- Collection:
- Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
- Title:
- Oral history interview of Robert G. Beachy
- Creator:
- Taylor, Edna M.
Beachy, Robert G., 1923-2005 - Date of Original:
- 2003-06-18
- Subject:
- World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France--Normandy
World War, 1939-1945--Occupied territories
Arnhem, Battle of, Arnhem, Netherlands, 1944
Purple Heart
Toccoa (Ga.)--History
World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Metcalf, Donald J., 1922-2002
Bonifay, Harry H., 1922-2004
Alexander, Reginald Yardley, 1922-2002
Astor, Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess, 1879-1964
United States. Army. Airborne Division, 101st
United States. Army. Parachute Infantry Regiment, 501st - Location:
- Belgium, Wallonia, Luxembourg Province, Arrondissement de Bastogne, Bastogne, 50.00347, 5.71844
France, Carentan, 49.29476595, -1.25231194060659
France, Mourmelon-le-Grand, 49.1373278, 4.3660294
France, Normandy, 49.0677708, 0.3138532
Germany, Bavaria, 48.790447, 11.497889
Netherlands, Holland, 52.5001698, 5.7480821
United Kingdom, England, 52.355518, -1.17432
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, North Carolina, Richmond County, Mackall Army Airfield, 35.03097, -79.50276 - Medium:
- video recordings (physical artifacts)
hi-8 - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/quicktime
- Description:
- In this interview, Robert Beachy describes his experiences as a paratrooper in World War II. He describes his training in the U.S. and England and the preparation for the invasion of Normandy. He recalls the flight over, the jump, and the landing as well as conditions in the area after landing. He also jumped as part of Operation Market Garden and recalls that experience. He discusses the end of the war, the friendships he formed, and how they endure.
Robert Beachy was a paratrooper in Europe during World War II.
EDNA TAYLOR: Today is Wednesday, June 18th, 2003. This is the beginning of an interview with Mr. Robert Beachy. This interview is being conducted at the Atlanta History Center. I am Edna Taylor with AARP. Mr. Beachy served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Mr. Beachy, this is your story. I would like for you to tell us about your experience from the date of your enlistment until the date of your separation. We want you to tell the story in your own words and just share with us those experiences you feel were most important during your service. ROBERT BEACHY: Well, I enlisted in the Army from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I enlisted, at that time, in the paratroops because I, fortunately, thought I want to do something different. I was never really a big athlete or things like that. My first assignment was Camp Toccoa, Georgia, in 1942 – November of '42. And there we did a lot – I remember getting of the train, and I hadn't been in Georgia except on the coast, and I thought, well, what's this, mountains? I didn't realize that Georgia had mountains. And we all started walking down and there was another regiment leaving the training there. This camp was for basic training basically. And they were yelling “you'll be sorry, you'll be sorry!” [LAUGHTER] And I think I was for a while because I saw this tower and people jumping – it was dusk and you couldn't see it, there was a rope there that they slid down. I thought this is my last [unintelligible] I ain't jumping out of that 40 foot tower. But it did happen. We jumped out. And we did a lot of calisthenics. Get up at six, an hour of calisthenics and then we had a run – two-mile run, then we had breakfast. And then we had also night problems – it was all basic training, a lot of exercising. The hour of calisthenics was really hard. In running, if you fell out on your face they'd put you out that night and you would do another Army outfit, but if you just collapsed and fell on your face then you just stayed. From there we went to Camp McCall, North Carolina, and took advanced training maneuvers and types of training – the night fighting, things like that. And from McCall we went to Reppel Deppel in Boston where we went overseas. We landed in England and from there we started more maneuvers, Salisbury planes and extensive training on jumping into Normandy. We had sand tables which we had to practice off of and just plain night chute maneuvers. And from there we went to another Reppel Deppel to go over to Normandy. And from there we did some more studying on tables and what we had to take it for as our objective. And when this was over we found out that we were going to go but then they postponed it because of weather. Then they thought no, we have to go now or we can't go until later in June. So we went air fields with our equipment and lined up to go, and General Eisenhower and interviewed and spoke to us and also in between individual soldiers, shook their hands and also told us that probably 80 percent would not come back because they weren't sure what was going to happen. Worrying us didn't do our morale too