Washington Reunion June 28-July 2 . Banquet Sunday July 1. Depart Monday July 2
Recent website additions:
Chester A. Wells, H
Company
The
Story of Corbin Zickefoose's Letters from France
Ben: I wrote a previous message which disappeared. This is an excellent Job. In the blown up version, I can see all of the faces clearly and identify all I remember. I was wrong about Art Riddler who is on Capt. Hooper's right, then McElroy, me, and first Sgt. Dallas Long on his left. Dallas may be able to name many of these men if his eyesight is still good. Hewitt, Harger, Beer, Wengryzinovicz (sp?) are all there. Again, thanks for an excellent job, Howard Hensleigh
Jim Royer
Ben, So very sorry to
hear of Doc Plassman passing away. How I always
enjoyed visiting with
Doc and Sgt Chism at the reunions They were two
of the greatest. My
sincere regrets to his family. Our numbers are
getting thinner and
faster as the days and months pass by.
Jim Royer, Hq 3rd
Hello,
Ben:
Our tribute to the medics can not be overstated. This
includes a broad range of men who would be at our side with sulfa, plasma,
sterile bandages and expertise when we were hit. With the frequent call of
"Medic" they would be there. It includes the litter bearers (usually the
cooks whose field ranges were far in the rear) to get us to the aid station and
the battalion surgeons to patch us up and send us back to combat after a few
days or hours or send us to the field hospitals from which we usually went awol
to get back to the outfit. It was confidence in these men that made it
possible to move forward to take fiercely defended objectives. If we were
hit in the attack, they would be there to take care of us.
In the 3rd Bn.
Capt. Plassman was leader of these men. He trained them well and led by
example. No matter how chaotic the situation, he always projected a
serene atmosphere of orderly control.
The scene of the small
clinic in Montaroux will always remain indelibly in my mind when Frank Long and
I broke through to evacuate our jump casualties. Capt. Plassman along with
many others was injured on the jump into Southern France. Although the
pilots gave us the green light with the proper altimeter reading, we were jumped
over the foothills of the maritime alps, not the valley of our drop zone.
Most of the planes did not throttle back to 95 miles per hour so our magnified
opening shock was followed almost immediately by a crash landing, which left
Walter Plassman with a left knee injury barely able to hobble. But hobble
he did collecting the jump casualties and setting up an aid station in
Montaroux. When Frank and I entered it we saw a thoroughly organized
clinic with Dr. Plassman in a white uniform in full charge. Our first
words were over the roar of German trucks just leaving town in the face of the
141th Infantry advance. How he saved our jump casualties from serving out
the rest of the war as POWs is one of his many accomplishments.
Bn.
Surgeon Plassman was the strong leader of a band of good men, including his
assistant Bn. surgeon Dan Dickinson, Sgt. John Chism and the many corpsmen who
lived and trained with the troops they would serve in combat. I know
of no failure of a medic to respond when called for. On occasion
their bravery went beyond patching up and evacuating the wounded. I
Company's Terril for example saved many of our necks the afternoon Capt.
McGeever was killed attempted to link I Co. up with G & H on Ridge X near
Col de Braus. We were all pinned down by a company of Germans in fortified
positions with good fields of fire when Terril came forward into withering fire
waving a big red cross banner on a long pole triggering a cease fire. This
was the type of action that was inspired by our Battalion Surgeon. You
Plassman kids have a right to be proud of your father. We are happy he was
with you until age 90, but are in sorrow with you for your loss and ours.
Howard Hensleigh
Theresa Pugh
Take GRIGSBY
to the top of the hill (very short distance) and it dead end at my front yard—the cream colored brick house with Spanish wrought iron on it. The street names are confusing because my house is the “last house’ in