Operation Market Garden

Operation ‘Market Garden’ is usually considered a complete failure, but was it? Certainly in it’s entirety, the operation, the largest daylight airborne drop ever mounted, failed to achieve it’s overall objective. But American forces, although hampered by setbacks, did secure all the bridges and crossings allotted to them. A substantial German force was also tied up for the remainder of the war.

This post will seek to explain what happened during  4 crucial days in September 1944.

Unlike D-Day, which was 2 years in the planning, Market Garden was hastily put together in a matter of days. It involved the largest parachute drop of the war. 

Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, fresh from his success in Normandy, believed he could 'walk on water', and this buoyed optimism led to an audacious, but hasty and ill prepared operation.

The operations were split into two phases, 'Market' and 'Garden.' 'Market' was the code name given to the massive Allied parachute drop and 'Garden,' the ground offensive. 

Two American Airborne Divisions, the 82nd and the 101st, were to seize bridges and hold road crossings between Eindhoven and Nijmegen, and take control a stretch of highway between the two cities, while the British 1st Airborne were to drop on the Northernmost town of Arnhem and take control. Arnhem was the final barrier to entry into the German industrial heartland of the Ruhr.

As the various airborne divisions landed and took control of their objectives, British XXX Corps an armored and infantry force, waiting on the Belgian side of the Dutch border, were to jump off from their start point, rush up the newly seized highway and cross the Rhine river at Arnhem, opening a spearhead into Germany thus ending the war by Christmas 1944. 

Market Garden Operational Map ©Livingbattlefield.org

As with all hastily planned operations, very little notice was taken of intelligence reports. The Dutch resistance had repeatedly informed the Allies there were German SS panzer divisions resting and re-equipping in the Arnhem and Nijmegen zones. Even RAF reconnaissance had photographed camouflaged tanks, but the line fed to the airborne troops was entirely different. They would be facing a force of "old men, boys and walking wounded" with no stomach for a fight.

 Day 1

The largest allied parachute drop of WWII took place in broad daylight on September 17th 1944. 

101st DZ at Best

Transport aircraft and gliders carried the 502nd and 506th regiments of the 101st airborne to their drop zone in the southern sector, North of Eindhoven, while their sister regiment the 501st were dropped further up the highway at Eerde. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon when the aircraft roared into view over their respective zones. 

Three regiments of the 82nd Airborne were transported to their zones in the Nijmegen and Grave areas. The British 1st Abn were dropped some 8 miles from their objective at Arnhem. The drops were virtually unopposed, most units landed on target and the Germans were clearly taken by surprise, but they soon regrouped.

Grave Bridge

By the end of Day 1, The 504 82nd Airborne had taken and secured  their objective, the Grave bridge.  The other regiments had landed unopposed on their drop zone at Groesbeek and were making probing attacks towards Nijmegen.

The 101st had achieved mixed results. The 501 had taken their objectives at Eerde, but the 506th and the 502nd had run into stiff opposition at Son and Best.The Son Bridge, vital for the British XXX Corps relief effort, had been blown in their faces.  A British Bailey bridge would be needed to cross the canal at Son, but where were the British armored columns?

British XXX Corps

After crossing the border, XXX Corps had come under heavy artillery fire from elements of German paratroopers and SS artillery, who were well dug in . After a vicious fight the British columns ground to a halt and rested for the night. The operation was already falling behind.

German Paratrooper Eckhert Schucany describes the attack.

Day 2

Leonard Funk

In the early morning of Day 2, the 82nd Airborne drop zone at Groesbeek, an area vital for the re-supply operations, came under heavy fire. Their German attackers had recovered from the initial shock of the paratroop and glider landings. In danger of being completely overrun, 1st Sgt Leonard Funk of the 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment saved the day. He mustered a group of paratroopers and repulsed the German attack, taking many prisoners.

General Maxwell Taylor 101st Airborne

The 101st Abn's 501 regiment came under heavy attack at Eerde, but beat off a determined offensive by the same German paratroopers who had attacked the British armored columns on day one. Holding only a narrow corridor, Allied paratroopers were vulnerable to attacks from the flanks. 

The Germans were using their forces as a 'fire brigade', rushing up and down either side of the highway, attacking at will. General Maxwell Taylor of The 101st Airborne Division described the position as being "like guarding the railroad from Indian attacks in the Wild West."

