Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 008, folder 22: William J. Meddaugh

18. cont.

I noticed that the receiver of his M-l rifle was damaged, and I asked him about it. It seems that shortly after he landed, he made contact with a G.I. whom he did not recognize. The two of them decided to attempt to knock out a machine gun position which was nearby. John took the lead and crept towards the gun position. As he neared the Germans, he turned to give some instructions to his unknown companion and he was gone. John was alone. Evidently the man decided that discretion was the order of the day. John decided to go on alone. As he moved forward, he was carrying his rifle at the "port" position. Suddenly a German soldier stepped out in front of him. Each man was taken by surprise at the sight of the other, in the darkness, but the German, fortunately for him, was quicker. He fired one shot at Lt. Walas at point blank range. The bullet struck the receiver of his rifle which was directly in front of his stomach. The bullet creased his hand and ricocheted out of harms way. The rifle was put out of action. With the sound of the shot the German turned and fled. Johnny did likewise. With his rifle unable to fire he was practically helpless. When I saw him he had his bayonet fixed and this was his only weapon. John was of Polish descent and a great guy. When he told the story, in his own way, and as we pictured the two men confronting each other we were quite amused. As in most combat situations, both men were probably scared out of their wits. Johnny was a lucky boy — he was ultimately killed, God bless him, in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.

19. Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else?

As I pointed out earlier, a near collision in mid-air just before we jumped scattered our formation. As a result, my platoon was dropped about 3 miles from the planned drop zone. As a result, we were isolated with various other scattered elements of the 507 and 508 Regiments. Fortunately our contact with the enemy on D-day was limited — accordingly I am most clear on the few hours of darkness immediately following the jump.

VI

19. cont.

I landed in the corner of a small field surrounded by hedge rows. I struggled out of my harness, prepared for the worst. Everything was quiet except for rumbles of bombs and big guns in the direction of the beaches. I moved off cautiously in the direction the planes had been flying to make contact with the rest of my stick. I stumbled around in the dark for about 30 minutes with no success. I was still alone — and lonely. It was about 0200 hours of 6 June, 1944. It was an eerie feeling to be completely alone in the darkness of a strange and unfriendly land. I decided the most practical thing to do was to settle down for the night and await daylight. It seemed foolish to wander around in the dark, not knowing where I was — ambush was a good possibility. The next 3 hours to the first grey light of dawn, I spent listening to the sounds of war all around me — but strangely, in my immediate vicinity, there was nothing but quiet. I I had dropped in an area free from any enemy installations. I am not ashamed to admit that I died a thousand deaths that night. Misery loves company — and I had none.

As the sky turned grey and I could begin to see a little I moved out again, determined to find friend or enemy. I didn't have long to wait. A shadowy figure turned out to be one of my own platoon. He had been sent out by my platoon sergeant to patrol the area for stragglers. I was a grateful straggler and soon was once again in the midst of my platoon. We had suffered a few jump casualties, but were essentially intact.

I had endured the first night and felt grateful. This was the beginning of 33 days in Normandy without relief or replacements. The worst was yet to come.

21. Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944?

Aboard a C -47 aircraft over the English Channel.

22. Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944?

Dug in in a defensive position a few miles west of Ste. Mere Eglise in Normandy.

E CO POOP SHEET 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division PUBLICATION FOR WW II 505ers VOL. III, No. 13 July 1, 1958

82nd ABN DVN ASSN CONVENTION JULY 3, 4, 5 NEW YORK CITY HOTEL STATLER

JULY 3 Registration will begin at the hotel at 9:00 AM. At 10:30 AM a Directors and Delegates meeting is scheduled and at 1:00 PM in the afternoon is the first General Meeting. The highlight of the day will be the HONOR GUARD DEMONSTRATIONS in TIMES SQUARE at 2:30 PM. At 4:00 PM Mayor Wagner will welcomethe Association at the Hotel. And at 8 PM the whole outfit will take a 4 hour boat-ride around Manhatten.

July 4 There will be a Memorial Luncheon at 11:30 AM. At 2 PM there will be another HONOR GUARD DEMONSTRATION, to be held at ROCKEFELLER CENTER. At 3:15 PM there will be a general meeting and at 4:30 PM there will be a fashion show. At 5:15PM they will have a BEER SESSION and the big event of the day will be the AIRBORNE HOP at 9PM.

July 5 The first general event of this day will be a General Meeting at 12:30PM at which time the election of Directors will be held. There will also be movies of the 82nd. At 2PM there will be another demonstration by the HONOR GUARD at ROCKEFELLER CENTER and at 3PM there will be a lecture and movies on SKY-DIVING. At 4PM there is a BEER SESSION scheduled and then the final Banquet will be held at 7PM.

