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LURP CHATTER |
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May 21, 2003 |
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Memorial Service Held In Germany For Sgt. Luse, Former Fort Benning Soldier. |
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Stuttgart, Germany: For 20 years quiet-mannered SFC John E. Luse unknowingly blazed a path among military men that made him a legend of his own time.� |
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From privates to four-star generals the magnetic appeal of his quick smile and outright disdain of fear made him a respected friend of all who knew him or knew of him.� He had brushed aside "dates with fate" with such alarming regularity that he became known far and wide as the "Man with Nine Lives". |
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�That's why Sgt. Luse's un-timely death late last month was ironic, almost embarrassing circumstance.� It came in the line of duty during a mission for his unit; Seventh Army's crack airborne Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, and happened near Kronach, Germany. |
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He and 1st Lt. David B. Tucker, the unit's operations officer, were riding in a jeep-trailer rig, driven by Sgt. Luse along a lonely stretch of highway near Kronach.� The pavement, slickened by a recent rain, was to prove to be Sgt. Luse's demise, for in the next instant the jeep went into a spin, over-turned and pinned the sergeant underneath.� A brain concussion and severely crushed chest brought instant death. |
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�When Maj. Gen. James V. Edmundson, commanding general of United States 17th Air Force in Ramstein, Germany, was notified of the sergeant's fatal accident he was quick to react by making arrangements to attend his memorial services. |
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Gen. Edmundson, who had been guided through Fort Benning's rugged Airborne School course by the then senior jumpmaster Sgt. Luse in 1960, added to the Luse Legend, saying, "I have never known a soldier with so many outstanding qualities as Sergeant Luse.� He had an outstanding record and I think that speaks for itself." |
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On the day Luse's Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol Company comrades gathered to pay tribute to him, Gen. Edmundson was there, escorting the sergeant's widowed wife Vivian and their two children, 12-year-old John E. Jr. and 9-year-old Cynthia. |
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Spawning grounds for the Luse Legend were places like Fort Benning, Ga., Normandy, Holland.� Bastogne and a barbed wire prison camp in Germany. |
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Luse, a native of Mississippi, entered the U. S. Army April 5, 1943, completed Jump School at Fort Benning and was assigned to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division where he remained for the duration of the war.� |
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He made the first of two combat jumps with the 506th during the Normandy invasion.� Later, in the first allied airborne parachute assault in Holland, he was captured by the Nazis and taken to a POW Camp near Kassel, Germany. |
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Nine days later he was a free man and the "Man with Nine Lives" legend had begun. |
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Sgt. Luse made friends with a Polish guard, despite the fact a word never passed between the two.� But the sergeant's ear-to-ear grin and some hastily improvised sign language as an international communications link that anyone could understand.� He and the Polish guard escaped together, each taking separate paths, Luse's leading back to the U. S. lines in Holland. |
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Later in Bastogne he survived a serious bayonet wound.� And during the wintry, sub-zero days of the Battle of the Bulge Sgt. Luse went AWOL from a hospital bed to save his frostbitten feet which doctors had deemed necessary to amputate. |
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At the close of World War II Sgt. Luse remained with the 506th Parachute Infantry and participated in the "Little Olympics" sponsored by the United States Forces in Europe and held in Nurenburg, Germany's famed Soldier's Field, scene of the Adolph Hitler's most monstrous Nazi rallies. |
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He specialized in the 100-yard dash and because of his fine showing acquired the nickname "Jack Rabbitt."� It's rumored that General Maxwell Taylor, and then Commander of the 101st's Screaming Eagles was the one to peg Luse with the moniker.� |
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In 1947, however, it seemed as though fate had finally caught up with the happy-go-lucky Mississippian.� During a jump on the Benning reservation, both his main and reserve chutes failed to open and he plunged into a shallow creek bed from 1,200 feet.� But life is cherished by those who enjoy it most and plucky Luse was not about to throw in the towel.� Six months later, after many pain-wracked days in a full-length cast he emerged from the hospital. |
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There's another story about John Luse and his disregard for danger, this one told by his LRRP buddies, who were at Benning when it occurred.� |
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Luse was just as much at home on the 250-foot jump tower and its 18-inch catwalk as he was with his wife and two children.� One day, wile walking the tower he slipped, but lady luck was with Luse that day, for he stopped his fall after dropping some 30-40 feet by grabbing one of the crossbars on the tower. |
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Sgt. Luse remained at Ft. Benning as an instructor in the Airborne School and nearby Columbus, Ga. became his home.� He spent a few brief months in Korea in 1953 but returned to Fort Benning again in 1954 to his old post as an airborne instructor.� |
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At the same time he participated in many tests and experiments, which resulted in much of the current doctrine used today in training parachutists. |
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And as a senior jumpmaster he was to become intimate friends with several general officers, among them General Edmundson, who went through the jump school.� |
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After nearly 15 years of duty at Fort Benning, Sgt. Luse was assigned to the U. S. Army's Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol Company in September 1962 where he served as a platoon sergeant until his untimely death.� |
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Although his time in Germany was short lived, Sgt. Luse contributed to his own legend by becoming fast friends with German 1st Airborne Division troopers with whom he spent countless weekends in the air over Germany and swapping jump stories.� |
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The German unit presented Mrs. Luse a plaque commemorating the bonds of friendship that had been strengthened by the efforts of her husband prior to his death.� |
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The "Man with Nine Lives" no longer lives, but his legend continues to grow.� A man's man, a soldier's solder. This is how Sgt. John E. Luse is being remembered today by thousands of GI buddies who were associated with him during the 20 years of service to his country. |
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