Charles Thomas Hayes, Jr.

Charles Hayes was my mother's first cousin.  His mother Jeanette and Victor Allen Grace were siblings.  During World War II, Charles was a paratrooper of remarkable distinction.  In 2010, The Abbeville Herald writer M. Ken Bedsole chronicled Hayes' experiences in the war in a seven-part series.  A big "thank you" to him.  Over the next few days I will post the entire series, which may make it the longest single blog post to date.  I must also give thanks to one of Mother's Abbeville High classmates and long-time friends, Robert Edward Phillips. Ever since Mother died, he and I have corresponded a good amount.  His sister Rosanna Phillips actually married Charles Hayes.  There's also at least one photo of Rosanna Phillips that was a part of this story.  I will add it here as well.

HENRY COUNTY VETERAN: Charles Thomas Hayes, Jr.

The photo above is of PFC Charles Thomas Hayes, Jr.  It was taken during WWII.  This Henry County warrior fought in the 505^th PIR of the 82^nd Airborne Division.  He is the only man from Henry County that I’m aware of who made four combat parachute jumps in WWII.  He shed his blood for his county in Sicily and again in France.  While in Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, he was knocked unconscious by the concussion and debris from an artillery blast.  If you ever have to fight for your county you will be well served and doubly blessed if God allows you to fight alongside other Henry County men such as this man.

The above photo is of PFC Charles Hayes, Jr. of Shorterville.  He served with distinction in the 505 PIR of the 82^nd Airborne Division during WWII.  At the upper left corner of his left pocket is displayed one of the most prestigious medals any serviceman or woman of this country can ever earn.  It’s the Purple Heart Medal and is only awarded to those who have shed their blood in combat for their country.  Also shown are his Jump Wings and a European African Middle Eastern Service Medal.  It is my best guess that this photo was taken in England before he jumped into Normandy on D Day.  This Henry County warrior made four combat jumps during WWII.  He was wounded three times.  He was shot through his body on Sicily.  He bailed out of a burning airplane in Italy, where the two pilots died.  He was wounded severely in his legs and back in France by German artillery fire during the fight for the La Fiere Bridge.  At the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium he was knocked unconscious and wounded a third time by debris from German artillery fire.  After Normandy he earned the prestigious Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB) awarded for the number of actual days he served in armed combat.  He was reported Missing in Action twice during the war, once in Italy and again in Holland.  You think we don’t owe this warrior an enormous debt of gratitude?  We can never thank him enough.  When you see Mrs. Elaine Kennedy, Mrs. Charlotte Mobley, Mrs. Terri Barfield and Mr. Phillip Hayes on the streets of Henry County please go up to them, give them a hug, and thank them for what their father did to preserve the freedoms that you and I continue to enjoy today.

1^st Article in the series.

This combat veteran was born outside Shorterville, Alabama to Charles Thomas Hayes Sr. and Jeanette Grace Hayes on January 8, 1924.  His paternal grandparents were Henry Hayes and Mahulda Peterman Hayes.  His maternal grandparents were Thomas Grace and Edna Poindexter. 

He was inducted into the US Army on November 4, 1942 at Fort McPherson, Georgia.  WWII was then raging both in Europe and the Pacific.  He was 18 years old.  By April of 1943 he had completed both basic training and volunteered for and completed parachute infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia.  He was now on his way overseas to North Africa as a member of the newly formed 505^th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82^nd Airborne Division.  The 82^nd Division’s nickname is the All American, and they wear a shoulder patch with AA on it. 

In North Africa they trained in the desert for days on end for infantry combat.  Outside air temperatures often rose to 115 degrees.  On July 9, 1943 he participated in the first combat parachute drop in US history as a member of the invading force of Sicily, an island in the Mediterranean Sea.  Sicily had to be invaded and conquered before the Allies could invade Italy.  This airborne soldier was air dropped near Gela, Sicily, at night.  They were ordered to keep the Germans and Italians from counter-attacking the US Army invasion force coming in from the sea the next morning.   

On the night he and his comrades made the air drop it was bright and moonlit.  As he was descending in his parachute he could see he was going to land on a paved road.  An enemy truck was driving down this same road and its driver saw him while PFC Hayes was still in the air.  The Italian soldier stopped the truck and got out and began firing his rifle at our soldier who was by then almost directly overhead.  At least two of the Italian’s bullets went through his pants leg.  Another enemy bullet struck his dog tags hanging below his neck and deflected upward and entered his body under his collar bone and exited out his back just to one side of his neck.   

When he landed his parachute draped over the enemy soldier’s truck.  The Italian soldier thought he had killed PFC Hayes and sat down on a stone wall on the other side of the truck.  The Italian was coughing very violently.  Our soldier was not dead, however, but was unlimbering his 45 caliber semiautomatic pistol.  When the enemy soldier heard PFC Hayes moving he walked around the side of the truck, and that’s when our warrior shot him.  He later told his son, Phillip Hayes, after the war, in speaking of the Italian soldier:  “I cured his cough.”  You want to know how tough this Henry County soldier was?  Well, he fought on for three more days, even though he had been shot all the way through his body, before he could be evacuated and treated properly in a hospital ship offshore.   

