Saving Private Ryan: A 101-Year-Old WWII Veteran's Story

Documentary First, Episode 259. Christian Taylor joins Rob of the Movie Rob Minute for a visit with 101-year-old World War II veteran Ceo Bauer, part one of two. 56 minutes. Released August 27, 2025.

Listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other apps
Watch: YouTube
Read: Full transcript

What does a 101-year-old World War II rifleman think when he watches Saving Private Ryan?

Ceo Bauer has seen Saving Private Ryan more than once. He thinks the battle scenes are good but "pretty enhanced." In the attacks he joined under artillery fire, he says, there wasn't the freedom to move that the film shows, and he doubts soldiers stopped for many theoretical discussions: "There's just not time for that." A movie, he says, has to tell a story the public will follow.

In Episode 259 of Documentary First, the first of two parts, Christian Taylor shares her visit with Ceo in Michigan for the Movie Rob Minute, the daily podcast where Rob goes through Saving Private Ryan one minute at a time. Ceo was the first World War II veteran Christian sat down with and got to know when she began filming The Girl Who Wore Freedom. Watching Normandy guide Florent Plana interview him is where she learned how to really listen to a veteran, and this conversation shows that listening at work.

Ceo was a private first class rifleman in I Company, 377th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, the Iron Men of Metz. He landed at Omaha Beach about 100 days after D-Day and walked single file up a path past a small sign he still can't repeat without tearing up: "Up this path has passed the finest of America's manhood." He shows Rob a photo of his rifle company, where about one man in three lost his life, and explains why so many veterans stopped talking when they came home: people didn't really want to listen.

Then he tells the story of November 8, 1944. In a night attack on a medieval chateau near Maizières-lès-Metz, a flare fell on the wire, and an explosion wounded Ceo and killed the two men beside him. Alone inside German lines with a badly wounded leg, he remembered that "God helps them that help themselves," crawled back through the wire, and staggered and fell, again and again, until he reached his company's outpost. There, a sergeant refused to help him. Part 2 picks up the story from there.

In this episode, you'll learn

• What a 101-year-old World War II rifleman thinks of the battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan
• What the 95th Infantry Division did while it waited in Normandy for the front to need it
• What the pump handle dance is, and why Ceo has danced it on every continent except Antarctica
• The words on a small sign above Omaha Beach that Ceo says nobody else in his company remembered
• Why many World War II veterans stopped talking about the war, and why reunions became therapy
• What happened in the night attack near Metz on November 8, 1944
• How Ceo got back to his company after he was wounded inside German lines

Questions and answers

Is Saving Private Ryan realistic, according to a WWII veteran?

Ceo Bauer, a World War II rifleman who was 101 when he talked to the Movie Rob Minute, says the battle scenes are good but enhanced. In the attacks he joined under artillery fire, soldiers didn't have the freedom to move that the film shows, and he doubts they held many theoretical discussions: "There's just not time for that." He says a movie has to attract the public and tell a story people will get.

Who is Ceo Bauer?

Ceo Bauer is a World War II veteran from Michigan who grew up on a farm and went into the military at 19. He served as a private first class rifleman in I Company, 377th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, known as the Iron Men of Metz, and was wounded near Metz, France, on November 8, 1944. He appears in Christian Taylor's documentary The Girl Who Wore Freedom.

What is the pump handle dance?

Back in the '40s, before his farm had power, Ceo pumped water for the livestock by jumping up and down on a pump handle for an hour or two every day. To break the monotony, he imagined dancing with the pretty girls at a square dance and sang little ditties like "Skip to My Lou." He now does the dance to teach a history lesson, including by a manure pile in a Normandy hedgerow field and at the old path off Omaha Beach.

What did the sign above Omaha Beach say?

Ceo remembers a small sign, about ground level, beside the path his rifle company climbed off Omaha Beach in 1944. By his memory it read: "Up this path has passed the finest of America's manhood." He says nobody else at his company reunions remembered it, and that it's difficult for him to repeat without tearing up, because division after division went up that path.

Why didn't WWII veterans talk about the war?

Ceo says there are many reasons, and some men were too traumatized to remember. But the other thing veterans ran into when they came home was that people didn't really want to listen. Within a couple of minutes, he says, their eyes would glaze over or they would bring up a relative of their own, so veterans just stopped talking. Rifle company reunions, he says, became therapy.

