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COMBAT liISTORY OF FIRST -BATTALION MEDICAL SECTION 289th Infantry

It Wc\,S the day before Christmas:; 1944, nhen the first battalion ma.~ched t,7el ve miles f orrrard, and then rode engineer truc~s toward the advancing Jerries •. It was cold that day and most of the men cus1:,ed for having to be there. We ate our supper., which Tro.s a delicious 11K1' ration, thq.t Christma$ Eve in an apple orchard on the edge of a little tovm called Frazee, Belgiumo No fire? could be built, which did not add to the men~s morale.

Everyone knew that actual combat with the enemy was not far off. Some men sang, some '\'irhistled in lon tones, some stomped their feet to get back the circulationa Finally at 2200 hours that night word came to load into some trucks that had just arrived~ To add to the tension a man from C Co. accident­al.J.y shot himself through the hand, and Pfc George Senuta, the aid man from that platoon, was on hand and got his first :real casuality to work on. Some of the men were told that Tie nould ride in trucks until we met the enemy,,,

It was cold that night in those big trucks 0 Everyone shivered because it was cold, and because of nhat rras coming 0 After about . an hours ride we began to hear artillery; The further rre rrent the louder the reports came. Suddenly a 105 nent off that aJmost knocked some of the trucks off the road with its muzzle blast.., fl.bout midnight we reached our destination at another small to-rm called Erezee, Belgium .. , The companies of the Battalion ·rrere dispersed in a perimeter defense around the torm., Everyone was dead tired, and -vrould have lain do-rm 'in the snoTr to sleep) but finally nord came for the Medics to move out. That night ue slept in a small nood shed., It nas more crorrded than fl"'°rly men in a 40 or 8 bo:x:carc About 0400 the next morning three casualties ncrc brought into the 'rlObd shed-from a Tank Destroyer Battalion. lfo one ever knetr from whence they came, and no one lmeu uhere to evacuate them" Finally an ambulance -rras scared Up,;; a nd they re re sent on their nay.

On Christmas Day, ne i7ore given our init~al. test0 The orders road to advance O until' contact -rras na de nith the ene:nty, and then to hold., During the afternoon, our fir st casual ity report came in from Charlie Co(, The message came via radio, , and the speaker believed that it ~-ras a }:iedic from that Company that had beon trouµdedo On reaching the Battalioi1 OP the litter bearers found that t he company vas temporarily lost someTThere in the thick woods .. The small group of six men, composed ,of Lt.:, , U(\s~ Alexander., S/Sgt Oscar NQ YJinkler, Pfcs Robert F. Class., Arthur Shipiro, .Henry H<> Dawson and Halter S" Hm'lard, split into trro groups ~f three men eacho One . group searched to the left, and the other to the righto Sgt Winkler, and his gr.oup finally found the carrpany, and the casuality., -rmich turned out to be one of our mm Medics, T/5 Ed.1w.rd J. Kij, compaey aid ma.n from the first platoon of Carlie Co,, He had been shot three times through the right forearm ·with a 11burp gu.n II fired by a Jerry sniper, 1,hil e Kij r,as on his ·Hay to take care of a doughbay that had baen shot, and killed although it was unlmmm to Kij at the time. Th-at night Pfc. Da:nson yras sent up to replace Kij.

On the night of December 261 the Battalion was attacked by an SS Battalion. The attack carried ~n into the next morning, but no ground vras given, and nearly 80 Supermen .-mr e killed .. Ho1rever, t he First Battalion suffered 34 cas­ualities {,;;rounded only) in that 24 hour period. U1on the casualities were coming in the fastest tho Gennans had zeroed in on the Battalion CP, and the Aid Station. A dii1 ect hit vras scc1•ed on _the Bat talion CP, and near mtsscs around the Aid Station. The Aid Station, in spite of the shelling, moved back ~ half a mile to a little village called Haizollo. During that morning T/4 John W. iViardis, who at that ti.'!le Tms in charge of all company aid men Tras v:oundcd in the bottom of ~ho foot by a shell fragment nhile going up for more casualities3 He Yi9-S evacuated December 27th, much o.gninst his 1:ill, although h o Trns in the hosp;i.tal for four months., · - ~

