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| Back to Whatcombe Farms Again stationed at Whatcombe Farms, some of us took advantage of a one-week furlough to fly to Glascow, Scotland. When our pilot found out we were Airborne troops, he began showing off his flying skills with quick dips and climbs, making many of us, (myself included) airsick. Our reputation as a rough-and-tumble unit was a little tarnished that day in the pilot's eyes. The Scots were grateful to our American troops. We were among the
first to return to their country after the invasion and many townspeople came down to the
American Red Cross Center to invite us to stay with them and Back at Whatcombe Farms, we trained for another glider mission and
were on the airfield ready to take off when the mission was scrubbed. Our orders had been
to fly to Paris, surround the city, and protect it from the retreating German army. But
General Patton had spearheaded a drive to Paris and got there before we could depart. As
our training continued at Whatcombe, we knew something big was coming up. All passes were
canceled for weeks and we were placed on full alert all the time. On Sunday, September
17th, 1944, we traveled the short distance from Whatcombe to Aldermaston, where my brother
was stationed, and I was amazed at the number of On the morning of September 19, we were awakened early for breakfast and served steak. I slipped a big steak into half my mess kit and told the GI on KP to put fruit cocktail into the other half. He filled the remaining space with fruit cocktail and asked me if that was enough. When I said no, he reached back and grabbed a full, unopened, gallon can of the stuff and gave it to me. Apparently, they had been told to give us as much of anything we wanted! That gallon of fruit cocktail was to surface again that day. |
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guests in their homes. We accepted their invitations, but compensated them by more than it
would have cost us if we had stayed at the Red Cross. The Scots, however, would not let us
buy a drink in their pubs, as they insisted on picking up all tabs. This was not like the
people of Scotland that I had heard about!
C-47 and CG-4A air transports
waiting there. Our orders were to fly over and land behind enemy lines to save bridges and
other transportation routes from being blown up by the retreating Germans. The
paratroopers took off that same Sunday. They were to secure our landing areas and we were
to fly in the next day. The returning planes, emptied of paratroopers, were riddled with
holes, having flown through enemy gunfire. Our own takeoff, however, was canceled because
of fog over the English Channel.