"Additional cargo were a bazooka and trail motorcycles. We landed
in the assigned LZ, at 1440 hours, approximately 30 yards from the "T" marker
that had been laid hours earlier by Flight Officer Bastian. Small arms fire riddled my
glider on our approach, and continued upon landing. We were pinned down two hours after
landing which prevented us from unloading the equipment. We finally did get unloaded and
were able to drive the enemy away until the 88s were unleashed upon us."
"Steve was the lead glider of the 303rd Squadron on the third day of transporting
troops from South England to Son 2, Holland. We had made it across the channel through
low-lying dense clouds that often obscured to tow plane, 250 feet of towrope ahead.
Ill-equipped, no intercom with the tow ship, no co-pilot, only one set of controls, no
'Mae Wests,' no flak vests, no 'Griswold nose,' and no arresting chute was really not of
much concern at this point. We were flying so low that the propellers were throwing spray
from the churning waves over the windshields further obscuring visibility."
"The machine gunners below had a bead on us all the way to the landing zone. Watching
with dismay and apprehension, I watched while any number of tracer bullets hit my tow
plane, and when the tow plane was out of the firing range, I could hear the bullets
hitting the glider. Fortunately, no bullet hit a vital part of either my tow plane or
glider, and no passenger in either vehicle was hit. But other tow planes and gliders were
not as lucky as we were."
"Some Jerrys in the left corner of the landing zone were firing one of our captured
50 caliber machine guns with tracers. The tracers were edging down the towropes from about
ten yards behind the plane to about the same distance from my glider when I cut. I called
for full spoilers and made a sharp turn to the left and didn't see any more of those. We
landed safely."
"Halfway across Holland, we ran into flak, and the tow plane behind me was hit and
had to crash land. The glider with Robert (Smokey) McCall at the controls landed in a
pasture. The troopers helped unload the jeep they were carrying and they proceeded on an
exciting drive through enemy held territory to the landing zone.
My landing was not too bad considering that I touched down in a turnip field. The wheels
sank into the soft soil and we nosed up, tearing out part of the glider's bottom. Then the
tail dropped into a normal position, the howitzer stayed in place, and no one was
hurt."
