Episode 28: Red-Blooded America in the Red Army - The True Story of Joesph Beyrle, The Only Soldier to Fight for Both America and the Soviet Union in World War II, Part II

This photograph was taken when Joe Beyrle was transferred to a permanent POW camp inside Germany, which won't happen until part III of the story but seeing as he is now in German custody, it thought it was appropriate to use here.

When Beyrle jumped into Normandy he was one of the few paratroopers dropped anywhere near his assigned drop zone so when he saw a church beneath him, he knew it was the church in the middle of the small village St Côme-du-Mont. Unfortunately, he was dropped so low that he couldn't avoid the church and landed on its roof.

In 2005, a plaque was placed on the church commemorating Joe's rough landing 61 years prior.

Despite the confused drop of paratroopers, mixed American units had a lot of success against the Germans that night. The longer an individual trooper took to link up with friendly forces, the more likely he was to run into a German force too large to take on. Many of the Allied paratroopers captured on D-Day were alone or wounded. Joe was captured by German paratroopers as were the Americans in this photo.

The day after his capture, Beyrle saw his battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Robert "Bull" Wolverton handing in a tree from his parachute harness. He has been killed in the jump. Before the jump into Normandy, Wolverton, the first commander of 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division lead the battalion in a prayer that was well remembered. He also laid out the initial outline for the first post-war 3rd battalion reunion that was held in 1947 per his instructions. The 29 year old was buried at the US Military Academy Post Cemetery in West Point, New York.

Wolverton (left), checking the equipment of another paratrooper equipment on 5 June 1944

  After Beyrle was transported out of Normandy, he was taken to a collection point - an old monastery known as Starvation Hill to those interned there - before being moved to a different location with a handful of others to be interrogated. While there, there were presented to the senior Germany commander in France, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who liked to review POWs to get a feel for the caliber of troops he was facing. 

Notoriously self-conscious about his height, he didn't even look at Beyrle who was more than six feet tall and towered over the 5'6" field Marshal. After the review, Joe's questioning continued but he refused to answer any questions which frustrated his captors to the point that they struck him in the head with a rifle butt. This fractured his skull and put him in a coma for six days... which seems like a good place to take a break in Beyrle's story.