US PARAS McGregor, Joseph C.

[John Robertson]

• SURNAME

McGregor ​

• FORENAME

Joseph C. ​

• UNIT

501 Parachute Infantry Regiment (Company E) ​

• RANK

First Lieutenant ​

• NUMBER

0-1312029 ​

• DATE OF DEATH

9th January 1945 ​

• AGE

​

• GRAVESITE

Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery,Belgium Plot G Row 6 Grave 32 ​

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

from Bronx County,New York​

awards Silver Star,Bronze Star​

KIA Recogne,Belgium​

​

Article by Frank Beattie (courtesy of Matt Dorrans)​

​

MIGHTY JOE​

IT WAS THE BIGGEST military operation in history. The preparations had taken years. The build-up had taken months. It involved countless men and women, not just front line troops, but planners and all manner of civilian support. Everything was ready, but now at the last minute there was a hitch. Something had gone wrong.​

Joe MacGregor was told that the whole operation was now on hold for 24 hours. The part he was to play was dangerous - perhaps even suicidal - but he didn't mind. He knew it was vital. He was annoyed by the delay, for every minute of it made the security of the whole project that little bit more vulnerable, and exposed the men to greater danger.​

As a Lieutenant with the Screaming Eagles of the 533 Eighth Street Paratroopers, Joe MacGregor was to lead the pathfinders and make preparations for other airborne troops. Joe didn't know the full details of the invasion plan, but he knew that hundreds of aircraft and thousands of ships would follow him. The full might of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and other nations was about to be thrown against Nazi Germany?s fortress Europe. This was to be a day that would change history forever.​

​

Joe had been ordered to rest, but he found sleep difficult. He found himself using this waiting time to think about his new bride, Rachel, back in New York and her parents whom he still referred to respectfully as Mr and Mrs Copeland. His mind drifted back to his childhood....​

Joe MacGregor had been born in Kilmarnock and brought up in Lawson Street, the son of Alexander MacGregor, who worked for Young?s Oil Company. Joe was one of seven children; his brother was Archibald and his five sisters were Ann, Marge, Agnes, Helen and Elizabeth. Before going to the United States, Joe had attended Bentinck Primary School. He had fond memories of the school and of playing football. Joe?s father was a soccer referee and Joe inherited this love of football, so much so, that he managed to become a ball boy at Rugby Park on Saturday afternoons. He remembered the Laigh Kirk Boys Brigade and he remembered being so proud of being the first boy ever to have his name inscribed on the new Lymburner Shield, the highest accolade a boy could win in that BB group. But then, in 1930, at the age of 14, Joe?s parents had decided to leave Scotland for a new life in the United States. They had settled in New York. Joe took his love of football with him and for some years played for various New York teams.​

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After completing his education, Joe went into banking. He joined the legal transfer department of the New York Bank and Trust Company. Here he distinguished himself. When the American Institute of Bankers introduced a tough new banking exam, it was Joe MacGregor, the lad from Kilmarnock, Scotland, who was the first person to pass it and have his name entered on the Roll of Fame.​

Joe began thinking about the early months of the war. Listening to the grim news from Europe. Listening to the arguments about whether or not America should join the British. And he remembered that day of infamy when the Japanese attacked American ships and American sailors at Pearl Harbor. It was that attack that made Joe decide that he was going to do his bit. He joined up immediately after that attack and as in banking, he quickly proved that he was a capable soldier and a reliable leader.​

Now the training was over. Joe did not know much of the invasion plan. But he knew his part in it and he knew that the allies were determined to free Europe from Nazi tyranny. As it turned out, there were to be five invasion beaches; Gold, Sword and Juno were the responsibility of the British and Canadians; Omaha and Utah were the responsibility of the Americans. The invasion was to be supported by more than 1,000 aircraft and 5,000 ships. Five divisions, consisting of more than 45,000 men were to be landed on the beaches, and there to support them would be three divisions dropped behind the enemy lines by parachute. But their way had to be prepared and so, the pathfinders were to be dropped some hours before the invasion started.... and that?s where Mighty Joe came in. Joe?s team was to land behind Utah and initially help guide the paratroops in. The plan was that the men of the 101 task force would link up with the other paratroopers who had landed behind Omaha.​

All was ready. Every ship was in its place. Every aircraft was primed. Every man was as ready as he ever would be... and now, a delay; not because of any human failing, but because of the worst channel storms that anyone could remember.​

All too soon the 24 hours were over and Joe and his comrades were back on the aircraft. There was a brief lull in the dreadful weather. The storm was still threatening to gather strength again, but there would be no more delays. This was D-Day. This was what one leader had already said would be The Longest Day. This was the day that would determine the whole future of Europe, the world, of civilisation.​