· The Aid Station remained i n Haizollc for two more weeks, and one or tTro casualities rolled in each day. Our i:rain business nas frost bite and trench foot, which put a heavy drain on tho rifle companies. The company aid men vrero called in to tho Aid Station periodically for 24 hour rests and a chance tb clean up, and write a few letters. . ·

During the second week in Jarruary, t ho Battalion nas finally relieved, for rmat Trc all hoped v;ould be a rest., Much , to our dismay, we r1cro shifted over to another soctor of the First Army; The Aid Station wao set up in a small shell wrecked house in a village called Menil, uhcre the outfit relieved clements

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of the 82nd .Airborne Division. Everything went along nicely, ·with the troops advancing through towns called Sert, and Grande Sa.rt. On . the 13th of January the e.id station moved into a huge chatcau cilled St.e Mario, near the Salm River. On the night of . the 14th, 'VTC were given an attack o~der., and that morning bet1'ioon , 0300 and 0700 wo vroi ted outside in the snow vihilo an artillery preparation took place. ·Qlr mission rras to go up a mountain side, a~d hold the right flank, while the Second Battalion swerved to the left and took a tovm called Bock.

The J erries were looking dovm our throats du.ring our approach to tho ri vcr that was at the base of: the- mountai n . lwery nan in th--e Ba-tta-li-en See-tion -woX>kod ­harder and longer during that phase that at any .other time ' in combat. The litter hauls coming dovm the mountain were literally impossible. Tho litter vm.s placed on tho grou.nd and ih ey let patient and, all slide dorm. If . a man ma.de · one trip up and dovm he was knocked out for an hour. Ffc Dawson and Pfc Howard vroro _ carrying a casua.lity back when a shell 1£!.nded, ,and exploded next to the. casuaJ.ity and killed all three men. T/S Char;I.es s. Alfano and Pfc Class were nearby, and were both wounded by shells while going after more casualties.. Both wore , , serving as litter bearers at tho time, and both VJDro evacuated. That day in a course of seven hours, the Aid Station took care of 84 wounded men, our busiest &"t)f in combat. Much of the credit for tho fine job of evacuation goes to T/4 Nelson E. McGrath; T/4 Martin D. Tierney and S/Sgt Oscar N. Y!inklor, who , voluntnrily, drove over a mined road that was covered both rd.th snovr and artillery. Fortunately no mines were. hit, and. although tho truck in ·which troy drove v1<1s v:oll nnrked vd th a red cross., tho ·enenv poured direct fire on thom is they sped dovm the none too good road. ·

The company [!.id. m~n in all compi'.:'nies cspccin.lly did 1l miraculous job that day. It ,vas one of tho coldest deys of tho winter. Everybnets hands wore frozen nearly stiff, and yet men like T/4 Yfarron A. Liston, T/5 Hayne L. Andrcvts, a.id men from Able company, T/5 John Fi Curtin, Ptc Jack Clogston, Pfc lr:i.chncl W~ Gregg, aid men from Baker company, Pfc l!illin.m E. Kiefer, Pfc Gcc;,rgc E, Soput/l and Pfc Glenn. Ho Mineoly aid men from Charlie compney md T/5 Joseph M., Consiglio, Pfc Walter A• Ma.,dola and Pfc Michael P. Noonnn m.d men from Dog company, carried on tireless)y, ncvor · oncq stopping until the last man was given treatment, Ylhon not giving first e.id they vrere helping out the litter bearers. Besides dodging tho incom:ing shells, they vrore also hampered in t ,hcir work, by a group of snipers that no one had time to uncover that day. Hovwvcr, tho following day a litter bearer, Ffc :Emilio Groppuso, took off his rod crosses., p:i,.cked up a Brovming Automatic Rifle, and accompanied a small group of InfantI'j711\en and captured seven prisoners who turned out to be the ' snii:>crs of the day before.

