Fox Company
The story of LT Nicholas Schiltz
Sep
The death of LT Nicholas Schiltz, one of Fox Company’s platoon commanders, was described by PFC Dan McBride.
“We were going through a town and passed a beautiful home that had a brick patio in the front with flowers in the garden. While we were admiring the house, the Germans suddenly started to drop mortars on us. PFC Jay Smith, who was standing next to me, and I both flattened out immediately. We must have been lying about 15 feet from each other. One of the shells that came down landed right between us. At the exact moment it hit between us, 1LT Nicholas Schiltz went through the gate. I do not recall why Schiltz did not seek cover, but the explosion spun him around, and he fell back on the ground. When Jay and I looked at the lieutenant, we immediately knew he was gone. I asked Smitty if he was hit and Smitty said no. He asked me the same thing, and I also confirmed I was not hit. Neither of us was able to figure out why that shell that fell right between us did not hurt Smitty and me but killed Schiltz, who was about 30 feet from our position. The lieutenant was running when he went past the opening where we chose to look for cover. It still amazes me.”
Featured image: Nick, the son of LT Schiltz, receives his father’s Silver Star Medal posthumously (Source: The Charlotte Observer, Tuesday, August 28, 1945).
Emmert Parmley recalls his platoon commander
PVT Emmert Parmley would never forget his platoon commander.
“As LT Schiltz’s platoon runner, I should have been with him, but he had me assigned to LT Wolfe that day. I was doing rear-guard duty, as I did in Normandy, looking for stragglers. I cannot be totally certain but believe that being assigned to rear-guard duty saved my life. I will never know if he did this on purpose. He was a fine, brave officer – carried a picture of his son in his helmet and looked at it often. His son looked about one year old. When later, in a courtyard by a house, I looked in his helmet which was on a gun that marked where he fell, the picture was still there. There were also flowers put there by the Dutch people.”
Obituary
1LT Nicholas Corbin Schiltz was born in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina on March 20, 1919. He attended senior high school in Greensboro, North Carolina, and traveled for a Charlotte business company before his enlistment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on June 27, 1941. He died on September 18, 1944, at the age of 25. 1LT Schiltz left behind a wife, Margaret M. Schiltz, and a 14-month-old son, named Nicholas C. Schiltz, Jr., his mother, W.M. Schiltz, two brothers, and a sister. 1LT Nicholas Schiltz was posthumously bestowed with a Silver Star Medal and was awarded a Purple Heart Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.
This is a short story of one of Fox Company’s leaders, LT Nick Schiltz, as described in the book: From the Frying Pan to Mittersill, Fox Company, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (1942 – 1945). If you are interested in learning more about these courageous Fox Company paratroopers, order your copy now!
