My Father: A Veteran's Story - The Battle of Graignes, Normandie June 6-13, 1944
My father, Frank P. Costa, Sr., died on August 26, 2010 at his nursing home in Catskill, NY. He was 93 years old. He was a combat veteran of the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.
Dad was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He was in the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. His first combat jump was on the night of June 5-6, 1944 into Normandy France - the allied invasion of Europe. He was positioned as the first soldier to exit the plane when the green light jump signal was given. On his training jumps he would always get faint and queasy. He couldn't wait to get out of the plane and into the fresh air. So the jump sergeant sat this eager jumper next to the door of the C-47. Thedesignated landing zone was the area around Ste. Maire Egliese. The triple A flak was so heavy, the pilot made a right turn to avoid the danger and gave the jump signal at a purely arbitrary moment. Many of the pilots in the following planes, with other 507th paratroopers, followed the lead pilot's right turn. As a result, they landed more than 30 km from the drop zone.
Dad landed in a flooded field, up to his shoulders in water around 1 AM. He cut himself out of the risers of his parachute with his trench knife, but he lost his M1-A carbine. At about 5 AM, with the arrival of dawn, he was able to spot high dry ground and made his way out of the water. He regrouped with his regiment, part of it anyway, in the tiny hamlet of Graignes, maybe 15 km from Carentan. The village church with a tall bell tower was the most recognizable feature and occupied the highest elevation in a generally flat terrain. One-hundred seventy-six (176) assembled, including a few from the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles. There was one Army Air Force fighter pilot. None of the surviving vets remembers where the fighter pilot came from nor what happened to him afterwards.
The 507th was a headquarters outfit. That meant they had mortars, 50 caliber 'light' machine guns, and lots of explosives. They also had a lot of communications equipment, but they were too far away to contact the main units of the Division. They had some great officers with them - a Colonel 'Pipp' Reed, a Captain, and number of Lieutenants. One was my father's Lieutenant, Frank Naughton. The first thing they did was ascertain where they were with the help of the locals. They were so far off the drop zone that it was off their combat map. After much deliberation and argument, the Colonel Reed decided to stay and set up a defense perimeter, rather than try to get back to the friendly lines through unfamiliar terrain and mostly flooded fields.
The head of the French Resistance in the area was a Graignes farmer, named Regault. His second in command was the Mayor of the Hamlet. The locals were instructed the night before, by Regault and the Mayor, that the invasion was coming and that they were expected to do their duty when the time came. Regault had two daughters, Yvette 18 and Marthe 12. They were to become heroes in their own right and save the lives of many of the Americans. The first thing the locals did was to scour the area for the equipment and supplies that were parachuted with the soldiers. They smuggled in the materials in their horse carts and wagons. The proprietor of the local restaurant (her name escapes me) organized her suppliers to bring in large quantities of food stuffs to feed the paratroopers. They had to smuggle and be discreet so as not to attract the attention of the German soldiers in the area. The Germans soon learned of the existence of the Americans, but did not know who they were, how many, nor how they were equipped.
Eventually the 507th set up a defensive perimeter, dug in, zeroed in all the roads with their mortars, and then sent out patrols. The first advance of the German soldiers toward Graignes was a small patrol. They were dispatched very quickly by the mortars and machine guns. The next day it was a larger German patrol, but they were destroyed as well.
The Colonel decided they had to destroy a concrete bridge, the only bridge on the only road that led straight to Graignes and the paratroopers. My father was part of a platoon, led by Lieutenant Frank Naughton, that was assigned to blow up the bridge. Naughton and his men set up defensive positions in the hedgerows while the demolition team set the charges under the bridge. My father and one other soldier were sent across the bridge to set up a reconnaissance point to watch for any advancing Germans. They were positioned where the road made a 90 degree turn to the right. By this time my father had a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) instead of a carbine. Sure enough, he spotted a large German patrol comprised of several hundred soldiers and led by a half-track armored personnel carrier. He sent the other soldier back to the bridge to warn Naughton and tell them to hurry with setting the demolition charges.
