JAKE MCNIECE | 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (WWII)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Jake McNiece headed the demolition and saboteur section of an airborne unit preparing to jump into Normandy. Scared of picking up body lice, he cut his hair into the scalplock favored by his Choctaw ancestors. His men demanded the same treatment and when the signal corps photographer showed up, a legend was born.
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Listening to the audio book of his autobiography. Great man. RIP, Sir
In 2002 I was on holiday with my wife and children in Bayeux, France. We were eating lunch in a café when a coach pulled up outside. It was a party of Americans of all ages on a whistle stop tour of Europe. Five countries in seven days. The coach had been parked for a few minutes and the passengers, having disembarked were standing around chatting. Eventually an elderly couple sort of drifted towards our table and asked if they could sit with us. The only free seats in the café were at our table. I told them to pull up a chair. They told me that they were meant to be going to see the Bayeux tapestry, but they had been delayed by a couple of hours on the road. The exhibition was closed for lunch and they had to depart before it reopened. I gave the chap a map and showed him where the back, worker's, entrance was. I suggested they go there quickly, it was only a 100m away, and maybe offer the guides a couple of euros for a sneaky peak, without telling anyone else. They left. A short time later they returned. We had just finished the first course. They both sat down and were smiling like Cheshire cats. I asked how they had got on. The lady, who told us was his second wife, took over the conversation. She said they had knocked on the door and been met by a grumpy chap. She'd been trying to explain their predicament while all the while the chap was looking her husband up and down. Eventually he'd asked "American?" they'd replied yes. He then asked "liberator?" She said her husband was sort of shocked by this so she said "paratrooper" and done the arms up paratrooper mime. At this they were taken inside and given the VIP tour and souvenirs. They'd returned to thank me and I told them there was no need. The husband needed the toilet so left. The wife then told us how he had landed on D-day, and in Holland, had been wounded at Bastogne. Eventually being sent back to the states due to those wounds. She said he didn't talk too often about what happened and she had arranged this trip because it was going to all the places he had fought and she thought it would be good for him and it might make him more open to talk with her about his experiences. When he returned from the bathroom she went to pay a visit. As soon as she was out of earshot he began to speak. He repeated what his wife had said, but finished by saying it was tearing him apart. He was the only one of his original section to make it home. He said "the fields are full of ghosts". He finished by saying when his wife returns we should tell her he's having a great time as it was important that she think she'd done a good thing. When she returned they ordered a snack and ate it with us whilst telling us about the other places they had been to on the tour and where they still had to visit.
I often hear people talk about the Greatest Generation and struggle to understand what they mean. But that episode, where they both are trying to do their best, and understand that the other person is too, will always stick in my mind.
Thank you for sharing this story! Do you recall the gentleman's name?
@@WitnessToWarFoundation
I've been privileged to have met many D-day veterans and heard their recollections of that day. Unfortunately I didn't have the foresight to properly record what they told me or who told me it. I think I imagined they would be around for ever. It stings me to say I can't remember his name.
This is one of the best of these types of stories and comments I've ever seen.
@@Jimmy_Watt Thanks.
I had the honor to meet Jake in Toccoa in 2002 at one of the 101st Airborne reunions there, he was a great guy and story teller and still knew how to use a razor to cut hair which he did for several of the re-enactors there that year.
Awesome interview! Great information regarding the haircuts and plane markings. Thank you and thanks for posting the full interview below.
Thank God we had men like him duirng the war. They made the difference. I shudder to think what these new breed soldiers will be like.
Amazing American!!! Mcnasty!!!!!
How can I fined the rest of this interview
Here you go: www.witnesstowar.org/search_result?share=d217a13365
Just want to say thank you
Funny. My heroes the greatest generation, I love you all. I wish I had the opportunity to shake each and everyone’s your hand. I had an uncle who served in the Pacific. I wish I would’ve asked him a million questions.🫡💕🙏🏻