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From the April 16, 2006 New Albany GazetteBy Lynn West - Gazette staff
Christmas recalls memories of near brush with death in WWII for retired
optometrist.
While there are plenty of contemporary events to occupy ones attention at this time,
the thoughts of Dr. Paul K. Shannon are stretching back to Christmas 60 years ago.
An event took the lives of 11 of his comrades and, but for a quirk of fate, he might
have joined them in death.
Those memories are made more vivid because Shannon has learned that the people
of the town where this occurred have remembered and honored the loss of their
liberators all these years. They erected a monument and hold a special ceremony
each Christmas to honor the soldiers.
The incident happened in the town of Esneux, Belgium. Shannon was with a tank
maintenance pool in the First Army, 563rd Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Company.
"It was in the Battle of the Bulge, that had started Dec. 15," he said. "We were only
about 20 miles from Bastogne."
The Americans had requisitioned a factory there to use as a tank repair and
maintenance facility. The town had been liberated earlier but the town still heard
the sound of V1 flying bombs go overhead as they began Midnight Mass Dec. 24.
Shannon and his fellow soldiers had to work Christmas Day because of the acute
need for more heavy equipment in the battle. At the end of the day, they prepared
to return to their barracks and started climbing into canvas-covered trucks.
"I had just put my weapon in the truck when a fellow yelled, 'Hey, Rebel, there's
not enough room in here,'" Shannon said. "So I got down."
Instead, Shannon climbed into a Jeep with a master sergeant and they headed back.
"It was just 12 minutes later," Shannon said. He learned the truck had taken a
route beside the canal and the bank had given away. The truck fell into the water
of the partly frozen over canal, trapping the soldiers. People in a watching crowd,
as well as other GIs, dove into the freezing water and soon recovered everyone,
but 12 of the troops died.
Shannon and his comrades moved on and when the war ended in Europe they
appeared destined to go to the Pacific Theatre.
"We got shipped to Marseilles, loaded our equipment and waved bye to it," he said.
"Two days later they dropped the atomic bomb."
With no equipment, no need to go to the Pacific and no need to stay in France,
Shannon and his outfit were brought back home.
But for the people of Esneux, liberation and freedom were not something so
easily forgotten. They erected a monument and later began holding a memorial
service at 5 p.m. each Christmas day.
Only about 62 are left from the more than 300 who served in the original unit
at the time. And Shannon said it was only a couple of years ago that the survivors
learned of the memorial and annual service.
"I've been sitting on this for 60 years," Shannon said. "And I guess it was getting
the Christmas card from the people there that triggered it."
To read more about this battle and other events in Paul's life, go to his tribute page at
Tribute to Doctor Paul K. Shannon
Paul is the third soldier on the right
Presented
by
~shannon1 at shannonfamilies.com
~
©2004
cd/ngu
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