Hometown Hero Geroge N. Richardson

By Staff Writer Connie Farro Richardson

My brother-in-law George N. Richardson, was a very funny, caring, compassionate son, husband, father and brother. Several years ago, when my husband and I were writing the first of five genealogy books, we asked George to tell us about his war experiences. I told him to just start talking and I would record him without interruption. The following is from his account of the invasion of Normandy in WWII.

When WWII broke out, George couldn’t wait to enlist to get away from Dubuque, Iowa. He wanted to be a paratrooper and, to get a feel of heights, would climb high above the Mississippi to the top of the bridge connecting Iowa and Illinois. However, his eyesight was not good enough so he ended up in the infantry. After basic training in Alabama, he was assigned to Fort Meade for a short time. He was in the 2nd Platoon, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry, 29th Division.

George was one of the 10,000 soldiers on board the SS. Ile de France when it set sail for Britain where the allies were preparing for the Normandy invasion. The Ile was a luxury liner launched in 1926 for the French Line’s small fleet and was one of the most opulent in the world. When France was occupied by Germany in WWII, England took over its operation and converted it to a troop ship to carry Australian soldiers to the campaign in North Africa. Then in 1944, it became part of the Cunard White Star Line and was used to transport American and Canadian troops. Following the war, she was once again a luxurious ocean liner and in 1956 interrupted a trip to Europe to rescue 754 passengers that were on the ill-fated Andrea Doria.

The Ile de France docked in Scotland and the soldiers traveled by train to Plymouth, England. For the next six months they trained for the invasion, which they did by marching 30 miles at a time with full packs and no water, wearing hob-nailed shoes that had nails pounded into the heels and soles to get used to walking on rocks. George wasn’t very tall and the 28-inch stride of an infantryman was very tough for him. The soldiers had to string ropes over rivers and slide down the ropes and crawl under barbed wire with live ammunition flying overhead. The town was almost leveled from German “buzz bombs.” 

Then one day in early June 1944, the men were told to go to an assembly area where they were given French francs and boarded a naval ship. This was the first time in six months that they were given white bread. Until that time George said that all they had to eat was mutton and Brussel sprouts. Once aboard ship, President Roosevelt spoke to them over a loudspeaker and they were shown a large map of where they would be landing and what the objectives were. Landing was scheduled for 5 June, but the weather was too bad, so it was delayed until the next day.

At the time, George weighed 128 pounds and he said the hardest part of the invasion, other than the killing, was that he had on his steel helmet, helmet liner and carried an M-1 rifle, 10 pounds of bazooka ammunition, two bandoleers of bullets, a canteen of water, a life jacket, five hand grenades, three days of rations, a gas mask, a rain poncho, an entrenching tool, the clothes and boots he wore and some other items.

On D-Day, the men were wakened at 2:00 a.m. and transferred to Landing Craft Vehicles (LCVPs). The waves were over five feet high and they had to climb down cargo nets with their heavy packs. Some toppled over backwards from the weight and drowned. The men were told that they would establish a beachhead and be back in England in 72 hours. We all know that didn’t happen.

The LCVPs, each carrying 30 men, had to go around in circles waiting their turn to get close to the beach. But the pilot had the craft in reverse before they were 30 feet from shore. Each man went in with bayonets set and carried a medical kit with morphine and a pound of TNT to blow up barbed wire. George’s company commander was killed immediately and the men didn’t know what to do. It was complete chaos! They were waist-high in water with their heavy packs on and ahead of them was more water, a sandy beach, more water, and then a large hill that had to be climbed with Germans entrenched at the top pointing their machine guns at them.

One of the men said, “It’s better to get killed on land than to stay here (in the water) and get killed.” That stimulated the men to start pushing forward. Over 900 men were lost before getting off the beach. After getting to the top of the hill, they continued to march forward. They couldn’t go by road as they would be sitting ducks, so they tried going through prickly hedgerows that were everywhere. Some men would get their back packs stuck as they tried going through and before they could get themselves loose, got shot.

The soldiers took the town of Grandcamp-Maisy. They kept fighting with no relief. As men were killed, replacements were sent in to take their places. At one point, George was one of the last of the original company. The replacements were afraid of him because he lasted so long. At the age of 19, he received a field promotion from private to Staff Sergeant.

St. Lo was a night attack. They had to be very quiet and use bayonets as they were not allowed to shoot their rifles. It was incredibly dark and George somehow got disoriented. He saw four shadows standing outside a building talking quietly. He walked up behind them and tapped one on the shoulder and asked where the 3rd platoon was. It turned out they were four German officers, one a general. George captured them and for this was awarded the Silver Star.

After St. Lo fell, George was allowed to hop onto a truck and fall back about five miles to rest. It had been over 30 days without bathing or changing socks. George walked into a farmhouse and saw someone that looked familiar then realized he was looking in a mirror without recognizing himself. When he finally took off his socks, callouses came off in them.

George had less than a day before going back to the front. He was with a group of men when they were attacked and he was shot through both legs. Everyone with him were either wounded or killed. He was lying on the ground, shivering from shock and the wounded soldier next to him, covered him with his rain poncho. The Germans came through and bayoneted everyone to make sure they were dead. However, since George was covered with the poncho they didn’t bother.

Dead Americans were everywhere. He was the only one left in the whole field and managed to crawl by his arms to a foxhole. He stayed there for 22 hours before a jeep came by and took him to a field hospital. Sometime later, he was lined up waiting for surgery and was given some food. He then realized that the person next to him was a German soldier. George stabbed the German in the neck with his fork. By this time in relating the story, George was crying and talking about “man’s inhumanity to man.”

George was sent to a hospital in England and then to California for rehabilitation. There he met and fell in love with his nurse. He and Tennie were married in California then spent the rest of their lives in her home state of Arkansas.