BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY Copley Square Boston, toA 02116 PRAISE FOR DAVID KENYON WEBSTER'S CLASSIC WORLD WAR MEMOIR II PARACHUTE INFANTRY "I never had the privilege of meeting David Kenyon Webster, but I admire him without stint. He was a good soldier and a wonderful writer, one ofthe brave thousands ofAmerican com- bat infantrymen who helped win the war and thus preserve our freedom, and one ofthose very few with the talent and energy to write about the war in a way to help those of us who came later to understand it." — Stephen Ambrose (from the Introduction) "I join Stephen Ambrose in recommending this book to anyone ofany age with an interest in the exploits ofthe airborne forces and ground combat in the European Theater ofOperations, as told by a truly gifted narrator." —Clay Blair, The Washington Post Book World "[PARACHUTE INFANTRY] merits a place among the classic ac- counts ofmen in battle." — Page Smith "In this first-rate, skillfully written soldiers story, Webster achieves a perfectlypitched sad sack sarcasmthat is an authen- tic witness to the combat experience. The best of 1994 s D-Day anniversary books." — Booklist PARACHUTE INFANTRY An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich David Kenyon Webster A Delta Book Published by Dell Publishing adivisionof Random House, Inc. 1540 Broadway NewYork, NewYork 10036 Copyright © 1994, 2002 byTrusteesofthe Embree FamilyTrust Letterscopyright © 2002 by David Kenyon Webster Coverdesignby RobertodeVicqde Cumptich Coverphotograph byCarl Rosenstein Bookdesign by Virginia Norey Unlessotherwisenoted,allillustrationsarefromtheauthor'spersonalcollection, nowinpossessionofMrs. Charles B. Embree,Jr. Photograph onpagev, TheAmerican Cemeteryin NormandybyVirginia Norey. PortionsofChapter 1 firstappeared in somewhatdifferent formas "The Night Before D Day," Saga (October, 1959). Portions ofChapter 4 first appeared in somewhat different form as "We Drank Hitler's Champagne," Saturday Evening Post, May 3, 1952, and are reprintedwith permission. All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reproduced ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopying, recording,orbyanyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem,withoutthewrit- ten permission ofthe Publisher, except where permitted by law. For informa- tion address: Louisiana State University Press. Delta® is a registeredtrademarkofRandom House, Inc.,and the colophon isa trademarkofRandom House, Inc. LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Webster, David Kenyon, d. 1961. Parachuteinfantry:anAmericanparatroope—r'smemoirofD-Dayandthefall oftheThird Reich/ David Kenyon Webster. Rev.ed. p. cm. "A Delta book." Containsletters home fromthe author. ISBN 0-385-33649-7 — 1. Webste—r, David—Kenyon, d. 1961. 2. WorldWar, 1939-1945 Campaigns France Normandy. 3. UnitedStates.Army. Parachute — Infantry Regiment, 506th. Company E History. 4. WorldWar, — — 1939-—1945 Personal narratives,American. —5. Soldiers United States Biography. 6. Normandy (France) History, Military. I. Title. D762.N6 W43 2002 940.54'2142—dc21 2002067265 Reprinted byarrangementwith Louisiana State UniversityPress Manufactured inthe United StatesofAmerica Published simultaneously in Canada November2002 9876543 BVG 10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Most of this book is based on letters written duringthe war and on recollections put down at length right after the war. Whenever possible, the facts were verified in histories of the period, especially Leonard Rapport andArthurNorthwood, Jr.'s Rendezvous with Destiny: A History ofthe 101st Airborne Division (New York, 1948). The United States Army was quite helpful, providing maps, photographs, and historical works. Special thanks are due Pat Christenson, Bob Rader, Virginia and Leonard Rapport, Burr Smith, and Hans Wesenhagen. INTRODUCTION Stephen E. Ambrose David Kenyon Webster may have been the only Harvard "English lit" major who volunteered for the parachute infantry and who then fought through the campaign in northwest Europe as a combat in- fantryman. He didn't have to do it. His family was moderately wealthy and had influence, so he could have had a commission ifhe had wanted one, or a cushy job far behind the front lines. But he wanted to see the war firsthand, to be a participant, to do his part in crushing Hitler and the Nazis. He insisted on fighting from a foxhole rather than typing up reports at Company Headquarters or handing out footballs and base- balls at a rest area in the rear. His motives for insisting on being a member ofa parachute infantry regiment went beyond patriotism. Webster wanted to be a writer. Heav- ily influenced by the literature ofWorld War I, he wanted to experience and then describe combat. He had a flair for writing, a keen sensitivity, and a well-developed ability to observe and comment. With those tal- ents, and using the perspective of a paratrooper, he produced an out- standing memoir of the war. It is rich in detail and rewarding in its revealing anecdotes about men at war. Webster is scathing in his de- nunciation of officers who were "chickenshit," whether in barracks or on the front lines. He is full ofheartfelt praise for noncoms and enlisted men who did theirjobs. He is honest about the actions ofhis fellow sol- diers, in camp, in combat, as conquerors. Webster's book has all the features that make for a classic wartime memoir. He describes training; the relationships that develop within a squad, platoon, and company; the first combat jump into Normandy; the experience ofkilling and getting shot at (and hit); attitudes toward civilians, whether friendly as in France and Holland or unfriendly as in Germany; grousing about the army and its ways; and more. Webster x David Kenyon Webster manages to show us the general and the particular, the universal expe- rience and the unique detail, in a flow of words that the most profes- sional writer would envy. Overall, I recommend this memoir to anyone who wants to know more about World War II, about combat, about being a paratrooper, about discovering oneselfand being involved when the whole world was being tested and threatened. It brings back a place and a time, a sense ofcommitment, the feeling of"we are all in this together" as the United States and her allies fought for freedom. MOST GIs IN WORLD War II found that their service in the army was a broadening experience. Webster was no exception. The soldiers met men they never would have known otherwise, men from all over Amer- ica, men from different economic, social, and ethnic backgrounds. In the novels aboutthe war, the typical squad is made up ofa Jew from New York, an Indian from Montana, a Swede from Minnesota, a Pole from Chicago, a Cajun from New Orleans, and so on. At the beginning ofthe novel, they hate one another. The shared misery oftraining pulls them together, as does the common hatred of their drill instructors and ju- nior officers. Combat strengthens the bond, to the point that they be- come a band of brothers, trusting and loving one another as they had never before trusted or loved anyone. And the truth is that this hap- — pened in fact before it was written up as fiction in this case at least art truly imitated life. Webster was a man of books and libraries, a reader and a writer, thrown into an intimate and life-dependent relationship with ill- educated hillbillies, southern farmers, coal miners, lumbermen, fisher- — men, and other typical paratrooper enlisted men in short, with a group of men with whom he had nothing in common. He would not — have particularly liked or disliked them in civilian life he just would not have known them. Yet it was among this unlikely group ofmen that Webster found his closest friendships and enjoyed most thoroughly the sense ofidentification with others. He was wounded in Holland, in October, 1944. He rejoined his squad in January, 1945, and later he recalled his feelings: "It was good to be back with fellows I knew and could trust. Listening to the chatter, I felt warm and relaxed inside, like a lost child who has returned to a bright