Market Garden

Operation Market Garden

Jay Stone

Sergeant, at the Time Private

Battery B, 321st Glider Field

101st Airborne Division

The days dawn early in the Army and September 17, 1944 was no exception and we were up early, drew our parachutes and other equipment. I drew an equipment bag and packing for our radio and batteries. The packing would line the equipment bag and cushion the radio when the bag hit the ground. The bag was going to be hung on an equipment rack under the wing of the aircraft in which we would fly to Holland It would be released when we jumped. I packed the radio and a soldier from the air force hung it from the wing of our aircraft  I carried my individual and personal equipment in a musette bags hanging in front of my chest and from a web belt. I don’t remember what I had in the musette bag other than rations. I carried my folding stock carbine in a scabbard attached to my web belt on which I also carried a canteen, ammunition, a compass and a wound dressing. Shortly before boarding the aircraft we put on our parachutes, the main on our backs and the reserve on our chests.

During February 1944 I had
 attended jump school in
England. We were given
48 hour passes after we
completed the ten day
course. I went to London
and had this picture taken. 
 I was proud, full of
myself and ready to tackle
whatever came my way. 

Operation Market-Garden was on. Our battalion, the 321^st Glider Field Artillery Battalion, which as to land via gliders on D+2, September 19th was to be in direct support of the 506^th Parachute Infantry Regiment. In the interim, our Forward Observer (FO) team with the 3^rd Battalion of the 506th, whad the mission of adjusting fires of the UK XXX Corps Artillery. It consisted of Second Lieutenant Francis Canham, a replacement officer who had joined us after Normandy; Corporal Paul myself and another replacement, Private John Brasswell. Canham and Galant were to jump in with the commander of the 3^rd Battalion,while Brasswell and I were to jump with the executive officer. Canham and Galant were, by far, the most qualified Field Artillerymen in the team. I suggested to Canham that if his aircraft went down, the battalion would be left with Brasswell and myself as FOs. This was, to say the least, a less than desirable situation; far less than desirable. I pointed out that if anything happened to him, Galant was the best qualified to take over and that he should consider each of them riding in different aircraft. He saw the wisdom of this and selected me to fly in with him. Galant and Brasswell were to go with the battalion executive. Such was my contribution to the planning of Market-Garden.

It occurred to me recently that I had more time in combat than any of my comrades in our FO team. Galant had been wounded during his first day of combat in Normandy and I had gone up o replace him and, as a radio operator, made it through all of our combat there. Despite this I was less qualified than either Canham or Galant, both of whom were trained to adjust the fires of our battalion. That is what our team was there for. Brasswell was less qualified than I in that he was not trained to conduct the fires of our battalion and had seen no combat. Despite the lack of combat experience and the lack of some training on the part of my comrades and myself, I had lots of confidence in each of them and in our team. I was jumping into combat with the "A" team.  

After we boarded the pilots fired up the engines of the many C47s on the field that day. The roar was unimaginable. There must have been more than a hundred aircraft all with two

C47s lined up at Membury
preparing for takeoff.

engines roaring. We taxied to the end of the runway, got the signal to take off and the pilot gunned that ship down the runway. Even today on commercial aircraft I feel a charge when the aircraft accelerates down the runway and is soon airborne. It’s a thrill each time. It was different on that day, though. It was a thrill but I was off on my first combat jump and the adrenaline was racing through my body.  I was sitting on a bucket seat and just beside my ears those piston powered engines were vibrating fiercely and hammering, a sound no longer heard on the aircraft on which I travel. As we lifted off I probably said goodbye to England and its people, an England which had been so kind to me and which I was not to see again for 30 years. There must have been a special goodbye to Kathleen whom I was to miss during the next year on the continent. (See The Silver Summer.) But then, the Army did not send me to the ETO for its good social life. I knew that and was content. After all, I was in that C-47 because it was where I wanted to be.

September 17th was a Sunday, another beautiful day by which to remember an England of which I was growing fonder all the time.  Many airborne soldiers had made dates for the 16^th, a Saturday. On that evening we were locked into airfields and we could not let anyone know where we were. A lot of young women must have had evil thoughts about their dates on that Saturday, thoughts which were probably dispelled when on Sunday morning they saw the airborne armada thundering eastward. And so The Silver Summer was over and I was off to war again.


As the C-47 in which we were riding on the  September 17^th  gained altitude I turned around,

C47s in formation enroute to Holland

looked out the small window and saw many other C- 47's, along with ours, gather into formation. There was approximately 25 C-47's carrying the 3^rd Battalion, 506^th Parachute Infantry. Our pilot climbed for altitude through the clouds which were ever present over England. This time they were not thick but wispy. As we gained altitude we joined aircraft of other units and together we  made a formation which stretched to the horizon.

