Mayo Alive - October
2004
Market Garden
Revisited
By Hugh Rafferty - 99th Troop Carrier Squadron
It all started with an e-mail inquiry from Holland in Sept. 2002 asking if anyone knew a Lt. James O. Martin and, if so, do you have any pictures or other information? The inquiry was from Bart Smeets, a 36 year old Industrial Engineer living in Holland. Lt. Martin's plane had been shot down during WWII and crash-landed on his Grandfather's farm outside the small village of Linden. Many of the villagers, including Bart's, mother who was 10 old at the time, witnessed the crash. Some of them removed the bodies of the crew members, which were badly burned, and gave them a Christian burial in the village cemetery. Lt. Martin was identified by his "dog tags" and at some later date a marble marker was installed on the inner side of the wall surrounding the churchyard with the inscription "Pray for the soul of James Martin and his comrades killed here, 17 Sept. 1944."
Lt. Martin was a pilot in my squadron, the 99th Troop Carrier Squadron, and I had flown on that same fateful mission 58 years ago, and had in fact seen his plane get hit and go down along with another plane from our squadron that same day. I had a picture of Martin so I replied to the e-mail, sending a copy of the picture and other information, beginning an experience that has been truly amazing.
Communications being what they were in those days during WWII, when a plane was shot down, many times going down in flames, it was always assumed that all were lost and you never found out what may have happened to the crew on board.
Operation Market-Garden was a major Airborne Operation conducted in Sept. 1944 where paratroopers from the 101st, 82nd, and British Airborne Divisions were dropped into Holland in an attempt to establish a bridgehead over the Rhine River, allowing the British Army, under Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery to cross into Germany. The Airborne Units, dropped at Eindhoven, Nijmegan, and Arnhem, Holland, accomplished their objectives, capturing and holding bridges at their respective locations. Unfortunately, Montgomery was unable cover the 60 miles necessary to link up with the Paratroopers and the overall mission failed. Among many factor causing the failure was the fact that the German Armies were regrouping in that area in preparation for their last big offensive in defense of the Fatherland, the Battle of the Bulge.
Unlike the operation on D-Day, which was carried out in the middle of the night, Operation Market-Garden took place on a Sunday afternoon with approximately 1200 C-47s flying into German held Holland and dropping their paratroopers between noon and 2 PM. After over 4 years under the Germans, this was Liberation Day for the Dutch and when they saw the vast armada of planes flying in, they climbed up on rooftops, waving flags and cheering the Allied forces on.
I was flying as Radio Operator on a C-47 in the lead element of our serial piloted by Lt. Colonel Walter T. Fletcher, our Squadron CO. As we approached our Drop Zone, DZ-T, just outside the village of Groesbeck, carrying paratroopers of the 508 PIR, 82nd Airborne Division, I climbed up into the astrodome ready to flash the green light with the Aldis lamp as a signal to the other planes in our serial to drop the paratroopers. We had encountered flak and anti-aircraft fire for some time on the way in and it really intensified as we neared the drop zone. Capt. Melvin Parker was leading the second element in our serial and Lt. James Martin was flying as a wingman in the third element. The German 88s had zeroed in on our elevation, which was about 600 feet above ground, and as we slowed down to about 110 mph airspeed for the drop, I saw bursts hit both Parker and Martin and then the anti-aircraft bursts caught up with our plane, damaging the tail section and the left wing. Other planes in our Squadron were also hit, but all, including Parker and Martin, held formation and dropped the paratroopers on target.
Capt. Parker, his plane on fire, enabled his paratroopers and crew members to bail out and then put his plane into a long glide, belly landing it in German territory. He was given a commendation for sacrificing his life to save the other crew members. More about this later.
Lt.Martin, although damaged and on fire, after dropping his troopers, turned his plane to fly back out. But as he did, his plane was hit again by 88s and crashed and burned. All crew members and one paratrooper who failed to get out, were killed. Martin was given the DFC for his heroic action.
Several days later, when towing gliders in support of the paratroopers, another plane from our Squadron, piloted by Capt. Robert Kirry, was shot down. The pilot of another plane, Capt. Russell Ramer, was killed when a piece of flak caught him in the neck cutting the jugular vein.
Now, back to the e-mail. After the war, the people of Nijmegan established a Liberation Museum and set about gathering information about the people who had participated in Operation Market-Garden, and in particular, those who were involved in their area. With the help of General James Gavin, who had been the commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division during Market-Garden, the Museum was able to put together an overall picture of the Operation and published a booklet in 1992 giving many of the details, including the story of Lt. James Martin. Bart Smeets, whose family was involved at the time of the mission in 1944, read the booklet in June 2002 and took up a personal interest. He wondered if any of the family members of the crews who were shot down ever really knew what had happened to them. Thus started a process that over 9 months time has yielded results that are truly amazing.
