NHF_WC_2014_Cumings_Thayer
June 25 2014
Ted Cumings himself a retired U.S. Army Colonel, shares the story of his brother-in-law, Jack Berquist, who served as a paratrooper during D-Day and Operation Market Garden during WWII. In February of 1943, Berquist was drafted into the Army where he was trained as a bazooka man before volunteering to train to become a parachutist. On D-Day, Berquist was shot in the chest by a German gunman while preparing to parachute behind Utah Beach. Once on the ground he was patched up and went to fight for two days before he was able to reach a medic station. While the bullet was being removed from Berquist’s chest, the medic was shot by a German sniper. The bullet went clean through the medic and into Berquist’s leg, but both men survived their injuries. After a short recovery in England, Berquist was transferred back to the 82nd Airborne where he participated in Operation Market Garden. Following the end of the war, Berquist became a member of the Honor Guard for General Dwight D. Eisenhower at his headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.
Digital
35m 9s
Cumings, "Ted" Thayer, Interview, National Home Front Project, Washington College, Chestertown Maryland.
Interview was recorded by JR Bauer through Washington College for the Starr Center of the American Experience National Homefront Project.
Chestertown, Kent, Maryland, United States, NA [39.209,-76.06661] [id:4351264]
C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience (Washington College)
Oral histories
oral histories (literary genre)
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France--Normandy
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Oral histories
oral histories (literary genre)
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France--Normandy
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American