Bill Trimpe
Company K, 143rd Infantry

We liberated Grenoble on August 23, 1944. Several days later we were ordered to take a rifle squad on a contact patrol. At this time a squad consisted of five men. Sgt. Paul Blackmer, Pfc. Louis Weiner, Pfc. David Pritcet, Pfc. Richard Koch, and myself made up the squad. We were to go with the Intelligence and Recon Platoon led by Major Mark Adams to make contact with the enemy. If we didn’t make contact we were to go to a certain intersection of Highway 7, which was the main North-South road parallel to the Rhone River. We went farther that we were supposed to go. We were caught in a little town where the Germans had perfect observation upon our field point. The Jerries blanketed us mostly with anti-tank guns. We stayed overnight. The next day, August 28th, we spotted the German observer and with one lucky shot we left town without a shot fired from the German anti-tank gun.

Major Adams put the five of us in a little town behind our lines and told us to rest. We would join our Company the next day. One of our tanks was parked in the middle of the road in this little town (I can’t remember the name) manned by one person. I don’t recall his name but he was wounded in the leg early in the morning of the 29th. A Panzer Division hit us in the rear. As I recollect, Sgt. Paul Blackmer was pulling his two hour guard duty. He yelled, "HALT" and the answer came back in German. All hell broke loose. Then we fired as fast as we could. Paul had a Thompson sub-machine gun with two clips taped together; he had four clips in all. When one clip emptied, out it came. He would turn the clip around and start firing again. The rest of us had M-1’s. All of us fired so many times our barrels warped. In this little town, under a garage, was a cold storage tunnel. Someone had stacked ammo, grenades, cigarettes and candy by the case. So we had plenty of ammo, including Paul’s sub-machine gun ammo. When it started to get light, Paul moved Weiner, Pritchet and Koch to the home on the right side of the road as the Germans faced us. Paul and I took the left. All were on the same side as the ammo and supplies. We had by this time knocked out a German Half Track that had an 88 mounted on it. The Germans had knocked out our tank. We had at least 50 Germans wounded or dead on the road near the road and around the half track. At this time there was a 35 foot drop from the road to the back of the houses. Koch got hit sometime in the morning but the rest of us were O.K.

About 10 a.m., Paul said he was going on the other side to check on the fellows. Some time later, the Germans were coming down the road in force. Seeing my situation was hopeless I went in the barn where the tank driver was lying wounded. I told him our position. Also, I was hiding in the barn. We wished each other good luck. The Germans poured in the barn but didn’t harm the tank driver and didn’t spot me. They didn’t take the wounded man because of his leg wound. Two hours went by before the forward advanced troops of the 3rd Division came into the barn. Paul Blackmer, Louis Weiner and David Pritchet were captured. Koch died of his wounds.

There was a jeep hidden in one of the barns in town. The Germans didn’t find it or take it. Since I didn’t drive back then, I had one of the 3rd Division guys drive the wounded tank man and myself to the nearest aid station. On the way back, we passed 10,000 German soldiers who had surrendered. That’s right, 10,000!

Paul Blackmer was a Fighting Machine. Without his leadership we would certainly have been killed. I feel certain because of Paul’s leadership of us in stopping the Germans early that morning it made it possible for the capture of so many Germans.

The effort of Paul Blackmer at Montelimar was above and beyond the call of duty. I believe Paul was decorated for courageous action in the Italian Campaign. As far as I know, his unselfish and dedicated action at Montelimar was never recognized. It’s been forty five years ago now and I believe it’s about time to appropriately recognize Paul Blackmer, the fighting machine of Company K, 143rd Infantry, 36th Division, and the courage he showed in the battle of Montelimar. It was noncoms like Paul Blackmer of New York who helped make the Texas Division such a great combat unit. It doesn’t seem right to me that greatness like Blackmer’s goes unrewarded.