Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:22 | The training in California was hot and the Atlantic Crossing was a nightmare, according to John Holeman, who was on his way to France as a replacement for the hard hit units who had been in fierce combat. The first thing his unit saw when they got to the top of the cliffs at Omaha beach gave them pause, and when they were in transit through a rail yard, what they found in the next car gave them cheer.
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John Holeman caught up with the 44th Division at Luneville in France. They made the new replacement a B.A.R. man. Heavier than a rifle, the Browning Automatic was, essentially, a small machine gun. Their first day moving out, a German artillery barrage sent him into a wet ditch, where he decided on a wardrobe adjustment. That same day, he watched a lone German fighter pilot parachute from the only enemy plane sent against them.
The front was disorganized, so outposts were made around the French farmhouse where John Holeman's unit was situated. After his watch, he noticed some men gathered near the farm's gate. Soon he would have a prized war souvenir.
John Holeman was grateful for the air support as his unit fought across France. "That's the only thing that saved our hides!" The further they went, the more the German army was made up of teenagers and old men. At the Maginot line, he had a heart stopping encounter with a mortar shell. Eventually they were stopped by the worst winter in fifty years.
Holed up in bunkers in the deep snow, John Holeman's unit was on Patton's flank when they were surrounded by Germans on the move. It was December 31st, and for three days, they fought the desperate enemy, who could not hold the position.
He had to leave the front with pneumonia, and when John Holeman had recuperated, he was shuffled through several camps. The war was winding down and no one seemed in a hurry to send anyone anywhere. When the people with high points started going home, he was assigned to a Quartermaster depot because of a highly prized skill, typing.
