“I have never been so cold, wet and alone.” Second Lt. Frank “Foxy” Gregg recalled his parachute drop into Normandy during the night preceding the land invasion. A member of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, he landed off course in a flooded field of the Carentan peninsula at about one in the morning on June 6, 1944. As the only officer among the twenty troopers, Foxy was the first to leave the plane. As he fell, tracers lit the sky. Upon landing hip deep in water, he cursed the pilot who had dropped him off-course, and then gave thanks that in the water, there were no Germans.
He was a platoon leader without a platoon. Wet, cold, and laden with a 70-pound pack, he stumbled on paratroopers from other companies. At first they had used hand-held crickets to signal their whereabouts in the dark. But the Germans quickly captured the crickets and used them to trick the paratroopers into revealing their positions. The 501st PIR wore 2 patches, the bald eagle designating their moniker, the Screaming Eagles, on one arm, and an American flag on the other. In the dark of night, the Germans aimed between the white feathers of the eagle and the white stripes of the flag with disastrous results. By morning Foxy had gathered 19 other soldiers from diverse companies despite the scattered and dangerous landings.
Foxy was the 6th of 7 children growing up on a working farm in Mars Bluff, South Carolina, an animal lover who’d planned on becoming a vet. The knowledge of animals may have saved his life in Normandy. He and his men happened upon a herd of dairy cows on a knoll above the submerged fields. Knowing they were docile and unlikely to stray far afield, he followed their path to a farm house. Foxy knocked on a door. The French farmer opened the door a crack, took one look at the wet GI and slammed the door in his face. Foxy ordered his colleagues behind a hedgerow, asked for cover and forced his way back in. This time a young girl led him into a room lit by a single candle. Frank laid a silk map on the table, wiped the water from it, pointed to the map, and made the hand gesture for WHERE. She pointed to the map, “Angoville.” After several weeks restricted to base to study maps of the Carentan peninsula in preparation for the invasion, he knew exactly where he was. The girl led him outside, pointed to a church steeple and whispered, “Boche.” He and his men joined the war. They attacked gun emplacements, cut telephone lines, intercepted German couriers and skirmished with the enemy among the hedgerows. After three days fighting, they reunited with the division’s other units.
Foxy’s unit had planned to jump into Normandy to destroy a strategic railroad bridge near the city of Carentan before the allies landed. Despite two subsequent trips, almost 75 years later he still had not seen that bridge. Such was the chaos of Operation Overlord. His heroics and misadventures in the Normandy invasion, in Market Garden and in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, led to the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for the 22-year old Captain by war’s end.
Colonel Gregg’s non-combat career included training Korean army paratroopers, work as a press liaison and speech writer, and serious, academic study. Foxy mastered the Russian language at Monterrey and received a Master’s degree from Stanford while on active duty. He had served as the Army’s technical advisor to the 60’s TV show Combat and Hollywood producers took notice. As a technical advisor, Foxy contributed to the silver screen by asking Robert Redford to cut his hair in line with military specs in A Bridge Too Far. During the filming of this blockbuster, Foxy’s wife Grace taught Sir Lawrence Olivier how to speak with a southern accent.
As a young cadet, Foxy had fallen in love with Grace Sherman, the daughter of his professor at Clemson College. “I had to pass Dr. Sherman’s course,” Foxy quipped.
“I was the only girl on campus. I had 8000 boyfriends,” she parried. The latter may be true. She could not identify his voice on the telephone the night before their wedding because she was saying goodbye to all her cadet friends off to fight in WW2. Seventy years later, she spoke of her marriage,” I think it’s going to last.” Grace passed away in 2014.
Foxy and Grace moved to the Fairfax Military Retirement Community, Ft. Belvoir, where Foxy reconnected with his WW2 commanding officer. At Bastogne, then Lt. Col. Ewell had given Foxy’s platoon an order, “The Germans want that road. Go up there and stop them.” Foxy suffered serious wounds to his hands and right eye and spent months in a British hospital as a result. Fifty years on, retired General Ewell and retired Colonel Gregg became fast friends. Foxy and Grace introduced General Ewell to their friend, Pat, the woman who became Ewell’s wife.
While at the Fairfax, Foxy and Grace rescued Chibi, a duck hatchling that Foxy found in the parking lot. Chibi was reared in their bathroom and imprinted on their white poodle, Angel. The poodle and duck pair became local celebrities and appeared on Channel 7 News. When Chibi entered a wildlife sanctuary, she would only follow the seagulls, the water fowl most closely resembling a white dog.
Foxy passed away January 16 at the age of 96 after suffering a heart attack a few hours earlier. Foxy will be remembered as a gentleman and an honorable soldier. He is survived by a sister, Katharine Beeson, of Marion, South Carolina, a niece, Janet McCool, of Rockville, MD and 8 other nieces and nephews in South Carolina and Georgia. The family is indebted to his dear friends at the Fairfax who watched out for him, and to his beloved caregivers, Christie Dano, Matthew Dano, Edward Mendoza and Tess Mendoza, and to the loving staff at the Fairfax, too numerous to enumerate, whose care and professionalism contributed immensely to his long and happy life.
As tributes to his memory, please consider your local animal shelter. Mostly, love each other. Life is short. Live it well.
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