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Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg
Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is

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Donald Banks. He is a veteran
of the US Army's eighty second Airborne Division

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in World War Two, serving with
the Field Artillery Paratroopers. He is a

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recipient of the Purple Heart. And
mister Banks, thank you very much for

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being with us. Thank you.
When and where were you born? Sir?

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Born in Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia in
nineteen twenty five, maybe sixteenth.

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You were born in Canada, so
this might be a different type of question.

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Was there a history of military service
in your family, either in the

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US or Canada or anywhere else?
My brother and did he served in World

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War two as well? Yea?
And what branch of service was he in?

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He was a medic in the army. Were you drafted or did you

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enlist? I enlisted through the draft
board when I wanted to go in,

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but all the enlistment officers were closed
because they were drafting. So I volunteered

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in the draft board. And so
did you choose the airborne or did the

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airborne choose you? No? Airborne
was strictly voluntary. The whole thing pretty

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tough. Training from what I've read, So what was it like for you?

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Top? It was nine mile run? Was normal? Were you ready

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for that type of training when you
first got there? Well? Yes,

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because I've been working at CAP and
to work with my father for a couple

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of years off and on, so
I was in pretty good shape. Now,

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when most people think of paratroopers,
they think of jumping out of planes

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and ready to fight once they hit
the ground. They might not imagine field

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artillery playing what paratroopers and field artillery
do together. I knew that would throw

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you. I don't know myself,
to be honest with you, because obviously

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you can't jump with a howitzer or
under your arm. So we jumped in

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and then part of out the eighty
second was what we call straight legs.

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They were glider riders and they brought
the guns in glider or by truck.

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And what kind of guns were they? Seventy five millimeters? What was the

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training like to get good at shooting
those? Well? I trained on one

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oh five in Fort Bragg, North
Carolina when I first went into the service.

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And so if you can handle the
one oh fives, you can handle

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the seventy fives, right, Yes, I finished seventeen weeks of basic training

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and then they shipped to Sova.
Where did they ship you too, Let's

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see, we landed in Scotland.
Then they sent us on the train down

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to Wales and we went into Wales
in a what we called a repo depot,

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which was replacement depot, and that's
where they came and they were recruiting

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the paratroopers and I signed up for
the paratroopers there and then they shipped us

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to England. I took my training
in England for paratroopers school. And what

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was that training like, Well,
it was real rough training. When they

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shook us out of our bum we
did a run. We ran for a

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couple three miles. Then we come
back and we had our breakfast and then

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we did the calisthenics and a good
part of the day was spent on cob

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strictly calisthenics, and every once in
a while we would go on a run.

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So it was it was tough training. I remember after the third day

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of it, I couldn't get out
of bed in the morning, and neither

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could buy Buddy, and we were
so lame and stiff from exercise. So

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then they had to they had to
help us out of bed, but we

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went right back to the training.
It was there was no let up.

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What kind of calisthenics did they have
you doing that had you so sorry?

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Boy? You name it? Push
ups, duck walk, every kind of

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exercise you can imagine. The duck
walk used to be the toughest one.

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Did they let you jump once in
a while? No? No, we

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didn't jump until we finished all our
calisthenics. And then we went to what

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we referred to as jump school.
Jump schooled you learned about your parachute and

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how to use it and so forth
and so on, and then how to

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land and what we call tumble,
and you learn how to tumble so you

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didn't hurt yourself, and also if
there was a breeze blowing, how to

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collapse your shoot after you were on
the ground. What was it like that

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first time you got to jump?
First time we got to jump? We're

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all so mad at at our instructors
because they were so rough one on us.

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They really showed you no mercy,
believe me, And so it wasn't

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tough at all because we were sayingxious
to get away from the instructors that we

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went out to out the door without
even the second thought. However, after

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we get out the tool, we
were wondering what the hell we were doing

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out there? So landing, how
was that something you got pretty quickly because

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of the training that you had,
Or was was that I learned to skill?

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Well? It was. It was
all different conditions that we landed and

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you know, the wind was blown
or the wind was not blown. It

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was water conditions, trees conditions,
things like that, and we learned how

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to avoid trees and water and if
we could or if we couldn't, then

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how we were going to land in
them. When were you finally deployed to

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fight D Day? Well, tell
me about that. How did that start?

