[Milsurplus] Joe Beyrle, US Army, 12/12/04

[Hue Miller]

>From obituary page, The Oregonian newspaper, Portland OR, 12/ 17/ 04,
with my comments.

"Joe Beyrle, nicknamed 'Jumpin' Joe' for heroic acts as a WW2 paratrooper
and who was recognized as the only soldier to fight in that conflict for both
the US and the Soviet Union, has died...."

This is the paratrooper i mentioned in a post some months back, who jumped
into France on D-Day 1944, with the 101 Airborne.  He was loaded down with
a BC-1000 radio, a submachine gun, an antitank mine, a bag of grenades, rations,
and ammunition. After landing, he could not find his unit, buried his radio, and
after wandering for days was captured.  He was imprisoned in Stalag IIIC but 
escaped. His group made it all the way to Berlin by freight train but there were
turned over to the Gestapo by a civilian they contacted. He was tortured by the
Gestapo, who seemingly were going to kill him doing so, but was claimed by a
strong willed and honorable Luftwaffe officer who claimed him and his fellows
over the protests of the Gestapo, and returned them to the prison camp.  He made
another escape - both his fellow escapers were killed, but Beyrle was able to make
his way east.  He found himself between Russian and German lines and eventually
turned himself over to the Russians - a tank brigade commanded by a woman 
officer.  The Russians didn't know what to do with him but he insisted on staying 
to fight with them, and made himself worthwhile to them by his radio training.
He was wounded and sent further east, where he was given a letter from soviet
army general Zhukov, which became his magic  passport back to Moscow and the
US embassy.  The soviet army at this point had very rudimentary medical service;
anyone who could be patched up and sent back into the fight, was; and anyone
requiring more, or extended recuperation, was basically on their own. So Beyrle 
made his way to Moscow by train, on his own, without further medical care, still
suffering from the wound - but not an exception to the experience of the others
on the train.

The account of his experiences was orignally published as "The Simple Sounds of
Freedom" by Thomas Taylor, 2002. The paperback edition is out now as "Behind 
Hitler's Lines", Ballantine Books.  ( Got to get "Hitler" in the title somehow, these 
days ).

My impressions: Harrier  and grittier than any novel or movie - and it's actually 
factual. Beyrle had to have been one impressively strong individual, to be able to 
stand the torture, the travel while cold and wounded - this would have killed most 
people. The account of life in the POW camp has some stories i've not seen before,
such as the killing and disappearing of a spy in the camp. And altho i have read quite 
a bit already about the Eastern Front war - i was impressed by the stoicism of the
Russian infantry and the heavy losses they expected, were resigned to, and in fact
suffered. ( Beyerle describes each river crossing on the East Front as its own D-Day 
landing. )  Also the savagery of the East Front war - this was not a new subject to me
but even so i was surprised by the incidents recounted. It seems at this point neither
side was interested at all in taking prisoners, just in removing as many of the opposite
side's people as possible.

This is not really what you could call a happy story - but it's educational, an eye
opener on the eastern front war,  and even inspiring nevertheless, as an example of how 
personal strength and simple faith in one's purpose and the power beyond,  carried one
person through hell to survival.  Joe Beyerle, may you be in peace.