And, oh yes, there’s another thing -- this warrior might also have earned the distinction of being the first American soldier wounded in the Sicilian invasion. 

In September of 1943 this soldier participated in his second combat parachute drop at Salerno, Italy.  He had a harrowing experience with this jump, too.  As his plane was approaching their drop zone it was hit by enemy anti-aircraft gunfire.  One of the shells hit one of their engines and caught the plane on fire.  The two big horrors all parachutists dread are for their plane to be hit in the air and the jumpers being unable to get out; the second dread is of hitting the ground with your weapons being strapped to your body and of not being able to get to own firearm quickly enough to return fire. One could add another dread to these lists, too – that of being shot at while still in the air.

All three instances are ones of extreme vulnerability, and now this soldier, having experienced two of the great dreads on his first jump now endured the third as he attempted to hurl his body out of a diving, burning, soon to crash plane. 

All the men in his plane, about eighteen of them and called a “stick,” were able to get out however.  Unfortunately the two pilots did not, and the plane crashed and they were killed.  The men’s plane had not reached their assigned jump zone, though, and they found themselves alone on the ground and behind enemy lines for almost three weeks.  They were helped by an Italian family for much of this time, though, and were able to avoid capture.  Eventually they made their way to the American lines.  In the meantime the parents of this only child received the first of two “Missing in Action” telegrams from the US Government.  What a nightmare the anxiety and wondering about their son the MIA letter must have been for them. 

In November, 1943, his division secured operations near Naples, Italy, and boarded ships bound for Ireland.  Later, in February, 1944, they were moved by ship to Scotland and from there by train to Camp Quorn near Grantham, England.  They didn’t know it then but they were about to take on a heavy, initial role in the greatest invasion the world had ever known – the Invasion of Europe, D Day, June 6, 1944. 

After even more training and preparation in England the division was loaded up.  It was D Day minus one and at about 2200 hours, as the daylight hours began to fade, the order came down to “chute up” and load.  The men needed help getting up the ladders into the C 47 planes as they each carried about 150 pounds of ammunition, food, water and other gear.  As the individual planes in the enormous air armada began to lift off they had to circle and circle above southern England.  They then assembled into vees within vees on the long air highway to Normandy, France.

The long awaited and anticipated invasion of Europe had begun. 

This series on PFC Charles Hayes Jr. will be continued next week. 

Copyright:  August 14, 2010, by M. Ken Bedsole

2^nd article in the series

In the last article written about this Shorterville soldier he was on his way to Normandy, France.  He and his comrades at arms were about to hurl their bodies out of perfectly good airplanes to visit havoc, violence and mayhem on the German army.  This was his third combat parachute jump.  It was D Day, June 6, 1944, and the long awaited and anticipated invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe had begun.  Incidentally, his 82^nd Airborne Division was, before D Day, the only parachute infantry division in the American army with combat experience.

But before we continue, let’s pause a minute and take a look at the invasion.  If one had to pick the 100 most important days in the history of the world D Day would be among them.  In fact, I think it would rank in at least the top fifty, and maybe even higher, if you and I listed the most significant days that impacted and changed the world. 

He was one of 13,400 American paratroopers being carried to France in a huge air armada.  Their job was to anchor and protect the western flank of the incoming amphibious forces that would begin landing a couple of hours after first light on that same morning.  Approximately 7,000 British paratroopers were being parachuted onto the eastern side of the invasion beaches.  Their purpose was to anchor and protect the flank for the Canadian, English, free French and other Allied forces coming ashore there.

It took about 432 airplanes to carry the 82^nd Airborne Division paratroopers from England to Europe.  About the same amount of planes carried the 101^st Airborne Division.  The planes were C 47’s and were wonderful work horse type airplanes.  Some nicknamed the C 47’s, because of their awkward appearance, Gooney Birds.  The air ships flew in a Vee of Vees formation nine planes wide.  There was approximately 100 feet from wingtip to wingtip between the planes in the formations.  Each group of nine flew about 1,000 feet behind the other.  This gigantic air group was 300 miles long. 

One of the 82^nd Division’s specific assignments was to seize and block the main road that runs from Carentan to Cherbourg, the big French port located on the English Channel.   These Norman towns, including Ste. Mere Eglise, lie on the Cotentin Peninsular, which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean.  In 1944 the main road, which is mostly north south in direction, went right through Ste. Mere Eglise.  And since Ste. Mere Eglise is only about three to four miles inland from Utah Beach it quickly became ground zero for the American parachute and invasion forces.  The 82^nd soldiers, within a matter of a few hours, seized control of the town and set up roadblocks on the north and south side of the village.  They were ordered to prevent any German forces on either side of those roadblocks from reinforcing or helping the other.  Did they accomplish their mission?  You better believe they did.  

