Now I hope you read the article on SSgt Leon Kellum above. I think he left out a couple of interesting
stories; “We lost a lot of men in the
South of France. They just kind of
disappeared…. The word going around was that some of those guys where just robbing
banks and such and just disappearing.”
He relates to me. “They would
drop those paratroopers in as pathfinders, then we would come in on the
gliders. Those pathfinders would
sometimes just disappear and we never did find out what happened to them.
Sometimes we moved so fast we would catch the Germans in bars drinking
and eating, those didn’t put up much of
a fight”. He says smiling.
“I guess if you are dropping into rich villages in southern France with
no opposition and you have a couple buddies in the game with machine guns, it
would be pretty easy to rob and bank and head to Spain!” I think out loud.
Leon’s unit the 550th Glider
Airborne Infantry Bn. Was later attached to 194th Infantry who were
rushed to stop the breakout of German Armor around Bastogne during the final
German push of the Battle. “The fog was so think that you couldn’t see
your hand 3 feet in front of your face”.
What kind of basic tactics did you use to
move and engage in combat with the Germans?
“Well you see we wanted the tanks to go in
first to help clear the way so we wouldn’t get shot, The tankers wanted us to go in first so they
wouldn’t get blown up. Most of the time
it was all together! We send in a pathfinder
and a local to look around. Oftentimes
the Germans would let them go thru to get us in range.”
The Germans were sneaky too, with booby-traps. They would have Lugers and the like laying
around and when you went to pick it up…..”
I ask if he was able to bring pack any
souvenirs.
“Me? Not much you couldn’t bring back all those swords and
stuff but some guys managed to find a way, I did bring back a P38 and a small
hand pistol. I sold both long ago for $50
now they worth a thousand!” Leon shakes his head.
“My buddy at work father spent some time after the war ended hunting
down Nazi’s. Did you have to do any of
that?” I ask.
“Yep”
Leon says, “We had to clean out
the whole of Dusseldorf for weapons and whatnot, it was all over the place in barns, attics
you name it”.
Did you receive a Purple Heart?
How?
“During the Bulge.”
I ask about the details and Leon says he
was a lucky man.
“You see I was out clearing this
building, and I hear a tank. All of a sudden something hits my leg and I
see three holes in my trouser leg. It
don’t hurt but one of the holes did not have a match so the bullet hit me in
the leg. I was real lucky because they
pulled me out and threw me on a jeep, just when a German tank rolled through
the building I was in. I was lucky!.
It was a incredible talk with a Soldier who
earned the Bronze Star in Combat , Leon Kellum a man who served his country
well.
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