Photos and Stories of SSG Bosworth
Hand-written response to question: I know you were in
training for 2 years before D-Day, how impatient were you to get going?
We in [sic] the hangar at England’s “Fulbeck” airport ready
to go on the night of June 4th – a big storm came and all flights
were cancelled. The next day the “Bitch of Berlin” (on the radio) called the
Americans and asked why they did not come to Germany on June 5th
(our rescheduled date to jump, but the storm lasted a second day so we went
anyway as the storm had passed Normandy and the English Channel. When we did
jump, it was cold and everything was wet, the moon would come out behind the
clouds and we needed the moonlight to see.
Hand written note to
Jeff Bosworth
We stopped reinforcements to beaches.
Handwritten note in book margin Paratrooper – Gerard Devlin
Pg 386:
Captain Ben
Schwartzwalder… pushed west until he met elements of Lieutenant Colonel Charles
J. Timmes’ 2nd Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry, in
position near town of Cauquigny. (Dad underlined this and wrote the following
in the margin: “I was with Col. Timmes”
He also noted Schwartzwalder was his C.O.)
Paratrooper – Gerard
Gevlin
I landed on Normandy at 2 a.m. on the morning of June 6,
1944. I broke my right ankle when I landed in a German foxhole when I hit the
ground after the parachute jump. I landed ¼ mile east of Orglandes, France. I
was behind enemy lines and walked + crawled until I joined up with Col Timmes
at Amferville and joined in the attack of the town. I was crawling over a
hedgerow when I looked face to face with a German machinegunner and his
assistant. I killed the assistant but the gunner wounded me and I’m certain
that I also wounded the gunner. That afternoon Lt Law found me and we walked
all that night and the next morning we rejoined Col Timmes. We set up a defense
in a large farm that was surrounded by swamp on three sides. The Germans tried
for 7 ½ days to us out but were unsuccessful. The 90th division
finally drove through to relieve us on D+8 and we went toward the rear to
rejoin the remainder of the regiment. 956 men left out of 2800.
Hand written account in
personal scrapbook
Like Royce I jumped
in Normandy and was wounded when Col Timmes’ “gang” was unable to take
Amferville.
Handwritten letter –
unknown date & recipient
…. [page missing] about the paratroopers, because there were
some German anti-paratroopers in the area. Their units were on bicycles. We
were later to find bicycles all over Normandy
We were shipped back to Nottingham after we had marched to
the “beachhead.” It still showed signs of mass destruction,
Back to Nottingham where we had our basic camp and lived six
men to a tent. We stayed and tried to build up our strength to the original
13,000 soldiers. Stu Jones comes in at this time (Note: must have transferred
in from another company – Jones was a Normandy vet).
We moved to Tidworth which was a regular Army
camp for the British soldiers. While
we were at Tidworth waiting for replacements to build up our strength we played
football in a military league. “Pappy” [Capt] Ben Schwartzwalder, G Co coach of
Syracuse University, was our coach. I played end on 507 regt football team in
England in 1944. The team was the only undefeated, untied, unscored-upon team
in European Theater of Operations. We were stationed at Tidworth when the
football season was on. I was second string behind Tex Walters, all southwest
conference end at Rice Institute in Texas.
Schwatzwalder was a company
commander in 2nd battalion during the fighting in Normandy. After
that he transferred to 1st battalion HQ Co. commander – my company
commander.
We played three army teams
left in England. We were supposed to play the 8th Air Force Shuttle
Raiders on Thanksgiving day for the ETO championship for our fourth game.
The Port battalion had two 250
lb. tackles, yet we won. Our 180 pound linemen had to block as move them back
Note: Wikipedia entry of
Schwartzwalder says the 10 game season was before Normandy.
We were sealed in
at the airport in Fullbeck England on June 4.
We were all briefed
on what we had to do. We spent our time fixing our equipment, checking it and
making sure everything worked.
On the night of
June 5, there was a radio in the hanger turned in to a German radio station.
The loudspeaker in the hanger made it possible for all to hear.
The “Bitch of
Berlin” (AKA Axis Sally) came on the radio and wanted to know what happened to
the boys from the airborne division. They had been expecting us on June 5.
Sorry we had disappointed her. She had a reception waiting for us and she was
sure we would have enjoyed it.
That kind of
worried us, we all talked about that. They probably knew we were coming.
On the night of June
5, we were loaded into the planes and somebody from division supply services
gave each trooper some ten pound land mines and some ¼ mile reels of wire with
the idea of getting it to the ground so that it could be used later. I weighed
about 325 pounds. We were so heavy with all the equipment, we had to help each
other up. I weighed 180 pounds at that time (without the extra equipment).