How was Ceo Bauer wounded near Metz?

On the night of November 8, 1944, Ceo's company attacked a medieval chateau near Maizières-lès-Metz, a German strong point behind a minefield and concertina wire. Ceo was the first man through the wire. A flare fell on it, and an explosion wounded him and killed the two men beside him. He took shrapnel, a perforated eardrum and a leg wound that left him with a partial drop foot.

Chapters

Times match the YouTube video.

• 0:00 Meet Ceo Bauer, 101
• 6:44 Is Saving Private Ryan Realistic?
• 10:47 100 Days After D-Day
• 13:06 The Pump Handle Dance
• 16:41 The Omaha Beach Sign
• 23:47 One in Three Killed
• 27:39 Why Didn't WWII Veterans Talk?
• 32:26 Reunions as Therapy
• 37:03 Night Attack Near Metz
• 44:42 Wounded Inside German Lines
• 50:25 Crawling Back for Help

Watch the film

Ceo Bauer appears in Christian Taylor's award-winning documentary The Girl Who Wore Freedom, the story of D-Day told through the French civilians who lived it. It's streaming in the US: where to watch.

About the guest

Ceo Bauer is a World War II veteran of I Company, 377th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, who was 101 when this conversation was recorded. He grew up farming in a rural county, landed at Omaha Beach about 100 days after D-Day, and was wounded near Metz on November 8, 1944. He has gone back to Normandy many times since 1987 and says he feels it's his duty to speak. Read more in his Warrior Legacy profile at the American Battlefield Trust. His host here is Rob of the Movie Rob Minute, an American film lover living in Israel, himself a former rifleman in the Israeli army.

Related conversations

Hear the rest of the story in Part 2 with Ceo Bauer. Christian's earlier Movie Rob Minute visit on Saving Private Ryan, with actor Corey Johnson, is in Part 1 and Part 2, collected on the Corey Johnson and Saving Private Ryan page. For more World War II stories, listen to Tim Gray of the WWII Foundation.

About Documentary First

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week.

Follow the show | Support the show

Full transcript

Christian: Hey everybody, this podcast is brought to you by Documentary First Productions. And we need your support so that we can keep preserving history. If you could go over and grab some merch or watch our films at documentaryfirst.com, you'll help us keep making awesome documentaries and sharing the stories that matter, and also bring amazing filmmakers and their wonderful films to the world. So, thank you so much for listening, and thank you for visiting documentaryfirst.com.

Welcome to Documentary First, an inside look at documentary filmmaking. I'm your host, Christian Taylor, and a documentary filmmaker myself. This week, you are in for a surprise. We're doing something a little bit different this week. We have done this in the past. I sat in as a guest on the Movie Rob Minute. The Movie Rob Minute podcast is a podcast where Rob takes a movie and he reviews it minute by minute. And so, we did this with Rob a while back on Saving Private Ryan, and we're releasing this same podcast on our channel because we want to make sure all of our listeners hear it.

And I sat down with him a while back in a special episode with our veteran Ceo Bauer. Now Ceo Bauer is in the film The Girl Who Wore Freedom. I met him eight years ago when I began filming this movie. He actually was really the first World War II veteran that I sat down with and got to know. And it was while I was watching Flo Plana interview Ceo Bauer that I learned so much about how to really listen to a veteran. This podcast that you're about to listen to really demonstrates this whole technique really, really well. Rob is good at asking questions. Ceo is good at sharing. And you will hear he even gets really teary at times at sharing his story.

So, you're in for a treat listening to Ceo Bauer as he tells a little bit about who he is and his story. We start by asking him if he's ever seen Saving Private Ryan and if it's factual. So, it's a very interesting conversation that we had when I went to visit him in Michigan. There are some visitors that kind of pop in. We were staying at an Airbnb and they were very curious and wanted to know kind of what was going on. So, we allowed them to come in, and it made for some interesting things that happened. So, that's what happens when you're recording live.

So, anyway, I do think this is a very special episode. We're going to break it up into two parts because Ceo loves to share and it ended up going a little bit long, but it was worth every single minute. Ceo is still alive and kicking. He went with us to Normandy once again this year, and he had an amazing time blessing French people. We're continuing to share that on our social media channels. Hopefully, you're following us on Documentary First. Anyway, please enjoy our visit with Ceo Bauer on the Movie Rob Minute podcast.

