Edward L. Rowny
shell hit in the middle of my command group. Of the nine people who were with
me, seven were killed or wounded. Only three of us were spared. We tried to
outflank the disabled tank with another tank further out in the water, but it drowned
out. We then tried to clear a path through the mines on the land side. This tank
also hit a mine. We had it pulled back by a tank retriever and moved in the tank's
tracks with another tank. With a great deal of difficulty we moved up along the
beach and then moved into the enemy's rear, encountering only light resistance.
We captured a German battalion command post which was located at the spot
where we were to dig in. This took all day. That night, as we had expected, we
were attacked. We lost quite a few people. Some were killed and some were
wounded.
The next day, we had to repel two additional attacks. Meanwhile, we were in
communication with the division which had attempted to attack along the high
ground. But the division's attack didn't get beyond the front line. The next night,
we were attacked again. By this time, out of the 1,250 men in my task force, only
120 to 125 were left.
The following morning, Colonel William McCaffrey, the division G-3, fought his
way to my position with a platoon of men. He came up to survey the situation and
asked if I wanted to pull back. I said I was there to t&e orders, and I would do
whatever I was ordered to do.
When McCaffrey returned to the division command post, the division commander
ordered a regiment to attack up along the coast. The regiment met only light
resistance but did strike the Germans who had surrounded my outfit. We then
fought a rear guard action back to our original front line. This had been the latest
of four division attacks, all of which had ended in failure. It was the last attack the
division, as such, would undertake.
Q ..
I understand that the 92d Division was reorganized after this failure and you picked
up the 442d Nisei Regiment.
A ..
Yes. The 100th Nisei Battalion had been expanded into the 442d Nisei Regiment.
The 473d regiment, a white regiment, also joined us. It had been an anti-aircraft
unit which was retrained as infantry. It was commanded by Colonel William
Yarborough, a truly outstanding officer who later commanded the Army's elite
troops, the Green Berets.
We took the best Negroes from the three regiments of the 92d Division and placed
them in the 370th Regiment. The remainder were sent back to the rear and
organized into labor battalions.
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