much, but anyway we loaded on the planes and we headed – oh, heavy equipment, all of us, and we had things on our legs, our rifle, and we had an extra parachute. By the way, the reserve chute we took of when we got in the plane because we figured we're not going to need it. If we need it it's too late to use it anyway so we put that in the plane. While we were boarding the plane over there it made your blood run cold just to think about it. And we got in the air and flying over the Channel and I noticed, looked down – we could walk to the door – the door is open when you're in a jump plane. And I looked down, and I thought God, the Germans are going to give up. All of these ships all over the place. These ships were carrying troops that we assume equipment, tanks, and things like that. In the meantime when we got over the coast all of the sudden we got the red light, which means stand up and hook up. And my buddy in front of me, Reggie, looked around and he says, “You know you can get killed doing this.” [LAUGHTER] And then all of the sudden we get the green light, which we didn't realize -- we were suppose to count off, number one, okay, number two, okay. We just started that when we get the green light and we couldn't figure out what happened and out we went. And three of us landed; my best buddy and Reggie, another buddy together. Reggie's chute collapsed and he had two broken compound fractures to both legs, and we gave him morphine. We each had two doses of morphine that we could use, and we gave him one, didn't help his pain, and we gave him another and then we thought -- we could have given him more. We decided no, we don't want to give him any more because it's liable to kill him. So we finally found a priest near a little French village where we landed because we didn't know where we were because we dropped ahead of time, and the priest said he'd take care of Reggie because we couldn't stay with him. We had to leave on our mission. So we took off knowing Reggie was in good hands. We got walking down, just Don and I, and we found two girls. And they said once we got in there they were going to take us across the river, because we were so far away. We were miles away from our objective. And they took us on a flat boat where they put drinking water and we didn't know whether they were leading us into a trap or not, being it's Normandy there were quite a few girls that were fraternizing with German soldiers, and we hoped not. And she got us across the river all right, and then we went on our own and met up with other troopers from the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne. We had about 50 by the time we got together. And it took us three days to get back to where we were supposed to be. And from then on we went on and fought hedgerow to hedgerow and they would take a machine gun at the corner of each hedgerow, we would shoot then and we'd go on. And then the next thing you know we went with tanks. And that's bad because you can't hit at shells coming in when you're following a tank so you don't even have time to jump in a foxhole or anything like that. And then after that we took what we call Hill 30 on the south side of town called Carenton and we had to cross a creek there and Harry Bossay [phonetic] had a machine gun on his shoulders and he was crossing the creek and all of the sudden he just disappeared. [LAUGHTER] A few seconds later he comes out of the water. He had gone up the bank. And Harry also had an experience when we started up the bank to attack. He got hit in both legs, calves. Medicon [phonetic] got him wrapped up and he's running back and the bandages come loose and they were streaming like streamers in the back of each leg. But he was all right. Harry went to the hospital and then came back to fight again. And then we took the town of Carenton as our last mission really in Normandy. And there we were having awards given, and I got my Purple Heart there and a Bronze Star. And right in the middle of the awards ceremony Germans shelled the town, so we had to get out of there. And after that we went back to England to train for another mission. And before we had the other mission we had [unintelligible] about 15 times and Patton was over on the job zone, so we didn't have go. And then in Holland they were waiting for us, so we did jump in Holland in daylight, which is nice. And no sooner hit the ground and the Dutch Underground met us, showed us where to go and they had been alerted. In Holland we had battles all the time. We were in Holland 71 days and we were on the nether Rhine most of the time, across from the German troops and they were crossing the other side. And I remember something that I'm not too proud of. I was a sergeant at that time, Squad Leader, and we went across the Rhine in a little boat to find where the enemy was. When we went around we couldn't find them, couldn't find them. When we came back there was a colonel there, and we said “We couldn't find anything.” He said, “Well, you got to go back.” And this is the part