The 101^st Airborne, on the other hand, was ordered to land between Ste Mere Eglise (on the eastern side of the town) and Utah Beach.  They were to prevent any German forces from rushing to the beach over any of the raised causeways and attacking the American amphibious forces coming ashore later that same morning.  They accomplished their mission, too.

The French village of Ste. Mere Eglise carries the distinction of being the first town in Europe freed by American forces.  One Frenchman, upon seeing the American paratroopers landing all over his town, excitedly exclaimed to his wife “We are free.”  What a wonderful feeling this must have been for them.  They had lived under the Nazi yoke for four years. 

Approximately one mile away, on the west side of this small French village, lie two bridges over the Merderet River.  This river is normally about the size of our county’s Abbey Creek.  The 82^nd was ordered to seize control of these two bridges and prevent any German forces from getting across them and into Ste. Mere Eglise and attacking US forces there.  They were specifically charged with preventing the Germans from crossing these bridges and attacking the American invasion forces landing at Utah Beach.   

It was at one of those bridges, the bridge at La Fiere Manor on the Merderet River, that our Henry County soldier fought and was wounded for the second time.  The first time he was wounded by gunfire from an Italian soldier on Sicily.  The second time the wounds to his leg and back were caused by shrapnel from a German ‘88 artillery blast.  Please keep this bridge at the La Fiere Manor house in mind, because we’re going to come back to it.  As fate would have it the battle for control of this bridge was called, by one historian, the most important fight within a battle in the entire history of the US Army. 

“Writer’s comments”:  When I wrote of this soldier and others at Normandy last year I wrote that he served in the 507^th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR).  I did this because that’s what’s printed on his discharge papers.  I’ve since discovered he served in the 505 PIR during the entire war but was not discharged with his unit after the war because he was sent home earlier than many.  He had earned his early return to the United States because of a point system the army had installed at the end of the war. The point system should have and did give tremendous importance to the actual time each soldier had served in armed combat. 

But now let’s get back to the war.  When the planes reached the drop zone some flew into a cloud bank which many of the pilots tried to duck away from or fly under.  Then the Germans opened up on them with anti-aircraft fire.  This caused many of the pilots to swerve and dive and speed up.  Some of the pilots, in their fear (caused by seeing other plans being shot down, and hearing the anti-aircraft fire coming up through their wings and fuselage, which sounded like pebbles being shaken up in a tin can) and confusion in the dark night, flipped on the green jump light too early and the men jumped in the wrong area.  Some of the men landed in the Atlantic Ocean, where, weighted down as they were, they never had a chance.  Others came down in trees or landed in flooded areas the enemy had previously prepared to drown or hinder any possible airborne invasion soldiers.   

The 505 PIR was one of the few regiments to land close to where they were supposed to.  One 505 soldier said “My chute popped open, I looked up to check the canopy, and just that quick my feet hit the ground.”  His stick had been given the green light to jump while only 300 feet up.  Our soldier later told his son Phillip that he actually landed close to Ste. Mere Eglise.  The men joined up as quickly as they could in the darkness and then tried to discover where they were.  Once they determined their location they set out for their assigned objectives.  In our soldier’s case, it was the bridge over the Merderet River at the Manoir house de la Fiere.  He didn’t know it then, but he was heading into a maelstrom, a vicious, terrible fight that at one point became so fierce that the opponents were almost eyeball to eyeball and the outcome was by no means assured to either side.

Copyright:  August 29, 2010, by M. Ken Bedsole
This series about this Henry County soldier will be continued soon.

The fight at the La Fiere Bridge, part three in the series.

There are two bridges across the Merderet River just west of Ste. Mere Eglise in Normandy, France.  Both were captured by American paratroopers of the 82^nd Airborne Division on the morning of the D Day invasion.  Both bridges were viciously fought over in the days following the invasion but both were held onto by American soldiers once they were captured.  But for our purposes today, let’s take a look at the battle at the bridge at La Fiere only, because a young man from Henry County, Charles Hayes of Shorterville, fought and shed his blood there.  He was a crewman in a 60mm mortar team.

There was then, and is today, a French manor house and outbuildings called La Fiere located at the end of a long causeway in Normandy.  At the eastern end of this causeway lies a bridge over the Merderet River.  And next to the bridge lie the outbuildings and Manoir House de la Fiere.  This manor house is located less than two miles to the west of Ste. Mere Eglise.  In June 1944 the manor was owned by a Frenchman named M. Louis Leroux.  

In one of the strange quirks of fate Mr. Leroux, his wife and their three children were awakened by a platoon of German soldiers at about 1100 on the night of June 5, 1944.  The soldiers told him they would be moving into his house and outbuildings immediately and would be out posting there.  This was the first time in the four years of German occupation that this had happened.  The Jerries brought three to four machine guns with them, and their guns were to have a telling, killing effect on American soldiers early the next morning.  