Using the Internet, with telephone support, calling individuals including myself, search systems, Social Security records, e-mail, and every other resource he could find, Bart was able to find and contact living family members of all the crews that were shot down from our Squadron. Unfortunately, although some of the crew members managed to survive the crashes, were taken prisoner by the Germans, and then repatriated after the war, none are still alive today. But to the living family members, finding out what happened to their loved ones back in 1944, the heroism they had shown in carrying out their mission, has given closure that was long over due. The opportunity that I have had to talk to many of them, exchange pictures and information with them, has been very gratifying to say the least.
Although all of Martin's crew were killed I have been in contact with his sisters, with the brother of Tony Biondo, the RO on the crew, and the cousin of Vernon Kasserkert, the CC on the crew.
When his plane was shot down, Robert Kirry and two of his crew members, George Bennett NAV and Eldon Robbins RO, were able to bail out, but were soon captured by the Germans. They all survived POW camp and were repatriated back to the U.S. after the War.
Of great personal interest to me was the story of Capt. Mel Parker. I had flown with Parker as his RO on D-Day, when we dropped the 101st Airborne in Normandy, and subsequent missions up until Market-Garden. Just before the mission my CO, Col. Fletcher, called me in and told me he was transferring me to his plane. Although it was considered an honor to fly in the lead plane, I would have preferred to stay with my old crew but you don't argue with your CO, so the transfer was made with Warren Dodson and I trading places. Imagine the feeling I had when I saw them get hit and go down in Holland. Although we thought they had all been killed, Dodson and the Navigator, Gerald Fitzgerald, both were able to bail out and landed safely. However, after wandering around in German territory for many days, being sheltered by the underground, they were both finally captured and spent the rest of the war as POWs. Parker stayed with the plane until all had bailed out and then crash-landed in German territory. Badly burned, he was able to crawl out of the plane, only to be taken prisoner. He was repatriated and returned to the U.S. after the war.
For all these years I had thought Parker was KIA, so it was a real revelation to find out that he had survived. I have been in touch with his wife, now 93 years old and his daughter who both live in Oregon.
To get back to my own story of the mission. While standing up in the astrodome watching events unfold, one of the bursts that hit our plane sent a piece of flak in my direction, grazing my wrist. I saw this stream of reddish fluid squirt out and thought that it must have cut a vein. Instead it had pierced the hydraulic line I was holding on to, and the hydraulic fluid was squirting all over the place. Just about that time the paratroopers were given the order to stand up and hook up in preparation for jumping. In doing so, one of the troopers accidentally discharged his rifle with the bullet going through his foot. With all the other commotion going on, flak bursting all around, the loud explosion of the rifle shot inside the plane created a pretty tense situation as you can imagine. In any event, we proceeded to the drop zone, discharged our paratroopers and headed back to England. Of course the injured paratrooper was unable to jump so we patched him up as best we could. The shot had gone through his boot and taken off his second toe as clean as a whistle.
We were able to repair the damaged hydraulic line to partially restore the hydraulic system. But the damage to our tail section and the loss of one engine presented a real challenge to our safe return. The Navigator, Capt. P.K. Sturgeon, charted a course that would take us back to England over the Cliffs of Dover since that was the shortest distance over water. Since we were at only 600 feet elevation when we dropped our troopers and with only one engine it was difficult to maintain altitude. In fact, we were gradually losing height, so we started to throw every thing overboard that wasn't bolted down. As we were approaching the coast of England, only about 50 feet above the English Channel, and with the Cliffs of Dover looming large in front of us, my crew chief, Al Meeker, looked at the stricken paratrooper and said, "OK buddy, you're next".
As it turned out we managed to clear the Cliffs with little to spare and landed at an RAF base just inside the coast. Although we had to leave our plane behind for repairs we returned to our squadron later that evening, thus ending a long and exciting day. Although feeling good about the overall success of our mission, we were, of course, saddened by the loss of our fallen comrades.
* * * * * * * * *
Back to Bart Smeets and the Liberation Museum in the Nijmegan area. With the 60th anniversary of Market-Garden coming up in Sept. 2004, a big celebration is being planned and a number of the family members of the crews shot down, as well as some of the Air Crew Veterans involved, are planning to attend. It should be a memorable, as well as nostalgic get-together.
Mayo Alive - eMagazine. E-mail michael@mayo-ireland.ie
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