US AIRBORNE

Many thank you to Carolyn Gillum for allowing especially helped to make this article about his dad. Thank you very much to Gerald Counts for having delivered his memories, some times painful.

Gerald Counts was born April 13, 1924 in Wise County, Texas.  His parents, Lawrence Earl and Mattie Lorene were farmers, and during the “Great Depression”, they did not suffer from hunger.

“During the “Great Depression, they suffered like most of the people except they were never hungry because they grew their own food.”

Gerald was the oldest of 3 children.

"He has a younger brother, Jimmy Pat, and a younger sister, Joy Counts."

Gerald graduated from the High School in Perrin, Texas and then enrolled in Texas A&M University.  After one semester, he withdrew to go to work.

Shortly afterward he was drafted into the Army in May, 1943.  He completed his basic training at Camp Roberts, California.  At that time, a recruiter came by to talk to the group about joining the airborne troops.  Gerald volunteered because he would be paid $50 more each month.

“Like a lot of men, Gerald joined the Airborne because he would get more money each month.”

At that time, Gerald was 19 years old.  Because he was more than 18 years old, his parents would let him make his own choices.  They therefore had nothing to say when they heard the news.  Plus, the extra $50 each month was good news for their son.

All the new recruits finished basic training, which was 16 weeks, and then went to airborne training, which was 4 weeks.   During the first week of airborne training, there was just a string of exercises.  During the second week, the men jumped from model which represented the door of a C-47 airplane.   They also jumped from a tower equipped with ropes.  During the 3^rd week, the men practiced jumping from a tower which was over 800 meters high equipped with a fake parachute.  During the 4^th week, the men made the actual jump.

From Monday to Thursday, they jumped during the day and on Friday and Saturday, they made jumps at night.   On Saturday, they also celebrated with their friends because they got their wings and would now get the extra pay!

“On his first jump, he said he was scared to death but when he got to the ground, he thought there wasn’t much to jumping out of the plane.”  However, the next day, he was just as scared to leave the door as he was on the first jump.  When they did jumps, he said you didn’t have too much time to think because everyone behind you was pushing, so you went out pretty fast.”

From around the 10^th to the 15^th of January 1944 (Gerald cannot remember much about the right dates) Gerald Counts and his comrades left the United States for England.

The convoy headed towards Belfast in Northern Ireland.  His ship was a converted cruise ship.

“He stayed in Northern Ireland 3-4 weeks at Camp Clandybor (don’t know if that is spelled any where near correctly)- Newtury was the town (not sure of the spelling) it was a seacoast town—from there he went by ferry to Scotland—Glasglow to South of London to Swindon England by train.”

About his stay in England, Gerald Counts can remember the warm welcome of the population.  At Ramsbury, he stayed in a stable while the officers lived in the manor house.

“The manor house had a gatekeeper who closed the gate a sundown so if you were out after sundown you had to climb the fence to get back in—the gate keeper was a little bit of a broublesome person—a retired admiral.”

A week before D-Day, his unit was sent to bivouac around the airfield where they would take off.  Gerald Counts remembers the moment vividly.

“About June 5^th, he remembers the moment, C Company was at the airport about a week, barbed wire was around the airport and all of their equipment was ready in the hangers.  He was supposed to jump with the 2^nd Squad but was told at the last minute that he would jump with the 3^rd Squad because they needed him to be a platoon runner for Lt. Kennedy.  He was fortunate; the 2^nd Squad’s planes was shot down and all on board were killed.  They were all given something to take for airsickness when they got on the plan.  Gerald said it made everyone really groggy.  He knew everyone on his plane and in his company.”

His flight went well until overflying the Cherbourg Peninsula (for not flying over the Navy).  At that very moment, he was flying over enemy territory.

The door was opened and the men attached their static lines in case they had to jump in an emergency.

At that moment, the anti-aircraft batteries went into action.  He was totally awake!  He does remember his neighbor in the plan was killed when he was hit by a shot of Flak.

As they approached the drop zone, he jumped.  The anti-aircraft fire reminded him of the fireworks of the 4^th of July.  Blue, yellow, and red, colors were everywhere!  At the beginning, he thought the pilot had turned off one engine on the plane to slow it down, but that was not the case.

He landed a few miles away from Sainte Marie du Mont.

He was totally alone.  A little bit later he met a soldier from another company, an d then they met an officer and some other guys from different companies. 

At this point, there were a lot of men from different units (even the 82^nd).  They were completely spread out.  He was indeed afraid at every single moment.  He was ready to take cover at all times.  Gerald does remember very well having participated in the liberation of Carentan.

About the middle of July, the 101^st was returned to England for some rest.  At that time Gerald was promoted to Private First Class.

In September 1944, Gerald Counts participated in Operation Market Garden which was supposed to open the way for the Allied Forces into the heart of Germany. 

On September 17, 1944, Gerald Counts participated in his second combat jump.  He jumped over nearby Zon.

“His plan was hit in the right engine and all had to jump really fast.  The pilot was able to keep the plan up until all of the paratroopers had jumped.  The pilot went down with the plane.  My dad said there was a lot of flak and he was hit in the face with a piece of Plexiglas from the window of the plane.  He also wanted me to tell you again how nice the Dutch people were to them.”

The objective of his unit was to take the bridge outside of Zon.  But, the Germans blew it up before they got there.  He then participated in the liberation of Eindhoven.  He fought there for 3 to 4 weeks.  During this period, Gerald Counts was promoted to the rank of Corporal.

