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FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: Joseph R. Beyrle ~ January 17, 2011
Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | StarCMC

Posted on 01/16/2011 4:59:53 PM PST by Kathy in Alaska

 

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!
 
For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.
 
Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!
 
 

~ Hall of Heroes ~

Joseph R. Beyrle

Info from here and here.

ArmyPatch small   NavySeal small   Air Force Seal   Marines Seal small   Coast Guard Seal small (better)

Joseph R. Beyrle (August 25, 1923 - December 12, 2004) is thought to be the only American soldier to have served with both the United States Army and the Soviet Army in World War II. Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Beyrle graduated from high school in 1942 with the promise of a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, but enlisted in the army instead.

Upon his enlistment, Beyrle chose to become a paratrooper, joining the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne's "Screaming Eagles" division, specializing in radio communications and demolition, and was first stationed in Ramsbury, England to prepare for the upcoming Allied invasion from the west. After nine months of training, Beyrle completed two missions in occupied France in April and May 1944, delivering gold to the French Resistance.

On June 6, D-Day, Beyrle's C-47 came under enemy fire over the Normandy coast, and he was forced to jump from the exceedingly low altitude of 120 meters. After landing in Saint-Côme-du-Mont, Sergeant Beyrle lost contact with his fellow paratroopers, but succeeded in blowing up a power station. He performed other sabotage missions before being captured by German soldiers a few days later.

Over the next seven months, Beyrle was held in seven different German prisons. He escaped twice, only to be recaptured each time. Beyrle and his fellow prisoners had been hoping to find the Soviet army, which was a short distance away. After the second escape (in which he and his companions set out for Poland but boarded a train to Berlin by mistake), Beyrle was turned over to the Gestapo by a German civilian. Beaten and tortured, he was released to the German military after officials stepped in and determined that the Gestapo had no jurisdiction over prisoners of war. The Gestapo were about to shoot Beyrle and his comrades, claiming that he was an American spy who had parachuted into Berlin.

Beyrle was taken to the Stalag III-C POW camp in Alt Drewitz, from which he escaped in early January 1945. He headed east, hoping to meet up with the Soviet army. Encountering a Soviet tank brigade in the middle of January, he raised his hands, holding a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes, and shouted in Russian, 'Amerikansky tovarishch! ("American comrade!"). Beyrle was eventually able to persuade the battalion's commanders to allow him to fight alongside the unit on its way to Berlin, thus beginning his month-long stint in a Soviet tank battalion, where his demolitions expertise was appreciated.

Beyrle's new battalion was the one that freed his former camp, Stalag III-C, at the end of January, but in the first week of February, he was wounded during an attack by German Stuka dive bombers. He was evacuated to a Soviet hospital in Landsberg (now Gorzów Wielkopolski in Poland), where he received a visit from Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov, who, intrigued by the only non-Russian in the hospital, learned his story through an interpreter, and provided Beyrle with official papers in order to rejoin American forces.

Joining a Soviet military convoy, Beyrle arrived at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in February 1945, only to learn that he had been reported by the War Department as KIA on June 10, 1944 on French soil. A funeral mass had been held in his honor in Muskegon, and his obituary was published in the local newspaper. Embassy officers in Moscow, unsure of his bona fides, placed him under Marine guard in the Metropol Hotel until his identity was established through his fingerprints.

Beyrle returned home to Michigan on April 21, 1945, and celebrated V-E Day two weeks later in Chicago. He was married to JoAnne Hollowell in 1946—coincidentally, in the same church and by the same priest who held his funeral mass two years earlier.  Beyrle worked for Brunswick Corporation for 28 years, retiring as a shipping supervisor.

His unique service earned him medals from U.S. President Bill Clinton and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia at a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House marking the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994.

Joseph Beyrle gives a detailed, dispassionate account of his experiences here:

http://www.506infantry.org/stories/beyrle_his.htm

Beyrle died in his sleep of heart failure on December 12, 2004 during a visit to Toccoa, Georgia, where he had trained with the paratroops in 1942. He was 81. He was buried with honors in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery in April, 2005.

His son, John Beyrle, was appointed the United States Ambassador to Russia in July 2008.

On September 17, 2002, a book by Thomas Taylor about Beyrle, The Simple Sounds of Freedom, was published by Random House. A Ballantine paperback version, Behind Hitler's Lines, came out June 1, 2004.

