On This Day 78 years ago: A second Purple Heart medal for a 101st Screaming Eagle

PFC Dan McBride, a 101st Screaming Eagle of F/502, would be wounded again on October 26, 1944, which meant he was awarded his second Purple Heart Medal after being injured in Normandy before. Dan was seriously wounded in action during a patrol on one of the Dutch dikes at the Island.  

Featured image: PFC Dan McBride, a hardcore 101st Screaming Eagle (Courtesy of Mark Bando).

Dan recalls that faithful day 

McBride:

“I got injured on one of these needless operations. Our patrol consisted of seven or eight men and went along the top of a dike. I was carrying the A6 machine gun. I had a box of ammunition in my right hand, and the machine gun was on my left shoulder. The Germans spotted us, and I could hear the shell coming down, and by the sound it made, I knew it was going to be close. I tried running as far away as I could, but when the shell hit the ground behind me, I got a boost from both the running I did to get out and the explosion itself, which blew me off the dike. 

“It might seem unbelievable, but the 40 lb machine gun went in the air, started spinning around, and came straight down, barrel first, and landed on my ankle. The muzzle of this 40 pound machine gun smacked down on me, stabbed my combat boot, and busted not only the bones but also screwed up the ligaments. The medic carried Novocaine, the same stuff they use when a tooth is being pulled out, and he stuck it through the boot into my leg. The drug enabled me to walk, but when I did, I could feel the bones cracking together.” 

Medical treatment 

“I was transported to a medical facility, and after initial treatment, it was decided to send me to Brussels. I traveled with a paratrooper of the 506th PIR, who got hit in the shoulder and was put on a two-engine plane with me, a De Havilland Rapide 395. We were both put in a British hospital. They took me first to the operating room. When I came out, I had a cast on my leg with a metal hoop on the bottom.” 

Going AWOL 

During his stay at the hospital, PFC McBride discovered he would not return to the 502nd. As he was a hardcore 101st Screaming Eagle, Dan did not want to go to any other unit, and so he went AWOL. A couple of days before he had been wounded he had heard the regiment would leave for Reims, France, once it was relieved. PFC McBride hitchhiked a ride and made it to their next base at Mourmelon, long before the other 101st Screaming Eagles of F/502 arrived there.