Rob: Hello everyone and welcome to minute 166 of season 8 of the Movie Rob Minute, the daily podcast where we forage our way through the 1998 Steven Spielberg award-winning film Saving Private Ryan one minute at a time. I'm Rob, and joining me today on a very, very special episode, I'm honored to have Ceo Bauer as my main guest. He is a World War II veteran who fought in Normandy, and we're going to hear all about his stories today.

And along with that, I also have Christian Johnson Taylor, who, as many of you probably will remember, was on a few weeks ago. You know, she's an award-winning documentary director, and we're going to talk about her film also. I mean, we touched upon it a few weeks ago, but we'll go deeper into it this time, because, you know, it also is a movie that features Ceo. So, we're gonna have a lot of fun today. So, I want to welcome you both to this episode.

Christian: Thank you. Very nice to be here.

Ceo Bauer: Thank you very much.

Rob: I must say, I don't think I've ever spoken to somebody who's, you know, past the century mark. So, you know, this is really truly an honor for me.

Ceo: It's tough to get here. It's easy for you to say.

Rob: Yeah. Right. Right.

Christian: Well, you got to be careful. Now, we do need to say that he is 101. We haven't even mentioned that.

Ceo: And it's very close to 102.

Christian: That's right.

Rob: All right.

Ceo: Another two months I'll be there.

Rob: Oh, wow. Okay. So you literally are twice as old as I am, since I turned 51 back in January.

Ceo: Yeah. Well, you got to be careful.

Rob: Although, I'll do my best.

Ceo: We also eliminate all hazardous activities.

Rob: You mean like fighting in Normandy?

Ceo: That's right. Yeah.

Rob: You did that when you were younger. So, you know, I remember hearing something recently that someone said that that's the reason why wars are fought by the young, by young people, you know.

Ceo: Yeah.

Rob: All right. So, why don't we start off with a general question? I mean, obviously, Christian, we've already talked about this, but Ceo, have you ever watched the movie Saving Private Ryan?

Ceo: Yes, I have. Yeah. More than once, I think. Yeah.

Rob: Okay, great. And what are your feelings of a movie like that? I mean, I know that you weren't on the beach itself during that attack, which, you know, I'm sure was harrowing for everyone who was there. But, you know, what is your opinion of how they depicted the soldiers, the work, everything that they had to do in Normandy? You know, did it bring back memories, good or bad?

Ceo: As far as memories are concerned, you know, I have memories, and probably the reason I watch movies like that is because I can associate with them. Every movie is different, of course. Of course they're based on a story. So the movie has to attract attention from the public, and so it has to be such that the public will get the story.

Rob: Yeah, of course.

Ceo: From that standpoint, you know, it's not that realistic, except that it's pretty much there. So, certainly, you know, for a mission like what occurred in Saving Private Ryan there, I imagine, you know, that it wouldn't be that big a deal, you know, to the troops that had it. In other words, that got it. And so from a story purpose, you know, it's enhanced, what I'd say.

Rob: Of course. But did the battle scenes remind you of what really happened there, or?

Ceo: I think the battle scenes were good. You know, they were pretty enhanced, you know, more than would occur normally, because, among other things, I participated in attacks where there was artillery involved, and there wasn't the freedom to be moving like was portrayed in Saving Private Ryan.

Rob: Right. Okay.

Ceo: I'd be somewhat skeptical that they did move quite as much, as I recall from the movie. And I would be skeptical that they held very many theoretical discussions, like you have in a movie. There's just not time for that. And the people involved, their lives are at risk. And so they're not going to be discussing the theory about what happened. So that has to be in there for the movie.

Rob: Right. It's true. It's very true. 100%. You're right about that.

Ceo: Yeah.

Rob: So why don't you tell us your story?

Ceo: My story, well, my story of course is that I landed in Normandy some 100 days after D-Day with the 95th Division, Company I. I basically did not have combat. The fighting was up past Paris at the time, and basically we camped there, the whole division, and the division is about 14, 15,000 men, for three, four weeks while we waited. Basically the Allies overran their supply, and so, you know, for a period of four and six weeks there, they were out of gas and out of shells and everything past Paris. So there was no need for us on the front line until they resumed the offensive.

And so we camped there and kind of marched around, and I even played football. We played softball. In fact, I played my last football game I could ever play there, because I was wounded, you know, when we got on the front line and attacked up at Metz, France, near the German border. So we did that.

