This is a rare photo taken in a German POW camp on Christmas Day 1944. The three men in the foreground are members of the American 82nd Airborne Division. The men in the background are French prisoners who had been captured in 1940. The soldier lying on the cot, covered by a blanket, is my uncle George Augustine "Auggie" Harris. Their German captors apparently tried to make the day as special as possible. You can see some beer bottles in the picture. Auggie was liberated by British troops on April 27, 1945.
Memorial Day is for remembering those who gave their lives in the service of our country. God bless them all and their families. I am grateful for them all. I am grateful for all those who sacrificed their lives in every war our country has fought from the beginning until now.
There is another group of American war veterans who came close to losing their lives in battle. They came home with broken bodies and tortured minds. Many died from their wounds after their wars had ended; sometimes long after. And I am grateful for them and their sacrifices.
This is a tribute to one of these, my uncle George Augustine Harris. He served with the 401st Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division and faced his first combat during the invasion of Normandy which began on June 6, 1944--D-Day. His unit was pulled back to England after several weeks to prepare for the invasion of the Netherlands on September 17, 1944. This was the infamous "short cut to victory" campaign envisioned by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
The invasion of the Netherlands was a two-part operation that, according to Montgomery, was to cross the Rhine and end the war with Germany by Christmas 1944. It was officially called Operation Market Garden and called for the 1st Allied Airborne Army, consisting of the British 1st Airborne Division and the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, to lay an airborne "carpet" which would take a series of bridges across rivers and canals between Belgium and the Rhine. The airborne troops would hold the bridges until a British armored army could race across the water obstacles, eventually crossing the Rhine and spreading out across the German industrial area of the Ruhr and force Germany to sue for peace.
It must have looked good on paper, because the allied high command agreed to launch Market Garden. Unfortunately, many a battle plan goes out the window when the bullets begin to fly. What looked like an easy walk through Holland for the Allies at the beginning of September had changed drastically by September 17 when the operation began. Two German armored SS divisions had been sent into the area days before and the Allied airborne divisions were dropped right on top of them.
After several days of desperate fighting the Allies had to pull back. Both the British and American airborne divisions suffered heavy losses, especially the British who had gone for the bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem--the famous "bridge too far."
My uncle, we all called him Auggie, was wounded by artillery fire near Ninjmegen on September 30, and captured. He would spend the rest of the war in a German POW camp. He nearly lost lost his leg, and did lose part of his left foot. For the rest of his short life (he died in December, 1952, at the age of 35) he walked with a limp, never having fully recovered from his wounds.
Today I pay grateful tribute to all those who lie in hundreds of military cemeteries around the world; and to those whose bones still remain unidentified in jungles, deserts, and fields. Over the years many observers have asked the question, "Where do we get such men?" The short answer is that they are fathers, and sons, and brothers, and uncles like Auggie. And yes, many women have made the same sacrifices. All for us. For our freedom. Let us never forget them.
