Alonzo H. Greene was born in 1924 and from Dundy
County, Nebraska.
He was an
automobile serviceman when he joined the Army in
Denver, Colorado on 5 April 1943. He volunteered
for the Airborne troops and was sent to Georgia
for training.
While there he
met Ida Mae McCoy and married her on 7 February
1944, when he was 19. Ida was 18.
Alonzo joined the
194th Glider Infantry Regiment of the 17th
Airborne Division.
The 17th Airborne
Division was tasked to be the only American
division in the final Airborne operation in the
European Theatre of war.
194th Glider Infantry Regiment
17th
Airborne Division
The other
Airborne division involved would be the 6th
British Airborne Division. The 1st Canadian
Parachute Battalion was also part of the
attacking forces. Operation Varsity was aimed to
create a bridgehead over the Rhine river, the
final major line of defense in the west. The
sector selected for the assault was in the
vicinity of Wesel, just north of the Ruhr, on 24
March 1945.
This would be the first glider landing for the
194th Glider Infantry Regiment. The 194th's
mission was to land north of Wesel in Landing
Zone (LZ) S, a large flat area where the Issel
River and the Issel Canal merge. It was then to
seize the crossing over the Issel and protect
the division's right flank.
The first American glider troops (the 194th
Glider Infantry Regiment and the 681st Glider
Field Artillery Battalion in double towed
gliders) begin arriving at around 10.30. As
General Eisenhower watched the operation from a
church tower on the west side of the Rhine the
194th had the misfortune of flying over a
concentration of German antiaircraft weapons.
Two-thirds of the C-47's were either damaged or
in flames. The pilots remained with the
aircrafts until they released the gliders which
landed amid German Artillery units. The German
gun crews immediately repositioned their guns
for direct fire. It was a fluid situations for a
period but the glider troops prevailed and were
able to overrun the German positions.
German flak took a heavy toll on the 295 tow
aircraft--twelve were shot down, another
fourteen were forced to make crash landings, and
126 suffered heavy damage. Six CG-4A gliders
were shot down, and most of the incoming craft
were damaged on their final landing approach.
German automatic weapons and rifle fire raked
many of the gliders once they were on the
ground. Unlike previous air assaults, Varsity
marked the first time gliders came down in
landing zones not already secured by
paratroopers. Eighteen glider pilots were killed
and another eighty were wounded or injured in
crashes.
By 1200, most of the 194th Glider Infantry and
its attached 681st Glider Field Artillery
Battalion had assembled under heavy fire amid
the wreckage of dozens of gliders. By 1400, the
194th Combat Team, eager to prove that glider
troops were on par with the vaunted
paratroopers, had accomplished most of its
assigned missions. While suffering heavy
casualties, the 194th took 1,150 prisoners,
eliminated fifty artillery pieces, and destroyed
ten tanks. Several tanks were knocked out by
anti-tank teams carrying bazookas.
One new innovation employed by the 194th was to
train the 875 glider pilots and co-pilots in
rudimentary battlefield tactics in the weeks
before Varsity, organize them into a provisional
battalion of four companies, and assign them
specific infantry missions. In previous
operations, some pilots had guarded prisoners
and command posts after landing their gliders,
but most had nothing to do and often “got in the
way.” The pilots were enthusiastic about their
new mission and accorded themselves well. On the
night of 24 March, one company of pilots
repulsed a German counterattack on the 194th’s
perimeter.
S/Sgt Alonzo Greene was killed during the
fighting near Wesel. The exact circumstances of
his death are unknown.
He is
buried at Margraten American Military Cemetery,
Plot D Row 3 Grave 27.
Margraten, The Netherlands
See also: TSGT MARCUS W BELTCH
CPL HAROLD E BRODOCK
TEC4 JAMES A COYLE
MSGT JOHN E CUNNINGHAM
1LT CLIFFORD V DEIBLER
PFC FORTUNATO R DI RENNO
PFC CHARLES DILL
PFC RUDOLPH M DULZ
PFC JOHN ELINSKI
SSGT ALONZO H GREENE
PFC JOSEPH C HANEY
PFC HENRY HOFFMAN
PFC MAXWELL W HORTON
PFC FRANCIS L JACQUART
PFC JOHN C JOHNSON
CPL ALFRED F KOPCHYNSKI
PFC BILLY G LEWIS
1LT EVERETT W LOOMIS
PVT LEO P MARCEAU
PFC FORREST K MARTIN
CAPT LEONARD J MC GEE
PVT JAMES P PAGE
PFC ALEXANDER POULSEN
SSGT CHESTER G QUICK
PFC ALEXANDER J REINERIO
PVT JOSEPH J SCIRTO
PFC ALVIN F SEAMAN
PVT LEVERT L SMITH JR
1LT JOSEPH J J STANISLAW
PFC CHARLES A STARCHER
PFC JOHN C SUTTON
PFC ROBERT D WATTS
PFC GEORGE WEISS
SGT KENNETH R WERNING
PFC AUSTIN D WILLIAMSON
PFC MORELL F WINDRUM
SGT CHESTER D WONDERLY
Other
casualties
of the
194th Glider Infantry Regiment
