Courtesy of World War II Magazine

This is an interview out of the Band of Brothers special edition of World War II Magazine with Donald G. Malarkey.

© World War II magazine

You received a promotion of sorts in September 1944. Can you describe how that happened?
Bill Guarnere was injured in a motorcycle accident on the Island, and he broke his leg. He was evacuated back to England around the end of September and didn't return to the company until November. As a result of Bill's misfortune, I became acting platoon sergeant for the 2nd Platoon.

This was after your participation in Operation Market-Garden in September, wasn't it?
Yes. During the first week of October, we took up new positions just south of Arnhen on the Island. The position sat between the Lower Rhine and Waal rivers and was below sea level. The Germans held the north and east sectors of the area, and we controlled the southern and western portions.

Where were you on the Island?
I was on an outpost with the rest of 2nd Platoon. We were in an area that was referred to as Hell's Corner. This was where the railroad that ran from Nijmegen to Arnhem intersected with a dike that had a road running down the middle of it. The Germans were on one side of the railroad, and we were on the other.

You were in such close proximity to the enemy-how did you maintain the position?
We would outpost the position one platoon at a time. Men were put along the left flank of the regiment's position and all along the road that ran on top of the dike. We had so few men to guard such a large area that we had 1.500-to 2500-yard gaps between outposts.

What did you do to prevent the Germans from moving through the gaps in the line?
Twice a night, we would send a two-or-three-man patrol out to check on things. You would walk along to the various contact points. These patrols could tell if any Germans had passed through our lines.

As a platoon sergeant, did you ever go out on one of these patrols?
Yes. One night Captain Winters came to see me when my platoon was on watch. He told me that out in front of the farmhouse that we occupied as our headquarters there was a patch of woods, a farm lot patch of timber. The trees were as dense as what we would later experience at Bastogne. It wasn't extensive, but it was probably, from one side to the other, going toward the railroad dike, approximately 100 yards long by 40 yards wide. Anyway, Captain Winters comes down to our headquarters and says: "I want you, Rod Bain and Eugene Jackson to go out in those woods tonight as a listening post. I want to find out what you can hear about any activity that is going on along the railroad with the Germans up there". From the edge of the woods to the railroad dike was a distance of about 20 yards. We had to walk into that area on wood planks to get into the trees because of the water ditches throughout the area. The foxholes were also full of water, but some had been lined with wood so that you could actually get into them.

Did you see any enemy movement from the woods when you got there?
We weren't out there more than 10 minutes when all hell broke loose. We had reached the listening post when mortar rounds came flying at us from all over the place, and we were being hit by tree bursts fired from all angles.

That must have been unexpected-what did you do?
Captain Winters had a direct phone line to us. Rod Bain was also carrying a radio. Winters could hear what was going on. He got on the phone and asked: "What's going on out there?" I replied that I didn't know, but that there was all sorts of enemy fire raining down on us. Winters told us to get out of there. He was concerned that we were going to get nailed by tree bursts.

How were you able to get away?
We went running back out of the woods and were able to get back to our platoon headquarters without any of that stuff hitting us. We concluded that the Germans had a lot of sophisticated electronic equipment. I think that they might have had a listening device hanging in that group of trees that allowed them to detect our presence. As soon as we entered the woods, despite the cover of darkness and our quiet approach, they knew someone was there. Thank God they were firing mortars. If it had been 88s, it would have been a lot worse. I went back and revisited that area in 1984 with my wife. You can still drive along the dike road, which still intersects with the railroad line. The farmhouse that served as our headquarters was still there, along with some of the outbuildings that I remembered.

Did the Germans ever move to seize those woods?
I don't recall ever seeing or hearing of anything significant coming out of that area, even after we were relieved in late November. But is was obvious to us that one particular night they knew we were out there.

Now, over 60 years later, what do you think about all of the attention the company is getting?
Well, the series has brought up a lot of memories for me that I had buried pretty deep. You know, in combat it is very hard when you see your friends go down, and you have to suck in your gut and keep going. It is hard watching that again, but hopefully the show will make the public more appriciative of what we did. I am extremely proud of my time with Company E. It was the most important thing in my life. I often think that if it had not been for Adolf Hitler I never would have had the opportunity to know all of the great people I served with.