The 309-page book chronicles his experiences as a paratrooper with the 82d Airborne Division in the United States Army Reserve. Its pages burst with the words and stories of more than a dozen fellow paratroopers who served alongside him. All the Way to Berlin tells of men jumping out of burning planes into lonely swamps in foreign lands with nothing but the clothes on their backs and of being forced to see their fellow crews bombed before their eyes. It tells of a young Megellas suited up with almost his body weight.
scrutiny by the public, and there have been many military books written on it,” Megellas says. “But most of those books were written by authors — Stephen Ambrose for example. While they are good, they aren’t the same as mine; mine is written firsthand by people who were there. There’s nothing else like it out there.”
The 1977 British-made movie, “A Bridge Too Far,” based on a
book by the same name by author Cornelius Ryan, detailed the failed September 1944 allied air drop behind German lines in Nijmegen, Holland. More than half of his two companies died in that battle after being shot while crossing the Waal River. Mortar sank a boat, only yards away from Megellas, which was carrying the other half of his platoon. Megellas had to watch them die. He retaliated by killing four Germans and taking three prisoners. He managed to rescue a wounded Allied soldier by carrying him in one arm and firing his submachine gun with the other.The act garnered him a Distinguished Service Cross from the U.S. Army. For such feats and countless others, Megellas received more than 10 medals for his service during World War II, two Silver Stars (one with Oak Leaf Cluster), two Purple Hearts (he was injured twice), two Bronze Stars and a U.S. Presidential citation. The governments of Belgium and Holland also honored him.
By various accounts, he was among the most decorated World War II veterans
in Wisconsin and the country. but Megellas knows he’d rather have his
comrades alive. In Operation Market Garden’s first nine days, the number
of Allied forces killed, wounded and missing amounted to more than 17,000.
That’s more casualties sustained than in the invasion of Normandy.
In his civilian
career, Megellas served at the level of an ambassador, appointed by President
Kennedy, as
director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program.
He helped stabilize
and revitalize places such as Yemen, Vietnam and Panama, where he also lived
for most of the 1960s and ’70s.
Megellas met Kennedy in 1960 while campaigning for a Democratic seat in the
Sixth Congressional District of Wisconsin. Kennedy was in Wisconsin campaigning
for president, and the two shared podiums and shook hands for three days,
all the while swapping military-service stories. Although
Megellas
didn’t win his seat, Kennedy did, and a year later, Kennedy offered
Megellas a job in his cabinet.
On
September
17, 2005, his book "Road to Berlin" was released in Dutch.
James Megellas (left) especially came to Holland to attend the commemoration
at the Grave bridge and to present the first edition his book in Dutch.
Alexander Omhof (r) (Market Garden Committee) took the initiative for the translation of the book and induced the author to publish in Dutch.
It also was the first time in the history after WWII that a German Army representative was invited by the Market Garden Committee to attend the commemoration at the Grave bridge.
One of the present children offered a rose and a picture of the monument to Jim Megellas.(above right)
Among the guest was
Henk Bakker.(left right photo)
Due to his experiences during WWII Henk since disliked everything that had
to do with Germany. On this occasion, 61 years after the ending of WWII,
for the first time he shook hands with a German, the invited General Richter.
Henk was visibly affected
and what he had done filled him with mixed feelings. Though, according to
Henk, the positive feelings prevailed.
Click
for speech General Richter
After Jim Megellas had offered the first edition of his book to the deputy Mayor of Grave (H. Willemse) he autographed the books that were bought by the guests.
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