At almost the exact same time as the German soldiers were moving into the Leroux house two US Airborne divisions were loading onto C 47 airplanes and about to take to the air in southern England.  The paratroopers were the vanguard of a huge, invading force being sent to liberate Mr. Leroux and his countrymen from its German occupiers.  In just a few hours -- in the darkness between about 0130 and 0300 the next morning -- these American parachutists would be landing by the thousands within just miles of the La Fiere farmhouse.  Shortly after first light these American paratroopers would be approaching his farm house from many directions.  And within an hour of the paratrooper’s approach the hard fighting for his manor house and outbuildings -- and the bridge lying next to it --would begin. 

When the battle was joined early on June 6 the Frenchman Leroux and his family took shelter in his cellar.  By 1100 hours the Germans at his farm house had either been killed or captured by the Americans.  Mr. Leroux then thought it would be very prudent for his family to leave his manor house and visit another farmer friend he knew.  This turned out to be a smart move on his part because when the fighting for the bridge and causeway was over three days later parts of his manor house and outbuildings were in shambles, and over a thousand men from both sides had been either killed or wounded.  One man who fought there wrote “it was likely the worst killing ground in the Normandy airborne battle zones.”

The Merderet is a tidal river that flows into the Douve River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean between Utah and Omaha beaches.  The German commander Rommel ordered the locks at La Barquette, which are on the Douve River near Carentan, opened at high tide.  And afterwards, as the tidal waters began to recede he ordered the locks shut to back up and flood the low lying areas.  This created a lake about nine miles long by up to several miles wide in some places.  At La Fiere the lake was about 750 yards wide and covered the fields lying on both sides of the causeway.  Rommel deliberately created this giant water trap to drown invading airborne soldiers if they jumped into Normandy.  His trap succeeded because after first light on the morning of June 6 one could look out over the floodwaters and see many, many parachutes floating there.  Thirty six American paratroopers drowned in Rommel’s flood waters.

After the parachute infantry captured the La Fiere manor house and bridge on the morning of June 6 men from the 507^th and 508^th PIR began moving out towards Cauquigny, a French hamlet lying at the other end of the 750 yard long causeway.  They were hoping to find and link up with other paratroopers in their outfits who were supposed to have landed there.  It wasn’t long after they entered the hamlet -- and found many of their comrades there -- that they began probing even further west.  Soon the soldiers near the point began hearing what they thought were sounds of approaching German tanks.  Their ears and instincts turned out to be exactly right -- the Germans were counterattacking.  There will be more on this continuing four day fight in a later article.

But let’s pause a minute, here, please and talk about armaments.  Airborne infantrymen are at their most vulnerable right after they’ve landed.  While they have rifles, bazookas, mortars and machine guns they have no tanks or heavy artillery.  They don’t have too much in the way of back up ammunition or medical supplies either.  If the opposing forces possess tanks and heavy artillery and you don’t you can become, in just a matter of hours, a speed bump as the enemy comes right over you.  

The Germans they were facing did possess both tanks and heavy artillery, and a big stockpile of shells for them, too.   They had been in France since they forcibly invaded and conquered the country in June, 1940, almost four years before.  In the intervening years they had plenty of time to bring in their heavy guns and stockpile munitions for them, too. Their huge armaments cache was going to work to the disadvantage of the American invaders in the days that followed.

Until our soldier PFC Hayes and his comrades could receive back up help from the tanks and big guns of the US 4^th Infantry Division invading from Utah Beach they were pretty much on their own.  They did have two things to help them immediately, though, and those were the equipment bundles of machine guns, bazookas, ammunition, anti-tank mines and food and water parachuted in with them.  They also had the jeeps with radios, and 57mm Anti tank guns being shipped in on the gliders that were landing by the hundreds all over the battle area.  These items were to prove to be absolutely vital to our soldier’s success in the days to come.

This series will be continued soon; next, the German counterattacks and their desperate struggle to take retake the bridge at La Fiere.

Copyright:  September 11, 2010, by M. Ken Bedsole

The fight at the La Fiere Bridge, continued, part four in this series. 

When the 82^nd paratroopers jumped into Normandy the overwhelming majority of them did not land in their preplanned drop zones.  In fact, some of the planes overflew the drop zones and mis-dropped the paratroopers into the Atlantic Ocean, where they drowned.  Other airplane pilots panicked and tried to dip and dive as the anti-aircraft fire sought them out in the skies above Normandy.  In at least one instance a plane was too low and the jumping soldiers’ parachutes never had a chance to open.  Other parachutists already on the ground heard their heavily loaded bodies striking the ground with great force as they were killed from the fall.  Others were dropped twenty or more miles away, deep into German territory.  Those mis-dropped in one particular instance ran out of food, ammunition and medical supplies in just a few days.  They never stood a chance.  They were way too far away to be resupplied, and there was no way for them to communicate to other American forces where they were.  Most of those not killed in the fighting were soon captured.  The Krauts then executed our soldiers (along with several French townspeople and a priest who had helped them) on the edge of a grave the Germans made them dig for themselves. 

