:

arrive

Beauty that dies the soonest,

see the beauty and sacrifice our brave

fail to

memory and

in Bedford,

after long

Bedford wondered

making? Because they cannot keep themselves

keep them forever

At dusk

can

as

and when news would

Dear Father and Great Maker of

ber

a strong

21

shifts in the local factories,

lives

air

them

women

for a day, we'll

immortality. 22

—three times the usual numBy midnight,

library rolling bandages.

they added another 9,000 bandages to the 68,300 they had prepared in

May day drew

Finally, Bedford's longest

to a close. Families listened to

President Franklin Roosevelt as he united

all

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, mighty endeavor

They

.

.

.

These men

fight not for the lust of

fight to liberate

to the

.

.

.

are lately

America

this

in prayer:

day have

a

drawn from the ways of peace.

They yearn but will

for the

end of

battle, for their return

never return. Embrace these, Father,

and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

Three thousand miles away, its

upon

conquest. They fight to end conquest. They

haven of home. Some

night, nineteen of

set

as the lights

sons already lay dead.

went out

23 .

.

in

.

Bedford that

15

Bocage

EARLY ON JUNE placed under his

Roy Stevens and the twenty-eight men

7,

command

cluded Bedford boys Charles

and

New Yorker John

Barnes.

landed in Plymouth, England. They

Harold Wilkes, and Clyde Powers,

Fizer, It

was

had been or what had happened.

as

if

they were "on a secret mission

"We were

to a foreign land" recalled Barnes.

We

went

told not to say

to a

where we

Reppledepple, that

traveled by civilian train to Southampton.

invasion was itary to the

all

over the English papers,

English people

Though

we never spoke

June

1 1

,

news

.

.

.

of the

of anything mil-

we encountered. At Southampton, we em-

barked on our second voyage across the channel."

On

the

a

is,

replacement depot. There we were re-armed and sent on our way.

We

in-

Roy Stevens and

on Omaha, landing without so

his boat

much

1

team returned

to

Dog Green

as getting their feet wet. In just

four days, the beach had been transformed into a bustling port, through

which tens of thousands of reinforcements and countless armored vehicles

were now pouring. Most of the corpses had been removed from the

beach, although here and there the tide had brought in

had been sucked out

to sea

on D-Day. The sun shone

new

bodies that

fiercely.

Barrage

balloons dotted the sky "like big white doves" as protection against air attack.

and

The channel was dark blue and

his

men

left

visit a

As Stevens

the beach, they passed the ruins of a pillbox.

ican flag had been draped across

Before joining

glistened in the sun.

its

Company A, Roy

An Amer-

encasement. 2

Stevens and Clyde Powers decided to

makeshift graveyard near the village of Colleville sur Mer. Not

173

far

— The Bedford Boys

174

from the graveyard, they came across

A few prisoners Hour.

"Why

work

detail of

German

had passable English. Stevens struck up

seemed the Germans had

It

a

fled the

prisoners.

a conversation.

American attack soon

H-

after

hadn't they stayed in their foxholes," asked Stevens, "and

fought to the bitter end?"

"We

we

when we saw

got scared

up and

just got

left."

The graveyard was dangled a dog

tag.

all

the boats," one of

them

replied. "So

3

From each

lined with several rows of crosses.

Bodies lay in neat rows ready for burial.

cross

German

pris-

oners brought yet more in two-wheel carts from piles on the beach. "All they had to bury you in was a bed-sack. They didn't have no coffins or

nothing

like that. Just a

bedsack

tied

up

at the end." 4

men with second names beginning some mud from a dog tag. It belonged to his

Stevens walked to a section for

He

with an "S."

scraped

twin brother Ray In shock, he walked on through the graveyard, looking at

more dog

tags

Clyde's brother.

bered Stevens. It

on more crosses.

"We

One

know what

didn't

could not be true. There could not be so

of Jack Powers

each other," remem-

to say to 5

crying but couldn't."

"I felt like

name

bore the

many dead from

Bedford:

By the time Stevens and Powers had walked along each avenue had found

crosses, they

but

all

How many others

on D-Day

six

had been blown

of

who had landed

of the Bedford boys

washed out

to pieces or

to

sea and would never be recovered didn't bear thinking about. Corpses

discovered on

Wilkes Rosazza .

.

.

.

.

.

Captain Fellers

.

Bedford Hoback

Grant Yopp thirty-four

.

John Reynolds

.

.

Dog Green beach included

.

.

.

.

.

hours of June

Jack Powers

6,

.

.

.

John Clifton

.

.

.

.

Clifton Lee

.

Gordon Henry White

.

Wallace Carter

.

Bedford boys

.

those of Master Sergeant John

.

.

.

.

Elmere Wright

who had

left

.

.

.

.

.

.

Tony

John Schenk

Nicholas Gillaspie .

.

.

Ray Stevens.

the Empire Javelin

Of

.

.

.

the

in the early

nineteen were dead.

Stevens and Powers

left

the graveyard, overwhelmed and dumbstruck

by the tragedy.

"How come boat sink?

it

ain't

me

Why should

I

in the

be

ground?" thought Stevens.

living

when

the rest of

"Why

them paid the

did

my

price?" 6

175

Bocage

why in God's name hand on D-Day before dawn? Above

hadn't he shaken his twin brother's

all,

Soon, the shock and guilt had turned to blind rage. "Clyde,

own

his

let's

go," Stevens told Powers,

brother's grave. "Let's get the

still

reeling at the discovery of

men who

did this." 7

Later that afternoon, Stevens and Powers rejoined their boat team

and headed inland

many

nightfall, they

were waiting nervously

down. Stevens spoke

in tents as rain pelted

deaths of so

By

in trucks.

The

of his buddies.

little,

[his]

chest"

as the shelling

my

buddies."

The men

"I

around

fear

grew louder. Others struggled

their fear. For Stevens, there

about was getting even:

artillery fire in the

band of

distance. John Barnes began to get a "tight iron 8

the

following morning, Stevens and

group boarded trucks again. Soon, they heard

his

numbed by

to control

were no qualms. All he could think

was gonna

a

kill

German

for every

one of

9

got closer

and closer

combat.

to

Division headquarters, then to regiment and

Barnes. "At battalion

Newcomb and

we met some

of our

Sergeant Jack Mitchell

"First

we came

finally, battalion,"

company

who we

to

recalled

'Mom' back

called

29th

cooks. Sergeant

bridge because he always took care of us like a mother."

"What happened

to the

in Ivy-

10

Captain Fellers?" someone asked.

"Killed," they replied.

Just three officers from landings.

Only one was

ford boy Leslie Abbott

still

Company As fighting

had been

original nine

had survived the

— Second Lieutenant Gearing. Bed-

killed in fierce

hedgerow

fighting

June 9 as the German 352nd Division launched counterattacks.

Company A was

being brought up to

Gearing were new.

on

Now

the officers except

full strength. All

1

"What about [my

brother] Ray?" said Stevens.

"Don't know," replied

Newcomb. "We

Haven't been able to keep up,

Even though he had seen

it's

haven't had

a mess."

much

information.

12

his brother's grave, Stevens refused to be-

lieve

he was dead. There had been some mistake.

tion,

perhaps wounded.

He would

turn up

some

He was day,

missing in ac-

he was certain of

The Bedford Boys

176

it.

It

would be many days before he could accept the

reality of his

brother's death.

Newcomb

on June 7 on Omaha,

up the beach and supplies.

Company As mess

explained that he and

in a

rolling out of a landing craft

ten-wheeled truck pulling a

Newcomb had

mess and take water

through the surf and

trailer

new

holding a

stove

then been ordered to set up a temporary

in a jeep to

Company As

Jack Mitchell,

had landed

staff

what was

left

of

Company A.

supply sergeant, also of Bedford, had

joined

Newcomb and

tually,

they had found a few dozen

driven along a narrow road above the bluffs. Even-

men dug

hedgerow.

in besides a

When Newcomb had prepared that evening's meal, only eight men from Company A had arrived at the mess tent. None were from Bedford. 13 In

an estimated twenty men, approximately 10 percent of

all,

company led by

strength,

had survived the landings and fought past the beach,

Second Lieutenant Gearing. "[Then] on the fourth day

landing," Barnes recalled, "[Gearing] firefight

and landed on top of

prised, but

he was able

slightly injured

after the

had jumped into a trench during a

a soldier's bayonet.

Both

men were

to shoot the Jerry with his pistol

by the point of the bayonet."

That evening, Stevens and line.

full

his boat

sur-

and was only

14

team were

finally led

Foxholes dotted a thick hedgerow. They were to pair

up

off.

to the

A

lieu-

tenant told them to dig in for the night. They dug three to four feet deep, and then

managed

after first light,

enemy

things in

target area of

a

man

88mm

to run.

an

few snatches of sleep before dawn. Not long

shells started to explode nearby.

down, or you won't have

Few

a

it

very long,"

Normandy were artillery barrage.

"Get your ass

someone shouted. 15

as terrifying as finding oneself in the

Every sinew and synapse screamed for

But fleeing almost invariably meant death: Shrapnel from

shells often

shredded any

living object within fifty yards. Finally,

the barrage ended. Shaken, muscles taut with

crawled forward to form a

new

line.

fear,

Stevens and his

They passed spent

mans, and dead GIs. Cows had been blown

shells,

to pieces. In

men

dead Ger-

nearby

fields,

they stood in rigor mortis, grotesque carcasses amid the endless

177

Bocage

"bocage"

—the French word

for the

maze

of hedgerows that dominated

the landscape.

For hundreds of years, the

bocage. In some areas,

Normans had

cultivated the impregnable

earth base was over three feet high, the

its

hawthorn hedgerow above so thick with thorny branches that to

be used

Germans

to get through. For the

had

by contrast, the

in retreat,

By placing

bocage was an ideal natural defense.

TNT

MG-42s

at strategic

gates and corners of fields, they were able to slow even the boldest

American day

assaults.

American infantry companies sometimes fought

to secure a single

hedgerow.

Later that afternoon, the Elle River,

16th Infantry received orders to secure the

1

one of the 29th Division's key objectives on

the strategically vital town of tersected.

secure the

The

1

river,

all

St.

its

push towards

L6, where several important roads in-

15th Infantry had been battered that morning trying to losing seven officers

and

fifty-nine

men. Twice

as

many

were wounded. That

Company A jumped

night,

countering heavy small arms

At dawn, Stevens and 13,

Company A and

town of Couvains. 29th Division

his

fire,

off

and fought across the

and then

men advanced

set

up bivouac

again.

Elle, en-

for the night.

By 10:45 A.M. on June

the rest of the 1st Battalion had captured the small

A fierce counterattack was

expected. According to the

official history, "29 Let's Go!": "Patrolling

was

insisted

upon. 29th Division Field Order No. 6 of June 13 instructed each front line

company

to

send one patrol two miles

to the front every twenty-four

hours, and each battalion to capture one prisoner in the

same

period." 16

Stevens volunteered to lead a patrol. But in his foxhole later he had

second thoughts: have.

I

was

"I

knew

I

had volunteered

sitting in that foxhole

and

image of Jesus Christ came up on that

I

dirt,

for

asked

something

God

and he

I

should not

to help

me. The

says: 'Go, you'll

come

back/"

Clyde Powers shared Stevens's foxhole.

"Do you want

to

"If you're telling

come?" Stevens asked.

me

I

got to go,

I'll

go,

but I'm not volunteering."

The Bedford Boys

178

"If

you

own

your

to go of

gonna volunteer, then

ain't

want you

don't," replied Stevens. "I

free will." 17

Stevens blacked up with several other volunteers and then crawled

enemy

towards the

make trol.

enemy

sure the

As the "getaway man,"

lines.

behind:

A

nearly killed him.

"I

movement and then saw

named Kessup had

private

was up

Stevens to

to

did not creep up from behind and surprise the pa-

Stevens suddenly heard a

a figure.

it

I

the silhouette of

and lagged

fallen out of position

would have

remembered

if I'd

to bring a

knife with me."

The

hedgerow

patrol crossed a

mans opened

him shot

close to

Then he saw one his side.

into

enemy

A

territory.

Stevens dived for cover and returned

fire.

German with

a

his pistol. Stevens

of his patrol go down, badly

The man's

eyeball

best to dress the wound.

was dangling on

group of Ger-

fire.

sergeant

threw a grenade.

wounded. He crawled

to

his cheek. Stevens did his

The squad regrouped. They had

lost a

had been challenged by German lookouts and had replied

man, only

A

in

man. He bad Ger-

be instantly shot.

to

Stevens returned to his foxhole where he sat and prayed.

"I

back," he recalled, "just like Jesus had said. There and then deal with God.

'If

you

let

me

get back home,'

had come

made

I

a

asked him, Til be your

I

servant.'" 18

While Roy chased Nazis

at night,

Clyde Powers huddled

in their fox-

hole and mourned. Later that summer, he wrote to his parents about his

dead brother:

"[Jack]

buried on top of a

is

Channel, alongside of the pretty place, glad,

Mom,

and that

is

that he

is

boys he served with.

not missing, for at least you

a lot better. I

He was

killed instantly

instantly. Will tell

It is

and there was no

saw him

you more about

it

a very

there. Just

know where he

talked to the boy in the medics that

he said that he died over."

overlooking the English

and the French people have planted flowers

ing on his part.

is

rest of the

hill,

is

now,

suffer-

get hit

when

be

and

the war

19

Despite his close

call,

Roy

Stevens's hunger for vengeance

great as the day he found Ray's grave.

He

was

just as

joined other dangerous mis-

Bocage

sions

and even volunteered

run messages to

to

wanted every chance he could get

He

artillery observers.

German.

to kill a

79

1

Eventually,

word

about Stevens's apparent death wish got back to the 116th Infantry headquarters. Stevens was called in front of Colonel "Its it

gonna take us

to

all

win

Canham

this war,"

Canham. you take

told him, "so

easy." 20

Stevens saluted and returned to his squad. In England, Stevens had

Canham

disliked

for his overly harsh discipline.

respect for him. Everyone in the

on D-Day. "He walked

We

rough, tough dude. got shot.

We knew

happened."

like

it

all

16th

1

knew what

he talked

knew

Now he

had

profound

a

the colonel had done

Stevens said. "He was a

it,"

he'd refused to go to hospital

he was always going

to

when he

be with his troops, whatever

21

Stevens cursed as well as any sergeant but was surprised by the con-

and blasphemy that issued from Canham's

stant stream of profanity

Stevens in fact worried that

headed

to hell:

if

he cursed the Lord

"The things he would

them up on the

line

—you

didn't

say. ...

like

Canham,

lips.

he'd be

wouldn't even want to say

I

know what minute you gonna be

gone." 22

One

day,

placements.

combat

Stevens returned from the line to pick up a group of

Canham

men

before Stevens took

them

into

for the first time.

"As sure as there

is

these sonsabitches,"

you

addressed the

re-

will die.

Other

Some

officers

a

damned heaven

Canham

said.

of you will die

were even more

in the sky,

"Some

we

are going to

of you will be heroes.

kill

Some

of

quickly." 23 to the point, telling

good as dead so why not spend their

last

moments

men

they were as

fighting with honor,

getting the job done?

"D-Day was the longest

Company

B's Private

one day

had

I

a

how many men vived a week,

if

Bob

day, there's

hundred and eighty

right beside

he was

no doubt about

me

lucky." 24

it

was

just

tell

you

The average infantryman

sur-

to go.

got killed.

who

that," recalled

couldn't begin to

Sales, "but for those I

survived,

— The Bedford Boys

180

As he waited letter

from

write back. still

"jump

to

his parents still

I

didn't

want

hoped he might show

alive.

He

attack,

come

to

Roy Stevens received

to believe that grave

up."

25

Roy

finally

did not mention Ray, unable to

gradually

many

on another

off"

wondering about him and Ray.

accept

Omaha

By the

third

week

I

He was

— Ray had been cut down savagely with fire a

so

shot, in the

Beach.

was meeting

of June, the 29th Division

ever-stiffer re-

The Germans were throwing everything they could

sistance:

to

brother's.

them what he had only

other Bedford boys, probably before he got to

shallows of

my

wrote his parents.

tell

want

didn't

"I

was

a

into a des-

perate attempt to contain the Allies to a narrow beachhead. At

all

costs,

they must be stopped from taking strategically crucial cities such as

Caen and

Every day, It

L6.

St.

looked as

if

—dead

mandy

seemed,

it

Company A

another squad as

lost

it

advanced.

there were only two ways out of the nightmare of Nor-

on

or

a stretcher. "That

said Stevens. "Hurt or killed.

was

all

you could look forward

You looked forward

to

to,"

26 it."

"Your best hope was for a million-dollar wound, nice clean sheets and a pretty nurse,"

want

remembered Company

to lie out there

stretcher,

and bleed

Bob

D's

for a long time. I'd see guys

and they'd been shot through the

ing. Til see

Slaughter. "You didn't

leg

legs,

a

and they would be smil-

ya buddy!' they shouted. You didn't want

stomach but the

on

it

in the groin or

arms, shoulders, hands. That would have been

wonderful. Fingers didn't count." 27 Like Slaughter, Roy Stevens quickly every weapon.

most of

The Wehrmacht's MG-42

his friends

just

142

men

found

ear.

Company A

two machine guns, while a carried fifteen

itself

full

MG-42s. Not

pinned down by MG-42s

the imbalance in firepower.

to recognize every

sound of

machine gun, which had

and brother, sounded

being torn close to one's

had

came

like a giant

piece of fabric

at full strength

German

— 193 men

infantry

surprisingly,

killed

company

Company A

until artillery support

of

often

made up

for

Bocagc

88mm

The German

guns, which had killed Bedford Hoback, fired

head height down lanes

shells at

181

at nearly three

times the speed of

sound. At close range, flesh and blood targets never heard the shells

coming. At a mile,

men had

you heard an 88, you "If

it

it

sounded

like

second

split

ground, " recalled

hit the

caught you standing up,

knew what of

perhaps a

"As soon as

to react.

Company B s Bob

would put some shrapnel

it

men

because you saw so many

Sales.

You

in you.

die because

28 it."

Then

there

was the German Panzerfaust, again superior

ican equivalent, the bazooka.

all

sudden "whoooosh" echoed

many American tank

fevered sleep of

sound of

Its

to the

Amerin the

crews. But perhaps the worst

was the wail of "Moaning Minnies," the bombs

fired

almost

simultaneously by Nebelwerfers. The Germans nicknamed them "Stukas on Wheels" because the sirens with which the shells were equipped,

like Stukas,

were so

many GIs

terrifying that they sent

"You never got used to combat," recalled Sales. "Every

you got up wondering didn't sleep too

if

you were going

damn much

to live

damn

morning, day.

You

patrols,

and

through the

—the Germans would send out

insane.

they wouldn't shoot you because that would alarm everybody. They'd cut

your throat. That's

why most

of the time

we

slept

two

to a hole.

Neither

of you were ever really sound asleep. Next morning, you got up, and

if it

had rained, you'd be soaked, and then you ate your cold mess breakfast, again wondering

Men became

if

you were going

terribly

numb

to live that day." 29

to the

death around them. Bodies lay for

days within yards of foxholes, swelling in the sun, beside the carcasses of livestock. "After a couple of days, the smell called

Bob Slaughter

ple balloon,

of

Company

and the smell would

became

unbelievable," re-

D. "Bodies would blow up into a purstay with you, always with you. ...

I

was out there forty-two days without changing socks, without changing underwear.

It

was

hell every day.

You get up

at 3 A.M.,

go after the next

hedgerow, fight for that hedgerow, then get knocked back a hedgerow, lose half your

couldn't

fire

a

company, and then get rifle. It

just got

men

worse." 30

straight

from the

states

who

The Bedford Boys

182

Roy Stevens

When

dead.

also ate hastily prepared

he looked

K

he mostly

at the corpses,

Stevens looked about,''

at the

Stevens thought. "Maybe he's the lucky one." 31

weapons and

now

all

—the Yanks needed

Germans' MG-42s. The

power they could

get against the

straps be buckled

was universally ignored.

Dead Germans used

women,"

nology!

.

.

But

bag back

I'd

got back one time

in the

—

could

been

to tell officers

made them prime his

Just two

hit.

of the time.

frontlines,

came

after

jackets slick with

They were

all

tech-

to strip off in-

Canham

Roy Stevens. "The only way you

at the

back of

and sweat. "We found

oil, dirt,

sailcloth kind of material.

Day,

I

fighting over

"Even Colonel

his helmet." 33

and Gray patches faded and often

The It

to the

with

field jacket

Slaughter's jacket

was

all

torn, their assault

of the

had a kind of

reflected a lot of light." 34

men had made mud and grass.

jacket inside out, the

Bob

German

D-Day, a 35th Division lieutenant, fresh

their field jackets reversed.

it

take

across a group of 29ers. Their uniforms were barely rec-

ognizable, the Blue

then stained

I'd

from noncommissioned ranks.

targets for snipers.

rank was by looking

weeks

them had

always keep their watches. Man,

I'd

like the rest of us," recalled

tell

of

kitchen!" 32

was now impossible

looked

hedgerow.

"The prisoners we took

Even the greenest "ninety-day wonders" quickly learned signia that

fire-

rule that chin

all

of watches, and several pistols. That

full

Word

.

Sales.

They were naked most

a look, give the picture back.

had a damn bag

Bob

recalled

say: 'Look, wife, wife.'

dead Germans

the

all

lay everywhere, along every road, in every

to love to take pictures off the

pictures of naked

would

that mattered. Nonessential

were quickly dumped. Whenever possible, machine

kit

guns were salvaged from the battlefield

It

One

envy.

man's face. "He doesn't have anything to worry

Surviving the next firefight was

my

and

felt pity

Stevens crawled through a hedgerow, he came across a dead GI.

day, as

"I

from the

rations only yards

themselves

men

wearing

shiny, almost

By turning the

less obvious;

some had

also unrecognizable. Since landing

on D-

but a couple of his buddies from Roanoke had been killed or

183

Bocage

wounded. Slaughter thought

number would

his

command

afternoon, he was ordered to take

exposed

to

enemy

He

fire.

also

come up

soon.

One

of a defensive section badly

crawled forward and

finally got to

an obser-

vation trench on the frontline.

"Don't stick your head up/' a sergeant warned. "There's a sniper. He's killed several riflemen."

"Goddamn,"

"we got

said Slaughter,

Germans sneak up on

to

keep a look out

us."

"OK, you go ahead and do

it."

Slaughter had to prove he was not afraid. "So

wham! God

My

almighty!

helmet flew

off.

I

felt like a

My

I'm on

all

fours

down

I

stuck

baseball bat had hit

eyes were

twenty seconds and he drilled me. stars.

in case those

swollen.

all

My ears

in that foxhole,

were

I'd

my head up and me in the head.

not been up there

ringing.

I

and the blood

saw

is

a million

just pouring

out."

Slaughter looked at the sergeant.

me

"Get

The

a medic!"

sergeant's eyes bulged.

He

"Never mind," said Slaughter.

The on the

The to

bullet

longer a

late

get

"I'll

had grazed Slaughter's

line, his

break

stared in disbelief, frozen to the spot.

scalp.

man

Three days

later,

he was back

spent in combat, the more likely he was to die but also

down with mental and

team: "Back in England, this

on

One morning in Company A man from his boat

physical exhaustion. a

little feller

real nice guy. I'd get

The boy no

myself." 35

head so tender he couldn't wear a helmet.

June, Roy Stevens came across

he was a

him

at

him

always had a smile on his face for smiling all the time."

longer smiled. His nerves had been shot to pieces.

go back to the kitchen?" he asked Stevens.

"I

"Can

I

don't feel good."

"You go back and rest a day or two," Stevens nodded. "Just go back." 36

The man went back

to the

canvas tent where

Company

A's

Newcomb, was now working day and night to men. Newcomb knew how uplifting hot chow and

mess

sergeant, Earl

prepare

meals for the

a

cup of

The Bedford Boys

184

coffee could be to shattered spirits. "So

boys as

to the

we

could," he recalled. "If

hot meals up to them.

The boy who no side,

dug

But

I'll

They seldom had

longer smiled ate his

a foxhole, got into

couldn't take

we

it

always tried to set up as close

it

was

to eat

at all possible,

hard

first real

meal

and then shot himself

never forget his face, the way he smiled

maybe nineteen Three weeks

in days,

—

at

all

went out-

"He

to death.

no more," recalled Stevens. "Don't remember

it

we'd get

tack." 37

name.

his

the time.

He was

most." 38

D-Day, Yanks were shooting themselves

in extraor-

dinary numbers. As he dug in one evening, Stevens tallied up

how many

after

Company A had received SIWs (self-inflicted wounds) that day: at least five. The next morning, Stevens again found himself before Colonel Canham, this time being questioned about several men's wounds. "If you tell me it was intentional," Canham said, "I'll make an

men

in

example of them." Stevens told

Canham

he would have had those have done

it

wounds had not been

the

men

self-inflicted. "I

shot," Stevens later maintained. "He'd

himself." 39

Stevens believed that those

who

put a pistol or

rifle to

then pulled the trigger were not cowards. They were

had taken more than

saw

it,

their

to

their limbs

be pitied

and

—they

minds and bodies could stand. As Stevens

they had reached a breaking point which he too would arrive

sooner or

later:

"A person's body

they just couldn't take

By June L6,

knew

30, 1944,

it

any

can't but take so

boys,

more." 40

Company A had

fought to within a few miles of

which had been devastated by weeks of Allied

That morning, Major Thomas Dallas, the 116th

commander, ordered

much. Those

at

Stevens's squad of twelve

artillery

St.

and bombing.

Infantry's 1st Battalion

men

to clear a

machine

gun nest blocking Company As advance. The squad included Harold Wilkes and Clyde Powers,

who had been

Stevens's squad set off across a field of

the squad's

BAR

in Stevens's boat tall grass.

man, a Private William Green,

older than the rest of the

team on D-Day.