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How did that day start for you? I'm has tempt to talk much

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about that at all, to be
honest with you, it's too gruesome.

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I I'd rather avoid that. Well, can you tell me what you're overall

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mission was that day? Yeah,
to Saint Mary g Lease for a French

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town that was liberated. And so
can you tell me about the jump?

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No, I don't. I don't
want to talk about that either. Where

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were you at the end of the
day someplace in Normandy? I don't know

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where did you go back to England. After that did you move forward?

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Where did you go? After a
D day? Karat Troopers had what we

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called a mission, and after we
finished the mission, we usually went back

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to base camp. And base camp
was at that point was in England.

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And our mission when we went into
Normandy was to take Sherburg, and which

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was a considerable distance away from Normandy. And when we took that and we

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were relieved. And the biggest thing
I remember about that was that we had

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bought our way all the way to
Sherburg and then I could get how many

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miles it was, But I remember
we had to walk back to Normandy to

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get the ships take us back to
England, and I remember walking day and

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night. That was I don't know
which was worse. Going to comment,

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After you walked back from Sharbourg to
Normandy, what happened next, Well,

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they took us back on LSTs.
They took us back to England and then

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we got re equipped in England and
waited for the next mission, which happened

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to be If my memory serves me
right, I believe it was Holland so

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Operation Market Garden. Yes that's correct. Okay, tell me about getting ready

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for that? How did you prepare
for that mission. I didn't jump into

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that mission. We would invite truck. About half division jumped in and the

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other half went in by truck.
And where along that series of bridges did

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you drive to Nimegan? Our mission
was to take the bridge in Nimegen,

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which the bridge went from Nimegen to
Germany. And what did you discover once

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you got to Nimegan? What was
the situation there? Well, it was

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held by the Germans, so we
had to take it, and then we

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had to take the bridge. The
Germans were going to blow up all the

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bridges that went across the river there, and we had to stop them from

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blowing them because we knew that Patton
would need them taking his tanks over.

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So what was the key to stopping
them at Nimegan? How are you successful

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there? Just? Fight like hell? How would you describe the German as

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a fighter? He was a good
fighter. He had an excellent howitzer,

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the eighty eight, and they used
the same gun brawl there. How its

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or were any aircraft? So for
all the same gun, the eighty eight,

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which was an excellent gun. So
how did you get around that?

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How were you able to succeed?
Despite how effective they were with the eighty

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eights, Well, perseverance. I
guess was there any particular strategy, you

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know, how troops were moved around
or how you I assume you were shooting

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your seventy fives, Adam, Right, by that time we had one all

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fives in back of us. So
and so was it a matter of greater

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firepower eventually? Well, I guess
it always comes down to that in the

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final phase of it. And so
what did you do after the battle at

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Nimeagen. Well, then we were
relieved, only we didn't go back to

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England. Then we went to my
memories to me right, we went back

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the Reems, France, where we
again got re equipped and waited for our

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next mission. And I really can't
remember what was next. Now, you

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were successful in holding the bridge at
Nimeghan, but ultimately that mission became known

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as the Bridge too Far because the
Allies did not take the bridge at Arnhem

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across the Rhine. What was your
reaction to knowing that ultimately the effort to

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cross the Rhine had not been successful
that time? That bridge rover Ernaheim was

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the English were supposed to take it, but they had impossible odds. There

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was no way that he ever could
have taken it. And so you mentioned

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that you went for recovery to Reems. Was your next engage agement at the

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Battle of the Bulge. I'm not
sure. Battle of the Boat came along

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there someplace, Yes, but I
don't think that it was quite at that

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time. I'm not I'm really not
sure. Did you fight at the Battle

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of the Bulge? Yes? And
what do you remember about that buck to

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your backside? And bitter coal?
Yeah? How did you deal with the

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coal? That's the temperatures and the
wind were just unreasonable at that time.

