Descending from the Clouds: From North Africa to Ve Day with 505 Pir 82nd Airborne - Hardcover

Wurst, Spencer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1932033319 ISBN 13: 9781932033311

Publisher: Casemate Publishers, 2005

Synopsis

135-pound child to a hardened Purple Heart winning sergeant •A unique view of the heat of battle experienced by an under-aged non-commissioned officer •A critical narrative set against a carefully researched background Wurst spent the most of World War II in the European Theatre of Operations as a squad leader or platoon sergeant in Company F, 505. He made three of the four regimental combat jumps, dropping into Italy, Normandy, and Holland. Highlights include his baptism of fire in Italy during the Battle of Arnone, D-Day jump and the liberation of Ste. Mère Eglise for which he was awarded a Purple Heart. Wurst also details his grueling month of combat in the hedgerows of Normandy (a second Purple Heart) and the ferocious battle with the SS for the highway bridge at Nijmegen, Holland (Silver Star). He also survived in the Ardennes, where he found himself as point man on his twentieth birthday, in a long march toward the shoulder of the Bulge. Initial chapters chronicle his training before mobilization, when he lied about being 15 to the National Guard in Erie, Pennsylvania, and his later experience in a heavy weapons company of the 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. In 1941, Wurst was on a truck returning from First Army maneuvers in the Carolinas to Indiantown Gap Military Reservation when he heard the news of the attack at Pearl Harbor. He recounts life at Camps Livingston and Beauregard in Louisiana, and at the newly formed Parachute School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was stationed in the infamous "Frying Pan" area. Descending From The Clouds portrays the passage from innocence to experience. Wurst tells his story as the coming of age of the American military: fewer than twenty men per company who started with the 505 in the Frying Pan returned home.

About this title

Review

"... gives a good sense of the confusion of airborne operations and close combat...makes an excellent book for company level leader development on the subjects of discipline, training, and combat leadership."--Army History, Winter 2010 "ranks as one of the best war memoirs written by a World War II veteran."--Library Journal

Synopsis

Wurst spent the most of World War II in the European Theatre of Operations as a squad leader or platoon sergeant in Company F, 505. He made three of the four regimental combat jumps, dropping into Italy, Normandy, and Holland. Highlights include his baptism of fire in Italy during the Battle of Arnone; the jump on D-Day and the liberation of Ste. Mere Eglise (for which he was awarded a Purple Heart); a grueling month of combat in the hedgerows of Normandy (a second Purple Heart); and the ferocious battle with the SS for the highway bridge at Nijmegen, Holland (Silver Star). He also survived in the Ardennes, where he found himself as point man on his twentieth birthday, in a long, bitter march toward the shoulder of the Bulge. Initial chapters chronicle his training before mobilization, when he lied about being 15 to the National Guard in Erie, Pennsylvania, and his later experience in a heavy weapons company of the 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. In 1941, Wurst was on a truck returning from First Army maneuvers in the Carolinas to Indiantown Gap Military Reservation when he heard the news of the attack at Pearl Harbor.

He recounts life at Camps Livingston and Beauregard in Louisiana, and at the newly formed Parachute School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was stationed in the infamous "Frying Pan" area. Descending From The Clouds portrays the passage from innocence to experience. Wurst tells his story as the coming of age of the American military: fewer than twenty men per company who started with the 505 in the Frying Pan returned home.

Edition details

• Publisher: Casemate Publishers
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1932033319
• ISBN 13: 9781932033311
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256