A Record of Company "C"
517th Parachute Infantry
In the War Against Germany
This document was provided by James Metzger, son of Paul C. Metzger of Company C. It was sent to his mother from Nolan Powell, shortly after Paul passed away. The original is a type-written, 42-page document, written near the end of the European Operations.
Some background information from Nolan Powell (C Co.):
When the 517th PRCT was stationed in Joigny in 1945, Captain Charles LaChaussee instructed Private Edwin P. Johnson (better known as EP) to write an account of "C" Companies action since it had arrived in Europe the previous June.
EP's sources for the information in the account were, "C" Company Morning Reports, interviews with the troopers who were still with the Company, and any other records or orders that he was allowed access to at the Company or Battalion level.
Also he interspersed throughout the account his poetic acumen or sagacity with such poems as "Long Was the Night" or "The Squirrel With the Hobnailed Boots"; plus "Colonel 'Wild Bill' Boyle at Les Arcs"; plus "Plywood Pete".
One could say this account was primary source material accumulated and assembled soon after the action took place.
EP Johnson was the recipient of three purple hearts, and was with the 517th from March 1943 in Toccoa till the end of the War in 1945.
In 1981, when I first saw this Record, I for the first time knew the name of the village where I was wounded, the several places we traveled or fought thru, and it recalled to me the names and the deeds of my fellow troopers.
Nolan
P.S. Another thing that is very interesting is Charles La Chaussee's Memoirs as Captain of "C" Company. It was written in the 1960's or 1970's. It is over a 100 pages.