American artillery
soldier John Nasea Jr. of the 321st
Glider Field Artillery Battalion
(101st Airborne Division)
is rushed towards the town of Son,
Holland in an original US Army
Ambulance of World War Two vintage.
Back to Holland after almost 68
years
This was June 13th 2012.
Today was John Nasea's 90th Birthday
and the first time he sat
foot on Dutch soil since 1944;
almost 68 years ago.
Fortunately, John is riding shotgun
with the 'meat wagon' driver; as he
calls it.
The driver is Guido Wilmes from
Eindhoven, The Netherlands, a member
of the Battle Wheels World War Two
Vehicle Restoration Club.
Tragic start of Operation "Market
Garden"
On September 19th, 1944, John Nasea,
a veteran of the Normandy campaign at the time, was
not so lucky.
He was flown into Holland on the
third day of Operation "Market
Garden" in Holland in 1944 and was
seriously wounded while still in mid
air in the CG4A glider that would
take him into battle.
Because of blood loss from a gunshot
wound in his legs, John lost
consciousness while his buddies in
the same glider were descending on
Landing Zone "W".
He was placed on a makeshift
stretcher and put on a jeep trailer
carrying 75 millimeter howitzer
shells.
Although he was given a morphine
injection, the bumpy ride across
Dutch pastures hurt John
tremendously.
Suddenly he was surprised to see a
clean white gurney in the back yard
of a Dutch farmhouse.
His wounded body was lifted onto it.
From then on his memory is like a
kaleidoscope of impressions.
John was in at least five different
Allied aid stations and hospitals
before flown from Brussels, Belgium,
to England.
He was eventually flown to the US,
where he spent another three months
in a hospital.
After a total of six months as a
guest of the US Army Medical
Department, John was discharged from
the hospital in the spring of 1945.
Where was I?
In the fall of 2011 John sent us an
e-mail with the big question "Where
was I?"
He elaborated as much as possible on
what he remembered and drew up a
diagram:
click to enlarge:
John went on to explain that it was
his wish to spend his 90th birthday
on June 13th 2012 on the spot where
he was laid on the gurney on
September 19th, 1944.
From Mr. Gary Detorre, the 321st
Glider Field Artillery Battalion's
World War Two historian, we received
valuable information about the
deployment of this unit during
Market Garden.
We found out that John had been put
on the flight manifest of a CG4A
combat glider with chalk # 20 at a
last minute's notice on the third
day of the operation.
click to enlarge:
Flight Manifest of
Glider Chalk # 20 of the D+2 lift
Operation "Market Garden", September
19, 1944 Source:
Mr. Gary Detorre
We also learned that it was nearly
impossible to tell where exactly
this glider must have landed.
For example, glider pilots of the
second lift, September 18th 1944,
had been asked to mark the location
on Landing Zone "W" where they
thought they had landed. This
created the following image:
click to enlarge:
Source: Mr. Gary
Detorre
Based on John's recollections, the
information provided by Mr. Detorre
and from our own knowledge of the
operation, we theorized
that John was taken to the Helena Hoeve Farm for emergency treatment
after his eventful entering into the
Kingdom of the Netherlands.
click to enlarge:
1)
2)
3)
1) Positions of "A", "B" and
Headquarters Batteries of the 321st
GFAB in the evening of September
19th, 1944 according to coordinates
in unit after action report, plotted
on a US Army map of 1943. Source:
Mr. Gary Detorre. 2) Positions of the same
batteries on September 19th, 1944,
plotted on a contemporary satellite
image.
3) Our hypothesis
plotted on an areal photograph of
September 17th, 1944.
Helena Hoeve Aid Station
We knew that from the beginning of
the parachute drops on September
17th to the early hours of September
19th,1944, the Helena Hoeve Farm
outside of Son, Holland, owned at
the time by the Roefs Family, had
been in use as a jump and drop
casualty collection point.
it may very well be possible that
medical equipment, such as a gurney,
was still present at the farm when
the 321st GAB landed on the 19th.
During Dutch Museum Weekend in April
2011 we helped Guido Wilmes set up a
period medical display in a nearby
barn.
click to enlarge:
Photo credits:
Battleatbest.com
Finally on the eve of John's 90th
birthday we met at the Holiday Inn
restaurant in Eindhoven, Holland,
several miles south of the Landing
Zone at Son.
Together with John's daughter
Melissa, we had dinner and discussed
the plans for the days to come.
Wednesday June 13, 2012
The next morning we first visited
the American Cemetery in Margraten.
We were welcomed by an employee of
the American Battle Monuments
Committee who acted as a guide for
the cemetery.
We first made a stop at the grave of
Private First Class Pervey S.
Robinson of John's battalion.
Robinson was Killed in Action on The
Island, the area in Holland where
the 101st had been deployed after
the first week of Operation "Market
Garden".
The engravings on Robinson's grave
marker were filled with sand from
Omaha Beach in Normandy, France to
make for a better contrast in
photographs.
click to enlarge:
We also made a stop at Lt-Col Robert G. Cole (3/502; MOH)'s
grave.
click to enlarge:
We made stops at the Wall of the Missing.
A small hole has been drilled in
front of the name of PFC Kight of
the 504th PIR for a bronze rosette
to be installed by his family this
year September.
Kight's remains were found and
identified last year.
click to enlarge:
Where John Nasea Jr. (most
likely) was on September 19th, 1944
We then drove to the Helena Hoeve
Farm in the middle of LZ "W" where
the 321st GFAB had landed on D+2 of
"Market Garden" and where he was
presumably given first aid.
