They were peppered with small arms and mortar fire, but suffered no injuries.

At any cost

It was a different story two days later after they rallied with other glider soldiers and charged up a causeway they’d been ordered to take at any cost after paratroopers had failed to control it the day before, Nelson said.

“It was a trying time,” Nelson said. “The troops were falling like you-know-what. They were shelling us and shooting at us. We didn’t have any protection.”

They advanced as quickly as they could, firing at random, and trying to stay down in ditches, he said.

“We barged right ahead and never stopped till we got to the other end,” Nelson said. “As a matter of fact, a lot of the Germans were still in their foxholes and we had to throw hand grenades in to get them out.

“Days later they were stacking the bodies like cordwood, the Americans in one pile and the Germans in another,” he said.

Before it was over, Nelson took shrapnel in his right arm and shoulder, he said.