US AIRBORNE

Many thanks you to James Mortensen for answering to my questions and for giving me access to his history Thank you James !

James E Mortensen was born on March 15, 1925 in a farm in Brayton, Iowa. His father, Axel C Mortensen used to work in the mail transportation by rail and all his life through. Her mother, Mabel was a housewife, raising her 3 children, Jim was the second one. The family moved 3 weeks later to Chicago. They lived in the city for 5 years.

“At this point, we were living in an apartment in Chicago, somewhere on the north side.”

In 1930 the family moved again to settle down in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

“They even built a new house in 1931, just as the depression settled upon us, and it served as the family headquarters until 1985.”

Jim had a happy childhood. He was sharing his time between school and also at 12 years old and so for 3 years, he joined the American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps where he played the trumpet. His other favourite hobby was the radio. In the early '40s, after an exam in Denver, he got a license as a radio presenter. He was almost 17 years old when he replaced the speaker of the local radio, KFBC, who left for war. Jim was presenting the late night session, where he specially read the war reports.

This activity ended when he joined the army.

“I joined the army in April 1943 immediately out of school when I was just 18 years old.”

James Mortensen has immediately volunteered for the paratroopers.

“I volunteered for the paratroops because it was "different," new, dangerous and exciting. I was just 18 and ready for an adventure.”

After a stay at Fort Logan, Jim was sent to Camp Toccoa, Georgia, close to Camp Mackall, North Carolina just before Fort Bragg. Then it was the jump school at Fort Benning. There, he did the 5 jumps and became a paratrooper.

“Benning, lovingly called the Frying Pan, was appropriately named for those who arrived there in the summer of 1943. Scorching heat didn't slow down the process, though. Everything continued as before. More training towers at first,  and then the big drop from the 250-foot tower. Real chutes were used with cable guides to assure our orderly approach to the ground. This was serious and getting us closer and closer to the first jump.”

Then, the next step was learning to pack his own parachute.

“Everybody paid very close attention to these instructors. NO exceptions, for we soon had to pack our own chute for each of the five jumps scheduled for the next week.”

Then came the day of the first jump. Feeling anxious, Jim and his 20 other classmates climbed on their C-47. After the famous "Standing - Hook ' the men have checked the equipment of the man in front of themselves and were counted. Jim was the 4th or 5th of this stick. Then came the green light and the time to jump.

“My God, there was no time to even worry about what to do or how to feel. Grab the door, step out, turn left and duck! And it happened just as it had so many times from the training tower. The chute opened with a bang, thanks to the prop blast, but it delivered a painful jerk. But there I was drifting down toward the ground. No time for dreaming! Within seconds, my boots hit the ground and I rolled to lessen the shock, perhaps not quite as perfectly as we had done in training. Now, get out of the chute, roll it up and run, yes, run to the truck at the end of the drop zone, as if in some kind of a contest. And then go back to the packing shed to redo the chute for the next day.   While running to the truck, I suddenly realized what had happened. It was over! I did it! I was a trooper!”

After the 5 jumps, he was qualified as a paratrooper, received his wings, had the right to proudly display the patch of paratroopers and to bilk the bottom of his trousers.

“My certificate of completion of both the Parachute Packing and Voluntary Jumping requirements, I was appointed a QUALIIFIED PARACHUTIST on September 18, 1943. The certificate, still in my possession, carried the signature of Colonel James B. Anderson, Commanding.”

Jim was sent to the artillery regiment, the 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion. He will be himself attached to the 517th PIR which, with the 596th Airborne Engineer Company was part of the 517th Regimental Combat Team (RCT)
At the beginning of May 44, the 517th RCT stationed at Camp Patrick Henry near Newport and embarked aboard the USS Cristobal. After 14 days of travel over the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, they arrived at the port of Naples in Italy. The trip was ok.

“One serious submarine threat occurred as we approached Gibraltar, but the destroyer screen comforted us. A few days before Gibraltar the engineers had to stop the engines. No other vessel was allowed to share our fate. All proceeded apace. Within moments we were well behind the convoy and were surrounded by a silence broken only by the sound of the modest waves breaking against the hull of the ship. After drifting for an hour or so we finally lost sight of the convoy, but then heard and felt the welcome pulse of the engines.”

