Like many World War II veterans, Donald Rich did not like to talk about his war experiences.
Nearly 60 years later, Rich began to tell his stories to longtime friend and current Mahomet resident Kevin Brooks. In the beginning, Brooks did not intend to turn the stories into a book, but after 10 years, he authored Rich’s first person account, “Glider Infantryman: Behind Enemy Lines in World War II.”
Brooks grew up following Rich and his father, both WWII vets, as they played TAPS for Memorial Day services in Iowa. Collecting the stories was Brooks way of paying Rich back for being with his father as he passed away in 1992.
“My dad’s brother was a Colonel in the U.S. Army,” Brooks said. “He saw most of his action in Korea. Just before he died, he started telling me stuff about his experiences. He died before I could do anything with it.”
As Brooks began to ask Rich questions about his experiences as part of Company G of the 327 Glider Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne, he would give answers anyone could find in a textbook.
Then when the United States engaged war with Iraq in 2003, Rich went into a depression.
“After about six months of really deep depression, he came out, and started yapping,” Brooks said.
As Rich talked about his experiences, Brooks contacted other men who fought alongside Rich. They were tight lipped, too, until they started sharing the funny stories they remembered during their time in WWII.
As they opened up about killing a cow to eat in the Netherlands, they began to talk about their experiences in more detail.
“It was a progression, and it took a long time to get there,” he said. “They would go from I took out a machine gun to I actually killed somebody.”
Brooks tried not to sugar coat the story.
“It’s written in a manner to where WWII fanatics or a junior high student’s parents wouldn’t mind if they read it.”
Rich was only 19 when he was drafted into WWII. Before going into D-Day, Rich stood next to service men as Commander Dwight Eisenhower gave a speech. Eisenhower told them they were expecting two-thirds casualties.
“He looked to his left and to his right, and said, ‘These poor suckers are not going to make it,’” Brooks said.
Although Rich was wounded a few times in war, Brooks said he had an incredible survival mode in him. Even as the book was being finished, Rich had triple bypass surgery at 85. He lived to see the book published, and was able to sign books and talk on radio shows.
As a 19-year-old kid, Rich promised God if he made it through the war, he would do anything God wanted him to do.
Even at 88-years-old, Rich attended his local Methodist Church when there were only 10 people left in the congregation to teach Sunday school or deliver a message.
Even in his old age, Rich went to training sessions on how to become a better public speaker.
“He kept at it because he felt that was something he was supposed to do,” he said. “For the honor of those other people who were killed in WWII, he just wanted to make his life what he could.”
Although Rich was a caring man, the public image of the 101st Airborne is rough and tough soldiers.
“The German called them ‘butchers with big pockets,’ but they were 19,20, 21-year-old scared kids,” Brooks said. “They were no different than anyone else you pick up off the street. Either through the Army’s decision to draft them or volunteer, they ended up in the 101st Airborne. They were no better soldiers than anyone else.”
In Normandy, Rich’s squad lost 5 of 12 soldiers killed in action. Several months later, his G Company flew into Holland with 200 men to disrupt the enemy behind their front lines. As the group was engaged by infantry tanks, 95 men were killed or severely wounded.
Almost immediately, the group was sent to Bastogne, Belgium to stop a massive German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge. Their job was to defend Bastogne, and to keep the enemy from gaining control of the transportation center.
Going in, the men knew they would be surrounded as they fought behind enemy front lines. The Company G was overrun by German tanks, but they managed to slow the German attacks until 75 more men arrived with General Patton to help.
After a month of continuous fighting, the Company G marched out of Bastogne with only 43.
“You can read a history book, and say the U.S. Army did this or the U.S. Army did that,” Brooks said. “But what was it really like to be there? I think it’s important to know what happened there, what it was like. There are a large number of people out there who deny the Holocaust. The 101st Airborne, including Don were the ones who liberated part of a larger concentration camp.”
On the “327 Glider Infantry Screaming Eagle” Facebook page, WWII veteran Jack Sherman talks about how some of the concentration camp prisoners died because they couldn’t hand the food rations his troop gave them.
“When you talk to (WWII vets) about being the Greatest Generation, most of them don’t like that label,” Brooks said. “I’ve become convinced that one of the reasons they hate that label is the guys that were in hardcore fighting believe or know their actions either directly or indirectly led to the death of one of their fighting buddies.”
Rich almost shot one of his friends, Lou Simpson, who won a Pulitzer for some of his writings on WWII. The Germans were amongst the Americans. As Simpson laid his hand on Rich’s shoulder, Rich turned around to shoot him, but didn’t pull the trigger.
“All the guys told me shooting or killing somebody is bad enough,” Brooks said. “You live with that. They were doing their duties.”
But one of the hardest things Rich had to live with was watching a soldier die in Bastogne.
Rich was on patrol as the Germans launched an attack on the Americans to cover the German withdraw. As American soldiers jumped behind the trees, a soldier, who had just arrived, was hit in the neck right beside Rich.
The Sergeant next to Rich pulled him back from going after the dying soldier because there weren’t enough medics to save him.
“He said listening to that guy die for several hours, when he didn’t have control; those were the really hard things,” Brooks said.
After Rich returned home from the war, he lived with the effects from years of fighting. While visiting the Iowa State Fair, a car backfired, and Rich curled up in the fetal position with helpless feelings.
“They took shelling in the Netherlands for 45 minutes,” Brooks said. “He just covered his head, not know if the next shell was coming for him.”
While “Glider Infantryman: Behind Enemy Lines in World War II” does not glorify Rich’s experiences during WWII, Brooks said he wanted to keep their stories intact.
“Lloyd Gross bought a bunch of books for his family,” Brooks said. He told me, ‘This gives me the opportunity to tell my family why I can’t tell them what they want to know.”
Rich was able to fully enjoy the book before he passed away in May.
“All the guys said it was amazing that I was able to capture the emotions,” he said.
Brooks now receives emails from all over the world from family members who want to know more about their loved ones. While the book has spent a few years on the bookstore shelves, Brooks is now putting together a database with the names and records he has collected.
Brooks is still amazed at the connections he can make to people through Rich’s story.
University of Michigan’s head basketball coach John Beilein attributed his success to his uncle, Tom Niland’s military service with the 327 Infantry. Beilein was a friend of Rich’s, also.
Niland’s family was the real family behind the movie “Saving Private Ryan.”
“Everyone pays attention to the paratroopers,” Brooks said. “But these guys get very little recognition.”
“Glider Infantryman: Behind Enemy Lines in World War II” is available online at Amazon, at the Champaign Barnes and Noble or at the Mahomet IGA.