The Germans continued a steady advance. At one point my father let go with a burst or two from the BAR. This served to scatter the Germans and slow them, temporarily. After a few more bursts, he left his concealed position and ran back to the bridge. The turn in the road and the hedgerows concealed my father from the Germans. Naughton and his platoon were concealed as well. The demolition charges were set and ready to go. Naughton and most of the platoon were to the right of the road. My father and a few others were on the left, and had a better view of the advancing Germans. My father, trying not to give away his position, hollered over to Naughton to blow the bridge. Naughton indicated he wanted to wait until the German soldiers were on the bridge. With several hundred German troops advancing, and my father having a better view of road ahead, said again to Naughton to blow the bridge. Naughton still wanted to wait. It was very tense, all the way around. With the Germans just about on the bridge, my father YELLED to Naughton, "Goddamn it! Will you blow the fu***** bridge!"
BOOM! There were a couple of German soldiers on the bridge who were obliterated as concrete debris was blown sky high. A fire fight broke out. The Americans were concealed very well and inflicted a lot of casualties on the Germans. At least one German soldier tried to wade across the small river on my father's side of the blown bridge. That was the very first human being my father ever killed. It was always vivid in his memory over the many years he talked about it. He also talked about how he felt and that this was another soldier like himself doing his duty. Dad and his buddies, whom I met over the years, were always proud of the fighting they did, but not one of them ever took any satisfaction in the killing of another human being. When I accompanied him to the 50th anniversary of D-Day (actually it was in September of 1994) he talked about the fact that he "killed a lot of guys." It was not a boast, but a conscious statement of what he had to do. What was unsaid, but understood, was the wish that it would never have happened.
Each successive day a larger force was sent against Graignes. From this point on, the American positions were shelled by artillery fire from a single German 88mm field piece. The Americans could see the field gun being positioned in the distance, outside the range of their mortars. Every night the artillery barrage from the '88' would last a straight hour. At daylight the German troops would advance directly on the American positions across an open field. In the words of a couple of my father's fellow soldiers (I also attended the 42nd anniversary in 1986), "The German's had to be green troops. They were inexperienced. They stood up and marched right at us and we slaughtered them with our mortars and machine guns." This predictable scene repeated itself for a couple more days. The people of the hamlet, those who tried to leave the area, were pressed into service by the Germans to retrieve the wounded and dead soldiers from the battlefield.
The Americans were starting to take casualties. The local priest and a priest friend of his from another region set up a hospital in the school house. They and a few other locals tended to the wounded. Each morning the priest offered mass and as many GIs that could be spared would attend. The woman who owned the restaurant continued to provide food for the soldiers, but with depleting stocks. Most of the time the soldiers were fed at their combat posts. One morning when my father was in church at Mass, someone ran in and said, "The Germans are launching another attack." The church emptied in a matter of seconds. Everyone returned to their combat positions.
Food was getting low. What was once very large supply of ammunition, mortar shells, and explosives was now getting to a critical level. The Colonel felt that the next assault might render their position uncertain. In fact, the Germans were reinforcing their existing soldiers with Panzer Grenadiers and a detachment of Waffen SS. The final assault on Graignes was about 4,000 German troops. To prepare for the expected heavy attack, Naughton sent my father and one other soldier, his name was Eddie Page, to dig in and create a defensive position near the flooded field on the back side of Graignes about 150 meters from the church. It was unlikely that the Germans would attack from the water, but he wanted to cover the possibility. The shelling started at night, as usual, only this time it would go on for two hours instead of one. Not long after the shelling started, Charlie Buseck joined Dad and Eddie in the fox hole by the water. Charlie was directing mortar fire from the church bell tower, the highest point in the area. He was relieved by one of the Lieutenants. Dad, Eddie, and Charlie looked up as the bell tower took a direct hit from the '88'.
