Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
8:01 | It was an unbelievable sight, the English channel full of Allied ships. Paratrooper Fred Bahlau was on one of the hundreds of planes carrying the 101st Airborne to the D-Day drop zone. The men were scattered after the jump and had to form up in small groups and try to find their targets. Part 1 of 3. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Keywords : Fred Bahlau paratrooper English Channel German crossfire Douglas C-47 Skytrain flak jump parachute (chute) reserve parachute Douve River Carentan France cricket Trino Mendez M-1
Fred Bahlau had to go to war. He was so eager to get in that he went to Canada to try and enlist there, but decided to go back to Michigan and see what he could do. In the recruiting office, he and the sergeant cooked up a plan to get his mother to sign, and once they pulled that fast one, he was off to be inducted. That was where he heard about the paratroopers. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
One of the last training exercises before jump school was a hundred mile hike. Fred Bahlau was sent instead to Fort Benning to prepare the arrival of the unit. Too bad about missing that hike! After the men got their jumps and their wings, they were off to England for intensive training to play their part in the coming invasion. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
In the run up to D-Day, Fred Bahlau lived with four other paratroopers above a pub. It turns out he was the only lucky one. One of them perished due to a highly improbable mishap when he jumped over Normandy. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Making his way to the bridge that was his unit's responsibility to secure, Sgt. Fred Bahlau gathered up around 30 men who had been scattered through the Normandy drop zone. Once there, he had to make his way to the other side under fire. One of his team was missing, and when he found out why, he dressed him down. Part 2 of 3. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
The first German soldier that Fred Bahlau killed during the Normandy invasion had a camera around his neck, so he had his first souvenir. There were 80 men holding the bridge where he was, but there was one problem. Headquarters had no idea that they had taken the bridge. This led to deadly consequences. Part 3 of 3. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Fred Bahlau remembers the ceremony where he and ten others were awarded for their actions in Normandy. At the end, there was a French woman with nine little girls holding flowers for the honorees. So they were two short. What to do? (Caution: strong language. May be offensive to some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
The fighting around Carentan was fierce. Paratrooper Fred Bahlau recalls how several casualties occurred, including the company's 1st Sergeant. The Captain said, "Bahlau, you're 1st Sergeant now!" Then he directed the men to move back to a higher position. Wait a minute, isn't that a retreat? (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
The fallout from Normandy was felt in different ways. Paratrooper Fred Bahlau remembers how tough it was integrating new men into the unit after it suffered a 40% casualty rate. They were preparing a drop into Holland and he didn't know who was dependable. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
During Operation Market Garden, a formation of troops approached the building where paratrooper Fred Bahlau was on watch. In the dim early dawn, he watched as they approached and then he realized what uniforms they were wearing. Later on, the Captain tasked him with retrieving some important papers from the site of a firefight. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
The men got a couple of days off the front line in Holland and were relaxing in a house they appropriated. Fred Bahlau was preparing his reports when one of the privates came out of a bedroom fully dressed as a woman. Immediately, he had a great idea. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate for some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Fred Bahlau recalls the house to house fighting in Holland, as the men of the 101st tried to drive the Germans out of Eindhoven. In one home, a civilian woman helped him while he was firing his weapon at the time. Then there was the improbable reunion with a buddy right in the middle of combat. (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Beef, cement, flight jackets and dance partners. If you got it, you got it and Fred Bahlau certainly had it. When the Colonel needed something, he knew who could deliver. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate for some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
At Arnhem, Sgt. Fred Bahlau was told to take a couple of men and go across the river in a small boat and reconnoiter a little. Right away they caught two Germans, so now the other two men had to watch them while Bahlau continued on alone. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate for some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
In the middle of a frigid wooded battlefield, Fred Bahlau left his foxhole to go check on others. He only got a short distance when a shell came in and wounded the Captain. He got a medic and set out again when another shell hit the same place. Now he had two wounded men. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate for some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
They were looking forward to a great time in Paris on leave. As they searched for the most disreputable part of town, Fred Bahlau remembers how the streets were suddenly full of blaring speakers ordering all Airborne troops to return to the train station. Bastogne? No one had heard of it. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate for some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
At Bastogne, Fred Bahlau was startled when a shell landed right next to him and didn't explode. Maybe that was true, what they said about Nazi slave labor. After the battle, the Colonel called him in and demanded an immediate answer to a life changing choice he must make. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate for some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Paratrooper Fred Bahlau was quartered in a castle belonging to Hermann Goring and then he was ordered to guard the loot at Hitler's Berchtesgaden retreat. What he wishes he had a picture of, though, is a particular bathroom fixture used by Der Fuhrer. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate for some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
Fred Bahlau wanted to stay in the Army after the war, but then he found out that the men from the 101st would go to the 82nd Airborne, to the back of the line for assignments. Nope, but there was one more task he had to perform before he went home. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate for some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
The two paratroopers were all spiffed up and out on the town in England. It was late and his vision was a little hazy, but Fred Bahlau was sure he saw the woman of his dreams. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate for some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
After the guys in headquarters surprised him with a little schnapps, Fred Bahlau went on a detail into Foy, where he found a jeep with two wounded men in the middle of a German 88 barrage. The medics had fled and it was up to him to get them out. (Caution: strong language. May be inappropriate to some viewers.) (This interview made possible with the support of FRANK LEYENDEKKER.)