I'm not too proud of, we rode back, stood in the beach for about a half hour where the embankment is, gave him some information and the next thing you know they're shelling like mad -- they're shelling the place over there. We felt we were lucky the first time going over there but the second time maybe we might meet somebody and really get in trouble. So, that was one thing. Then from Normandy, after the 71 days there we went back to [unintelligible], France and camped out there. And the next thing you know I was awakened by the first sergeant in Sens City, and he said “The Germans jumped in Octon.” And I said “Octon, where's that?” And he said, “We're going to a town called Bastone [phonetic].” And we did go to Bastone but we were in a little town and outside on a hill. Our regiment was lucky in a sense that the Germans didn't know we were there at that hill, and they come marching through the hill. We opened fire on him, killed quite a few, and they didn't take our position. And the next day we saw all these poor Germans hanging over the barb wire fences, dead. And that's morale breaking, so we thought we'd pick their bodies up, get them out of there. It's morale breaking to us to see the dead, it must be to the Germans, too. So, anyway, we started going down there with litters and all of the sudden the Germans shoot up flares. We go, “Uh-oh, we've had it.” And they just kept shooting up the flares when they saw what we were doing, and they felt that was bad on their morale, too, so they let us pick up the bodies and put them in six by sixes and took them away. And then after Bastone we went back to another camp and [unintelligible] and then we went to Central Europe [unintelligible], and all we did there was to keep the Germans there. We'd advance a little bit and then come back, which was very morale breaking for us because we'd lose people and we weren't picking up ground. We were just there as decoy. And then after that, of course, we come and the war – we were being trained to go back to the United States. And the war all of the sudden ended and saves us from coming – we were going to go home. We had been joined to go home and train for Japan but all of the sudden the war in Japan is over. So we go on occupation, and that was interesting because we went down to a little town called [unintelligible] Germany and lived in houses here. My squad, we had a house. And German people, they were very nice but I found out that – I looked under the bed I was sleeping in and underneath their stash was swastika arm bands and stuff like that. So they may have been good to us, but they were really not that kind. They had been Nazis as far as we know. Or maybe they had to be Nazis because of the conditions. And we would see people on occupation. We had patrols out because they had young men or boys that were trained to be soldiers, and they were boys of the state. In other words, servant soldiers would impregnate the girls and these boys were trained as soldiers. EDNA TAYLOR: You had mentioned that you were awarded the Purple Heart. Can you give us some information about that? ROBERT BEACHY: Well, that was funny. It's not a bad wound; it's my hand. It was white phosphorous. White phosphorous comes in a bomb and burns, and if you don't get water on it right away it will burn into your skin, and it was friendly fire. It was our own white phosphorous. What happened, our platoon had too far advanced and the captain – colonel I guess it was, ordered white phosphorous to find out where the Germans were, and it was us; it was not the Germans you heard fighting. And that's – I get the Purple Heart because of that not because of any dire wound or anything. But occupation is very good. EDNA TAYLOR: You were telling us more information about the occupation. ROBERT BEACHY: Oh, yeah. Yeah. In the town of [unintelligible] I got a German flag. The mayor gave me a flag of the town that flew over their Town Hall and to my chagrin and everything after I come home I was so mad at the Germans that I took the flag and used it as a drop cloth and then found out later on it was really worth some money. But that's beside the point. I didn't have foresight to see. And hindsight is always better than foresight anyway. I also had a German rifle that I brought back. I didn't confiscate it; it was just lying around. And I didn't like it so I traded it with my brother-in-law for a 22 rifle. That's about the only thing I got, you know, as mementos except the commerce ship buddy. Our outfit was the 501 Infantry Regiment, which is a sister Regiment of the 506, which was Band of Brothers Regiment. So they were also in the other – well, they were in the Armed First assigned. We were only attached. After the war we didn't stay with the Armed First. EDNA TAYLOR: Are there any other experiences that sort of stand out in your mind? ROBERT BEACHY: Well, one was – my buddy Don Metcalf and I were behind a bank and Germans were shooting at us and all of the sudden it stopped the bank and mud and dirt started to fly in. Don