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We they we had to rush up
to the bulge when they broke through,

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and we went without any overcoats or
gloves so forth. We didn't have a

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mission to us until long after we
got there. However, we had a

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shelter have and blankets and so forth. So we fashioned them into the craziest

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looking overcoat you ever saw. We
cut holes in the in the top of

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it to put our arms through,
and we cut holes in the bottom to

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put our legs through. And it
was the laugh at like hell at each

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other. We looked like they you
panded Arabs. However, they are effective.

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Do you still suffer any frostbite or
other effects from being there. Oh,

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yeah, my ears that I had
to be very careful now with my

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ear as they got frozen about six
times up there? Where was your unit?

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Where was the eighty second along the
line at the bulge? We moved

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around so much, I don't know. And what do you remember about the

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combat there? Oh? It was
tree to tree? I remember. It's

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more like I guess we're the old
fashioned Indian fighting. You mentioned moving around

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a lot. How quickly could you
pick up those guns and move them around?

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We only had the seventy fives at
that point, and they were very

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versatiles. We h half a dozen
guys could pick up one of them,

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put them in the back of the
truck if he had problems, or they

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told him with jeeps. So forth
there was There wasn't much problem with the

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guns. And obviously that was Hitler's
big attempt to redefine the Western front.

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So what was what was your reaction
when the battle was over and you had

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held the line and he had failed. Our reaction was same as any of

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the actions after we took fight through. We won our fight, and we

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just quietly went to the next battle. I know that you, as we

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said at the beginning, you received
a purple heart. Do you remember where

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you were wounded and how that happened? Yes, but I was wounded in

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Holland, in uh a little town
of Grossbeck, I believe it was.

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I was wounded in the right elbow, in the hand, and they sent

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me back to Eventually I wound up
back in Oxford, England, where I

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got healed, and they sent me
back in back to combat. After I

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was healed and I was I know
I was laid up for quite a while,

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but I don't remember how law Where
were you when the war ended?

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I don't know. I remember an
ending. I seems to me we were

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back in France, resting or something. I can't really we were back in

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France or Belgium, I can't remember
just which one. Was there a pretty

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big party when the news came down. No, very very quiet, not

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a sound he pin drop. Well, we weren't interested in Patty Ands who

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were just interested and was in deep
thought of okay, now what? And

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there was some talk that they were
going to send us to the Pacific,

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and we didn't care much for that, but it had to go where you

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were told. But anyway, Fortunately
we didn't have to go to the Pacific.

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They sent us home. And what
did you do after the war?

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While I was in the car,
I was a carpenter apprentice when I went

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into the service, and when I
came back home, I just took up

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to where I left off. And
so was that your business for the rest

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of your professional life? Well,
not really. I worked for my father.

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I learned the business from my father. When I come back home,

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I went back to work. And
only at this point I had enough time

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in that I was a foreman and
one of his crews. And then I

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believe I was forty years old when
he died, and I took over his

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business from there, and because my
mother was still alive and I was actually

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running it for my mother. And
then later on I went in a business

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for myself, and then I stayed
in business for a while, I don't

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remember how long. And then I
had the opportunity to go to work for

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a good size outfit and with a
pension and so forth. So I took

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that and closed up my own business. And sir, what are you most

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proud of from your service to our
country? Just being a soldier in the

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eighty second air one. Talk about
that a little more. Why was that

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such an honor for you to be
part of the eighty second. Well,

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at that point we were known as
the elite division. Every soldier in the

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eighty second was he was an excellent
soldier. He had to be a para.

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Never got too much recognition. We
were always told that, well,

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that was what was expected of us. And believe me, it worked because

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every one of us were extremely proud
of our division and we still are.

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And a battle cry was Geronimo,
which that was developed years and years ago.

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And I want to remind you that
York was a soldier in the eighty

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second at that point. They were
not I one though, obviously, but

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if somebody sarcastically used to say Geronimo, that was and they were sarcastic about

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it. That was fighting talk.
Mister Banks. I thank you very much

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for your time today, and most
of all, I thank you very very

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much for your service to our country, which really appreciate it. Thank you

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there. Donald Banks is a US
Army veteran serving in the eighty second Airborne

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Division in World War Two. I'm
Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles.

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Hi, this is Greg Corumbus,
and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles,

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a presentation of the American Veterans Center. For more information, please visit American

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Veterans Center dot org. You can
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listening, and please join us next
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