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! 

[radu]

LOL!!

Nope, don’t wanna mess with Momma. Whew, but she can look ferocious at times.

[Kathy in Alaska]

I’ve been so out of it for days I didn’t know you were visiting your grands. I KNOW you are having a wonderful time.

What was this trip’s most important thing that Grammie should see/know?

[PROCON]

All right radu, hitting the sack, early stuff to do, take care!

[radu]

Good night, PRO. Sleep well.
Hope you have another pretty day to do that early stuff in.

[radu]

Did you have a nice bite of supper? Got a little more pep in your step for it?

[Kathy in Alaska]

wh!!

Pro.....#50!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good night and rest well, Pro. Thanks for helping honor our troops and thank you for your service to our country.

[Kathy in Alaska]

I don’t think the pep is still there to be revived...

Opted for the coolness of ice cream. Food just doesn’t sound interesting at all.

Gonna have to quit fairly soon. It’s been a long physical and mental day, and I need sleep badly.

[radu]

Mmmmmmm, ice cream sounds good! And it’s creamy and gentle to a tummy that hasn’t had much but crackers for a few days.
Maybe you’ll be up to something more substantial after a good night’s rest, and it sounds like you reeeeeeeeally need that.
Just glad you’re on the road to recovery. I’ve fretted the past few days.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Me too....I don’t like being so out of it.

This will make you smile...and Grammie’s grandkidlets!

http://www.reshareworthy.com/babies-dancing-evian-commercial/

[Kathy in Alaska]

Prayers for Arrowhead's recovery, and in his absence....

[radu]

ROTFL!!!! That’s hilarious! Especially the end.

[Kathy in Alaska]

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night Troops, wherever you are.

Thank you for doing your part to help keep all of us free and safe.

Thanks, unique, for the pastries.

Coffee is always on........

How about a donut?

Cookies?

Veggies?

Sandwich?

[Kathy in Alaska]

d:o)

[MoochPooch]

Hi Kathy. Wow, what an amazing bio!

[Kathy in Alaska]

God bless and keep safe our troops worldwide.

Good night.

Statler Brothers ~ How Great Thou Art

[radu]

Just whipped it out in an email to brighten others’ day.
I’m still chuckling.

Now get to bed and sleep! :-) We want you feeling a bit chipper tomorrow.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Hello Kathy and thanks for posting this. That guy was such a badass.His stalag photo speaks volumes to the germans.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening/morning, Mooch...he was an amazing hero who was going to be free, no matter what!

Did you make it safely, and without incident, thru the big storm? Did you stay warm?