Every Modic in the Battalion Section was commended by the Battalion Commander, and nearly everyone else in tho Battalion for the magnificent job that i.ias done dnring the Salm River crossing , High :praise went to the litter boorer group for their tiring job, and for the intestinal fortitude that they showed in evacuating the wounded .. High praise goes to men lik\) Pfc James n. · Hause, Pfc John E. , Nowak, Pfc Robort D. lancto, T/5 Alex F. Garner,. T/4 Tierney kept the communication between the forward aid station., and the aid station open at all times. On various occasions it was tho only connnunication between the front and the rear. ·

. The roar Aid Station that day was :visitod by the Division's Commanding

General,; Major ,General ,Pricket~, and the Corps Connnanding Gonoral, Major General Ridgevray, but none of the aid stati6n group snw them ns their heads wore bent over a wounded man. These highly trained technicians iivorkod as diligently as o.ey men possibly could. T/3 Robert E. Brennan., T/3 Hovmrd J. Michels, Pvt. · John o. Lolley, T/4 Paul Minassian, and Pvt. Joseph A. Lise, composed the group. At night they would take turns going up to the .forward aid station to relieve a tired litiD r bearer squad. All through combat each one used to b cg to go up to the front to render the initial first aid. On several occasions T/3 Michels could be found in tho hottest aren. treD.ting a fallen infantryman. ·

After the Salm Hivcr battle., a group of three reinforcements vrcrc sent to tho section. They wore Pfc Tho::nn.s lJhrch, Pfc Millard F. Boono and Pvt Shields. They arrived n.t ,1600 hours,- nnd by 1800 hours they were digging in ut the Buttalion OP_. Uonnvmilo Lt. AlcXGmder, and ,tho litter bearer group loft St. }nrio

. and ., ct up a supplo~ontD-1 aid station in the tmm of Bock, s5.1?:cc this positiqn

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made evacuation easiero It ·was during this time on January ' 20, that Pfc Kiefer was wounded in the right shoulder by a shell fragment, and was· evacuated to a hospital. The same day two German infantryman walked up .. to Pfc George Senuta and surrendered. They gave the reason for surrendening as being, 11they knew that an .American Medic didn't carry a gun, and would not shoot them while they were trying to surrender. 11 "

At long last we were relieved, and went to a small town called Ville DJ. Bois for a rest-. We had not been there a full day, when we were ordered

' . t to leave the next day; to go down and help out one of our other regimens near st.·vith. They said, 11It would only be a 24 hour operation, and then we would get a rest for sure! 11 , The 24 hours stretched on ii:ito four days • . Dlring this operation which took place near a village two miles from St. Vith, called Braunlauf, we encountered our first mines. Nearly all our casuali1ies there were the .results of mine explosions. One little squad led by S/Sgt Winkler and T/3 Michels were carrying in a casuality just at dusk. The sr .ow was nearly a foot deep, and they were trying to follow trails aJ.:ready made through the snow. A litter t eam from the 2nd Ba.ttallion was with them, and also had a casuality. They came to a 11Y11 in the trails. The 2nd Battallion team went to the, right, and the 1st Battallion team went to the left, neither team kn<W ing which was right. The 2nd Battallion team ran into mines killing one ~an, and wounding then men who came to aid them. Our team came through all right, much to their relief. T/5 Curtin was running so fast to get to Captain Bruley who had been wounded by a mine, that he (Curtin) ~ripped~ · . mine wire, but was unharmed, al~hough the mine wounded the man directly in back of him.

After our relief at Braunlauf, we were sent to Southern France, via the infamous 40 & 8 bdxcars, where we joined the Seventh .Anrry, and were atta, ',:ed to the French ,First Army. Just before leaving Belgium, however, we received some more reinforcements. They were S/Sgt Ray P. Schwan and Pfc Abel J. Morip. These men were assi~ned to the litter bearer group.

In Southern France we worked with .the 28th an~ 3rd Infantry Divisions. The mission was centered in and around Colmar. Probably the most drastic episode for us vhile in Soutµer'n France, was during our attack of another small village by the name of Appenwihr, on February 5. The 2nd and 3rd Battallions had gone into the tovm two days previously, but had 'been r--f'·

driven our by a swar:tn of Tiger Tanks. Captain Brooks, the Battallion Surgeon had taken sick, and remained at the Collecting Station .for a short rest. The Section followed the Battallion on the approach march, and stopped in the edge of some woods about 6oo yards in front of the tovm. The infantrymen rode in on tanks for the most part, but some had to walk~· The Germans had laid mines of all types around the outskirts of the town. Pfc Senuta and Pfc Minee:l.y were both killed w}:lile 1rmrking on a wounded nan. 1'.lhilc -doing their first aid work t,hey had to move around to get to the man's wounds, and ;in doing so set off some more mines. Senuta died at the aid stntion in the woods. The mines vrere so thick that no one that walked through them unharmed could ever realize their luck. The rest of the compnny aid men, and litter bearers do not lmow to this day .}:low· they got through vdthout tripping a mine, or getting hit by on8 set off by sonBone else.

