HomeMy WebLinkAboutRichard A. "Dick" Costa, Brazos Valley Heroes
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By Bill Youngkin for treatment. I learned after the war was over that he was never
Special to The Eagle returned to combat. He received what was called the 'Million 11
DollarWound.
Richard A. "Dick" Costa of College Station has had a long,' "There were three of us left to be assigned-to B Company.
successful and satisfying career in education, retiring as a professor When I checked in, my platoon sergeant was a guy named Ed
in he English department at Texas A&M University in 1990. It is a gangener from Chicago. He was an'old veteran; 21 years old, and I;
life he doubted he would have, because at one time just surviving was now 24. It didn't take me long to be introduced to'Bed Check
combat to the next day during World War II was his one and only Charlie; which was the nightly bombing that took place.
goal.
"I was new to the company and to combat, and we spent
Costa reflected, jokingly, "Oftentimes when I fail at some task every night in a foxhole. Sergeant Bangener came to my hole
my wife has assigned me, she will often ask how I managed to one night and explained the mission we had been assigned and
survive combat. I tell her I never thought I would survive" what was expected of me. The mission was to take the bridge at
Life for Costa began in Philadelphia on July 5, 1921. He will Remagen, Germany on the Rhine River, the only bridge over the
soon celebrate his 88th birthday. As recalled by Costa, "Our family Rhine still intact.
0 moved to Drexel Hill, PA. when I was four years old and I graduated We didn't receive much resistance from the Germans on T
from Upper Darby Township School in 1939. We had 580 in my the way to the bridge except for almost constant shellings. It
class. My family could not afford to send me to a private college was during one of those artillery attacks that Sgt. Bangener was
and as there were very few scholarships available in those days, I killed. His body was laid out and the platoon passed by to show our
enrolled in Westchester State Teachers College in Westchester, PA. respect. He was the first of my group and the first person I knew "b
"I enjoyed college and was successful academically and to be killed in combat. By now I had a replacement newer then me
became the editor of the school newspaper. With the war sharing my foxhole. I had to explain to him that the shells you hear
beginning, I enrolled in the Enlisted Reserve Corps in August 1942, are the ones that have missed you and that it is the ones you don't
which allowed me to continue in my college work. On March 1, hear that kill you.
1943, just before I was to graduate, I was called up with 100 other When we reached the bridge at Remagen, the bridge looked
students from my college. The school had a big send-off for all
like it could fall at any time into the river. I can tell you that no one
. I was sent to Georgia for infantry basic training, and while
of us
was eager to cross the bridge, but cross it I did and dug in on the
at basic training I received a notice that the Commonwealth of
Remagen side. It wasn't long after we crossed that the bridge fell. a~ ,
Pennsylvania would confer degrees on those who were called up
The good thing was, the shelling was not as bad on the Remagen
their senior year which included me.
side as it had been on the west side of the bridge.
"I was sent to a port of embarkation but took a test with the "For us, it was now follow the tanks and collect German POWs
army (the AGCT test) just before sailing overseas. I apparently
scored high enough that I was pulled out and sent to the University until the war ended. One event I remember occurred in Germany,
of Alabama for the Army Specialized Training Program, or AST. I where we found German women dragging bodies to a big pit that
guess because of my Italian name and my score I was sent to the had been dug in the ground. Germany caused others to suffer, EMS
University of Missourito learn Italian, and where I helped supervise but-Germany suffered also. With VE Day I started training for the
Y' some 150 Italian POWs who were being held there. invasion of Japan, which, with the bomb, ended the war in Japan.
was discharged on March 26,1946.
"I provided them close-order drill in Italian and taught them
English in classes. They were very congenial guys who were just "I applied for and was accepted to graduate school at Syracuse
j, glad to be out of the war. This very pleasant duty lasted only University, receiving my masters in journalism. I worked as a
three months, as I was assigned for training, eventually ending jourrralist and then taught, eventually receiving my PHD in English
up at Camp Maxey in Paris, Texas, for a six-week refresher infantry from Purdue University. I was hired at Texas A&M in 1970 and have Aft
o course. had a terrific experience here, retiring in 1990 as a professor in the
English Department.
"In February 1945 1 boarded the Queen Mary for Glasgow,
Scotland, then down England by train and across the Channel. I "I want to say loudly and clearly that I am not a hero. I was a ,
R ended up in Aachen, Germany as a replacement and was assigned follower and I am very grateful for the wonderful leaders I had. I
I to B Company, 395th Regiment of the 99th Infantry Division. was able to survive the war because of them, and because of that,
1 have been able to tell you my story, something I never thought
"I was placed in the back of a truck with other replacements I would do."
and was trucked to the front lines. On the way to the front, our
1 convoy was strafed by German fighters. We all jumped off the Ifyouwanttohave aname addedtotheVeterans Memorial,
trucks to avoid the strafing, but the guy next to me on the truck for more information, to make a contribution, or if you know a
was wounded during the strafing. This wound was only to one World War 11 veteran whose story needs to be told, contact the
finger. He was removed from the convoy and taken to the rear BVVM at www.bvvm.org orBill Youngkin at (979) 260-7030.
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