01The US Army at Highnam in WW II
On February 3rd 1944 the US 296th Engineer Combat Battalion arrived at Highnam Court just outside Gloucester.
The company was formed in 1943 and initial training took place at Fort Shelby, Mississippi. On October 8th 1943 the men, some not long out of high school, were herded on to the troop ship Santa Elena at Boston and headed for Liverpool. They were equipped with bunks stacked six high and had to share them in rotation. The journey took eleven days in U-boat infested waters and many of the men were sea sick for the whole of the journey.
After docking on October 19th the men were sent to a camp at Devizes, Wiltshire and later to Stapley, Somerset where they helped construct facilities for the massive build up of troops arriving in England for the up and coming Normandy invasion. After about three months, the men were sent to Highnam Court, Gloucester for final intensive training where they were billeted on the parkland in six man tents. The officers slept in the big house.
While at Highnam in addition to rifle and gunnery practice they were taught how to lay and clear mines, handle explosives, lay booby traps and build bridges; one soldier was killed there when a mine exploded during these exercises. Long marches and night exercises in the local countryside were the norm and sometimes training took place in surrounding woods.
For recreation, boxing matches were organised and Tommy Farr came over from Wales to umpire. There were also softball and baseball teams. Passes were issued into Gloucester where the men had dates with local girls. Barbara Taylor of Newent who was living at Highnam at that time well remembers the dances that were held at Highnam Village Hall where the girls were outnumbered by the US soldiers by about ten to one! In May 1944 some of the personnel took part in “Salute the Soldier Week” at Newent and took part in sports, tug of war and gave a demonstration baseball game to the enjoyment of the locals.
US soldier Robert Williams who was 21 years old and from Hartford, Connecticut says:
“When we were in England at Highnam Court, I attended the Anglican Church, which happened to on the grounds of Highnam Court. It was known as Highnam Court Cathedral, and I would meet people at church on Sundays. I was very fortunate in going out to dinner with English families. I was able to meet a few English people and getting to know them was very enjoyable”.
In June 1944 the battalion left Highnam Court for Southampton and then on to Normandy where they landed on Omaha Beach. The Engineers’ main task was to clear mines, repair roads and bridges to keep the fighting units moving forward. They often had to operate under enemy fire.
Sergeant Sebastian LaBella now aged 82 years was with the 296th Engineers Combat Battalion at Highnam and was with the vehicle maintenance unit. He survived the war and is now living in Middletown, Connecticut but throughout the years Highnam Court has always held a special place in his memories.
This is his story:
“When we got to Normandy, I went in with A Company. They started clearing mines right away, we had to dig up mines with them, so that was my first experience, and it had nothing to do with vehicles. Our guys organised the protection for the battalion headquarters and manned 50 and 30 caliber machine guns. So we did more than just vehicle maintenance. We did whatever was needed. We had guys that went out with the line companies to help them build Bailey bridges. We did all of that.
We lived in some very, very rotten places, especially when winter came. We spent time in chicken coops and set up workshops in barns that were half blown up. As far as food went, we received very few rations from the company, other than K and C rations. As we went to each line company, we would do all the vehicle inspections and eat with the line companies. That was the only time we really had what you would say a normal life.
Once in Belgium around the time of the Battle of the Bulge we were completely separated from the battalion. We were… I’m not exaggerating, actually cut off. We were looking for A company and arrived in this small town. The civilians looked at us oddly, wondering what we were doing there. One of our fellows spoke French and said we were looking for Company A of our battalion. The civilians said they had left. They opened up a huge garage for us and we all went in with our equipment. We moved in with the families until we could get somebody to find out what was going on. We were there for probably the best part of a week and a half, and one day the MP’s drove in. They were as startled to see us as we were to see them.
The MPs asked what we were doing there and we said we were looking for the 296th. The MPs said the battalion was in Eupen. Of course we had no idea where Eupen was. We had no maps. So one of the MPs was good enough to draw us an overlay and we got to Eupen on Christmas Day. The night we arrived in Eupen I spent manning a 50 caliber machine gun on the street, because there were reports of German paratroopers in the area. Of course, it was the middle of winter and I nearly froze.
When A Company pulled out, we stayed behind in Eupen, and that became our center of operation. The 63rd Evacuation Hospital was also in Eupen. An Evacuation Hospital, like MASH, was a surgical hospital close to the front. Once two Germans dressed as American soldiers drove a jeep with containers of acid into Eupen. Luckily they were spotted in time, but they did get away.
We were located in Bad Berka, in the eastern sector of Germany when Cpl. Francis Flynn asked me to road test his truck with him. We went off hoping to find out what the engine problem might be. We came upon a road with rather heavy traffic, so we decided to follow the other trucks. What we came upon was something out of your worse nightmare.
There was a fenced in camp with long lines of buildings. There was such a stench of rotting flesh. On the far side of the fence was a pile of human corpses. You could only assume they were humans for they were only bones thinly covered with flesh. Just inside of the fence were some men dressed in striped prison uniforms. The evidence of the starvation diet imposed on them by the Nazis was a stark reality to us. They were skin and bones and covered with sores. They asked us for cigarettes but we did not smoke. I believe the inhalation of cigarette smoke would have killed them.
The chimney in one of the buildings was still smoking. One group of prisoners was U.S. airmen. They did not fare much better than the others. The only way that I can describe my reaction would be to say: I experienced every level of revulsion and horror. I could not speak without breaking into tears. There were still some German guards inside the compound. They were bloodied all over, probably having been worked over by the inmates. Flynn, nine years older than I, had tears and could not speak without cursing.
The medics were carrying the airmen out on stretchers. One of them held out his hand and in a voice that was almost a whisper said “Thanks.” I had all I could to keep from crying. The war was over and we thought we had seen it all and now we saw this inhuman, depraved insane act of genocide. Long after the war these scenes of Buchenwald would invade my sleep.
History confirms that the day after we went to Buchenwald, General George Patton had truckloads of residents from a nearby town brought to the camp and had them carry out piles of bodies into a long common grave. The Mayor and his wife were so filled with guilt that they went home and committed suicide.
I enjoyed being in Berlin. I found Berlin, the part we were in, to be a beautiful city. Our contact with German civilians in most part went very well. As a matter of fact, we were treated better by the Germans than by the French.
The contact we had with the Russians in Berlin wasn’t good. It took a lot of time for them to realize that we weren’t going to back off, and then, after a while, things got better. I can remember an incident where two of them attacked a black American soldier. He beat the heck out of them pretty badly.
In my view the Russians weren’t well educated. They knew nothing of what we call modem living, things we take for granted, such as flush toilets, electric lights etc. I remember one incident. I had a cake of soap, and one of the Russians offered $2 for it. I said all right, and I gave it to him, and he ate it. He ate the bar of soap. They just didn’t use soap. Things we use every day, they knew nothing of.
The women in Berlin were petrified of the young Russian soldiers. I didn’t witness any rape or anything… in fact, I don’t remember any violent event taking place while we were there. Most people don’t realize that the early elements of the 296th were the first American soldiers to enter Berlin. I liked Berlin. I thought it was a beautiful… our part wasn’t damaged. The Russian sector was all in ruins, all rubble, but our sector was just about the way it was. I found it to be a beautiful city.
I don’t want to sound morbid, but I enjoyed being in the army. I enjoyed being with my buddies, and I still do. I still enjoy going to reunions and get togethers. The army, to me, was growing up. After all, we were young kids, never been away from home, and all of a sudden we’re thrown into this war with a lot of other guys our age, and it was a growing experience. It was an education – one that you could never buy and one that would change our lives forever. It made us better people because we grew up in a depression and went through a war”.