Finally, the ship docked in Naples. The unit bivouacked in the crater of Mount Vesuvius. On June 14^th, the unit embarked aboard the LCT towards Anzio beaches. They landed near Civitavecchia. The men put guns in the battery and opened fire.

“Oh, we fired a lot of rounds and took a fair amount of fire, but we were too far from the target of our rounds to give us a sense of direct participation.  At this point, it became clear to me that I needed a change in direction as far as my military career was concerned. Combat experience convincingly demonstrated to me that being a plotter at an entrenched gun battery is not quite the same as being at the other end of the chain, at the scene, at the spot where the targets were identified and directions given to the battery by phone or radio.”

As he could not join the infantry, Jim became an observer for his artillery unit.
In early July, the unit was removed from the front and was sent to rest in Frascati. Jim spent this time between Rome and the base camp to heal his injured leg.
On August 14, trucks came for the men to drive them to the airfield where they would take off for jumping over South of France.  

"There was a long wait, during which we could not loosen or untie any of the parachute straps or remove any of the equipment. All we could do was sit on the runway near the plane."

Then, after hearing the last words of the commander, the men were hauled up into the aircraft. The engines set off and the heavily laden aircraft took the air. At that time, James Mortensen was exactly where he wanted to be : right into the heart of the action.
The jump went very well, James jumped just after the container material, it was around 0435 a.m., on August 15, 1944. The men were pretty spread out, but with the morning coming, the situation became clearer and then the men realized they were surrounded by vineyards.

“The search for equipment gathered more fruit and by 0700 we were moving into position. Our observation post was on the first hill rising out of the valley and the process of clearing the way for the ground troops was off and running. Directing fire was difficult because we had no knowledge of the location of our guns.”

From his observation position, James Mortensen saw the landing of the gliders in the afternoon.

“Oh, I'm so glad I jumped instead of arriving by glider!”

Later on, he also attended the second wave of jumps which he found pretty impressive.
Then most of the unit was round up, they moved to Frejus to perform their mission. Then it was the Maritime Alps, where the men had to push and to pull the parts.

“There were a few conscripted mules that helped with the heavy howitzer pieces and big mortar base plates.”

Arriving at the Col de Braus, the PC observation was put in a cave. James Mortensen spent two weeks observing Sospel and the surrounding valley.

“Duty in the cairn required a lot of fire direction as German traffic moved back and forth across the valley and up over the next mountain on the road to Italy.”

Jim was also observing a buried bunker which he took for a constant target. The Germans replied with their artillery.

“Suddenly this war became very personal, between me and that damned fortified mountain across the saddle-shaped ridge. The mortar fire became a daily ritual and their aim continued to improve.”

It was during one of this exchange that Jim was nearly killed by a burst of 60mm mortar. But it was his binoculars which were hit. Then, the Germans left Sospel. The unit of Jim was replaced and was sent to rest near Cannes on Cote d'Azur.
After some few days off, the unit was sent to Soissons, where they arrived on December 15. At that time the Germans launched their offensive.
The unit of James Mortensen was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division. On 22 December the 460th NTFPs fired shells to support the 30th Infantry Division. The weather was awful, a mix of snow and ice during this period.

“There is no describing the fatigue, the cold or the numbness. We became robots, moving out at night, ready for the next day's attack, looking for the weak spot in the German lines that would allow us to cut a vital cord, chewing on the frozen cheese or Spam from the K-ration used that day.” 

After about a week, James Mortensen joined the headquarters of the 7th Armored Division for a meeting. The meeting having finished late, he was unable to rejoin his unit. He remained in the attic of the farm used for the headquarters when suddenly hell went totally wild. A shell fell on the farm, across the attic, then across the farm to explode behind the farm killing 8 soldiers of the 7th. As James could see where the German shots started firing, he rushed to direct the cannon fire right to the target. But on radio, he was told it was impossible, that there were other priority targets.