And so I have been back there to where we camped, last year, the 80th anniversary of liberation, and Christian remembers it. And I actually was taken by the French to where a battle occurred, which they said was where our rifle company camped. I'm a bit skeptical of that. Looking around, nothing looked familiar, but the battle...

Rob: Well, 80 years have passed. The geography does change a little bit.

Ceo: Yeah. Well, the hedges, I don't think changed that much. There's cattle in the fields, and I was able to do what I call the pump handle dance by a manure pile. I did it by a manure pile in the hedgerow field, small field. Cows in the pasture, too. I did that symbolically because I'm from a rural county and I grew up as a farmer until I went in the military at age 19.

And so symbolically I did the pump handle dance, which is what I did jumping up and down on the pump handle, because back in the '40s we didn't have power, and you got your water to drink and your water for your livestock by jumping up and down on the pump handle, on the pump, for an hour or two every day.

Rob: Oh, wow.

Ceo: Yeah. And so even the Mennonites won't do that anymore, here in the USA. So, in order to break the monotony, I wound up imagining that I was dancing with the pretty girls at a square dance, and jumped up and down doing what I call the square dance shuffle, you know.

Rob: Very nice.

Ceo: And singing a little ditty, which I'll sing one verse of to you, because there was...

Rob: Sure. I'd love to hear it.

Ceo: And this is what my grandpa said they did, what my grandfather Bauer said they did in Iowa where he grew up. If there was no violin or no music, they sang these little ditties. But the one I liked, which was pretty good, was Rats in the Sugar Bowl, or this is one a little bit mixed up. Rats in the Sugar Bowl. I think it was really ants for my grandfather. "Two by two, rats in the sugar bowl. Two by two, rats in the sugar bowl. Two by two. Skip to my Lou, my darling." And another good one is "Little red wagon painted blue. Little red wagon painted blue. Little red wagon painted blue. Skip to my Lou, my darling." So I did that. That kept you warm in the winter and got water for the cattle.

Rob: Did the other guys in your unit also dance around?

Ceo: Say that again.

Rob: Did the other guys in your unit also dance around?

Ceo: No, they... No. No. Well, I wasn't doing it for them.

Rob: No, obviously not. But if you were doing it, then maybe...

Ceo: I didn't do it there. You know, I do the pump handle dance finally kind of to entertain people and keep their attention now. I would demonstrate it to people, and I demonstrate it now every chance I get. You know, I'm doing it for you. You learn a history lesson.

Rob: Right.

Ceo: And there you go. You learn a history lesson.

Christian: Can you tell Rob... One of the stories I love is when you landed on Omaha Beach in '44 and you walked off the beach and up the cliff. Talk about that, because you have a very special experience during that time.

Ceo: Yes, I did, Christian. And I seem to be the only one in my 200-man rifle company that noticed it. By the way, I was a ground pounder, a private first class rifleman. That's the most dangerous job in the military.

Rob: Yeah, I'm familiar. I was a rifleman.

Ceo: Especially in General George Patton's Third Army.

Christian: He said he was a rifleman, too. Did you hear that?

Ceo: Is that right? No, I didn't.

Christian: Yeah.

Ceo: In America, or in the Israeli army?

Rob: In the Israeli army.

Ceo: Okay.

Rob: Yeah. But I retired a sergeant.

Ceo: Yeah. Yeah. So, well, yeah. So, you know, I'm kind of glad to know that.

Rob: Yeah. Well, I know, but, you know, thankfully I don't have battle experience.

Ceo: But to go back to the story, we came across from Britain on a British ship, and we landed at Omaha Beach. And I wondered for a long time... You know, I told the guys of our rifle company, you know, I can't remember climbing down cargo nets. Well, finally one of them listened to me and said, well, we didn't. We were able to land just through the side of the ship. We were able to get on an LCT, probably landing craft troops, or...

Rob: Landing craft transport, isn't it?

Ceo: Yeah. And we landed on what I think were termed the Phoenix, which were those concrete piers towed across from Britain and then sunk off Omaha. Anyway, we landed on those. Then our rifle company walked single file up a path over the shore dune from Omaha, to camp three or four miles in. We just walked.

So, I'm the only one... And I went to a lot of reunions of our rifle company and a lot of 95th Division reunions, annually. So, I went to them, and nobody remembered this little sign, about ground level, that had been placed there. Basically what it said was, and I've not got it verbatim, but: "Up this path has passed the finest of America's manhood." It's difficult for me to repeat that without tearing up.

