Bradford Freeman lives in Caledonia, but 74 years ago he and the other members of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 101st Airborne Division were part of an operation along the Rhine River to rescue about 300 British soldiers and prisoners of war that had escaped being cut off by Germans at the Arnhem bridge — the “bridge too far” of the movie by that name.
Easy Company was a band of brothers and on June 6, 1944, in the night time darkness, hours before the landing of the greatest invasion force in history, they parachuted behind enemy lines. In the predawn hours, they moved through the gardens of Normandy seeking to neutralize some of the German resistance to the Allied D-Day landing.
A genial, unassuming man, Freeman is not the picture of one whose wartime exploits became part of a bestselling book by Stephen Ambrose and the award-winning television mini-series “Band of Brothers.” Unless you ask to see his photo album you would never know of his visits with Tom Hanks or Prince Charles. He is the epitome of the Greatest Generation, a world-class hero who prefers to talk about what his brothers of Easy company did.
Freeman is a living history book of the World War II European Theater during and after the Normandy assault. He recalls the addresses by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Dwight Eisenhower to the troops on June 5, the day before the D-Day landing. And that’s just the beginning of his experiences as an airborne soldier.
His stories can range from recollections of giving candy to children in newly liberated towns to several years ago meeting Prince Charles of Great Britain, with whom Freeman said he had a delightful conversation. When I asked him about the small metal clickers/crickets used as a signaling device during the D-Day airborne assault, which had been shown in the movie “The Longest Day,” Freeman pulled one out and showed it to me. His stories of where he went, who was there and the actions he was involved in read like a listing of the most famous Hollywood movies of World War II.
A little after midnight on D-Day, Easy Company parachuted behind German lines to knock out the artillery aimed at what would soon be Utah Beach. In the nighttime confusion of darkness and anti-aircraft fire, they landed several miles from their planned drop zone. That turned out to be a blessing as the Germans were expecting an airborne assault to land in the planned drop zone and had set a trap. Easy Company, with other units, successfully destroyed the German artillery emplacements threatening Utah Beach and helped save hundreds of American lives.
In September 1944, Easy Company participated in a second combat jump during Operation Market Garden. That joint British, American and Allied operation was the subject of the book and the movie “A Bridge Too Far.” The 506th drop zone was northwest of Son in the Netherlands. Freeman and Easy Company safely parachuted in, but he saw two American gliders collide head on and crash shortly after he had landed.
The Germans blew up the bridge at Son before it could be captured, but combat engineers put up a Bailey bridge to open the road. The 506th then liberated the town of Eindhoven.
Freeman told how he, Sgt. Malarkey and several others were sent down the river to watch for advancing German troops. They were in a swamp beside the river when eight or nine Germans with a dog appeared. They got the drop on the Germans by yelling “Auchtung.” The Germans were caught by surprise and surrendered.
As they were marching the Germans to the company headquarters they had to cross an open area where they could come under German fire. Sgt. Malarkey looked at the situation and said, “We might get killed doing this.” So Freeman and Malarkey walked in the middle of their prisoners without incident. Freeman also recalled that in Eindhoven as elsewhere the men of Easy company gave candy to children whenever they saw them.
Freeman recalled that after they had secured their bridge and opened the road for the Allied advance, the advance suddenly stopped. It was afternoon and the advancing British armored column had stopped for tea.
When the Battle of the Bulge broke out in December, the 506th was rushed to a front-line position near the town of Foy. They were transported in open trucks in freezing weather without heavy winter coats. They held off the German attack at Foy near Bastogne. Freeman’s mortar squad dug a pit, or large foxhole, for the mortar. His squad occupied their position for about a month without proper winter clothing, with limited supplies and under constant German artillery fire during one of the worst blizzards imaginable.
Once they were attacked by American aircraft by mistake. The intervention of American “Red Tail” Tuskegee Airmen flying low between the 506th on the ground and the other American fighter aircraft alerted the attacking planes that they were firing on Americans. The Tuskegee Airmen had risked their own lives flying at tree top level to stop the mistaken strafing. The incident had been caused by a wrong color signal card being exposed on the ground.
Later, near the end of the fighting at Foy, Freeman and Ed Joint were wounded by a German rocket called a “screaming mimi.” Freeman was sent to a hospital in England but recovered quickly and returned to Easy Company by April.
The war in Europe was ending and Easy Company saw firsthand the German death camps and labor camps with their untold horror. At the end of fighting the company was the first Allied unit to enter Hitler’s famed mountain retreat, the “Eagle’s Nest.” Soon, Easy Company began to train in Austria for the invasion of Japan which fortunately never had to happen. Brad Freeman arrived back home in Mississippi on December 2, 1945.
Three weeks ago he returned to Europe on the New Orleans World War II Museum’s “Band of Brothers” Tour.” There he told the firsthand story of Easy Company and the 506 PIR to a group which included former cast members of the “Band of Brothers” miniseries. Listening to Brad Freeman and to Steve Wallace and Danny Coggins, who traveled with him, talk about the trip two thing stood out. After 74 years, Freeman went straight to the mortar pit in which he had spent the Battle of the Bulge. I asked how he so clearly remembered the location of his mortar pit. He replied: “I could remember the woods and trees and how I could look out at (the towns of) Foy and Noville. Some things you remember. Two boys got killed in the same foxhole right across the road from me there.”
The story of Easy Company is an amazing one and when you hear Bradford Freeman tell it, you are left in awe. Their selfless service makes it clear why we owe a debt of gratitude to veterans and those currently serving in the military.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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