When we took off in
the airplanes, they circled until all the planes were assembled in formation,
then headed toward France going across the English Channel.
It was somewhat
cloudy and the moon was shining as we were crossing the channel. The moon came
out from behind the clouds and we were able to look down and see all of the
ships that were headed toward France. The ships were so numerous that it seemed
you could walk from England to France, hopping from one to the other. It was a
beautiful sight! Finally we found the American battleship we were looking for;
the one that would guide us to turn east and cross into France.
Shortly after we
entered France we were met with heavy anti-aircraft fire. It was so heavy that
the planes began to scatter. As we reached Orglandes, France, a shell or
shrapnel went right through our plane, missing Lt Law by about a foot. The
pilot immediately gave us the green light to jump, even though we hadn’t
reached our drop zone.
We all landed near
Orglandes, France on the eastern outskirts of the highway to Ampferville.
However, most of the stick separated near Orglandes. During the jump when the
eighteen men jumped in eleven seconds. Lt Law was not in my group (ed. note: Lt
Law was part of his stick, just not part of the group that dad assembled with).
Six of the men were
near when I landed on the corner of a field. On my landing, I landed with my
left leg in a foxhole, breaking my right ankle. When the six of us got together
we saw a French farmhouse across the road and they helped me walk to it. We
went to the farm house and knocked on the door and woke up the people. They let
us in the house and hugged each one of us. They were really happy to see
us. We showed them the American flag on
our shoulder patches. They had heard rumors about the paratroopers because
there were some German anti-paratroopers in the area. Their units were on
bicycles. We were later to find bicycles all over Normandy.
The lady in the
French farmhouse was a school teacher and she could speak a little English. We
got our maps out and they showed us exactly where we were, where Amperville was
and what we had to do to get there. Because my ankle was broken and I couldn’t
walk, she and her husband gave us their truck. The truck was a small flatbed
with about a two foot side boards and tailgate, made with 1x12 on the vertical
sticks giving good coverage to the men in the truck’s bed. Her husband also dug
up a five gallon can of gasoline he had buried in the yard and put it in the
truck. SSG A. J. Carlucci[1]
and I signed a receipt for the truck that would enable them to collect the
value from the United States. SSG
Carlucci drove and I sat in the seat beside him.
On our way to
Amperville in the truck, we passed two German soldiers on bicycles going there
also. The Germans were apparently gathering there for breakfast. After we drove
through the edge of Amperville, we saw Americans in a field and drove through a
gate to join them. It was Col. Timmes and some of the other groups of men.[2]
There was a medic
in the group and he made a splint for my ankle. I didn’t want to be left alone,
so I went with them using my rifle as a crutch.
Three of us were
told to go through the fields along the hedgerows and we were to come in behind
some buildings; each one of us were to take one building and try to stop any
German Soldiers coming out behind the buildings. I was to take the last
building as my assignment. As I was crawling along one hedgerow to get to the
other side in the next field, I looked to Germans face-to-face, about four feet
away. They were setting up a machinegun. It seemed like an hour before any of
us moved. Then all Hell broke loose.
I made the big
mistake of shooting the assistant gunner first as I swung my rifle from left to
right. Because I had one of the few automatic carbine rifles[3]
made by a sergeant in the motor pool, I was able to hit the gunner too. At the
same time he fired at me. The bullet hit me in the shoulder and I went flying
backward off of the hedgerow and lost consciousness for I don’t know how long.
When I regained consciousness I tried to get up and my right arm was dead. I
had no feeling. But my curiosity got the best of me and I had to go back and
look to see what happened. They were both gone. There was a lot of blood and I
knew I had at least wounded them. I was weak and started to crawl back toward
the farmhouse to Col. Timmes, which they had told us to do if the attack was
unsuccessful.
The French farmhouse
was a good defensive position surrounded on three sides by swamp which had been
caused by the Germans flooding the fields. The fourth side contained the
highway to the beaches.
I was able to go
across one field and into the second one when I passed out. Somehow Lt Law
found me, bandaged my shoulder and asked me if I could walk. I said, “I don’t think so,” and told him what
happened. He said, “Stick your handkerchief in your mouth and try and see if
you can stay with me.” So I did.
After the first ten
steps my ankle became numb and I stayed with him. We had to get out of there. I
walked with him. I figured it was better than being shot again. We walked over to the edge of the swamp and
waited there until dark. Then we waded across the swamp and rejoined the group
with Col. Timmes.