Behind Stevens walked

who was

men. Green had not used the

vital

several years

submachine

185

Bocage

gun the

effectively;

BAR

Many

on

a couple of occasions, Stevens

from him

had been forced

to provide covering fire in the nick of time.

squads came to depend so

much on

the BAR's firepower that

they often carried at least two of these light machine guns.

M-l

portable as

fire for as

long as the

ammunition, from a 20-round

all its

trigger

was squeezed. Like

bullets

all

ammunition created smoke and squads became reluctant

smoke gave away

to

open

man,

booby

trap.

clip,

MG-42. The BAR expended

within a few seconds after the

used by infantry squads, the BAR's

flashes, unlike the fire in

MG-42. Many

case the telltale puffs of blue

his assigned place in the

squad but then

The

squad's lookout

of Stevens as they crossed the field.

Brockman from

a Private

as

their position.

That morning, Green took

moved ahead

They were

but had the power of a machine gun. Unfortu-

rifles

they could not

nately,

to take

Charlottesville, Virginia, suddenly

saw

a

41

"Wire!" he shouted.

But

it

was too

Green stepped on

late.

a

"Bouncing Betty' mine and

died instantly. "That old boy Green took the load meant for me," 42 recalled Stevens.

them, and

killing

the

The

jaw." 43

mine's ball bearings peppered several others, also

Stevens in "the shoulder, and through the neck and

hit

Stevens collapsed. Blood gushed from his windpipe. Rifleman

Harold Wilkes rushed

minutes

later,

to his side

and applied

ain't

A

few

Stevens was dimly aware of voices around him. His foxhole

buddy Clyde Powers was kneeling "You

a pressure bandage.

at his side,

undoing

his wrist watch.

gonna need that watch," said Powers, who then relieved

Stevens of the watch and his

pistol, figuring

he wouldn't see action

again.

"Clyde later had the watch engraved on the back," recalled Stevens almost

keep

By shell

it.

sixty years later.

Now

I

wish

I'd

July 4, Powers

"He

taken

would

shock caused when an

was wounded

later that

finally offered to give

it

back but

I

let

him

44 it."

also

be out of action, the victim of severe

88mm

month,

landed just yards from him. Wilkes

hit in the

shoulder and arm.

The Bedford Boys

186

From seeing wounds

own, Stevens knew he would die

similar to his

quickly unless he got to an aid station. Incredibly, just 3.5 percent of

men who

reached a battalion aid station died of their wounds, and

most three-quarters of men treated would return medics arrived and Stevens was taken

wounds were shaped

tents

To

an aid station, where his

to

dressed, and then to the nearest field hospital like a "T"

was

and

in that place,

I

—

a series of

ten miles from the front.

his horror, Stevens

likely to live. "I

still

was placed

in a sick

men deemed unof my neck. lay down

bay with

bleeding pretty badly out

I

looked over, and there was a soldier lying there

was German. He wasn't moving. Then

nurse came by and

a

—he

I

grabbed her by the smock she was wearing. She was a nice-looking I'd

been away

me

you turn

Stevens

let

live.

He just needed some

loose," the nurse replied,

"I'll

just girl.

by then."

a long time: All of the nurses looked great

Stevens told her he would "If

al-

to duty. Eventually,

help.

see what

I

can do." 45

her go and waited. Finally, she returned. Stevens was op-

erated on by a captain from Oklahoma, and then told he would be flown to a hospital in

England

to recuperate.

The day Stevens was wounded, dent Ernie Pyle wrote from stuff

Normandy

is

as the

in

my

life.

Germans. One day

I'll

hedge

to a friend: "This

a type of warfare we've never run into before,

dead Germans than ever

many

the famous American war correspon-

Americans,

too,

and

I've

to

but not nearly so

think I'm getting hardened to dead

people, dead young people in vast numbers, and then next day

not and never could be."

ize I'm

On

hedge

seen more

I'll

real-

46

He was one

of

27,000 American casualties evacuated from Normandy since June

6.

July 6, 1944, Stevens

During

and

a

his time in

combat,

1

was flown

to

England.

1,000 of his countrymen had been killed

thousand more were missing

in action.

But what they had

achieved was nothing short of miraculous. Over 71,000 vehicles had

been brought ashore and then inland through draws such Vierville

as the

D-l draw. Almost half a million GIs had crossed the channel.

Throughout Normandy, the Germans were putting up

a spirited

and

187

Bocage

were running perilously low of men, ammunition,

lethal resistance but

materiel. 47

and other

The

Europe had been

Allies enjoyed total air supremacy. Fortress

breached. "The weapons which alone could have enabled us to banish the danger

—the Navy and Luftwaffe—were almost non-existent,"

called Generalleutnant Joseph Reichert, one of the senior cers ordered by Hitler to repulse the 29th Division. "It

German

was

re-

offi-

like pitting

two people against one another, one with bows and arrows and the other with firearms." 48

When

Stevens landed in England, he was able to walk unaided off a

plane carrying other wounded. 'There was another boy with

been

also

—

thing

to take off,

joking that

my throat. had

in

if

both saw

I

did get a drink

But then some

mind, they got

A few days

it

I'll

MPs

grabbed

through believe

to

it

It

was

right.

go there alone

is

know your

an awful

worries. This

start to

end.

We

If

started

told

is

my

in

them what we

slipped into a

let-

.

I

I

said farewell to

had prayed

for our future.

a sinners prayer wasn't .

.

Oh

brother,

so unfriendly.

It

from

When we

I

can't

life.

To

kill

answered.

think of you

Dear Lord, he took you from

This world

rest of

us.

so soon.

walk that long narrow road.

and suffer the

we

49

was the 6th day of June.

would be

this sleepless night. it

some-

or

wasn't hurting that bad so

poem which he

That wonderful place called home, but

would have

mess

in Bedford:

never forget that morning.

I

a

his friend to their assigned hospital in a

Stevens wrote a

later,

brother. Didn't think

Now

—

who'd

would probably come out of the hole

to laughing too."

mother back

ter to his

I

beer joint

hoping maybe we'd get some whiskey.

The MPs took Stevens and jeep.

this

end of the runway. Well,

at the

decided

We

hit pretty bad.

me

me and

now

is

I

all

can't

a sin.

To

be done without him. Dear Mother,

Now,

fight.

To

fellas,

lose

take

my

my

I

only twin brother

warning. Believe

you ever have a twin brother, don't go

it

to the battle

16

The Longest Wait

AFTER LEARNING ABOUT THE jl\.

boys' relatives

The war

effort

meant more than

Wilkes and other

two nights.

1

and wives returned

women

rolled

invasion, to

many

of the Bedford

work with renewed

ever: In the

week

D-Day, Bettie

after

an astonishing 23,950 bandages

But however many bandages they

rolled, the

recalled John Schenk's wife, Ivylyn.

lost

We

"My mother and

I

was

so long,''

visited other

took a flower or some treats and tried to comfort those

sons in other parts of the world."

Viola Parker

still fell

in just

wives couldn't

stop thinking about their husbands. 'The wait to find out

ilies.

energy.

fam-

who had

2

asleep listening to the radio in her childhood

bedroom. "We knew the casualties were high, but we always hoped wasn't ours. As time went on

it

we had no letters. We were lucky not to we would've seen what happened/' 3

have had televisions then because

By

early

summer

1944, at least two dozen

had the saddest of decorations

in their

"Gold Star Mother," signifying the

homes

windows:

loss of a son.

more, every mother in Bedford knew

that.

ers fretted most.

over and over. for

when

They wrung

their

They cleaned house

they returned.

Bedford already

a gold star

and the words

There were bound

But they hoped

would be wrong. Throughout Bedford, parents began and pray when they heard or saw the mail

in

to

to cross

God

to

be

they

themselves

carrier enter their street.

Moth-

hands when they weren't washing them obsessively, preparing their sons'

They quizzed

others for every snippet of

rooms

news

as

they worked long shifts in production lines at nearby factories. They reread their sons'

last letters.

Every

new day and 189

every evening, they prayed.

The Bedford Boys

190

In

news

radios played

were no longer so interested

ilies

Ma

some homes,

bulletins

in the latest

around the clock. Fam-

episode of the radio soap,

Amos and Andy.

Perkins, or another hit show,

Fathers turned the dial

decent news station and paced back and

to every

waiting for loved ones to return from the

last

back. Broadcaster Walter Winchell had angered

memories

forth,

of

war suddenly flooding

many

in

Bedford

when

he'd insinuated in 1941 that the Stonewallers were shirkers as they prac-

maneuvers

ticed

in

North Carolina. But now everyone hung on

Winchells every word. Ernie Pyle, America's most celebrated war correspondent, had written a chilling

account of D-Day

cated column.

"human

litter"

in his

most recent Scripps Howard syndi-

He had mentioned "many casualties" and described the he had found on Omaha Beach: "It extended in a thin lit-

tle line, just like a

high-water mark, for miles along the beach. This was

the strewn personal gear, gear that

who

those

would never be needed again by

fought and died to give us our entrance into Europe

There were the

latest letters

neatly razored out

—one

.

.

.

from home, with the address on each one

of the security precautions enforced before the

boys embarked. There were toothbrushes and razors, and snapshots of

back home staring up

families

at

you from the sand." 4

Other newspaper reports repeated the

had entailed "considerable

official line that

sacrifice." In a

June

the invasion

issue, the

immensely

popular Life magazine contained photographer Robert Capa's astonishing images of the ing,

showing

men

first

cut

minutes on Omaha. They were

down

Tensions rose with the

D-Day,

letters

in the surf

summer

from soldiers

in

and struggling

far

from reassur-

to get ashore.

temperatures. Then, a fortnight after

Europe

finally arrived in

Bedford. Jack

Harris, a military policeman from Bedford, told his parents that since arriving in

Normandy he had met many men

were

of admiration for

full

made

On

a

name

June

29th Division

what Company A had done. "That

for itself in the invasion." 5

17, Earl Parker's

that thirty-year-old Earl

in the

was

outfit sure

But he said no more.

mother received listed as

who

a telegram informing her

missing in action. The town doc-

The Longest Wait

tor,

191

Pete Rucker, dropped by to check on his mother and then volun-

teered to

tell

She was stunned but refused

Viola, Earls wife.

to think

the worst. For Danny's sake, she could not accept that Earl was dead.

She would not

went on looking

take. "I

her

July

relief,

after

my

baby,''

she recalled. "You do what you

6

have to do."

On

word, however long that might

until she received official

1

,

Viola Parker spotted the

to her door.

a telegram confirming Earl's death.

he wasn't carrying

did hand her a distressing bundle

been returned

mailman coming

to sender. Viola

—her recent

letters to Earl.

To

But he

They had

asked why. The mailman said he didn't

know. Again, she refused to believe the worst.

On

July 4, Bedford tried to put on a cheerful face for

Day. Lucille Hoback,

weeks

who had

visited

earlier,

Independence

celebrated her fifteenth birthday a few

nearby Bedford County Lake where other

teenagers and families gathered for holiday picnics, swimming, and boating,

and where Clyde Powers had learned

town watched

a rather

muted firework

to

swim. That night, the

display at the Bedford

High

School's athletic field.

Like her friends living on farms throughout Bedford County, Lucille

worked every day from sunup

sundown, caring

to

for chickens, picking

berries, milking cows, tending to vegetables that her parents sold every

weekend

market

at

in

Lynchburg. "Every evening,

"When Walter Winchell

the radio," she recalled. could.

We

were just hoping

heard from

Raymond and

whole town was nervous."

Melba Basham, niece had not written

to

my parents

to

spoke, no one else

hear something, anything.

My

Bedford.

letter

wondered why her uncle

who had grown

and postcards from England.

from him and they were just

"They would come

came D-Day and

— the

her for several weeks. Gillaspie was a prolific corre-

to receiving witty letters

recalled.

hadn't

parents were anxious

of Nicholas Gillaspie,

"Neighbors would receive a

Melba

We

7

spondent, writing to over a dozen friends and neighbors

accustomed

listened to

right over

the letters stopped.

"I

and

tell us."

tickled,"

But then

can remember several of the

The Bedford Boys

192

neighbors coming by and they would say they were really worried about Nicholas. Everyone was." 8

Meanwhile, one of the Bedford boys was lying

who had been

converted hotel in West Virginia with other GIs

home from Europe. Andrew Coleman was so he was barely conscious. His body was

that

had

his kidneys

failed. Sibyle

drew's nephews, was deeply

many

ward

in a hospital

in a

brought

ill

with Brights disease

filling

with poisons because

Kieth Coleman, the wife of one of An-

moved when she saw Coleman and

the

other young Americans lying in cots, some close to death, at the

elegant Greenbrier Hotel in Sulphur Springs.

went

"I

to see

Andrew

my husband," she recalled. "Andrew was just lying there, not able talk. He had a lot of swelling. It was very upsetting to see him and all

with to

wounded men. They were

the other

On July 6, 1944, the Bedford Company A had landed in the mended

for

its role:

so young.

to

hope

that

all

of

ingway after

Jr. s

younger

textile mill that

D-Day and had

weeks,

my mother

she would

The

sit

first

that they

and

when an

is

fate of the

men,

as

seemed

it

safely through the

10

Verona, worked

at

the Belding

a radio report a

Hem-

few days

cried at reports of "significant" casualties. "For

She was so worried about Frank

couldn't eat or sleep.

just look far out in distance." 11

1

Company A

in the

Bedford Bulletin mentioned

16th Infantry Regiment had been "awarded a presi-

dential citation ... for the

operations. This

but as yet

of casualties. There has

list

summer. She had heard

hard news of

and the

sister,

towns own

fatalities,

them could have come

landing ordeal and subsequent fighting."

Frank Draper

L)

a shock."

wave on D-Day and been com-

first

"There have been no reports of

been considerable uneasiness about the

much

was

Bulletin revealed that the

the government has given out no complete

too

It

work of the

1

16th on

D-Day and subsequent

the highest award a unit can receive and

is

given only

entire organization has acquitted itself with exceptional valor in

important operations." The newspaper added that

Company A had been

"continuously in the line throughout the French invasion and

is

at pre-

The Longest Wait

193

sent engaged in the St. L6 battle, according to a dispatch from the front." 12

Another news item caused widespread concern: "Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fizer have received a letter from their son,

been made a sergeant

He had

Company A,

in

2,500 soldiers on board and of the fortunate ones

course.

was not

It

ing craft, and

A month

all

all

The

rescued."

a transport that

13

The

sank with Fizer on board but

D-Day, Bettie Wilkes wondered why John's

men

that the

There was

a ship

sunk by

a U-boat?

Or were

could not write until the battle of

a reason for

letters

of our

regulations so strict

Normandy was

no word. God only knew what

it

over?

was. But soon

know he was

all

"Everybody went on about their business," recalled Bettie. "We

all

enough John would contact her right.

a land-

men had Company As mail

some

died but this was secondhand information." Perhaps

on

was incorrect of

but the radio operator, Padley, had been saved.

after

lost

being one

five, 'Billy'

report

weren't getting to her. "There were rumors that

had been

which

transport on

was sunk. There were

to France,

were saved except

who were

has recently

saying he was in France and O.K.

quite an experience [on] Invasion Day.

he was, while traveling from England

who

in

some way

to let her

just stayed busy, busy." 14

Whenever boys, the

first

Bettie

met another

wife, relative, or girlfriend of

one of the

question she heard was not the customary "how are you?"

but "have you heard?" closely followed by "did you get any mail?" 15

On

Monday, July

10, Bettie finished

her shift

at

Belding

and headed down Main Street towards Green's drugstore. preparing a package for John over the weekend rettes

and things

to pick

up

like that.

I

at the drugstore.

She was about

had I

it all

fixed

—

Hemingway "I

toilet articles, ciga-

—except one

article

had the package with me, ready

to enter the drugstore

when

had been

I

wanted

to post."

she heard a familiar voice.

"Bettie!"

She looked around. She saw

a

woman

she knew. To this day, she won't

give her

name. Bettie stood on the corner of the

woman

to cross the road.

street

and waited

for the

The Bedford Boys

194

The woman asked

Bettie

if

she had received any news.

Bettie shook her head.

"No. Have you?" "Yes.

got a letter today."

I

What

"Well, good.

"John was

killed."

did

it

say?"

16

and shock. She managed somehow

Bettie stared in disbelief

her

way back

ments, the

few days were had

friends

and that sisted

a blur

just about

it

I

It

me

convinced

was probably

word before

a mistake I

that the letter could not be true,

notified by the

got official

also

decided

on July 10 that Taylor

That afternoon, they

government I

man,

sat in the

news was

letters or

go back to work and wait for

Fellers's family

shade of a tree

suddenly saw a car pull up

Ellen, got out of the car. to us," recalled Bertie,

the news."

heard of his death.

home

in front of their

in the

dusty driveway.

it

"The whole family had decided

The

in

sister,

local mail-

"because they knew

we were

had been returned

had begun

so anxious to hear

to

a card for his thirtieth birthday

to sender.

suspect the worst.

it

to Ellen

and asked her

friend in England, Mrs.

on June

She knew her mother and father

McCauley handed

postmarked from England. She couldn't bear

handed

to bring a letter

18

had sent her brother

Bertie

letter

of-

Mr. McCauley, his wife, and dark-haired teenage daughter,

a

10 but

in-

gave up hope. They kept

even though no to

They

first.

the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Taylor's youngest Bertie,

next

17

word."

was

The

but within a week, she recalled, "Family and

yet received from John. So ficial

make

Ramsey Apart-

sister at

building in Bedford since the war started.

would have been

I

me

telling

new

wait until

I

rooms she shared with her

to the

first

to

to read

it.

The

letter

mother

Taylor's to

open

was from

Lunscomb. "Taylor had been

to

a

so she

it

Taylor's

her

home

(shortly before D-Day)," recalled Bertie. "Several of the other Bedford

boys went by her place too. She had kept in touch with

sending her news."

19

my

mother,

The Longest Wait

According

195

Mrs. Lunscomb, Taylor had died on D-Day. Ellen

to

stopped reading. Bertie ran to her mother as she started

letter three or four

more

The news spread

fast.

was

to cry: "It

long time before anybody could say anything. Later that night,

I

a

read the

times."

Families from neighboring farms dropped by to

console and pay their respects. "Bertie, can you read the letter?" asked Taylor's mother. Bertie read

it

over and over again. 20

Later that week, the Bedford Bulletin reported:

Mrs. Lunscomb stated that Lieutenant

Lynchburg, had visited

in

her

home

Bill

at the

Williams, of

same time

as did

returned to a hospital in England.

He

first

ever, that

he had not seen Captain

comrade who did see him. Since no a

chance that he was not

Fellers killed, but official

killed

word home, although Mr. and Mrs. death. Officials have

sent

Captain

called her by telephone

He

then wrote telling her Captain Fellers was killed in action.

still

B,

and that he was wounded sometime during the invasion and was

Fellers

is

Company

home by

the

warned

men

that

told of

it

howby a

word has been received, there

but wounded too badly to send

Fellers

it is

was

said,

and

have been convinced of his

very risky to accept as final reports

in battle since they can,

during

all

the excitement

and confusion, make many mistakes. 21

On

Saturday, July 15, the Bedford Bulletin contained the following

lines:

I

mourn for you

No

eyes

can see

But many a

in silence

me weep

silent tear

While others are Never did

I

that the gift that I sent

so little to

will always break

Just to

shed

asleep.

know

Would mean It

is

know your

my

you on your birthday June tenth; heart

burial day

and

will cause

many

would have been your

a tear thirtieth year. 22

196

The Bedford Boys

The poem was from Naomi Newman, Nearly

six

Taylor Fellers

weeks had now passed since the

loved ones were frantic with worry.

"We

all

"It

was

like

wife.

invasion. Families

knew something

happened, " recalled Helen Stevens, then worker.

s

terrible

and had

a twenty-year-old factory

waiting for an earthquake." 23

17

His Deep Regret

SUNDAY, JULY

16, 1944. Just about 9 A.M., Lucille Hoback was

about to walk with her family to Center Point Methodist church, agonally across the road from her house.

many

in Bedford: a small,

held a congregation of

The church was

di-

typical of

white wooden building with one room that

fifty

people.

Though

just fifteen, Lucille

some-

times taught a Sunday school class there. Her father, John Samuel

Hoback, was the church

treasurer.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the Hobacks' front door. iff

Jim Marshall, a good friend of Lucille's father.

in his car.

He was

told Lucille

holding a telegram.

and her

sister to sit

down

A few

1

It

was Sher-

He had just

pulled up

minutes

later,

Mr. Hoback

kitchen table. "Mother was

at the

sobbing. Father said Bedford had been killed in the war, on D-Day." 2

Perhaps half an hour

there was another knock on the door.

later,

Outside were several members of the congregation, wondering why the

Hobacks were not

at

church. The service was abandoned and

in-

stead the churchgoers gathered to pray at the Hobacks' home. Later that morning, others brought food over. Lucille's parents drove to the

Somehow, they would have

to

home

It

was

also that

morning that

of his fiancee, Elaine Coffey.

break the news that she would not

marry their son. Elaine was getting ready to go to church

on her just in

when

she heard the knock

door. "Bedford's parents didn't say anything," she recalled.

handed me the telegram.

my home.

I

couldn't

cry. It

I

read

it,

was too much.

97

"They

turned around, and went back I

went

to

my room and

lay

— The Bedford Boys

198

on the bed. day.

I

child

want

anywhere

didn't go

When first

didn't

I

nobody

to see

for a

for a long time.

week. Then

I

went back

Mrs. Macie Hoback got home, she had

was dead. Her husband went

to the

to

lay there all

I

to work." 3

be put to bed. Her

barn to

cry.

That night, news reached town of the death of another Bedford boy in

Company

A, thirty-four-year-old

away peacefully

at the

Andrew Coleman. He had passed

Ashford General Hospital

White Sulphur

in

Springs in West Virginia, finally succumbing to the kidney disease that

had kept him from joining

The

Omaha

on

his friends

Beach.

next morning, July 17, 1944, just after 8 A.M., twenty-one-year-

old Elizabeth Teass

was dropped

ner of North Bridge and

Main

off near Green's drugstore

She entered the

streets.

store,

on the

cor-

passed the

soda fountain and a couple of teenage soda jerks working there, then the prescriptions counter and finally walked through booths to her small Western Union office at the rear of the store, a polished

booth behind the cosmetics counter. Teass had worked

1942

after graduating

at

wooden

Green's since

Bedford High School.

At several booths customers chatted and sipped freshly brewed coffee.

"Many Bedford men gathered

"Businessmen came

by.

And

there every morning," recalled Teass.

was

it

as

if

we were

a big family

all

lawyers, doctors, the town's undertaker, Harry Carder." lars

4

Several regu-

browsed the morning papers and discussed the news. Coca-Cola

had produced

its

billionth gallon of

children had died in a

fire in

a circus. In France, the

L6

outskirts of St.

Connecticut started by inept

know

on D-Day were

after a

month

that hardly any still

a

hundred

fire-eaters at

29th Division was fighting desperately of deadly stalemate.

Those reading reports about the could not

Coca-Cola syrup. Over

fighting.

battle of

men who had

On

July

1 1,

in the

5

Normandy

that

morning

Company A Bedford boy who saw

landed with

the last

action on D-Day, Charles Fizer, had apparently been strafed and killed

by the Luftwaffe as he and several others out on the front and had

worn out they

come back

didn't dig in.

They

lay sleeping:

to rest.

just lay

"They had been

They were

so tired and

on top of the ground." 6

His Deep Regret

Of

who had

those

trained with the Bedford boys in England, only

medic Cecil Breeden, Sergeant John

Roach remained

in

few hours before

Laird, Gil

Murdock, and George

combat with Company A. The previous morning, 7

July 16, John Barnes a

99

1

had been wounded

a reinforced

head by

in the

shell

Company A had "jumped

fragments

off" for the

final slog into St. L6.

was now 8:30 A.M.

It

machine

teletype

sounded

in Bedford. Elizabeth

fice for central Virginia in

away

Words emerged on

a strip of

desires

me

to express his

deep

We

of-

Bedford from

printer.

have casualties."

first line

of copy: "The Secretary of

regret." 8 Teass

had seen these words

July 1944, telegrams announcing the death of a local boy ar-

on average once a week. She waited

rived

to

paper chattering out of the

Teass s heart sank as she read the

By

main Western Union

in the

Roanoke. All telegrams came

"Good morning. Go Ahead. Roanoke.

before.

a button that

She then typed: "Good morning. Go ahead. Bedford."

this office.

War

and then pressed

for receiving telegrams

a bell twenty-five miles

Teass switched on the

pecting the machine to

fall silent.

But

it

for the

message

to end, ex-

did not. Line after line of copy

clicked out of the printer. Within a few minutes, as Teass watched in a "trance-like state," 9

Company more

it

A.

"I

it

was

just sat

was going

clear that

had happened

terrible

to

and watched them and wondered how many

to be." 10

The telegrams kept coming. Teass

fed the ticker tape into a small bar-

water where the adhesive on the back of the tape was moistened.

rel of

Using

Union

new

something

a large thimble,

stationery,

line.

she then ran the tape onto pieces of Western

snapping the tape every couple of inches

The job required intense concentration and

to

form a

neatness, and

Elizabeth took great pride in her work.

was

afraid the

news

would be leaked before the addressees on the telegrams were

noti-

"Naturally,

fied.

I

telling

didn't

I

want somebody phoning up

them before

just terrible."

in shock," recalled Teass. "I

11

was so

a relative, a

they'd gotten the telegram. That

mother

say,

and

would have been

The Bedford Boys

200

For a long time, the teletype machine clattered, spitting out telegram

When

after telegram.

it

finally

stopped, Teass thought the messages of

condolence were over but a few minutes

remember who came

don't

first

or when," she recalled. "But

member

there were a lot of Johns

Dean.

