Here is a glimpse of Gene Aune’s life. He did not want to tell me a lot about it and obviously we can understand why: the memory of the war is still very painful for him. So he told me a little bit about this part of his life.
He served in the 506th PIR between July 1944 and
December 1945. He was part of Operation Market Garden, of the defense of
Bastogne and also of the campaign in Rhenany.
Eugene was part of the light artillery gun platoon in the HQ Company of the 1st
Battalion 506th PIR.
His first combat jump was over Holland in September 1944: an adrenalin rise and
the fear of the unknown: that was how it looked like to go from the training to
the reality of combats.
From
Holland,
he can remember the inhabitants of Eindhoven, the windmills and the piers.
The battle for the defense of Bastogne was also a vivid memory:
“This battle was hard, there was this spiky cold, combats and furthermore because of the surrounding, we were missing stuff like ammunition, winter clothes and food.”
After Patton’s breakthrough and the relief of not being
surrounded anymore, he was sent to the south of Alsace-Lorraine and there
started a crossing through
Germany
which lead him to Bertchesgaden then to Austria where he served in the
occupation army.
In August, he came back to France where he caught quite a lot of trains (sic)!
He came back to USA in 1945 where he took his life back where he stopped it when
he left, and he carried on studying and got married. He never looked back and so
he did only a few times then he received my mail.
On his mind, they were gone to do their job and they did it.
“I hope you will understand a bit how I felt about it. Meanwhile, I do not have the strength to look back.
I did my duty the best way I could »