THE FOLLOWING GUYS WILL BE THERE

Ken Russell Lou Axman Earl Boling Nick DiBattista August Duva General James M. Gavin Mort Katz John Keller Tom McClean Edward Reilly Harry Renick Ed Slavin Berge Avadanian Tony DeMayo Ray Bridgen Ray Faith Capt Robert Hill Jim Keenan Pat O'Hagan Jim Coyle Bob Murphy Howard Lee Chaplain George Wood

AND MANY MORE THAN THESE WILL BE THERE!

May 27, 1958 Dear Don: The annual reunion of the 509th PARACHUTE INFANTRY BATTALION will be held in conjunction with the convention of the 82d Airborne Division Association this year. We are meeting in New York 3, 4 and 5 July '58.

Since many of our members are, like myself, members of the Division Association, it seemed only natural to plan our activities for the same time, and save many of the fellows an extra trip. We are going to take a suite in the hotel, and use it as the "509th CP". There we can rest our weary feet, loaf, assemble and swap lurid stories.

We hope to attend the 82d convention meetings as a group, and in co- operation with the Division Association, sit to-gether at the annual banquet.

Although we are not going through with plans to have a meeting in Washington this year, we are carrying out "Operation Piscinola". As you know, after the jump at Avellino, behind enemy lines to plug German communications at the Salerno beach-head, the 14-15 September 1943, the 509th Battalion was stationed in Naples. We were then barracked in the school in the Piscinola district.

This was our base for the Venafro operations the fall and winter of 1943, and for the Anzio Beach-head invasion, D-Day the 22d January 1944. These people were, and still are, in desperate poverty.

We are sending serviceable, used clothing to the following member: M. A. Goodspeed , Jr. 2707 South Arlington Ridge Road Arlington 2 Virginia and marked: Deliver Saturday or leave at door.

Speed, a former Demolitions man, will get the clothes to the Italian Embassy. All clothes must be packed with moth balls and be in by 1 June. Some will be forwarded to the Parish Priest, who is in a good position to know the needs of the people. See you in New York. Sincerely, MORT KATZ 427 Main St. Hartford 3 Connecticut

Dear Don: May 25/58 Just a line to let you know how much I enjoy receiving the E Co Poop Sheet. I was in F Co. from the Frying Pan to the Elbe and I knew a number of fellows in E Co. and enjoy hearing of them. Keep up the good work. HENRY J. CLOHERTY Lincolndale New York

VACATIONS ARE EASY TO PLAN: THE BOSS TELLS YOU WHEN AND THE WIFE TELLS YOU WHERE. A wolf is a guy who knows all the ankles. BUDGET: AN ATTEMPT TO LIVE BELOW YOUR YEARNINGS.

Dear Don, Mon., May 5th I just received your May 1st edition of the Poop Sheet and I want to thank you for it. I also received your large envelope full of some of your old editions. You will never realize how happy I was to receive them. I had just come out of surgery a couple of days before receiving them, and they were a lot of laughs in them, bringing back old memories, as I read them in between hypos.

I hope that you can read this letter as I am laying on my back writing this with my leg strung up in traction.

I have been laying here thinking of different things that happened and one I will never forget was the nite at Ft Bragg that we rolled a pony of beer into the barracks and was having a very merry time, when who should walk in- SLIM JIM! ! ! It kind of broke up our little party.

As you were writing in your recollections of the Normandy Invasion about fire extinguishers, we also had been squirting them around the barracks that nite.

I have an awfully poor memory for names and the only ones that I can think of in my Company were Yarchik, Tedeschi, Wormsley, Grimes and I just saw Ed Slavin's name in this last Poop Sheet. Would you please print the names of all F Co. men that you have?

I will close now as I am getting a little pooped from writing like this.

Here is a couple of bucks to keep the ball rolling. EDDIE DuMOULIN V.A. Hospital Ward 3, Room 347 Tucson, Arizona

P.S. It was 96° here today. Ed Note: The F Co men will have to identify themselves because at this time I do not know which are which.

Dear Poopsheet May 6, 1958 Geronimo! Since the middle of March we have had Buffalo Boy Canoe with us doing our small bit to help him get on his feet again. Ex-trooper B. T. Ananias gave him a job. Evenings around the house are a mad house. All the kids in the neighborhood come over with, "Mrs Brown, can your Indian come out and play with us?" This starts the minute school is over until after dinner when Buffalo Boy gets out to tumble and rough house with them.

His 34th Birthday was April 15 so we had lots of fried chicken etc and a big birthday cake.

Dick is still building airplanes (Research & Development) & will be affected in this big strike deal deadline Wednesday. He says to give his regards to you all. The family is fine, with a teenage girl, 2 smal l boys and 2 extroopers in the house need I say more. Sincerely, Mrs Richard R. Brown 22303 Eastwood Court Torrance, California