Rob: Yeah, I can see.

Ceo: Yeah.

Christian: Yes. Thank you for sharing, even though it's difficult.

Ceo: Because division after division landed there at Omaha and went up that path.

Rob: Yeah.

Ceo: You know, we were 100 days, but they'd been coming up over that path single file. We passed our Browning automatic rifle down the line to help the BAR man. We did that because that's heavy, and we riflemen passed it up and down the line. For that reason, that's how I remember, you know, that sign.

Also, we've been back exactly there. Carloads of guys from our rifle company, we went back to Normandy commencing in 1987, and we agreed that we were at the location of the path, which is now blacktop. You know, you can drive down there now.

Rob: Okay.

Ceo: But for symbolism, I did the pump handle dance there, too. And I'm looking at my niece Kim across the table here. She saw me do it and took a picture of it.

Rob: Yeah. So, the pump dance. Yeah. How many places around the world have you done the pump handle?

Ceo: Every continent except Antarctica.

Rob: Okay. That's amazing.

Ceo: I've not been to Antarctica. Yeah.

Rob: Wow. Well, you still got time. You can make arrangements.

Ceo: I think I'd pass.

Christian: Although he is going back to France in about three months. We're going to go back for Normandy. So that's going to be one last trip to France, I think.

Rob: Well, it's actually just in a few days from now, because, you know, this show is airing right at the beginning of June.

Christian: Okay. Right. Well, yeah, we're going May 28th through June.

Rob: Okay. So you're already there, because today's June 3rd.

Christian: Yep. So we'll be there, and in fact on June 3rd, today, when people are listening to this, we're going to be in the town of Carentan visiting schoolchildren there, and he will be sharing the same story. And it's going to be a very special day, because the children really, really love meeting these veterans. They can't wait to take pictures and get autographs, and for them it's such an incredible, special thing.

Ceo: Yeah, they want to touch us.

Christian: Yeah.

Rob: Okay, makes sense.

Ceo: They want to touch us.

Rob: How's your French? Do you speak French?

Ceo: No. No. And I know better than to try to speak French in France, because they know more English than we know French. In fact, we don't sound like Frenchmen if we try.

Rob: True. Very true.

Christian: Now, you know, you're talking about up the hill passed the finest of American manhood. You're holding a picture here. And a lot of these men are some of those finest of American manhood. So, tell them about this.

Ceo: Yeah. Well, will this picture show?

Rob: Not for me. It's just audio.

Ceo: Yeah. Well, I'm holding the picture of our rifle company. And I'm sitting in the front row because I was on KP, kitchen police. They were all lined up to do it. And so the cooks and the bakers and the kitchen police, you know, who do the pots and pans and all the dirty work, we're squeezed in the front row.

Rob: As a kid, I always thought that KP meant cutting potatoes, because whenever you see it in a movie or TV show or a cartoon or something like that, when someone's got KP...

Ceo: That's what I did. Did you do it in the Israeli army too?

Rob: Of course. Of course.

Ceo: Well, everyone's got to eat.

Rob: Yeah, you got to eat.

Ceo: Yeah. Anyway, Christian, I think, wants me to tell you that this rifle company, the 200 men, kind of hit a buzz saw several times. And so in this picture about one out of every three lost their lives.

Rob: Wow.

Ceo: And so we agreed finally... When we got together, we passed the photos around, because there were 30 or so men we didn't know who they were.

Rob: Oh, wow.

Ceo: We couldn't remember who they were. You know, they were listed, but we just didn't know who they were. But of this, we know who was killed in the company, the roll, and we confirmed that about 60 men lost their lives, and almost all of them were wounded, you know, during the five months that our rifle company was in combat, or at least in Europe.

We went into combat in late October, and the company went through until the end of the war. November 8, 1944 was my last day. And that's when General Patton's Third Army attacked to liberate the city of Metz, the fortress at Metz, which took about two weeks. I think the 5th Army Division did the victory parade, although our 95th Infantry Division was first to enter the city of Metz and capture the German headquarters at what was known as the Caserne. And by then I was already wounded and in the Army hospital.

Rob: Do you want to retell the story of what happened to you, or is that too difficult to discuss?

Ceo: It's not difficult. I've told it a lot of times. It's history. So, you know, people just...