said, “I'm hit, I'm hit!” I looked at him and I brushed his face off a little, I said, “Don, it's just a piece of mud.” Fortunately, the only wound I got was the Purple Heart for the white phosphorous. And he never got wounded. And Don, by the way, went through Korea and Vietnam and retired from the Army as a Colonel and just died last year. The three of us, Reggie, Don, and I were like brothers. Reggie is in California and he went to the reunion. We have a reunion every year, our regiment. I didn't go because maybe transportation, getting around and stuff, and as I said, Don just died. So, we keep in touch. We go to each other's homes. Don lived in Wyoming and Reggie in California, myself here. EDNA TAYLOR: I'm a little curious, did you select the airborne? ROBERT BEACHY: Yes. EDNA TAYLOR: Why? ROBERT BEACHY: Oh, yeah. I just didn't want to be in a, I hate to say it, in the plain army. I wanted to be something different. EDNA TAYLOR: What do you feel about the institute? Do you feel that you made – ROBERT BEACHY: Pardon? EDNA TAYLOR: How do you feel about your selection? ROBERT BEACHY: Oh, fine. Fine. Yeah, we were all young, 19, 18. Even some of the officers were only 20. As Band of Brothers, the movie, we were brothers. We still are brothers. And it's just – I don't know. I think -- I had to – when I enlisted in the Army I was only 19, so I had to get my parents' consent, and I put down there I was in the Quartermaster Corps because if I'd put down paratroops they were never assigned the papers. They didn't know I was in the paratroopers until about, oh, eight, ten weeks, which was basic training. And so, I think they were proud of it, too. I sure was. If I had it to do over again I'd do the same thing. EDNA TAYLOR: Is there anything else you'd like to say? ROBERT BEACHY: Let's see. I can't think of anything outstanding. It was just a job that we had to do. Oh, I think I did say about Holland, about that was outstanding to me that underground was there waiting for us. EDNA TAYLOR: Do you want elaborate on the underground? That was pretty interesting. ROBERT BEACHY: On the underground? EDNA TAYLOR: Uh-huh. ROBERT BEACHY: Oh, yeah. They come running with orange bands around their arm and told us where to go, where the rest of the troops were. So, they were very good. That way was so easy to get – and we had a good jump, too. It wasn't like – well, let's see, talking about Normandy again. The planes flew in without radar and without radio contact. They flew -- because of fog one plane followed a middle plane and there were rows of nine planes. And when we hit the coast of France it got cloudy and they lost contact. All we were following by was the little lights on the wing. So they were all mixed up. That's why we jumped where we did. The main reason we jumped where we did, our plane was hit with flack and we didn't know it. That's why the red light came on and then all the sudden the green light came on. And when we get back to England we were going to the airport and we thought the pilot had purposely dropped us because he got scared. We didn't know the plane was hit. When we went back to the base we were going to punch him or just tell him what we thought of him. And the crew chief got through; he went down with the plane. The pilot went down with the plane. Never was I so mad ourselves for getting upset. Because that was the first time we knew the plane had been hit. The three planes in the 101st -- ours was one of the three planes that got hit. We got out. The other two they didn't get out of the plane, so we were fortunate. The crew chief [unintelligible] the pilot held it as long he could to keep -- so we could get out. So he was really a hero. EDNA TAYLOR: Well, Mr. Beachy, thank you very much for your history. ROBERT BEACHY: I hope it was all right. EDNA TAYLOR: Appreciate it. Yeah. ROBERT BEACHY: Thank you. EDNA TAYLOR: Uh-huh. FEMALE SPEAKER: You should have told them about Lady Ester's [phonetic] and her bees. [LAUGHTER] ROBERT BEACHY: Oh, yeah, yeah. I forgot about that. We were camped outside of England and there was a fence right near where our tent was and bees would come in. We had orange marmalade. You can't tell a bee – if a bee is in orange marmalade because the marmalade is the same color as they are. We were getting bit, stung, and we would complain about it. And somebody said, “Oh, that's Lady Ester's estate; she doesn't like [unintelligible].” [LAUGHTER] “And she purposely moves the beehives over there.” [LAUGHTER] EDNA TAYLOR: Okay. Again, thank you very much. ROBERT BEACHY: Oh, thank you. FEMALE SPEAKER: I think it's so nice to hear something absolutely -- [END INTERVIEW] [KS] - Metadata URL:
- http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/308
- Additional Rights Information:
- This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.
- Extent:
- 26:09
- Original Collection:
- Veterans History Project oral history recordings
Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center - Holding Institution:
- Atlanta History Center
- Rights:
-