The 101st Airborne 506th had managed to construct a makeshift walkway across the canal at Son, they had entered  Eindhoven and had met up with the British XXX Corps. A Bailey bridge was requested and the British battled through the cheering crowds to reach Son. They would finally arrive at 23:00.

The 505 and 508 regiments of the 82nd Airborne continued to fight the stubborn Germans in Nijmegen. They were still a way from their objective, the main bridge.

Elements of the British 1st Airborne were locked in deadly combat with the German 9th & 10th SS panzer divisions at Arnhem. They were being decimated.

Day 3
  

At 06:am, U.S paratroopers and British engineers, having worked all through the night, finally waved the British tanks across the bridge at Son.

By 07:15 am the British tanks had reached the midway point of the Highway at Veghel, where some peeled of to support the 501st. 

At 08:30 the forward British elements were at the Grave Bridge South of Nijmegen, which was still firmly held by the troopers of 504th, 82nd Airborne.

Nijmegen Bridge

The tanks reached Nijmegen soon after and paratroopers and armor  battled towards the bridge.

Jan van Hoof

There was hellish street fighting and there paratroopers sustained many casualties.  The SS held a firm grip on the bridge. They had a fine vantage point and could direct accurate fire on the approaching Americans. The Germans had wired the bridge with explosives as a last ditch attempt to stop the advancing Allies. Late in the night on Day 3, a young Dutch patriot, Jan Van Hoof , is reputed to have climbed under the bridge in the dead of night and cut the detonating wires. Jan was caught and executed by the Germans on the morning of the 20th as he lay wounded after a British scout car that he had been traveling on was hit by a German grenade.

Day 4

On day 4 of 'Operation Market Garden,' the 101st airborne continued to repulse the German probing attacks up and down their narrow corridor of 'Hell's Highway,' but the real action was taking place in Nijmegen and Arnhem. The British paratroopers were still grimly holding on, but they were massively outgunned and outnumbered and they had taken catastrophic casualties. The relief columns still pinned down in Nijmegen were already 30 hours behind schedule. There was no sign of a breakthrough. A bold plan was required to take the all important bridge.

Gavin meeting British generals

82nd Airborne General, James.M.Gavin and a group of British generals met on the south side of the Waal river. They discussed how a simultaneous assault on both ends of the bridge might break the German's grip. Captain T.Moffatt Burris, of  I company 504, was present at the meeting. 

 Captain T.Moffatt Burriss explains

Original crossing boat (courtesy Groesbeek museum)

 

The boats chosen for the crossing were narrow, flimsy, canvas and collapsible.

Original crossing site, Waal River

As the troopers drifted out into the middle of the fast flowing river,  they paddled with their rifle butts as the Germans opened up with everything they had. Many of the little boats were blown clean out of the water. Casualties on the crossing alone amounted to over 50%. After the survivors reached a small sandy area on the far bank, now named 'Little Omaha,'  they had to make a 500 yard dash in the face of withering machine gun and mortar fire.

Open ground on far bank of Waal River.

 While the 504 were making the river crossing. elements of the 505 and 508, with British tanks in support, were attacking from the Southern end. After killing or capturing the German defenders on the far bank, the troopers of the 504 began their fight to the Northern end of the bridge. It was a house to house battle, which took several hours. Finally they fought up the steps of the bridge and overpowered the defenders while continuing to take fire from snipers up in the superstructure.

Steps to Northern end of Nijmegen Bridge.

The actions of the other regiments of the 82nd Airborne at the Southern end had also succeeded and British tanks started to make their dash across.

Heinz Harmel (courtesy Bundesarchiv)

SS Brigadefuhrer, Heinz Harmel, watched as the first tanks started to cross. He wanted to wait until they reached the center before giving the order to detonate. He gave the command and nothing happened! He realized the wires had been cut!

Captain Moffatt Burriss met up with the first tanks across.

The British stopped for the night, but in the morning when they moved off the Germans had re-grouped and re-supplied. There would be no relief for the British paratroopers at Arnhem. Of the 10,000 British at Arnhem, only 2000 escaped death or captivity.

Though all American objectives had been achieved,'Operation Market Garden' had failed. The war would not end by Christmas 1944 and northern Holland would not see liberation until the Spring of 1945.

The Americans on Hell's Highway  is the 2nd part of 'The American Road to Victory' trilogy, which has been broadcast on PBS stations throughout the U.S during 2011. It is available on DVD priced $ 23.95 + shipping or $69.95 including shipping for the trilogy.