Canham and I were flying in with the commander of the battalion. He was our jump master and number one man in the stick. Number two was the battalion  operations officer (S3), Canham was number three and I was number four man. The battalion commander spent a lot of time standing near the open door while the S3 spent his time standing on the opposite side of the cabin. I don’t know what Canham was doing but I spent a lot of time praying. A chaplain had given me a small paperback book which contained some prayers which had given me comfort in times past and so I read some of this book. The S3 must have seen the concern in my face and when I looked up at him one time he smiled at me and winked. Two days later during the attack on Eindhoven  he was lying on a sidewalk in a pool of blood with a small hole in his head.

Our route to Holland  was over Belgium which was in allied hands. South of Holland we turned north for the final run to the drop zone at Zon. As we flew over Holland the Germans began firing anti aircraft shells and heavy machine gun rounds at us. When I heard that for the first time I asked the soldier next to me what it was. He calmly replied that they were firing at us with machine guns. I had heard them on the ground but never in the air.

Fifteen minutes before an aircraft is scheduled to arrive over the drop zone, the crew chief  notifies the jump master of that fact and the pilot turns on the red light just inside the open

It was a scene such as this in which the
commander of the 3rd Battalion, 506th
Parachute Infantry stood looking for his
check points as we flew into Holland.

door. The jump master orders the men to stand up, hook up, check equipment, and then  sound off for equipment check. When the pilot turns the light to green the jump master goes out closely followed by the rest of the stick. The crew chief gave the word to the battalion commander and the pilot turned on the red light. The battalion commander ordered us to stand up and go through the drill. We were one tense group of soldiers. I had been in combat but this was my first combat jump. However, some of these soldiers had not been in combat and would make their entrance via parachute. The battalion commander stood in the door looking for his check points so that he would know where he was when we jumped. The rest of us waited. Eighteen minutes later the crew chief came back and told the battalion commander that the navigator had made a mistake and that we were then 15 minutes out. When we heard that there were many unpleasant words for the navigator. Now we had to go through that awful wait. This time the

After the pilot turns on the green light we
move out of that aircraft quickly. Note how
close one jumper is to the one in front of
him. His quickness was heightened by the
knowledge that the aircraft might be hit
by German anti-aircraft fire.

navigator got it right and fifteen minutes later we went out the door. Paratroopers are always anxious to get out an aircraft but this time we were more anxious than usual. We could see puffs of black smoke made by  anti aircraft shells as they sought out our planes and exploded. Nobody wanted to be in an airplane when it was struck by an anti aircraft shell and so we were on each other's backs as we went out. I later found out that we had jumped at an altitude of 450 feet. I believed it because no sooner had my parachute canopy opened than I landed on the ground.

As soon as I landed I collapsed the canopy of my chute, looked around and saw Canham. I looked for our equipment bundle, found it immediately and attempted to untie the rope which held the opening closed. It was a tight knot and I was unable to open it so I took my knife from its sheath on my leg and cut the rope, opened the bundle and took out our radio and batteries. By then  Galant and Brasswell had joined Canham and me. The roar of the C47s overhead was loud. A few had been hit by German anti-aircraft fire and had fallen or were falling. Shell fragments from spent anti-aircraft rounds fell close to us. Any C47 that was shot down might fall near us. Both could be dangerous and so the drop zone was becoming an unhealthy place. We had completed the assembly of our FO team, secured our equipment and so we headed for the assembly area of the 3^rd Battalion in a portion of nearby woods marked with blue smoke.

 

There was a touch of euphoria in our group. None of us had the experience of mass jump

C-47s dropping their sticks over Holland. I
learned later that we had jumped at an
altitude of 450 feet. I thought that this was
right because I was on the ground no 
sooner had I gone out the door and
 my chute had opened.

during our training but we knew that we had just taken part in a successful one. Everything  went like clockwork. It couldn’t have been better. The adrenalin was pumping so much that it was only after we had been in the assembly area for several minutes that I noticed that I had sliced off a bit of my left thumb cutting the rope on our radio equipment pack. Canham found the battalion commander and we joined his command group. I placed our radio on my back and the batteries on my chest, I  hooked up the antenna and turned the power on. The mission of our FO team was to adjust the fires of British XXX Corps Artillery in support of the 3^rd Battalion. Other FOs from the 321^st were with the other two battalions.  I attempted to check into its net but was unsuccessful. We thought that perhaps we were out of range of the British and so turned the radio off to conserve batteries. When we were closer to them we would try again.
The 3^rd Battalion was the reserve battalion for the 506^th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The regiment’s mission was to seize the bridge over the Wilhelmena Canal in Zon. Colonel Robert Sink, the regimental commander had given the 1^st Battalion the mission of securing