With tho encrey- pushed across the Rhino River, and the Colmar Pocket closed, our mission was completed, we were sent to Holland next and placed · in a bomb wrecked tovm called Blorick, which was directly across the Maas river from VcnJ.o. Vi/hile we wore _there nothing of importance happened, except for night patrols sent across tho river to capture prisoners £01~ information. During our ten days on the river we received more new men, since in Southern France wo had lost T/4 Minassian and Pfc Shapiro with stomach disorders a:nd, the two men killed in action. Th,e ~ow mon vrero Pfc Alfred s. Torres, assigned as aid na.n to Able Co, Theodore Stcinpkoski who was a Sgt in a rear hospital, and wanted to he an infantryman, but accepted as n last r csqrt a job as aid man for Chm;-lio Co. Pfc John D. Surcy, who also wanted to be an md man, went to Ba~or Co. Pfc George R. Smentowski, Pfc Charlie T. Hammond, T/5 L cwis E .. Berkenbile and Pfc fyman D. Mooll were put in the litter bcttrer group. At thnt time we were in the Ninth U.S. Army and attached to the British Second Arnzy.-. · It seemed as though the War Department was filling up to top strength for what wo.s coining in the fu turc. Tho future turned out to be

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the dash across Gormm:iy. Pfc Koifor loturnod to us from tho hospital, n.nd also Pfc Jack Clogston, who had been evncua.tod from Ville Du Bois with , . . pncU!Jloma.

Towards the la. t tor part of . F obrunry, rumor had it that ·Wo were pcrpar'ilg to move, since the fa.st and furious drive t-0 tho Rhino had been complctog although we did not get into it. Our next stop of importance was on the Rhine River in a t01tn called Moors" The Battallion's mission Yms to hold on to the West side of the river;) and send pntrois across for prisoners a.nd information. Tb._e_ litter bcnJ:"cr 1 s' work vro.s light) ood on]y occ__a.s_ionally was a man · wounded. Pfc 11Danicl 11 Boone, then nid mnn with Able Co did some outstanding work on some men that wore wounded in returning from n patrol. Likewise tho ncvr a.id men Stompkoski o.nd SUrcy were duly christened to combat with casualitics from their respective companies. '

Finally tho big dcy nrri vod; the Rhino cro~ Lng had boon off ected, and we were n.ssigned to . tho XVI Corps, and tho Ninth U ; So krrri'J. Our mission was il.1. the Ruhr pocket. V:fe crossed the pontoon bridge a few dcys after the initial crossing, and were back in combat on 31 Mo..roh 1945.

For tho most part there ·vms very little enemy infantry opposition. In three, cbnsocutivd days we marched in the attck over 45 miihos. At the cndo f tho wc Jk everyone thought that vm had nn. rched cler'.r across Gorman;v. Cnsualities wore coming in at the rate of five Gr six a dayQ

Evacuation vms co.sier for the litter beD.rers, since more roads were available t4an there ·had boon in the nilgged Ardennes Forcsto However, Germany has mt rry canals which in mc.ny co.sos dclnyod evacuation. Ono of these was the Dortmund-Ems can~J.., to which tho Battallion had moved in about three days of this phase ot the offensive. Our Battallion was delegated to spoarhoatl the attnck o.cross the canal at 0100 on L~ April 1945. Th'e crossing w.:i.s :rrnde with only one or two casualitics,, In this operation T/3 Brennan, T/3 Michels and T/4 Tierney wore especially instrumental-- they followed at the heds of the ini'a.i""l.trymcn and sot up an nid station in the town .of Ichern, which thG. Battnlion had captured at davm that morning, They la d to · ca.rry port ab lo oquipemont, as tho· cannl had no bi:idgcs and no vehicles could l?'.!:'oss :, At t his s tation they collected and cared for our casualitics until mid-afternoon when o. few more s1:1.pplios wore carried up on foot by Capt(' Brooks, Lt. Alexander and some more of the aid station , personnel. Shortly after tho arrival of this group, Lt~ Alexander evacuated several patients back to the canal in the Blitz Buggy 1mi.ch had been captured by the infantrymen .and turned over to the medics/ At the canal the patients were transported by hand, with groat difficulty, across the capal to a waiting ambulcnce,.,

