September 1944- After some tough fighting, our skin became a little tougher, and we all needed a little break. That break would come after one more assignment, one big assignment handed down from the fuhrer himself. The village of Ball de Park Francs was overtaken by allied troops, isolating several stocked hot dog carts-containing hundreds of fellow weiner soldiers, from making contact with the Wurstmarcht. If the occupation was too long, well, we all know what the fate of our fellow weiner soldiers would be---death by consumption. The fuhrer's plan was simple, with the assistance of the Luftsausage, the four of us would parachute into the center of Ball de Park Francs, commando-style and under the veil of darkness. Once on the ground, we would liberate the captive weiners, and push the allies out of the city from it's center.
Blutwurst wasn't too fond of the plan, but agreed, after hearing that our furlough would be in Vienna after this mission. Ahhhh, the Vienna Sausage Choir and Vienna sausage women!! Music to any Wurstmarcht soldier.
Parachute training began immediately, practicing our jumps off the kitchen table in the messhall at Luftsausage Airfield #3. Can't disclose the location, as OSS may intercept this. Yeah, the war is over, but you can never be too cautious. The practice jumps went great, but the actual parachute rigs needed some additional work. As sausages with no shoulders and groin, the rigs kept slipping-off. Try putting a backpack on a broomstick, you'll get the same effect. Working through that problem, we were set to go, excited to get it over with, and more excited to get to Vienna.
Several days passed before the jump, not much to do, so we passed our time and stayed in shape by running from the ever present hungy German Shepherds that were on base. It was deja vu all over again for us, as we had that same problem returning to the pig farm in Schweinburg.
Finally, the call came from Division Commander Usker Mayer, we would jump at 0300. This didn't allow for much rest, and pre-jump anxiety made sleeping that much more difficult. 0200--we were woke up by Lt. Schweinfleische, quickly grabbed a bite of rye bread, gathered our equipment, and escorted by Wurstmarcht Lunchbox transport to the awaiting Luftsausage JU-88. Taking our seats, the pilot started the engines, and took off. He complimented us on our weight, it provided for an easy take-off. Go figure, what do 4 sausages weigh? Less than a pound?, no wonder the take-off was easy. Gaining altitude, the flight got rough. Like an uncontrolled roller coaster ride, and the eerie creaking noise of the aluminum frame and fuselage panels. I now knew what it was like to be flying in a motorized sardine can.
Blutwurst wasn't taking it well, and looked real green to the gills. Liverwurst and Knockwurst? They were having the time of their lives, airborne sausage commandos, how awesome is that, they thought. The pilot called the drop, less than 3 minutes out. Those three minutes were the longest of our lives, sitting there, waiting-for what seemed like an eternity, for the jump-light to go off. Knockwurst would go first, then Liverwurst, then me, and finally, Blutwurst.
Timing was going to be crucial, too much delay, and we would miss our mark and most likely land in one of the allied encampments around Ball de Park Francs.
"Go! Go! Go!", the pilot yelled as the jump light went off. Knockwurst bailed with a vengeance. Liverwurst somersaulted out like a champ. I went head-first. Dropping fast, I could see Knockwurst and Liverwurst's parachutes open beneath me. My opened, jerking me upwards, as I looked up to see where Blutwurst was. He delayed, choosing to recite a prayer before jumping, putting him past +10 seconds. I watched his parachute open, thinking surely he was going to misdrop over the mark.
The first three of us hit the terra hard, but no injuries to report. Gathering the chutes, we watched Blutwurst come down past a grove of trees, several hundred yards away. Liverwurst asked if we should go get him. "No", we needed to stay to the plan, even if divided up, we all knew the rallying point, and I was certain that we would meet up with him there.
0315--At the rallying point, there was no sign of Blutwurst, he was pivotal to operation, as he had the Sausageshrek, which would defend us against enemy armor. We couldn't wait any longer, and we carried on with the mission, and it went off without a hitch. One hot dog cart at a time, the weiner soldiers were liberated. With each cart liberated, more and more soldiers joined our ranks. Armed with MP44 Ketchup Squirters, MP40 Mustard machine guns, and reacquiring several Wurstelwerfers, the outward push was easily accomplished--coupled with the fact that most the allied forces were still sleeping at this time.
0600--After consolidating our gains, we started looking for Blutwurst. Couldn't find any sign of him. We were really losing hope, and thinking the "links were broken." Not too soon after, a Wurstmarcht weiner schnitzel scout excitedly told us that they had found a desserted allied encampment, just outside of Ball de Park Francs, and that there was note left there. We rushed to the site, to find a very sad note regarding Blutwurst. "To the Wurstmarcht, while on guard duty, I just wanted to thank you for the delicious sausage left in my cookpot. Yours truly, PFC Jimmy Joe-US 3rd Army." Blutwurst not only misdropped, he misdropped right into a night guard's boiling cook pot, ultimately being devoured by this GI. "What a way to go", we all thought. Blutwurst did not die in vain though, he was awarded the Iron Griddle for his bravery and self-sacrifice as a devoted soldier of the Wurstmarcht's Grosswurstland Division.
He will be missed and he will be missing all our fun on furlough in Vienna!
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