The decorated war veteran suspects the requests will only increase in the years to come.
“I'm one of a few survivors left,” said the 88-year-old, who personally knows of only two other World War II paratroopers who are still living.
“There are so few airborne vets left in Montana,” said Dennis Gordon, a trustee on the military museum board who helped organize the event.
Grossman joined the ROTC as a college freshman in 1938 and gradated four years later as a commissioned second lieutenant. He served with the 456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion of the 82nd Airborne. During his time in the military, Grossman earned the Bronze Star for Valor, two Purple Hearts and three foreign decorations.
In July of 1943, Grossman participated in the first massive parachute drop. Parachute-riding artillery men landed in Sicily during Operation Husky. There were 226 airplanes and more than 34,000 troops, Grossman recalled.
The planes flew into Sicily below the radar, in the dark of night, presumably in formation.
But none of the pilots had all that much experience, he said. By the time they reached Sicily, the planes were scattered. Grossman was dropped about 22 miles from the landing zone.
Though he never jumped straight into enemy fire, he did land by the light of enemy tracers, he said.
On June 6, 1944, Grossman was one of thousands of men to parachute into Normandy, France, on D-Day. He landed at 5 a.m., short of the landing zone, in a small, tree-lined horse pasture with a mare and a small foal. The mare was going crazy, Grossman said.
For a guy who grew up on a farm in Nebraska, Grossman's first thought after both feet were planted firmly on the ground was how he'd tell the neighbors back home that he got run down by a mare before firing a single shot.
Not all paratroopers landed so smoothly during the Normandy invasion. Many who landed in a small town nearby got hung up on utility poles or in trees, and were gunned down before reaching the ground. Others were sucked into the fire of burning buildings.
On Sunday, one woman asked Grossman how he dealt with the fact that so many of his fellow paratroopers lost their lives in Normandy.
“I don't recall wrestling that much with the problem,” he said. “I tried to remain positioned the best I could. We all had a job to do.”
Paratroopers always looked down on gliders, Grossman told the audience. Glider pilots were “draftees” and didn't get paid as much; the paratroopers were young and cocky - and “just thought we were better,” he said.
Grossman had heard the horror stories about gliders, or “flying coffins” as the troops referred to them, and he'd even witnessed a glider crash.
“I've never seen a bigger pile of kindling in all my life,” he said, referring to the plane's tenuous durability and quality. “That glider was reduced to kindling.”
Then, three and a half months later, as Grossman and his unit prepared to jump into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden in September 1944, members of his unit were told there were no more parachutes.
They were riding into the country in gliders.
The military gliders were constructed out of a network of pipes and covered by a fabric that you could punch your fist through, he said. The cockpit was a Plexiglas bubble.
“You may be going to your doom, but you had a good view,” said Grossman, who was forced to ride as the co-pilot for the 500-mile trip, 100 miles of which was over water. “I thought of myself as a positive thinker. I tried to purge any negative thoughts. I was scared, but everything went along all right.”
Grossman landed at his destination in good shape.
Sunday's talk was part of the yearly celebrations at the military museum every Veterans Day and Memorial Day. On this day, the museum recognized the sacrifices of all airborne service men, women and veterans. This Memorial Day, the museum will recognize all Korean and Vietnam veterans, in conjunction with the opening of exhibits that commemorate those wars.
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at chelsi.moy@missoulian.com.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)