And now let’s get back to the La Fiere story.  Our Shorterville soldier, PFC Charles Hayes, Jr., later told his son Phillip he came down not too far from Ste Mere Eglise.  As soon as he and his comrades landed they began to assemble and orient themselves in the darkness.  Then they moved off in the direction of their objectives, which in PFC Hayes’ case, as a member of Company C of the 505^th PIR, was the bridge at La Fiere.   

The bridge and the causeway at La Fiere and Chef du Pont were traffic choke points.  Since the fields around the Merderet had been turned into a lake there was no way to get either a tank or a vehicle from one side of the lake to the other except over a causeway and bridge.  Any German counterattack coming from the west to try and retake either Ste Mere Eglise or to get at the invasion force at Utah Beach had to come across either the bridge at La Fiere or another bridge over the Merderet about two miles to the south at Chef du Pont.   

At the time of the invasion the 82^nd Division consisted of soldiers of the 505^th, 507^th, and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments.  The 504^th PIR, which was also a part of the 82^nd Airborne, was not allowed to participate in the European invasion.  In late 1943 they were ordered to stay behind in Italy and continue fighting there as the 505^th was shipped out to England.  After the 504^th was ordered to England in early 1944 they were in no shape to fight.  They needed rest and replacements badly.  This meant that PFC Hayes’ regiment, the 505^th, was the only airborne regiment with combat experience -- in either of the two airborne divisions in the American army -- to jump into Normandy.   

Certain battalions of the 507^th and the 508^th were supposed to have landed on the western end of the La Fiere causeway, however, and take the villages there.  But many of them were mis-dropped on the eastern side of the lake.  When they discovered their mis-dropped positions after landing in the darkness they then began making their way to the bridges at La Fiere and Chef du Pont to get across or to reach other assigned objectives on the eastern side of the lake.  

When the parachutist arrived at the La Fiere Bridge, however, they encountered the platoon of Germans who had moved into the manor house just the night before.  A vicious, killing fight then began. The hard fighting lasted about four hours.  After the platoon of Germans in and around the farm house were either killed or captured many of the men of the 507 and 508 PIRs, who fought with the 505^th to take the Manor house, began moving out across the causeway towards either their objectives in Cauquigny and beyond or south to the bridge at the Chef du Pont bridge. 

The 505^th infantrymen who remained at the La Fiere manor house began digging in immediately.  They know from past combat experience in Sicily and Italy that it was just a short time before the Germans would counterattack and try and retake the bridge and manor.  As part of their defensive preparations the Americans pushed, pulled and rolled a derelict German truck left at the manor house out onto the bridge.  They placed it sideways to block the dirt road over the bridge.  They also took the anti-tank mines they brought with them and laid them across the road on the far side of the bridge in such a way that a tank could not pass without running over some of them.  Writer’s comments: Tank mines are huge.  When I served in the infantry in the 1960s our anti-tank mines were round and about two feet across and six inches thick and full of explosives.  An individual could step on one and not set it off, though.  It took a weight of approximately 600 pounds or more rolling over them for them to detonate.  The big anti-tank mines could blast a jeep to smithereens and easily blow the treads off a tank and immobilize it. 
  

To prepare for the counterattack the remaining paratroopers placed a bazooka team (there were two men in each team, a shooter and a loader) on each side of the bridge.  They also placed infantrymen on each side of the bridge.  The remaining men were placed in reserve and told to dig in around and in the farm yard.  At least one machine gun team was set up on each side of the bridge.  Another machine gun was set up close to a 57mm anti-tank gun that the men had found in a glider.  They unloaded, manhandled and rolled the gun to a curve in the road overlooking the bridge and causeway, where they had a good field of fire. 

As for the troopers who had gone across the causeway to try and link up with their units and proceed with their objectives, they had not been there long before they heard the unmistakable clink and rumbling clatter of enemy tanks coming towards them.  Some men began running back across the causeway.  Others fled into the water and tried to wade across.  Many of these men, though, were picked off by German soldiers. 

The Germans were preparing to counterattack.  It was now the afternoon of D Day.  It was still the first day of what would turn out to be a four day battle for control of the bridge at the La Fiere causeway.  Our Henry County soldier and his comrades were the cork in the bottle.  The fighting so far had been bad, but it was about to get much worse. Many, many more men were going to die and the outcome would by no means be assured to either side before the battle for the La Fiere bridge was over. 
  

This series will be continued soon.   

Copyright:  September 17, 2010, by M. Ken Bedsole 

5^th article in this series. 

In the last article in this series the La Fiere manor was captured on D Day at about 1100 hours by men of the 82^nd Airborne Division.  Once the manor house was taken the 505^th Parachute Infantry Regiment stayed to hold it but some of the men from other regiments began moving off to other areas.  One group moved towards the bridge at Chef du Pont.  Others pushed off across the causeway towards the west and Cauquigny.  These men were following orders to capture objectives assigned to them before they left England.   

The soldiers who crossed the causeway soon linked up with pockets of men who had landed there on the night before.  Some of the men, once they crossed the causeway, moved to the south, west and/or north hoping to find and join up with their units there.   

