Photo By Staff Sgt. James Hunter | Reed Pelfrey (left), Dan McBride, Joe Lofthouse, and Earl Kelly, all members of the...... read more read more
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FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — It was a day that lives forever in the minds of Soldiers past and present, a day that lays on the pages of history books forever, and a day that began the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment's combat operations during World War II.
In Normandy, France, June 6, 1944, Soldiers from the 502nd, who at the time had no lineage or history, embarked upon one of the most memorable and historical events in U.S. history — D-Day. Paratroopers from the now historical 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment parachuted into Normandy.
The 502nd Soldiers, one of the first units to depart for Normandy, left knowing their mission would be to secure two northern causeways leading inland from Utah Beach and then destroy a German coast-artillery batter near Ste. Martin-de-Varreville.
With enemy anti-aircraft fire shooting through the sky, the Paratroopers pushed out the aircraft and down toward the ground to fight the enemy combatants. Though scattered throughout, many missing their designated drop zone, they collected themselves, fought with men they never knew, and pushed toward their objective.
"I was one frightened kid. When we got the order to stand up and hook up my heart was a pounding. My knees were weak and my belly was a flip-flopping. I figured I was going to die in the next five minutes. I was scared to death," said Joe "Lofty" Lofthouse, an original member of Company G, 502nd PIR. "Casualties were everywhere. It was the most frightening night of my life. I died before I hit the ground."
Lofthouse, along with three other Paratroopers — Reed Pelfrey, Earl Kelly, Dan McBride — of the 502nd who jumped into Normandy, met with Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), to reflect upon their experiences during World War II Aug. 14-15.
Their experiences offered Soldiers an incredible insight into their regiment's past, into the lives of those men who jumped that historical night in June, and an opportunity to live those days in combat through these surviving men of WWII.
"I wasn't anything other than whatever body else was. What I did in World War II was exactly what everyone else did," said Earl Kelly, who as a staff sergeant served with Co. I, 502nd PIR.
Kelly, who was wounded in Normandy and Holland, is said to be the best surviving story-teller of the 502nd and was one of the few members of his company who survived the march down N13 Causeway, which today is known as "Purple Heart Lane."
Kelly vividly remembers his time at the Battle of the Bulge, where on Dec. 16, 1944, the German's launched a major offensive through the Ardennes Forest in hopes of choking the allied supply lines. However, they would not accomplish the mission they set out on. The 502nd, and 101st Abn. Div., held their positions and halted the German offensive.
"The Battle of the Bulge was the worst place I was ever at in my life," said Kelly. "We had no clothes, we had no food. Up in the Battle of the Bulge, things were pretty hairy."
There, Kelly remembers, he had a machine gun section, and a Soldier under him who they called Tripp.
"Tripp came in carrying a five-gallon can of gasoline and I said, 'Where the hell did you get that.' He said he stole it from the cook tent. I said, 'What are you going to do with that,'" Kelly said.
Tripp told him he was going to tie it down in a tree where he had his machine gun set up as well.
"Tripp said, 'I'm going to light them up," Kelly said. "Well sure enough he got it tied up in that tree, and sure enough the Germans came, and he lit them up. He stopped the whole attack they had. I looked at that as good ol' American ingenuity. If you aint got it, make it.
Kelly joked that the men he "Soldiered" with would be in trouble in most cases in today's Army, "but it was one of the best unit's in the United States Army and it still is."
Lofthouse talked about his days prior to joining the airborne ranks. He was a young man and serving with the National Guard. His first sergeant came to unit one day looking for volunteers to conduct airborne training at Fort Benning, Ga. He didn't hesitate to sign-up, though unknowing to what he was getting into.
He told he would make $50 extra a month and he was sold.
"I'd never seen 50 dollars in my life," up to that point in 1942, he said. However, when he learned what his training would include, he tried to remove his application, but he couldn't and found himself in Georgia.
After successfully finishing training, Lofthouse said, "I was a damn Soldier."
And he was going to get to put his training into use. Soon, he was assigned to Co. G, 502nd PIR. There he trained to become a radio operator as well.
Then came the Normandy invasion, which he said was a whole other story.
"We got in the aircraft on the fifth of June. The motors were running and we were ready to take off, but then all of a sudden everything shut off," said Lofthouse, "and they took us off the aircraft."
The next day, however, everything was a "Go."
"We were told, 'take no prisoners; kill them all until the beaches are cleared,'" he said.
They took off around one o'clock in the morning. He remembers being the seventh man in a 15-man stick.
"I couldn't stop if I wanted to," Lofthouse jokingly said. "We were taken fire and the aircraft was a weebing and a wobbing. We had a hell of a time trying to stand up. A lot of airplanes get knocked out of the sky."
Coming down, Lofthouse took two or three bullets through his parachute.
"We hit the ground and took a lot of small arms fire. I was fighting with men I never knew," Lofthouse said.
Many parachutists were spread throughout the region and fighting along side men they had never met. However, Lofthouse believes the unit's finally reorganized around June 10.
One of the most interesting pieces of information was the fact that Lofthouse served as the radio operator for Lt. Col. Robert Cole, the then commander of the 3rd Battalion, 502nd PIR.
On June 10, Cole led his battalion in single file down a long, exposed causeway — Purple Heart Lane — in order o seize the last of four bridges along the causeway.
During their advance — which they did so by sometimes crawling or crouching — they were receiving heavy enemy artillery, machine gun and mortar fire. They took numerous casualties.
With the Germans unwavering to move beyond the bridge, and US artillery fire failing to suppress the German's defensive, Cole called for his men to fix bayonets.
Lofthouse remembers Cole saying, "Reload rifles; fix bayonets."
Cole called for smoke to conceal the dug-in Germans at a large farmhouse. Led by Cole, they assaulted the objective, engaging the enemy at close-range and with their bayonets in hand-to-hand combat.
To this day, the assault is known as "Cole's Charge," and is very well known throughout the Strike Brigade. For Cole's actions that day he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Just a few months later, Sept. 18, 1944, Lofthouse witnessed as Cole was killed by a sniper.
These men served together in some of the most historic battles in U.S. history. From the Battle of the Bulge to Operation Market Garden in Best, Holland, these men of the 502nd were pushed to their limits, tested in everyway, physically and mentally exhausted, but through it all they accomplished their mission and they defeated the enemy.
They gathered to tell their stories and they did just that. Many laughed; many were shocked, but through it all most were humbled. They heard the very words of those very men who parachuted into Normandy. They met a man who personally knew probably the most historic figure within the regiment (Cole). It was an experience like no other; an experience that links the past to the present.
At the end of the day, Col. Arthur Kandarian, the brigade's commander, awarded each man the distinction as Distinguished Members of the Regiment. It would only be right — after all these four men are original members of the now historic regiment.
These are the men today's Soldiers read about in their history books in school. But don't get them wrong, these veteran's follow today's Soldiers just as much.
"Knowing what you are getting into and still doing it, that's the way the 101st Airborne Division does it," Kelly said.
| Date Taken: | 08.19.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 08.19.2009 19:11 |
| Story ID: | 37720 |
| Location: | FORT CAMPBELL, US |
| Web Views: | 1,904 |
| Downloads: | 379 |
This work, World War II Soldiers from past to present understand the legacy of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, by SSG James Hunter, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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