Rob: History, but it's personal history. So, you know, sometimes...

Ceo: Yeah. Well, as long as you brought up the subject, a lot of veterans will not talk. They vary from veteran to veteran, but I will. I always did. Because I thought people needed to hear it, you know. I more think it's my duty to speak. That's the reason I'm talking to you.

Rob: Right. Of course. What's your opinion as to why many veterans didn't want to speak about it? You know, there are even stories of veterans who didn't talk to their families about it, and they only found out, you know, after they passed or much later in life, of the heroics, of things that they did while they were fighting in either Europe or in the Pacific. What do you think the reason is that, you know, they say the men of the greatest generation didn't want to tell their tales? They wanted to keep it to themselves.

Ceo: Well, I'd say there are multiple reasons, depending on the individual. Some of them, traumatic, they may not have remembered.

Rob: Okay. Of course.

Ceo: So that would be one thing. The other thing that we veterans ran into when we came back to the States, it occurred for me, was that the people didn't really want to listen. That's still true today here in the USA. When we started to talk about it, in a very short time, the thing that I ran into was that they would mention one of their relatives or somebody, and they'd been over there for a long time and they'd never been hit. But they don't listen. They wouldn't listen to you.

So I think in general, after a while, they just shut up and just didn't talk. So that's still true today. In a couple minutes, that's about all. You can tell their eyes are glazed over and they're thinking about something else and do not listen. So if they're not listening, you're not going to talk. Well, you just realize, well, they're not listening. They want to talk about something else.

Rob: Okay, understand.

Ceo: I'll bet you find the same thing yourself.

Rob: Of course I do. Yeah.

Ceo: You find the same thing yourself back in Israel, I'm sure.

Rob: Yeah, of course. There are some people who talk about things and some people who won't talk about things, for sure. Obviously, this situation's a little different, but yeah.

Ceo: Yeah. By the way, I understand you were in America there...

Christian: Time out. Time out. Yeah. Just take a break till the dog settles. Come on in. We have some guests that are coming, so stand by.

Ceo: Well, "Walk right in, sit right down, daddy, let your mind roll on." Have you got that? That's probably in a movie, but it's a song. "Walk right in, sit right down."

Rob: Oh, yeah. No, of course I've heard it. Yeah.

Ceo: Say that again.

Rob: I have heard that song. Yes.

Ceo: Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one.

Christian: So we're in an Airbnb, and these are the owners who came to join us. We wanted them to come listen. So, all right. So, you were about to say...

Ceo: I was talking about... Good thing you reminded me, about why veterans don't talk. Anyway, in my instance, I would talk. But after 40 years, the veterans in the picture that I couldn't show you, in 1968, we decided to hold rifle company reunions in different cities, annual reunions. And for a veteran, that is therapy, to talk. I'm sure you find that out yourself.

Rob: Yeah. I've actually heard stories about Easy Company, you know, the men from Band of Brothers, that they would do that often.

Ceo: Right. Yeah. By the way, that was a pretty good movie. Pretty realistic. There were some things to pick up in that. By the way, when they went into the Bulge, you know, they came in in trucks and walked in. They didn't parachute in.

Rob: Right.

Ceo: And there was one of the guys, I picked it up, and I don't think most people did. One of the guys climbing on a truck, the replacement 101st man, was kind of acting as though the other guy that had just joined him was a rookie. Well, he jumped in Normandy, you know. And you probably realize also from your own experience that if you show up at a unit as a replacement, the old boys are going to regard you as a rookie.

Rob: That's right. For sure.

Ceo: Yeah. And you're not even able to tell them, you know, I've been in the army quite a while, maybe longer than you might be. So, you know, you would have that occur. But anyway, that was a good movie, and strategically, I think it was pretty accurate, because that did happen.

And for me, one of the things people will ask me is, well, did you fight in the Bulge? And you know what I say? No, I was already wounded and in the hospital. So I was lucky.

Rob: Based on what I've heard, yes, I would agree with that.

Ceo: I was lucky. But anyway, I'm kind of losing the thread...

Christian: The therapy of getting together with your buddies.

Ceo: Then you pass around what happened, and you learn. Every reunion you would learn something more. Of course you wound up getting the replacements that came in, and the guys that wound up going through till the end of the war. And by the way, not very many men in that picture got through till the end of the war. A few of them. And some of them were wounded and came back, you know.

Rob: Right.