“And then it dawned on me. The battery didn't have any ammunition. They were at the minimum level and simply couldn't fire any more. And, of course, they couldn't tell us the facts over the radio. The rumors were true!”  

The weather and so the German attack had reduced the supply dangerously low! Fortunately, the famous Red Ball Express changed the situation within 48 hours.
The unit of James Mortensen moved to the village of Bergstein, Germany.

“It was a hazardous location. There had been a terrible tank battle here and there were carcasses everywhere.”

“I was promoted to Sergeant in January or February 1945. I found out about it at Bergstein, Germany, as I recall.”

Durant cette période, dans la nuit du 7 février, James fut blessé au bras.

At that time, on the night of February 7, James was wounded in the arm.

“The grenades came over my left shoulder and hit the ground in front of me. Most of the blast went away from me, but there was enough going my way to take a few nicks in my arm.”

After several weeks, the unit of James was replaced and sent off to rest. After two months, the men were finally able to eat hot, to take a hot shower and to sleep in a proper bed.
At that time, James Mortensen had the chance to get a permission for Paris with 6 other members of the battalion.

“We had a wonderful two days of sightseeing, eating and sleeping. We said hello to Napoleon, looked at lots of art, The program for “Samson et Dalila”, the opera, informs us that Suzanne Lefort played Dalila and Jose Luccioni sang the Samson role. It was a pleasant evening. At the end, life seemed almost normal again.”

But once back to his unit, James Mortensen became seriously sick. At the point of being sent to a hospital in the Air Force in St Quentin.

“My first concern, and theirs, was that the fever came from an infection in a wound or from one of the assorted bumps accumulated during the Bulge.”

The doctor diagnosed a general tiredness due to long fights. James fought 60 days with little or no food, no heat and some very little sleep. He began another week of rest. And then a second week. When it came to the end, the doctor told him that the source of the problem was his tonsils.
The day they were taken away James nearly died in his sleep of a bleeding.

“I was about to drown in my own blood because the stitches broke loose during the climb up the four flights of stairs!”

Fortunately, a nurse woke him and the doctor rushed to stop the bleeding.
At the end of the 3rd week, the state of Jim improved. All the paratroopers were recalled to their base. On site, Jim equipped himself for the mission. But it was cancelled. And he was sent back to the hospital.
Several days later he was again struck by a fever. An infection had followed the operation.
Finally, some time later, the paratroopers were all recalled. A jump over the Rhine. Jim and his stick were in the aircraft, the engines started roaring. But the plane did not move.

“Five minutes passed by, perhaps ten or fifteen before we realized that something was amiss. Necks craned out the always-open door of the plane. A jeep was seen racing toward the lead plane. Then, without a word from the crew, the engines shut down. The pilots knew. No radio silence was required, for the Remagen bridge across the Rhine was ours and news that the 82nd Airborne was not going to jump across the river was suddenly about as interesting and as secret as yesterday's newspaper.”

James was sent back to the hospital again. This time he received treatment which had its effect. Meanwhile, the war ended in Europe. James Mortensen eagerly awaited his return in the 517th RCT.
Unfortunately for him, the fact he was not in his unit for a long time,  James could be sent to whatever unit. Anyway, his unit could be miles away from him!
He was sent to a "cell" with other veterans.

 “Most of the guys there weren't worth knowing. But after surveying the crowd, I met one officer that seemed to know his way around and seemed interested in my case. Or, I should say, in our case, because by now there were three of us from the 517th and all had the same intense desire to get back home.”

Fortunately for James, he would meet this officer several times a week, he was a doctor and he was supposed to look after the right temperature. Fortunately too, the doctor was a friend of the commandant of the base. After 3 or 4 weeks which seemed an eternity for James, he could join his buddies in Nancy, France. The unit was preparing to leave to occupy Berlin. His unit had changed. Many of his comrades had enough points to go home. Others were transferred to go fighting in Japan.
As there was no need for an observer on the front, the Sergeants became Sergeant Major, office manager of the battalion. Jim was sent to the headquarters of the 82nd Airborne.
The first task that Jim Mortensen did at his new assignment was to prepare the movement of the unit to Berlin. But this work did not please Jim that much.