," 12 .

another stuttered out.

later

do

I

"I

re-

—

John Schenk, John Wilkes, John

.

man

Green's caretaker, a "very kind" 13

in his forties called

Thomas, usually delivered telegrams around town. But most sages that morning were for relatives

who

lived in

Frank

of the mes-

surrounding areas on

farms. Teass looked around the drugstore. She asked for help, explaining

needed someone

that she

to deliver telegrams as

soon as possible. Near

the soda fountain sat the town's undertaker, Harry Carder, "a real small

man

with a quick step, very polite, always in a navy or black suit and

white

shirt." 14

He

quickly

left

with a telegram.

Teass spotted Sheriff Jim Marshall and the local doctor, Pete Rucker, a bespectacled

man

in his sixties with thinning hair,

ent at the births of several of the Bedford boys.

on East Main Street opposite the post sick,

"Pete Rucker

to

He had

pres-

an office nearby

"Back then, when you got

office.

you called the doctor and he came

who had been

your house," recalled Teass.

—he born me and my brother on my Daddy's farm. Lord

have mercy, those were the good days." 15 Teass gave Marshall and Rucker a telegram each. That

more. Most were addressed to farms miles from town. She list

of people in

aled taxi

fee

Roy

town

still

Israel at his office. Israel, a

company and drove and

driving cars, picked

to chat

when

a Cadillac.

left

several

made

a quick

up the telephone, and

di-

former cowboy from Texas, ran a

He

often

came by Green's

for a cof-

business was slow.

Israel took a telegram, got a signed receipt

from

a relative of the de-

ceased, and returned an hour later to pick up another. "Elizabeth, don't

look for anyone else to take them," he said. "From of

them

my

taxi

in the county. Just call

and take

it

me when

out." 16 Israel

would

now

on,

I'll

another comes in and stay with family

take I'll

all

use

members

if

they were alone until relatives or neighbors could be found to comfort

His Deep Regret

201

them. "I'm sure he was nice and compassionate to the families he de-

them

livered

remembered.

He was

to.

dependable man," Teass

a wonderful, kind,

17

Teass didn't want the whole town to panic because of rumors. But be-

had returned

fore Israel

had spread

like

Viola Parker Earl

to

pick up another telegram, news of the tragedy

wildfire from

may have

was missing

street to street

received the

the whole house."

"I

thought, 'Well,

It

you don't

I'd

to factory.

18

confirmed that

cry,

you don't do

better dust.' ...

I

dusted

19

Viola then took her daughter to

telegram.

in action. "You're so hit that

anything," she later said.

began

first

and factory

Danny

in

her arms,

the house and

left

walk towards the Peaks of Otter where she and Earl had

courted.

make

"Well, Danny," she finally said, "we're going to to

make

it

.

.

.

we're going

it."

But she wasn't sure, and the longer she walked, the more she began to

wonder: "What

Back

at

in the

world

am

I

going to do?" 20

Green's drugstore, Teass was

tape and laying

them on Western Union

someone

to take

quiet,

boys, It

was

A

do and it

was

and find

took a break some-

fallen over Bedford: "It

was one of the

you didn't know them, then you knew members of their

family.

a very sad time. Fine

young men had gotten

Newcomb was

Hampton Looms. The whole

working the

factory

a terrible anticipation filling the corridors

of the boys' daddies called.

crying, but

town. Everybody's heart was broken. With a

Across town, Elva mill,

had

a job to

confidential

to the families." 21 Teass

terrible pall

had

lot

still little

if

remember

many messages and keep them

them out

time that morning.

snapping pieces of ticker

stationery. "I

a responsibility," she recalled. "I don't

shocking to get so

still

and

sisters

"There was a large door

open." 23

killed." 22

first shift at

seemed

to

the textile

be on tenterhooks,

and machine rooms. "Several

and wives worked with me," Elva

at the entrance,

and that day they

Elva had only to glance up from her work to see

ing and going. That morning, she could barely look

re-

left

it

who was com-

away from the

door.

The Bedford Boys

202

At the Belding Hemingway worst. At roughly 9:30 A.M. a

Wilkes

sat opposite

her

factory,

workers were also dreading the

manager approached

sister,

room where

Bettie

Mildred.

Mildred saw the manager and motioned him "I've

a

to stay outside.

got to go to the bathroom," said Mildred.

"Okay," said Bettie.

Mildred

left.

walked out fice,

One

after another, Bettie's co-workers also got

until Bettie

Frank Draper

was

Jr.'s

alone in the department. In the front of-

left

sister

up and

Verona saw someone whispering about

telegrams. Finally, Bettie went to see what was going on. In the hallway,

she saw her sister rushing back to the department.

"We've gotta go home," Mildred blurted. 24 Bettie burst into tears.

and Mildred

It

was

official.

factory manager, Mr.

apartment. Nothing was said.

to their

was good," Bettie

The

recalled, "they

The

At the Rubatex

would have

love of her

factory, a

life

said

Home,

drove Bettie

knew

"I

something

if

the

news

right away." 25

was dead.

few hundred yards from Green's drugstore,

twenty-year-old Helen Cundiff worked in the shipping department on the second floor, not far from Frank Draper

minute [Mary] got

a telegram, she

mother, Mary. "The

Jr.'s

was out of the

place.

and never came back. Frank's father never got over

Back

at

it

She went home

either." 26

her apartment, Bettie Wilkes heard crying. The sisters of two

other Bedford boys shared rooms across the corridor.

They had

also re-

ceived telegrams: John Dean, one of seven brothers in service, had fought with

Company F and been

Overstreet had been

Bettie

ceiving their

few days

wounded on D-Day. "So

town and the surrounding farms

would

killed a

as the

particular

summons

was

all

D-Day; Dickie

around our small

dreaded messages kept coming,"

later write, "all [twenty-two] of

own

it

after

them, with each family

to grief

and

re-

loss." 27

At some point, Bettie collapsed, suddenly overwhelmed by the

grief

she had suppressed since hearing the rumor of Johns death. Mildred called Dr. Rucker,

been present

who rushed

at Bettie

over and prepared a sedative. Rucker had

and Mildred's

births.

203

His Deep Regret

'This "I

is

hope you put

just

replied.

make

going to

things better," said Rucker.

me

to sleep

and

never wake up/' Bettie

I

28

Back

at

Hampton Looms,

Elva

Newcomb

prayed that she would not

be called away from her loom. Suddenly, the foreman entered.

walked over

He

to the sister of twenty-six-year-old Private Clifton Lee.

would be years before anyone

would dare mention

in Lee's family

It

his

death, so devastated were his parents. It

was

morning that a friend of Verona Lipford called her

also that

away from her desk

at

Hemingway and took her home

Belding

to the

Drapers' four-room house beside the railroad tracks. "By the time

I

got

home," recalled Verona, "one of the neighbors had brought the message to

my mother

that

my brother

Frank was dead.

There was no conversation, just mother [Mary Draper] was

in bed.

He was

first

born.

and carrying on.

a lot of crying

She had

her

just given up."

.

.

.

My

29

At Green's drugstore, Elizabeth Teass suddenly saw Harold Stevens, an older brother of Roy and Ray Stevens. He'd heard about the telegrams from customers at Smith's market, where he worked on the

meat counter, and had rushed butcher's jacket, and his

now

handsome, tanned

"Elizabeth,

if

wearing his white

still

stood a few feet from Teass, concern creasing

face.

message comes

a

He was

over.

for

my

mother, can you

call

me?" he

asked. 30

Teass nodded.

Of

course she would.

Later that morning, a telegram arrived: Roy Stevens was listed as

missing in action as of June

6.

When

parents, they were just as startled a letter

from Roy

in

partment or some

seemed killed

that every

England postmarked

officer

had so many others

Harold showed the message

and confused

in

made

after

a mistake?

June

boy from Bedford

in the

6.

Had both

Company A? From what

Had

the

War De-

their sons died, as

people were saying,

—how

else could so

it

Stonewall brigade had been

on D-Day. Perhaps their troopship had been torpedoed

channel

to his

as he was, having read

many have been

lost?

in the

The Bedford Boys

204

Harold comforted until further

news

firming either son

do was pray and wait

his parents. All they could

another

arrived:

from Roy, or

letter

a telegram con-

death.

s

Meanwhile, Ivylyn Schenk was driving across town with her mother.

They were going

spend a few days with John's

to

family.

"Moma and

I

drove up into the yard at the Schenks' place," recalled Ivylyn. "Mother

Schenk came out of the house were not Ivylyn

She

right.

told us

to greet us.

he had gone.

knew

I

away

right

that things

." 31 .

.

and her mother stayed with the Schenks

as planned. Instead of

enjoying a short vacation, they grieved and prayed with John's two older sisters,

two half

Schenks mother band stayed

sisters,

and

visited the

Later that afternoon, John

a brother.

Drapers

to offer

her condolences. Her hus-

home.

at

Newcomb. "He thought

"Mr. Schenk was angry," remembered Elva

son should not have been

his

hind the lines to

boys

who

like

later

she was sorry he

came

He blamed

Schenk

to

be be-

people, wouldn't talk

later sent

me

a letter saying

that way." 32

felt

who

Earl.

back. Mrs.

Ivylyn discovered that

John's cousins,

John was supposed

killed, said

[my husband]

also

Johns parents had been belonged

in contact with

one of

116th Infantry regiment. The

to the

cousin had been able to prepare John for his burial in Normandy.

cousin did not

know how John had

died.

But

John Clifton, Schenk was probably one of the struggled to get ashore weighed

As

as a radio operator like

first to

be cut down as he

the metal target on his back.

families throughout the county rushed to comfort each other,

seemed

to Ivylyn that

how much hope and was

down by

a big

no one would ever be able

joy

had been destroyed so

window wide open and then suddenly

to

fast: "It it

were busy making peach

They thought them

telegram.

it

ice

cream

it

adequately express

was

was

all

At the Hoback farm that afternoon, Lucille and her

call

The

as

if

there

shut down." 33 sister

Rachel

as a treat for their mother, Macie.

might cheer her up. Suddenly, they heard their father

to the kitchen.

He had

Raymond was missing

just received another

in action.

Western Union

205

His Deep Regret

"My

my

seen

At

five o'clock that

ing Bedford

As dusk

left

or missing in action

wooden home

Bedford. His family had placed Sibyle Kieth

lost their

"They were wailing,

and then,

ture, It

own

very

Coleman

an open casket

in

in their parlor.

each

crying, grabbing for

tears

in the heart of

as bereaved parents arrived to

pay their

other.

They

you can imagine, they see a dead boy lying there.

well,

I've

.

.

.

ever seen. Coleman's mother was in a

She was

across the hall from where they had the casket.

much

shock and

in

sons and were coming into the room, emptied of furni-

was one of the worst things

room

on D-Day

of Andrew

him

Coleman was present

final respects.

had never

work. That day nine telegrams had arrived declar-

on Bedford, several families walked

to the white, two-story

"I

afternoon, Elizabeth Teass switched off the tele-

men dead

settled

Lucille.

day" 34

father cry, but he did that

type machine and

had

remembered

parents were never the same,"

in bed,

still

crippled with terrible arthritis."

At some point during the evening, Dr. Grey from the Presbyterian

Church

in

Bedford came over

service on D-Day,

to pray

and he had

with the families. "He had led the

Coleman. "He

a soft voice," recalled

looked every inch a minister. Everyone admired him." 35 Later that week,

Yopp was missing

Anna Mae Stewart

in action.

She was

still

ington, D.C., with Yopp's wife, Elsie.

where we both worked. happened.

.

.

.

Later,

I

I

had

was

paramedics couldn't get

to

him and

sharing an apartment in

"I

went down

Grant had got

Wash-

to the post office tell

her what had

to the

shore but the

her outside and

to call

told that

learned that her brother Grant

a lot of the boys before they bled to

death." 36

On

Wednesday, July

tears to

We the fice

many

19, the Bedford Bulletins editorial

brought fresh

eyes:

can only point out that these Bedford

same cause

for

which men

—the preservation

mankind has been

in all ages

men have

of the ideals of liberty

struggling since the

dawn

have given their

made

the

lives in

supreme

sacri-

and justice toward which

of time.

37 .

.

,

The Bedford Boys

206

On

July 25, 1944, Bedford's Eleanor Yowell wrote to her husband,

"Pinky," an

American

Apparently, the fodder," as they

pilot

based

England:

in

were

The war

it.

Many Bedford

really

was "cannon

in the lead assaults to hit those heavily fortified

mandy beaches. The town has been write you about

Company A,

16th Infantry Division,

1

is

in a state of shock. ...

home

really hitting

Nor-

just hated to

I

now. 38

boys had brothers in service. David Draper was a

heavy equipment operator with the Navy Seabees on an island in the Asia-Pacific theatre.

was dead. "He had

were

a job to brutal.

That's

what

said

I

it

aside and told

could take two days

do beating the Japanese.

But we got took to

to

be just

like

off. .

.

em

.

him

Frank

that his brother

said: 'No,

I

his lieu-

don't

I

They weren't

want

like us.

to.'

They

in the end. Just like animals.

win." 39

In early August, the

Hobacks received

tained Raymond's Bible, inscribed

Xmas, 1938," and

when

cleaning his eating utensils

commander took him

tenant

I

He was

a package

"Raymond

S.

from Europe.

con-

It

Hoback, from mother,

a letter:

19 July 1944. Somewhere in France.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hoback I really

to

don't

to start this letter to

do something in words of writing.

D-DAY plus picked by

know how

now

so. I

up from

came upon

this

.

attempt

Bible and as most any person would do,

the sands to keep

it

is

I

from being destroyed .... You have is

well. I sincerely

hope

your son dropped the book without any

Most everybody who landed on

letter

folks, hut will

While walking along the beach

received a letter from your son saying he

imagine what has happened

notice.

The

it

1, I

.

you

that beach

D-Day

was from Corporal H. W. Crayton of West

lost

something. 40

Virginia.

was the only personal belonging of Raymond the Hobacks ever

The

Bible

received.

207

His Deep Regret

"There was almost nothing from Bedford," recalled Lucille Hoback. "A fold,

with nothing in

The

it,

and perhaps a fountain pen but that was

Bible had no water stains. Perhaps

Raymond had

it."

bill-

41

gotten onto the

beach before he died. "My mother always treasured the Bible so much," Lucille said. "She said that, next to her son, she

have his

A few days

later,

M

AM

MO

E

Do

RI

not say

They only

to

the following words appeared in the Bedford Bulletin:

my sons

sleepest

They loved each

And

would have wanted

Bible." 42

are dead; .

.

.

other, stayed together

with their comrades crossed together

To that great beyond;

So weep

not, mothers,

Your sons are happy and free.

MRS.

J.

S.

HOBACK.

.

.

.

43

But the Hobacks did weep. Things were never the same. That summer, Lucille was barred from going to Bedford County Lake or doing

anything that might have been fun. Her mother spent hours alone and rarely left the house.

Every evening

were always trying

make everybody

to

laughing and no chatting. hurt her, hurt me.

I

I

felt like a

wake.

feel better.

was very close

to

"My

sister

There was

my mother,

[to

and

I

be] no

so anything that

felt helpless." 44

Later that summer, Lucille asked

if

she could go to an

amusement

park in Roanoke. Her parents said no. She thought she understood why:

"They were the only ones who All across less

lost

two sons on D-Day" 45

Bedford County, joy died that summer. "Life seems so use-

without you darling," wrote Bettie Wilkes in a memorial notice pub-

lished with dozens of others from bereaved relatives

Bedford Bulletin. "There

where there

is

is

only one hope

no night but eternal

rest

left

and widows

in the

now, to meet you up there

and peace." 46

The Bedford Boys

208

Families grieved behind closed doors, sharing their pain with relatives

and God. "People

didn't feel like going out

and doing things

while," recalled Marie Powers, a junior at Bedford

for a

good

High School who

loved nothing more than jitterbugging in her saddle shoes to Glenn Miller tunes at dinner club dances. "Most tinued.

It

was

just

such a sad time.

It

another, and people supported each

By the time Powers returned partment had confirmed that

been

killed

on

Omaha Beach

to

was

all

the activities were discon-

terrible.

But people loved one

other." 47

High School

in all

nineteen

that

fall,

men from

the

War De-

Bedford had

on D-Day. Three more Bedford boys had

died later in the invasion. In cities close to Bedford, where blood lines also toll.

went back Eight of

several generations, the slaughter

Bob

Sales's

died on D-Day. Seven of

never go ica or

home

to

Roanoke. But no community

indeed in any Allied nation had

lost as

In a matter of minutes, a couple of

broken the town's heart.

had

also taken a

heavy

Company B from Lynchburg had Bob Slaughters buddies in Company D would buddies in

in the state or in

many

Amer-

sons as Bedford.

German machine gunners had

18

Coming Home

THE YOUNGEST, AT LEAST

FOR

with a fresh

start.

In early

Bedford's sad

,

summer ended

September 1944, Bedford County's

chil-

dren went back to school. Ivylyn Schenk returned to Moneta grade school where she five pupils,

welcomed

new

a

That summer, one of her

class.

thirty-

seven-year-old Booker Goggin, had written her a deeply mov-

ing letter of consolation in his small first-grade handwriting. 'Those boys

and

girls

still

my

gave

me

children.

great heart to carry on," recalled Ivylyn. I

still

claim them

their grandchildren. They're

The Bedford poems from

as mine,

mine."

and

their children

and

1

Bulletin continued to feature memorial letters and

relatives.

To mark Frank Draper

Jr.'s

mother and family sent

his

still all

all

'They were

twenty-sixth birthday on September 16,

memorial

a

letter to the Bulletin

which they

addressed to "Frank." His mother wrote:

I

can't

even see your grave except

in a

dream.

Now my mind

thousands of miles across the mighty deep. To a lonely foreign land

This life.

tired,

where the body of

homesick

He was

in

mound

in a

dear soldier boy might be lain away.

boy who attended church

in

Bedford

all

his

not buried in a nice casket, flowers and funeral procession.

His dear body was

draped

soldier

my

little

wanders

laid to rest in a

an American

There

flag.

you have gone, dear Frank.

.

.

.

blood-soaked uniform.

will

The

Maybe

was

not be any more cruel wars where

old rugged cross has a two-fold

209

it

mean-

The Bedford Boys

210

ing for me, for

my own

dear boy shed his precious blood

cross at Calvary. For our religious freedom, they say.

A

England and hoped

in

How sad

was

I

to

Jesus on the

dear price to pay. 2

who had met John

Kathleen Bradshaw, the young Virginian nurse Reynolds

like

marry him, sent a poem:

that lonely day

When

I

J can't

forget your smiling face,

heard that you'd heen called away

.

.

.

Full of love, friendship and grace;

God To

called you

rest

on that other

Him forever

with

shore,

more. 3

Elaine Coffey, the "dear sweetheart" of Bedford Hoback, wrote of

how

"in the stillness of

get you?

Oh

we meet

thee until

A

no! For

midnight

ing. It

memory's golden chain

again.'

will

.

.

always bind

.

Will

my

I

for-

heart to

4

to see

was

all

some

of the families. There wasn't any weeping and wail-

so quiet.

There wasn't any

stunned. For those not involved

took

it.

Back

it

was hard

There weren't any mothers

been over there

in France,

Battalion of the

Everybody was just

hysteria. to

comprehend, but the fam-

saying,

'My son shouldn't have

in the first place to fight this dirty old war."' 5

Company A had been decimated

had fought through

tial

tears in silence flow.

Mrs. Keith Harvey, co-publisher of the Bedford Bulletin, "went

around

ilies

my

1

St.

time and again as

L6, and then taken Vire to the south.

16th Infantry had been awarded

its

for actions

Army

1st

second Presiden-

Unit Citation for the capture of Hill 203 near Vire. The

been

The

it

first

had

on D-Day. The battalion had then joined Patton's Third

during the Allied breakout of Normandy, before being sent west to

take the Brittany port of Brest, a vital objective because of

its

many U-

boat pens.

On

September

Company A

16,

Sergeant Allen Huddleston of Bedford rejoined

in the outskirts of Brest,

having fully recovered from his

Coming Home

broken ankle.

"When

wasn't a single boy

I

I

back

got

company," he recalled, "there

recognized from Bedford. There was

Mitchell in headquarters but

moved up

to the

didn't see them."

I

21

6

Newcomb and

That afternoon,

he

as

Huddleston heard that Company Fs Joseph

to the frontline,

Parker, Earl Parker's brother,

had been

killed just

hours earlier in fierce

fighting.

Colonel Canham,

now

assistant division

German

fantry Division, accepted the

When

of the 8th In-

surrender at Brest two days

he entered the headquarters of

ham was

commander

later.

German General Ramcke, Can-

asked for his credentials. Without hesitation he turned and

pointed to the GIs accompanying him: "These are

Over 40,000 Germans were taken

prisoner.

my

credentials." 7

"They marched past

us,

Company B's Bob Sales, by now a many they marched past us all morn-

thousands and thousands," recalled platoon sergeant. "There were so ing until one in the afternoon." 8

After the

headed

fall

of Brest, the 116th Infantry boarded trucks and trains

was

east. It

a remarkable journey through a

grateful France.

At night,

ments but with

little

men

tried to sleep in the

pass

air,

free their legs

in the doorway, left

and watch the silhouettes of French hamlets and towns

by.

"The days were

who would sitting

Joseph Ewing, a

better," recalled

later write

an

official history of

and crowding the open doors, waved

ing bicycles along the streets.

through their backyards,

down

their aprons or in baskets. all this

was

fleeting attention,

.

.

.

.

.

.

rifle

platoon leader

the 29th Division. "The men, to

lowered gates and grade crossings, and whistled

It

cramped compart-

few hours they would

luck. Every

from the tangle of their buddies' limbs, and stand ajar for fresh

newly liberated and

French at the

civilians at the

French

girls rid-

French housewives came running

to the tracks, carrying apples

The Blue and Gray

waved back happily

and pears

with

soldiers, flushed

until their

arms were

in

tired.

a strange, but possibly shallow happiness that they felt as they

watched the smiling people of these ... for the train

cities

from which the war had

fled

was pursuing the war, and they knew the pursuit would

"

The Bedford Boys

212

end

German

at the

border, for the

war had stopped

turned around and was waiting for them."

Sergeant Allen Huddleston was on board one of the

through

where we stopped

Paris,

men were

not to

move from

They

much

recalled. 10

They would not be

Nevertheless,

windows and doors and go

gle out of train

heard so

it.

and had

"We went

trains.

few hours," he

their trains.

see "gay Pareeee" as they called

city of lights.

for a

there,

9

The

getting to

some managed

to wrig-

AWOL for a few hours

in the

just couldn't bear to roll past the fantasy city they'd

about.

Before dawn, the trains groaned to

life

and when they stopped

again,

Huddleston discovered they were near Aachen on the German-Dutch border.

It

was September

"We went

29.

into

Aachen on

a truck

time that night and went on the line the next day. Suddenly, the started

and we

turned

me

first

day

in

all

jumped over

a bank.

An 88mm

hit

me

around, and killed a guy a few feet from me.

some

artillery

in the shoulder,

It

was

5 P.M.,

my

combat.

"They took

me

place along the

to the aid station that night,

line,

took out the shrapnel.

operated on

me some

stayed in Paris for two or

I

three days while they waited for the weather to clear and then they

me back to England. wound up at the same place where had been with my broken ankle. had the same doctor and the same physical exercise sergeant for my rehab, a nice guy a New Yorker. H shipped

I

I

I

—

Huddleston was the

Bedford boy

last

frontlines. In the rest of the

in

Company A

to fight in the

116th Infantry, there were very few other

men still alive who had trained in England for D-Day. Company D's Bob Slaughter had been wounded by mortar shrapnel in his back and awarded

his

second purple heart; he would eventually rejoin

Germany. "Everybody

alive

today from the 116th has got two or three

purple hearts," he said sixty years

much action." Company B's Bob

later. "If

you don't have one, you

didn't

12

see

vember 1944 Rhine.

his unit in

as the

Sales was, miraculously,

29th fought

On November

to defeat

still

going strong by No-

German

17, the 116th Infantry's

forces west of the

B and C companies

Coming Home

jumped

under orders

off

They had advanced

213

Rhineland town of Setterich.

to take the

few hundred yards of the town by

to within a

nightfall.

At 4 A.M. on November

mander and ordered

to take

dawn. "In those days,

mouth

it

didn't like something,

that field

lit

company com-

his

side of a field

you had

up with

by

keep your

to

you

flares like

and then opened up on us with tracer

fire

from

When dawn came, crawled back and then took a tank We got the German gun. tapped the tank and hollered,

machine gun.

along a road.

was called by

up position on the other

Germans

shut. Well, the

could play football on a

you

if

18, Sales

I

I

'Okay! Let s get out of here!'

The tank turned and then they

hit us

with

an antitank rocket. "There were balls of nothing.

my

was

I

ished me.

one I'd

is

out of

my eyes.

where

cut,

my head

stayed in hospital a year and a half, lost an eye.

I

in

combat

how many men

I

my gun,

couldn't find

hit the side of the tank.

not the best in the world but a hell of a

been

I

both eyes with shrapnel, blood was pouring out of

hit in

head from a

fire rolling

six

saw

months.

die."

13

And

lot

in that time,

Sales's actions

That

fin-

The other

better than nothing.

you wouldn't believe

on November 18 earned him

a Silver Star.

Bedford's last casualty from arrived in

America

New York,

Company A,

in April 1945. "I

and then

I

got to

went

Sergeant Allen Huddleston,

to the hospital, spent a night in

come home."