Who was this pilot?

marker placed by local resident, Ken Lewis

Heidi's son surveys crash site

Walking close to the office earlier this summer, we came across this newly planted sign, honoring Robert Sarvis, apparently a member of both the RAF and USAAF. We had heard from our neighbor that a plane crashed in this area, and was bulldozed under the road. These pieces of information led to two questions. Who was Robert Sarvis and was he part of the plane crash?

photo courtesy of Derek Frisby

Back at the office, the internet search commenced. First, a PR piece from Middle Tennessee State University confirmed that Sarvis, an alumni of MTSU, piloted a plane that crashed here, and put a group of students at the crash site recently. 

Sarvis was born on July 4th, 1917. He was actually Canadian, though he grew up in the States and married there. According to Tennessee historian Greg Tucker, Sarvis was a big guy,  6'1" tall and weighing over 200 pounds, who played left tackle for the college football team. He signed on as a volunteer for the RAF after Pearl Harbor, and then, in 1942, began wearing an American uniform, but remained with his British crew. 

As often happens, conflicting accounts of his service are scattered across the internet. But, we were lucky to find the grandson of another crew member who survived the flight that night. Simon Weir is working on a book and documentary about Sarvis. He kindly gave us permission to post this photo of the crew, and helped us sift out the truth, which he says is well documented by the Air Crew Remembrance Society.

This copyrighted photo is used with permission.

Briefly, the crew was headed to a night bombing raid on Stuttgart, Germany, but was attacked by a night fighter, and had to abort the mission. The crippled plane, a British Lancaster, headed for the safety of the Normandy beachhead. But, en route, it was further damaged by friendly ack-ack fire. The rest of the story is best told by a letter one of the crew wrote to Sarvis' wife (copied here from the Air Crew Remembrance Society site):

" . . . We were over the interior of France when we were hit. The aircraft was very badly damaged, and immediately went into a dive. While Bob was trying to regain control of the plane, he gave the order to abandon the aircraft. The engineer, who was closest to the escape hatch, jumped just before Bob was able to pull the plane out of the dive, and hold it on an even keel. As soon as he was able to do this, Bob told the rest of us to remain in the aircraft, and we altered course for the Allied lines in Normandy, hoping to get as near to them as possible before bailing out.  By skill and sheer strength, Bob was able to keep us up until we reached Allied territory. He said there was no chance of making a safe landing, and told us to prepare to jump. . . ." - Roy Gordon

Though Roy Gordon did not know it at the time, Sarvis did not get a chance to jump, and after making sure his comrades got out safely, Sarvis went down with the burning plane.

flooded fields, plane crashed on right side

As mentioned previously, we are aware that there was an American machine gun nest in our back garden, which looked out over this road where the plane crashed. At that time, the land on either side of the road was flooded by the Germans. To give you an idea what the area looks like when flooded, in contrast to the picture above, here it is last December (taken from the opposite direction).

Our next door neighbor, 10 years old at the time, remembers hearing the loud crash late at night, and going to the site the next day with a friend, where he witnessed the scattered wreckage.

There are some photos of an excavation done in 1989 on this blog.

We hope to have more photos of Sarvis' early years for future posts. We'd also like to see a memorial placed at the site of the crash to honor this hero.

D-Day+49

The 24th and 25th of July 1944, witnessed one of the most reckless Allied acts of WWII, but one which certainly contributed to the ultimate demise of the German 7th army in France.

Operation Cobra, was a plan hatched in desperation and frustration. The architect, Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, wanted a dramatic end to the stalemate in the hedgerows, where gains were often measured in lives lost for yards taken. His plan required unbalancing his opponents, while punching a hole in their stout defenses, through which his Divisions could pour, begin the dash to Brittany and complete the ultimate encirclement of their forces.

A strip of land some 7000 yards long was chosen for the action. This zone bordered the main highway between Perriers, still in German hands, and the newly liberated town of St Lo.

Section from German view

Section from American view

The attack was to be proceeded by an aerial bombardment and a ferocious artillery barrage. The aerial bombardment required a preliminary attack by fighter bombers, which had better visibility, to hit a belt of German defenses 250 yards deep, while medium and heavy bombers flying at altitude would carpet bomb to a depth of 2,500 yards. The demarcation line was to be the highway.

