M: That is right. Things were fairly static for awhile because the battle for
 Monte Cassino held up everything. Then came the Anzio beachhead landing,
 which did not get anywhere. So when they planned the breakout for those
 two, we were attached to one of the units (I have forgotten which one), and
 we acted as foot troops for the remainder of our time in Italy, which was into
 the beginning of August. I think we were within binocular view of the Arno
 River--which is as far north as the American army got until the end of the
 war--when we were pulled back into the area outside of Rome and started to
 prepare for the jump on southern France, which took place in August of 1944.
 We were to relieve the pressure on the Normandy beachhead.

P: When did you first get into battle?

M: I am guessing that it was in late May or early June of 1944, but as foot
 soldiers. We were infantry; we were not parachute infantry.

P: Did you get back into the infantry before the end of the war?

M: No, never.

P: So all of that valuable parachute training went for naught.

M: No, because we jumped in southern France. While they used us mainly as
 infantry we were--in theory--supposed to jump on a location and in two or
 three days the armor would come in and relieve us, and we would be pulled
 out. When we got into southern France, on two occasions we were on the
 line for over 100 days, which is a pretty good length of time for anybody.
 We did not have the logistical backup or the weapons. Our strongest weapon
 was a 75mm Pack Howitzer that we had carried around on mule back in Italy.
 We could see them hit the southern extension of the Maginot Line and just
 ricochet off. We could not make a dent on it.

P: When did you move up from first lieutenant to captain?

M: Just before we left the United States I was made the assistant operations
 officer for the combat team, and I served in that capacity, then, and I got my
 captaincy when we were in southern France.

P: What about your rank as major?

M: That rank of major came at the very end. When the war in Europe ended
 our combat team received an assignment to report back to the United States
 for thirty days of R&R [rest and recreation]. We were then to assemble at
 San Francisco for transportation to Luzon [Philippines] to jump on Honshu
 [Japan].

P: They were moving you to the Pacific theater.

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