Seventy-Five years ago today...

Here I am sitting in my cozy little retirement home, typing this on a computer, we have a Pandemic raging across the world. I'm thinking about my father.


Seventy-five years ago, my father was a US Army Air Corps pilot, he was flying a Waco Glider hooked via a long nylon tow line to C 47 tow plane. The glider carried my dad, his co-pilot a squad of Infantryman from the 17th Airborne division, a jeep and a trailer load of ammunition. The Waco was made of plywood and fabric, there was no armor. Dad and his co-pilot were dressed in combat gear. You couldn't tell them from the Airborne troopers, they both had carbines, they would put their carbines to good use once they were on the ground,

They took off from France, the flight to Germany took well over three hours. They were part of the Greatest Combined Airborne operation in history, Operation Varsity. The force consisted of America, British and Canadian forces. 16,000 Airborne troops would cross the Rhine in one fell swoop and land behind the German lines. The "Sky Train" of planes, took 2 and a half hours to pass any given point.

My dad was flying one of 900 Waco CG4A gliders, dad was the 2nd to cross the Rhine. He landed in a field outside of Wesel. He made a good landing, no damage except for the holes ripped in the fabric from the heavy flak. Dad's pants were ripped from the flak and he had a slight wound on his left leg. He didn't worry about it. The Germans knew they were coming and were ready. dad and his co-pilot popped the front of the glider open, the jeep and trailer drove out and the squad of Airborne troopers took off to their rallying points.

Dad and his fellow pilots formed up as an Infantry Company, they rallied to Captain Gordon and marched to their objective, a village on the outskirts of Wesel, their orders "Hold the Crossroads".It was 11 in the morning when they arrived at the village. There were no German troops in the village, just women, children and old men. The German Army was close, they could hear the German tanks coming. They took their positions, they were untested, they waited. They were scared, as dad said, "Shitless".

A Tiger tank appeared on the narrow paved road, as it approached the junction of the two main roads, the pilots opened up with, rifles and machine guns. Nothi9ng stopped the Tiger. One of the pilots was trained as a bazooka man. He blew the track off the Tiger, it stopped dead. The tank continued to fire it's machine guns, the main gun on the turret was swiveling around and the big gun was being leveled, it fired, missed the men and destroyed a house, A pilot, jumped up, ran to the tank, climbed on top, lifted the hatch and tossed two grenades inside. The tank was a smoking ruin and it was a massive iron and steel roadblock. It had been stopped in the exact spot it needed to stopped. Jelinek was awarded the Siver Star for his actions that morning.

The Germans brought up a motorized gun and a tank retriever, the pilots fought them off, the Germans tried a flanking maneuver, the pilots fought them off. The Battle of Burp Gun Corner lasted until dark. The German column was severed by 17th Airborne troops and they surrendered when the sun went down. The pilots dug in where they were for the night. The Germans shelled them and made a few sporadic and senseless attacks, but it was over.

The next day my dad and three of his fellow pilots were sent to find missing American and British troops. The found 2 wounded pilots, accepted the surrender of a few wounded Germans, they took them all to an American field hospital. They spent the 2nd night in the basement of the house the Tiger tank blew down.

On the morning of the third day, they were told to walk back to the Rhine and they'd get transportation back to their base. Dad and his co-pilot stole two bicycles and rode to the river, at the Rhine they traded the bikes for a bottle of liberated German brandy and headed back to France.

4 days later, Dad was in dress uniform with 4 of his fellow pilots celebrating in Paris. Johnson, his co-pilot walked into the glass door of a Paris bistro and broke his nose. One of the pilots got a paper and pen from the bartender, drew a Purple Heart on it, Johnson wore it with great pride the rest of the evening.

Dad was awarded the Bronze Star and an Air Medal. His unit was awarded the Presidental Unit Citation

He came back to the States in May, had a two-week leave and left for Santa Ana Army Air Corps base to prepare for the invasion of Japan, an invasion that wasn't needed. He was home in October of 45 alive and well with a few scratches.

Thanks dad.