| Hot Ride to the LZ |
| by John D. Hill |
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The following is edited from the 2 January 1945 de-briefing statement made by 91st glider pilot John D. Hill, who was towed into Bastogne by Joe Fry and crew. The statement is supplemented with material received from John Hill in June 1994. |
n December 27, 1944, I was pilot of the CG-4A glider towed by 2d Lt. Joe Fry, bringing in supplies to the 101st Airborne Division. About eight miles from the LZ, we started getting small-arms fire, and as we got nearer to Bastogne the ground fire became heavier. I could hear the bullets hitting the heavy ammunition I was carrying and I was praying that they would not hit the detonators that I had hanging next to my seat! Then something turned loose on us from underneath. It sounded like large anti-aircraft fire. The towship then caught fire under the belly and it blazed up suddenly over the whole back end. We flew for about three or four miles farther with the blaze getting larger all the time. It looked as though the towship would blow up any minute, it was burning so furiously. I realized Joe was trying desperately to get me over the LZ. Flames were leaping back halfway down the towrope. Two chutes came out through the flame. After another mile I thought I could make it into the LZ, and around the time a third chute appeared, I cut loose and cut across to the LZ.* |
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As I looked for a place to land, it was more difficult than usual to judge the terrain because it was all covered with snow and ice. I decided to land as close as possible to the flare [smoke marker in the LZ]. I landed safely and as I was coming to a complete stop a U.S. Army weapons carrier pulled up beside me. We then unloaded the much-needed supplies. Case Rafter, another 91st GP, had also landed safely in this same area, and we picked him up and headed for the hospital to find out about the crew members of our towship. Case had brought a great bottle of wine with him which was most welcome.† We found Joe in the hospital and as it turned out, his co-pilot George Weisfeld was being tended to also. Joe had been very lucky to get out alive, but as it turned out Weisfeld had been burned worse because of his exit through the burning tail section of the plane. (He spent many years in treatment for his burns after returning to the States). Not long after arriving in Bastogne we were notified that Patton had entered the area. We were in the first group to be ordered out. Several trucks were loaded with German prisoners and we were placed in the rear to stand guard. We left for Luxembourg and on the way the weather was miserable and so were the surroundings. We witnessed many dead German soldiers along the way, frozen into all kinds of positions. We caught a freight train from Luxembourg into Paris—a very cold ride. After we got into Paris we were stopped dozens of times and finally told to stay off the streets, as there were reported to have been German soldiers who had parachuted into the city wearing American uniforms [this was one of many unfounded rumors going around at this time]. The next day, however, our squadron sent planes to take us back to Châteaudun. * An unwritten rule for towpilots was to “get your glider(s) to the LZ as long as the aircraft is flying; stay with the plane until the glider releases.” An unwritten rule for glider pilots was, “If your towplane is in trouble, get off the rope and give the crew a chance to save themselves.” † Eric (Case) Rafter had the distinction of being the only graduate of Harvard Law School to qualify as a WW II combat glider pilot. |