A

few weeks

later,

on

he celebrated V-E Day, marking victory in Europe. That morning, A.M., Central

wood

European Time, General Alfred

7,

at 2:41

Jodl, seated at a plain

table in a grimy school building in Reims,

German

May

had signed the

official

surrender. 14

Company A had spent the

last

fought

all

the

months of the war

way

as a

to the Elbe.

company

runner,

ing the fate of the last surviving rifleman from D-Day,

who had died strong when it

in

John Barnes had

somehow

Sam

avoid-

Rothenberg,

October 1944. The 29th Division had been 14,000

arrived in

England

suffered over 20,000 casualties.

15

in

October 1942. By war's end,

it

had

"

"

The Bedford Boys

214

On

V-E Day, Company

preparing to

move

to

was

Bremen

and the

rest of

Company A

fame

[of the

town] was

to

A

to

in a small

What was

its

gin factory.

The name this

mix that we

that delicious

been that awful lemon mix from our Just a

mony

few weeks

in the

later,

duties. Barnes

of the

K

Company A

town of Spaden

in the

town was em-

fabulous nectar of which

neck of each bot-

added? Could

lightly

rations?

first

American-occupied zone of Ger-

a full dress parade," Barnes recalled. "As the

the landing, but

Of

I

I

tried to think

could not."

the Bedford boys

have

held a profoundly moving cere-

anniversary of D-Day. "The entire

and taps was played,

it

16

many. Barnes stood on a parade ground as the reconstituted observed the

valley,

celebrated long and hard. "The main claim

tasted the last sweet drops, our tongues licking the

tle.

Ruhr

in the

new occupation

begin

blazoned on the earthen bottle that held

we

town

Company A

company

American

flag

back twelve months

fell

out for

was raised

to the

day of

17

who had

left

America, Earl

Newcomb and

company's supply sergeant, Jack Mitchell, were

still

the

serving with

Company A. Neither had fought in the front lines. George Roach and Gil Murdock, who swam for their lives on D-Day, were still in the company but not as infantrymen. Roach was now Company As clerk. Murdock worked in the regimental headquarters. According to Barnes: "It [was] safe to say that no rifleman now remained that had served on the front and had been in England in Ivybridge in the spring of '44.

The vices.

18

anniversary passed quietly in Bedford. There were no special ser-

America was

County's sons were that

many would be

That summer,

as

still still

at

war with Japan and hundreds of Bedford

fighting in the Pacific.

It

was widely expected

involved in another huge invasion, this time in Japan.

America girded

itself to deliver to

perial Japan,

wounded Bedford boys began

who had

sons went out and hugged the survivors

lost

recalled Elva

Newcomb. "They were

still

death blow to Im-

to return

family."

19

home. "Mothers

who came

back,"

Coming Home

Lieutenant Ray Nance had

Europe

left

in

October 1944 by walking

along the very same wharf in Greenock in Scotland, where

had landed that grim October day

New York on

lantic to

other

wounded

Queen

the

in 1942,

Elizabeth,

Nance continued

GIs.

He

to

be able

to

crammed with thousands

Army

nurse

Before the war,

in

it

mended

sufficiently for

named Alpha Watson was working. Nance and Alpha had gone to the same

England Nance had proposed

November

26, 1944.

cember

and then returned to

1

5

Going home was

Nance of

to her. 20

Nance was mustered out live in

high school in the

They were married on of active duty on

De-

Bedford.

as heart-wrenching as D-Day.

often could not sleep at night and

Omaha

leave.

nearby Petersburg where a statuesque, auburn-

and dated. They had corresponded throughout the war, and while hospital in

of

his rehabilitation in a hospital in

walk unaided and the hospital gave him medical

spent most of

haired

Company A

and then crossed the At-

Staunton, Virginia. By late 1944, his heel had

him

215

when he

did the nightmare

Was

returned with traumatizing intensity.

there something

command? Bedford seemed to be full of mothers who had lost sons. Nance stood for hours on street corners, recounting what he had seen on D-Day to more he could have done

widows, and

to save the

Bedford boys under his

to Taylor Fellerss father. "I

says daughter Bertie

can

still

Woodford, "standing on the

see

my

father now,"

street corner, just hop-

ing to see one of the survivors, talking and talking to Nance, trying to find out exactly

what happened." 21

Explaining over and over to the bereaved what had happened was soul-destroying. "You

"Why

is

wondered what they were

he here and not

my

son or brother

who

thinking," will

Nance

never be here?" 22

Fresh-faced Roy Stevens was discharged on July 30, 1945,

Meade, Maryland. From planned

went

to catch a

into a bar.

young." 23

bus

there, he hurried to

to Bedford.

"They wouldn't

me

at Fort

Washington where he

While waiting sell

said.

a beer!

for his connection,

They

said

I

he

was too

The Bedford Boys

216

The bus dropped Stevens

off

on Main

drugstore. Barracks bag slung over his shoulder, Stevens a

from Green's

Street, not far

marched down

sun-bleached road to the farm which he and Ray had bought before

now

the war, and where his parents were

farmhouse. "A guy lived there

at a

took a good long swig.

On

the way, he stopped

— Charlie Zimmerman—who had

a bootlegger before the war." 24

been

living.

Roy bought some moonshine and

He needed something

him face

to help

his par-

ents alone. Stevens's parents were waiting. His

mother ran from the

front door

and hugged him. "Well, at least one of you got back," she said.

"We

just

He and Ray were

big fella but boy he cried that day.

worked on the farm together before the whole

lot."

"My Daddy was

grabbed one another," recalled Stevens.

very close. They'd

war. Ray's death

shook him

impossible to settle back into his old

it

life.

He

hard to calm his nerves but the whiskey also fueled his rage deaths of his friends.

"But you

back." 26 hole.

a

25

Stevens found

said.

a

"I

tried to forget,

As soon

can't.

as that

Stevens cursed so often

Then one day

his

the

wash the memories away," he

whiskey dries out

was

it

drank at

as

if

he was

it all

still

comes

right

living in a fox-

mother scolded him and he dropped the

foul lan-

guage. But he didn't stop the bad living until he met twenty-year-old

Helen Cundiff nies.

ried

He

at the

Bedford County fairground. She was pitching pen-

kept tossing coins until she agreed to a date. They were mar-

on Groundhog's Day, February

joined a local church and

vowed

2,

1946. About the same time, Roy

to dedicate

himself to "God's works."

Foxhole buddy Clyde Powers returned a few days after Stevens. his

way from Washington

where

his

year-old,

younger

was

to Bedford,

now

sister, Eloise,

a cadet nurse at the

when Clyde walked

along

its

he stopped

in

Richmond,

On

Virginia,

a beautiful, dark-haired twenty-

Grace Hospital.

It

was mid-morning

spotless corridors in his crisp uniform.

"There's a good looking paratrooper asking for you," said one of Eloise's

fellow nurses. Eloise was

amazed

to see Clyde.

She had thought he was

Coming Home

still

England. In the thirty-one months he had been overseas, he had

in

lean and rugged. But he was

become as she

217

still

as nonchalant, as unflappable,

remembered.

Thirty-year-old Clyde grabbed his

man

not the kind of

and hugged

little sister

to cry. For the rest of his life

back the

tions bottled up. Eloise couldn't hold

alone," Clyde said calmly.

He had

left

her.

He was

he would keep

his

tears. "I can't

go

emo-

home

Bedford with his brother.

He

couldn't face returning without a sibling by his side. Eloise asked the

nursing director

Of

brother.

she could have the day off to go

if

home with

her

course she could.

Eloise changed out of her nurse's uniform and called her mother, Alice, to to

her that they were on their way. They caught the 2 P.M. bus

tell

Bedford. Later that afternoon, they arrived home. Clyde's mother

hugged her son: "I'm so glad you're home." She cried but did not ask about Jack that "It

day.

was very hard

enormous

for

survivor's guilt.

Clyde would not

How

anybody

else in his family about

in France. It

was too much

to bear. "People say the

died on the beach were heroes," recalled Eloise.

heroes are the ones

felt

could you not?" 27

talk with Eloise or

what had happened

men who

Clyde coming home," recalled Eloise. "He

who came back and had

to live

with

think the

"I

for the rest of

it

their lives." 28

Elva

around

Newcomb had her. Finally,

landed on American later,

waited for three years to feel her husband's arms

soil:

"I'm over here from over there."

Earl called her around

burg the next

day.

They drove

anniversary:

"I

had

told

anniversary.'

and

P.M.,

1 1

didn't

29

A

meet him

on June

make

in

Lynch-

13, 1945, in Earls

you make

wedding

back

for

our

for the first, or the second,

but

left: 'Just it

just

few days

later celebrated their third

him when he

He

told her to

into Bedford

1935 Ford coupe and fourteen days

wedding

who had

she received a telegram from Earl,

it

the third was just as good." "Earl

had

was

different

a time getting

when he came

him back

to like

back," added Elva with a smile.

he was. He'd been

telling

"I

boys what

The Bedford Boys

218

to

do

for fifty-five

months and

had

I

him

to teach

all

over that

I

knew

better." 30

Earl felt compelled to visit boys.

He had known

ited their

some

of the grieving families of Bedford

the Schenks well before the war but

home, John's mother, Rosa,

told Earl that her

George, would not talk to him. "Mr. Schenk

come home,"

recalled Earl, "he didn't

when he

want

felt that if his

to

speak

to

vis-

husband, son hadn't

anyone who

did." 31

Like the rest of the 29th Division, Earl was not yet demobilized. still

raged in the Pacific.

to return to a

camp

Earl had seen

He had

sixty days' leave

but then he would have

North Carolina and then ship out

in

enough

of

war so he

tried to

War

to the Far East.

extend his leave, sending a

telegram that claimed he had responsibilities he couldn't evade at home.

The army promptly

come

On

back."

replied: "Regret

you have not reason. Desire you

August

10, 1945, the

B-29 bomber Enola Gay, named

after

commander's mother, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. September

joy. It

its

On

the Japanese formal surrender was signed. Earl didn't

2,

have to ship out after

mous

to

32

was

as

if

all.

V-J

Day was celebrated

the small town had

won

Bedford with enor-

in

the World Series. "The

wailing of the blackout siren was followed by the spontaneous blowing of car horns

and the ringing of

streets," reported the

bells as

people drove through the

Bedford Bulletin. At Rubatex,

and Belding Hemingway, the

shift whistles

blew

Hampton Looms,

late into the night.

The Bedford Fireman's Band bashed out "The Star-Spangled Banner" on the courthouse steps, and hundreds of revelers sang "God Bless America,"

many with

tears in their eyes,

cheered and sang into the early hours.

home

a "lone victory

singing lustily:

Now

all

When

most revelers had gone

serenador was heard wandering about the streets

"Happy Days Are Here Again." He repeated the song

over and over, pausing ringing cheer:

and then whooped and

The war

now and is

over!'"

the town's sons could

again like a town crier to yell with a 33

come home.

Coming Home

219

Sixteen million Americans had been in uniform during the war. Four

hundred thousand would never come home. Half a million more had been

wounded. But

for

many on

home

the

front,

had mostly been

it

Personal incomes had doubled at least since Pearl Harbor.

had

no country

virtually disappeared. Indeed,

such prosperity and such a high standard of

in the

living as

a

good war.

Unemployment

now

world

enjoyed

America.

By 1947, most veterans across America were enjoying the good times sons finally

too. In Bedford, several lost

in a casket

when he

died storming

sixth anniversary of Pearl Harbor,

man's Band again gathered

My God

"Nearer

to

Abbott and

The

1

home. The

Dog Green

beach.

On

the

1947, the Bedford Fire-

7,

courthouse and

time played

this

16 other Bedford

who had

to

come

to

pay their respects in the war. 34

County boys who had died

next Bedford boy to arrive back on the slow night train, the Poc-

walked

Jr.

His

to the station along the

Mud

Verona and the

sister

in

when

they took his casket off the train," she recalled.

Alley, right beside the railroad. "It

it

fam-

in a box."

was around 9:30

P.M.

was draped

"It

My brother left

with a flag and there was an honor guard.

and he came back from

rest of his

Norfolk and Western tracks from their

home

tion

first to arrive,

Thee." Abbott's casket was placed on the courthouse

ahontas, was Frank Draper ily

December

at the

steps before two thousand people to

it

draped with the Stars and Stripes, was Sergeant Dickie Ab-

twenty-two

bott, just

made

from that

sta-

35

Mrs. Mary Draper had her son's casket brought back to the house.

"She wanted him

The

home

local undertaker,

terrible July

neral

Harry Carder,

who had

day in 1944, was forced

window because later,

with her before he was buried," recalled Verona.

squeeze the casket through a

the Drapers' front door was too narrow. 36

Verona and her family gathered

Home.

to

in a private

my Mom wanted

knew

I

was him

as

he had the prettiest looked

like if

room

"Mr. Carder sprayed something in the

opened the casket because it

delivered telegrams that

soon as little

saw.

I

old head.

you blew on

it

could

tell

He was

the skin

would

to

at the air

be sure

just

few days

Carder Fu-

and then they it

was Frank.

by the form of

still

A

his

in his uniform. float away." 37

I

head

His face

The Bedford Boys

220

The U.S. Government had

given relatives the option of leaving their

loved ones in war graves in Europe or reburying

them

in

America. In

all,

seven Bedford boys were exhumed and shipped to America. Most of the

who came home

boys

in coffins

now

Greenwood

rest in Bedford's

Cemetery.

On

evening

a late fall

2000, Roy Stevens walked from grave

in

man. As the years passed, he

grave, smiling as he recalled each

Bedford struggled

to

come

to

terms with

Bible sufficed.

Most

The pain faded

There was no

its loss.

fable of grief ending in redemptive healing.

Therapy did not

to

said,

uplifting

exist.

The

times but never went away

at

of the survivors remained tormented by

what they had

experi-

enced. Dickie Overstreet could not erase images from his mind of young

GIs being mangled on Dog Green by the tracks of tanks. "When got back,'' recalled Stevens,

blow the shades bed

was jumpy

"I

at night in the

for a while.

first

I

The wind would

summer sometimes and

I'd

come out

of

in a hurry.' 38

and the bad dreams started

In 1948, Stevens quit drinking

to fade.

much

For other Bedford veterans, they did not: 'They were hurt, not so

and you'd get

physically but in the brain. They'd start talking

Friends like Clyde Powers got a lot of

them

in the

.

.

.

they got torn up inside.

to crying.

—

The drinking

it

end." 39

Tony Marsico fared better than most. The

1

16 Yankees catcher re-

turned to his job with the Piedmont Label company, where he would

work

until his retirement,

aged sixty-two.

loving relationship with his wife, Hazel, ington, D.C., in 1942,

apple of

his eye." 40

Day wounds field.

and eventually

whom

in a

to play golf

solace in a deeply

he had married

baby

By 1948, he had recovered

girl,

Laura,

in

Wash-

who was

sufficiently

from

"the

his

D-

with his 116 Yankees teammate, Pride Wing-

Before the war, they had both belonged to the same Piedmont

Label side as had Frank Draper

teammates had been

Jr.

same

colors

and Elmere Wright. Although

killed, their love of baseball

what may, they were determined the

He found

and play

ball.

to

had survived.

their

Come

once again stand on a diamond

in

Coming Home

"They did play again

Rebecca Wingfield.

very good. a

wound

One

game. Wingfield

ball

little

lift

We would

around here. They were

fielded as reliably as ever at

still

lost a little

second base. 41

something inside him when he couldn't play

forty-nine

who was born

he was

in 1986,

and her mother forty-one.

in [a] Veterans'

him and touched him on

Home

The wound

his leg.

he died, he loved golf and above

until

all

"Just be-

and an orderly

still

in

tried

really hurt. Right

baseball.

have his Purple Heart and a signed baseball from the 1943 [Euro-

pean Theater] World valuable possession. sionally bring

and Wright It

hills

any more," recalled Marsico's daughter, Laura,

fore he died

"I

hamlets in the

sister.

won the league." Marsico could still catch but on Omaha to his upper right arm severely limited his

1958 when her father was

to

League/' insisted

in the Skyline

year, they

sustained

"My Daddy

Bedford

for

went and watched them with my

"I

the beautiful

visit all

—

221

was such

reliving

it.

out.

it

Series," she continued. "It

a horrible experience,

As America boomed

his left

hand

in

ing on a "I

power

went

and talking about

in the late-forties

production line

an accident.

hand

A year

—burnt

off

Clyde

got out a

D-Day

Not long

would have meant

fifties,

so too did the fac-

to civilian

use in 1945.

Rubatex. In 1953, he

lost

foxhole

buddy Clyde Pow-

when Powers was

electrocuted work-

in hospital," said Stevens.

know how he was

that

would invade

Nance

ways

to

going to light to

do

it

with

to

couldn't get rid of horrific

his sleep

after returning to Bedford,

to find appropriate

"He was worried

that." 44

Like other survivors, Lieutenant Ray

tized.

him on D-Day

book of matches, showed him how

one hand. Boy, he liked

scenes from

it

to

line. 43

to see

I

at

later, his

death because he smoked and he didn't a cigarette.

and

which were quickly converted

a job at the

ers lost his right

most

hard." 42

That was too

Roy Stevens got

his

He kept it in a cedar chest and would only occaHe would talk about playing baseball with Draper

war but not about what happened

in the

tories in Bedford,

was probably

and leave him trauma-

he decided the town needed

commemorate and honor

its

dead before the

The Bedford Boys

222

bereaved could move on with their

was

to begin that process

lives.

to start a

As Nance saw

new

National Guard company in

Bedford so that the town's tradition of service would Bring back

dream of

No

Company A? Throughout

a volunteer corps in

one would support

it.

live again.

Virginia, people said Nance's

Bedford once again would never happen.

But Nance was determined

wrong. With the help of other Bedford veterans, he got letters,

and giving interviews

The plan struck

known someone who had just a year or in

When Nance how many students.

to as

many

reporters

chord with teenagers

a

not

to prove

turned up:

first

spread

"It

They flocked

They were proud

in.

A

By 1948, re-formed Company

Guard

among young

of

it."

their part.

high school

units

meeting

this generation's

would

at

4S

had 124 men, nearly double

war strength. There was no chance of decessor's fate. National

do

to

service by

he was amazed

for volunteers,

like wildfire

listen.

Everyone had

in Bedford.

come home. Many had escaped

meeting

them

work, writing

to

who would

some cases months, and they were keen

held his

way

the best

it,

in future

be spread

its

pre-

its

pre-

among

different divisions to prevent a similar catastrophe.

Putting the war behind

some were

them was

as

hard for Bedford's widows. But

fortunate enough to find love again. At a Christmas celebra-

tion in 1945, Ivylyn

Schenk met

a local farmer,

Ralph H. Hardy, who

had almost joined Company A before the war. Taylor recruit Hardy, but

he had "been unable

Fellers

to commit" 46

had

tried to

because he had

to

look after his sick mother and feed and educate nine of his siblings after his father's death.

"After a wonderful Christmas meal," recalled Ivylyn, "Ralph stairs to

meet my mother.

derived from pool. later,

It

"I

a place for myself." still

to Ivylyn.

know 47

had

was not long

Hardy proposed

stop loving John.

We

that,"

a

good game of carom

until

we

started dating."

She warned him

he replied promptly. "But

In July 1946, Ivylyn and

many

I

a

board game

A few months

that she

would never

want

to

make

Hardy were married. She

cherishes her memories of John and has kept

dence,

—

came up-

all

their correspon-

photographs, and several of his personal belongings which

Coming Home

223

she received a few months after he died. She chose to leave his body in the American graveyard above

Omaha Beach

with his friends.

After the war, Bettie Wilkes and Viola Parker attended a night class

Company

together in Lynchburg, home. of ticians. In early

to Bedford.

the Japanese in the Pacific. of mine," recalled Bettie. ing

beau-

to qualify as

knew

"I

"We

Hooper was returning from of

him because

got to talking.

his

fighting

aunt was a friend

He was just

com-

glad to be

home. The next week, he called me. After the war, no one had any and he

cars,

he was going

said

one, could he take

me

beautician.

ford boys

to try to find one. If

By then,

Bettie

proceed with the invasion on

for his decision to

If it

Jr.'s

"mad

father

out." 49

at the world."

self.

"Why

why

the invasion

was much more outspoken, that he

Grant Yopp's

wanted

sister,

didn't they get those

other Bed-

still

to

telling

co-work-

"blow Franklin D.

Anna Mae

went ahead

in

Germans?" Today, she

Stewart, was

dream about my

brother.

I

still

Why

he did

"I I

her-

questions

still

such atrocious weather:

say to this don't

know

dream about him coming

50

Viola Parker, betrothed at nineteen, a just twenty-one, also remarried in 1948.

with

many

"Where were those bombers?" she asked

day that [Eisenhower] made a bad decision.

home."

meant Omaha Beach

that day

had been, perhaps John would have found cover

Hampton Looms one day

Roosevelt's brains

I

as a

would have come home.

Frank Draper

...

he found

had found work

perhaps he would have survived, perhaps so

in a crater,

also

in 1948.

The bad weather and cloud cover

6.

was not bombed.

ers at

Roanoke

people brought up the war, Bettie would sometimes

Eisenhower

criticize

June

When

to

to dinner?" 48

out

They were married

she

hoping

1946, Bettie met Master Sergeant Lewis Hooper on a

from Washington

train

B,

McHenry Nance,

felt

she put

mother

at twenty, a

She had met and

at

fallen in love

a local banker, fifteen years her senior. Perhaps

more comfortable with an older man given it,

widow

that

D-Day

had, as

"taken away [her] youth." 51 As with other widows, Viola

struggled to find out

how

her

first

husband had

actually died,

if

in fact

The Bedford Boys

224

he had. At

had

to

first,

none of the Bedford boys would

tell

her much. All she

go on was the missing-in-action telegram. Eventually, she visited

Ray Nance.

"I

called. "I told

believe

it."

told

him

I

Ray

that he'd better

didn't believe Earl

tell

me

something," Viola

was dead, and he

re-

said I'd better

52

Apparently, Earl had been hit by a mortar shell. His body had then

been washed out

into the English

Channel, never

died instantly without pain. That was a comfort. the love of her daughter: Earl had gifts. "I

was so lucky

spiration to go out all

day."

53

to

have

my

left

to

A

be found.

far greater

He had one was

her with the greatest of parting

little girl,"

said Viola. "She

and do something instead of

sitting

was an

in-

around crying

19

Memorial

After a stint at farming, jl\. His

route each morning took

homes. One belonged twins. to

Many

him

past several of the Bedford boys'

Martha Jane Stevens, mother of the Stevens

to

news about

for

Ray,

hoping he had brought a

telegram to finally end her questions. ''Mrs. Stevens ing.

me what happened

She'd ask

Nance would their box.

over there,

German

Normandy.

A

letter or

came out each morn-

where was her Ray?"

often see Earl Parkers parents

They had aged considerably

son. Joseph, in

brutal

a mail carrier.

mornings, she would be there waiting at the front gate, ready

Nance

ask

Ray Nance became

when he

1

delivered mail to

since D-Day, having lost another

third son, Billy, survived almost a year in a

camp and had

prisoner of war

arrived

home on

July

1 1

1945, unaware of his brothers' deaths. 2 Mr. Parker had to break the news. 3

Not content with bringing back Company A, Nance decided such parents should have to their sons.

a focus for their grief, a

Nance mentioned

permanent monument

the idea to a local newspaper publisher,

Kenneth Crouch of the Bedford Democrat. Crouch began and town

officials.

4

Members

named

after the

to

lobby state

towns Parker-Hoback post of the

of the

29th Division also pushed hard

that

to get a

two pairs of brothers

monument built. The post was who died in Normandy. Clyde

Powers coordinated fundraising. Pride Wingfield was responsible getting a

memorial stone

to Bedford.

for

Allen Huddleston prepared a suit-

able inscription. 5

Ten years

after

4,000 people

D-Day, Bedford got a

— the

largest

monument

crowd ever

225

to

to its lost sons.

assemble

in

Over

Bedford

The Bedford Boys

226

squeezed into roped-off streets facing the west lawn of the Bedford

The Bedford

courthouse.

Bulletin reported that 'older residents of Bed-

ford said they could recall no gathering in Bedford that

more deeply moved by what they heard and

On

June

veiled the

6,

Mer

Among

It

seemed

who had

Maryland,

D-Day "Company A was later write. "It

command

glimmer

to

kept his

different

men

post of Major Gen-

in the sunshine.

it is

Edward Gearing

of

together in the water on

from other organizations," he would

was made up of 'home town'

Under these circumstances

more

folks

—

fathers, cousins etc.

difficult to see these

men

die

and

same community and resume the same way

as difficult to return to the life.'

first

the onlookers was thirty-year-old Captain

Silver Spring,

of

from the very cave near

granite, carved

that served as the

Charles H. Gerhardt.

eral

larger or

1954, before a tearful crowd, Taylor Fellers's mother un-

memorial of polished

Vierville sur

saw."

was

6

7

Bedford survivors from

Company A

— Ray Nance,

Earl

Newcomb,

Tony Marsico, Anthony Thurman, Roy Stevens, Clyde Powers, Allen Huddleston, and Dickie Overstreet ilies

—were

also present.

Among the

fam-

were Lucille Hoback and her parents and Earl Parker's mother,

Mrs. Joe E. Parker. Earl Parker's daughter, eleven-year-old Danny, stood beside her

mother, Viola, and her

happened boys

me

at

in

new husband.

France because

I

"I

had unveiled another monument

Bedford High School," recalled Danny.

standing near

my

grandmother that day

Girl Scout uniform." 8

The only other

nephew, Peter Royce. Danny's uncle

—had

He was two when

left for

ner."

I

his father

my

was wearing

was Earl

Parker's

—Joseph

Parker,

the French and American na-

finally

Admiral Andre Jubelin, naval attache

upon which

1954].

to the

have a picture of

Europe.

anthems, "La Marsellaise" and

Washington, then spoke rock,

[in

"I still

fatherless child

The Bedford Fireman's Band played tional

was already aware of what had

"The Star-Spangled Ban-

at the

French Embassy

in

in appreciation of Bedford's sacrifice. "This

are inscribed

all

the

names

of these

young heroes,

will

227

Memorial

stand out for generations to

come

from France

a token of gratitude

as a

memorial of

to the

people of Bedford."