Everything was in place. Secret signals had been sent to resistance groups across Europe. A massive deception, the most complex and sustained in history, had been building over the years to mislead and confuse the military might of Germany. At dawn the massive invasion force would start coming ashore. Before that the paratroopers had to land and secure the causeways and the dry land; before that the Pathfinders had to land to help guide in the paratroopers. Joe was one of the Pathfinders, one of the Screaming Eagles.​

Just after midnight, ninety minutes before the main body of paratroopers, Lieutenant MacGregor jumped from his aircraft with a handful of comrades and silently floated to the ground; to Nazi occupied France. History would tell that it was Lieutenant Joe MacGregor who was the first American to land in France on D-Day.​

Things did not go well for the Pathfinders. They were under fire as soon as they were out of the aircraft. Several were killed or captured. Lieutenant MacGregor landed on the ground with his parachute in flames but he managed to evade the searching German troops and soon make contact with a few of the other survivors.​

The hope was that he would meet the paratroopers, but as things turned out the men of the 101 were scattered over a wide area, too wide. For a short while they were not an effective fighting force.​

Hopes that the invasion force would find Joe and his comrades proved over optimistic, too. As it turned out, for six days, Joe and his companions were on their own, living off their wits and what they could find. They had no food and precious little water. In that time they did what they could to slow the German counter-attack. The handful of pathfinders were an outstanding success. They attacked German installations. Joe had been briefed about a key target. He knew that at a village just south of Carentan, the Germans had converted three houses into strong points. They were heavily defended. There was only Joe and four comrades but they decided to attack anyway.​

The five of them attacked the German posts with hand grenades and tommy guns, killing about two dozen enemy soldiers. The rest of the German soldiers were unsure how strong the American forces were and retreated from the village. Victory was bitter sweet, for Joe was the sole survivor of the attack group and the village was left in his hands. At last he was able to eat, drink water and get cleaned up.​

Soon he was off to meet the men of the main invasion force. When he did meet then he joined them and stayed with them for another month.​

For his outstanding bravery in those six days Lieutenant Joe MacGregor was awarded the Bronze Star, the Oak Leaf Cluster and a Presidential Citation and special leave. He chose to spend it in his native Kilmarnock. He stayed with his sister in the Learmont Building at the head of Titchfield Street and took time to visit friends and relatives. The hero was a modest man and details of his exploits had to teased out of him. He admitted only that the six days behind enemy lines had been 'pretty tough'.​

Soon the leave was over and Lieutenant MacGregor was off to war again. Before the end of the year the Germans had chosen their battle lines and had counter-attacked in force to push the allies back to the sea. Lieutenant MacGregor was with a group parachuted into the Netherlands. By this time he was First Lieutenant with the Parachute Infantry. On September 18, 1944, he was near Vechel. His company's position had come under heavy attack and Joe was ordered to withdraw his men. He took up a position at an exposed road junction and used his sub-machine gun against the enemy to give his men a little extra time. He was seriously wounded and taken prisoner, but not for long. Next day he was rescued by the advancing allies and hospitalised. One of the duty officers at the hospital was Robert Templeton from Stewarton. It was his task to speak to all the wounded soldiers and get their name, rank, serial number and details of next of kin. Most of the soldiers were American and Robert was quite pleased to have a fellow Ayrshire man to talk to.​

Soon Joe was well enough to go back to the fighting and he did. He was parachuted into Belgium and was wounded for a second time on December 30. Next day he was back to the battle that has come to be known as the Battle of the Bulge.​

He was based with other Americans at Bastogne, the centre of the counter attack. The fighting at Bastogne was fierce and it raged from mid-December, 1944 to mid-January, 1945. The Germans saw it as their last attempt to stop the allies. If the allies took Bastogne, German resistance might crumble and the allies would march into the heartland of Germany itself.​

At first it looked as if the Germans had the upper hand. They were able to surround Bastogne and they pounded it mercilessly. There were heavy American casualties, including Lieutenant Joe MacGregor, who was killed on January 9, 1945.​

Lieutenant Joe MacGregor is not forgotten. His bravery was an inspiration to many others at a time when Europe stood at a crossroads. Today his gravestone pays silent tribute to Mighty Joe. It is situated in the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery on the highway between Liege in Belgium to Aachan in Germany... along with thousands of others who gave their lives at that time.​

There is an interesting footnote to Mighty Joe?s story. Long after the peace had been won, and the cold war had come and gone, Joe?s brother, Archie was at his home in Clearwater, Florida. He was reading a book which said that his brother had won both the Bronze and Silver Star, and yet, the family had only ever received the Bronze award. He made enquiries and soon it emerged that the Silver Star was awarded for Joe?s bravery in the Netherlands, in helping his men escape, but due to some error, it had never been awarded. It was 1982, almost 40 years on, but the error having been pointed out, Washington was determined that the great man should be honoured and so, the Silver Star, won by Joe MacGregor from Kilmarnock was taken from Washington by a courier to Clearwater in Florida and presented to his brother. ​