Solider Story- Brittney

Ira Gilliand recalls his night on the ridge.




It's tough to talk about this stuff. It's been fifty-eight years. It gives me the chills thinking about it.

They kept charging, but that's where the grenades came in. We threw grenades all night long. It would be too long for me.-Brittney 4/7/09 5:52 AMI remember rolling the grenades down. We were up on the hill and they were below us. They kept feeding us boxes of grenades. I wouldn't be able to deal with that-John Fred 4/7/09 11:12 AMI remember the sound of Plante's BAR. He kept it going all night long. A lot of guys spent a terrible night out there. I couldn't do it all night. -Brittney 4/7/09 5:52 AM

The 1st Parachute Battalion was with us. I remember one of the paratroopers got shot. The corpsman came over because of his cry for help, and he [the corpsman] got shot right through the heart. That has to be traumatizing to the slodiers -John Fred 4/7/09 11:15 AMHis name was Smith, so when I saw Smith go down, I grabbed him and carried him down the hill. I don't know if I'd do that where he just got shot. -Brittney 4/7/09 5:54 AM I didn't think he was going to die. When I got him down to the first aid station, I saw one of our doctors cry. [chokes up] Old Smitty was my friend, a real nice guy, and I broke down also. I would end up crying -John Fred 4/7/09 11:17 AM