Then General Charles Gerhardt walked courthouse steps.

It

was

his birthday.

their sacrifice,

to a

and

as

9

rostrum set up on the

That morning, he had driven down

from Baltimore, through the heart of Virginia, and had thought about the generations of

men from Americas

what they believed was

for

right.

first

colony

who had

fought and died

"Remember," Gerhardt

told the be-

reaved mothers of Bedford, "your sons were with friends and that means a great deal ...

asked to

come

no to

commander can be made than

finer tribute to a

such

ceremony

a

as this."

The Bedford boys had been engaged

in a great crusade,

Christendom

lives of

D-Day had been

itself.

an ultimately

Western

glorious battle to preserve the very foundations of

of

civilization,

the "Day of Pentecost" in the

Bedford's sons.

"The rushing mighty wind, the tongues of fire, the coming of the said Gerhardt, "that great

those of us

who were

and mighty wind

was

there, too, the spirit of the spirit

men

was an

of those boys

.

.

.

remember

there certainly

The is

be

to

10

Spirit,"

those tongues of flame that phase of

of the 29th as typified by

it.

.

.

Spirit

A Company.

who went

inspiration for those

The

.

in later.

It

the spirit that counts, ten to one, over material in such a contest." 11

Gerhardt went on

who had

to explain

why

a

bunch

of farm boys from Bedford,

joined the National Guard to put food on the table, had been

selected for the most crucial assault of World

Why

was the

1

War

II:

16th picked for that particular job? Because they showed

the characteristics necessary to assure success on that particular day.

Who were

these boys?

The record

of the 29th Division goes

back

to 1620,

through the regimental history of Virginia troops, and their record has

been unequalled. Those boys were the descendants of the men who fought with Jackson and Lee and Stuart. 12

Gerhardt also spoke about the taking of the Vierville sur draw: "The best exit of

Omaha Beach

[that had] a

Mer D-l

gun position which

The Bedford Boys

228

had

to

be taken only by individuals. The quarry from which

came was about 200

yards from that gun.

was our

It

this stone

command

first

post

on the night of D-Day." Gerhardt ended with a prayer that "A Company, as

now

it

ago faced and conquered.'

A Company

what

stands, will not be asked to face

of ten years

13

Three days before the dedication, Clyde Powers had placed an urn beneath the memorial.

It

SHAEF

contained a

D wight

drawing of the patch autographed by President Dr. Editha

shoulder patch with a

von Rundstedt, daughter-in-law of the

Gerd von Rundstedt, German commander-in-chief 1944 invasion, had sent her That week, many

commemorative

a special

spiked. Space

was needed

nam.

On

wave

assault on

Many

locals

father's field

had expected

marshal

open

to

at

magazine and read

ill

to

Company As

make

it.

On July

initial

10,

to cover the first

Omaha Beach

do

so.

.

.

.

Roll On."

Cota's fellow officer Colonel

again

if

I

Cota,

"My

health

had

to,

is I

who had to

coming along

might possibly

but certainly would not

15

Canham was

also unable to attend. Since

D-Day, he had been promoted to major general and he was

Korean War.

most decorated

officers fighting in the

send a message

to the Parke r-Hoback Post in

1

others

objective on D-Day. But

he added, "am myself once again, and think

to cross to

Norman

all

he wrote Kenneth Crouch

express his regret at not being able to attend. fine,''

in Viet-

Beach.

to achieve

"Dutch" was too

choose

Life

honor Robert Capa, who had died

the ceremony: Brigadier General

done so much

be able

France during the

Bedford veterans had hoped that one officer above

would be

just

in

sticks. 14

D-Day, Capa had been the only photographer

Omaha

Marshal

late Field

But sadly the piece was

story about Bedford. to

D. Eisenhower.

Canham

of the

did, however,

time for the dedication: "The

men

16th Infantry was composed of the finest group of

countered and a unit that had no peers as

now one

fighters.

I

that

I

have en-

deeply regret that

I

cannot be present to pay homage to our departed comrades." 16

The crowds of silence

dispersed, the uniforms were mothballed, and the walls

went up

again.

The

survivors from

D-Day never spoke about

229

Memorial

and very

their experiences publicly,

rarely with

each

other.

It

was too

Some mothers would return each Memorial Day to the courthouse and quietly weep but there were no more public commemora-

painful.

was

tions. It

as

if

the unveiling of the stone had closed the curtain on a

drama. D-Day,

tragic

it

seemed, was

finally over, assigned to history,

buried like the urn beneath the memorial. In private, of course, Bedford continued to grieve

As it

and widows got

relatives

was part of a heroic

for Hitler,

left

grew

sacrifice that

and America s

overcome

tried to

older,

many

tried to rationalize their loss

had marked the beginning of the end But mostly those

finest hour.

grief that

seemed

for

some

behind

left

to get greater as their

still

time

shorter.

Viola Parker told

Danny

as

much

father she

had never even touched:

what

tried to tell her, the

I

about Earl as she

as she could

grew up, hoping she would always be able

That's

and commemorate.

to cherish

had

"[Earl]

an image of the

a great sense of

humor.

funny things, anything pleasant

stead of dwelling on the sadness. You don't get over

it.

You learn

in-

to live

with the memories and thank goodness there are some good ones." 17 Today, of her

Danny remembers her mother life.

.

.

.

She

those boys did.

money."

he didn't

set out to

None of make extra

be a hero.

They had joined the National Guard

to

18

Time did not assuage

when

she had drunk a

found

Earl's letters too

when

me

also told

describing Earl as "the great love

As the years passed, often

Viola's heartbreak.

little

too

much, the

upsetting to read.

old ghosts

would

She

return.

They took her back

to that

day

her most precious dreams had been destroyed. So she put a match

to the old

V-grams and sepia-toned envelopes. "One night,

his letters in the fireplace," she explained.

stop reading those letters, In 1975, Frank

I'd

Draper

go plum crazy"

Sr.

some

Daddy was

real sick for

sick,

brother said

burned if

I

all

didn't

19

shot himself to death.

Frank's death like

Momma

"My

I

"It

wasn't over sister.

"My

twenty years with emphysema.

My

say," insists

Verona Lipford, Frank's

cared for him day and night

—he wouldn't

let

anybody

else

do

The Bedford Boys

230

it.

Finally,

he told the doctor he couldn't take

it

no more.

He was

And he did. Three weeks later, my husband Company A survivors decided to return to Normandy

to take his life.

In 1988,

their respects before they

became

once stormed. They also wanted

Guard Memorial Bettie Wilkes

Normandy

at the

pay

too infirm to walk the sands they

had

base of the Vierville draw.

in 1947,

tormented her

to

to witness the unveiling of a National

Hooper was one

for the first time.

from Normandy still

widows who were

of several

she had wondered about his

to think that

Normandy At

to

board her plane

One

face,

asked

of the

last

he had died alone and

and

moments.

It

in great pain.

their families for the

Dulles airport in Washington, as Bettie was about

to France,

badge with the 29th Division gage.

to visit

Since John's body had been brought back

Bettie joined a party of 29th Division veterans trip to

going

died." 20

men,

a

man

two gentlemen noticed she was wearing a

was laden down with

insignia. Bettie

of

medium

lug-

height and build with a friendly

he could take some of her bags.

if

Where was

she from?

Bedford.

The

old

man

said he

had known many

men from

Bedford during the

war.

"Did you happen

to

know Master Sergeant

Wilkes?'' asked Bettie.

"Did we know Sergeant Wilkes!" replied Cecil Breeden.

"Were you

in his

"I

sure was.

He

A

few days

later,

company?"

drilled the hell out of us, but

Beach. Breeden was 'Til

he also made us men."

Bettie stepped off a tour bus parked near

Omaha

waiting for her.

take you down,

if

you want

where

to go, to

I

found John."

Breeden walked with Bettie across the promenade road above the beach. There was no longer a sea wall. in the

channel a gale was blowing, just

The like

skies

were overcast and out

on D-Day Pebbles crunched

under foot and then they were on the sand, a few yards from the water.

"When thing

I

I

got to your husband," said Breeden, "there wasn't a

could do.

have to worry.

He had

gotten

it

He never knew what

right hit

damn

between the eyes. You don't

him.

He

never suffered." 21

Memorial

and stared

Bettie stood

at the

beach, the bluffs, and the other veter-

ans and their families milling around. At fighting.

He'd almost made

it

231

last

she knew. John had died

across the beach. There had been no pain.

Before Cecil Breeden died of heart failure in 1993, he wrote to Bettie explaining that he had told her that day about John because he

hoped

she would be able to sleep better at night. She did. It

was not

until

1994 that Bedford's

lost

sons

came

to

massive public

attention, during the national celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of

Normandy landings. 22 In Bedford, television cameras invaded homes and reporters from around the world kept phones ringing late the

Ray Nance gave

into the night.

in his pale blue eyes, but

became his

too

Beach

fifty

camera

when

he'd

lights shining

and repressed trauma

guilt

talking to the press

as vivid as

and stayed

at

home,

come home from Omaha

years before.

Roy Stevens was one official fiftieth

his lost twin

when

then the survivor's

much. He stopped

memories suddenly

several interviews,

of

many who

anniversary commemoration.

—good dreams,

set in a

few

they'd boxed each other for a

Omaha Beach

returned to

He

still

for the

had dreams about

sunny Bedford before the war nickels. 23 Finally

he got to the

crossroads in Vierville sur Mer, the promised rendezvous with Ray.

Stevens stuck his good hand in the finally

shake

air as if

to

it.

Other veterans around the world began

Here was

Ray was actually there

a generation that

possessed the dignity

suddenly discovered

to

to share their experiences.

had fought and won

keep quiet about their

its "greatest''

heroes

a 'good"

war and then

sacrifice.

America had

—hundreds

of thousands of

them. In 1994, by contrast, Viola Parker past. "People

still

had had enough of digging up the

expect to see [me] crying with a long

face,''

she said

before she died in 1996. "We've cried long enough. Let's do something that lets us love, respect

time." 24 Viola's second

she had

Many

and honor them without being morbid

husband had passed away

become more somber,

friends felt she

all

the

in 1968.

Since then,

less witty, increasingly

withdrawn.

had never recovered from

Earl's death,

and the

The Bedford Boys

232

second great love of her

loss of the

most

resilient of the

What

life

Bedford widows

was

to

of the Bedford boys' parents?

much

just too

endure

How

one

in

even the

for

lifetime.

did they feel about the

"good" war? Sadly, by 1994 there was only one parent of a Bedford boy still alive:

relative,

Gordon Henry White

ninety-four-year-old

Sr.

According

George Sumpter, D-Day had meant only tragedy

White always

war took

said the

his son

and

to

to a

him: "Mr.

his wife."

Mr. White's wife, Rose, had suffered a terrible stroke on February 20, 1948, the day after her son returned to Bedford in a casket. His burial

had

be postponed when she

to

fell

into a

coma but

finally

went ahead,

her family slipping away unnoticed from Rose s bedside to pay their respects to

Gordon Henry White

Jr.

He was

final

interred in the family's cor-

ner of the graveyard at Forest Baptist Church. In 1958, Rose was buried beside him, leaving her husband to care for their

broke [the]

To the day he died grief,

six children. "It just

completely," said Sumpter. 25

home

1995, Mr. White couldn't

in

let

go of the past, his

He had once

nor belongings that had been so precious to his son.

refused to put

down

sons beloved shire horse, Major, even though the

his

horse was old and infirm. Incredibly, the horse had lived until 1959. 26

Raymond and Bedford Hoback's mother, Macie, Macie had

tend her church

a

deep loathing

when

a

for

German

us to take the pictures of

my

many

Germans, once even refusing

to at-

in the 1970s.

missionary visited. "She never allowed

brothers off the top of her TV," recalls

daughter Lucille Hoback Boggess. "She would never she got more and more feeble,

come

my

back. She'd

boys?

The

Where

fiftieth

my

seemed

let

go of them. As

that she felt they

and

were going

in the

boys?'"

D-Day was not

first

the end of the saga of Bed-

national memorial to

town. For several years,

had been pushing

to

'Where are

over:

Given the nation's new fascination with D-Day,

that perhaps the

might be built ter

are

it

in the night asking over

anniversary of

ford's lost sons.

hoped

wake up

most of the For

bereaved parents, of old age and a broken heart years,

died, like

for

such

a

it

was

commemorate D-Day

Company

D's

Bob Slaugh-

memorial. "After the war,

I

went

to

Memorial

work, finished school, and then

who had

didn't like to talk to people

what you were

survivors

would

retired,

I

They

talking about.

"Some people would

time

married, had children," he said.

I

have any time to think about the war or any other thing. At

didn't

we

I

me

say to

talk,

but

not seen combat.

They

"I

first, I

know

didn't

didn't understand.

all

you think about

is

war.' At reunions,

wasn't done otherwise. Then, around the

it

found out that many people had forgotten D-Day around

[Roanoke]. People, especially younger generations, didn't 6,

233

1944, was the largest

air,

ground and sea

battle ever

know

June

that

fought." 27

Slaughter had formed a committee in 1988 to explore ways to erect a

memorial, envisioning a modest statue somewhere in Roanoke, but the project

was too ambitious, he was

told, for the

dream languished until 1994. "Then, with eth anniversary, people saw that

Town

officials in

all

town

to afford. Slaughter's

the publicity about the

D-Day was worth remembering." 28

Bedford were told about Slaughter's plan and pro-

vided eleven acres of land. Slaughter's committee bought more. Virginia's

When

Republican Senator John W. Warner heard of Slaughter's plan,

he introduced legislation

in

Congress and Bedford was

Plans and designs were debated. Finally, national

officially

made

D-Day memorial.

the site for a national

first

fifti-

World War

II

it

was agreed that America's

memorial would comprise three core features

denoting the key stages of Overlord: the years of preparation, the actual invasion, and, finally, victory in

Normandy There would be an

English

formal garden, an education center, over eighty acres of landscaping,

many

life-size

bronzes of soldiers.

A

landing craft would

ing pool leading to a wall representing the bluffs

and

sit

cliffs

in a reflect-

along

Omaha

Beach.

A local historian make

the

and businessman, Richard Burrow, was brought

monument

a reality.

rector of the National

many

millions

needed

Hired

in

January 1996 as the executive

D-Day Foundation, Burrow to build

in to di-

set out to raise the

such an ambitious memorial. In October

1997, he was delighted to hear that one of America's most famous World

War

II

veterans, Peanuts cartoonist Charles

M.

Schulz, wanted to pledge

The Bedford Boys

234

$1 million. Schulz was then asked to head a fund-raising campaign.

and

his wife

had long known about Bedford's

campaign

give the

a

jump

start.

Soon other

He

and were eager

sacrifice

to

high-profile figures such as

Steven Spielberg, director of Saving Private Ryan, also donated

signifi-

cant sums. Spielberg's Oscar-winning film had included powerful scenes of the

Omaha

minutes on

first

Beach.

Burrow's next challenge was staying on schedule for a planned opening of the memorial on June 6, 2001. In press interviews, Lucille

Hoback Boggess

said she

solace for veterans from

Washington

to

just before the

June

hoped the memorial would all

"We

over the world.

be the wrong place

act as a place of

actually considered

memorial," 29 Burrow added

for this

memorial was opened by President George W. Bush on

2001.

6,

Company A

veterans too infirm to join 15,000 people at the actual

memorial saw President Bush honor them and the Bedford boys on na-

"Here were the images these soldiers carried with

tional television:

them, and they thought of left

behind.

And

here was the

not yearn to be heroes. again, again,

when life

they were afraid. This

They yearned

for those long

their sweethearts or wives.

bringing

who

a

They did

summer

to see

nights

Mom and

Dad

.

.

across an eighty-eight-

major tourist attraction

revenue to the area.

"It

in

seems

Bedford County,

like a lot of

[men]

survived the war almost have a guilty feeling that they survived and

these "It'll

become

much needed

to.

." 30

The National D-Day Memorial now sprawls acre site and has

the place they

they dreamed of returning

and harvest time, and paydays. They wanted and hold

is

men

give

died," said Lucille

them

a place to go

Hoback on

and have some quiet moments with

thoughts and memories of those

On September

11,

the memorial's completion.

who

died."

2001, just three months after President Bush

opened the memorial, over three thousand Americans died day, victims of the worst terrorist attacks in history.

shaken Lucille Hoback people stood in silence.

their

31

Boggess visited the

in a single

That morning,

D-Day memorial. Dozens

a

of

Memorial

hadn't had that kind of pain in

"I

the

D-Day

why,

that's the

same

in

New

losses as

York.

chest since

New York

invasion," she later told the

watch the suffering

to

my

And

the

my

brothers in

Times. "So devastating

numbers

New York

D-Day"

lost

I

235

— 5,000 dead

would need

a

memor-

she added, because the city would stay in pain just as Bedford had.

ial,

"This said

little

town was

Roy Stevens. "Not

a vale of tears with all those telegrams

people in

a day

I

don't

remember

New York and Washington have

Bedford had become a place for the nation touchstone for generational

in,"

[Ray], just like those poor

remember

to

coming

mourn,

to

dead now" 32

their

its

memorial a

But some veterans wondered whether

loss.

the latest generation would be prepared to endure what they had. "I'm

not sure

enemy

if

people are up to

doesn't

come

lines.

of

right now," said

in a uniform.

and water supplies and the

A couple

it

months

later,

air

we

The

Bob

Slaughter. "The

front lines are going to

breathe."

Bedford again

be

cities

33

hit the

New York

Times head-

This time, the story was not so poignant. The FBI had been called

in to investigate allegations of fraud at the National

The prime suspect was Richard Burrow, built in time for President Bush's

the

man who had

much-publicized

Bush had thanked Burrow personally

for his

D-Day Foundation. the memorial

visit in

June 2001.

hard work.

Burrow was eventually charged with four counts of

fraud.

It

was

claimed that instead of waiting to amass enough money to build the $25 million memorial, foundation officials

donations would

come

had borrowed

in before creditors

demanded

it

in the

their

hope that

money

back.

Burrow's indictment accused him of falsely telling a Lynchburg bank he

had collected pledges

in excess of

$2 million

in

an effort

to gain a $1.2

million loan in June 2001. In October 2002, the National

D-Day Foun-

dation filed for bankruptcy, hoping to be able to renegotiate payments to creditors.

Before Burrow was indicted, the foundation's board signed, including a deeply saddened

Bob Slaughter and

Boggess. Slaughter began writing his memoirs and was his efforts to

ensure that his comrades on

members

Lucille still

re-

Hoback

tireless in

D-Day would continue

to

be

The Bedford Boys

236

remembered. So was Company

many

For

ter.

he held

years,

B's

Bob

Sales, a close friend of Slaugh-

Company B

reunions

at his

Lynchburg. In his enchanting garden, Sales also erected stone listing the

names

man would

thought a

As with

kill

many whose

so

home

in

memorial

of his lost buddies. "I'm glad of one thing," he

never killed a prisoner and

said. "I

a

him." lives

Hoback Boggess continued

I

never sent one back

when

I

34

were changed forever by D-Day, Lucille

to dedicate herself to

church and commu-

woman elected to office in Bedford County, Lucille became a member of the county's Board of Supervisors. Whenever possible, she spoke to local school children about Company A and D-Day. nity.

The

first

"Think what told

it

would be

like to take

them. "That's what

it

was

nineteen kids out of a class," Lucille

like."

Company A for over twenty years. Until 2002, candles were lit for veterans who had died the previous year. Sadly in 2002 there was no reunion for Company Hoback Boggess

also helped organize annual reunions for

A. Too few were alive and well

Of

the 5,000

men who

like to

be on

Company A Florida,

still

each

Omaha

to

watch yet more candles

landed on D-Day with the

than two hundred were their generation die

enough

breathing.

year.

It is

Soon no one

1

flicker.

16th Regiment, less

estimated that 500,000 of

be

will

what

left to tell

it

was

Beach.

veterans Hal Baumgarten, an ebullient doctor living in

and John Barnes,

a retired school teacher in upstate

New York,

kept going strong. Both wrote books about their experiences. garten attended the premiere of Saving Private Ryan in

New

1998. His book includes photographs of him with the actor

Baum-

Orleans in

Tom Hanks

and director Steven Spielberg. Seventy-eight-year-old Verona Lipford could

Frank Draper

Jr.,

when he packed in.

picture her brother,

with a smile on his face that February day in 1941

his foot locker

and

left for

old grandson in the marines," she said.

never gone

still

But the recruiter got him.

peat itself with what

s

I

war. "I

"I

wish

just

have a nineteen-yearto

goodness he had

hope history does not

re-

going on now. They're nothing but kids over

237

Memorial

know what

there, don't

makes

knew

they're getting into.

rich people richer but a lot of poor

that

all right.

war's really about."

You lose

My

dad always said war

young boys have

you never get over

a son,

it.

to die.

That's

He

what

35

Eighty-six-year-old Elaine Coffey

was buried and wished

his parents

wondered how Bedford Hoback

still

had brought

body back home.

his

If

they had, she would have been able to put fresh flowers on his grave, as other widows had for so

many

wistfully "So

tell

I

couldn't

years.

wasn't married to him," she said

"I

to do." 36

them what

The Hobacks had

de-

cided to leave the brothers together in France, thinking that was what they would have wanted. Raymond's body was never found. Today, he listed

on

Hoback

a wall of

rests

remembrance,

station

hundred yards from where Bedford

beneath an immaculate white cross.

Elaine used to treasure to shreds

a

is

one day

in a

fit

of Bedford's letters but then she tore

all

of anger.

wagon, which she drove

Now all

she has

a picture of his old

is

he died. "War

after

them

is

a terrible thing,"

she said, tears in her eyes as she clutched the small photograph. "You

wonder why they have Roy Stevens came

dom

is

it."

to look

not free," he said

and so many love with the

37

He

friends.

woman

back on D-Day with immense

when asked

to reflect

on the

loss of his brother

recently battled cancer and was

he met

in

1946

at

pride. "Free-

Bedford County

still

madly

Fair.

in

He and

Helen now have three great-grandchildren. Eighty-five-year-old Earl

woman

he

fell in

Newcomb

was, in 2003,

love with before D-Day.

ory of Earl Parker's saying he wouldn't

And he

still

mind dying

married to the

still

cried at the

if first

mem-

he could just

see his daughter, Danny.

Today,

Danny dog

a set of his

prizes her father's letter to her before

tags,

and

his Purple Heart. "His

Christmas 1943,

body was never found,"

she said, "but just a couple of years ago one of the Bedford boys' relatives

me

sent

But

I

his

dog

tags.

I

don't

do know they have

a colorized

know how

they were found.

my mothers name

on

photograph of a good-looking young

them." 38

man

It's

a mystery.

Danny

also has

smiling happily and

The Bedford Boys

238

sporting a red and green plaid Earl wearing a "I

went

to

kilt in

did.

Those boys

A

black and white photograph shows

Scotland in 1943, the year

Omaha Beach

any of them got off

tie.

alive. It

in 1997," said

was

—they were

just

all

Danny.

of the Missing

born.

was amazed

"I

that

because of sheer numbers that they

Danny

just unbelievable."

the graveyard above the beach where her father

Garden

Danny was

listed

is

went

also

on

to

a wall in a

commemorating 1,557 men whose bodies were

never found. Sixty years after

Company A on D-Day was

cer from

Omaha

he crawled across

still

Beach, the

plagued by survivor's

the occasional episode of post-traumatic stress disorder.

by when Ray Nance

and the

lives

Nance was

last living offi-

didn't think about the

men

Not

and

day went

he once commanded

they might have led had they been as lucky as he was.

also the last survivor

from Bedford who landed on D-Day

At eighty-eight years of age, Nance was tempted

to

go back to

Beach

but, having recently survived a quintuple heart bypass,

didn't

want

much

for his heart to bear. This

to die there.

Bedford that the

Returning is

spirits of its lost

a

to those cold

shame because

at Colleville sur

Omaha

he said he

sands might be too it is

not so

much

in

sons are most palpable, but rather a

few hundred yards from the beach where they died, cemetery

a

guilt

in the

American

Mer.

Eleven of Bedford's sons

still

lie

there in graves overlooking the

beach, beside 9,386 other American dead from the battle for Normandy. In a chapel at the heart of the rows of dead, each with a cross pointing

west

—towards home—the following words

'Think not only upon their passing.

are inscribed for

Remember

all

to see:

the glory of their

spirit."

THE BEDFORD BOYS AND D-DAY

Twenty-two Bedford Boys were

killed in the

Normandy campaign:

Leslie Abbott

Wallace Carter

John Clifton John Dean Frank Draper

Jr.

Taylor Fellers

Charles Fizer

Nicholas Gillaspie

Bedford Hoback

Raymond Hoback Clifton Lee Earl Parker

Joseph Parker Jack Powers

Weldon Rosazza John Reynolds John Schenk

Ray Stevens

Gordon White John Wilkes

Elmere Wright Grant Yopp

Six Bedford Boys landed

on D-Day and survived:

Robert Goode

239

THE BEDFORD BOYS AND D-DAY

240

James Lancaster Robert (Tony) Marsico Elisha (Ray)

Glenwood

Nance

(Dickie) Overstreet

Anthony Thurman

Five Bedford Boys missed landing on

D-Day when

their landing craft sank, but landed days later:

Robert Edwards Charles Fizer

Clyde Powers

Roy Stevens Harold Wilkes

Four Bedford Boys served

in support capacity

and did not land on D-Day: Earl

Newcomb

Jack Mitchell

George Crouch Cedric Broughman

The

entire 116th Infantry

killed or

missing in action.

for "extraordinary initial

assault

Regiment suffered 797

The

1

casualties, including

375

16th received a Distinguished Unit Citation

heroism and outstanding performance of duty

on the northern coast of Normandy France."

in action in the

BIBLIOGRAPHY

New York:

Ambrose, Stephen. Citizen

Soldiers.

