Band of Brothers RIP Ping
Posted on 01/22/2011 2:39:25 PM PST by george76
A member of the "Band of Brothers" who fought in some of World War II's fiercest European battles, Ed Mauser shunned the limelight and kept his service with the Army unit a secret, even from some of his family.
Born Dec. 18, 1916 in LaSalle, Ill., he was drafted in 1942 and volunteered for the 101st Airborne Division. He was assigned to Company E, 506th Regiment — Easy Company — which participated in the D-Day invasion of France and the follow-up Operation Market Garden. The 101st also helped defend Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.
Historian Stephen Ambrose interviewed Easy Company leader Dick Winters for the 1992 book "Band of Brothers," upon which the HBO miniseries that began airing in September 2001 was based. Winters, of Hershey, Pa., died earlier this month at age 92.
(Excerpt) Read more at brandonsun.com ...
Ed Mauser returns to Normandy—September 6, 2009—
He wonders if he’ll recognize the French farmhouse where he helped rout hiding German soldiers. Or the river site in Holland where he rescued British troops. Or the German-occupied Dutch town that he and three others slipped into during a midnight patrol.
Or the slope of the hillside at the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. Or the countryside where he was wounded when a German mortar shell exploded through the roof of the barn
http://www.omaha.com/article/20090906/NEWS01/709069862
Band of Brothers RIP Ping
R.I.P.
SEMPER FI
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother
I’ve been trying to dig up info on my grandfather’s time in Europe but its a lot tougher than you would think with minimal info. (He didn’t talk about it much till I was an adult)
I did find this which seems pretty familiar and he did say that they caught the tip of Hitler’s spear in the Ardennes breakout and were forced to retreat.
However there is some other stuff from his WWII experience that doesn’t fit with the history of Battery “D” of the 134th A.A.A. Gun Battalion. For instance he started his tour in North Africa and the 134th doesn’t appear to have been there at all. (Possible he didn’t start out with the 134th?) He was a radioman BTW.
My uncle was in North Africa...but he was with the New Zealand Royal Army...
He was a medic...an ambulance driver..in El Alamein at one time...we had a photo of him in a red fez...
He would go out and pick up enemy wounded as well as our own...
His ambulance took a direct hit and he was killed Christmas 1944 and we had a photo of his grave ..a pile of dirt which could have been anywhere...
We were told it was North Africa...and I think the family had believed that...
Someone more recently told me that he couldnt have died in battle in North Africa in 1944 and he may have died of disease...
Since my uncle was a hero to the family, I did some digging...
and found him in a cemetery in Italy..
As a medic, I dont know if he moved with his unit or was reassigned...
Glad he and 5 others from Easy Company were able to get together last year at the SAC museum.
I’m sure he sang this more than once.
Blood in the Risers
(to the tune of the Battle Hymn of The Republic)
He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright,
He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,
“You ain’t gonna jump no more!”
(CHORUS)
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
he ain’t gonna jump no more!
“Is everybody happy?” cried the Sergeant looking up,
Our Hero meekly answered “Yes,” and then they stood him up;
He leaped right out into the blast, his static line unhooked,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,
He felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop,
The silk from his reserve spilled out and wrapped around his legs,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome,
Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones;
The canopy became his shroud; he hurtled to the ground.
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
The days he’d lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about the girl back home, the one he’d left behind;
He thought about the medics, and wondered what they’d find,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,
The medics jumped and screamed with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled,
For it had been a week or more since the last a ‘chute had failed,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
He hit the ground, the sound was “SPLAT” his blood went spurting high,
His comrades were all heard to say “A hell of a way to die!”
He lay there rolling round in the welter of his gore,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
(slowly, solemnly)
There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute,
Intestines were a’dangling from his Paratrooper suit,
He was a mess, they picked him up and poured him from his boots,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more!
It has been my extreme honor to know, professionally and personally, many men like this.
It has also been my unfortunate experience to know many charlatans who make great claims, often loudly in public, about their military exploits.
Given the choice, I will always take the quite heroes because they are truly heroes. You can keep the loud mouth Johns.
Rest in peace my hero.
True that.
The louder the talk, the more suspicious I become.
SSG Giunta, who was just presented with the Medal of Honor, said that in his platoon he is just an average Soldier.
That is the way a hero talks.
Never lose your sense of pride for the man, or anyone who served our country.
Here is a quote by Ed Mauser. It's the very last sentence in a front page article in the Omaha paper today.
"No. I was no hero. I was one of the guys. That's all."
My granddad was wounded by a piece of shrapnel skipping off his shoulder in the Ardennnes but it was a minor wound. Frostbite from that winter caused him to lose a toe and he lost the hearing in one ear to a nearby hit from a german 88mm shell. He also broke his tailbone in Belgium but that was a drinking accident.
At his funeral one of his old buddies told us about spending some time in the coal country of either Germany or Belgium. They were in the sides of some tall slag heaps and the german planes couldn’t strafe due to a bad angle or something. Thguy said the planes came over them so close they were throwing rocks at them.
fear not the passing, as your buddies will be there to show you the way.
rest easy, you’ve earned it.
it’s our fight now.
G-d bless
/salute
We are not going to have very many WWII heroes left. They are all now very late 70-90s now and we lose more everyday. Our church lost a gentleman this past year, 91 years old, flew in B29’s over Japan in WWII. A true American hero and a wonderful man. We will miss all these men. Their generation is rapidly passing on. God bless each and every one of them.
When my grandfather passed away back in 01, the color guard were all Korean war vets and they were no spring chickens.
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