Text 22275, 228 rader
Skriven 2006-01-01 12:36:23 av Roy Witt (1:1/22)
Kommentar till text 20620 av Joe Delahaye (32097.fidonews)
Ärende: Lack of Gratitude
=========================
31 Dec 05 18:43, Joe Delahaye wrote to Roy Witt:
>> JD> Must be that American history again.
>>
>> Well, that may be true, since the American history is being told by
>> the people who were actually there. They don't make any mention of
>> Canuks in
>> JD> Fighting on flooded islands.
JD> You do mean who REWROTE the history?
Hell no...When in the field, those in charge are required to make a report
to their superiors. Those reports get filed and the historical writer
assigned to that particular unit documents all of it. It then goes back to
the War Department and is compiled into a running history of the war.
Nobody there 'rewrites' it, it's ver batim, including mispelled words,
grammar, etc..
Then this information is made available as published books that anyone can
buy from the Federal Government Printing Office.
The only thing made up here is the constant bullshit that the Canadians
were even in the war as some unstoppable force, when in reality, they
were under British command and served at their whims. If the Canadians
were in Holland, they were with the British, not on their own.
If you're interested in reading personal accounts of those who actually
were there, check this out.
MARKET GARDEN, A Personal Recallection
Soldier: Staff Sergeant Mike Ingrisano
Date: September 17th 1944
Location: Operation Market Garden - Arnhem, The Nethelands
Unit: 37th Troop Carrier Squadron - 316th Troop Carrier Group
Staff Sergeant Michael N. Ingrisano, Jr, ASN 12129759, born in Brooklyn,
New York, March 28, 1921, enlisted at Whitehall Street, New York City,
September 3, 1942. After basic training at Miami Beach, received training
as a Radio Operator Mechanic in Chicago, Illinois. First assigned to the
72nd Troop Carrier Squadron at Alliance Air Base, Nebraska. Joined the
37th Troop Carrier Squadron, 316th Troop Carrier Group in El Kabrit,
Egypt, on August 17, 1943. Remained with the 37th for the rest of his
military career. Was honorably discharged on September 3, 1945.
During 21 months overseas, Ingrisano flew approximately 1500 combat hours.
He earned Air Medals for Normandy (Neptune), Holland (Market Garden), and
Germany (Varsity). He wore nine battle stars, and three Presidential Unit
Citations.
Market Garden, D-Day, Sunday, September 17, 1944.
My C-47 was serial number 43-15510. Marked with W7, Field Number 25, Tail
Letter "F". For this mission, we were Chalk Number 24, to drop members of
the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne, (The same that we
had dropped in Sicily, Italy, and Normandy), from Serial A-7 on Drop Zone
(DZ) "N." Actually the lead plane in our serial from the 44th Troop
Carrier Squadron, led the parade, dropping General James Gavin. Lift off
time from Cottesmore RAF Air Base was 10:35 hours.
My crew, as it had been on D-Day Normandy, were:
Lt. Bill Prindible (pilot),
Lt. John Harmonay (co-pilot),
Technical Sergeant Julius Ziankiewicz,
and myself as radio operator.
The weather was perfectly clear when we reached landfall on the Holland
coast at approximately 12:15 hours. We dropped 685 troopers and 270
parapacks at DZ "N" near Nijmegen at approximately 13:15 hours.
As I recall, we encountered rather little flak but all I that I recall was
voiced in a letter written to my fiancee, Bette Hill, that evening when we
got back to Cottesmore. "As tired as I am and as busy as I have been, I
must write to you this evening. It has been a few days since I've written
but I am sure a sort of reassurance will make you feel better. Right now
all the past seems so far beyond. (I might as well be honest, I'll be
damned if I can concentrate,) I want to keep on saying, 'I love you.' 'I
love you.' and keep repeating it over and over again without saying
anything else."
D+1, Monday, September 18, 1944
The same aircraft, T/Sgt. Clete Carmean, my regular crew chief was the
only change in crew, and this time we were Chalk Number 7. This was our
first combat glider tow, and the 37th led the 316th Group. We towed
elements of the 82nd's 319th Glider Field Artillery to Landing Zone (LZ)
"T" near Groesbeek. As we neared the coast of Holland, I saw flashes from
the Schouwen Islands which I later learned were the famous German 88 MM
cannons. They fired at a regular pace at no one particular target because
the resultant flak easily penetrated the aluminum skins of the C-47s, and
the canvas skins of the CG-4A gliders.
As we went down the Maas River, I recall seeing American fighter planes
attacking barges on the river. But when the fighters departed, I remember
the tops of the barges sliding back and there were German gunners playing
their tattoo on our crafts.
But for me, the worst was yet to come. Just prior to dropping our glider,
I was seated in my RO position, which was behind a storage compartment
where we kept our parachutes, and the co-pilot's position. Suddenly there
was a rapid burst of fire which seemed to penetrate right over my head. I
jumped up, went over to the vacant navigator's position, and looked out
and down from the small window at that position at the Germans who were
firing at us. I remember the one who seems to be hitting our craft. He was
blond, (had no helmet on) had a big smile on his face, and every time that
he squeezed the trigger of his Schmeisser, the bullets pierced our cabin.