Ceo: So you learn from them. I feel the same way when I'm thinking a lot of times about what happened to I Company during combat. I wish we had spent more time reminiscing and asking questions of each other, rather than kind of whooping it up, which is human nature.

Rob: Yeah, for sure. So, yes, you were going to tell us the story of what happened to you. How you got wounded.

Ceo: Yeah. I was in Maizières-lès-Metz, which is M-A-I-Z-I-E-R-E-S, and that's kind of on the outskirts of the city of Metz, M-E-T-Z. And so near the German border, about a half hour away from the German border, and it's along the Moselle River, M-O-S-E-L-L-E. And after the Red Ball Express had hauled, and they'd got enough gas and shells up, then General Patton could resume the offensive.

And they had backed up to Metz and used Metz... The city of Metz is surrounded by forts, some 30 or so, you know, some of them old, but some of them quite modern, the French forts, part of the Maginot Line. So these forts were to deter Germany, but then they were turned against us, those of them in the enemy's defense line, which they'd thrown up to defend in France, you know, to keep the army out of Germany.

So basically we went up on line. We replaced the 95th Division who had entered Maizières and had been able to clear the town, and it wasn't very big, 3, 4,000 maybe, my estimate. And so for 10 days to two weeks we patrolled around, and had to do it at night, to find out what the situation was, to find out where the minefields were, and find out if we could where their line was.

So basically, when I was wounded, we had a 10 to 15 minute artillery barrage on a medieval chateau, which is a strong point, with a minefield strung in front of it and concertina wire, smooth wire. Concertina wire strung along the front line. And as a medieval chateau, it has a history back to, you know, mid century, 500 or more years ago.

And so we had this artillery barrage, and then we went. And we were ordered to do it at dark, by Patton headquarters. So it was a strategic thing. And it took me 50 years to find out for sure what the strategy was, because our officers did not want to attack at night, and you really shouldn't do it, especially in a situation like we had there.

So our battalion was to attack. We were on the left side of the road down to Metz. It's north of Metz. And there was a slag pile on the other side, a slag pile from a plant. So that was high. That was a German observation point, because it's flat around there.

And so basically we moved out. Okay. And by the way, I have a book here which I've got it in. So you probably should get a copy of it somehow. Maybe Christian can send you one or something. But the first thing I did was fall in a shell hole from earlier fighting.

Rob: Oh.

Ceo: And I was carrying the bazooka. I wasn't the bazooka man, and I wasn't very well trained in it. But the replacement lieutenant, it was a replacement lieutenant already, because we'd lost our first longtime lieutenant, we'd lost him and five or six other guys. But anyway, when he came, he just came and said somebody ought to take this. Well, nobody would volunteer, but I did, because I thought, geez, we're leaving. We better get it out there. We better take it. So that kept me behind a little bit.

And so the first guys to run into fire, run into anything, I think ran into probably a machine gun crew that were in front of the German main line of resistance. So there was fighting there, which basically... The first scout, which is my buddy Steve, he was in that first encounter, and his leg was literally blown off, you know, by machine gun fire. Had to be amputated.

And then they moved on to the chateau. We knew the line really was at the chateau and both sides of it. We'd already been out there... Well, I was on the scouting party that got them to open up on us. So we got to know where the machine guns roughly were.

So anyway, when I got out of the hole finally... It was slippery. It was deep, five or six feet deep. And when I finally got out of it, I was all alone. And then I had to move on out and catch up with my squad. And so when I got up, my squad sergeant was cutting the concertina wire, cutting it so we could go through it. And I was the first man through. He just said to me, "See if you can get through here," and I did. And then the two guys that had the ammunition for the bazooka, they came through after me. Of course it's dark, and you've already lost men, and in the dark, you know, it's hard to keep contact.

Rob: Correct.

Ceo: Yeah. So they said, "What do we do?" I said, "Well, we're supposed to go left, around the chateau. And so go left and lay down till some more come through." Thinking about it now, I don't know whether there were many more through to come through. But anyway, they did that. And just as that... It was a flare came out, a flare that probably might have been pre-programmed to fall on the wire, for purposes. So it literally fell right where they were and blazed up, and almost simultaneously there was an explosion, which wounded me and killed those two guys. I never went over to see them, because they made no sound, and they just about had to be gone. And of course I confirmed that eventually, later, that they both had been killed, you know. So that's basically my story there of being wounded.

