E.W. “BRUNO” MEYER
Age: 86
Born: Nov. 18, 1923
Hometown: Antigo, Wis.
Residence: Palm Desert
Military branch: U.S. Army; 5th Army, 91st Infantry Division; 361st Regimental Combat Team
Years served: 1943-1945
Rank: Private
Family: Wife Alice; three daughters, Linda (David) Johanesen, Chris (R.E.) Mason and Lure Meyer (deceased); one grandchild.
About this series
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II through the end of 2010 — the 65th anniversary of the end of the war. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
Coming tomorrow
U.S. Army Air Corps veteran Paul Gilbert of Rancho Mirage.
More
U.S. Army veteran E.W. “Bruno” Meyer evaded capture after spending two days behind enemy lines, blew up a German ammunition dump, disarmed land mines and had part of his foot blown off by German artillery during his combat days in North Africa, Sicily and Italy during World War II.
Meyer was working as a welder in a shipping yard in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., when he decided to join the war effort.
“Everybody I knew that I graduated (high school) with was going into the service,” he said.
Meyer said his supervisors at the shipyard wanted him to stay put — his welding skills were needed at home to help the country build ships for the war effort.
They told him he wouldn't have to enlist if he stayed on. But Meyer felt it was his duty to join his buddies.
“I didn't have to go, but I went,” he said.
During basic training, Meyer discovered he was proficient in a skill that was highly valued by the Army. “I always came right up on top of the heap being the best rifleman,” he said, adding, “That was a mistake.”
His marksmanship earned Meyer a position on the front lines. Meyer shipped out across the Atlantic, landing in Casablanca, Morocco. The troops were later sent by train — traveling in box cars — to Oran, Algeria. Once there, an opportunity presented itself to Meyer.
“They asked whether or not anybody would be interested in mine and demolition work,” he said. “I'm classified as a sharpshooter,” a job with a high fatality rate, he said.
“I thought mine and demolition work would be a little safer,” Meyer said, laughing.
A member of a four-man team, Meyer soon learned how to dig up mines and set up explosives. As he and his infantry division moved through Italy, near Monte Cassino — in an area where Allied forces were taking a beating — one of the officers asked for a volunteer to go forward to deliver a message.
“The captain said, ‘We need somebody to go ahead and let the British know we were falling back,'” Meyer said. “We were under a lot of fire. He kind of looked at me and I said, ‘OK.'”
Unbeknownst to the captain, the British had already pulled out. Walking toward the front, Meyer quickly realized he was alone.
“I was all of a sudden behind German lines,” he said. Meyer found a hiding spot in a hillside dugout that happened to have water dripping from a spout. Figuring he'd be gone a couple of hours, Meyer only brought one K-ration. Shortly thereafter, he noticed enemy movement close by.
“The Germans decided this is where they were going to stop overnight,” Meyer said.
He said the Germans were settling in — about 200 feet away from his hiding place.
“I wasn't too concerned,” he said, adding that he knew he'd either be captured or shot.
“I laid low in there,” he said. “I had this dripping water, I kept filling my cup and I had just enough to nibble on.”
Finally, the Allies made their presence known.
“Our troops put in a barrage and the Germans took off,” he said. “I got back.”
Meyer said when he returned, after hiding out for two days — his parents had been notified that he was missing in action — his captain reprimanded him for not shooting at the Germans.
Meyer said he carried a carbine rifle he described as “almost useless,” and he'd have been no match for the competition. The captain didn't want to hear about it.
“He said, ‘You could have at least killed a couple of them,'” Meyer said.
As the infantry approached an area close to Florence, Italy, “four of us went across the Arno River and blew up a few things,” including an ammunition dump, Meyer said.
“Coming back across the Arno River — we were in a little rubber boat — they spotted us and laid in a barrage with 88(mm) guns,” he said.
The men made it back to the opposite shore, but an 88 shell landed in front of Meyer.
“I was hit,” he said. “It blew me quite a ways. Two other guys were killed instantly and the other one died in the hospital. I was the only guy that survived.”
Meyer lay there injured for about 16 hours because medics weren't allowed to come out and get them. Finally, he was removed from the battlefield, minus the front part of his left foot.
“I can remember being put on a jeep and taken where they landed planes to get people out of there,” Meyer said. “They loaded me on the plane and I looked around and there were enough holes in the fuselage that we could have driven a truck through. The pilot started up the engine and nothing but black smoke was coming out.”
The plane managed to get off the ground and Meyer was delivered to an Army hospital for medical care. After the initial surgery on his foot, Meyer, lying on the operating table, heard two captains talking.
Although Meyer was drugged and drowsy, he could hear the men discussing whether they should amputate — because gangrene had set in— or if they should try using a strong dose of medicine that had just been delivered to the hospital.
“That was the first batch of penicillin they had gotten in,” Meyer said. “They gave me about 1,000 units — about 10 times the normal dose. They were going to amputate at my knee, but they tried the penicillin and it worked.”