“The most critical moment he lived in Holland was when he was in Opsheuden.  They were surrounded by the Germans and most of his comrades were wounded or killed.  Only 50 of them get away at night.”

Gerald Counts does remember the Dutch People.

“They were the best and nicest people he encountered during the entire time he was in the war.  One night he was heating his coffee in his cup over his burning K-ration package when a Dutchman walked up—said something that my dad didn’t understand.  He took my dad’s cup and later brought it back with hot coffee and a piece of apple pie.  He said they were always doing nice things for the soldiers.”

After the campaign in Holland, Gerald Counts and his unit were sent to rest in Mourmelon, France.  They were supposed to get new equipment there because of all the heavy firing they had done in Holland.  Gerald was also given a 48 hour pass to Paris where he had a good time.  They stayed there for about two weeks and were then given their old weapons and were told to get ready to move out.  The Germans had launched a major offensive.  On December 18^th, the 101^st was sent to Bastogne, Belgium.  When they got there, during the attack to take Foy, Gerald Counts was injured and he was sent back to an Aid Station.  From there, he was told to go back to the Medical Company.  On December 20^th, the Germans launched an attack that led to the capture of the Medical Company and all of the surgical teams as well as all of the wounded.  The Medical Company was located in Western Bastogne.  Gerald Counts was among those who were captured. 

“The prisoners were loaded onto trucks and hauled for two days to Stalag 12A near Limburg (spelling?) Germany.  There were about 1200 prisoners in the barracks at Limburg.  While there, they were bombed by the British on Christmas Eve.  The bombs hit the building where officers were held.  Officers and enlisted men were kept apart.  My dad had to help bury the officers killed during the bombing.  They were there for about 2 weeks and were then loaded into really small train boxcars and taken to Stektine (spelling ?) up near the Baltic Sea on the Polish border.  The trip took 8 days.  For the trip, they were given a loaf of bread for every 4 men.  They used snow for drinking water they gathered from the top and sides of the boxcar which they could reach through two small windows.  They pushed out the doors of the boxcar a little through which they use the bathroom.  They stayed in Stektine until the end of January.  At that time, they were marched to camp 10C in Hamburg/Brenham.  They walked across Germany until the middle of March.  While on this forced march, they would stay in barns at night.  During the day while marching, if they had to use the restroom, the men would run to the front of the column and squat down.  They would have to be finished relieving themselves by the time the end of the column reached them or the guards would hit them with their rifle butts to make them move on.”

Gerald Counts marched by a lot of German civilians while on the forced march.  The population was vindictive towards the prisoners.  They threw stones, snow and rotten food at them.  They insulted them by calling them “Schweinehund” or “hog dogs”.  As he did not know where he was and with the unfriendly civilians, Gerald was never tempted to escape.  He stated that there was nothing to do in the prison camps. 

“They walked around a lot.  At Camp 10C, they spent a lot of time picking lice off of themselves and their belongings.  Once a day, the water was turned on so they could wash themselves.  Usually they just sat around talking about what they could find to eat.  Every day, they were fed “grass soup.”  This soup made them pretty sick it “gave them the runs”. 

At Stalag 10C there were 4 British, 2 French, 2 Algerians and 1 Austrian.  The Austrian, according to Gerald was taken better care of than the other prisoners.  The other prisoners were all Americans.  Most of the British had been there for a long time.  Some had been captured at Dunkirk.  Some others had been held for 5 years or more.  In early May, 1945, this living death borne by Gerald came to an end.  The prisoners were freed by British troops.  They were taken by plane to Brussels.  There, their uniforms were burned to get rid of the vermin and the lice.  They were given some old British uniforms which had been worn before and were taken to the plane.

“Before they got on the plane, the British sprayed them down again for lice.”

Gerald was sent to Camp Lucky Strike in Le Havre, France.  He was then sent back to the United States.  Gerald Counts was demobilized in October, 1945.  After the war, Gerald Counts did not go back to his university studies as many of his comrades did.  He first worked for the Texas Highway Patrol.

“Then he worked for rock Island railroad and was a business owner.  He owned and operated grocery stores, Laundromats, and operated a “Western Auto” store.  He is now retired and lives on Bridgeport Lake in Runaway Bay, Texas.  He also has a little farm a few miles from his lake house where he tends to his cows, donkey, and his large garden”. 

Gerald Counts married his high school sweetheart, Maureen Mask on May 5, 1942.  They had tow daughters, Donny and Carolyn, who married tow brothers.  Gerald has two grand children, Carolyn’s Children, Brent and Heather.  He has 9 great-grandchildren:  Caitlin, Cassidy, Braedan, Gabby, Grant, and Matthew (Brent’s) and Jax, Jace and Ellison Caroline (Heather’s).  Donny had one child which she lost in a car accident at age 21.  Gerald Counts attended many “C-Company” reunions until recently.  Two years ago, the group decided to stop traveling to the reunions because most of the men had died or were in such poor health they could not travel to the meetings. 

Gerald Counts does not have the uniform he wore during the war because it was burned in Belgium when he was released by the British.  He still has his many decorations.

Gerald was awarded two Bronze Stars (One for his jump into Normandy and one for his jump into Holland), a Purple Heart, a Presidential Unit Citation, The Good Conduct Medal, The Medal for Prisoners of War and his various Campaign Medals.