(In his book, "It Never Snows In September," Robert Kershaw shows pictures
on pages 158-159 of German gunners firing at C-47s. I could swear that one
of them was the guy that was giving was a good pasting.) Except for the
holes in our plane's skin, all of us were untouched, physically.
In my September 20 letter to Bette, I wrote, "It has been days since I
wrote to you. I don't know exactly how long because my mind has been
slightly befuddled..Wish I could tell half of the things I am doing so
that I can make some thing of my letters. I have been so 'geared up'
lately that I can't even think straight. I should have a million and one
things to say but I am so fidgety I can't sit long enough to write."
D+6, Saturday, September 23, 1944
This was our last combat glider tow. Again we towed elements of the 82nd's
325th Glider Infantry Regiment. I have no record of our Chalk Number, but
the crew remained the same. My 43-15510 was repaired and flyable. Our
target was LZ "O" in about the same area as the first tow.
All I recall is that as we neared the LZ, we were hit by small arms fire.
I jumped up and moved toward the cockpit. A shell came through on the
right side of the plane. It sparked so that I instinctively moved my head
to shield my face with my right hand, just as the missile passed by my
hand and exited through the top of the fuselage.
Immediately upon releasing the glider, Lt. Bill Prindible nosed down at
full power to head home on the deck. Just ahead of us was a German machine
gun nest facing away from our line of flight. Bill told me to release our
tow line (which was 300 feet of nylon, with two large shackles, one on
each end fastened to the plane and to the glider. When the glider cut
loose, the rope remained for us to let loose.) on his command so that we
could "get ourselves a few Germans." Our towline was right on target, but
we will never know if we got our Germans!
On the next day, Ziankiewicz came to my barrack and asked me to join him
on the flight line where our plane was being repaired. He showed me a hole
in the left wing gas tank where a 20mm shell had penetrated the tank but
had not exploded!
On Sunday, September 24, I wrote Bette that it was "A beautifully
miserable Sunday afternoon, nothing to do and for the first time my mind
feels perfectly relaxed. Relaxed enough to be able to write a decent
letter..While I was in church this morning, I was aware of the fact that
this last week was the longest in my life. For the first time, I was able
to look back over the week and it seemed like an eternity since I went to
Mass last Sunday, Now I feel so relaxed everything seems like a bad
dream."
D+9, Tuesday, September 26, 1944
We flew into Keent, near Grave, with troop replacements and supplies. I
have no records but I am sure we flew the same crew. This mission was
basically flown by the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing, of which the 316th was a
part. Wing aircraft were in the air from midday until 2000 hours. The
landing strip, a large flat piece of grassy ground, was formerly a German
emergency airstrip.
The conditions were so precarious that ground forces were organized to
land, unload, and reload to get serials of 36 planes airborne before the
next serial moved in.
For over fifty years, I told the story that my plane was the last in line.
If we had not gotten off the ground when we did, we would have been taken
prisoners because the Germans soon recaptured the area. I was convinced of
the truth of my recollection, until Jan Bos, a native of Nijmegen, came to
the States to do research with me some time in 1996. He stayed with us and
he presented me with a gift, a picture of my aircraft.
There she was, W7, No. 25, on the ground at Keent, and one can count about
eleven or twelve planes behind her. So much for memory!
And so on September 26, I wrote to Bette: "Good Evening.Although I should
crawl, if I can make it into the sack, I must write to you before I
retire.There are a million and one things which I thought today-A million
of them cannot be explained because of that 3rd person, the censor."
Mike Ingrisano
> There were pictures of the author on this site.
Mike Ingrisano standing in front of his plane with the 37th TCS. Before
the paradrop of operation Market Garden 17th september 1944. Chaik# 24
Along with my crew:
Lt. Bill Prindible (pilot),
Lt. John Harmonay (co-pilot),
Mike Ingrisano (radio operator),
Julius Ziankiewicz (Technical Sergeant)
The 37th TCS at Grave (Keent) before taking off to return to Cottesmore,
England, our home base.
Mike also wrote two books:
- Valour Without Arms
- And Nothing Is Said
Check out these beautiful books!
JD> Ask the people of the Netherlands who freed their country.
The Dutch people and one Belgum here are all liars.
>> Oh! West coast islands or east coast islands?
JD> I did say west coast, as there is no east coast.
Canada doesn't have an east coast? News to me.
>> >> JD> After WWI Canada did its own thing, as a country, and not as
>> >> JD> a colony or as support for GB.
>> >>
>> >> LOL! Tell that to Elizabeth.
>>
>> JD> We did.
>>
>> And she laughed at you just like I did.
JD> To you everything is a joke.
Especially Canadians who don't know what they're talking about.
Roy
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