This was probably the 7th night of the American occupation of Graignes. there was, still, no communication or contact with any other allied troops that came ashore or parachuted down. Unlike the prior night time artillery followed by a daytime assault, the Germans launched a nighttime infantry attack following the two-hour artillery barrage. The Americans put up a fierce and determined defense under withering fire, but they eventually ran out of ammunition. The order was given to abandon their positions, flee into the swamps and flooded fields, and it was every man for himself. I spoke to one of the machine gunners on a 50 cal 'light'. His name was John Hinchliff. Before I spoke to Hinchliff, I spoke to a couple of his buddies who told me about Hinchliff actions in the battle. They described a scene that could have come from a Hollywood movie. The German bodies were piled high in front of his machine gun position. Hinchliff told me that the 50 cal 'light'machine gun, with it's armor piercing rounds, was intended as an anti-vehicular weapon. Also, he was supposed to shoot in short bursts, only, of about 2 or 3 rounds. Otherwise, the barrel overheats and destroys the rifling inside the barrel. That night, as he described it, "You simply have no choice but to squeeze the trigger and keep up a continuous burst."
Well, Dad, Eddie, and Charlie were in their 6 x 6 x 6 foxhole, completely oblivious to the outcome of the nighttime assault. In the morning it was all quiet. Dad got out of the foxhole and took a deep stretch to squeeze out the sleep and tiredness. As he did, he saw three soldiers digging a foxhole about 50 meters from his position. At least one was wearing a German helmet. His reaction was as instantaneous as it was instinctive. He jumped back into his foxhole and woke Eddie and Charlie and hushed them at the same time. He had not been seen by the Germans. The three were dug in next to a hedgerow. He sent Eddie into the hedgerow and make his way toward the center of the hamlet and see what was going on. (I've been to the hedgerows. Although the hedgerows are dense, they actually are two dense, parallel rows with a concealed walkable path between the two.) Eddie came back and said the place was crawling with Germans. Also, he saw the Captain being led away with his hands raised.
Dad got the three of them into the hedgerow where they had very good concealment. Of course they talked about what to do next. Eddie said, "We ought to stay here and fight to the last man!" Dad and Charlie gave a surprised look at each other and turned to Eddie and said, "What for?" They were unimpressed with Eddie's reasoning based on the fact that they were paratroopers. So they hid for two days in the hedgerow. Dad was getting light-headed from a lack of food. Eddie wanted to stay and wait for relief, if it would ever come. Dad and Charlie decided to try to make their way back to friendly lines. Eventually, they convinced Eddie to come along.
On a road they met a farmer and held him at gun point. The farmer gestured to follow him. They had no choice but kept a rifle on him at all times. He knocked on a farm house door, a frightened woman opened and let in the soldiers. They gave each of the soldiers a crepe, which seemed to be the only food they had in the house. The farmer and woman spoke briefly, then they were led to another farm house. It was the farm of the Regault family. The twelve year old daughter, Marthe, was there and led the three into the barn where 11 other paratroopers were hiding in the hayloft.
The night of the final attack, the Americans were wandering aimlessly at night trying to flee the Germans. Regault and his two daughters, Marthe and Yvette, went out into the night to find American soldiers and lead them back to his farm. They did not go together as a trio. Instead, Regault sent each of his daughters in different directions, and he covered a third area. They would find the soldiers, hide the soldiers in their barn, and then sneak them out of the area at night on a canal boat. My father, Eddie, and Charlie were the last ones to be found and hid in the barn.
The Germans were patrolling the area. Young Marthe and Yvette had to go about their farm chores in as normal a way as possible so as not to arouse any suspicions. As they could, they passed a little food and drink to the soldiers. At one time two German soldiers came into the barn to inspect it. The Americans had their weapons trained on them the whole time. Fortunately, they did not go further than inside the door and then left to resume their patrolling.