North of the highway the American Divisions were amassed and South was the target area. For fear of alerting the Germans, civilians were not warned. Civilian deaths and the destruction of their homes was considered inescapable collateral damage by Bradley. After the bombardment the 9th and 30th Divisions would jump off, punch through the dazed Germans and hold the flanks while the
US 1st Infantry Division, the 2nd Armored Division and 4th Infantry Division would drive deep into the Germans and collapse their resistance. In overall command on the ground was General 'Lightening Joe' Collins, who time and time again had proven his worth. He was just the right man to exploit this bold maneuver.

Map of advance, taken from monument by start of bombardment

From the beginning there had been friction between Bradley and 8th Air Force General Carl Spaatz, who derided the use of air support for ground attacks. He felt that using his bombers, to plow up ground in front of an infantry advance and bomb a few half baked German Divisions, was a waste of his precious resources. He was made to tow the line and after delays due to bad weather the bombardment was scheduled for July 24th.

Unbeknown to Army command, the air force had decided to bomb perpendicular to the main highway and not parallel, as had been agreed. At 15 minutes prior to the scheduled attack, the 30th Infantry Division fired red smoke shells into the area South of the highway to further define the bombing line, but a slight breeze began to blow the smoke back over the road and on to the American positions.

view from the air, minus the smoke

Normally troops would be at least 4000 yards behind such a bombardment, but Bradley did not want to give the enemy time to gather his wits. He insisted that troops be prepared to jump off from a line only 1,200 yards away from the bombs raining down. The results were disastrous.

Soldiers climbed out of their foxholes to watch the aerial armada overhead, only to be horrified as they watched the aircraft disgorge their deadly cargoes on top of them. Although all the Divisions suffered, it was the 30th right in the center of the advance, who received the full effect of this calamitous miscalculation. Hundreds of men were killed, wounded or listed as missing. Morale was decimated, soldiers wandered around as if punch drunk. Many were unable to speak.

"They just looked like ghosts," one officer reported.

Eisenhower who had arrived in France to watch the results of this spectacular assault, returned to England vowing he would never allow such a thing to happen again. Bradley's credibility was on the line.

General McNair

A second run was planned for July 25th, even though the dazed troops had barely had time to recover, get to grips with the loss of colleagues and friends and re-supply. Second in command,
General Lesley J. McNair, who had protested strongly to his boss  Bradley, came up to see for himself. He took up a position in a foxhole close to the front line as the flights of bombers made for the target area. As was the day before, the 30th fired their red smoke and yet again the breeze forced it back over the American positions. Calamity was about to strike a second time.

Bradley's aide Major Hansen, who had also witnessed the first days debacle, said:

"the ground grunted and heaved as the first cascade of bombs came down and 

angry black spirals of dirt bolied out of the ground." 

General McNair took a direct hit, tossing his body sixty feet into the air. His remains were unrecognizable, only his shoulder boards and stars gave any clue as to his identity. Men were blown to bits, vehicles were burning and some soldiers threw down their equipment and tried to stumble away from this awful death.

shrapnel found in the area July 24, 2011

remains of the church today

The lush Normandy countryside had been turned into a cratered wasteland as bombs exploded spewing out deadly, molten shrapnel. Even today 67 years later, the craters are still visible and rusted lumps of metal still litter the area.

All front line Divisions took casualties, but as the day before, it was the 30th who came off worst. In the village of Le Mesnil Durand, the regimental combat post was bombed causing 40 casualties. Even the tiny village church took a direct hit.

view from a bomb crater behind memorial chapel that stands in the church ruins

How does a commanding officer rally his men after such experiences? To get the trembling survivors out of their slit trenches and foxholes, have them pass the mangled remains of friends and push them into battle, is a real tribute to these great leaders. General Leland Hobbs of the 30th Division and
General Raymond Barton of the 4th Division, two tough and experienced men, could not allow the Germans to recover, nor could they allow the apocalyptic actions of the Air Force to destroy the fighting spirit of their surviving troops. With the aid of their loyal and determined staff officers, they rallied the dazed GI's and urged them forward into what was now a lunar landscape.

Only a small percentage of the ordnance designated for 'Operation Cobra' had fallen on the Americans, the remainder had found important targets, but further behind the German lines. The front line Germans were still able to put up a fight until they were flanked and annihilated. The 'jump off' had not gone according to plan. In some places the Germans had crept back into 'no man's land' as the Americans pulled back to the safe distance line, and scattered mines and anti personnel devices. Like everything else in the Normandy campaign, territorial gains were made at a great price.

