Soldier Story- Brittney

Ira Gilliand recalls his night on the ridge.


It's tough to talk about this stuff. It's been fifty-eight years. It gives me the chills thinking about it.

They kept charging, but that's where the grenades came in. We threw grenades all night long. [It would be too long for me.-Brittney 4/7/09 5:52 AM] I remember rolling the grenades down. We were up on the hill and they were below us. They kept feeding us boxes of grenades. [I wouldn't be able to deal with that-John Fred 4/7/09 11:12 AM] I remember the sound of Plante's BAR. He kept it going all night long. A lot of guys spent a terrible night out there. [I couldn't do it all night. -Brittney 4/7/09 5:52 AM]

The 1st Parachute Battalion was with us. I remember one of the paratroopers got shot. The corpsman came over because of his cry for help, and he [the corpsman] got shot right through the heart. [That has to be traumatizing to the slodiers -John Fred 4/7/09 11:15 AM] His name was Smith, so when I saw Smith go down, I grabbed him and carried him down the hill. [I don't know if I'd do that where he just got shot. -Brittney 4/7/09 5:54 AM] I didn't think he was going to die. When I got him down to the first aid station, I saw one of our doctors cry. [chokes up] Old Smitty was my friend, a real nice guy, and I broke down also. [I would end up crying -John Fred 4/7/09 11:17 AM]