Someone like me who has not seen combat will not pretend to describe it. My only basis of experience, aside from reading historical books, has been from snippets of conversation or films. Movies stray far from the truth and the emotions experienced by the participants. One movie, Saving Private Ryan, might come closest to the mark from which I’ve heard stories of some veterans who were unable to watch and had to leave the theater with their horrific memories revived.
Many veterans around home that we knew and whose pictures hang on the wall in the community center went through battlefield hell in the particular war they fought in. It was common knowledge around Sheldon that Joe McGrath experienced hellish combat as a paratrooper as he jumped into World War II battlefields. So many specifics about his service could not be found, but with some deep digging we can draw a partial picture of his years in the army.
After he died, the story was told that upon opening a drawer in his house family members found several medals for service and for bravery. Those medals included a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, a Presidential Unit Citation, a European Campaign Medal, and a Good Conduct Medal.
The Bronze Star Medal was awarded for heroic or meritorious achievement or service in a combat zone during military operations against an armed enemy. The Presidential Unit Citation was awarded to his unit that performed under extraordinary, hazardous conditions that clearly set them apart from every other unit in the same campaign. It is rarely awarded and is reserved for units that perform remarkably dangerous, difficult, and heroic missions in battle. Circumstances for his award of the Purple Heart could not be found.
After looking through rosters of paratroops in the 82nd and 101st airborne, his name appeared - Joseph E. McGrath - as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), Company B. That group jumped at least twice, once on D-Day and another near the Seine River in Germany. The rest of the time he probably slogged along on foot.
It must have been quite an experience for him, heavily-loaded down with gear, to climb aboard his plane and fly to a drop zone. That early morning over 800 C-47s transported 13,500 American paratroops to jump on D-Day. One of them wrote that when airborne he looked out a window to a remarkable sight and said, “There were so many planes that you could almost walk across them.” Then when he looked down he saw with further amazement the huge fleet of ships in the English Channel on their way to France.
Joe McGrath’s plane with the number 32837 painted on the tail, was headed to a designated spot west of the Merderet River, but heavy clouds and smoke from German anti-aircraft fire complicated navigation for pilots. He and his fellow plane occupants landed about 2:00 a.m. on June 6th in deep water marshes near St-Mere-Eglise. Luckily, he survived and waded out, but some of his fellow-soldiers didn’t.
After regrouping they were given the task of taking and defending a strategically important bridge at La Fiere where they fought in a brutal battle lasting for several days. Without control of the bridge, American forces would not have been able to advance from the beaches. It cost. Nearly 250 American lives were lost here. This fight earned them the Presidential Unit Citation. The battle in this spot was probably “the bloodiest small-unit struggle in the experience of American arms,” according to one military historian. (The last scene in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” where Tom Hanks’ character fought and died was here.)
Joe’s outfit entered another big battle when Hitler decided to start a last counteroffensive in the Ardennes. The Germans had waited for bad weather conditions with clouds and fog to prevent the Allies from using their superior air force. Then on December 16, 1944, The Germans successfully pushed the Allies back into that bulge found in any battle map. When the weather cleared, however, the Americans brought their air power into force and started a counterattack. By mid-January 1945 a lack of fuel forced the Germans to simply abandon their vehicles, a fact fatal to Hitler’s thoughts of victory. On 25 January 1945 the battle was over. The Battle of the Bulge was the costliest operation ever fought by the U.S. Army, counting 10,733 American soldiers killed and 42,316 wounded.
One more parachute jump came for Joe. On March 24, 1945, the largest airborne assault in history saw 16,000 men dropped on the east bank of the Rhine River to support the Allied crossing there. Here they captured the town of Diersfordt, and overran a German headquarters. Six weeks later Germany surrendered.
Most of the facts of Joe’s actions in WW II could not be found. For instance, why did he earn the Bronze Star and how was he wounded to earn the Purple Heart. Maybe someone out there knows and can respond.
With an honorable discharge, he came home to live out his days. Matters at home needed tending to. Manufacturers started making cars again, but roads had become neglected and needed attention. He bought a gravel truck and drove many miles while dumping the much needed gravel on road surfaces.
The McGrath family made a strong contribution to the war effort. In September, 1943 the Fargo Forum featured four of them under a headline “4 McGraths of Sheldon Serve.” We will continue with their story next time.
As an aside, another Sheldonite, Mike Ranney, was a member of the 506th PIR Regiment of “The Band of Brothers.” He and Joe probably did not cross paths during the war.