Ambrose, Stephen. D-Day.

New York: Touchstone, 1994. New York: St Martin's Press,

Astor, Gerald. "June 6

Touchstone, 1997.

1944"

1994.

Balkoski, Joseph. Beyond the Beachhead. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books,

1989. Barnes, John. Fragments of My Life, self-published, 2000.

Baumgarten, Harold. Eyewitness on Bradley,

A

Omar.

General's Life.

Butler, Daniel A. Warrior

Omaha

Beach, self-published, 2000.

New York: Simon

and Schuster, 1993.

Queens. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2002.

New York: The Modern Coming." New York: Bantam,

Capa, Robert. Slightly Out of Focus.

Library, 1999.

Carell, Paul. "Invasion, They're

1960.

New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1995. Eisenhower, A Soldier's Life. New York: Henry

Chronicle of America. D'Este, Carlo.

Holt, 2002.

Drez, Ronald. Voices of D-Day. Louisiana State University Press, 1994.

Eisenhower, Dwight. Crusade in Europe.

Ewing, Joseph. 29

Let's

Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl. Hall, Tony, editor.

Harrison,

New York:

Doubleday, 1948.

Go. Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1948.

D-Day.

New York:

New York:

Doubleday, 1967.

Salamander Books, 2001.

Gordon A. Cross-Channel Attack. Washington: Office

of the Chief of

Military History, 1951. Ingersoll, Ralph. Isby,

Top Secret.

David C. Fighting

in

New York:

Harcourt Brace, 1946.

Normandy. London: Greenhill Books, 2001.

Kennett, Lee. GI: The American Soldier in World

War

2.

New York:

Scribner's,

1987.

Keegan, John. Six Armies of Normandy.

New York:

Viking, 1982.

Kershaw, Alex. Blood and Champagne. London: Macmillan, 2002.

New York: Lipincott, 1947. Omaha Beach —A Flawed Victory. University of North

King, Ernest. "Fleet Admiral.

Lewis, Adrian R.

"

Press, 2001.

241

Carolina

242

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lewis, Nigel. Exercise Tiger.

New York: Prentice Hall Press, 1990. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981.

Masters, Anthony. Nancy Astor.

Matchett,

J.

H. "Let's Teach Battlefield Training." Infantry Journal, January

1946.

New York:

Miller, Russell.

Nothing Less Than

Morison,

The Invasion of France and Germany.

S. E.

Victory.

William Morrow, 1993.

New York:

Castle Books,

1957. Pyle, Ernie. Brave

Men.

New York:

Grosset

&

Dunlap, 1944.

Reynolds, David. Rich Relations. London: Phoenix Press, 2000.

New York: Touchstone, 1994. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. New York: The Free Press, 1997.

Ryan, Cornelius. The Longest Day. Sulzberger, C. L. World

War

II.

Tobin, James. Ernie Pyle's War.

War Department. Omaha Beachhead.

Historical Department,

War Department,

1984.

Wilson, George. If You Survive.

New York:

Ivy Books, 1987.

Wilson, Theodore A. Eisenhower At War. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1994.

NOTES

Chapter

1

News & Advance, June

1.

Lynchburg

2.

Roy Stevens, interview with

3. Bill

4.

(Va.)

2001.

Geroux, "The Suicide Wave," Richmond Times-Dispatch, June

This proved correct.

similar

3,

author.

—around

Of

eighteen landing

a third of his

were

lost.

The

2001.

casualties

were

men.

5.

Roy Stevens, interview with

6.

Richmond Times- Dispatch,

7.

"Virginians at

Normandy,"

craft, six

3,

author.

ibid.

WDBJ7

public television station, Virginia.

8. Ibid.

9.

Joseph Balkoski, Bej'ond the Beachhead (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

Books, 1989), 10. Bill

p. 7.

Geroux, "The Suicide Wave," Richmond Times- Dispatch, June

1 1

Ray Nance, interview with author.

12.

John Barnes, Fragments of My Life (self-published, 2000),

13.

Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day

(New York: Touchstone,

3,

2001.

p. 61.

1994), p. 178.

Chapter 2 1

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

2. Ibid. 3. Ibid.

4. Ibid. 5. Ibid.

& Advance,

6.

Lynchburg

7.

Roy Stevens, interview with

8.

Brookings also found that over 70 million people, 60 percent of American families,

got by 9. In

and

on

less

(Va.) Nexus

3,

2001.

than $2,000 a year, an amount "sufficient to supply only basic necessities."

1937, the U.S. Government purchased 657.4 acres of land, including Sharp Top

Flat Top, for

10.

June

author.

$60,000

in order to protect

Chronicle of America

(New York:

them from

logging and other development.

Dorling Kindersley, 1995),

243

p.

686.

.

.

NOTES

244

1

1.

12.

War

C. L. Sulzberger, World

Lynchburg News

fr

II

(New York: Houghton

Advance, June

Mifflin, 1987), p.57

2001.

3,

13. Ibid. 14.

Roy Stevens, interview with

15. Elaine Coffey, interview

author.

with author.

16.

Roy Stevens, interview with

17.

Bedford Bulletin, February

18.

Lynchburg News and Advance, June

19.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

4,

1941. 3,

2001.

author.

& Advance,

20.

Lynchburg Neu>s

21.

Roy Stevens, interview with

22.

Lee Kennett, GI: The American Soldier

June

3,

2001.

author. in

World War

II

(New

York: Scribner's,

1987), p. 17. 23.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

24. Ibid.

25. Eloise Rogers, interview with author. 26. Eloise Rogers, letter to author, 27.

Lynchburg News

& Advance,

November

June

3,

24, 2002.

2001.

28. Ibid.

29. Eloise Rogers, interview with author. 30. Bedford Bulletin, February 20, 1941. 31. Joseph Ewing, 29, Let's 32. Lucille

Go

Hoback Boggess,

(Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1948),

U.S. Army:

An Appreciation," New York

33.

"Morale

34.

Roy Stevens, interview with

35. Lucille 36.

in the

Hoback Boggess,

interview with author.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

Harbor speech, National Archives

Rav Nance, interview with author.

Chapter

3

1.

Bob

2.

Bertie Woodford, interview with author.

3.

Lynchburg News

Sales, interview with author.

& Advance,

June

3,

2001.

4. Ibid. 5.

1.

Times, September 29, 1941.

author.

37. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Pearl

38.

p.

interview with author.

Dorothy Wilkes Goode, interview with author.

6. Ibid. 7.

Roy Stevens, interview with

8.

Bettie Wilkes Hooper, interview with author.

9.

Bettie Wilkes

author.

Hooper speech, May 2000.

10.

Bedford Bulletin,

December

11, 1941.

1 1

Lynchburg News

& Advance,

June

3,

200 1

Web

site.

NOTES

with author.

12. Billy Parker, interview 13.

New

Bob Slaughter memoirs, The Eisenhower Center

for

American Studies, University of

Orleans.

14. Elva 15.

245

Newcomb,

interview with author.

"Remembering D-Day" Baltimore Sun, June

16. Ivylyn

6,

1998.

Hardy, interview with author.

17. Ibid. 18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Verona Lipford, interview with author.

2

Bettie Wilkes Hooper, interview with author.

1

22. Elaine Coffey, interview with author. 23. Bettie Wilkes Hooper, interview with author.

Newcomb,

24. Earl 25.

interview with author.

Roy Stevens, interview with

26. Joseph Balkoski,

Books, 1989),

author.

Beyond the Beachhead (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

p. 34.

27.

Bob Slaughter memoirs, Eisenhower Center.

28.

Bob

Slaughter, interview with author.

29. Bettie Wilkes Hooper, interview with author. 30. Ibid. 3

Like other wives, Viola vowed to write to her husband every day. She did, and to the

1

day she died,

in 1994,

she remembered his dog-tag

32. Bedford Democrat,

33.

Anna Mae

June

6,

35. p.

heart

—20363625.

Stewart, interview with author.

Queens (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

34. Daniel Allen Butler, Warrior

Books, 2002),

number by

1994.

p. 46.

Lee Kennett,

GL The American

Soldier in World

War II

(Scribner's,

New York,

1987),

115.

Chapter 4 1.

The Queen Mary was designed

2.

Daniel Allen Butler, Warrior Queens (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

Books, 2002), 3.

p. 129.

to carry 2,1 19 passengers with a

Infantrymen had to carry their M-l

Roy Stevens, interview with

rifles

crew of 1,035.

wherever they went.

author.

4. Ibid. 5.

Butler, Warrior

6.

That

Queens,

July's issue of the

p. 132.

popular Yank magazine had cautioned: "Don't brag. Don't

we came over and won men; we lost only 60,000."

an Englishman million

7. Butler, 8.

Warrior Queens,

Lynchburg News

the last war for them.

p. 131.

& Advance,

June

3,

2001.

We

didn't.

England

tell

lost a

.

NOTES

246

9.

Men

$125

a

often lost their pay within hours of

Newcomb,

10. Earl 1

it

being issued. In 1942, lieutenants

made

month, sergeants around $70, and privates just $30. interview with author.

Clipping from Elva Newcomb's scrapbook. The incident would later receive promi-

1

nent space

in the

Bedford Bulletin.

Roy Stevens, interview with

12.

author.

13. Ibid.

Lee Kennett, GI: The American Soldier

14.

in

World War

II

(New

York, Scribner's,

1987), p. 116.

Docks further south were

15.

16. Butler,

Warrior Queens,

in range of the Luftwaffe.

p. 99.

17. Ibid., p. 107. 18. Ibid., p. 110.

19. Ibid., p. 113.

20. Ibid., p. 114.

21. Earl

Bob

22.

Newcomb,

interview with author, January 2002.

Slaughter, interview with author.

23. Allen Huddleston, interview with author. 24. Butler, Warrior Queens, p.

1

14.

25. Ibid., p. 118.

Bob

26.

Sales, interview with author.

27. Butler, Warrior Queens, p. 116.

28. Ibid. Also see: Captain Harry Grattidge, Captain of the

Queens (London: Old-

bourne Press, 1956).

Roy Stevens, interview with

29.

author.

30. Ibid.

Chapter

5

1.

Joseph Ewing, 29

2.

Bob

Let's

Go

(Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1948),

p.

15

Slaughter, interview with author.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid. 5. Ibid.

6.

Bob Slaughter memoirs, The Eisenhower Center

New

of

for

American Studies, University

Orleans.

7. Ibid. 8.

Lee Kennett, GI: The American Soldier

in

World War

II

(New York:

II

Committee, Reports and Cor-

Scribners, 1987),

p. 73.

9.

Lynchburg News

& Advance,

10. Ivylyn Hardy, interview 1

1.

Mrs. George

P.

June

3,

2001.

with author.

Parker, Bedford

County World War

respondence Concerning Bedford County in World

War

II,

1943-1945,

May

1,

1943.

NOTES

12.

Bedford Bulletin, February

13.

John Barnes, Fragments of My

1943.

4,

Woodford scrapbook.

14. Bertie

247

Life (self-published, 2000), p. 50.

Fellers

was proud of

purchased a special plaid called the "Royal Stewart"

his family's Scottish roots

in Scotland;

and had

Sergeant John Laird's par-

ents had located the plaid. 15. Taylor Fellers to his parents, private

16.

Not

who would be pup

Norman

Cota,

the most senior 29th Division officer to join the Bedford boys in combat,

was so taken by small

correspondence, March 27, 1943.

every 29th Division soldier hated the moors. Brigadier General

their bleak

beauty that he often spent his free weekends camping in a

tent.

17.

Allen Huddleston, interview with author.

18.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

19. Ibid.

20. Joseph Balkoski,

Books, 1989), 2

Beyond the Beachhead (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

p. 55.

Roy Stevens, interview with

1

22. Earl

Newcomb,

23. In the nearest

author.

interview with author.

town

to

Tidworth Barracks

—

Ivyb ridge

2003 and remembered many of the Bedford boys with 29

24. Ewing,

—

the landlady was

still

alive in

great fondness.

Let's Go!, p. 17.

25. Ellen Quarles, interview with author. 26. Beulah Witt, interview with author. 27.

One hundred

twenty thousand U.S. servicemen were in the United Kingdom as of

January 31, 1943. [Morison, The Invasion of France and Germany,

p. 51.]

28. Parker report, July 15, 1943. 29.

Ray Nance, interview with

30.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author. author.

31. Ibid. 32. Letter

from Bedford Hoback

& Advance,

33.

Lynchburg News

34.

Roy Stevens, interview with

to

Mabel Phelps. Quoted by

June

3,

Lucille

Hoback Boggess.

2001.

author.

35. Ibid. 36. Bertie

Woodford, interview with author.

37. Stevens

would name

38. Bedford Bulletin, 39.

his first

May

daughter after her and stay in touch for over

sixty years.

20, 1943.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

40. Ibid. 41.

Bob

Sales, interview with author.

Chapter 6 1.

Joseph Balkoski, Beyond the Beachhead (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

Books, 1989),

p. 44.

.

NOTES

248

45.

2. Ibid., p. 3.

Roy Stevens, interview with

4.

David Draper, interview with author.

author.

5.

Information provided by Laura Burnette.

6.

Verona Lipford, interview with author.

7. Stars

and

Stripes,

October

1944.

1,

8.

Quoted from Elva Newcomb's scrapbook,

9.

Roy Stevens, interview with

private collection.

author.

Anna Mae

10.

Grant Yopp,

1 1

Allen Huddleston, interview with author.

12.

David Reynolds, Rich Relations (London: Phoenix Press, 2000),

13.

Ray Nance, interview with

14.

See Ewing, 29,

ter portraits of

15. Bertie

letter to

Let's Go!,

Stewart. Private correspondence,

Anna Mae

Stewart.

p. 113.

author.

and Balkoski, Beyond

the Beachhead, for excellent charac-

Cota and Gerhardt.

Woodford scrapbook. Letter from

J.

H. Wyse

to

Captain

Fellers,

December

3,

1943. 16. "Stories of

June

1,

Heroes: Virginians At Normandy,"

WDBJ7

television station. Broadcast

1994.

17.

John Barnes, Fragments of My Li/e(self-published, 2000),

18.

Hal Baumgarten, interview with author.

19. Barnes,

Fragments of My

p. 48.

Life, p. 49.

20. Ibid., p. 49.

21. Ibid., p. 49. 22. Hal Baumgarten, interview with author. 23. Ibid. 24. Earl

Newcomb,

interview with author.

25. Taylor Fellers, letter to his parents,

March

17, 1943.

26. Private correspondence, Bertie Woodford. Also see biographical sketch, provided by

Woodford 27.

for

28. Felix

Branham,

hower Center 29.

unpublished book by Ray Nance.

John Barnes, interview with author.

for

oral history,

Roy Stevens, interview with

30. Felix

The

Peter S. Kalikow World

American Studies, University of

Branham,

oral history,

New

War

II

Archive,

The

Eisen-

Orleans.

author.

The

Peter S. Kalikow World

War

II

Archive.

31. Ibid. 32. Gerald AstorJune 6,

1944 (New York: St Martin's

33.

Roy Stevens, interview with

34.

Rebecca Wingfield, interview with author.

35.

Roy Stevens, interview with

36. Bedford

Hoback 37.

Hoback

to

author.

author.

Mabel Phelps, January 1944.

Boggess.

Ray Nance, interview with author.

38. Ibid.

Press, 1994), p. 89.

Letter quoted courtesy of Lucille

NOTES

249

39. Reynolds, Rich Relations, p. 324.

40. Balkoski,

Chapter

Beyond the Beachhead,

p.

1

7

1.

John Barnes, Fragments of My Life (self-published, 2000),

2.

Hal Baumgarten,

The

oral history,

The Eisenhower Center

for

p. 51.

Peter S. Kalikow World

American Studies, University of

War

New

3.

Bob

4.

Barnes, Fragments, p. 53.

5.

Stephen Ambrose, D-Day (New York: Touchstone, 1994),

6.

Harold Baumgarten, Eyewitness on

II

History Archive,

Orleans.

Slaughter, interview with author.

7.

George Roach,

8.

Roy Stevens, interview with

9.

Sibyle Kieth

10. Earl

oral history,

The

p. 45.

(self-published, 2000), p. 10.

Peter S. Kalikow World

War

II

History Archive.

author.

Coleman, interview with author.

Newcomb,

interview with author.

Coleman, interview with author.

1 1

Sibyle Kieth

12.

Roy Stevens, interview with

13.

Richmond Times- Dispatch, June

14. Ivylyn Hardy, interview 15. Liberty

Omaha Beach

author. 2,

2002.

with author.

Magazine, April 1944.

16.

Raymond Hoback,

17.

Ray Nance, interview with author.

letter to his parents, April 13, 1944.

18.

Ernest King, Fleet Admiral

(New York:

19.

Arthur Victor, personal

Quoted

log.

Lippincott, 1947), p. 621.

in Nigel Lewis, Exercise Tiger

(New York:

tice Hall, 1990), p. 65.

20. Lewis, Exercise Tiger, p. 108. 21. Ibid., p. 109. 22. Ibid., p. 111. 23. Ibid., p. 121. 24. Ibid. 25.

Eisenhower

to Marshall, April 29, 1944,

Eisenhower

Library.

26. David Reynolds, Rich Relations (London: Phoenix Press, 2000), p. 365. 27. Ibid.

28.

Roy Stevens, interview with

29. Ralph Ingersoll, Toy Secret

author.

(New York: Harcourt

Brace, 1946), p. 105.

30. Ibid.

Chapter 8 1.

John Barnes, Fragments of My Life (self-published, 2000),

2.

Ray Nance, interview with author.

p. 57.

Pren-

.

NOTES

250

Museum newspaper

3.

Quoted, Bedford

4.

June 23, 1944, V-mail, Mrs.

& Advance,

June

3,

B.

World War

piece, undated,

Abbott

to Dickie Abbott.

II

File.

Quoted, Lynchburg News

2001.

Hoback Boggess,

interview with author.

5.

Lucille

6.

"Remembering D-Day," Baltimore Sun, June

6,

1998. Also private correspondence,

Ivylyn Hardy. 7.

Ivylyn Hardy, interview with author.

8. Ibid.

9.

Bertie Woodford, interview with author.

10. Bill

P.

County World War

Parker, Bedford

respondence Concerning Bedford County in World

Lloyd Ayers and Jesse H. Jones,

12.

May

Geroux, "Sacrifice," Richmond Times- Dispatch,

Mrs. George

1 1

War

II

II,

28, 2000.

Committee, Reports and Cor-

1943-1945, April

letter to editor of the

1

Bedford Bulletin,

5,

1944.

March

15,

1944. 13.

Rebecca Wingfield, interview with author.

14.

Geroux, "Sacrifice."

15. Parker report, 16. Bertie

January 15, 1944.

Woodford scrapbook,

17. Elouise Rogers, interview 18. Bettie

private collection.

with author.

Wilkes Hooper speech, Bedford County

Museum World War

II File.

19. Parker report, April 15, 1944.

20. Ibid., February-

1,

1944.

21. Geroux, "Sacrifice." 22. Parker report, 23.

November

1,

1943.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, May

28, 2000.

24. Hal Baumgarten, interview with author. 25. Barnes, Fragments of

My

Life, p. 58.

26. Allen Huddleston, interview with author. 27. Robert Capa, Slightly 28.

Hal Baumgarten,

Out of Focus (New York: Modern Library, 1999), p. 134. The Peter S. Kalikow World War II History Archive.

oral history,

29. Barnes, Fragments, pp. 57—58.

Ronald Drez, Voices of D-Day (New Orleans: Louisiana State University Press, 1994), pp. 40-41. 30.

31. Cornelius Ryan,

The Longest Day (New York: Touchstone, 1994), pp. 27-28.

32. Barnes, Fragments, p. 55. 33. Drez, Voices of

D-Day, pp. 40-41.

34. Leroy Jennings, oral history,

The

Peter S. Kalikow World

35. William Dillon, oral history,

The

Peter S. Kalikow World

36. Joseph Balkoski,

Books, 1989), 37.

Roy Stevens, interview with

39. Ibid.

II

History Archive.

II

History Archive.

Beyond the Beachhead (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

p. 124.

38. Drez, Voices of

War War

author.

D-Day, pp. 40-41.

NOTES

251

40. Ibid. 41.

Omar

Bradley,

A

(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993), p. 238. A Soldier's Life (New York: Henry Holt, 2002), p. 527.

General's Life

42. Carlo D'Este, Eisenhower,

43. David Reynolds, Rich Relations (London: Phoenix Press, 2000), p. 360.

44. Ibid.

45. Brooke diary entry for June 5, 1944, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives,

London.

King's College,

46. Bradley,

A

47. Balkoski,

General's Life, p. 242.

Beyond the Beachhead,

p. 62.

48. Hal Baumgarten, interview with author. 49.

Thomas

Valance, oral history,

50. Balkoski,

The

Beyond the Beachhead,

Peter S. Kalikow World

p. 64.

See archives,

War

II

History Archive.

HQ Company,

1

16th Infantry

Regiment. 51. Ibid. 52. Bertie

June 53.

1,

Woodford, quoted, "Stories of Heroes,"

WDBJ7

television station broadcast

1994.

Anna Mae

54. Earl

Stewart, interview with author.

Newcomb,

interview with author.

55. Ibid. 56.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

57. Ibid. 58. Balkoski,

Beyond the Beachhead,

59. Carlo D'Este, Eisenhower,

60. Barnes, Fragments of

My

A

p. 60.

Soldier's Life

(New York: Henry

Holt, 2002), p. 510.

Life, p. 60.

Chapter 9 1

Jimmy Green,

interview with author.

2. Ibid. 3. Ibid.

4. Ibid. 5.

Dwight Eisenhower, Crusade

6. Ibid., p. 7.

Robert Walker, oral

Eisenhower Center

for

Europe (New York: Doubleday, 1948),

history,

The

Peter S. Kalikow World

American Studies, University of

8.

Roanoke Times, June

9.

Group Captain James

10.

in

p.

249.

250.

4,

War

New

II

History Archive,

The

Orleans.

1994.

War Museum, Sound Archives, 002910/02. (New York: Henry Holt, 2002), p. 525. Europe (New York: Doubleday, 1948), p. 249.

Stagg, Imperial

Carlo D'Este, Eisenhower,

A

Soldier's Life

11.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade

12.

Joseph Balkoski, Beyond the Beachhead (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

Books, 1989),

in

p. 6.

13.

Baumgarten, Eyewitness on

14.

"Nobody

Omaha Beach

(self-published, 2000), p. 34.

Slept That Night," Roanoke Times, June 4, 1994.

.

NOTES

252

15.

Roy Stevens, interview with

16.

Theodore Wilson, Eisenhower

17.

John Barnes,

18.

Hal Baumgarten, interview with author.

19. Betty

oral history,

author.

The

at

War (New York: Random House,

Peter S. Kalikow World

War

II

1986), p. 253.

History Archive.

Wilkes Hooper, interview with author.

No

20.

Eisenhower Papers,

21.

Roy Stevens, interview with

1735, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas. author.

22. Ibid. 23. Ibid. 24. Ibid.

25.

John Barnes, interview with author.

26.

Roy Stevens, interview with

27.

John Barnes, interview with author.

28.

Jimmy Green,

author.

interview with author.

29. Ibid. 30. Ibid. 31. Balkoski,

Beyond the Beachhead,

p. 9.

32.

John Barnes, interview with author.

33.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

Chapter 10 Jimmy Green,

1

interview with author.

2. Ibid. 3. Ibid.

29th Division D-Day action report, headquarters report, composed by Jack Shea,

4.

November 5.

1,

1944,

p29d— 9.

Ray Nance, interview with author, and "The Suicide Wave," Richmond Times-

Disptach, June

3,

2001.

6.

John Barnes, Fragments of My Life (self-published, 2000),

7.

Jimmy Green,

8.

Roy Stevens, interview with

9.

John Barnes, interview with author.

10. 1

1.

p. 63.

interview with author.

Jimmy Green,

author.

interview with author.

Monitor Radio report commemorating D-Day, June 1984.

12.

Roy Stevens, interview with

13.

Jimmy Green,

author.

interview with author.

14.

Verona Lipford, interview with author.

15.

Jimmy Green,

interview with author.

16. Ibid.

17. Barnes,

Fragments of My

Life, p. 65.

NOTES

18.

Omaha

19.

Jimmy Green,

Beachhead, Historical Department,

War Department,

1984,

253

p. 29.

interview with author.

20. Ibid.

Chapter 1.

1

George Roach,

Peter S. Kalikow World

War

American Studies, University of

New

The

oral history,

The Eisenhower Center

for

Oral History Archive,

Orleans.

1989.

2.

Bedford Bulletin, June

3.

Monitor Radio report commemorating D-Day, June 1984.

4.

Beulah Witt, interview with author.

5.

George Roach,

6,

II

oral history,

The

Peter S. Kalikow World

War

II

History Archive.

6. Ibid. 7.

Omaha

8.

Thomas

9.

Ray Nance, quoted

War Department, 1984, p. 29. War II Oral History Archive. of D-Day (Louisiana State University Press,

Beachhead, Historical Department, Valance, oral history, in

The

Peter S. Kalikow World

Donald Drez,

Voices

1994), p. 213. 10. Ibid. 1

1.

12.

Monitor Radio report commemorating D-Day, June 1984.

Ray Nance, interview with

author.

13. Ibid. 14. Ibid. 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid.

Chapter 12 1.

Account

of Breeden's first actions, see S.L.A Marshall's "First

Beach," Atlantic Monthly,

November

Wave on Omaha

1960.

2. Ibid. 3.

Russell Pickett, interview with author.

4. Ibid. 5.

Bob

Sales, interview with author

6. Ibid. 7. Ibid.

8.

