Evening star., 1944-07-30

GU o|e LfSc uppuIeTtLty UtOTe Slg-
D the eastward. "A. p. wirsphoto.
was German headquarters and strong
point.
All approaches were protected by a
skillfully arranged cross-fire of machine
guns. Leading to the chateau through
an avenue of ancient beaches was a
gravel road about Is yards wide. Along
this road and in the hedged lanes
around took place the first phases OF
the fight for Mont Castro.
1t continued throughout the day OF
July 2-the now familiar type of hedge
row fighting with one extremely pic
turesque incident, the emergence of
Sergt. Abe Jamail of Houston, Tex as
what his company commander desig-
mated as "one-man cannon company"
Ever since the landing, Jamail had been
attracting attention to himself as a
member of the regiments Terrible Trio,
the other members being 1t. Barney
Taylor of Washington, D. c.. and Pvt.
John Heffernan of Portland, Me. They
were all rife grenade experts, masters
Of knocking out machine-gun nests.
Picturesque Figure
Jamail. soldier of Armenian extrac-
tion % members of whose family now
are in the armed forces, is a pictur-
esque figure. He wears a coal-black
Van Dyke beard which gives him the
appearance OF stage Mephistopheles
dressed in CT uniform He is gener-
ally known in the division as The Rug
Peddler." His commanding colonel calls
him Geronimo" He gets more fun
out of killing German" says his COM
pany commander, than from any
thing else. You should see him after
he has knocked out a machine gun
nest. He just grins from ear to ear"
Sergt. Jamail's speciality is knocking
out machine-gun nests with rife gren-
ades. He is a dead shot. The normal
ammunition of a rife grenadier is six
grenades The Texan always carries at
least IL in his pockets and has dozen
or so more extras distributed among the
men OF his platoon which he can use II
the hunting is good. His technique is
relatively simple and primitive He de-
liberately exposes himself in a hedge
rowed field to draw machine-gun fire,
thus locating the positions This day he
knocked out six nests, killed six men and
captured %.
One of his intended victims escaped
through Jamail's good sportsmanship.
He was running from one of the gren-
aded nests across an open field. He
could have saved himself easily by sur
rendering with his comrades. The SER
geant was impressed by the mans
courage and held the hand of comrade
who drew bead on him.
Give the fellow a sporting chance
to reach the next hedgerow," he said.
then I'll get him"
A One.Man Army
Jamail fired and missed. The German
dlved into foxhole across the hedge.
Mephistopheles looked bitterly cha
grined. That same day, as his company
commander tells the story, he walked
along the top of hedgerow with the
bitches on both sides swept by straight
lines OF machine-gun fire, with an
enemy mortar shooting balls of FIRE
as big as footballs" at the rate Of one
every 20 seconds along the sunken road
between the two bitches That day the
Rug Peddler" could have armed a
platoon with captured weapons. His
score was seven machine-guns, eight
rifles, three machine pistols and five
ordinary pistols. Since landing in Nor
mandy. his company officers say, this
one man has accounted, at minimum
estimate, for the lives of so Germans.
But Ste. Suzanne, however picturesque,
can be considered only as preliminary
skirmish to the battle for Mont Castro.
Before dark the chateau was in Ameri-
can hands and during the next two days
was launched what the enemy evidently
considered the major phase of the
attack. 1t might, in fact, have been
just that if it had succeeded. One reei-
ment, which had experienced the
roughest fighting since D-day, was
ordered into the thick, dark, marshy
woodland at the eastern foot of the hill.
At this time came my own first intro
duction to the Goth Division In the
present war. For over year had been
one OF its soldiers in the last war when
1t was considered to have been one of
the crack American divisions and to
have sustained some of the heaviest
losses.
1918 Was Mild.
The heroic achievements of the men
Of 1918 are described with some detail
in pamphlet Just prepared by the
public relations ofhcer. Capt. George Nc
Namara Of Los Angeles. After Mont
Castro the soldiers of today consider all
this rather ludicrously old fashioned.
l am entirely ready to admit that COM
pared to the fighting of the next few
days any Of the 1918 battles were popcun
affairs fought by physically and men.
tally inferior men.
The men OF 1918 couldn't have taken
the punishment of that black Geth-
semane Of horror and death. ANY one
OF that half dozen exploits there would
have constituted one OF the great news
stories of the last war. But "sergt.
Yorks." Lost Battalions" and the like
are 50 common here in Normandy that
they get only passing notice.
For weeks had seen the old familiar
Goth shoulder blaze and determined to
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