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Old 28th September 2019, 03:37
RSwank RSwank is offline
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Re: 28/9/1944 Jabo raid Molenhoek area

There is a description of the attack here:

https://www.familysearch.org/service...x=ArtCtxPublic


On page 181:

“181
SPIKE GETS HIS PURPLE HEART
The Luftwaffe was producing jet fighter planes and soon gave us the dubious honor of being among the first to be strafed and bombed by one. The plane came over our bivouac area several times and on one run it fired rockets and dropped several bombs in our area. It was chow time and the guys were bunched up.
I was talking to several guys, Pat Mulloy was one of them. The blast was so close it blew us over. Pat was very seriously wounded and is partially paralyzed as a result of it. They picked him up as I ran for the mess tent. Guys were lying around in weird positions -- it was a hell of a mess. One of our jeep drivers was dying. Sergeant Billiter, our mess Sgt. looked up at me with a pleading look. I wanted to reach down and grab his arm to keep him from slipping away. He died before we could move him.
Spike was hit in the back. One clean round hole showed as we carried him face down to the hospital tent. Doc Jacobius started to work on him while we went back for the others. The screaming noise of the diving jet sent us hitting the ground near the mess tent. more bombs, more yelling and cussing, flying tree limbs and sand.
In this last run he dropped one bomb right in the hospital tent. It killed Captain Jacobius and put 26 more pieces in Spike. He was in critical shape now.
That look in Sergeant Billiter's eyes kept coming back -- I didn't have much appetite for the meal Billiter's crew had prepared just before the raid. This one plane in two passes had torn up several companies of the Battalion.”


The above account was written by 1st Lt Robert W Tribe. 307th Airborne Eng Bn
http://www.airborneinnormandy.com/im...20Normandy.jpg

Last edited by RSwank; 28th September 2019 at 18:33.
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