That night a canal boat was brought up to get the last of the soldiers out. The French felt it was too dangerous to accompany the Americans this last time. They tried to give the paratroopers directions and let them pilot the boat themselves. After a short way out, the Americans were lost. So my father had them return, to the horror of the locals, and begged for a guide. A young man named Folliot agreed to pilot the boat. He safely navigated the canals and let the Americans off on a road and pointed in the direction of the allied lines. Before they left the Folliot, my father collected all the French Franc money the soldiers had and gave it to the young man who piloted them to safety. The young man refused, but my father was insistent on his taking the gift of appreciation. They made it back. They went right back into combat for a total of 39 straight days on the combat line before returning to their base in the UK.
After the war, it was determined that members of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment killed at least 800 and possibly as many as 1,200 German soldiers in the Battle of Graignes. The local priest and the visiting priest stayed with the wounded soldiers in the school. They intended to minister to their wounds and plea for them with the Germans. When the Germans secured the small hamlet, they went into the school and bayoneted the wounded Americans. A number of the captured Americans were shot. The two priests were singled out, shot inside the ruins of their church, and their bodies doused with petrol and burned.
Eventually, Regault, the Mayor, and other members of the resistance were captured and executed by the Germans. The boatman who piloted my father and 13 others to safety was found with all of the money my father insisted he take. The Germans put two and two together and shot the hero who saved their lives. You can imagine how my father felt about this when he found out more than 40 years later. More of the locals were scheduled to be executed, including Marthe, Yvette, and the restaurant owner. Without explanation, a German officer said there had been enough killing and ended the reprisal executions.
Lieutenant Frank Naughton stayed in the military and retired after a distinguished career as a full 'Bird' Colonel. He returned to Normandy and Graignes in 1984, on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. He realized that the local farmers of the hamlet of Graignes were never thanked nor shown any other appreciation for what they did, fighting side-by-side with the American paratroopers, in the Battle for Normandy. So Colonel Naughton spent the next two years researching and documenting the actions of the residents of Graignes. The Department of Defense, led by John Maher, Secretary of the Army, returned to Graignes in 1986 to recognize the people of that hamlet. This was done in conjunction with the French Government and the French Military.
A number of the surviving residents, including Marthe, Yvette, and the restaurant owner, we given the highest award that the DOD can bestow on a civilian. Others received their medals posthumously. Many other medals were awarded to the people of Graignes, as well as to the surviving American soldiers. I accompanied my father on his return to Graignes in 1986, along with many of his surviving buddies from the 507th. We learned that one year after the war, Yvette was married. She sewed her wedding dress from the white nylon fabric of a parachute she salvaged from the Battle of Graignes. She showed us the pictures of her wedding. She still has the wedding dress.
Wow.
Posted by: Rachel Heslin | June 06, 2012 at 09:30 PM
Thank you for sharing your father's story, Norman. It is interesting that you are the second A.B. blogger who has a war story to tell about his father. Omar chronicled his dad's experiences in the liberation war of Bangladesh some time ago. His father's story was less about heroic encounters but more about the betrayal he witnessed. It is good that you were able to accompany your dad when he revisited the scene of the battle that must have defined his youth and subsequent life in a major way.
Well, as long as we have wars we will have soldiers who tell their war stories to their children and some of them will write about them. Then there are those who shirk the opportunity to serve in real battles but fulfill their uniform fetish in less honorable ways.
Posted by: Ruchira | June 06, 2012 at 10:53 PM
Norman, a wonderful/horrific story. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Your portrayal of your Father's comments concerning those that he killed are pretty typical of the WWII vets I've talked to (primarily uncles who survived MacArthur's Campaign in the Pacific). In fact, they're pretty typical of most of the vets from various wars that I've talked to.
Again, thanks.
Don
Posted by: Don | June 07, 2012 at 01:08 PM
A wonderful story, Norman. Once more, my condolences on the death of your father. I know he would be thrilled you are creating an archive of these stories of his finest hours.
