PVT R. Fitzsimmons

AN EIGHTH AIR FORCE BOMBER STATION, England -- Private Richard L. Fitzsimmons, 27, Portland, Me., who was twice wounded while fighting with the ground forces from D-Day landings to the Sieg-fried line, has recently been assigned to the Special Service Department at this Eighth Air Force base whose B-17 Flying Fortresses helped pave the way for the advance of such men as the Maine G.I.

Formerly a member of a cavalry reconnaissance troop, Pvt. Fitzsimmons was detached from his unit to serve with a Ranger battalion on D-Day. The job of the battalion was to scale the cliffs at Point Du Hoc and knock out a six gun battery which was covering Omaha beach. The mission was completed.

The New Englander joined his outfit after the Rangers had
made the point secure. The march on St. Lo began. Here the Yanks battled through to the capture of the town. The victory was an epic of artillery, tank, infantry and air cooperation.

"Just before we took St. Lo, " said Pvt. Fitzsimmons, "about a thousand heavy bombers of the Eighth Air Force pounded the defense positions of he town. Our troops was [sic] leading the tanks in and we saw bombs fall as close as 200 yards away from us. Their effect was magnificent. The prisoners we took were too stunned to talk, or even to slide the bolt on their guns."

Pvt Fitzsimmons was injured at St. Lo. Blast concussion hurt his eardrums, but after treatment in a rear area hospital, he recovered and went back into action with his unit. Following his recovery, the Portlander returned to his troop from the hospital. The troop was sieging Brest. During this campaign, an armored car which he was driving struck a land mine. Pvt. Fitzsimmons later remembered, "There was a horrible explosion. I was the only man in the car unhurt."

The victorious trek continued--through Paris, Belgium, Holland and finally into Germany. In the swift advance of the allied Armies there was more than victory. There was suffering, fatigue and death.

Finally reaching the battle of Germany, Pvt. Fitzsimmons was wounded again--this tiem only slightly. Shortly after this experience, he was sent from hospital to hospital until he reached Britain. Nearly recovered, he was assigned to the Eighth Air Force.

The group of which he is now a member is the 486th Bomb Group commanded by Colonel Glendon P. Overing, Orange, Mass. This unit is a part of the Third Air Division--the division cited by the President fo rits England-Africa shuttle bombing of the Messer-
schmitt plants at Regensburg, Germany.

Pvt. Fitzsimmons holds the purple heart for "wounds received in action against the enemy." Three campaign stars and the Presidential Unit Citation ribbon.

Son of Mr. and Mrs. P. F. Fitzsimmons, 33 Howard Street, Portland, Pvt. Fitzsimmons was employed as a fingerprint expert by the Todd-Bath Shipyard Company, South Portland, before entering service in 1942.

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