Governor Mike Rounds greeted Walt Sckerl of Britton and other veterans at the Aberdeen airport after their Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C., in October.
Many of us have had a Christmas Day we'll never forget and a few of us have had a Christmas Day we'd rather forget, but even fewer of us have had a Christmas we have had nightmares about but are very proud to have been a part of.
This is the story of Christmas on Dec. 24 & 25, 1944, for Marshall County native Walt Sckerl who will never forget that Christmas because of what he did for his country on those two days.
It all began when Walt was 21 years old and volunteered for the U.S. Army. He was assigned to observe the Japanese off the coast of California through a large telescope. When World War II broke out for America on Dec. 7, 1941, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States military feared the country might be attacked on that shore.
"I decided I didn't want to spend my military career doing that," Walt said, "so I volunteered to be a paratrooper, was sent to Fort Benning, GA, and with 100 other men learned to jump out of planes.
"The training was tough. Only 40 percent of us made it. We had to learn to jump as close to the ground as we could so enemy fire wouldn't kill us. We had to fall 75 feet, open our silk, camouflage chute immediately, tie it up and run."
Walt's first overseas trip took 12 days on a ship with 5000 other men to Casablanca. "Six of us were in one small cabin," he said. "Close quarters doesn't even cover the event."
The French were in command of the African coast and the group traveled the northern section of Africa until they got to their base camp at Tunis.
Walt's first combat experience found him landing on the island of Sicily at 2:30 a.m. with nine parachutists.
"We were met with a lot of German anti-aircraft gunfire which ended up taking one of the motors out of our plane and two of the parachutists were killed on the way down," he said. "I landed in a grape vineyard, thankfully, between two rows of grapes."
But where were the other men? At this point, the only thing the men could use to find each other were their cricket clickers, which they immediately started using. In a few minutes, they all found each other.
Then, they discovered they had been dropped 20 miles behind enemy lines. They hid during the day, moved at night and watched at night where the enemy fire was coming from so they knew which way to go. After six days of no food, they met up with their men, the 456 Parachute FA Division.
"We marched, fought with them and after 30 days captured the island of Sicily, the first enemy land captured in World War II," Walt proudly said. "I continued with this infantry to move north into Italy fighting through mud and rain, cutting phone lines, messing up trails, conquering one mountain after another until we got to the sacred Catholic shrine called the Monte Casino located near the Anzio Beachhead.
"The Germans mowed us down with our whole front forces killed. We surrounded them, but they came in on either side of us and held us there for five months. The US Navy would sneak food and ammo into us at night.
"One of our generals, General Taylor, snuck into Rome to make contact with the Italian underground who they hoped would contact the Pope and get the German army out of the Casino. It was sacred ground and was not to be occupied by either side. It didn't work; so on May 29, 1944, the English and Americans bombed the shrine and destroyed it along with the Germans. We moved on to Rome."
Walt continued his march through Italy and France. On August 15, 1944, Walt was to jump and land near Monaco. "Because my name was the last one in the alphabet," he said, "I jumped after the other eight. The pilot gave us orders to jump too soon. The rest of the men fell in the ocean and drowned. I landed in a tree on a cliff in the Mediterranean Sea. Again, I had to hide during the day, watch where the fighting was and follow that air fire at night. About two days later, I found my troops."
In the meantime, Hitler had recaptured 50 miles of France including Bastogne, the capital of Luxemburg, which had seven roads leading into it. These were the main arteries for the tanks, men and supplies in the German army.
"We joined the 101st Airborne and our orders from General Dwight D. Eisenhower were to recapture the city of Bastogne," Walt quietly said. "The Germans surrounded us for nine days in December, shelling us every day. On Dec. 24, a German major and interpreter came through the lines waving a white flag and told us to surrender or be annihilated.
"Our U.S. Brig. General Anthony McAuliffe answered with the famous line, 'NUTS!' Our unit had 10 rounds of ammo left and no food. We were told not to shoot until we 'could see the whites of their eyes.' The General fired us up with that one word. We became wild men, knocked out three of their 10 tanks and by 8 a.m. on Christmas morning the weather had cleared, the English had dropped ammo and food and we were in control of Bastogne.
"I will never forget that terrible, but wonderful Dec. 25, 1944. General Patton marched in that afternoon with fresh troops, more food and told us we had helped turn the tide of the war. I was never so proud to be a member of the U.S. Army and the United States of America."
The Allied forces had the Germans on the run. Walt's platoon chased them across Germany and ended up in Salzburg, Austria when he heard during roll call, "Sckerl-you're goin' home."
After 400 days in combat and three and a half years overseas, Sckerl was shipped back to the U.S. on a captured Italian ship cramped with GI's.
"Over 500 of us marched off of it at night, because no one could let 500 GI's loose in New York during the day after what they had been through," Walt said with a grin. "Our first meal was a steak. It was delicious!"
The next day the army sent everyone home to their original state and point of induction. Walt went to Fort Snelling, Minnesota. On July 5, 1945, Walt received an honorable discharge and was also presented with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service career.
He returned to Lake City and managed the elevator there. The next 38 years, he managed elevators in Dallas, SD, Cologne, SD and Plentywood, Montana.
In 1947, Walt married his dear Margie and they had two children: Ronald and Mary Lee. This American hero currently lives at the Greenleaf Assisted Living Center in Sisseton.