“I wanted nothing to do with the job or the barracks or the parade ground, or the white gloves and scarves. I wanted out in the worst way. But I had absolutely no idea how it might happen.”

The solution came to him in an advertisement in the newspaper published by the headquarters of U.S. forces. He was looking for advertisers for the AFN (American Forces Network) radio the American radio of occupation. With his experience as a radio host, James was completely involved, he left the 82nd for AFN Berlin.
James Mortensen was living outside Berlin, in a large modern mansion, belonging to Max Schmelling, the German boxer and paratrooper. It was a great change for him in comparison with the life in the barracks.
James had a private room, furnished with his own bathroom and every day there was a feast.

“This surely was a dream. Here I was, a 20 year-old buck sergeant, just out of the mud, snow and misery of a war, a guy whose finishing school was paratrooper training in the sand hills of North Carolina, a product of the worst depression in history, an unsophisticated kid who didn't know which spoon to pick up first or last, living, all of a sudden, as a member of some royal family.”

The AFN was proposing a program of popular music and classical. A broadcast sports and news. James participated in the program about the football championship of the army who fought in the famous Olympic Stadium in Berlin. He also told the radio the story of the 82nd Airborne Division.
At lunch, he met some important people in the radio area like the President of CBS or NBC Red and NBC Blue network.

Photo taken during a memorable day. Vince Joyce (to the left) and James Mortensen (center) from the broadcast Olympic Stadium in Berlin a soccer's game championship. Berlin - 1945

He liked the job, but even if the Network AFN offered nice wages with a status as a civilian rather than military, James Mortensen was homesick and then a letter from his mother dated from November 7, 1945 asking him to return let him decide to get back home. After travelling through Paris, Jim arrived at Le Havre to embark on December 3, 1945. He landed somewhere in New Jersey. Then direction Fort Dix and before the end of the day, he was sure he would be home before Christmas. On 21 December he was sent to Fort Logan, and after refusing to sign as a reservist, he was released from his military obligations.
“I arrived back in Cheyenne as an ex-GI on December 22, 1945.”

Two weeks after his return, he registered at Denver University. A few weeks later, he met Genevieve, whom he married on November 8, 1946. In 1947, they had one son, Arthur.
After several jobs, he joined a division of Cargill which was a company producing pet food, a huge company in Minneapolis.
Moved to : Minneapolis - Kansas City - Minneapolis.

“But, by 1956 it was apparent that I must move on so, after a brief stay in Battle Creek, MI, we landed in the one place I swore I would never call home, New York!”

After 25 years, he left to go to work in San Francisco in 1962 for a year before returning to New York. In 1957, he joined an advertising agency, the Company Young & Rubicam New York. In 1981 he retired as the Vice President of the Company.
He bought a motor home and visited the other 48 states of the United States.

“In 1990 we moved our home base to Florida and the Sunshine State is very much home now. And the pool in the rear of the house is a favorite morning view!”

Unfortunately, his wife Gen died in 2003 after 57 years of marriage, Jim was alone. But Jim would find someone else.

“I married Brenda in September 2007 in Brooklyn, NY. We were introduced by mutual friends.”

De la guerre, Jim Mortensen est revenus avec le petit drapeau étoilé qu’il avait à l’épaule, la carte en soie de la France qu’il offrit à un jeune étudiant en histoire.

From the war, Jim Mortensen has been back with the little starry flag he had on the shoulder, the silk map of France that he gave to a young history student.

“But, the purple heart and bronze star medals and paper work are still in my possession.”

Since the end of the war, Jim came back to Europe several times for his work. He returned to Bergstein and also in the South of France.

“I tried in vain to find my jump location in Southern France. Never succeeded!”

Jim Mortensen is still very active in the group of former 517th PRCT. The last meeting which he attended was a few weeks ago, held at the beginning of January 2009 in Kissimmee.

“I was reminded during the reunion that we never really forget the trials of WWII. We talked about many of them and it was as though they happened yesterday. Nothing that took place has an impact on my current life, at least as far as I can tell.”