Forgive me for copying this email my late father sent me about 14 years ago, after I said I was amazed at how clear his memory was of the medic in his squad being killed. This was his response.
When two good guys die in the same action you don't ever forget it. That
morning, my platoon sergeant Roger St. Louis had liberated 2 bottles of wine and stuffed them in
his field jacket. He had them on him when we went over the top of a small
hill and started down the other side. The German infantry was dug in on
that side of the hill and most were asleep in their shallow fox
holes. As a group of about 30 we had waked up and started sending Germans
back up the hill and over the top to waiting MP's and other infantrymen who
were out of sight. As Roger St. Louis poked one sleeping German to wake him
the guy rolled over and looked up to see the infantryman standing over him.
He then did what any combat infantryman would do when caught like that. He
jerked his Burp Gun up (called a machine pistol by German infantrymen) and
squeezed off a burst right into Roger. It nearly cut him in two. He died
in an instant and both wine bottles in his field jacket which were shattered
by the gun fire added to the gory picture.
When the Burp Gun was fired everyone hit the dirt where they stood on the
exposed hillside and unhitched their entrenching shovel and started to try
to dig some kind of hole for cover. The nearest infantryman to St. Louis
could see that he was badly wounded and shouted for a Medic. It was pure
pandemonium. A few Germans were still firing and we were trying to keep
them down in their holes with gunfire so they could not aim in the very
close quarters. In this chaotic environment when our company Medic heard
the call for help he was immediately up on his feet and running through all
the gunfire to where Roger lay dying. Suntan ( Thomas Santandrea) reached
Roger and as he rolled on his side to look at his wounds a German
infantryman shot him dead. He shot him right through the head. His red crosses
on his helmet and his armband
were fully visible but that kind of thing just happens in combat.
Anyway Suntan was awarded the Silver Star for his heroic effort that day. I
saw him do other brave things that were just as memorable on other days and
he considered them just a days work for a Medic.
After Suntan was killed the firing stopped. The Germans seemed to realize
that we might turn on them and take no prisoners so they got up out of their
holes and started to walk to the top of the hill and safety and the POW
camp. We thought we had won the day and things would settle down right away.
We realized this was not true when we were told to start digging in and get
ready for an assault coming up the hill from the small valley below. We
took advantage of the German fox holes by deepening them and building a
revetment on the downhill side to shed some of the small arms fire that we
were sure would come from the troops advancing up the hill from below. But
first we had to lay in the holes while a couple of German 88's across the
valley tried to keep us pinned down as the fresh German troops tried to
overrun us from below. Our withering fire from Garands and BAR's kept them
at bay until it started to get dark and we then slipped back over the top of
the hill behind us to safety.
Just a real bad day in the life of a combat infantryman. Two good guys who
had lived on the edge with you were gone and you had escaped to fight and
perhaps die another day. Perhaps now , Jim , you can better understand why
these events were burned into my memory more than 60 years ago.
Dad
When two good guys die in the same action you don't ever forget it. That
morning, my platoon sergeant Roger St. Louis had liberated 2 bottles of wine and stuffed them in
his field jacket. He had them on him when we went over the top of a small
hill and started down the other side. The German infantry was dug in on
that side of the hill and most were asleep in their shallow fox
holes. As a group of about 30 we had waked up and started sending Germans
back up the hill and over the top to waiting MP's and other infantrymen who
were out of sight. As Roger St. Louis poked one sleeping German to wake him
the guy rolled over and looked up to see the infantryman standing over him.
He then did what any combat infantryman would do when caught like that. He
jerked his Burp Gun up (called a machine pistol by German infantrymen) and
squeezed off a burst right into Roger. It nearly cut him in two. He died
in an instant and both wine bottles in his field jacket which were shattered
by the gun fire added to the gory picture.
When the Burp Gun was fired everyone hit the dirt where they stood on the
exposed hillside and unhitched their entrenching shovel and started to try
to dig some kind of hole for cover. The nearest infantryman to St. Louis
could see that he was badly wounded and shouted for a Medic. It was pure
pandemonium. A few Germans were still firing and we were trying to keep
them down in their holes with gunfire so they could not aim in the very
close quarters. In this chaotic environment when our company Medic heard
the call for help he was immediately up on his feet and running through all
the gunfire to where Roger lay dying. Suntan ( Thomas Santandrea) reached
Roger and as he rolled on his side to look at his wounds a German
infantryman shot him dead. He shot him right through the head. His red crosses
on his helmet and his armband
were fully visible but that kind of thing just happens in combat.
Anyway Suntan was awarded the Silver Star for his heroic effort that day. I
saw him do other brave things that were just as memorable on other days and
he considered them just a days work for a Medic.
After Suntan was killed the firing stopped. The Germans seemed to realize
that we might turn on them and take no prisoners so they got up out of their
holes and started to walk to the top of the hill and safety and the POW
camp. We thought we had won the day and things would settle down right away.
We realized this was not true when we were told to start digging in and get
ready for an assault coming up the hill from the small valley below. We
took advantage of the German fox holes by deepening them and building a
revetment on the downhill side to shed some of the small arms fire that we
were sure would come from the troops advancing up the hill from below. But
first we had to lay in the holes while a couple of German 88's across the
valley tried to keep us pinned down as the fresh German troops tried to
overrun us from below. Our withering fire from Garands and BAR's kept them
at bay until it started to get dark and we then slipped back over the top of
the hill behind us to safety.
Just a real bad day in the life of a combat infantryman. Two good guys who
had lived on the edge with you were gone and you had escaped to fight and
perhaps die another day. Perhaps now , Jim , you can better understand why
these events were burned into my memory more than 60 years ago.
Dad
