US AIRBORNE
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
- David K. Webster
Many thanks to Kenyon Webster (one of David’s sons)
And also many thanks to his mother for the help and the support she brought me.
And I also would like to thank Célia and Hélène for the translations.
David Kenyon Webster was born on June 2, 1922 in New York.
He studied brilliantly from 1937 to 1940 at Harvard University where he left as the major of his promotion.
He joined the 101st Airborne as a volunteer; he integrated the F company of the 506st Parachute Infantry Regiment in 1942.
He was really passionate about English literature and had a real talent as a writer, he really hoped he could become a novelist one day. David “sketched” the army and its surroundings and also his companions. We know David hated the army and could not stand its rude language but despite everything he got used to it.
On D-day, Webster jumped over Normandy with the Headquarters Company of the 2nd Battalion. His job there was especially to restock his companions with ammunition. Few days later he was wounded and had to get back to England. Once he recovered, he got back to Aldbourne before the return of his companions. He was shocked to see how many were missing. He felt it was really the time to go fighting. He asked for being reintegrated in the Battalion and also « to be a part of this death row». He was recruited in the E Company.
On September 17, he jumped over Holland (Market-Garden Operation). He jumped perfectly and later on he wrote a letter to his parents in which he compared Holland with a “vast ground of jumps”.
Everything went well at the beginning, then on September 22, the German soldiers launched a counter attack on Veghel. Webster was there. At the beginning he found refuge in a cellar with his companions and with some civilians. Afterwards, when Colonel Sink arrived on site, he had to take position in a grove and had to dig his foxhole there before the German soldiers would start firing with their machine guns.
The German offensive lasted the whole night through and also the beginning of the next morning until the air support fought them off for good.
On October 5, Webster took part in a counter offensive lead by Captain Dick Winters. This counter offensive fought two entire companies of SS soldiers off who were ready to attack the HQ of 506st PIR. During this attack Webster and Christienson captured 11 German soldiers who were hiding behind the wild grass. As the artillery gunfire carried on, Webster was hit on his leg. The bullet crossed the calf but did not hit the bone.
He had to go on foot to the nursery. As he crossed the field defenseless, he was being caught by the German artillery.
Crawling all along the field to the guys of the F Company he was there helped to reach the infirmary.
He was sent to the American Hospital located in England nearby Oxford. He stayed in a reeducation centre and then at the end of December he was sent to the 12th Tidworth’s transit Camp in England.
He was back in his company at around mid-January 1945.
« It was nice to be back with the guys I knew and I could trust. While I was listening to their conversations in the trucks, I felt fine and relaxed, like a child who got lost and wandered in the cold dark forest but eventually comes back to a big lit full of love home. »
On February 5, the 101st arrived at Haguenau. The town was divided into two parts by the Mode river, an affluent of the Rhin river.
Webster and 5 men of the 1st platoon took possession of a building replacing 18 Gi' S of the 79 Infantry Division.
They were eating and observing the enemy lines just in front of them most of the time.
Then on an evening Webster and private Bob Marsh received the order to put their machine-gun out (EN BATTERIE) under the porch of their building to be able to provide a cover fire to a patrol.
They knew if they opened fire the enemy would immediately know where they were positioned.
But whatever : they were really decided to do it.
« 20 lives depended on us. This was an opportunity to act like a hero, even if it meant losing my life. »
On February 25, the men of the 101st left Haguenau. They caught the train for Mourmelon to get to a tent camp. But instead of being at ease, they had a real intensive training. Webster was so fed up sometimes that « in some oblivion moments he wished he could feel the freedom of the action again».
Webster and some other guys watched the 17th Airborne taking off for Varsity operation.
« I was looking at them disappearing with a loud and sudden humming noise and I felt lonely and abandoned as if I have missed the departure and they left without me. »
At the end of March the 101st was sent back to the front line and Webster was happy to leave Mourmelon but was also worried and excited to get back to the front line but disappointed he could not flight on a C-47.
On April 2, 1945, the 101st was sent in Germany. They were sent on the Rhin edges near by the Ruhr. For the first time, Webster and all the men of the 101st Company got in touch with the German civilians. He had mixed feelings : he did not like the German people. He thought they were all Nazis and was still convinced that these stories about the concentration camps and other atrocities were the fact of propaganda.
But despise his feelings, he was attracted by these people :
« they are clean, qualified, respectful of the laws… Really into religion. »
But he was still very lucid :
« As we try to explain the superficial interest of the GI for the German people, we should not forget they made themselves comfortable in the countries of their enemies and nowhere else. »
On mid-April 1945, the important towns were still massively bombed, but in the countryside, only important crossroads suffered from the bombings a little bit. Most of the houses were not destroyed and had a real comfort which he fought it was only this way in the USA. While he was there, they found a camp of moved workers. To be in touch with these people let him feel hatred for the German people.
« Why those people were there? Coldly, and in an intentional way, the German people reduced those peoples of Europe to slaves. »
They left the camp very soon. The 101st was back on the Rhin edges. And then was sent to the Alps. He admired the landscape:
« We were completely stunned by the beauty of Germany ».
Progressing towards south-east direction, the convoy was again in front of the enemy. But instead of going fighting, it was entire armies which surrendered. On the motorway leading to Munich, the two roadsides were occupied by the military convoy, and in the the middle line there was the German soldiers who were moving towards the East direction and the captivity. For Webster it was “ a breathtaking moment. »
The GI were foraying in Germany and so did Webster :
« Most of the German people took it rather well, but from time to time, you could find someone who did not agree on the fact we wanted his watch. But put a gun on his face and he’ll show you no sign of resistance. »
On May 8, they moved towards their occupied area : Zell Am Zee area in Austria where Webster swam a lot. There alcohol was flooding.
« Since our departure from Berchtesgaden we were drunk every single night »
This was a dreamt life for a soldier according to Webster. As they were certainly heading to the Pacific area, the training was back on track.
« This was the way it was and I felt more and more disgusted. »
But as a bomb was dropped over Hiroshima, the Division never had to jump over Japan.
On the 30th of November 1945, the 101st Airborne was inactive. David Webster could not understand why people would remain in the army. He wanted to be a writer. He settled down in California where he did a lot of jobs while he was writing some papers for newspapers and a book about his experiences of the war.
He published a lot of his papers, even in the Saturday Evening Post.
Then he became a journalist at the Daily News of Los Angeles and then for the Wall Street Journal. In 1951, he got married to Barbara Stoessel, who was a painter and they got 3 children. His passion for the sharks took over him. On September 9, 1961, he was missing. He disappeared along the Californian coasts while he was shark-fishing. His wife and their 3 children were left on their own.
Webster decided on his own not to be volunteer for any actions while he was serving in the army. He wanted to carry on living his life in the army from the inside. He was one of the seldom soldiers not being promoted to the rank of NCO. Some officers proposed him to be a group leader but he always refused. He just wanted to do his duty and he did it. He never abandoned a companion during the tough times, but never volunteered for an action and turn down all the promotion, that is why he ended the war as a Private First Class.
He got the Purple Heart (for Market Garden Operation), the Victory Medal and the Presidential Unit Citation for his participation to D-Day and for Market Garden he got the Bronze Star.
Photo of David Webster taken in Holland during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.