The Panzer Lehr Division had been decimated and although some stubborn pockets of Germans remained, it was not long before the enemy were in headlong retreat. The entire village of Le Chapelle en Juger, at the center of the aerial bombardment, was virtually wiped off the map.

This costly action would signal the start of a complete rout of  German forces: although there were many tough battles still to be fought.

D-Day +42

Saint-Lo is the capital of the Manche region of Normandy and a vital traffic hub. In 1944, it had been a key strategic objective for American forces . Sitting at the center of a major road and rail network which connects Normandy and Brittany, it was to form a pivotal role in the American attempt to swing into Brittany and begin the encirclement of the enemy. 

The Germans also had an important command and control centre in St. Lo. The Germans had been prepared for The Americans. As early as July1st, German High Command had dictated that a fight to the death policy would be adopted, ground was to be yielded only when overrun and harassing counterattacks were to be effectively utilized against the advancing Americans. Every field, lane and approach to St Lo had been prepared by the Germans. 

Territorial gains in the weeks leading up to the taking of ST-LO, could often be measured in terms of yards taken, for men killed.

Germans dug in, American casualty in foreground

The terrain even benefited the Germans. They were able to dig in, camouflage and lay in wait. They only had to knock out the lead tank in a column to bring an armored advance to a complete halt in the narrow country lanes, then their well sighted artillery could go about the job of picking of the remaining tanks at will. Every time a GI raised his head above a hedgerow, he was likely to get it blown off.

 German propaganda film - Germans capture Allied troops

The advance on St. Lo had been a miserable affair for the American soldiers, but on July 18^th 1944, the 29^th Division finally entered what was left of the ancient market town.

The taking of the town has always been credited to the 29^th as it was they who had fought their way in, but stout and costly support had been provided by the 30^th Division. Without the soldiers of ‘Old Hickory’, engaging the fanatical groups of German paratroopers and SS grenadiers, tightly holding on, the 29^th Division  casualties, already significant, would have been catastrophic.

 St. Lo had played a pivotal role in Normandy battles through the ages, and has a history dating back to the 8th century. From the Vikings to the Germans, it had been taken and occupied many times,
but no war had ever come close to punishing the inhabitants and obliterating their homes, like this one.
Thousands of civilians had perished in Allied bombing and artillery strikes and barely a building was left standing, when Lt. Edward G. Jones, Jr of the 29^th Recon troop entered the town. The people of St. Lo had paid a heavy price for their freedom.

Saint Lo, modern day, from http://christopheferey.over-blog.net/

Since 1999 St Lo has been twinned with Roanoke, Virginia, USA.

Tank Warfare

The American Road to Victory series is airing this Saturday on WETA HD, starting at 1:30 with The Americans on D-Day,  followed by The Americans on Hell's Highway, and finally, The Americans in the Bulge. We contacted American Legion DC Post #1 and asked if we could feature a local veteran that fought in one of these campaigns on a blog post. They put us in touch with veteran Demetri "Dee" Paris, a tank platoon leader, who recently stepped down as president of Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge association.


For brave actions during the Battle of the Bulge, Paris' unit were awarded two presidential citations, linked to in this article from the Battle of the Bulge Memories site. He describes his experiences in the Bulge in an excellent interview on the It Took a War site. You can also watch an interview with Dee Paris on the BBC news page.

Demetri "Dee" Paris

Like many young men at the time, Paris wanted to enlist immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor. But, his boss did not want him to go, and got a deferment to keep him Stateside. Paris, desperate to join the fight, spent months working his way around the deferment, and finally was allowed to join up.


He wanted to work with heavy armor - tanks - a cutting edge form of new warfare at the time. A place in the Cavalry meant scoring well on tests, school and training at  Ft. Riley. Paris excelled, and his dream to fight came true as he headed to England in October of 1944. He jumped into action during the Battle of the Bulge.


We often hear about the bitter cold in the Ardennes campain, and tanks were no exception. Imagine sitting in a metal ice box day after day. Paris had to watch his men closely for frozen feet and frostbite. To help fight off the cold, tank crews heated up their rations on their exhaust pipes.

We asked Paris to describe communications in an Allied tank,

"We had excellent communication, intercom to talk to my crew and radio to speak with the  other tanks I commanded. I could even communicate with headquarters if the need arose." 