En route, we made stops at the
Airborne monument behind the Zonhove
care center and at the location
where Lt-Col. Robert G. Cole hd been
Killed in Action.
At exactly 4 PM we arrived at Helena
Hoeve and we were welcomed by Berta
Roefs, 97 years old, who had lived
on the farm in 1944.
Also, Guido Wilmes had set up his
World War Two vintage US Army
ambulance with several charts pasted
on it explaining about Helena Hoeve
as an aid station.
click to enlarge:
John was then taken to Paulus Hoeve,
a farm down to road to the town of
Son propper. He got to ride next to
the driver. At Paulus Hoeve, farmer
Van Overveld showed numerous items
found on the drop- and landing zones
over the past six decades.
click to enlarge:
John clearly became exhausted by the
strain of this day and the jet-lag.
Time for rest.
On the way back to the hotel we made
a short stop at the Willem Hikspoors
Bridge in Eindhoven, featured in our
Battle Study # 13.
Thursday, June 14th 2012 The following day we attended
the handing-over ceremony of the
Geronimo Monument of the adoption
class of the elementary school in Eerde.
En route, we visited several
locations related to Operation
"Market Garden" and the actions of
John’s unit.
We stopped at the monument to PFC Joe. E Mann
(H/502; MOH) in Best and at the Old
Lake near Son on the location where
John's Battery of the 321st GFAB dug in on September 19th,
1944.
Found with help of the map
references provided by Gary Detorre.
click to enlarge:
Eerde
At about 1 PM we were in Eerde, in
time for John to be a special guest
in the educational program about the
history of the battles of the 501st
Parachute Infantry to liberate these
kids' hometown, Eerde.
Erwin Jansen, whom we'd appointed
the Mayor of Eerde for this day,
explained all about the Nazi
Occupation of Eerde and the battles
to liberate the town.
The school children interviewed John
Nasea afterwards.
John took some time reenacting
the paratroopers in the mural
painted on the inside of the
windmill.
And reenacting a reenactor...
click to enlarge:
New adoption class for Eerde
Airborne Monument
After the future 8th Grade accepted
the adoption of the 501st Monument,
John and his daughter Melissa Nasea
pinned on the Dutch Freedom Torch
pin on every new adoption alass
student.
click to enlarge:
WWII US Army Base Camp
When the ceremony was over, John
visited the World War Two camp which
the men and women of the Battle
Wheels Vehicle Group had created.
Originally intended for the school
children of Eerde, they kept it open
for veteran John Nasea to see.
John was able to bring back many
memories from his 6 months in field
and general hospitals when he was
seated inside Guido Wilmes
(yesterday's meat wagon driver)'s
field surgery tent.
Inside the Eerde field surgery tent
John held a hemostat with a .30
slug; the type which 'clipped'
(John's words) him on September 19,
1944 and he had some morbid fun with an
amputation saw (luckily it was not
used on him in 1944).
Before we had to leave, the Eerde Airborne Committee and the
War Wheels Club presented John with
a souvenir picture frame of the Eerde Monument.
click to enlarge:
John told me on the way back to the
hotel that he wasn't tired after all
of this.
"How could I, with all the
adrenaline?"
We had supper at the Holiday Inn’s diner and
said good bye.
We had a wonderful time showing John
and his daughter around.
EXHIBITS:
Private John Nasea
Jr.
of the 321st Glider Field Artillery
Battalion, Now & Then
WWII Mascot of the 321st Artillery
Battalion
June 30th 2012 UPDATE: John
sent us the following report and
added "thought I'd set the record
straight":
click to enlarge:
November 2012 UPDATE: During
John Nasea's visit to the
Netherlands it became evident that
he was never issued the Royal
Netherlands Orange Lanyard
decoration issued to all troops in
the 82nd and 101st Airborne
Divisions and the IXth Army Air
Corps Troop Carrier Command. Modest
as John is, he said: "I was
wounded and put out of action before
I hit the ground. I never took part
in Operation "Market Garden".
We studied the Order of the Minister
of War dated 20 SEP 1946 (Sec. P.
203), by
which permission was granted to the
personnel of the 101st Airborne
Division to wear the Orange Lanyard
and the 101st Airborne Divisional
Head Quarters General Order on this
subject.
The Orange Lanyard (Oranje
Erekoord in the Dutch language)
was awarded to the Divisional Colors
of the 101st Airborne Division and
all individual members who served in
the Arnhem operations in the period
from 17 September to 28 November
1944.
We found no exceptions for soldiers
who were Seriously Wounded in Action
in mid-air during their glider ride
into The Netherlands and concluded
John is entitled to wear this
decoration.
click to enlarge:
John's medal case
includes the Glider Qualification
badge,
European Theater of Operation Medal,
Purple Heart Medal,
Good Conduct Medal, National Defense
Medal
and an Honorable Discharge pin.
But no Royal Netherlands
Orange Lanyard.
On Sunday 28 OCT 2012 we looked John
up in his retirement community in
Michigan. We had taken away most of
the element of surprise because we'd
already called him in September
about the Orange lanyard.
John had asked: "Can you get it
to me in time for me to wear on
Veterans Day?"
click for enlargements:
John, and the other residents who
served in America's wars, are
honored in the lobby of the
retirement home.
After citing the Dutch Order of the
Minister of War of 1946 about the
wear of the Orange Lanyard, we
properly placed the lanyard on
John's shirt.
After this, John took us out to dine
at Ruby Tuesday's.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg)
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg)
.jpg)
