Mrs. .Alice Hummel of Cedar avenue
received a letter from her husband, 1st Sgt.. Raymond J..
Hummel, who is with the 508 Parachute Infantry somewhere in England,
with the following article in it.. It was written by one of
his Buddies who was in the invasion with Sgt .Hummel on D-Day,
1st Sgt. (then Staff Sgt.) Hummel gathered together a group of 6
parachutists on the north bank
of
the Douve river at Beuzeville-la-Bastille at dawn on
6 June 1944.. As Battalion Sgt.. Major and senior
non-com, he led the group through intense fire from enemy machine
gun nests covering the bridge approach, knocking out one pillbox..
Shortly thereafter, four enemy tanks
came up heading north from the causeway. Sgt.. Hummel
personally attacked them with E.. Gammon Grenades, knocking
out one Mark III and killing its entire crew.
Sgt.. Hummel's group was pinned down by heavy fire from
approximately one company of enemy infantry.
He
then organized a defensive position from which fire could be placed
on the approaches to both Beuzeville bridge over the Douve river and
the Causeway, leading to the island in and bridge over the Merederet
[sic] river,.
Due to the resultant dislocation of German traffic
over these important highways, the enemy made persistent heavy
attacks on Sgt, Hummel's position for the following five days.
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His group broke up all attacks with rifles and TSMG fire and
Grenades, causing heavy casualties to the enemy.. Regardless
of resulting attacks Sgt.. Hummel's men continued to fire on
all enemy traffic forcing the Germans to restrict their road
movements to darkness.
By his determination and heroic example Sgt..
Hummel held his group intact as a lighting unit and upheld their
morale through .the most adverse circumstances.. They fought
on without food, without adequate medical attention for wounded,
and with no heavy fire support or heavy weapons.. They were at
all times heavily outnumbered and for five days were under
constant fire from small arms, mortars, artillery and a group of
tanks, operating in the vicinity.. Due to his leadership they
defied all enemy attacks and continued to inflict casualties on
the enemy through out the five days until joined by seaborne forces
on 11 June 1944.
Jumpmaster notes:
a - Hummel's surname was misspelled in the headline.
b - The
article was written by George D.. De Carvalho.. The
phrasing sounds much like a medal award recommendation but Sgt Hummel is
not listed as having received one.]
[source: unknown newspaper]
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