Joseph Balkoski, Beyond the Beachhead (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

Books, 1989), 9.

Bob

p. 152.

Sales, interview with author.

10. Ibid. 11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

NOTES

254

13. Ibid. 14.

One

of the few photographs of

1

16th Infantry

wounded on Omaha shows

Sales a few

from a bandaged Smith.

feet

15.

Bob

Sales, interview with author.

16. Ibid.

17.

Hal Baumgarten,

18.

The

oral history,

The Eisenhower Center

for

Peter S. Kalikow World

American Studies, University of

Omaha

Harold Baumgarten, Eyewitness on

War

New

II

History Archive,

Orleans.

Beach, (self-published, 2000),

p. 21.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid.

21. Baumgarten, oral history,

The

Peter S. Kalikow

22.

Baumgarten, interview with author.

23.

John Barnes, interview with the author.

24.

John Barnes, Fragments of

My Life

World War

II

Histoiy Archive.

(self-published, 2000), p. 66.

25. Ibid.

26.

Roy Stevens, interview with

27.

Jimmy Green,

author.

interview with author.

28. Ibid. 29. Russell Pickett, interview with author. 30.

Verona Lipford, interview with author.

31.

John Barnes, Fragments of My

32.

Bob

Slaughter, interview with author.

33.

The

Battle of

wounded were 34.

Omaha Beach

Life, p. 66.

is

thought to be the only time in history

when American

not evacuated to the rear but instead dragged forward into the front

line.

Along the four miles of Omaha, there were three thousand other dead or seriously

wounded men. 35. Paul Carell, Invasion, They're

Coming (New York: Bantam,

1960), p. 86.

36. Ibid., p. 85.

Chapter 13 1.

Joseph Balkoski, Be}>ond the Beachhead (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole

Books, 1989), 2.

p. 134.

Lieutenant Shea, after-action report,

D-Day

29d,

p. 12.

3. Ibid.

4.

His body was

later

recovered from the shallows where

it

had

lain floating.

Shea

re-

port, p. 12. 5.

"21 of the 743rd's 51

medium

tanks were finally knocked-out on the beach. Only 30

successfully passed through the exits.

them through 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid., p.

They

left at

the Vierville exit." Shea report, p. 13.

17.

about 1930 hours on D-Day,

all

of

NOTES

8.

Monitor Radio report commemorating D-Day, June 1984.

9.

Untitled memoir, Bedford County

10. 1

1.

Ray Nance, interview with

Museum, World War

Richmond Times-Dispatch, June

13.

Bob

Eisenhower Center Miller,

for

The

June

6,

1994.

2001.

3,

Harold Baumgarten, Eyewitness- on Slaughter, oral history,

II File.

author. See also the Bedford Bulletin,

12.

255

Omaha Beach

(self-published, 2000), p. 31.

Peter S. Kalikow World

American Studies, University of

War

New

II

History Archive,

Orleans.

Quoted

The

in Russell

(New York: William Morrow, 1993), pp. 328-329. Omaha Beach, p. 32. United States Army Medical Department & School Infor-

Nothing Less Than Victory

14.

Baumgarten, Eyewitness on

15.

Quoted, Web-site

report,

mation Sendee. 16.

Bob

Slaughter, oral history,

17. Presley

would

later

The

Peter S. Kalikow

World War

II

History Archive.

be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, as would

Canham

and Cota. 18.

Bob

19.

Omaha Beachhead

Slaughter, oral history,

The

Peter S. Kalikow

World War

II

History Archive.

War Department,

(Washington: Historical Department,

1984), p.

56.

20.

Ronald Drez, Voices of D-Day (Louisiana State University Press, 1994), pp. 219-220.

21. Cornelius Ryan,

The Longest Day (New York: Touchstone, 1994),

p.

265.

22. Russell Pickett, interview with author.

23. Hal Baumgarten, interview with author.

Mitchum would

The Longest Day, based on Cornelius Ryan's eponymous 24.

Shea

report, p. 17.

later play

Cota

in the film,

classic.

Account of Cota's actions on D-Day taken mainly from Shea's

ex-

cellent report.

25. Ibid., pp. 18-19. 26. Ibid., p. 19. 27. Ibid., p. 20.

28. Ibid. 29. Ibid. 30.

Baumgarten, Eyewitness on

31. Robert Walker, oral history, 32. Barnes, Fragments of

Omaha The

My Life,

Beach,

p. 38.

Peter S. Kalikow World

War

II

History Archive.

pp. 65-67.

33.

Shea

34.

Roy Stevens, interview with

35.

Monitor Radio report commemorating D-Day, June 1984.

report, p. 23.

author.

36.

Omaha

37.

Warner Hamlett,

38.

Ray Nance, interview with author.

39.

Baumgarten, Eyewitness on

Beachhead,

p. 95.

oral history,

The

Peter S. Kalikow World

Omaha

Beach,

War

II

History Archive.

p. 40.

40. Ibid., pp. 42-43.

41.

Thomas

Valance, oral history,

42. Gerald Astor,

June

6,

The

Peter S. Kalikow World

1994 (New York:

St.

War

II

History Archive.

Martin's Press, 1994), p. 297.

NOTES

256

43. Harry Parley, oral history,

44.

Bob

realized

The

Slaughter, oral history,

it

didn't

make any

Peter S. Kalikow World

The

War II War

Peter S. Kalikow World

History Archive. II

History Archive.

difference whether one was a superior soldier, was

gious, or better character. People

were being

killed

more

"I

reli-

randomly and they could not help

themselves." 45.

Bob

Sales, interview with author.

46. Baumgarten, Eyewitness on

Omaha

Beach,

p. 43.

47. Hal Baumgarten, interview with author.

Chapter 14 1.

Stephen Ambrose, D-Day (New York: Touchstone, 1994),

2.

Elva

3.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, May

Newcomb,

4. Ivylyn

28, 2000.

5.

Bettie Wilkes Hooper, interview with author.

Bertie Woodford, interview with author.

7.

Bedford Bulletin, June

8.

Advertisement, Bedford Bulletin, June

8,

1944.

9.

Eleanor Yowell,

6,

1944.

1

1.

12.

1944.

1,

letter to "Pinky,"

June

Rebecca Wingfield, interview with author. Allen Huddleston, interview with author.

The Times (London), June

13. Typescript,

Anne

7,

1944.

D-Day Museum, New

14. Eloise Rogers, interview 15.

Orleans.

with author.

Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

16.

Bedford Bulletin, June

17.

Mrs. George

P.

7,

(New

Parker, Bedford

County World War

Bedford Bulletin, June

19.

Richmond Times- Dispatch, May

20. Parker report,

June

New York

Chapter 1.

1

June

Times, June

II

II,

Committee, Reports and Cor-

1943-1945, June

1944.

28, 2000.

1,

7,

28, 2000.

1944. 1944.

5

John Barnes, Fragments of My Life (self-published, 2000),

2. Ibid., p.

6,

1944.

Richmond Times- Dispatch, May

22. Bedford Bulletin, 23.

7,

War

1944.

18.

8,

York: Doubleday, 1967), p. 268.

1944.

respondence Concerning Bedford County in World

21.

489.

Hardy, interview with author.

6.

10.

p.

interview with author.

p. 67.

68.

3.

Ronald Drez, Voices of D-Day (Louisiana State University Press, 1994),

4.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

p.

221.

NOTES

257

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid. 7. Ibid.

8.

Barnes, Fragments of My Life, p. 68.

9.

Roy Stevens, interview with

10. Barnes, 1

1.

Fragments of My

Ibid., p. 70.

author.

Life, p. 68.

Gearing would

fight

on with Company A

until

October when he would

be evacuated after his legs were crushed by a wall blown away by the Germans during fierce street fighting.

He was

later

awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

12. Ibid. 13. Earl

Newcomb,

14. Barnes,

interview with author.

Fragments of My

Life, p. 68.

15. Ibid., p. 78.

16.

Joseph Ewing, 29

17.

Roy Stevens, interview with

Let's

Go! (Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1948),

p. 83.

author.

18. Ibid.

19.

Clyde Powers

Rogers. 20.

to

Mrs. H. B. Powers, August 17, 1944. Private collection, Eloise

Quoted with permission.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

21. Ibid. 22. Ibid. 23. Ibid. 24.

Bob

25.

Roy Stevens, interview with

Sales, interview with author.

author.

26. Ibid. 27.

Bob

Slaughter, interview with author.

28.

Bob

Sales, interview with author.

29. Ibid. 30.

Bob

31.

Roy Stevens, interview with

32.

Bob

33.

Roy Stevens, interview with

Slaughter, interview with author.

34. Balkoski,

Bob

36.

Roy Stevens, interview with

38.

author.

Beyond the Beachhead,

35.

37. Earl

author.

Sales, interview with author.

p.

200.

Slaughter, interview with author.

Newcomb,

author.

interview with author.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.

41.

Brockman survived the war only

cuted while working on a power 42.

to die in

line.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

an industrial accident

—he was

electro-

.

NOTES

258

43. Ibid. 44. Ibid.

45. Ibid. 46.

James Tobin, Ernie

47. See

and

Ambrose,

Pyle's

War (New York: The Free

Citizen Soldiers, pp.

relative strengths of

Germans and

52-53

Press, 1997), p. 185.

for further statistics

on extent of

48. David C. Isby, editor, Fighting in Normandy,

The German Army from D-Day

Villers-Bocage (London: Greenhill Books, 2001), p. 236.

49.

Roy Stevens, interview with

50.

Poem composed by Roy

author.

Stevens, July 1944.

Chapter 16 1.

Richmond Times- Dispatch, May

2.

Ivylyn Hardy, interview with author.

3.

Bedford Democrat, June

4.

Ernie Pyle, Brave

5.

Bedford Bulletin, July 27, 1944.

6.

Bedford Bulletin, June

7.

Lucille

8.

Lynchburg News

9.

Sibyle Kieth

6,

28, 2000.

1994.

Men (New York: 6,

Hoback Boggess,

Grosset

June

3,

2001.

Coleman, interview with author. 1944.

Bedford Bulletin, July

1

Verona Lipford, interview with author.

12.

Elva

Dunlap, 1944),

1994.

10. 1

&

interview with author.

& Advance,

Newcomb,

6,

scrapbook.

13. Ibid. 14. Betty

Wilkes Hooper, interview with author.

15. Ibid. 16. Ibid. 17. Ibid.

18. Bertie

Woodford, interview with author.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid. 21. Bedford Bulletin, July 8, 1944.

22. Ibid., July 15,2002. 23.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, May

28, 2000.

Chapter 17 1.

Washington Times, Weekend Section, June 5-1

2.

Lucille

3.

Elaine Coffey, interview with author.

Hoback Boggess,

losses

Allies.

interview with author.

1,

2000.

p.

251.

to

NOTES

4.

Elizabeth Teass, interview with author.

5.

By now some were saying

that the 29th Division

259

commander, General Gerhardt, had

"a division in the field, a division in the hospital,

and

a division in the cemetery.

Beyond the Beachhead, pp. 253-254.

Balkoski,

Newcomb,

interview with author.

6.

Earl

7.

John Barnes, Fragments of My Life (self-published, 2000), pp. 80-83.

8.

Elizabeth Teass, interview with author.

9.

"Uncommon

Valor,"

Lynchburg News

& Advance,

June

3,

2001.

10. Ibid. 1

1.

Elizabeth Teass, interview with author.

12. Ibid. 13. Ibid. 14.

Rebecca Wingfield, interview with author.

15. Elizabeth Teass, interview

with author.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid. 18.

Pxichmond Times-Dispatch,

May

19.

Bedford Democrat, June

1994.

20.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, May

21. Bedford Democrat,

June

6,

6,

28, 2000.

28, 2000.

1994.

22. Elizabeth Teass, interview with author. 23. Elva

Newcomb,

interview with author.

24. Bettie Wilkes Hooper, interview with author. 25.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, May

26.

Helen Stevens, interview with author. U

27. inal

D-Day Widow

speech given on

28.

28, 2000.

Recalls Husband's Sacrifice," Bedford Bulletin, June 6, 2000. Orig-

May

8,

2000.

Richmond Times- Dispatch, May

28, 2000.

29. Verona Lipford, interview with author. 30. Elizabeth Teass, interview with author.

3

1

Ivylyn Hardy, interview with author.

32. Elva 33.

Newcomb,

"Memorial

34. Lucille

to

a

Town's Sacrifice," Baltimore Sun, June

Hoback Boggess,

35. Sibyle Kieth 36.

interview with author.

Honor

Anna Mae

interview with author.

Coleman, interview with author.

Stewart, interview with author.

37. Bedford Bulletin, July 19, 1944. 38. Eleanor Yowell, letter to "Pinky," July 25, 1944.

39.

David Draper, interview with author.

40. Letter, private correspondence, Lucille 41. Lucille 42.

Hoback Boggess,

Lynchburg Neu?s

Hoback

interview with author.

& Advance,

June

3,

2001.

Boggess.

6,

1998.

.

NOTES

260

Newcomb,

43. Elva 44.

private scrapbook.

& Advance,

Lynchburg News

45. Washington Times, June 5-1

Memoriam," Bedford

46. "In

June 1,

3,

2001.

2000.

Bulletin, undated, contained in

World War

II File,

Bed-

County Museum.

ford 47.

Lynchburg News

& Advance,

June

3,

2001.

Chapter 18 1

2.

Ivylyn Hardy, interview with author.

Letter from Mr. and Mrs. Frank Draper, and children Verona, David, and Gamiel;

from Elva Newcomb's scrapbook. 3.

Newcomb's scrapbook. Poem by Kathleen Bradshaw, Quinby,

Elva

4. Ibid.,

poem by

Virginia.

Elaine Coffey.

5.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, May

6.

Allen Huddleston, interview with author.

7.

Quoted,

Canham

28, 2000.

biographical information, Staunton

Armory Records

of

1

16th In-

fantry. 8.

Bob

9.

Joseph Ewing, 29

Sales, interview with author. Let's

Go! (Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1948),

p. 149.

Huddleston, interview with author.

10. Allen 11. Ibid.

12.

Bob

Slaughter, interview with author.

13.

Bob

Sales, interview with author.

14.

Huddleston ran

his

own photography

business until retiring in the eighties.

The

wife he had married in 1942 before going overseas with the Bedford boys died in 1988.

He has three sons and in 2003 lived in Bedford's Elks home with several other relatives of Company A men and played Rook almost as often as he did in the army. His shoulder wound, he

said,

had recently given him

"a lot of trouble."

15.

Information on casualties provided by Bob Slaughter.

16.

John Barnes, Fragments of My

Life (self-published, 2000), p. 131.

17. Ibid. 18. Ibid.

Newcomb,

interview with author.

19.

Elva

20.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, June

21. Bertie

2,

2002.

Woodford, interview with author.

22.

Ray Nance, interview with author.

23.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

24. Ibid. 25. Ibid. 26. Ibid. 27. Eloise Rogers, interview with author.

NOTES

28.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, June

29. Elva 30. Elva

31.

Newcomb, Newcomb,

interview with author.

Newcomb,

2002.

2,

private scrapbook.

33. Bedford Bulletin,

August

34. Bedford Bulletin,

December

35.

2002.

2,

private scrapbook.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, June

32. Elva

26

16, 1945. 8,

1947.

Verona Lipford, interview with author.

36. Ibid.

37. Ibid. 38.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

39. Ibid.

40.

Rebecca Wingfield, interview with author.

41. Ibid. 42. Laura Burnette, interview with author. 43. Bedford Democrat, April 29, 1954. 44.

Roy Stevens, interview with

author.

45. Bedford Bulletin, June 7, 2000.

46. Ivylyn Hardy, interview with author. 47. Ibid. 48. Bettie Wilkes Hooper, interview with author. 49.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, June

50.

Anna Mae

5

2,

2002.

Stewart, interview with author.

I.Bedford Bulletin, June

52. Virginia Pilot,

June

2,

1994.

6,

1968.

53. Ibid.

Chapter 19 1.

John Lang, "A town's

The

gift:

valor of

2. Billy

Parker memoir, Bedford County

3. Billy

Parker, interview with author.

Museum World War

4.

Bedford

5.

Bedford Bulletin,

6. Ibid., 7.

June

7,

March

II File.

letter to

Bedford Bulletin, June

11. Ibid. 12. Ibid.

June

5,

2000.

II File.

Untitled clipping.

1954.

Edward Gearing,

10. Ibid.

sons," Washington Times,

25, 1954.

Kenneth Crouch, September 20, 1954, Bedford County

Museum, World War II File. 8. Mary Daniel Heilig, interview with 9.

its

Museum, World War

7,

1954.

author.

.

NOTES

262

13. Ibid.

14.

Bedford Bulletin- Democrat, June 23, 1982, "Liberty Bicentennial Edition."

15.

Norman D.

Cota, Maj. Gen.,

US Army,

Ret., letter to

Kenneth

E.

Crouch, July

10,

1954. 16.

Major General D. W. Canham,

17.

Bedford Democrat, June

18.

Mary Daniel

19.

Potomac News, June

6,

letter to

Parker-Hoback

Post, April 30, 1954.

1994.

Heilig, interview with author. 5,

1994.

20. Verona Lipford, interview with author.

2

Bettie Wilkes Hooper, interview with author.

1

22. In the

meantime, most D-Day veterans had died.

23. Baltimore Sun,

June

24. Bedford Democrat,

Lynchburg News

25.

6,

June

1998. 6,

1994.

& Advance,

June

2001.

3,

26. Ibid.

Bob

27.

Slaughter, interview with author.

28. Ibid. 29.

"D-Day Memorial

to Salve

Towns

30. Various broadcasts as well as the 31. "Talk of

War Where One From

Terrible Loss," Washington Post, January 8, 1998.

New York

Past

Still

2001. 32. Ibid. 33. Ibid. 34.

Bob

35.

Verona Lipford, interview with author.

Sales, interview with author.

36. Elaine Coffey, interview with author.

37. Ibid. 38.

Mary Daniel

Times, June

Haunts,"

Heilig, interview with author.

7,

2001.

New York

Times, September 15,

INDEX

Abbott, Dickie, 26-27, 94, 129, 219

Battle of Britain, 13

Abbott, Leslie, 175

Battle of Manassas, reenactment of,

Abbott,

W.

B.,

26-27

ACTs. See Assault

11, 12

Battle of Trafalgar, 122

Africa, 61

Baumgarten, Hal, 236

Afrika Korps, 61

Armed

Allied

Forces Inter-Army

championship baseball, 69-70

in

containment camp, 93, 99, 100, 108

in

England, 74-75, 76

HMS

Amphibia, 100

on

Amphibious

and

troops, 100

Andover, 53-54 at

1

Assault training centers (ACTs), 81

for,

Slapton Sands, 83, 84

Bazookas, 181

Lady Nancy, 65, 78

Bedford, Virginia,

Atlantic Wall, 69 Ayers, Lloyd,

Beach, battle

158, 161-162, 163, 164

of the Shenandoah,

Astor,

Empire Javelin, 114, 116

Omaha

143-144, 147-148, 153-154, 155,

Anderson, Alfred, 130

Army

42-43

Battle of the Atlantic,

training centers

1,

after the war, 219,

97

and

casualties,

8

222-223

news

of,

189-196,

197-208 Baltimore News-Post,

Bandages,

1

D-Day

10

rolling, 99, 172,

Barnes, John, 199, 213-214, 236

rationing

D-Day, 173, 175, 176

containment camp, 93, 100-101

in

England, 74-75, 77, 82

HMS Empire Javelin,

and

Omaha Omaha

to,

and

123,

to,

Omaha

and reburial for,

survivors,

220-221

Basham, Melba, 44, 191

97

for,

225-229, 232-236 Beach, return at

to,

230-231

home, 219-220

and return home, 215-218, 220-221

145,

146, 159 Baseball, 69-72,

31, 61-62, 73, 96,

in,

227-228 memorial

116, 118, 120

Beach, approach

Beach, battle

and poems,

and invasion, reason chosen

126

and

letters

Bedford boys, 7

in

on

165-169, 171-172

210-211

Bangalore torpedoes, 83

after

in,

and memorial

189

See also

226

Company A

Bedford Bulletin,

263

1

1

1

INDEX

264

Bedford farmers,

9,

and D-Day memorial, 228

96

Bedford Fireman's Band,

17, 219,

226

in England,

77-78

Bedford High School, 17

and invasion plan, 103, 105

Bedford pool

and

16

hall,

Bee, Bernard,

Omaha

Beach, battle

Belding Hemingway,

9,

218

Capa, Robert, 100, 228

Belgium, 13

Cape Henry, 27

Black soldiers, 80

Carder,

Blitzkrieg attacks, 13

Carder Funeral Home, 219

"Blue and Gray, The" 15

Blue Ridge Mountains,

167, 198, 200,

219

Carter, Wallace, 16, 45, 59, 78, 130

Casualties, 139-148, 149-164, 174, 186,

Boggess, Lucille Hoback, 19, 232,

219

news

234-235, 236

Boutwood, John, 47, 49, 51

of, in

Bedford, 189-196,

197-208

Bornstein, Edith, 63

and Western Union telegrams, 191,

Bowman, Ned, 56

Omar

Ham;

Carney, Eugene, 90 1

Bocage, 177, 181

Bradley,

for,

149-151, 152-153, 155, 156

1

197-208

N., 107, 108

CCC.

See Civilian Conservation Corps

Bradshaw, Kathleen, 210

Chamberlain, Neville, 12

Braunton, 81

Chicago Cubs, 70

Breeden, Cecil, 116, 123, 134, 139,

Churchill, Winston, 12, 66, 68-69, 86,

152-154, 199, 230-231

Bremen, 214 Brest,

107 Civilian Conservation

Corps (CCC),

29,97

210

British Expeditionary Force, 107

British Royal Navy,

88

Civil War, 11,

87

Clifton, John, 13, in

Brookings Institution, 9

and

Broughman, Cedric, 110

and

B-29 bomber Enola Gay, 218

204

England, 63, 79

Brooke, Sir Alan, 107

Omaha Omaha

Beach, approach

to,

123

Beach, landing on, 134,

135

Minnie Lee, 63

Burma, 30

Clifton,

Burnette, Laura, 220-221

Coffey, Elaine, 14, 33, 34, 197-198, 210,

237

Burrow, Richard, 233-234, 235

Bush, George

W,

234, 235

Butcher, Harry, 91

Coleman, Andrew,

Coleman

Camp A. P. Hill, 21 Camp Blanding, 30, 31, 32-34 Camp Kilmer, 35-38 Canham, after

in

Charles, 35, 38, 75, 123

D-Day, 179, 182, 184

containment camp, 108-109, 110

84, 192, 198,

Coleman, Sibyle Kieth, family,

84, 192,

205

Colleville sur Mer, 173,

Company A, after

at

238

10

D-Day, 173-187

after the war, at

205

205

Camp Camp

222

Blanding, 30, 31, 32-34 Kilmer,

35-38

INDEX at

COSSAC,

Cape Henry, 27

and

139-148, 149-164,

casualties,

174

and combat experience, 87-88 in

in

and

first

at Fort

on

Cota, Norman, 123, 228 in

containment camp, 109

in

England, 72-73

party,

Cottrell, Marguerite,

1 1

Crayton, H. W., 206

Crouch, George, 110 Crouch, Kenneth, 225, 228

1

and Ivybridge, 58-66

Cundiff, Helen,

and medical examinations, 16

Curtis, Joseph O.,

of,

Omaha

Dartmoor, 58

Beach, approach

D-Day, 28, 129

to,

121-128 and

Omaha

in Bedford,

Beach, battle

and Great

for,

Omaha

Beach, casualties,

See also

139-148, 149-164, 174

and

Omaha

Omaha

Death Beach, return

to,

230-231

88-92

at

62

Dittmar, Robert, 144

Dog Green

226

Tidworth Barracks, 53-58

beach, 101, 131, 133

Donaldson, Harold, 143

See also Bedford boys

Company Company Company

98

DiMaggio, Joe, 72

Slapton Sands, 82-90

survivors,

notices,

DeWitt, William O., 72

and replacements, 74-77, 79 at

Dorsey,

Tommy, 37

B, 10

Doulish, 93, 109

C, 10

Draper, David, 70, 206

D, 10

Congress, and selective service

Draper, Frank, bill,

Jr.,

33, 192, 202, 203,

206, 209, 219, 222, 236

14

Conscientious objectors, 96-97, 166-167

and baseball, 70-71

Containment camp, Company A

in

93-110

Omaha

Denmark, 12

Detroit, race riots in, Tiger,

invasion;

D'Este, Carlo, 107

role in,

101-107 and Operation

Normandy

Dean, John, 202

Beach, landing on,

and Operation Overlord,

169

Beach; Operation Overlord

129-137 and

165-169, 171-172

Britain,

memorial, 225-229, 232-236

139-148, 149-164

and

80

Thomas, 184

Dallas,

North Carolina, 20

and

202,216

15-19

and moorland, 58-59 in

64

Craters, for shelter, 127

21, 23

HMS Empire Javelin, 1-5, 1-120 HMS Queen Mary, 38, 41-52

mobilization

for,

160-161

wave, 121-128

of,

Beach, battle

149-151, 152-153, 155-157,

17-18

Meade, 19-20,

induction

Omaha

and

England, 53-66, 67-80, 81-92

and farewell

on

17-18

of,

68, 69

and invasion plan, 105-106

containment camp, 93-1 10

departure

265

in,

on

containment camp, 99, 108

HMS

Empire Javelin,

1

1

INDEX

266

Omaha Omaha and Omaha and

Beach, approach

and

Beach, battle

125

to,

146

for,

Beach, landing on, 134,

136 203, 222-223

Sr.,

Maw,

Dutch

143, 152

Tiger,

91-92

Slapton Sands, 85, 88

194-195, 215, 226

1st Division, 28, 30, 33, 61, 80, 88, 91,

100 wave, 121-128

First

30

Indies,

Fizer, Charles, 101, 124, 159, 173, 193,

60

Inn, 26,

for,

Beach, landing on, 129

and Operation

202-203, 206, 219

Dunkirk, 13, 107

Dutch East

Beach, battle

Fergusson, Lieutenant, 140

202, 203, 209-210, 219

family, 167,

Omaha Omaha

Fellers family, 166,

Draper, Gamiel, 13, 70

Draper

and

at

Draper, Frank,

Draper,

and

198 Fizer family, 193

Eisenhower, Dwight, 115, 121, 165, 223,

228

Fort

and Higgins boats, 82-83 of,

1

12,

113-114, 117

19-20, 21, 23

War Loan

Fourth

Tiger,

France,

90

Drive, 98

2, 11, 12, 13,

61

liberation of, 211

Frank, Anne, 170

Elle River, 177

Company A

"England's

16,

Foutz, Elsie, 37

and invasion plan, 107

and Operation

Meade,

4th Division, 89, 90, 91

and invasion, postponement

England,

Forth of Clyde, 47, 51

in,

53-66, 67-80

Own," 61

Garbed, Robert, 148

English Channel, 3

Garden of the Missing, 238

Enola Gay, 218

Gearing, Edward

Ewing, Joseph, 21

after

"Exercise Beaver," 88

in

Expert Infantryman's Badge, 55

on

HMS Empire Javelin,

and Factories,

and wartime production,

Fellers, Peter

23-24, 25, 175, 222

in

containment camp,

in

England, 72, 78, 81

containment camp, 94, 95, 109

and

in

England, 56, 57-58, 58-59, 64, 69,

at

73, 75, 76-77, 79,80,

81-82

Empire Javelin, 3-4, 111,

115, 119

and invasion plan, 105 and

Omaha

122, 125,

145,

Beach, approach

127-128

to,

121,

1

10

and invasion plan, 103

in

HMS

for,

Gerhardt, Charles, 67-68, 69, 226, 227

Anson, 24

Fellers, Taylor, 10,

on

Beach, battle

18

George VI, 169 166

24

Fellers, Janie,

Omaha

1

159, 161

30-31, 62 Fellers, Bertie,

D-Day, 175, 176

containment camp, 100-101

Omaha

Beach, battle

for,

Slapton Sands, 87

German artillery, 181 German E-boats, 89 German Panzerfaust, 181 German POWs, 27 German prisoners, 174, 182, 211 German 352nd Division, 129

161

INDEX

German 716th Division, German U-boats, 43

102, 105, 129

of,

See also Nazi

Hickam

42-43

J.

