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World War II historians Al Murray and James Holland are in Les Mésières near Utah Beach, retracing the incredible D-Day action of Staff Sergeant Harrison Summers of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne. In a feat easily equal to those of the more famous 'Band of Brothers', Sgt Summers won an Distinguished Service Cross for eliminating a German gun garrison in an almost single-handed display of courage. James and Al walk through Les Mésières looking for the 'WXYZ' complex that was Sgt. Summers's objective and compare the buildings and fields to the post-action reports. They quickly realise that the standard description of how the action unfolded is flawed and put forward an alternative path taken by the heroic Summers on the morning of June 6th 1944.
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🥾WW2 Walking The Ground: Historians James Holland and Al Murray from the hit podcast We Have Ways of Making you Talk in Normandy are walking in the footsteps of World War Two soldiers in Normandy to bring you closer to the sites and the stories of the D-Day invasion front.
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Episode Notes: Sgt Harrison C. Summers
On June 6, 1944, time was running out for Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Cassidy. His 1st Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, had yet to achieve its D-Day objectives: securing defensive positions north of Causeway 4 off Utah Beach and clearing the German barracks at Les Mésières, known as the "WXYZ" building complex. Cassidy dispatched Staff Sergeant Harrison Summers with 15 unfamiliar men to clear the barracks. At 0900, Summers charged into WXYZ, but most of the men hesitated, prompting Summers to make a daring solo assault on the first building, where he kicked down the door and took out four Germans as they fled. He repeated this fearless act at the second building. By the third, he gained support from Private William Burt and another soldier, who was sadly killed, leaving Summers to face the enemy alone. When Private John Camien questioned his solo charge, Summers boldly declared, "They don't want to fight, so I've got to finish it." Inspired, Camien joined him, and together they vanquished the remaining foes. This intense action spanned five hours, with Summers accounting for nearly three dozen Germans killed and many captured. Afterward, a shaken Summers remarked, "Not very good. It was all kind of crazy." For his exceptional bravery, he received the Distinguished Service Cross and later a battlefield commission. Despite determined advocacy, the Medal of Honor eluded him, possibly due to disbelief that one man could achieve so much. Summers rarely spoke of that fateful morning. "He was just quiet," his son recalled. After retiring from the mines in Rivesville, West Virginia, most of his coworkers were unaware of his heroic wartime service. Summers was laid to rest in Marion County, West Virginia, in 1983.

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