By Nacho Vasquez
As Told To Nila Gott
Nacho Vasquez was part Yaqui Indian and was born in a boxcar along the New Mexico SP rails (his father was an employee). The following is an excerpt from a book about Nachos survival in life.
Nacho was a member of the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team.
Operation Dragoon
August 15, 1944, was nearing and we were going to make our first jump into German-held territory.
No matter how many drops we had made in training, this jump was the real thing and I prepared physically as well as mentally. The sun beat down on the dusty Italian soil as approximately 3,000 nervous and anxious troopers packed their chutes in a steamy shed.
Along with the 517th was the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion. The 550th and 406th Glider Battalions would be coming in simultaneously. The operation was under the command of Mel Zais and was called Dragoon; the parachute part of the jump was named Albatross. Our drop zone was supposed to be near LaMotte and LeMuy, France.
I also listened to Axis Sally, who broadcast over the radio for US soldiers. It seems the whole of Europe knew we were going to be jumping.
“Hello, all you American paratroopers at those airfields around Rome.
“You parachute boys won’t have to worry about battling out over Southern France in the dark hours of the 15th, because well have it lit up for you boys.
“We’ll have a reception committee waiting for you and oh, by the way you will not need those parachutes, our flak will be so thick, you can simply walk down on it.”
We nervously loaded equipment, including our escape kits, which held a compass, French money, map, cricket, knife, and anything else we thought to take. I also carried a .45 pistol. My field bag was completely full, with my foldup 30-30 caliber carbine, two bandoliers, extra ammunition, grenades, an entrenching tool, raincoat, a couple of boxes of C rations and a chocolate bar, canteen, first-aid kit, and, of course, my Mae West life preserver.
Our uniforms were camouflage and we painted our faces to match using makeup. [from the Lilli Dach cosmetic company]. Our personal parachutes were white, but the equipment chutes were different colors; blue designated arms and yellow, a radio.
We were to cross the Ligurian Sea, our planes pilots guided by boats anchored in the Mediterranean. Hundreds of C47s lifted off from ten Italian airfields. The largest outfit was mine, the 517th combat team. Our mission was to move to Nice and make our way to the shore, taking out Germans along the way so the troops coming in by boat would have it easier landing on the beach. They, meaning the high command, gave us three days to do this.
Pathfinders were to guide us in, so they jumped three days before us. Their information was pretty much useless as the area around Le Muy was crawling with Germans, and we were taken farther on. As the planes neared the coast, a heavy fog rolled in, leaving our pilots without a visual guide. It was frightening, as no one wanted to land into the ocean, especially carrying 100 pounds on your back; you knew you’d be a goner.
As the Germans knew we were coming, not a big surprise to anyone in the original drop zone, they put up big poles with wire strung between them. The poles, called asparagus, were 10 to 15 feet high and made glider landings perilous. Gliders didn’t have the option to change landing sites, so they crashed into the poles or landed in nearby vineyards.
As it turned out, we landed about 25 miles off our target near the town of Callian, and because it was mountainous territory, some of us were less than 250 feet off the ground when we jumped. I saw what I thought was the top of a tree and prepared for the landing by crossing my arms and legs, but slam, I was on the ground. It was a small bush and not a tree. I was one of the fortunate and didn’t get hurt, but many were not so lucky. They landed so low, they broke their ankles or other bones. I heard thumps as other troopers hit the ground around me, and I also heard low, agonized moans.
It was dark, around two a.m., and I didn’t know if we were in German-held territory or not. We used our crickets to find each other. If we saw a shadow or silhouette, we clicked twice, and if three clicks didn’t come back, we were to shoot to kill.
Some of the men hid and waited until dawn to make themselves known, but little by little we gathered. I joined about thirty others, including Captain McGeever, and shortly after dawn we started toward the beach.
Almost immediately, we met up with a contingent of British troopers, the 2nd British Brigade, heading for LeMuy, and now we were about 400 strong. We quickly disposed of a convoy of German infantrymen. C rations were promptly eaten, and I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t hungry. We devoured squirrels, butchered farmers pigs, and dug onions and potatoes from fields.
We staggered in at Chateau Sainte Rosseline, near Les Arcs at 16:00, after a 25-mile hike. We were in time to help Major Boyle and his troops, who had been fighting throughout the day. Approximately 1000 rounds were fired at the suspected German strong points and an attack was staged. In the morning, we liberated the town and received a warm reception from its citizens.
It took us four days, fighting all the way, dirty, hungry, and being shot at to reach our objective. In combat, we always wore a US flag, about three by four inches, on our uniform shoulder. On the fourth day, as we fought our way toward the beach, I saw that flag on the shoulders of soldiers coming toward us, and it looked like the biggest and sweetest flag I’d ever seen.
We’d done our job and made a safer landing for the incoming troops, although the toll on the 517th was nineteen dead and several hundred wounded.
Tenney-Gott Publishingngott@neteze.com
This book is available from
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Price is $12.00 plus $2.00 p&h
This is a segment of a comment from a review on Amazon made by Nacho Vasquez’ daughter:
“This book is told by my mom in his words. It's an interesting book because it's real. The things she writes about happened and are not exaggerated or made up. He did cheat death many times, as have I. It incorporates time before the war, during, and after.”
Published in U S Legacies Magazine July 2004
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