Reprinted from Little Falls, N.J. Newspaper Clipping
Provided by. Lt. William C. Standish, 337th Infantry Regiment, 85th Division during a personal interview on September 6, 2000.
Tells How Three Prisoners Turned Tables on Captors
Asheville, N.C. Apr. 23 (1945) In the midst of battle along the Gothic Line, Lieut. William C. Standish, who had just killed four Germans and wounded six others, walked into the house on the hill which he and his men had been trying for many hours to take.
Inside, in the half-darkness, he saw Tech. Sergt. Arge M. Emory of Durham, N.C. and some other men.
"What's up?" Lieutenant Standish asked.
"I'm captured, Lieutenant," Sergeant Emory said, then added mildly, "and I think you are too."
Lieutenant Standish was. Yet a short time later he and Sergeant Emory and Private First Class Gordon R. True, of Corinth, Ky., were free again., and had forty German prisoners.
Lieut. Standish, a native of Little Falls, N.J., and a resident of Albany, N.Y., told the story today at the Army ground and service forces redistribution station here, where he is awaiting reassignment to duty.
We'd been at it for three days and four nights,", he said. "The most miserable time we'd ever any of us spent. We attacked the house during a fog, and then the fog lifted, exposing us. A lot of us were wounded or killed. They counter-attacked three of us, Emory, True and me, with forty men. We could have got all of them if that fog hadn't lifted. Private First Class True was the real hero - he's a Sergeant now.
"After we were captured they had us carrying in their wounded. And after a lot of persuasion we finally got them to help ours in too. They were confused, and their officer wasn't around, and before long they were really helping. We'd be out picking up our wounded, and I'd shout over to some of our men fighting off to one side: "Hang onto that right flank! I'm captured but you hold on". And they did.
"Then we started persuading them to surrender, telling them how much better off they'd be. They'd been on the Russian Front, and were sick of it. Finally, we ended up with 40 of them."
Lieutenant Standish received the Silver Star for his gallantry during the action, which took place last Oct. 9. Prior to that he had won the Bronze Star when he and two enlisted men had captured 18 German soldiers and their Captain. Oct. 11, while engaged in taking a house on another hill, Lieutenant Standish was critically wounded. Delayed action bombs struck the house, which collapsed.
"It just about finished me," he said. "They hauled me out from under about 12 feet of rock."
Lieutenant Standish was accompanied to the Grove Park Inn here by his wife. They live at 323 State street, Albany. The Lieutenant's parents, Mr. And Mrs. John Standish, live at 25 First street, Little Falls. He has three brothers in service, Sgt. John Jr., in France, Private First Class Nicholas, in China, and Corporal Stephen, with the Marines.