Posted on 08/08/2020 6:35:01 AM PDT by dmam2011
(CU News) - When it comes to D-Day, if you were there, only one word was necessary – Utah. It was such a life changing event that a young soldier, named Ed Manley, returned years later to mark the 50th anniversary by parachuting the beach and retracing that fateful day to honor the memory of his fallen friends.
Over the years, WW2 veteran Ed Manley has taken the time to relate his experiences and perspectives on the D-Day invasion. For this mission, the pre-invasion planning included teams such as Manley’s group. As a demolition man, Manley and eleven other soldiers were expected to eliminate four heavy weapons installations on the beach prior to troop landings. This advanced staging was to be initiated through overnight parachuting drops scattered throughout Normandy Beach. The Allies began their advance drops at midnight with Manley’s crew falling under the 3rd stage of drops - landing at approximately 1am, just hours before the invasion. In Manley’s instance, his parachute drifted too far inland behind the targeted heavy weapons installations. Where did Manley land? “I landed at the top of a tree. The tree was about 50’ tall. It was wet and I was able to slide right down to the ground. Unfortunately, when I got to the bottom there was this kraut [German soldier] holding his fire with a burp gun. He began to open fire, guessing where I was. His guess was about two feet over my head. He was just cutting the grass.” From that first contact, it became a foot race for Manley as he hustled to temporarily escape danger from his German welcome. “I could you hear the bullets thrashing around my head into the trees.”
(Excerpt) Read more at clarksvillian.com ...
The German had a Russian burp gun?
A great story!
Especially the last line
____________________________
Airborne All The Way!
ESPECIALLY the last lines:
“I’m disappointed. Do you know that the young people today have not been taught the true history of this country? All the crap that we went through. They have this bunch of guys... what are they called? Professors. If I ever got ‘em in a corner, I’d knock the s*** outta them.”
How things can change. In Desert Storm Airborne had a different way of deploying to meet the enemy. Their motto proudly displayed on their transportation was “Death From A Bus.”
He hit the nail on the head!
What is amazing is that there was another Manley that jumped into Normandy on D-Day with the 101st! Ralph Manley passed away in 2019 at the age of 95 and also was a combat demolitions specialist. He went on to fight at the Battle of the Bulge and Market Garden. After WWII, he returned to Springfield, MO, and served in the Missouri National Guard....he was my platoon sergeant from 1956 to 1957. Sergeant Ralph Manley lost his twin brother, Roland, on D-Day. Roland was in the 82nd Airborne Division.
Thanks for the post - what an amazing coincidence!
I suspect “burp gun” was a generic term by US troops from WWII through Korea for a stubby automatic weapon, which the Germans did have.
I could be wrong, though. I always just assumed that.
Wow! Nice info!
Correct. I had to Google it too.
Had Eisenhower not been such a warmonger, he could have quarantined the troops in England until the was some significant flattening of the German curve in France.
Heh, burp gun to my modern ear sounds like something a comedian would bring out on stage with them...kind of like this gun:
My dad was there on Utah Beach with the 101st! He later went on to Bastogne and Berchtesgaden. My ever living regret is I didn’t retrace his footsteps while there were living historians that could have helped.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