An hour or so later they heard Kraut tanks coming towards them.  The tanks were supported by German infantry and a vicious fire fight quickly broke out.  Cannon fire from the tanks began falling on the soldiers dug in around the church in Cauquigny.   Since the Americans had only gammon grenades (special anti-tank grenades) and a bazooka they quickly used up these limited resources.  After they knocked out one tank the Americans fled into the hedgerows.  The soldiers who had moved out to the south were caught out in the open, though.  Most of them chose not to surrender and fled into the marshy waters instead.  They were hoping to wade back across to the La Fiere bridgehead.  Many were killed and wounded while trying to get across.   

The Americans who moved from Cauquigny towards the north found and joined up with a pocket of parachutists who had landed in an apple orchard the day before.  Another group of US soldiers ran back across the La Fiere causeway.  They gave warning to those dug in at La Fiere that German tanks and infantry were coming. 

The Krauts then began raining down heavy artillery on the Americans at the bridge.  Many of the US soldiers had dug in beneath trees on the side of the causeway.   The tree canopy overlapped the road in places.  Normally, on level terrain, artillery shells hit the ground next to your foxhole (those that don’t just happen to fall into the hole with you) and explode upward and outward.  Tree burst, on the other hand, hit the limbs above and part of their blast can explode downward into your fighting hole.  It’s the tree bursts that cause the most casualties.  
 

Looking west across the causeway from La Fiere the road makes a slight turn to the right about 65 yards out.  This turn kept the Americans from seeing what was coming from beyond that point.  They could hear what was coming though. It was the Kraut tanks; three of them.  One was out in front by about forty yards and the other two were following it about twenty yards apart.  A company size group of German infantry, about 175 men, were with them too. 
  

The first tank drove to within about forty yards of the bridge.  If you remember, the Americans had pushed a dilapidated German ammunition truck out onto the bridge that morning and blocked it.  The Americans had also laid anti-tank mines across the road on the western side of the bridge, out beyond the dilapidated truck, in such a way that it was impossible for the Kraut tanks to drive over them without blowing off a tread.  If the German infantrymen tried to move the mines by hand they risked being exposed and killed by American gunfire.   

The first Heinie tank drove up close to the mines and then stopped. Then the Kraut tank commander threw open the tank hatch and stood up to get a better view.  This turned out to have been a very bad decision.  The Americans cut loose on him and he was quickly killed.  By this time both sides were firing heavily at each other.  The two American bazooka teams then got out of their fox holes -- from down on the lower flanks of the bridge -- and moved up towards the roadway where they could get a better view.  Both bazooka teams began firing rockets at the first tank.  All four men in the two bazooka teams were in plain view of most of the men from both sides.  One bazooka team was on each side of the bridge.  Many of the Germans were firing at them.  The American parachutists who saw our bazooka men firing the rockets one after the other at the German tanks still shake their heads today in amazement that all four men were not killed.  But in one of those quirks of fate not only were the four men not hit, but they all survived the battle.

The bazooka teams made their shots count, though.  They soon had the first tank burning.   The second tank then moved up and tried to push the first tank off the dirt road and out of the way.  The two bazooka teams then concentrated their fire on the second steel turtle and within about thirty seconds it was on fire, too.  The 57mm anti-tank gun up on the hill then knocked out the third German tank.  The German infantrymen who were still alive then made their way back to their lines at the other end of the causeway as best they could.  It was now about 500 PM on D Day.   

Writer’s comments:  Please remember that in the northern latitudes, such as in France and England in the summer it doesn’t get dark until about 1000 at night.  And, while I’m at it, I’ll throw in something else, too.  In 1944 in June in Normandy it was still cold at night.  Normandy had frost on the ground in May, just the month before. That’s why the pictures taken at that time show our American soldiers wearing jackets.   

After the Germans retreated they continued to rain artillery down on the Americans.  The enemy fire remained heavy into the night, but finally slacked off about 0200 the next morning.  At some point in the early morning darkness the men heard a Kraut tank recovery vehicle approach the German tanks that had been knocked out.  One paratrooper ran out into the dark night and tried to hit it with a gammon grenade but missed.  The explosion scared the enemy off though, and they left.  There was no more fighting that night.   

Soon after first light on D plus one, on June 7, the Jerries began pounding the Americans with heavy artillery again.  It was now day two of what would turn out to be a four day fight for control of the bridge and causeway at La Fiere.  This was fated to be the day that the outcome of the bloody struggle was to stand in the balance for both sides, and neither side was by any means assured of victory. 

This series of articles will be continued.
Copyright:  September 21, 2010, by M. Ken Bedsole

Part six in this series.

Let’s pick up the narrative of the fight at La Fiere Bridge, and of PFC Charles Hayes of Shorterville’s role in it, please.  He served in a 60mm mortar crew of Company C of the 505^th PIR.  If you remember, two nights and one day had passed since the paratroopers jumped into Normandy.  It’s now early morning on D plus one, June 7, 1944.  This is the date that was destined to be the worst day of the battle at the La Fiere Bridge, and the day the outcome hung in the balance.  It was also the day that PFC Charles Hayes, Jr. was seriously wounded again (this was to be the second extremely serious wound he suffered in less than eleven months of fighting in three different countries).   

