Today, we took another step back in time as we walked through the hedgerows of Normandy in northern France. Staring into the hedgerows with these American heroes and legends truly made me realize how incredible and amazing it was simply to be able to walk and talk with these men who fought and suffered through these lands.
Having escorted Captain Mal Walker around both southern England and Northern France for the better part of the last week, I grew accustomed to him being a quiet, modest man. While evidently very smart (he authored the widely-acclaimed Encyclopedia of the Third Reich), he was never pretentious and did not talk much about his own actions. For some background, he came onto Omaha Beach with the second wave as the first wave was still stuck on the beach. Speaking for myself, I simply cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to be in the LCI, rocking in the ocean as these brave men watched the devastation on the beach without even the option of turning back. Realizing this is definitely a testimony to exactly how great and valiant the greatest generation truly was. Participating in the assault on Normandy after taking the beach, the company that Captain Walker was with was charged with assaulting hedgerows on the way to St. Lo.
According to both Captain Walker and other veterans of hedgerow warfare, conquering fields bordered by these rows of trees, stones, and compacted dirt was no easy task. First, the assaulting company must find their way either around or through the hedgerows, which had been around and growing since they Celts created them around 2000 years ago. Tanks were very difficult to get through the hedgerows, and many ingenious creations helped tanks cut their way through and make it much easier for the infantry to cope when assaulting machine gun nests and other small arms fire.
Captain Walker’s account of attacking across a certain field was by far the most emotional moment of the day, which included trips into St. Lo as well as Utah Beach. Advancing across a field 200 meters from La Lucerne and Bellefontaine, Captain Walker and the 40 men under his command were attacked by machine gun fire from the hedgerows in front of them. You must understand that these hedgerows are steep, reaching in excess of 15 feet high. Watching Captain Walker talk about that day 67 years ago while standing directly in front of the field where 39 of his 40 men, including himself, were killed or wounded sends a very strong message that had me tearing up on the site. Captain Walker was hit, according to himself, “in both arms and legs. One arm was hit twice.” In addition, his M1 carbine was cut in half by machine gun fire and a bullet lodged itself in a steel plate in the Bible that he kept in his front chest pocket. Without the Bible there, Captain Walker likely would have died. He was in the hospital for three months, but eventually made his way back to the front lines when the Allied armies pushed their way into Germany.
Men like Mal Walker are who every man in the armed forces aspires to be like. A truly brave leader who is not afraid to go into combat, he is the epitome of the Greatest Generation’s values. Without men like Captain Walker, who knows if the Allied armies would have been able to push their way as quickly through France and Germany, if at all. How many more Americans, British, and French would have had to die without men like this giving their all not only for their own country, but for the sovereignty and freedom of others.
The emotions I feel about being able to talk to and spend time with these great men gives me a great amount of humility. Would I have been as brave as these men attacking ceaselessly from hedgerow to hedgerow? Something deep within me tells me that I could, but it is impossible to tell. Things that this generation dreams of thinking to do, the Greatest Generation actually did. Whether in Europe or the Pacific, Americans like this gave their all, believing in the cause and in themselves in order to ensure the freedom of the free world from both Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan.
Although it was a very emotional day, it turned out to be the most striking day and story so far on this trip through England and Normandy. Without being here, we would never know the story of Captain Walker and his exploits in the hedgerows, and the gravity of the events would be lost to time. Captain Walker and men like him cannot be forgotten in time, because without them, you cannot truly understand how these great men lived. History books will not always tell the full story, because they are not written during the same time. Now is the perfect time to take advantage of the information available; to talk to these men who went through these harsh times together. Without first-hand evidence to show exactly how everything happened, it is simply impossible to tell how much history has gotten wrong.
-Written by USAF Cadet Trent Kern