This is the bridge at Zon before the war.

the regimental objective. As soon as 15 - 25 men came into the battalion’s assembly area they were sent south through the woods. Just before they arrived at the canal they were to swing left and move on the bridge and capture it before the Germans blew it.  Major James L. LaPrade, the commander,  had the battalion on the way in 45 minutes. Major General Maxwell Taylor, the division commander, accompanied the battalion. Meanwhile the 2^nd Battalion had completed its assembly and on Colonel Sink’s order moved south on the Zon road toward the bridge. We in the 3^rd Battalion followed. On the road to Zon we again tried to contact the British on the radio but were unsuccessful.

Note: Both La Prade and Canham would be killed in Noville on 19 and 20 Dec 44 respectively. They had been outstanding leaders.) 

The 1^st Battalion should have been at the bridge before the 2^nd Battalion but it was delayed

by fire from a group 88mm guns. The guns were silenced and the advance continued. Because of this delay the 2^nd Battalion arrived to within 50 yards of the bridge just as the 1^st Battalion came within 150 yards from the flank. At that moment Germans blew the bridge. Just about everything but the center pillar was gone. A moment after the bridge blew LaPrade, Lieutenant Millford F. Weller and Sergeant Donald B. Dunning came running up, took a look, dove into the water and swam to the other side.

Dutch civilians give information to
Colonel Robert L. Sink (center with map),
 commander of the 506th Parachute Infantry.

Meanwhile, our FO team moved south on the Zon road with the 3^rd Battalion. It was typical of any approach march. Some forward movement interspersed with many stops. During this Canham told me to take the radio to the Division Artillery (DivArty) communications section and see if its members could repair our radio. The DivArty headquarters was in a wood about one-half a mile west of the road. They were unable to fix my radio and thought that it had been damaged in the drop. This was probably right as we had not had any special packing for such a sensitive radio as the SCR 610. I asked for a replacement and they looked at me as though I were playing with 51 cards.

I hustled back to the road and found my guys as they were continuing the march with the 3^rd Battalion. The 3^rd Platoon, Company C, 326 Airborne Engineer Battalion (the battalion’s parachute company) had jumped with the 506^th. It quickly threw a wooden foot bridge across the canal. The bridge was not as stable as a permenant bridge and only a few men at a time could cross on it. This caused slow movement throughout the column of the 506th.

At about 9:00 P.M. darkness came and it found us tired. We had gone to bed late on the 16^th and had been up early on the 17^th. Since the jump we had been on the move and carried that heavy radio and extra batteries, in addition to our normal equipment. As we moved through Zon I could hear on the radios of the residents, the BBC broadcasting news of the success of the airborne operation. After having the bridge blow up on us and our slow movement south I didn’t understand what was so successful. Certainly the 1^st Airborne Division at Arnhem was not meeting with success. There really wasn’t much success that first day. Perhaps the BBC meant that the drop had been successful. For the 101^st it had been.

Because of the slow movement and my fatigue whenever we halted in Zon I moved to the side of the road, leaned against a window of a house and rested the bottom of the radio on 


This is the SCR 610, weight 
approximately 26 pounds.
Riggers had made canvas
bags in which to carry the radio
when on the move.  One bag, on
my back, contained the radio
 while the batteries were in a
bag on my chest..In addition
 to the radio I carried m personal
 gear in a musette bag.
 

the window ledge. This took the weight off my shoulders but didn’t relieve my fatigue and several times to it I dozed and I woke up while I walked down the road. We finally crossed the bridge and moved off to the right of the road into a drainage ditch where we fell asleep immediately. This was a violation of that sacred  rule, “Dig in for the night.” Canham was a careful leader and I can’t understand why he did not insist that we dig in.

While we were moving south from our assembly areas, the Guards Armoured Division, the lead element of XXX Corps, had broken out of its bridgehead over the Meuse-Escart Canal. While initial resistance was stiff, it had advanced to Valkenswaard by 7:30 PM and had halted for the night along with the Royal Engineers who would construct a Bailey Bridge over the Wilhelmina  Canal to replace the bridge which the Germans had blown. On the 18th the Guards Armoured had advanced to the south bank of the Wilhelmina Canal and Royal Engineers began the assembly of a Bailey bridge to replace the blown bridge. It was completed on the morning of the 19th and at 6:45 AM elements of the division crossed the canal 33 hours behind schedule.

