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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTijerina--part 1--8-20-06( we in 'a series of tributes to ntenil wrs of - the Greatest G( aeration" who serVC(I our ctnurtry (luring W01-1d War II By Bill Youngkin Special to The Eagle Part One - O -Day When the movie Saving Private Ryan first opened, I attended the movie. One of the opening scenes was the landing on the beaches of Normandy. It was vivid, dramatic, bloody and so powerful that several ladies in the audience left the theater. I wondered: Could It have been that terrible? Maximo Tijerina, Sr. of Bryan has answered that question. "Saving Private Ryan was about 90 -95 percent accurate. I know, because I was there." T1jerma was born in Falls County on the family farm between Marlin and Rosebud near Wilson Store on May 29, 1922. Farming was his life until at the age of 20 he received his draft notice to join the Army. He became the fourth Tjerina brother to be dratted. "I was sent to Mineral Wells for basic training and then to Camp Hanns near San Berdino in California. I was trained to be a radar operator and forward observer with D Battery of the 413 Anti- Aircraft Battery. We were trained to use radar to determine the range, altitude and elevation of enemy planes that might be attacking and to defend with 90 -mm anti - aircraft guns that fired a 40 -pound shell up to 35,000 feet in the air. "About 90 percent of the guys In D Battery were from Arkansas and the other 10 percent from New Mexico. I was the only Texan in the Battery but made friends for the rest of my fife. Of the 168 men in D Battery, only 19 of us are still living today. "We were shipped by train across country to Ft. Dix, New Jersey, with New York City our point of embarkation. We were loaded on the Queen Mary, and 15' days and nights later we landed in Liverpool, England. The trip across was rough. It was 15 feet up and then 15 feet down for 15 days and nights. We were ready to get on dry land. "We did a lot of amphibious training and were then hauled near London for more training to get ready for an invasion. We knew we were going into combat; we just didn't know where. Finally, on the night of June 5, 1944, we were loaded onto LSTs and headed across the English Channel, still not knowing where we were headed. "Around daylight on June Gth, 1944, we could see the land through the fog. The Channel was full of LSTs like ours headed to shore. It looked like a hive of bees approaching shore. The beach they were headed toward was Omaha Beach, the most heavily fortified of all the beaches. A beach that would cost more than 2,400 American soldiers their lives. "As we approached shore, the shells were hitting in the water around us and you could hear the ping of machine guns on the sides of the LST. We hit a sandbar out from the shore and the door went down. When it did, the guys in front were hit by fire from the German machine guns. I knew I couldn't go out the front and live so I went over the side. I landed In water over five feet deep and headed for shore as fast as I could go, which wasn't very fast. "To make it to shore I had to wade through bodies. The water at the edge of the shore was turning red from all the blood. I made it about 50 yards onto the shore, where I was able to get into a hole created by a German 88. fhe hole was about five feet across but not deep enough. "We needed to get organized, but in all the shooting and confusion it was hard to do. Our guys were dying all around. We had two medics who didn't carry rifles, only their medical kits with red crosses on their helmets and arm bands. All that did was make them better targets. Both were killed trying to help the wounded. "We knew we had to get off the beach or we would all be killed. The German 88's were the worst. As a result of the 88's there weren't too many whole bodies on the beach. "Little by little we pushed on in. Sometimes two or three, then another three or four, until we got off the beach and began to push the Germans back. After the landing it was shooting and killing, shooting and killing all the way up the bluff. "When the day was over and the shooting had about stopped, we were able to reassemble as a unit. We found that about 30 percent of the guys from D Battery had been killed on the beach. I couldn't believe that I had survived that day. I remember thinking that if tomorrow is like today, there is no way I'm going to survive or survive for very long." Next Week - D -Day plus one and beyond. Maximo Tjedna's name can be found on the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial. ffyou know ofa World War /I veteran whose story needs to be told or would like to add someone's name to the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial, contact Bill Youngkin at(979)260-7030.. The Eagle Here when you need us. World War II Vet Dick Divison (Pt II) will be the guest on "Veterans of the Valley" this week on KAMU -TV. ° r Veterans of the Valley, hosted by WTAW's Tom Turbiville, can be - - - seen Fridays at 8:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 6:30 P.M. 0? KhMLLtamu.etlu Channel IACrv, uble4 I IIwlIlhefS Oi - I - IIC GI "l'illt'SI Generation" who served our country during world w,TT n By Bill Youngkin Special to The