Account from Edwin N. Blasingim,First Sergeant, B Company, 160th Engineer Combat Battalion, as told to his son.
From Utah Beach, August 12, 1944, it took the 160th Engineer Combat Battalion eleven days to reach Fontainebleau, about 270 miles by their route of march. They went through towns where the 5th infantry division had just been, there were destroyed buildings and burned out vehicles that were still smoldering. When they reached Fontainebleau they were with the 5th facing the German front. Company C was in Fontainebleau getting the 5th across the Seine. B Company was about ten miles south of Fontainbleau completing a treadway bridge across the Le Loing River ( a tributary that flowed into the Seine just east of Fontainebleau ). It was August 24, 1944. A new Sherman tank, temporarily assigned from another outfit, was parked just above B Company guarding them as they built the bridge. This crossing was in the vicinity of Nemours and the 989th Engineer Treadway Bridge Company was working with B Company. There was a small deserted town across the Le Loing, up a gradual hill and about a half mile or so away. The town consisted of a few houses, a couple of buildings and a church. B Company was taking fire from a mortar position somewhere out of sight behind the town. They couldn't spot him but they figured that there was a forward observer in the town because the mortar fire was very accurate. Good ears could usually tell when the mortar fired but the fighting in Fontainebleau sometimes made it difficult to be sure, sometimes the whistle was the only warning but when you heard "incoming" you scrambled for the nearest foxhole. This was the first time these men had worked under fire and they were nervous, they were scared. Suddenly there was a huge explosion and everybody hit the dirt, scared to death and expecting the next blast. Men close to foxholes crawled in and men too far away hugged the ground in the lowest places they could find. There was silence until a 76mm shell casing rattled off of the side of the tank and fell in the dirt. The church and and it's steeple were gone, the old highest point in town. The tank crew had zeroed in on the church and fired one round, without telling anybody. The mortar fire stopped, for a while.
Pfc.James N. Corley, classified as a Demolition Specialist, was working on the bridge that day. He was assisting the 989th with inflating ponton bridge sections. Pfc. James H. Young was nearby when James Corley was hit with shrapnel. James Young told his son that there was a loud explosion and he turned to see James Corley on the ground. James Corley took a piece of shrapnel in the shoulder that resulted in the loss of the use of his arm. James N. Corley and James H. Young were awarded Purple Hearts, they have both passed but this account is remembered and shared by their sons. James Corley's son Keith has been trying to learn all that he can about his Dad's service in World War II. We made contact through Marion's website. Keith sent this picture of his Dad.
James N. Corley, Pfc.