Rob: And where were you wounded?

Ceo: I had shrapnel, probably 30, 40 pieces. A lot of it was just small chunks that were superficial. But then I had a wound on my left temple, which nothing went through. Nothing went through into the body cavity.

Rob: That's good.

Ceo: And my eardrum was, you know, perforated from the explosion, so I could hardly hear. I'm about like that today, I can hardly hear, because I'm losing my hearing. I have to ask you to repeat that.

But anyway, I put up a call, you know, for help, and the assistant squad leader answered me. He was the only one that answered, mainly because most of the men were wounded.

Rob: Oh, wow.

Ceo: So he answered: "I can't come over and help, because I'm wounded and got to go back." And so he did that, left me alone inside the German lines. I was in a bad situation. And Christian knows that I remember, minute by minute, second by second, what I thought. Because I believe I said, you know, "God, I didn't think you'd do this to me." Well, talk about a sin, you know, that's your fight with your maker.

Rob: Right.

Ceo: And even at that time I realized that, because basically I saved myself by remembering, you know, that God helps them that help themselves.

Christian: That's correct.

Ceo: Yeah. And so I wound up deciding... I had a bad wound on my left leg, which, I didn't know it at the time, but it caused me a partial drop foot. The nerve was cut to lift my foot. But I crawled back to the wire, remembering it was smooth wire, so you could just squeeze through, you know.

Rob: Oh, wow.

Ceo: Through the wire. But I remember pausing and thinking, well, geez, this is probably booby trapped, I suppose. Here I go again. But I just, well, what the hell? I got to go. And so I crawled through. And then I crawled left to the chateau road. I crawled left to that, and it was a gravel street. It's a street now, you know, blacktopped. So I crawled out to that, and then realized, oh, I'm not dying from shock, so I guess I could walk. So I got up then, but I immediately fell down because of that.

Rob: Because of your foot, right?

Ceo: Yep. So I fell down, and then I just proceeded that way. I'd get up and stagger a few steps and fall down, till I got back to where we shoved off, which was our outpost at the edge of town, where we shoved off from after the artillery barrage.

So when I got there, well, there had been shells explode there, and it was kind of tough to get into that house, which had a good basement under it. You know, it was damaged up above, but they had real good basements, concrete basements, which were almost pillboxes. There were concrete floors, you know.

Rob: Oh, wow.

Ceo: They had them. I think maybe it was part of the Maginot Line, you know, a way to do things, have houses in the line itself, that once they'd be damaged up above, you could be in the basement, you know, troops or people.

So anyway, I ran into this guy named Tony, who hadn't gone. They were in the reserve platoon. And he challenged me, and I gave the password back, and then I asked him for help. Well, he wouldn't help me. So I proceeded to tell him what a son of a... he was. And I knew a lot of good swear words, because we farmed with horses, you know, on the farm, and I really know how to swear.

But he explained... And he had the company runner with him, or his platoon runner with him, a guy named Ed Steele. And he explained to me, "Well, the attack has failed. I'm going out to find the first platoon sergeant and bring him back in the dark."

So you asked me why people wouldn't talk earlier. You know, I never saw Steele again, because he was killed. But I did see Tony, at a reunion some 45 to 50 years after the war.

Rob: Mhm.

Ceo: And so Tony didn't seem to remember anything. You know, that's me remembering, but Tony wouldn't even talk about it. "I don't remember anything," he said. Well, it evidently was trauma, because what he did, going out through the dark, he stepped on a Bouncing Betty, blew his foot off, and it killed Steele.

Rob: Oh, wow.

Ceo: But Tony didn't want to talk. "I don't remember."

Christian: Hey everybody, I'm sorry for jumping in and breaking up this great story, but we have to. We can't just keep going, because it's just too much, and we really do want to come back and give it its full due. It needs a whole episode for itself. So, we're going to stop it here, and we're going to leave you hanging, and hope that you will come back and see if Ceo will forgive Tony, or if he still thinks he was a son of a... for not helping him straight away with this injury.

You know, Ceo has an uncanny memory for his experiences in Normandy and in World War II. And really, he has so much to teach us as we listen to him. So, I do hope you'll come back, listen to part two, and truly get to know this amazing World War II hero. Thank you so much for taking time to listen to Documentary First, where we believe everybody has a story to tell, and you can be the one to tell it. Make sure you come back for part two. Bye, everybody.