Exploits of my dad (2nd Infantry (Indian Head)
Division) at Normandy from a 82nd Airborne Division veteran.
This is a true story of George W.Tompkins Sr. by his son George W.Tompkins
Jr.(82nd Airborne Division) and a personal note of interest by George Jr. about
the British 6th Airborne Division.
When my dad was still alive he described to me his first 5 or 6 hours on
Omaha. They were pinned down by heavy German fire coming from the pillboxes. My
dad said most of the guys arriving in the second and third waves were sitting
ducks as soon as the gates dropped on the landing craft they were just cut
down. He described the water at high tide as being a shade of crimson stained
by the blood of fallen Americans. It took a few hours of heavy Naval gunfire to
level some of the pillboxes before his unit could advance to the first series
of hedgerows. He landed on the beach on June 6th a buck Sergeant.
On the second day he was promoted to 1st Sergeant H Company 38th Infantry
Regiment, 2nd Infantry (Indian Head) Division when his 1st Sergeant was killed
in action. He was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with 2 oak leaf
clusters, the Purple Heart with 5 oak leaf clusters for his actions and a
battle field commission to 2nd Lieutenant during the "Battle of the
Bulge".
One story he did tell me was after his unit liberated the village of St.Lo.
They captured almost a complete infantry regiment. The Nazi CO was a full
Colonel. He kept insisting that he ride in a vehicle instead of having to march
along with his men because he was a German officer and demanded to be treated
in accordance with the Geneva Convention. My father told him twice that only
wounded men get to ride, Americans first Germans second. The Colonel insisted
one more time so my father shot him in the leg and said OK now you can ride in
accordance with the Geneva Convention.
Another interesting story is regarding the British 6th Airborne Division.
It was not until I got to the 82nd that I encountered a very small handful of
legit WW2 veterans still on active duty amongst whom was my battalion Sergeant
Major Harry S. Tompkins (no relation) but in the Army we used to call the First
Sergeant or the Battalion Sergeant Major TOP, an affectionate name for TOP KICK
or senior most enlisted man. I used to call the Sergeant Major POP.
He never corrected me and would just smile at me. It was on Harry Tompkins that
I saw for the first time a pair of Master Jump wings with 4 stars. The 4 stars
were for his 4 combat jumps in WW2, that included Sicily, Salerno, Normandy
(St. Mere Eglise), and Nijmegan (Holland.) I engaged him in a
conversation about WW2 and in particular I asked about the British 6th Airborne
Division. In the US Army our maximum height for jumping was 20,000 feet and the
only way you could go above 20,000 feet was to balloon jump. Of course the US
Army does not permit balloon jumping however every year that I was in the 82nd
two men from every unit were allowed to go to England to get their British
Paratrooper Wings and to balloon jump with the British 6th Airborne perhaps the
most notorious allied unit to ever hit France. According to POP you could always
tell a British 6th trooper because he usually had no front teeth or was missing
an ear. Amazed I inquired to find out that while US troops would exit C-47
aircraft via the two rear doors the British 6th would exit via an escape hatch
in the floor near the tail of the aircraft. Most of whom would either knock out
their front teeth or catch their ear on the hatch on the way out. POP said they
were the craziest bastards he ever fought along side of.
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