My "Uncle Dudley" on D-Day

[Uncle Dudley]

When I was small my Grandma, and everyone else in the family, told me that my Uncle Dudley threw his rifle down when he landed on Omaha Beach, because he didn't want to kill anyone. My Grandma was especially proud of her son because he didn't want to kill. I remembered that all the while I was growing up. As I got older I thought about his action as I became more interested in WWII history, and that it did not make sense. When I was 23, I went over to "Unk's" house to help him with a project. We stopped for a break and I asked him, "Unk, Grandma always said that you threw your rifle down when you landed on D-Day because you didn't want to kill anybody. That's the story I know, but I'd like you to tell me the real story." He said, "Well, I'll tell you the real story, but you must promise not to tell anyone, especially Mom (Grandma), until after she's gone (dead). I trained with all weapons and I could shoot pretty good. When we were going to France I was issued a semi automatic carbine and I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it. I wanted something I could at least hit with to protect myself. When I landed on the beach I threw the carbine down, and that's what I told Grandma, but I picked up bolt action sniper rifle with a scope (1903A4) that was laying by a dead soldier. It didn't shoot as fast, but I knew I could hit with it, as I had trained on the same rifle."

He told me of his experiences in Normandy and amazingly never said, "I shot or I killed" in any story, even though he mentioned encounters with the enemy several times. He not only helped preserve our freedom, but more importantly he preserved the pride my Grandma had in her son because he was a good man and protected her from the thought of him having to kill. She was very religious and feared for his safety and that he would have to kill or be killed, but naive to think that he wouldn't. On August 4th, 1944 she experienced an overwhelming sensation calling her to "Pray for Allen". She would stop and pray, and this happened several times that day. That is the day Unk and another soldier were driving down a road in France. They stopped to give a Captain a ride and Unk politely gave him his right seat and jumped in the back. Later, he found out from other soldiers, that their jeep had ran over 3 German anti tank mines. The first 2 didn't explode, but the third did. The Captain was literally blown to pieces, the driver was wounded badly, but recovered, and spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital. Unk was torn up, had some broken vertabrae, and lost his right leg below the knee. He survived and lived a good life. I never saw any handicap in that man, and he could do more than almost everyone with 2 good legs. I respect him more than anyone else I know, and I miss him.

Thanks, Uncle Dudley--Allen C. Paulson

 

Unk told me when he was sent to England, the first stop was Ireland for several weeks of training. He already had radio and communications training in the states, and in Ireland they trained with Army Rangers. He told me they went to some long narrow buildings for weapons training. The buildings had long tables down the center and they went down each side and learned how to operate and field strip every small arm, SMG, and light machinegun that was used in the European theater from all countries, enemy and ally. He had to stop at each station and get instruction, then operate, field strip, and reassemble the weapon. He said it included pistols, rifles, machineguns and all infantry weapons. I don't remember him talking about firing them. He was there long enough to do some sparking with an Irish lass and my Mom told me from his letters she thought she was going to have an Irish sister-in-law.
From Ireland to England and more training, but I never got the specifics. I have a letter with a return address 3rd HQ BTN 23 inf RGT, and a Second Infantry (Indian Head) shoulder patch. I hope I can find some more info in letters as they show up in my Mom's keepsake boxes.

Because of censoring, Grandma had arranged a code for Unk to let her know when he went into battle. He was to mention my Mom's white cat. The letter came with the line "By the way, how's Joy's white cat." Grandma knew her son was going into the fighting.

He went on board ship June 5th. He said it was a Norwegian frieghter and the crew did not speak English. He was in charge of making sure the ship's radio was tuned to the correct invasion frequency. He got the Norwegian radio manual and sat down with the ships radio operator. Norwegian wasn't spoken at my Mom's house like at my Dad's home, so Unk was a little language handicapped. He said it went well and he and the Norwegian radio operator were able to communicate well enough to get the frequency dialed in for the invasion. They spent the night on the ship and I'm not sure when they transferred to their landing craft. The landing craft held 2 jeeps in line with 3 or 4 men and equipment for each jeep. Unk was assigned to the back jeep. He said they landed on the beach late in the afternoon on the 6th. On the way in to the beach they had bullets hitting the landing craft and they could see soldiers in the water drowning from the weight of their packs and equipment. They took of their gear and put it in the jeeps so they would have a chance to swim if they went into the deep water. When they got closer to the beach the ramp was lowered and the front jeep drove out and sank out of sight. Unk said he never saw those guys again. He was at the rear left of his jeep and the guy at the rear right was below the boat operator. Bullets were hitting the boat, and the guy below the operator yelled to pull it in closer. The operator shook his head no. The guy yelled again, pull it in closer and stuck the barrel of his carbine in the operators throat---and the boat pulled in closer. As they got ready to drive the jeep out, Unk said he jumped on the back with his legs hanging out, just in case it was too deep there, too, so he would have a chance to swim for it. The jeep drove out and the water was only about 2 feet deep and they made it too the beach.

UD

 

 

 

 

[capa]

Awesome story, awesome man. Thanks for taking the time to type that all in so we could read it.

[Uncle Dudley]

"Unk" was probably the luckiest man I have known. If there was a World Series pool and he had a square, other people would not buy a spot because they knew he would win. He was lucky at cards and once told me he won several sections of farmland in a poker game. He knew everyone had been drinking some, and that winning the very valuable land wasn't worth the price of friendship or the effect on the man's family. The next morning he went to the man's house and tore up the IOU.

 

Even being wounded severly in Normandy, his luck was still there. He was able to piece together the story of what happened to him after he was wounded from fellow soldiers who were wounded and came to the same hospital he was at in England.

 

He was evacuated to the beach at Normandy for transport across the English channel. On the beach, a Doctor (Colonel) and a medic (Sargent) were checking the wounded. As they walked down the line of wounded men the Doctor would check each one to see if he would survive the trip across the channel or was to severly wounded to make it alive. Space was limited and the Doctor would tell the sargent to either "tag this one to go" or "tag this one to stay". When they got to "Unk" the Doctor said, "He won't make it--tag him to stay". The sargent knelt down to tag him and said, "Sir, this man is a friend of mine and I'd like to tag him to go." The Colonel looked at him and said, "OK, if you wish". So the sargent gave him some morphine and plasma and tagged him to go across on the boat. I asked Unk how well he knew this sargent. He said they had met once, the night before the invasion (D-Day), in a poker game which Unk had won. This man remembered Unk, 2 months later, battered and unconscious, and made the effort to save his life on that day. That's lucky!

 

UD

[m1ashooter]

Thank you for sharing a piece of the family. Where in ND do you live? I did a tour at Minot and just loved the state!

[Nuts]

Great story, thank you for sharing it. I enjoy hearing personal accounts like this.

[Uncle Dudley]

Thank you for sharing a piece of the family. Where in ND do you live? I did a tour at Minot and just loved the state!

Bismarck, but I grew up in the eastern part, north of Grand Forks.

[KySoldier]

Great story ! A true American Hero !! Do you have his Purple Heart and any other photos?

[Uncle Dudley]

Great story ! A true American Hero !! Do you have his Purple Heart and any other photos?

I believe my cousin has his Dad's Purple Heart. I remember seeing it in the American Legion War Relic Museum in my home town, which has since been torn down and items moved to a new county location. I'll post a couple more photos when I dig them out of storage.

UD

[BILL THE PATCH]

great story, he was lucky, lucky enough to have a grandson who will keep his story for the whole family to remember.