The American parachutists had dug in and established an almost 360 degree perimeter around the La Fiere Manor House and bridgehead the day before.  Several groups of men from the 507^th and 508^th PIRs fought in this struggle, too.

German artillery fire had really taken a toll on the Americans dug in around the bridge the day before. And now the heavy shelling was raining down on them again.  The two forward platoons of the 505^th’s Company A were really catching it.  The first platoon was deployed on the north side of bridge, and third platoon was on the south.  And of the two, third platoon was taking the worst beating.

The second German attack began the afternoon of second day.  Four German tanks and about 200 enemy infantrymen made the second assault.  To prepare for the attack the Jerries increased their artillery fire substantially about an hour before they attacked.  Writer’s comments:  About sixty percent of all infantry battle deaths and wounds in wars are caused by artillery and mortar fire.  And please don’t forget, too, that the Germans were the ones who had a stockpile of shells, while the Americans had, at that point, a very limited supply.  

The Americans were firing back, too.  We’ll never know for sure, but it’s my thinking, based on the research I’ve done, that PFC Hayes might have been set up with his mortar crew near the curve in the road above the Manor House.  German artillery fire was raining down on them, too (after PFC Hayes was severely wounded on this day by a German 88 shell, which sent multiple shards of shrapnel into his legs and back, he was evacuated to a hospital in England).

Two German tanks and infantrymen soon advanced almost to the bridge.  The first tank was then hit, which caused the oncoming column to pile up and stop.  The Jerries then took cover behind the derelict truck blocking the bridge and the three Kraut tanks that had been knocked out the previous day.  The German fighting position was much stronger from behind those barricades than it had been the day before.  The two forces were now about 100 feet apart.  They quickly became locked in a “to the death” struggle. 

Down near the bridge artillery tree bursts and enemy mortars had almost knocked 3^rd Platoon out of the fight.   A new replacement trooper in the platoon “had half his head taken off by a German 88.”  One soldier later wrote “Private John Ross also took a direct hit with an 88.  There was nothing left of him but body parts and dog tags.”  One sergeant dug in behind the platoon, who was trying to direct the wounded to the rear, said later that there were so many American wounded coming back from the forward positions that he “felt like a policeman directing traffic.”  

Many of the troops from the 507^th and 508^th had waded back across marsh the day before when the Germans attacked.  Many were now fighting with the 505^th at the bridge.  Some of those men began to retreat from the 3^rd platoon’s position.  Sgt. Matteson of A Company said he saw a lieutenant who was a stranger to him “start for the rear.”  The lieutenant told him “I saw a whole battalion of infantry over there this morning.  We can’t stop them and it’s time to get out.” Sgt. Matteson was outranked and couldn’t tell him to stay (when men panic in battle if often becomes contagious and if it’s not checked it can spread to others).  Rumors were swirling that they were going to give up the bridge.  And to make things even more difficult the 505^th radios were not working.  The different commanders had to communicate with runners.

The key to the American defensive position was the third platoon.  If it broke the whole position at the bridge would collapse.  At this point all the officers and more than half the men in the platoon had been killed or wounded.  Sergeant William Owens’s squad was soon down to three men, and he was now the highest ranking man left in the entire platoon.  Other men in his platoon had been telling him,” it was time to go, we had better get out.”  The men were very low on ammunition.  They had no replacement barrels for their machine guns, and the MG barrels soon got so hot that when they stopped firing the guns continued to fire another eight or ten rounds because of the overheating.  

It was at this critical point during the hard fighting Sgt. Owens suddenly stood up.  He began to rally the men and direct their fire onto the Germans.  He was out in the open and not more than 40 yards from the bridge embankment.  This courageous and resolute man told his men “we will wait for orders, we haven’t been told to go.”  He then sent a runner to his company commander and asked if the men should pull back.  The company commander, 1^st Lieutenant John Dolan, wrote an answer to Sgt. Owens in pencil.  It said “I don’t know a better place than this to die.”  Lieutenant Dolan followed his written order to Sgt. Owens with a verbal order, “Stay where you are.”  

The outcome of this battle, like some of the decisions we have to make in the seriousness of living our own lives, was now “hanging in the balance.” Nobody could have predicted it at the time, but the defiant, fighting spirit and determination to stay displayed by these two men of great courage turned out to be the linchpin of the battle.

This series of articles will be continued soon.

Copyright:  September 25, 2010, by M. Ken Bedsole

 

7^th article in the series.

When we left the last article in this series the battle scene at the La Fiere Bridge was at its most critical moment.  The Germans were pouring artillery, machine gun and rifle fire onto the Americans with great effect.  Our soldiers were being killed and wounded in great numbers.  The wounded that could walk were streaming to the rear. The defensive line was wavering and some of our men were talking about pulling out.  That’s when Sgt. William Owens of the 505^th PIR stood up from his fighting hole and attempted to rally the men.  The battle for the control of the bridge was hanging in the balance.  Then word came from their Company commander to “stay where you are,” and “I don’t know a better place than this to die.” 