Wo stayed in Ichern for ~bout one day, thon moved t ~1e aid station to nnothor nearby village. Herc we stc\}7'ed for one night, and then moved back to Ichcrn for another two or throe dJYs" Then wo agDin moved t, another neighboring town, whore tho Battalion received a 36 hour rest. During this time, on -8 April, we had a birthday party for Cpl Lise and T/4 Id.ston w-hoso birthdays fell on t)at , day. Tho following day -we agairi movc.d out, into a slightly diffo:-:cnt section to relieve another ontfit ~and start the .drive straight South to the Ruhr lli. ver. On this day rro pulled in some of tho old faithful aid llB n, and roplC'.coo. them with now mono However Pfc William Keifer volunteered to go bl ck to his old platoon. The foil owing morning about two or three hours after the attack jumped off, T/4 McGrath brought Kief er ts body in on a litter on the back of ~ j ee:pe He had three machine gun holes through the large Red . Cross painted on his helmet. This was our fifth fatality in combat, a}'.ld the only casuality we had in the operation East of the Rhine~

About one or two days later we moved int-o TTitten, a large city on the Ruhr River. Here we remained in a holding action for a couple of days, before being nithdrmm and taken out of action for ·what proved to be the last time. We' were again at Ichern~ where we rf;!llained for approximately a week. During this time the weather was beautiful, and the men had chances to· take several ve.,:y vtelcome showers_, relax and rest. The rest was well earned,.

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After being told that we had been chosen for a very important combat mission, the orders were .changed and we were taken back through Witten, across the Ruhr., and into Gevelsborg., where we did occupational work. Since there were many Allied P\, ts and Displaced Person~ in many camps in the Battalion area, Captain Brooks, Lt. Alexander and several of the technicians were kept very busy trying to provide medical service for these people as well as for our own troops vrho were spiBea.d out, in an area about thirty miles in diameter. It was here on 25 April, that two of the ammo trucks loaded with captured German ammos exploded near the mess hall and only a'!mt 1/2 block away from our aid station at 0900~ A t otal of 13 EM and one civilian were killed-- fortunately non of our men ,vere close enough to be iajured. However six of our men T/4 McGrath, T/3 Michels, S/Sgt Winkler, T/$ Barner, Pfcs Mandela and March vrore awarded the Soldier I s Medal for their heroic actions follovrl ng the init:..:'.1 explosion while small arms and larger ammunition continued to explode for about 30 minuteso

We were still at Gevelsbcrg when it was announced that the last Gonnan units had surrencered unconditionally. Everyone was -naturally happy to knmv that it WElS all over, but there was no groat display of emotion. That night, Regiment sent dovm some beer for a victory celebration:, About the onzy thing worrying anyone now vras 11 SW"Cating out 11 the CBI ..

In addition to t l1c S0ldier1 s Medals avvarded to our men, twolvc of our men.. :rrc:re also avrarded the Bronze Star Medal for action during our· period of combat$ They were T/3 Brennan.'i T/4 Liston;, T/4 Tierney, T/5 Andrews, T/5 Consiglio, Pfc Gregg, Pfc Groppusso, Pfc Ha.use"' Pfc Mandela, Pf'c Morin, Pfc Noonan, Pfc Novtak,_. The Bronze Star medal was also awarded to Captain Brooks and Lt~ Alexander. The latter two felt that each and every one of th-eir men were entitled to this award, but it seemed that it was impossible to get the recommendations OK 1d by higher headquarters.

. So we co!'le to the end of t he story of the highlfughts and outstanding achievements of the First Battalion Medical Section during its time in combat and until VE Day. Many lasting friendships have beel'l made., and a fevr lost by the inevitable fatalities of combat. Everyone fools, and rightly so, that ours is the best Battalion Medical Section in the whole EI'01o May it continue to function in this :na ri..ner untim the war is won and we may all . once more be civilianso

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