On Sunday December 13th 2009 a
monument was unveiled at the
Baričrre-Hinck at the Crossroads of
the Route Nationale N4 and the road
from Houffalize. This is near the
location of the aid station of the
326th Airborne Medical Company that
was captured by German SS-troops on
December 19th, 1944. The monument
was unveiled by veteran Carmen Gisi
of the 401st Glider Infantry
Regiment and Henry " Hank" S.
Skowronski of the 326th Airborne
Medical Company (both subunits of
the 101st Airborne Division).
We' d met Carmen Gisi of New Jersey
already in Hemmen, Holland in 2006.
On Friday December 11th 2009 we met
again in Bastogne where he told us
the remarkable story of his actions
near the crossroads of
Barierre-Hinck about 8 miles outside
Bastogne on the 19th of December
1944.
Unaware at that time that the
crossroads and the aid station in
its North West corner had just
fallen into German hands, Carmen
thought that he was still inside the
American held perimeter around
Bastogne.
When he approached the aid station,
he found it empty. In one of the fox holes of the aid
station, he found an abandoned
camera with which he took this
photograph:
We knew about the photograph from
the literature. We also have a
comparison photo in our Now&Then
Ardennes section.
We told Carmen Gisi of the spooky
atmosphere in the photograph of the
empty tents and the fog in the
field.
What we didn’t know yet was what
Carmen told us then:
"It was even worse when we got
into the operating tents. We saw two
paratroopers on gurneys ready for
surgery. Apparently they were too
severely wounded for the Germans to
take them prisoner so they’d cut
their throats."
Present was also veteran f the 326th
Airborne Medical Company Medic Henry
"Hank" Skowronski from Ohio. Carmen Gisi told us that recently it was
discovered that the camera he’d
found had belonged to Hank.
Historian Rich Riley of Ohio had
brought the two together and through
separate visits to the location of
the aid station with Carmen’s Son,
it was confirmed that Carmen
actually took the photograph with
Hank’s camera.
Hank told us:
"My company was hit
hard! We were bombed at the Chateau Colombičres in Normandy and in
Eindhoven. And in Belgium the aid
station was captured by the Germans.
I remained a POW until the end of
the war."
Carmen explained us that he lost the
camera after the actions in the
Ardennes. Later he learned that the
company’s supply sergeant had it.
And he wasn’t planning on giving it
back to Carmen. He then told us how he applied a
certain amount of pressure on the
sergeant which only resulted in
getting back the exposed role of
film inside the camera.
At least the image of the overrun
aid station remains for the future.
Hank and Carmen both signed their
names for us:
We were present at the monument
dedication. There were speeches from
the mayors of the municipalities on
both sides of the Baričrre-Hinck
crossroads; St. Ode and Bastogne.
Then, according to good airborne
tradition, the monument was unveiled
by Carmen and Hank who lifted a
parachute canopy from the brand new
monument.
The anthems of Belgium and the
United States where played as well
as taps by one of the reeanctors
present during the ceremony.
There were more speeches but most
moving were those by Carmen and
Hank.
This is a photographic impression of
the ceremony:
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