In August 2005, a plaque was unveiled on the wall of the church in St. Côme-du-Mont, France, where Beyrle landed on June 6, 1944.

An exhibition devoted to Joe Beyrle's life and wartime experiences opened at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg in February, 2010 and at the Museum of Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow on May 6, 2010.

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission! 



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Free Republic
KEYWORDS: canteen; military; troopsupport
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To: Kathy in Alaska

Happy Birthday Ma & many happy returns of the day! *hugs*

I brought you some ice cream just in case the bear got all the cake!:)

41 posted on 01/16/2011 8:19:19 PM PST by AZamericonnie (No trees were destroyed in posting this message, but many electrons were terribly inconvenienced!)
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To: Kathy in Alaska

Happy Birthday Kath! Try not to get into to much trouble!


42 posted on 01/16/2011 8:23:01 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: BIGLOOK

It has been a very strange winter. Everyone is in the freezer,
and we here haven’t HAD much winter. An occasional cold day,
but tomorrow it’s supposed to be 70ish.

Hope you have a great week even though paradise lacks something! ;)


43 posted on 01/16/2011 8:24:28 PM PST by luvie (No Compromise!)
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To: NYTexan

I lost my GC medal in a poker game in Tijuana.


44 posted on 01/16/2011 8:25:03 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Kathy in Alaska


Hau'oli o la Hanau, Night Owl!


45 posted on 01/16/2011 8:28:34 PM PST by BIGLOOK (Keelhaul Congress!)
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To: mylife

LOL


46 posted on 01/16/2011 8:29:12 PM PST by NYTexan
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To: NYTexan

I aint kidding! You cant make this **** up!

Seriously, I always referred to that one as an award for 4 years of undetected crime.


47 posted on 01/16/2011 8:32:35 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

Hehe...I hear that!


48 posted on 01/16/2011 8:36:16 PM PST by NYTexan
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To: NYTexan

You have to laugh.

I have seen fellows get PUCS, NUCS and MUCs for doing nothing.


49 posted on 01/16/2011 8:40:33 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: LUV W

Now?


50 posted on 01/16/2011 8:41:53 PM PST by luvie (No Compromise!)
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To: Kathy in Alaska
Birthday Cliparts and Graphics

KATHY!!! MANY HAPPY RETURNS.

51 posted on 01/16/2011 8:43:02 PM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country! What else needs said?)
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To: LUV W

\O/


52 posted on 01/16/2011 8:43:22 PM PST by luvie (No Compromise!)
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Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk! LoL


53 posted on 01/16/2011 8:43:56 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

I discoverd that I received a humanitarian service medal as I was peocessing out of active duty for working in the destruction area of Witchita Falls after a big tornado rip’d thru in ‘79...

I was in tech school at the time. I was tasked with looking for bodies, directing traffic, and feeding the help.


54 posted on 01/16/2011 8:50:37 PM PST by NYTexan
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To: NYTexan

Thank you for your service.


55 posted on 01/16/2011 8:53:38 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: NYTexan

I got ripped off for a lot of trimming because “I wasnt there”

On discharge I got an expeditionary


56 posted on 01/16/2011 8:56:47 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife
I have seen fellows get PUCS, NUCS and MUCs for doing nothing.

I've seen the same thing. A commissaryman or quartermaster in the Philippines would get the same unit citation that was earned by our detachment in the zone. They even got the ceremony......while all we got was another flight bill.

Aloha My!

Can't really complain though.....some of those commissarymen with salad made a decent salad whenever we got to visit there....which wasn't often.
57 posted on 01/16/2011 8:57:06 PM PST by BIGLOOK (Keelhaul Congress!)
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To: mylife

dittos brother!


58 posted on 01/16/2011 8:57:12 PM PST by NYTexan
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To: BIGLOOK

Oh no...the sniffles aren’t fun.

Glad the weather warrants time to be without socks.


59 posted on 01/16/2011 8:59:04 PM PST by Kathy in Alaska (~ RIP Brian...heaven's gain...the Coast Guard lost a good one.~)
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To: BIGLOOK

Well, the cook deserves merit. The army marches on its stomach.


60 posted on 01/16/2011 9:00:02 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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