MSG John McCarthy’s Road to Lecaudey Farm (Part II)

Pat and John,

I concur and believe that the recent photographic evidence you have collected most definitely supports the theory that Keokuk Chalk #3 landed north of Route de Rabey, crashed through hedgerow on the north side of the road, crossed the road and created a relatively small debris field to the south of the road. The break in the hedgerow on the north side of Route de Rabey in the IGN photo from 1947 clearly lines up with the small debris field on the south side of the road in US7GR 1857 4052.

I took another look at Goulden’s AAR today and found several sections that I believe are relevant to our research:


From Goulden’s AAR:
The Germans, we learned later, were counter attacking in one of the fields we were going into. I was lucky enough to go into one which was not under heavy fire as the others. Some of the other gliders pilots were not so lucky.

In the text above, I believe Goulden was likely referring to the German activity that took place in the vicinity of the “Big Dipper” group of Horsa gliders. This field is located to the SE of McCarthy/Pratt Fields.


From Goulden’s AAR:
I landed with brakes on and full flaps, ground looped to keep from crashing into trees at the other end of the field. The field was L shaped and we slid sideways around it (L) coming to a grinding stop intact.

In the text above, the “L shaped” field comment suggests a landing in either Pratt or McCarthy field based on their rough shapes. However, I think our current evidence still more strongly points to McCarthy Field as Chalk #4’s landing field. If Goulden approached the field from the NE corner and landed in the north half of the field, the resting spot of the Horsa on the western boundary of that field would roughly fit the description of the landing sequence he described in his text… “ground looped to keep from crashing into trees… we slid sideways around it (L).” However, I am open to other interpretations of this description of Goulden’s landing.


From Goulden’s AAR:
We passed a glider that had crashed into the trees bordering the field the night before. I glanced insider and almost got sick… the copilot and one passenger were still in their seats. They were horribly mangled… attempts to cut them out of the entangled steel tubing had thus far failed. We moved on.

A Horsa glider was piled into trees on the other side of the field near where I had landed. I hated to look inside.

All but two of the occupants were dead… the two were dying… We gave them some morphine and their graying faces softened a little. “Where in the hell did they get that ‘Milk Run’ stuff… I came across the body of a glider pilot… A machine pistol had taken care of him… his body was almost cut almost in half.

Moving down a hedge row we found Flight Officer Collins. He was in a dazed condition and suffering from shock. About this time we met two Airborne men… Lying in a hollow we rested… discussed the situation. We decided that one of should stay behind with Collins but he would have none of it and when we argued he rose to his feet and told us we better get going. He said he could follow in the rear so we struck out for the command post.

I believe this series of paragraphs outlined Goulden’s west to east trek down Route de Rabey. I also believe that the sequence of events in the text points to the Waco glider that he initially encountered as not being General Pratt’s Chicago Chalk #1 as its crash site has been identified as being further to the west. Instead, it could be the glider in the far SW corner of Pratt Field. (Will look more into that possibility.) After encountering this Waco, Goulden then described coming upon a Horsa glider. In his AAR, Goulden stated: “A Horsa glider was piled into trees on the other side of the field near where I had landed.” Based on this description and the KIAs that he discovered in the Horsa, I believe this glider was almost certainly Keokuk Chalk #3. I recall my father describing a number of KIAs, including a personal friend and some MPs in Chalk #3. (I will have to go back and review his comments in Koskimaki’s book to confirm.) Next, Goulden described encountering F/O Collins and two Airborne men further down the hedgerow. I believe this group included my father after he had left with Collins from the Chalk #3 crash site and they had started their journey to the CP in Hiesville.

As stated above, I will take another look at my father’s narrative in Koskimaki’s book to see how his story matches Goulden’s AAR.

Thoughts?

R/
Kevin

 

Pat,

Apologies for this delayed response to your Post #164 of January 7th.

Unfortunately, Goulden does not provide a specific starting point for his trek to the CP. However, the final section of Goulden’s AAR text in my Post #163 probably provides the best insight into his initial location after landing. I quoted that portion of the text in its entirety and in the correct order. While it may not include a “starting point”, I believe Goulden’s AAR narrative almost certainly indicates the Horsa glider they encountered was Keokuk Chalk #3. If you accept our theory that Chalk #3 is the glider on Route de Rabey, you can work back from that location and that points to the Chalk #4 landing location being further to the west.

From Goulden’s AAR:
A Horsa glider was piled into trees on the other side of the field near where I had landed. I hated to look inside.

All but two of the occupants were dead… the two were dying… We gave them some morphine and their graying faces softened a little. “Where in the hell did they get that ‘Milk Run’ stuff… I came across the body of a glider pilot… A machine pistol had taken care of him… his body was almost cut almost in half.

