FReeper Canteen ~ Joseph R. Beyrle ~ 01 February 2016

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | StarCMC and The Canteen Crew

[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.

           

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-Come-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 Gorzow 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.

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! 

[HiJinx]

So far, we haven’t had bad winds to deal with. At least, not at my place! We’re right at 4,500’, so we got the snow starting at 6:13 AM. You could watch the precip change from rain to snow; our street slopes downhill and the temps dropped accordingly until sunrise.

[radu]

Glad you aren't getting the high winds they predicted. I checked the radar as soon as I turned on the computer to see what was whipping up over that part of the country and it doesn't look like y'all were clobbered too hard with snow. YAY! unless you wanted it.

We'll be on edge a little when that system gets here tomorrow. Strong straight-line winds and possible tornados are in our forecast with it. We can do without all that but I do hope for some good thunderstorms with "light shows". Kathy can attest to how much I enjoy those. LOL!

[SandRat]

[beachn4fun]

Good morning Pro ((HUGS))

Since I won’t be at the Tuesday Canteen this morning (my writing day), I figured I’d answer a few pings from yesterday before moving on to business.

I know what you mean when you said “I’ve been avoiding the political forums lately, just getting an early burn-out on all matters political”. I’ve gotta the same way, especially with all the emails and junk mail I’m getting.

I found this site: conservativereview.com (select Elections) and am reviewing the candidates and their history.

We had a little rain yesterday and will get more on Wednesday, and except for some major snow piles still around, we are starting to see the grass again.

Have a terrifically terrific Tuesday

[beachn4fun]

What's this? A hundred just sitting here, unattended, lonely, vacant? Gotta fix that...

LOL, you scamp!

Sorry, don't have my graphics handy, so this will have to do

WOO HOO HJ

[beachn4fun]

Good morning Luvy ((HUGS))

Just answering pings this morning as today is my writing day.

My goodness, what a cutie. Are you visiting or are the girls visiting you?

[beachn4fun]

It was 81 here yesterday.

Holy Moly!
Definitely some crazy weather this year. We are having springlike temps here as well. Hope it's a sign that spring will be here quicker this year (fingers crossed). And, yeah, winter temps return soon.

[beachn4fun]

Good morning radu ((HUGS))

I’m trying to catch up on yesterday’s pings since I had to leave before everyone was awake.

Well dang, just saw the weather report and we’re only getting to 49 today. hehe

Rain tomorrow, so I’ll hang out at home.

I like a good thunderstorm too, but our grand-doggie doesn’t :(

[radu]

Hey beachy!

We’re enjoying 73 degrees this afternoon but hooey! The wind! It sounds like a train is going by, it’s roaring so loudly. Stuff’s blown off the back porch and scattered in the yard but there’s no point in gathering it up until the front’s blown through. And the storms haven’t reached us yet.

We’ll join you with temps in the 40s tomorrow.

Our kittehs don’t like thunderstorms either. Most find furniture to hide underneath but Murphy runs back and forth through the house, yeowling. LOL!