Panzer commander uniform used in filming

Paris wore a plastic helmet with built in head phones and microphone under his tanker's helmet, enabling him to hear over the deafening noise of the tank and artillery and command the 24 men in his charge. His German counterpart would have worn a throat mic and large head phones (see photo to left).

Five men worked in a Sherman tank, the driver, assistant driver, gunner, loader, and the commander. The commander stood up in the turret, his head sticking up out of the tank, so he could direct, because visibility within the tank was minimal. Directions were given to the driver using clock references, "Enemy tanker, 2 'oclock!"

The commander also called for the type of ammo to be fired. Types varied, depending on the objective. Paris explained that high explosives were used against small buildings and infantry, smoke for camoflauge and steel balls in canisters against ground troops. Amour peircing, or AP rounds, were utilized against other tanks and vehicles. Unfortunately, Allied AP rounds could not actually pierce much of the armor on the German Tiger tank because, unlike the German 88mm gun, the velocity at which the rounds left the smaller Allied guns was not fast enough, and the rounds were at least 12mm smaller than their German counterparts. It can be safely said that most German tanks were superior to Allied tanks.

"The Germans had better tanks, better guns, better ammunition and even better hand arms. Whenever we could, we took German weapons and ammunition for ourselves. I carried a German P38 pistol and German binoculars" - Dee Paris

Many soldiers bemoaned their weapons. But, others don't entirely agree with Dee, citing the M1 Garand rifle, described by George Patton as a "War Winner" because it could loose a whole clip while Fritz was still working his bolt action Mauser after each shot. We've also heard claims that the Colt 45 was a better weapon because it's heavier round had real stopping power, whereas the lighter P 38 rounds high velocity meant they could pass right through someone with minor injury.

In the video below, Ellwood Von Seibold discusses deficiencies of Allied Sherman tank.

German's thirsty heavy armour needed constant refueling. Allied tanks held an advantage when it came to their higher mileage engines created by Ford and Cadilac. And, what they lacked in armour and fire power, they made up for in numerical superiority and reliability. Thousands upon thousands of Sherman tanks were made and shipped to European battlefields.

So, what do you think? Did the Germans out arm the Allies? What weapons gave Allies an edge? Would you rather carry a Colt 45, or a German, Walther P 38 pistol?

Honorary Rank

Host of 'The American Road to Victory'

invested with honorary rank in U.S Army

'Morning Briefing' Diana von Seibold

Ellwood von Seibold has been notified by The U.S Military Attache to France, that he is to be invested as an honorary captain in the U.S Army.

It appears that these honorary awards are usually reserved for civilians who have distinguished themselves in connection with their support for the military, or their portrayals of historic military events.

Ellwood who works tirelessly year round, touring the D-Day battlefields with American visitors, was delighted and stunned at the news, "This is a tremendous honor. I have always felt I was a custodian of this amazing history and  I look forward daily, to explaining these momentous events to my wonderful tour parties."

In addition to his rigorous touring schedule, over the last three years, Ellwood has found the time to host a trilogy of battlefield tour films, 'The American Road to Victory' which have been airing on PBS stations from coast to coast.

U.S Military Attache to France, Bruce Sweeney, said of Ellwood,



"I decided to offer Elwood an honorary Captaincy in the US Army due to
his service to the DAO, his dedication to telling the accurate story of
US military operations during WWI and WWII (all sides of the story,
including negative ones), and his dedication to truth as a historian.
Ellwood is an interesting, effective story teller, and has forgotten
more about D-Day and WWII than I probably know."

Colonel Sweeney, pins on badges of rank.

Climbing Pointe du Hoq Mike Forster

"Nothing has been too much for our intrepid presenter," said director  Lanni, "Whether hanging off  Pointe du Hoq on a makeshift rope ladder, or freezing in foxholes in Bastogne, he has approached every scene with an enthusiasm and passion. It is fantastic that Ellwood  received this honorary officer rank. He is that crazy history teacher one seldom had, but never forgot."

Ellwood with Ride 2 Recovery vets

Recently Ellwood welcomed the Ride 2 Recovery Challenge veterans to his home town of Ste Mere Eglise. Each one was presented with a copy of 'The Americans on D-Day.'

The ceremony took place at the American Embassy in Paris on July 28th. It was followed by a champagne reception.