Eagle Part Two - D -Day and Beyond When Maximo Tijerina Sr. landed on Omaha Beach on D -Day, he didn't think he would get off it alive. Some 2,400 American soldiers didn't. Omaha Beach was particularly difficult because the Germans were on the bluffs above the beach. The German guns were on ground that was 170 feet above the beach in some places. In an attempt to get his soldiers off the beach, one commander is reported to have told his men that two types of people would My on the beach - the dead and those going to the - so they better get the hell out of there. Most of them did. What made the Omaha Beach landing successful was not a coordinated and well - planned strategy of the Allied Forces. Instead, it was through individuals' and small groups' collective acts of bravery. As In most were and battles, it became a battle of each soldier, with the help of the guy on his left and the guy on his right, against the enemy in from of them. "After we had pushed the Germans off the bluff and pushed them inland that first day, most of us were amazed we were suit alive," Tijerina recalled. "Most of the guys in my outfit were farm boys like me with no combat experience. it felt like we had gotten so much older after D -Day. From then on until the end of the war, we were seasoned veterans." Tijerina and the men of D Battery continued to push th Germans back though France and into Belgium. The 413th Ard- Aircraft Artillery Battalion was attached to Gen. George S. Paffin's 3rd Army, and they pushed forward as quickly and as far as they could. "MI the way through France and Belgium you had to keep an eye outfor snipers.They seemed to be everywhere. The other thing you didn't do was pick up souvenirs left lying around, because they were probably booby - trapped. "When the Germans counterattacked at the Battle of the Bulge, it was almost as bad as D -Day, and not just because of what the Germans were doing. The weather was terrible. It was so very, very cold. Out battalion was In the line for this and we were being pushed back by the Germans. Before we were able to stop the Germans, we had retreated almost 40 miles. "While retreating, we were left with only one road open, with the Germans trying to pinch it off as a retreat route. We were almost captured. For those who had not been killed or wounded, they were probably suffering from frostbite or trench foot. "Once we got the Germans stopped, it was push again until we got to the Rhine River. Where we crossed they had a pontoon bridge going across the Rhine. I had just gotten across when some German bombers and fighter planes came over trying to knock out the pontoon bridge. "They missed the bridge but they hit me. I was hit by a large piece of shrapnel that was sticking out of my left shoulder. I tried to get it out but I couldn't. I was taken to an aid station where they took the shrapnel out and patched me up. Four days later I was back in the line with my outfit, where I stayed until the end of the war. "Since there wasn't much in the way of German aircraft now we were used in support of the infantry. I was the radio man with the forward observer. We would be in the line with the infantry , and our primary job was to mark the German line with smoke. Then the regular artillery would take out what they could behind our smoke line. "The problem with being a forward observer is that you stayed in the line. The infantry platoons would be relieved, but we stayed. Fortunately, after crossing the Rhine, the Germans were mostly running or trying to surrender. When the war ended, I was 18 miles from Berlin. "With the war over, you were allowed to go home it you had 85 points. Even though I had been in combat from D -Day to war's end, I only had 81 points. You got one point for each month, so I had to wart four months before I could go home. "I was shipped home out of the South of France to Newport News, Virginia, and then back to Fort Sam to be discharged. One of my friends, Lonnie Satterfield, who had been with me since basic, was discharged with me. He headed back to Arkansas, where he lives today. I headed home to the family farm in Falls County. "When 1 was drafted, I was the last of the Tijerina brothers to leave. Shortly before I left, my father had died and my mom had to handle Me farm all by herself. I had been the last to leave and I was the last to come home. "My brother Charlie was the first discharged because of wounds he received. He also received the Silver Star while serving with the 7th Infantry. My brother Joe served with the Army Air Corps and my brother Otto had been with the 3rd Infantry. When I finally made it home, my mom was a happy mom for sure. it was a happy homecoming. "I married in 1954 and worked various jobs in Brazos County, to include 24 years at International Shoe and then A&M Consolidated High School before retiring with Mr. Lightfoot and his fence business. I am an American citizen and I was asked to serve my country. I did what I was asked to do." Malmo Planner I; name on be Pound on the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial If you know of a Wald War H veteran whose story needs to be told or would like to add someone's name to the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial, contact Bill mungkin at (979) 260 -7030.