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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/Sicily Campaign (1943)/Operation Husky
From Month/Year
July / 1943
To Month/Year
August / 1943
Description The decision to invade Sicily was agreed by the Western Allies at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. 'Operation Husky' was to be a combined amphibious and airborne attack scheduled for that summer under the supreme command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The Allies began air attacks on targets in Sicily and Italy in the early summer of 1943. They also attacked the Italian island of Pantellaria, which surrendered to the British 1st Division who arrived there on 11 June.
The Allied convoys concentrated near Malta on the 9 July and headed for Sicily's southern beaches. The careful planning of the landings was slightly hindered by a storm, which slowed down the landing craft. The Italian defenders believed such weather conditions would deter any attempt of an invasion and were on a low state of alert.
The British 1st Airlanding Brigade mounted in 137 gliders, were the first to land. They were to seize the Ponte Grande Bridge south of Syracuse. These landings were, on the whole, unsuccessful. Of the 137 gliders, 69 came down in the sea, drowning some 200 men. A further 56 landed in the wrong area of Sicily and just 12 reached the target area and managed to take the bridge. The US paratroopers had difficulties too, the pilots were inexperienced and dust and anti-aircraft fire resulted in the 2,781 paratroopers being scattered over an area 80km radius.
The main amphibious landings involved three British divisions in the east and two US divisions in the west, all supported by heavy fire from off shore warships.
The British did not meet strong resistance from the Italian coastal troops and were able to bring tanks and artillery ashore ahead of schedule. By the end of the day 13th Corps had taken Syracuse and 30th Corps had secured Panchino.
The US divisions had a far more difficult landing, with stiff resistance from the Italians and German air attacks. Later in the day the Hermann Goering Panzer Division, with it's 56 ton Tiger tanks, joined the defence, but the US 2nd Armored Division and US 18 Regimental Combat Team landed in the evening and the Americans managed to stand firm against the fierce fighting. Eventually, naval supporting gunfire forced the tanks to disperse.
The sudden appearance of so many paratroopers gave the appearance of a much greater invasion and the Axis defenders called for reinforcements.
By 12 July, the British had captured Augusta and Montgomery decided to head northwards, to the east of Mount Etna, to take Messina. The Commander of the US 7th Army, Lieutenant-General George S Patton, unhappy with this change of plan, was to fight westwards, towards Palermo. The Americans advanced well. They captured 53,000 prisoners and also the port of Palermo on July 22. This enabled the US 9th Division to land there, instead of on the southern beaches, and was valuable for receiving Allied supplies. Alexander ordered Patton to advance to Messina.
Meanwhile the British Eighth Army was making slow progress. The German paratroopers, with 88mm anti-tank guns, were a formidable enemy and the mountainous Sicilian countryside was hard to negotiate. The Highlanders fought hard for Biancavilla and the XIII Corps eventually took Catania and then Paterno.
The Canadians of Lord Tweedsmuir's Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment managed to take the hill town of Assoro by scaling a cliff and taking their enemy completely by surprise and advanced to Leonforte, which fell to them on 22 July.
By August, the invasion of Sicily was almost complete. The race for Messina continued; the British were helped greatly by airborne forces landing ahead and saving bridges from destruction by the Axis troops. On 17 August, the US 3rd Division entered Messina at 10am, just 50 minutes before the arrival of the British Army. The Germans had been evacuated, but had left huge amounts of weapons, ammunition and fuel. The historic city of Messina had been ravaged by Allied bombs and after the invasion, by shells from the Italian mainland.
Operation Husky was a success. The Allies achieved their goal - the 'soft underbelly' of Europe had been exposed and the Mediterranean could be fully used as a sea route. The cost of casualties was high, though less than anticipated. The Allies lost more than 16,000 men and estimated that 164,000 Axis troops were either killed or taken prisoner.
