Paul H. Keck, Private Jessie R. Mock, Private Maurice S.
Knowing that the
Walker, and Private Jose E. Marquez.
bridge posts had previously been blown, Lieutenant Milgram
decided to use necklace charges for the stringers and to
use time f u z e s and primacord to set off the charges. He
ordered his men to make nine necklace charges.
When these were ready, the group proceeded toward the
bridge on both sides of the road and were subjected to
machine gun and small arms fire along the route.
Lieutenant Milgram's plan had been to prepare the
stringers on the friendly side of the bridge first by
working from the top side of the bridge and placing the
However, the
charges on the sides of the stringers.
removal of the decking would have entailed too much work
under fire, so the group crossed the bridge to the enemy
side and climbed underneath in order to get the maximum
amount of cover from e n e m y fire.
Their movement was observed, and the fire increased,
so Lieutenant Milgram ordered all but Technician Fifth
Class Keck to crawl along the enemy side of the river and
wade across at a point lower downstream that would give a
little more cover. The next job was to secure the
primacord on the friendly side of the river at a point
After
where it might be reached to blow up the bridge.
this was completed, the entire group waded the river and
reported to Captain Scheuber that the bridge was ready for
At 1650, the order was given to blow the
demolition.
bridges.
The Ambleve bridge presented no unusual problems, but
the Salm bridge was more difficult.
Lieutenant Milgram
and Technician Fifth Class Keck proceeded to within 60
yards from where the primacord lay. From there Lieutenant
Milgram crawled the remainder of the distance, checked the
cord, pulled the fuze lighter, and then ran about 50 yards
in the fading light but in full view of the enemy until he
reached the cover of a building.53
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