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MAJ Mark E Cooper
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Ollum, Clarence (Bud), SGT.
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SGT Clarence "Bud" Ollum
Since WWII tens of thousands of men have served in Airborne units throughout the Armed Forces but only a few hundred of them have made a combat jump. During WWII several soldiers of the 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) of the famed 82nd Airborne Division participated in 4 combat jumps, Clarence Ollom was one of them.
As America’s first Parachute Division, troopers of the 82nd spearheaded assaults on Sicily, Italy, Normandy and Holland. Clarence Ollom as a trooper in the 505 and under the command of Col. James Gavin were the first Americans to Parachute into a combat zone in Sicily. Clarence went on to make three more jumps and to distinguish himself by earning a Silver Star for gallantry at Normandy, two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for meritorious service.
Clarence, (pictured above after the liberation of Sicily) was seriously injured while crossing the Sigfried line in late January 1945 and was aboard a hospital ship on his way home when the war in Europe ended.
Other Comments:
World War II veteran said he was no hero. He was.
Decorated Minnesota paratrooper Clarence "Bud" Ollom dies at 87
It's hard to figure out Clarence "Bud" Ollom's highest honor.
There's the time he was knighted by the French consul general at Minnesota's Capitol Rotunda. The 2006 ceremony marked the first time a Minnesotan was admitted into France's highest military order: the Legion of Honor.
Then there's the story of how Ollom, one of Minnesota's most highly decorated World War II paratroopers, singly charged a German machine gun nest five days after D-Day. By the time the adrenaline faded, he'd shot at least three German soldiers with his M-1 rifle and the rest had fled into the French countryside. Three fresh holes littered the folds of his uniform: marks of where bullets had whistled through without touching him.
Others remember how Ollom ran into a burning, just-shelled French chapel in rural Pont l'Abbe to save a historic rosary. He kept it with him during the war and returned it to the rebuilt chapel on the 60th anniversary of D-Day in 2004.
The nuns there, in their teens during the war, remembered it — and tearfully thanked him.
Like many veterans of the war, Ollom, who died Sunday of natural causes at the age of 87, rarely talked about his experiences.
"He always said, 'The heroes are the ones still over there,' " said friend Greg Egnash.
Ollom was born in rural Jeffers, Minn. He grew up working in South St. Paul's stockyards, where at the age of 16 he was dispatching cows with a sledgehammer
blow to their heads for Swift & Co.
"Sometimes you'd be up to your knees in blood," Ollom said in an article on the Minnesota American Legion Web site. "In some ways, that prepared me for the military."
"He had no issue with the guy next to him getting his head blown off. He was knee deep in it," Egnash said.
In all, friends said, Sgt. Ollom killed an estimated two-dozen German soldiers during the war.
He was drafted in 1942 — and for an extra 50 bucks a month volunteered to become a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne.
All four times the 82nd jumped into combat, Ollom was there.
"There were 22 guys on a C-47 (plane), and if you were near the door, there were all those guys in line behind you. You went out the damn door whether you wanted to or not," Ollom told the American Legion.
"It took me until about my third jump, though, before I could stand at the door and look out before I jumped."
He received multiple Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for charging the machine gun nest to protect the commanding officer of the 82nd's 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, for whom he served as bodyguard and runner.
"They got ahead of their (the 505th's marching) column. They ran smack dab into this German outfit, and it was either fight or die," said longtime friend Steve Anderson.
"With no other thought save that of his commander's safety, he dashed forward toward the enemy emplacement, exposed himself to their direct fire, and attacked them with his weapon. He closed with them, killed three Germans, and dispersed the others," Ollom's Silver Star citation states.
"They (German soldiers) were lying all over the place. He said he went through two bandoliers," Egnash said.
About the same time, Ollom found Vic Lundgren, one of his best Minnesotan friends from training, lying in blood in the Normandy countryside. He'd been shot several times.
"A radio guy came up behind me, and I told him to call for a stretcher. He said he couldn't because he was calling in artillery at that time. I said, 'Dammit, call for that stretcher, buddy,' and he did. Later he told me I should have been court-martialed for that, but nothing was ever said about it," Ollom told the American Legion.
After the war, Ollom was Lundgren's best man at his wedding.
After the Battle of the Bulge, Ollom suffered a strangulated hernia while hoisting a log to get a vehicle out of a ditch. He was under fire at the time, and the soldier at the other end of the log was hit by either sniper fire or shell fragments.
Ollom returned to the Twin Cities in 1945 and immediately married Dorothy. She died in 1996.
He returned to work at Swift's before joining the printing industry, working at McGill-Warner Co. in St. Paul. After retiring in the 1970s, he opened Seven Seas Tropical Fish and Pets in North St. Paul.
Ollom, who lived in North St. Paul for 40 years, died at Norris Square nursing home in Cottage Grove.
"The only advice he gave is one he didn't take: 'Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse,' " said son Dennis Ollom.
He is survived by another son, Tim, and four grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Roseville Memorial Chapel, 2245 Hamline Ave. Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at the Chapel, followed by an 11:30 a.m. burial at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Normandy Campaign (1944)/Operation Overlord/D-Day Beach Landings - Operation Neptune
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
June / 1944
Description The Normandy landings (codenamed Operation Neptune) were the landing operations on 6 June 1944 (termed D-Day) of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the invasion of German-occupied western Europe, led to the restoration of the French Republic, and contributed to an Allied victory in the war.
Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal, but postponing would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the invasion planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day that meant only a few days in each month were deemed suitable. Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and of developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.
The amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 British, US, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France starting at 06:30. The target 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword Beach. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions, particularly at Utah and Omaha. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of the beach clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled using specialised tanks.
The Allies failed to achieve all of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, a major objective, was not captured until 21 July. Only two of the beaches (Juno and Gold) were linked on the first day, and all five bridgeheads were not connected until 12 June. However, the operation gained a foothold that the Allies gradually expanded over the coming months. German casualties on D-Day were around 1,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead. Museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area host many visitors each year.
