Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
2:41 | Glen Gooch describes how his company commander received a concussion during an artillery barrage and how he came to earn two awards during the Battle of the Bulge.
Keywords : Glen Gooch Bronze Star Battle of the Bulge Sauer River Purple Heart
Because of illness, Glen Gooch didn't ship out with his friends from basic training. They were put through the wringer at Utah Beach and he would see the same kind of action when he arrived a few weeks later as a replacement.
Glen Gooch recalls a man in his unit who had a personal vendetta against the Germans. He fought them viciously because of what they did to his brother. It was late enough in the war that they were taking many prisoners, although one in particular still had a little fight in him.
There was an incredible barrage from German 88s in the Hurtgen Forest but it wasn't the tree bursts that nearly killed Glen Gooch. A German hand grenade came his way.
The ice at the Sauer River seemed like it would hold him up but, loaded down with gear, Glen Gooch broke through into the freezing water. He was OK but chilled to the bone. The objective was a hill that the Germans were using for observation.
They fought hard to take and keep the top of that hill. Both sides had on white snow gear and you couldn't tell friend from foe. Glen Gooch describes the action which earned him a Bronze Star.
As soon as Glen Gooch left the chaos and destruction of the Hurtgen Forest, he ran right into the desperate German attack at the Battle of the Bulge. It was a running battle and his unit was nearly surrounded at times while playing cat and mouse with Tiger tanks.
Glen Gooch tells what it was like to capture a German soldier for intelligence purposes. You had to be fast and strong.
The combat could be close at times with the Germans right up in your face. Glen Gooch was worried about one young soldier who wasn't very careful when the action started and, sure enough, he came to a bad end.
He'd had his feet frozen but Glen Gooch hadn't been shot yet. It was twelve days before the end of the war when German bullets finally found him near Nuremberg.