Have you ever thought how life, and/or fate, works out sometimes?  This was a defining moment.  At almost the same time the Americans had resolved to stay and fight, the Germans raised a Red Cross flag and asked for a thirty minute truce to evacuate their wounded.  Our soldiers quickly accepted. While the Germans evacuated their wounded the Americans did the same.  Our men also brought up ammunition and water and began to regroup and bolster their defensive lines with what strength they had remaining. 

And guess what?  The Germans had had enough.  After their wounded were evacuated they did not make another attack.  Although enemy artillery fire came down sporadically onto the American lines the remainder of the day and into the night the German attempts to retake the bridge were over.  

At the end of this day incoming glider troops of the 82^nd Airborne Division relieved the parachutists.  PFC Charles Hayes, Jr., as was written of earlier, at some point on this second day had sustained severe wounds from German artillery.  He was evacuated to a MASH unit in the rear to attempt to stabilize his wounds.  He was then sent to a US Army hospital in England. 

On D Day plus two the fighting at the bridge was almost nonexistent.  On D Day plus three, June 9, our US glider infantry attacked across the causeway.  Although the attack mostly consisted of our soldiers having to run an artillery gauntlet 750 yards long during very fierce fighting the Americans prevailed.  US soldiers now held both ends of the causeway. 

The Germans never were able to retake either of the bridges at La Fiere or Chef du Pont -- or the village of St. Mere Eglise -- ever again.  Nor were the Germans ever able to reach the invasion forces coming ashore at Utah Beach. In fact, and listen to this statement, please, because it’s an undisputable testament to the fighting spirit and determination of the 82^nd Airborne Division -- once the US Army took the La Fiere Manor house and bridge on D Day no living German ever crossed the bridge again -- unless he was a prisoner of war. 

After PFC Hayes finished his recuperation in the hospital in England he returned to his unit.  He was with them when they made their fourth combat jump of the war a little over two months later.  This time they jumped into Holland on September 17, 1944.  The assault was code named Operation Market Garden.  It was during this action that he was cut off behind enemy lines for the second time.  His family back in Henry County then received a second Missing in Action letter from the US Government.  He and the men trapped with him later fought their way back to the American lines.  Operation Market Garden was not a success for the Allies, however.  The English and Americans were never able to capture and hold the Bridge Too Far, the bridge over the Rhine River at Nijmegen that would have given the Allies quick access into Germany. 

After the action in Holland he and his comrades were sent to a recuperation camp near Reims, France.  This was on November 17, 1944.  Their rest turned out to be short lived, though, and about a month later, on December 17, they were rushed by trucks into Belgium.  Their orders were to hold the northern shoulder of the American lines resulting from a sudden, fierce, unexpected attack by the Germans.  This was the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge.  The Battle of the Bulge would turn out to be the largest battle of the entire war for American forces.  PFC Hayes and his comrades had to endure extremely hard fighting again.  They also had to suffer extreme cold, even down to 30 degrees below zero, but they prevailed.  After the war Mr. Hayes told his son Phillip that he endured heat up to 115 degrees in the North African desert and later extreme cold down to 30 degrees below zero in Belgium.  “And if I had to choose between the two again,” he said, “I would choose the 115 degrees.” 

After the US Army and the Allies stopped the German assault into Belgium they fought their way into the Rhineland again.  In late April, 1944, PFC Hayes and his unit linked up with Russian soldiers on the Elbe River in Germany.  The war on the continent was almost over.  Shortly afterwards, in early May, 1945, the war in Europe ended. 

After the war PFC Charles Thomas Hayes, Jr. returned to farming in Shorterville, Alabama.  He married Miss Rosanna Phillips a year and one half later.  She was the oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Edward Phillips, Sr. of Shorterville.  They were married for twenty-five years and had four children -- Elaine Hayes Kennedy, Charlotte Hayes Mobley, Terri Hayes Barfield and Phillip Hayes.  Sometime after the sudden, untimely death of Mrs. Rosanna Hayes in an automobile accident Mr. Hayes married Mrs. Maggie Calhoun Tillis, a widow who had lost her husband Marcus to a heart attack several years earlier.  At the time of their marriage she had two children, Maresa and Randy Tillis.  This second union ended with the death of Mr. Hayes on April 4, 2001.  He was 77 years old.  

The above photo is of Mrs. Rosanna Phillips Hayes.  This photo was first published in the Abbeville Herald around 1945 or 1946 when she was elected Miss Abbeville High School.  She married Charles Thomas Hayes, Jr. of Shorterville in 1947, not too long after WWII ended.  The photo of this Shorterville beauty was furnished by Mr. Robert Edward Phillips, Jr., her younger brother.  

This is the last article in this series.  

Copyright:  September 29, 2010, by M. Ken Bedsole