Guinn Unger
Member
17th Airborne
Guinn Unger
Colonel, U.S. Army, Ret.
1943–1974
Pfc. Guinn Unger
Frankfurt, Germany, 1945
Outside of Essen there was a mass grave of Polish kids, women, and men. The regiment commander called a meeting of all the town’s bigwigs. The wives came too, all of them in their finest. Up pulled two 6×6 trucks and dropped their tailgates. The commander told the Germans to get on. Inside were picks and shovels.
I was born in 1925 in Gerrardstown, West Virginia. We moved to Biglerville, Pennsylvania two years later. I delivered newspapers and won a contest to go to New York. While I was there, they bombed Pearl Harbor. We had no idea what that meant. Most people thought we’d take care of the Japanese in six months. I graduated high school in 1943 and joined the Army Reserve when I was 17. The Army had a specialized training program in engineering, but they did away with that, and sent us to an infantry unit. They knew they were going to go to Normandy that summer, and needed infantry replacements worse than engineers.
I joined the Airborne in 1944, and went overseas as a replacement in the 507th Regiment of the 17th Division in January, 1945. The 17th Airborne went to the Bulge but I was not with them. That started before Christmas and I got there at the end.
We went to camp on the River Marne in France. We made one practice jump and then jumped across the Rhine into Germany for Operation Varsity. Our casualties were very high the first couple of days. At Normandy they jumped at night; we jumped during the day. We were the first airborne division to jump across the Rhine. We jumped pretty low, about 550 feet. I remember thinking as I was coming down, ‘I’m 19 years old and I’m going to die today.’ I happened to be in the last airplane—number 135. When the first planes came over, they weren’t ready. By the time we got there, they were ready for us and we caught a lot of flak.
I hit the ground, headed for the woods and met a squad of Germans. Their replacement squads were old men and young kids. I had an M-1 and shot at them. They ducked behind some trees and I ran the other way. I finally got to my company headquarters. A whole bunch of our people had gotten shot, but not necessarily killed.
We went to Essen and stayed there until the war was over. One day, there were four of us in a jeep—the driver, the regimental commander, his bodyguard and me. He asked if I smelled something. It was a mass grave of Polish kids, women, and men. The Germans had dug a shallow grave and threw dirt on top.
We went back into Essen and the regiment commander called a meeting of all the town’s bigwigs. The wives came too, all of them in their finest. Up pulled two 6×6 trucks and dropped their tailgates. The commander told the Germans to get on. Inside were picks and shovels. They figured it was their last day. They divided them into three groups—one was on the side of the hill digging individual graves, one was down where the mass grave was, digging those out. The third group was carrying the bodies from one place to the other. It was nasty.
I didn’t have enough points to go home but I had enough to get a good post. They made an officers club in Kronberg Castle, and my job was to stand just inside the front door and check that everyone had a club card. I got out in 1946, came home and enrolled in Temple University. I transferred to Gettysburg where my girlfriend was. I enrolled in ROTC, graduated in 1949 and went right back into the infantry as a 2nd lieutenant.
I went to a school in Fort Riley, then to the infantry school at Fort Benning, then to Europe for three years, so I missed Korea. During the Korean War an enlisted man in Europe could volunteer for Korea; an officer could not. I did go to Vietnam in 1968. I was commander of the 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry. As a rarity, I was the commander of three different battalions: Mechanized Infantry Battalion, Tank Battalion and the 1st-7. The 7th Cavalry was Custer’s unit. I retired in 1974.
I was awarded a Bronze Star in World War II and two Silver Stars in Vietnam.{08-321-2017 • San Antonio, TX}