Field airbase, 20

213

Higginbotham, Clarence, 166

Germany

Higgins, Andrew, 90

Gerow, Leonard, 54-55, 67, 87, 107 Gillaspie,

Daniel, 226, 229. See also

Danny

H-Hour, 101, 102

HMS Queen Mary,

surrender

Mary

Parker,

Germany, 60-61

and

Heilig,

W., 167

Higgins boats, 82-83

210

Hill 203,

Gillaspie, Nicholas, 44, 49, 130, 191

Hitler, Adolf, 12, 28, 30, 38, 107,

Gillette, Douglas, 71

and Atlantic Wall, 69

Goggin, Booker, 209

HMS Queen Mary, HMS Curacoa, and HMS

Gold

stars,

and

98

Goode, Dorothy Wilkes, 25

collision with,

Gray Ghost, 42. See also

HMS

Queen

Mary Great Britain, 11, 12, 28,46, 169

on

3,

7, 8,

Omaha

28, 31,

60

Omaha and Omaha

1-5, 82, 87, 93,

19—120

Beach, approach

Beach, battle

Hoback, Bedford, 13-14, 197, 210,

to,

for,

145-146

Beach, landing on, 129

Green, William, 184-185

in

containment camp,

in

England, 63, 76, 79

on

HMS

and

19, 28, 29, 34,

237 1

Omaha

Beach, battle

Hoback, John Samuel, 197

Greenock, 46, 50, 51

Hoback,

H., 171,

for,

144-145

Lucille, 21, 64, 191, 197, 204,

207, 226

Green's drugstore, 24, 198 J.

10

Queen Mary, 41

Greenbrier Hotel, 192

Grey,

46

47-51 1

121-128 and

Queen Mary,

HMS Obedient, 90 HMS Queen Elizabeth, 38, 215 HMS Queen Mary, 38, 41-52, 44-45, and HMS Curacoa, collision with,

1 1

HMS Empire Javelin,

and

42

110, 111-120, 140, 159

Grattidge, Harry, 50

Great Depression,

229

47-51

HMS Empire Javelin,

Goode, Robert, 100

Green, Jimmy,

267

205

Hoback, Mabel, 63, 79

Guadalcanal, 33

Hoback, Macie, 197-198, 232

Gubernot, Joe, 71

Hoback, Rachel, 204

Guderian, Heinz, 13

Hoback, Raymond, 13-14, 29, 204, 206-207, 237

Hamlett, Warner "Buster," 161

Hampton Looms,

28, 30, 62, 167,

218

in

containment camp, 94

in

England, 63—64

Hanks, Tom, 236

and

Hardy, Ralph H., 222

at

Harris, Jack, 190

Harrisonburg, Virginia, 10 Harvey, Mrs. Keith, 210

Hawthorn hedgerow. See Bocage

Omaha

Beach, landing on, 137

Slapton Sands, 86

Hoback and

family, 21,

casualties,

237

news

of,

204-205, 206-207

Hoboken,

New Jersey,

38

191, 197-198,

1

1

INDEX

268

Holland, 13

LCVP71,

Holmes, Lieutenant, 49

Lee, Clifton, 129, 203

Hooper, Bettie Wilkes

and

Omaha

Lee

Beach, return

to,

230-231

See also Wilkes, Bettie

123

203

family,

Leftwich-Fellers,

Annie Elizabeth, 24

Leigh-Mallory, Trafford, 113

and from home, 95-96

Hooper, Lewis, 223

Letters, to

Home, Mr., 202 Hound of the Bashennlles, 58

Letters and poems, memorial,

Huddleston, Allen, 169, 210-211, 212,

in

on

L.,

Liberty, Virginia, 8

Liberty magazine, 85

containment camp, 100

Liberty Theater, 9 Life magazine, 20, 38, 62, 100,

Queen Mary, 49

Lipford, Verona, 33-34, 71, 125, 219,

222-223, 236-237

Huddleston, Geraldine, 49

Huebner, Clarence

190

Lions Club, 98

England, 58, 72

HMS

210-21

62

213,226 and D-Day memorial, 225 in

Lewis, John

R.,

103

and

casualties,

news

of,

192, 202, 203

and D-Day, 167 Gordon, 41, 42, 49-50, 50-51

lllingworth,

Infantile paralysis, 167 Israel, Roy, Italy,

LST

507, 89

LST515, 90

200-201

LST

61, 86

Ivybridge,

Lockard, Rebecca, 97, 168

58-66

531, 89

LSTs. See Landing ship tanks

Lunscomb, Mrs., 64, 194-195 Jackson,

Thomas

J.,

Luxembourg, 13

1

W.

167

Jacksonville, Florida, 31

Lyle,

Japan, 30, 98, 214

Lynchburg, Virginia, 10

surrender Jodl, Alfred,

218

of,

Maissey

213

le

Grand, 162

Malaya, 30

Jones, Jesse, 97

Jordan, Ivylyn, 31-32 Jubelin, Andre,

L.,

Marshall, George

226-227

C, 90

Marshall, Jim, 197, 200

Marsico, Hazel, 220

Kessup, Private, 178

Marsico, John, 71

Korean War, 228

Marsico, Tony, 70-71, 160, 220-221, 226 Martin, Allin, 48

194-195

Laird, John, 145, 199

McCauley,

Land Army, 63

McCauley, Mr., 194

Landing

craft assault

(LCA), 83

Ellen,

McCloy, John

J.,

107

Landing ship tanks (LSTs), 89, 90

McKinney,

Lane, Mrs. H. ML, 172

McNair,

LCA LCA

Medics, 151-154, 161, 164

910, 121 911, sinking

of,

123-124, 126, 128

Nellie, 108

Lesley, 55

Memorial, D-Day, 225-229, 232-236

INDEX Memorial

and poems, 210-21

letters

and Poland, attack on,

gun, 151, 180

Military prison, 97

See also

28-29

Miller, Elva,

Nelson, Horatio, 122

New

Ministerial Association, 9

Mitchell, Jack, 175, 176, 21

1,

Brunswick, 35

Newbury

214

airfield,

Newcomb,

"Moaning Minnies," 181

M-l Garand

1

Germany

Nebelwerfers, 150-151, 181

28-29

Miller family,

National Socialism, 12

Nazi Germany, 13, 28

Mental exhaustion, 183

MG-42 machine

1 1

28-29, 33, 35, 37,

Earl, 10,

237

96, 211, 214, 226,

rifles, 5

D-Day 175-176, 183-184

Monte Cassino, 86

after

Montgomery, Bernard, 61, 92, 112,

in

containment camp,

in

England, 60, 76

113-114

HMS Queen Mar)',

1

10

Moorland, 58-59

on

Mortar

and return home, 217-218

fire,

151

Mud Alley Wildcat

baseball team,

Mullins, Thomas,

16

Murdock,

Gil,

1

Newcomb,

1

and

75-76, 130, 131-133,

in

10, 14, 224, 226, 231,

238

containment camp, 94, 95

and D-Day memorial, 225 in

on on

England, 56, 63, 69, 73, 80

HMS Empire Javelin, HMS Queen Mary, 5

and invasion and and

Omaha Omaha

2-5, 116, 117

Omaha

Beach, battle

to,

123

for,

Beach, landing on, 134-137 Tiger, 9

and return home, 215, 221—222 at

Slapton Sands, 87

Napoleonic Wars, 122 National

D-Day Foundation, 235

National

D-Day Memorial. See Memorial,

D-Day after the war,

family,

28-29, 165

222

National Guard Memorial, 230

25

New York City, 36 New York Times, 20, 235 New York Yankees, 72 terrorist attack,

234-235

invasion, 69

and Bedford boys, reason chosen

for,

227-228 postponement See also

of,

Omaha

112, 113-114, 117

Beach; Operation

Overlord

North Africa, 30, 33, 68 North Carolina, 20 Nurses, 169-170

Office of Price Administration, 96 Office of Production

National Guard, 7-8, 55

217-218

201-202, 203

Newman, Naomi, 24, 195-196 Newman, William Henry, 1

Normandy

Beach, approach

and Operation

of,

and D-Day, 165, 166

911

plan, 105

151-152, 160, 161

and

news

New Deal, 29 New London Academy,

Nance, McHenry, 223

44, 45, 48

Elva, 30, 204, 214,

casualties,

Newcomb

199, 214

Nance, Ray,

269

Office of

Omaha after

War

Management,

Information, 96

Beach,

1,

28, 101, 118

D-Dav, 173-187

1

1

1

INDEX

270

approach battle

121-128

to,

for,

237-238. See

139-148, 149-164

and Bedford boys, return casualties,

to,

230-231

dress rehearsal,

to,

230-231

88-92

224, 225, 226, 229, 231, 237-238 in

containment camp, 94

in

England, 66, 72, 73

on

HMS

Empire Javelin, 112, 114

landing on, 129-137

Parker, Joseph, 211, 225,

and medics, 151-154, 161, 164

Parker, Mrs. George,

See also

Normandy

invasion; Operation

Overlord

Battalion, 149

171

229, 231

223-224

after the war,

1

16th Infantry Regiment, 10

1

16 Yankees, 69-71. See also Baseball

and

casualties,

news

of,

189, 191,

of,

190-191, 201

201

and D-Day, 165

Operation Barbarossa, 30

Parker family, 225, 226

Operation Bolero, 58

news

Operation Fortitude, 86

and

Operation Fox, 87

and D-Day, 165

casualties,

Operation Neptune, 101

Parker-Hoback post, 225

Operation Overlord, 28, 68-69, 77, 86,

Paschendaele, 87 Pas de Calais, 69, 86, 87

88,91,93, 154 and Company A,

role in,

101-107

Patton,

101-107

invasion plan,

Normandy

George

Omaha

Peaks of Otter, 11, 56-57

Pearl Harbor,

Operation Torch, 30

Perkin, Julian,

Oran, Algeria, 61

Philippines, 30

Oslo, Norway, 12

Omaha Omaha

bombing

of,

1

20-21, 30

90

Physical exhaustion, 183

Glenwood

"Dickie," 202,

226

England, 60, 79

and

210

"Peaks of Otter Rifles, The,"

Operation Tiger, 88-92

and

86,

S.,

Peake, Mickey Muriel, 65

invasion;

Beach

Overstreet,

226

61-62, 96, 97, 98,

Parker, Viola, 33, 36-37, 66, 94, 99, 226,

146th Special Underwater Demolition

See also

Mary

Parker, Earl, 10, 27, 28, 99, 201, 211,

139-148, 149-164, 174,

and Company A, return

also Heilig,

Daniel

186

in

1

Beach, battle

Piccadilly Circus,

65-66

Pickett, Russell, 119, for,

160

139-140, 146,

155

Piedmont Label Company, 27

Beach, landing on,

130-131

Pledge of neutrality,

and return home, 220

Plot cultivation,

1

96

Plymouth, England, 173

Overstreet, Wilton, 60

Pocahontas, 219 Point du Hoc, 157

Padley, James, 125, 126, 193 Parker, Billy, 27, Parker,

Danny

225

(later

Poland

Mary Daniel

Heilig),

66, 73, 99, 165, 191, 226, 229,

and Nazi Germany, attack on, surrender

of,

12

1

INDEX

Roach, George, 75-76, 199, 214

Powers, Clyde, 18, 191, 226 after

D-Day, 173-175, 177-178, 184,

and

containment camp, 101

at

and D-Day memorial, 225, 228 in England,

on

HMS

and

64-65

Beach, landing on, 130,

Empire Javelin, 117, 118

Omaha

Omaha

Slapton Sands, 83-84

Roanoke, Virginia, 10 Roberts, Pam,

Beach, approach

to,

64-65

Robinson, Noel, 47-48 Rogers, Eloise, 170

Rommel, Erwin,

124-125 and

Omaha

132-133

185 in

Beach, battle

for,

146,

and return home, 216-217, 220,

and

New

Deal, 29

and Office of Production

221 Powers, Eloise, 18, 216-217

Management,

Powers, Jack, 18, 174, 178, 217

containment camp, 100

and pledge of

in

England, 57, 76, 79

and

HMS Empire Javelin,

1

17

1

6-2 1

Presidential citation, 192, Presley, "Big Bill," Proffit,

1

1

96

and radio address, 172 and United Mine Workers, 62

210

54

"Chubby," 71

Purple hearts, 212 Pyle, Ernie, 186,

neutrality,

plot cultivation,

and "Roosevelt's Tree Army," 29

Powers, Marie, 208 family, 2

15

and Operation Overlord, 68-69

in

Powers

61, 103-104, 149

Roosevelt, Franklin, 39, 223

and declaration of war, 22

159

on

190

"Roosevelt's Tree Army," 29

Rosazza, Calisto, 60 Rosazza, Weldon, 10, 60, 63

Rothenberg, Sam, 213 Royce, Peter, 226 Rubatex, 30, 218

Quarles, Ellen, 60

Rucker, Peter, 200, 202-203

Queen

Ruff,

Alexandra's Hospital, 169

Sam, 25

Ruffing, Red, 72

Race

riots,

62

Russell, John, 8

Ramcke, General, 21

Russia, and attack on Poland, 12

Rangers, 57, 103

Russians, 86

Rathbone,

Basil,

58

Rationing, 31, 61-62, 73, 96, 97

Sales, Bob, 106, 208, 211,

212-213

Red Army, 30

after

Reichert, Joseph, 187

and D-Day memorial, 236

Reynolds, John, 210

in

in

England, 64, 78-79

and

Omaha

Beach, landing on, 134,

136 Reynolds, Willie, 64 Rizzuto, Phil, 72

271

on

D-Day, 179, 181, 182

England, 66

HMS

Queen

Mar)',

50

and invasion plan, 106 and

Omaha

Beach, battle

140-143, 164 Salisbury 53

for,

INDEX

272

Samuel, Bernard, 165

Slapton Sands, 82-90

"Sausages," 93. See also Containment

Slaughter, Bob, 36, 71, 208,

camp

after

Saving Private Ryan, 234, 236 Saxtein, Morris,

1

in

235-236

Schenk, George, 218 in

222-223

on

casualties,

news

of,

189,

204

HMS

Queen Mary,

Omaha

and

Beach, battle

222-223 containment camp, 95

Somme, 87

in

England, 55, 56, 81-82

Sours, John, 150

on

HMS Empire Javelin, HMS Queen Mary, 43

Omaha and Omaha and

Spaden, 214

Beach, approach Beach, battle

Soviet Union, 30

16

1

for,

to,

123

152

Slapton Sands, 85

Special Engineer Task Force, 103 Spielberg, Steven, 234,

236

St.

L6, 177, 184

Schenk, Rosa, 218

St.

Louis Browns, 72

Schenk

St.

Louis Cardinals, 70, 72

at

and

family,

218

news

casualties,

of,

204

and D-Day, 166

Schulz, Charles M., Scott, Morris, 16,

Stagg, James, Stalin, Joseph,

Schofield Barracks, 21

Scott,

Stars

233-234

1

bill,

178, 180, 203, 216, 231

14

in

wounds (SIWs), 184

on

England, 81

HMS Empire Javelin, HMS

on

and

Shea, Jack, 149-150, 151, 156, 157,

112, 114,

Queen Mary,

Omaha

42, 46

Beach, battle

for,

1

59

Stevens, Roy, 7-10, 14, 16, 17, 21, 25,

159-160

37, 157,

Short Guide to Britain, A, 44

after

203,204, 226, 237

D-Day, 173-175, 176-180, 182,

183-187

Shoulder patches, 15 Shrader, Viola, 10, 27

in

containment camp, 101, 108, 110

and D-Day memorial, 235

61, 68

Singapore, 30 Self-inflicted

2,

117-118

213

Shapiro, Sam, 46

SIWs. See

203-204

Stevens, Ray, 7-10, 37, 157, 174-176,

15

SHAEF, 113

Sicily,

Stripes, 60, 62, 71

Stevens, Harold,

Second wave, 123

Setterich,

13

30

Stevens, Martha Jane, 225

"Screaming Eagles,"

Selective service

and

1

Stevens, Helen, 196, 237

27

Murphy, 107

Self-inflicted

for,

Smith, Mack, 143

in

on

44, 48

146-147, 155, 163-164

31-32, 96, 204,

10,

England, 53, 54, 55

and invasion plan, 106-107

and D-Day, 166 Schenk, John,

containment camp, 101

and D-Day memorial, 232-233,

14

Schenk, Ivylyn, 55, 56, 85, 95, 96, 209,

and

212

D-Day, 180, 181, 182-183

in

wounds

England, 58, 59, 63, 65-66, 70,

77-78, 78, 81, 82

INDEX

on

HMS Empire Javelin,

United Mine Workers, 62

1-2, 3,

112-113, 114, 117-118, 119, 120

on

HMS Queen Mar)',

and

Omaha

153 U.S.

plan, 106

U.S.

Beach, approach

to,

123,

Omaha

Omaha

for,

145,

Beach, return

to,

231

Tiger, 9

and return home, 215-216, 220, 221 Slapton Sands, 84, 85

Stevens family, 10, 180, 203-204, 216 Stewart,

Anna Mae,

19-20

of,

20

U.S. Navy, and Pearl Harbor, bombing

of,

USS Arkansas, 102 USS Charles Carroll, 123 USS McCook, 160, 164 USS Texas, 102, 123, 160 Utah Beach, 88, 163

37, 72

223

after the war,

and

at,

Special Services Division, 44

20-21

and Operation

at

bases, discipline

bombing Beach, battle

146, 159

and

Army Army

U.S. battleships, at Pearl Harbor,

124, 126

and

Army Medical Department,

United States

42, 45-46,

49, 51

and invasion

273

news

Valance,

Thomas

in

containment camp, 108

Strong, Kenneth, 114

in

England, 75-76

"Stukas on Wheels," 181

and

"Suicide Wave,"

and

casualties,

1

of,

205

1

Beach, battle

for,

162-163

Beach, landing on, 130,

133-134

Sulphur Springs, 192 Sumpter, Octavia White, 13

Omaha Omaha

V

Corps, 67

V-E Day, 214 Teass, Elizabeth, 169, 198-201, 203,

205 1 1

62

Textile industry,

Workers Union, 30

Thaxton,

Mary, 169-170

Veterans, 219, 231

Tedder, Arthur,

Textile

Verrier,

Emma,

9

89

Victor, Arthur,

Mer,

Vierville sur

V-J Day,

Thomas, Frank, 200

Volunteers,

3206th Quartermaster Service

Von Manstein,

Company, 89

103, 106, 157, 161

Vixen Tor, 67

Thaxton, Jane, 9

Thurman, Anthony, 160, 226

1,

Virginia Military Institute, 55

218

women

Von Rundstedt,

as,

98

Erich, 12

Editha, 228

Von Rundstedt, Gerd, 228

Tidworth Barracks, 53-58 Tidworth House, 62-63

Walker, Robert, 112

Transportation Corps, 38

Wall Street, and D-Day, 165

Tunisia, 61

Wall Street crash, 9

"Twenty Committee, The" 86

War Bonds,

"29, Let's Go!",

Ware, Robert, 141

"29

Let's Go!",

67 177

29th Division, 10

98, 167

Warner, John

W,

235

Wartime production, 30-31, 62

11

INDEX

274

Washington, George, 12

Williams,

Watson, Alpha, 215

Winchell, Walter, 20, 190, 191

Wellington, General, 63 casualties,

197-208

and D-Day memorial, 225 in

Weymouth, England, 93 White, Gordon Henry,

195

Wingfield, Pride, 28, 168

Western Union telegrams, and 191,

Bill,

Jr.,

England, 65

and return home, 220-221 13,

129-130,

232

Wingfield, Rebecca, 221

Wingfield family, 168

White, Gordon Henry,

Sr.,

232

Witt, Beulah, 60, 131

Henry

White, Rose, 232

Witt,

Wilkes, Bettie (later Bettie Wilkes

Women,

Hooper), 24, 25-26, 33, 34, 36-37, 98, 99,

207

after the war,

Woodford,

and

G., 134

as volunteers,

news

casualties,

and D-Day, 166 See also Hooper, Bettie Wilkes

Wright, Dick, 142

casualties,

news

of,

189, 193-194,

202-203

Wright, Elmere,

Wilkes, Harold, 18 after in

on

D-Day

and

Empire javelin,

Omaha

194-195

in

Beach, approach

containment camp, 99

and

18

1

1

and baseball, 70, 71, 72

173, 184, 185

containment camp, 101

HMS

of,

Woolacombe, 81

223

Work programs, 97 World War I, 10, 12 World War II, 11-12

and

98

23-24, 64, 109, 215

Bertie,

to,

124,

Omaha

Beach, battle

Wright, William,

for,

145

1

125

and

Omaha

Beach, battle

for,

1

59

Wilkes, John, 10, 24-26, 34, 35, 36, 166,

Yopp, Elsie, 205

Yopp, Grant, 10, 37,205, 223

223, 230-231

in

containment camp, 95, 109

in

containment camp, 109

in

England, 72

in

England, 56, 65, 75, 77, 79

on

on

HMS

Empire

Omaha and Omaha and

at

Javelin, 114,

Beach, battle

for,

116 152, 162

Beach, landing on, 130

HMS Queen Mary,

45

Yopp, Herbert, 45 Yowell, Eleanor, 168,

Yowell, Pinky,

206

206

Slapton Sands, 83

Wilkes, Leo D., 24-25

Wilkes

family,

24-26

Zappacosta, Ettore, 106, 140-143

Zimmerman,

Charlie,

216

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 9999 04634 608 4

DATE DUE

, BiiQhtcm Branch Library 40 Acactemy HSfl Road MA 02135-331*

i

r

'.

8

I

'mi'.,

/I

Alex Kershaw writer.

He

is

and screen-

a journalist

is

the author of the widely acclaimed

biography Jack London and of the forthcoming

Blood and Champagne: The Life and Times of

He

Robert Capa.

lives in

Vermont.

Front jacket:

Robert

Capa photograph

of the

D-Dax

landing at

Omaha

Beach.

Bach, jacket:

A few

Bedford hoys enjoy their

last

day with their wives and girlfriends

before going off to war. Left to right: Edith Bornstein

and John

Clifton:

Vivian and Sherman Watson: George and Beunice Crouch, John and Bettie Wilkes, Earl

and

Viola Parker, kneeling. Elaine CofJe^

Hoback. Four of the men

Hoback

— were

killed

in this

photograph

—

and Bedford

Clifton. Wilkes. Parker

and

on D-I)cn

Da Capo Press A Member

of the

Perseus Books Group

www.dacapopress.com Jacket photograph

©

Robert

Capa/Magnum Photos

Back jacket photograph courtesy Bedford County

of Bettie Wilkes

Museum

Author photograph

©

Jerry Bauer

Hooper and the

From The Bedford

Boys:

Elizabeth Teass switched on the teletype machine for receiving telegrams....

Soon words emerged on

a strip of paper chattering out

of the printer. Teass's heart sank as she read the

The Secretary of War desires me to express

first line

his

of copy:

deep regret.

Teass had seen these words before.... She waited for the message to end, expecting the machine to line of

fall silent.

copy clicked out of the

terrible

had happened

to

Company A.

and wondered how many more

it

it

"I

it

did not. Line after

Within a few minutes, as

printer.

Teass watched in a "trance-like state,"

But

was clear that something

just sat

was going

and watched them

to be."