Carl Beck parachuted into Normandy with the Army's 101st Airborne Division in the wee hours of D-Day.
His plane was diverted by anti-aircraft fire and Beck landed 12 miles from his original drop zone. Lost, he miraculously found Robert Johnson, a good friend. They hid together in hedgerows, evading German troops for days. They met a Frenchman who stashed them in his barn, feeding them potatoes. Later they connected with a passing unit of the 82nd Airborne Division.
When asked what happened to Johnson, Beck ran his fingers over the clicker paratroopers used as a covert way to identify friend from foe. He located Bois Jacque woods, near Bastogne on a map. That's where Johnson died from a gun shot wound, Beck said. It's also where Beck's best friend, Joe Allwyn, was gunned down.
"A lot of good men, a lot of my friends died," Beck said. "I had no problem shooting the Germans. But it would just about kill me every time I saw one of our own dead."
As America honors the country's fallen warriors, Beck doesn't need a special day to remember the buddies who left home and never returned. He lives with their memories.
Beck shared one tale after another with visitors who found his table Sunday at the Atlanta History Center's Veterans Remembrance Day. He grabbed the person's arm and gingerly guided them closer to his three maps so they could better understand the battleground.
The 86-year-old leaned in to hear questions asked. He tugged on his army uniform as he recalled triumphs and stories about friend who were no longer around.
Beck lives outside Decatur and used to work part-time in the library at Agnes Scott College. He was born in Missouri and enlisted at 17, using his older brother's birthdate to get into the Army.
He completed basic training in Toccoa in 1942 and went to jump school at Fort Benning in April 1943. He met Johnson, Allwyn and the other men who would become his friends during his training in Georgia.
Johnson was from Oklahoma and Beck trades emails with his family today.
"Now that guy, he was always in front of everybody," Beck said. "When you're in airborne you get this fire in your belly and I think he had one of the biggest ones."
Talking about Johnson made Beck think of other friends who were killed in the war. Like Bones Watts, who got his nickname because he was so skinny. He was killed in Holland, Beck said.
"Good old Bones," Johnson said with a chuckle. "He was a favorite of everyone. He loved his coffee."
When they were out on maneuvers Watts tore up pieces of ration boxes and lit them up so he could heat up and drink his coffee, Beck said. He even used pinches of the composition used to make grenades, Beck said. That heated the coffee right up, but once Watts burned a hole in the bottom of his canteen cup, Beck said.
"At our age we got a lot of memories," he said. "The good and the sad get all mixed up together and while you remember the good a lot more, the sad makes its way in."
Beck travels around the country sharing his stories and that of his fallen friends. He recorded his memories for the Library of Congress Veteran History Project. He reenacted the D-Day jump on the 50th anniversary and is traveling back to Bastogne next month. Then in July he will attend the division's annual reunion.
These events honor the living and the dead who fought in World War II including Allwyn, Beck's best friend.
Beck went home with Allwyn to Pennsylvania one July 4 before they shipped overseas. They went to Hersheypark. Beck met Allwyn's girl and his family.
"Joe was brighter than all of us," Beck said. "He could find things. I'd get lost in a croaker sack."
Allwyn died in Bastogne. After he was shot in the stomach Beck ripped an old barn door off to make a gurney so they could carry him to the aid tent. Allwyn looked up at Beck and said "Fini."
"He knew his time had come. He looked at me and lifted his hand," Beck said. "Back then I didn't know why. But now I know he wanted me to take the ring his girl gave him. I just didn't know back then. It was hard to know then."
About the Author
