<Begin Segment 17>

TI: So you returned --

TT: Yeah, I went back to the camp, and then we got shipped overseas, going over, I went over on the Queen, the original Queen Elizabeth. It had fifteen thousand troops on there, 'cause they were rushing them all over.

TI: And then what unit were you assigned to as a paratrooper?

TT: Well, I was assigned to 507, Parachute Infantry Regiment, Company B. That was (with) the 17th Airborne Division.

TI: And so why don't you describe kind of the action or...

TT: Oh, when I first joined? Well, I got assigned to 507. When I got there, before I can even get to that company, couple of us (were) pulled off and put on a truck to haul supplies. [Laughs] Then after that, I joined the company. This was in the Battle of the Bulge. And after the Bulge was over, we pulled back into France, a town called Rambre Villar, I don't know how you spell it. But a town close to Reims, where the famous cathedral is. And then we went through training there before the actual jump.

TI: And so describe, I guess, your first jump. What was that like? What was the circumstances of the first jump?

TT: Well, you're talking about overseas? Yeah. It was called Operation Varsity, and we were going to be jumping over the Rhine River. But there wasn't any bridges left on the Rhine. Either the Allies had bombed up all the bridges, or the Germans had destroyed it themselves. So our mission was to establish a beach head on the other side so they can put pontoon bridges across. And when you speak of the pontoon, it's not what you think about, little thing. It's huge. And they had to use a crane to lay the pontoons, one after another. 'Cause, in fact, they did stretch it all the way across the river, and (it had to be) big enough and strong enough so the two and a half ton trucks plus regular tanks went across. Well, you want to talk about the actual jump?

TI: Yeah. So you...

TT: Well, we had a couple of practice jumps before the regular. But anyway, early morning, we went to the airfield, got on the plane. The whole battalion went together. I found out later that I was in the group, the very first plane, the very first group that went over. So must have been about ten o'clock by the time we got moving. I don't know exactly, but they said, "Stand up, hook up, get ready." After, when we hit the Rhine, the Germans had sent up everything they had, anti-aircraft, machine guns and regular guns. And the plane started to rock because of all that flack. And I happened to look out, next plane, the engine was on fire. But I figured they got out because we got out of our plane right away after that. Then we hit... we landed in the open field near the town of Wessel.

TI: And before you even go to the landing, so you're in the plane, it's rocking because of all the anti-aircraft, the next plane over is already on fire, the engine, what's going through your mind? What are you thinking?

TT: I wanted to get out. [Laughs]

TI: [Laughs] Not with your parachute, but just...

TT: You're not thinking, you just want to get out of there. So, yeah, few seconds, a minute or so later, we got out. They said, "Go," we got out. We jumped.

TI: And so you'd rather go from, I'm not sure if "safety" is a good word, but the confines of a plane, to just jump out into darkness.

TT: No, it wasn't dark, it's daylight.

TI: Oh, daylight, ten in the morning, okay, morning. But jumping out, not really knowing what you're gonna find on the ground. 'Cause you were the first, one of the first planes in the first group, and that, I'm guessing, is probably the most dangerous because they're waiting for you.

TT: Yeah, they were waiting. In fact, they had good intelligence, you know, they knew we were coming. But then, you know, when I say... there was a group of I don't know how many planes that jumped together, so...

TI: So hundreds or thousands of men are jumping at the same time?

TT: Well, in a division there's three regiments. Well, actually, we had two parachute regiments and one glider that went in together, plus the British Airborne Division. So within the... regiment, there are three battalions, and the battalion is divided into companies. So I was in B Company but then they said even the colonel, the commanding, regimental commander jumped with us, too.

TI: Okay. But, so a lot of men. I know from the 442, like a battalion was roughly, at full strength, about a thousand, a thousand men. And so the Regimental Combat Team, the 442, full strength, was like four thousand, and they had three battalions plus headquarters. So about a thousand per battalion. So you're talking about a lot of men, though, that are coming out of those planes.

TT: They come in waves.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.