On the morning the 18^th the 3^rd Battalion was the lead battalion for the seizure of Eindhoven. Our FO team was with the 3^rd Battalion and we were much closer to XXX Corps Artillery but could still not contact it. Since we were not able to direct its fires Canham decided to make certain that the houses the lead elements of the battalion had by-passed in the early stage of the advance did not harbor any Germans. The radio I carried was too heavy for me to be going into and out of houses and so I stayed outside each house as Canham, Galant and Brasswell went in. They would clear the ground floor. If there was an upper floor they went up and cleared that. If there was no stairway to whatever was above the ground floor they would open the trap door with a pole. In order to see the floor they would find something on which Canham could stand and poke his head into the opening or else one of the others would hold Canham up while he looked around. I thought that all it would take for Canham to have had  a short combat life was a for any German up there to fire at him when he stuck his head up. However, I doubt that any German wanted to sign his death warrant in that manner. Unfortunately, three months later Canham was killed when he did stick his head up to look out a window in the second story of a barn in Noville, Belgium, just north of Bastogne.

Dutch civilians mingle with soldiers of the 
506th Parachute Infantry as they move into
Eimdhoven.

The initial resistance to our advance was from small groups enemy. Despite this crowds of Dutch civilians lined the street as we moved into Eindhoven. They crowded close to us, in some cases, hindering our movement. We were stopped once and started a conversation with a Dutch girl. This went on for a few minutes until the battalion began to move out. Canham, who was carrying a sub machine gun turned around. As he did so the barrel of the gun struck the girl lightly on her buttocks. She gave a small cry and laughed. Canham turned around and saw what had happened. His face became crimson with embarrassment. He apologized, turned and moved out. As I walked down the street I looked back and saw Galant talking with the girl. He was probably making arrangements to see her that evening if we were in the area. It would not be unlike him.





Sometimes when civilians mingled with
soldiers a German bullet or shell would
come screaming down the street and the
civilians would seek cover leaving only
soldiers on the street.

Close in to Eindhoven the German resistance took the form of two 88mm guns. Colonel Sink ordered the 2^nd Battalion to move off to the left and deal with the 88s. Soldiers of the battalion  put both out of action. While we were still unable to contact XXX Corps Artillery with our radio, the 506^th regimental headquarters did contact Headquarters XXX Corps. Late in the morning the 2^nd Battalion secured the center of the city and for the rest of us it was a cake walk as we moved into the city.

For two days I had carried 26 pounds of radio and batteries in order to contact British XXX Corps Artillery. Our radio had tested OK before I packed it but now did not receive or transmit after the heavy landing it made on the DZ north of Zon. Our mission of adjusting fires of British XXX Corps Artillery was not accomplished.

Our FO team moved back to Zon and from the roof of the school house we watched the 

Two gliders, on the final of their approach,
prepare to land. If another glider
flies under or in front of them, they
might have to revise their landing
spots.

reinforcements for D + 2 arrive. This was the third day on which elements of the 101^st made the approach to the drop or landings zones. By now the Germans knew the direction of the approach and had brought in additional anti aircraft artillery in order to defend the route. Their defense was effective as they shot down many aircraft. Engraved on my mind is the picture of one C47 which was hit on the approach to the drop zone. By the time it arrived over the drop zone the port engine was on fire and the fire was spreading. The pilot held the aircraft steady as the troopers came out. After that he climbed for 100 feet and then went  into a spin and crashed in a ball of flames. None of the crew got out. Once the gliders cut off from their C47 tugs they had to make their landing. Given the low altitude at which they came in the pilots didn’t have much time to select a landing place, set up the landing, make their approach and land. A few of them collided as they were on their final approach. Some glider pilots were hit with flack and lost control of their glider. Passengers were wounded and had to be evacuated as soon as they landed. Most of the gliders made crash landings. It was not a pretty sight.

We watched some of the landing and then moved to the landing zone. As we were on our way to the assembly area of our battalion, the 321^st, we passed a photographer taking pictures. There was a smashed glider nearby with bodies mixed with the wrecked glider. Canham suggested to the photographer that he take a photo of that scene. He replied that we don’t take pictures like that. So much for truth in army photography. We soon located our battalion and Canham reported to Lieutenant Colonel Edward Carmichael, the battalion commander, and we were back home with our battalion

.