Posted by: Elatia Harris | June 07, 2012 at 01:35 PM
@ Don,
When I look back at the vets I've known and the wars we've fought in my life time, our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have always done what we asked them to do. For the most part, they believed that our leaders were honest with them and would not ask for their sacrifice if it were not needed. For themselves they did not need parades. Rather, they needed to be assured and reassured that the death, destruction, and horrors of war that they delivered upon other peoples in other lands brought an end to evil and produced a greater good. They wanted to know that the deaths of their friends in arms, and their wounds and disabilities, were not in vain. They do not crave accolades and honors, but they do not want anyone to forget the sacrifices that went with honorable service.
I was reading a news report, last year, of a group of friends and families of Marines who lost limbs in the wars since 1989. They were conducting fund raising events to provide wheel chairs, prostheses, and related equipment for their disabled heroes. Why must the amputees, their families, and their friends devote their own time and resources to finance the necessary rehabilitation, and integration into a quality life in society? Why don't we and our politicians see this as an outrage? I have no answers, I am ashamed to say.
Posted by: Norman Costa | June 07, 2012 at 02:00 PM
@ Ruchira,
I remember reading Omar's story. Thank you for reminding me.
Posted by: Norman Costa | June 07, 2012 at 02:01 PM
@ Elatia,
Thank you very much. I remember the one time when you met Dad, only months before he died. You produced the most wonderful smiles on his face as the two of you talked and conversed. I will never forget the happiness you brought to him that day.
Posted by: Norman Costa | June 07, 2012 at 02:06 PM
My father, Trooper Robert F. Warner of the 507 PIR, 82 Airborne, dropped into France on D-Day, June 6th, 1944, he fought in Graignes, the Bulge, and the Jump Across the Rhine on March 24th, 1945 when he was wounded in combat. According to Norman Costa, "From your father's record, he and my father trained together, shipped out together, fought together in the same battles, and returned on the same ship together for demobilization." After all this time to find this connection is very heart warming.
Trooper Robert F. Warner of the 507 PIR, 82 Airborne and his 3 brothers who were all involved in the D-Day invasion of June 6th, 1944, Hank Warner on a Navy Destroyer in the English Channel blowing up U-Boats, Bill Warner was in a wooden Coast Guard boat picking up the wounded off the shore line under machine gun fire, Army Paratrooper Robert Warner was at Graignes and LT Jim Warner was on board a hospital ship with the Army medical Core.
See link to article wriiten in Binghamton Press about these men in 2007, http://www.billwarnerpi.com/2008/05/band-of-warner-brothers-at-d-day.html
Posted by: Bill Warner | June 07, 2012 at 04:27 PM
@ My readers:
I only came across Bill Warner and the story of his father, Robert F. Warner, less than 24 hours ago. I was finalizing my story about my father and looking for a few more bits of information on the Internet. Bill's telling of his father's experiences with my Dad's outfit, the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, made it clear the two of them fought along side each other in the Battle of Graignes. Paratrooper Warner died in 1975, 10 years before I became interested in my father's reunions with his fellow veterans. Otherwise, I might have met him along with the other survivors of the 507th. I can only imagine what it would have meant to him to have another chance at fellowship with his brothers in arms.
Bill sent me a copy of his father's brief service record. He and my father were, literally, in the same places and battles. Robert Warner was in a Headquarters Company with mortars and machines guns. That was my father's company, too. Dad was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge, and Warner was wounded in the Airborne invasion of the German homeland, the 'Jump Across the Rhine.'
@ Bill,
The movie, "Saving Private Ryan," was a fiction. I am without words, though, after hearing that four brothers, including your father, were involved in the Normandy Invasion. You didn't say, but I hope they all survived the War. Three of my father's brothers served in the Pacific. Uncle Charlie was a mortar man. Uncle Sal was in the Army as an electrical technician. Uncle Paul served in the Navy aboard LSTs (Landing Ship Tank). The sailors called them Large Slow Targets.
Bless them all who served, everyone one of them. Thanks so much, Bill.
Posted by: Norman Costa | June 07, 2012 at 05:56 PM