The 79th General Hospital , England – Wounded in the left foot and right shoulder by mortar fragments as he was moving back from his company’s forward listening post east of Nijmegen, Holland, Sergeant Arthure O. Thompson, 26-year old paratrooper of Springfield, Ohio, is now convalescing at this United States Army general hospital in England.
“Originally we had set out to gather information and take prisoners, but meeting no resistance, we set up two machine gun nets and a Browning automatic Rifle position in a little shell-torn farmhouse,” said SGT Thompson. “We were about 900 yards in front of our lines and so close to the Jerries we could hear them coughing at night.
It was an ideal listening post and the Germans couldn’t spot us as long as we stayed low during the day. We protected our position against their patrols by laying trip-flares and German mines around it.
Our company was being taken out of the line and I had just been relieved and was moving back along the only road out of our position when Jerry dropped a pattern of mortar shells on it.
SGT Thompson was helped back to the battalion aid station and given treatment almost immediately. He was later evacuated to England in a hospital plaine. SGT Thompson participated in the airborne invasion of Italy and in the bitter gihting at Anzio. He landed with the first waves in the parachute invasion of Holland and aided in the capture of Nijmegen before his unit fought its way into Germany.
SGT Thompson was employed at Wright Field handling aircraft supplies before entering the Army in October, 1942.
We honor you, Arthur Thompson.