Moving down a hedge row we found Flight Officer Collins. He was in a dazed condition and suffering from shock. About this time we met two Airborne men…


From Koskimaki’s D-Day with the Screaming Eagles:
Sergeant McCarthy’s glider number 4 had come to rest safely in a soft field only twenty yards from a hedgerow. He observed, “Glider number 3, which was just in front of our, slammed into an earthen bank and collapsed in a pile of splinters. The co-pilot (F/O Richard Myers) was killed as were several MPs and headquarters people. I raced over to give aide and was immediately fired upon from a hedgerow corner. I assumed a prone position quickly. Uninjured glidermen from the wrecked craft were removing those who had survived the crash.

I managed to snake forward to the wrecked glider where I located an old friend, Sergeant John Paris. He was one of the badly injured who had been pulled from within the wrecked glider. We had entered the service together from Chicago and both of us had been with the 101st Division since it was activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, in 1942. Unfortunately, Paris died a few minutes later from his injuries. …

With darkness approaching, Sergeant McCarthy was in the hedgerow with the CIC Officer, Plotke (Chalk #4 jeep driver) and the pilot of the wrecked glider (F/O Collins). He said, “Somehow this glider pilot had miraculously survived a crash in which his compartment was completely demolished. He did have difficulty moving about due to a broken heel. He was given a shot of morphine to ease the pain. The CIC man, whose briefings had been rushed and sketchy, directed me to take charge of the small group… We started out in the darkness, moving cautiously along the deep ditch beside the road.”


My father’s and Goulden’s narratives run in parallel and, at times, overlap. The KIA Horsa pilot described by Goulden is almost certainly F/O Meyers, Chalk #3. The pilot’s grave injuries described by Goulden (I came across the body of a glider pilot… A machine pistol had taken care of him… his body was almost cut almost in half.) were most likely caused by the glider’s horrific crash into the hedgerow. From my father’s narrative: “Somehow this glider pilot (F/O Collins) had miraculously survived a crash in which his compartment was completely demolished.”

Also, from Goulden’s AAR: Moving down a hedge row we found Flight Officer Collins. He was in a dazed condition and suffering from shock. About this time we met two Airborne men… From my father’s narrative: Sergeant McCarthy was in the hedgerow with the CIC Officer, Plotke (Chalk #4 jeep driver) and the pilot of the wrecked glider (F/O Collins)… We started out in the darkness, moving cautiously along the deep ditch beside the road.”

Note that Goulden mentions that the Horsa glider he encountered “was piled into trees on the other side of the field near where I had landed.” I believe this further supports our theory that places Chalk #4 on the western edge and Chalk #3 on the northern edge, respectively, of McCarthy Field.

With regards to the KIA casualties that Goulden encountered in the crashed Horsa… Back in 2014, I obtained copies of the Morning Reports for the 101st for the month of June 1944. The Morning Reports included summaries of casualties (KIA, WIA) reported for that day (See Post #102 of this thread for the full details.)

From my Post #102 of this thread:
With regards to the manifest of Keokuk Chalk #3, my father mentioned in his account that his friend, SGT Joe Paris and “several” MPs were KIA casualties on that glider. From other sources, I have been able to identify PVT Ambrose Konter and PFC William Smith as possible candidates for these KIA casualties. The 101st MP PLT MR for June 26th lists SGT Paris and PVT Konter as KIA on June 7th. This indicates that PVT Konter was most likely one of the other KIAs on Chalk #3


Finally, I’d like to provide additional narrative from Goulden’s AAR with regards to his landing:
Then we were inland and in three minutes we would be off the tow heading in for our landing. We were to split into two lines in elements of two…I was in the right line… I saw the two lead ships in the left line (Chalks #1 and 2) turn gradually away from me… I never saw their gliders or their glider pilots again…

We banked sharply to the right… I was on the right wing of Flight Officer “Rip” Collins. When he cut I was to cut also and follow him into the field which I saw below. Green smoke was drifting across it… Glider pilots of the first lift had seen to it that these markers were there… I felt better.

Turning the controls over to F/O Blalock I looked at the field. Instead of being 50 feet high as we supposed, the trees bordering it were closer to 60 and the fields were the shortest that I’d ever seen. We got the green light (signal that we were over the LZ). Collins cut and I cut a second later. We peeled off in a tight turn, came out of it and glided along the edge of the field at about 400 ft altitude. …

I landed with brakes on and full flaps, ground looped to keep from crashing into trees at the other end of the field. The field was L shaped and we slid sideways around it (L) coming to a grinding stop intact.


Worth further analysis, but Goulden’s landing narrative could suggest Chalk #4 approached McCarthy Field from the NE quadrant (hence the appearance of an “L-shaped” field) and then landing east to west in the northern portion of the field and coming to stop before impacting the western boundary.

Pat, in your Post #165, you mention that you believe the attached photo includes the wreckage of Chalk #3 on Route de Rabey. Can you provide additional details on what brought you to that conclusion?

Pat and John, as always, I’d appreciate your feedback/follow-up on what I have outlined above.


R/
Kevin