Episode 27: Red-Blooded American in the Red Army - The True Story of Joseph Beyrle, the Only Soldier to Fight for Both American and the Soviet Union in World War II, Part I

 

Joseph Beyrle was one of the enlisted in the US Army Paratroopers in 1942 after graduating high school and was sent to Camp Toccoa, Georgia for airborne training. In July 1942, the first 5,000 men arrived at Camp Toccoa and by the end of the war, 17,000 paratroopers had been trained there. In 2001, training at Camp Toccoa was portrayed in the HBO mini series Band of Brothers.

Band of Brothers - based on the Stephen Ambrose book of the same name - followed the exploits of one company the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. The regiment's motto Currahee is thought to be a Cherokee word that means "stands alone" which is exactly what paratroopers when they drop behind enemy lines in combat. They stand alone until reinforcements are able to reach them.

One hallmark of training at Camp Toccoa was running up Currahee mountain - three miles up and three miles down.

 After arriving in England to await the invasion and liberation of France, Joe Beyrle become the first American Soldier to jump into occupied France and he did it alone, twice, to deliver funds to the French resistance. He was selected for this secret mission in part because he unofficially had the most jumps of anyone in the 101st Airborne Division. Back in Georgia, he discovered he LOVED jumping out of perfectly good airplanes so he would often pose as other paratroops and make jumps for them. They were afraid of being injured and subsequently kicked out of the airborne. Beyrle apparently didn't have the same concerns, charged $5 a pop to jump in someone's place and earned the nickname Jumpin' Joe.

His third jump into France happened right around midnight on June 6, 1944 when 6,000 American and 1,000 British paratroopers jumped into Normandy, France to kick off the liberation of Europe on what would become known as D-Day.

Just hours before the jump, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower visited the Currahees and the rest of the paratroopers before their operation. Ike had gone to the airfield hoping to bluster the resolve of the young men about to jump into war. He later said that it was his resolve that was blustered when he saw the determination on the paratroopers' faces. They had found a cause they were willing to risk their lives for. There were ready to do what needed to be done.

Episode 26: American Scoundrel - Notorious Politician and Union General Dan Sickles, Part II

 

Daniel Edger Sickles wasn't sure what he was going to do after being acquitted of murder and finishing his second term in the US House of Representatives so when the Civil War broke out, he quickly jumped at the chance to serve. When he raised an Infantry regiment, he was made it's colonel. He then raised an entire brigade and was made its brigadier general. He called it the Excelsior brigade after New York's state motto.

Excelsior Brigade Insignia

With very little professional military training, or even real battlefield experience, he was promoted to major general and given command of, first, a division in III Corps, and then of the entire Third Corps, consisting of about 10,000 soldiers. 

While leading the III Corps at Gettysburg, he made the controversial call to position his unit ahead of the Union battleline in and around the now famous-Peach Orchard. While mounted, a 12-pound cannon ball crushed his leg and leaving his horse unscathed. On the below map I have circled in orange where Sickles' III Corps was after pushing forward and indicated via an orange line more or less where he was supposed to be. Notice the arrow indicating Sykes' V Corps moving to occupy Little Round Top since Sickles wasn't there. III Corps had to receive reinforcements from Hancock's II Corps, Sykes' V Corps, and Sedgwick's VI Corps to avoid being completely overrun.

After his leg was amputated, the Third Corps surgeon sent Sickles' leg to the Army Medical Museum which had recently asked for specimens. Sickles would visit the leg every year on the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, and it is still the most popular exhibit at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.

After the battle, and for the rest of his life, Sickles preferred to use crutches even though a prosthetic would be more comfortable. Cynics might say he wanted people to see his pant leg pinned up so they would all remember how he had been willing to place his body on the line for the Union cause.

After the war, sickles served in a variety of public position, including military governor of the Carolinas, US Ambassador to Spain, and a third term in the US House of Representatives. New York state asked him to serve of the head of its monuments commission which developed a passion in Sickles for battlefield preservation. He also oversaw the placement of monuments for several New York regiments and brigades, and III Corps.

Excelsior Brigade Monument at Gettysburg

When Sickles died in 1914 at age 94, he had outlived nearly senior military officer from both the North and South. His well attended funeral was held in Brooklyn, New York, and he transferred to Arlington National Cemetery, Section 3, Grave 1908.

Episode 25: American Scoundrel - The Notorious Politician and Union General Dan Sickles, Part I

I was not able to find any photographs of Dan Sickles from before the Civil War, but some sketches for the Barton Key shooting and the subsequent trial have survived.

The guy in the background of both shooting sketches here is Sam Butterworth, Sickles' Tammany Hall lawyer friend who was in Washington, DC on business at the time. There are some who thought then (as well as now) that Butterworth actually left Sickles' house to start up a conversation with Barton Key or otherwise keep him in Lafayette Square so that Sickles had time to grab his guns and confront him. No charges were ever levied but the questions about his intentions remain. After the shooting, it was Butterworth who accompanied Dan to the attorney general's house to turn himself in. 

The media was on the scene within minutes of the shooting and its coverage, as well as the murder trial, was likely the first news story to get daily updates on at a national level. Few newspaper offices had telegraphs in them. The thought had always been "tomorrow is soon enough," but when it came to news about the Sickles case, the public didn't want to wait until tomorrow. It was the talk of the town all over the country and they wanted the most up-to-date information as soon as possible.

Harper's Weekly was one of, if not the, biggest papers in the country at the time but there were plenty of other outlets who quickly discovered they could make a decent profit by covering the story.

When the trial started in April 1859, the courtroom was packed with reporters, illustrators, legal scholars, the general public, and anyone else who could manage to sneak in. It was mostly standing room only. The first day was the most chaotic, and while the subsequent days were more organized, it was still a circus.

It took three days and more than 100 potential jurors before a panel of 12 men were seated that both the prosecution and defense felt had no preconceived notions about Sickles' guilt or innocence. After adjourning, deliberations took 70 minutes before coming to the conclusion that Sickles was not guilty by reason of temporary insanity; it was the first time such a defense had ever been tried. One juror had initially been for conviction but after discussing the case with his fellow jurors and kneeling to pray about it - twice - he changed his mind.

One would never be able to get away with publishing images of the jury in an ongoing case like this today, but it was perfectly acceptable in 1859.

One person who had no involvement in the trial was Dan's wife Teresa, with whom Barton Key was having an affair. The prosecution wanted the trial to be about Dan's actions, not his motives, and Dan didn't want his wife to be drug through the press. He didn't want Teresa's handwritten confession about eh affair to be entered into evidence, but the defense team did leak it to the press, against Dan's wishes.

One photograph of Teresa Sickles was taken by Matthew Brady, who would later gain renown as a Civil War photographer but it has been lost to the ages. A Harper's Weekly sketch based on the photograph is all we have left. Based on several surviving descriptions of Mrs. Sickles, I don't think this image does her justice.