Lt Law told me to go down to the basement with the rest of the wounded. There were about 10-12 other fellows there. That’s where I spent the rest of the longest day of my life. Right there. Thanks to Lt Law.
Oral
History submitted to University of New Orleans, 3/24/92
Some time after D-Day dad and several other troopers were
crossing a field enclosed by hedgerows when they came under mortar attack. A
60mm round hit a sergeant from B Company right in the head – lucky for him it
was a dud, stuck right in his helmet. Gave him a very sore neck, but was
otherwise unhurt. The Sergeant kept repeating. “Geeze, I’m lucky.”
On another occasion,
a soldier was not so lucky. They were crossing a flooded field when someone
took a direct hit and completely disintegrated. They could only find part of
his leg.
Around seven to ten
days after D-Day they managed to liberate a small village. The Germans
controlled the single road in to the village. It was narrow and raised up, with
water on both sides. Someone found a boat and they used it to ferry troops to a
dry spot to flank the village. They captured the village and used one of the
houses as a supply center.
Once inside, Dad saw
a glass of clear liquid sitting on a table. Assuming it to be water, he took a
drink. Turned out to be cognac. The unexpected shock buckled his knees.
They took several
prisoners. They were allowed to keep personal items, but dad took a backpack
(which we still have) and a pair of pistols. He carried these weapons
throughout the war (sometimes hiding them and retrieving later) they were
confiscated by a young “desk-jockey”
lieutenant when they got to New Jersey. The second time an officer stole
his weapon.
When dad told me this story in the year 2000, he was still
shaking his fist at the lieutenant. Dad said he yelled at him for not even
“Getting your feet wet, you dirty #!@%!” Some of the troopers had to be
physically restrained when their souvenirs were confiscated.
About this same time, he and several others were searching a
farmhouse that was full of German supplies. They found a paper with the 82nd
division’s crest on top. The name had a list of every officer and top three
enlisted men of the division. Dad said he saw his own name on the list. “It was
enough to make one lose control of one’s bowels.”
Somewhere in France they met some French children. Dad got a
couple of oranges from the mess hall for them. The children had never seen an
orange before. They tried to bite into it like an apple. He had to show them
how to peel it.
When they left
Normandy, they only had 956 troopers out of their original 2800 men. Dad was
acting supply officer, as all officers in the section had been wounded.
(Not told at same time)
Me: Dad, why would you want to jump out of a perfectly good
working airplane?
Dad: After that first shell went through that plane, nobody
wanted to stay in. And those planes weren’t “perfectly good working.”
The ones who stormed the beach were the real heroes. I
joined the paratroopers because I didn’t have the guts to do a beach landing. I
would much rather come in the middle of the night when they didn’t know exactly
where I was, how many men I had with me and what our mission was.
Oral history to Jeff
Bosworth (paraphrased from memory)
I jumped with the following:
3 days rations
.45 pistol with 4 x 7 round magazines
2 bandoliers of carbine ammo
2 canteens
2 x 10lb. landmines
2 grenades (1 fragmentation & 1 Gammon)
Dad was the last to jump in his stick. There wasn’t enough room for him in the body of the plane, so he had to sit up by the navigator. This also meant that he had to “hook up” (to the static line) on the run.
Dad said they only
had time to complete about ½ oscillation on the way down. They used their “crickets” to gather about a
half-dozen troopers. One of them said, “Hey Sarge, do we play hide & seek
now?” Everyone laughed, but no one ever admitted to saying it.
Some of the local French girls would dig up our buried
parachutes and use them to make petticoats.
Dad was promoted to battalion supply sergeant on D-Day by
1Lt Law, when it was discovered that the original supply sergeant drowned on
landing (he was always in supply, but not sure exactly at what capacity). 1Lt
Law was wounded on June 29, after that dad was acting battalion supply officer,
as there were no other officers left.
Q: What went through your mind when you got hit?
A: Oh my God, I’m
dead!
Dad described 1Lt Law as his favorite officer, “He had too
much nerve for one man.”
Exchange between mom and dad when they took a Normandy tour:
Mom: I think this is your chance to find out if the farmer
who gave you the truck and gas ever got repaid,
Dad: We stopped there. He never got paid or got his truck
back.
On getting hit by MG "Felt like
being hit by a sledgehammer."
Recollection of Fred Bosworth of dad
describing how it felt to be wounded
And now for the photos. Some of these I did not see unti after he died.
Dad is the tall one on the right. The other soldier is John Dymowske. One of my favorite photos, taken some time in Normandy before June 29, 1944.
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