WAR STORIES

Capt. Laughlin Waters led his infantry company when they landed on Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. They were in heavy fighting in Patton's army as they moved east. Coming up from the south, they closed the gap on the German army in the small town of Chambois by hooking up with Polish troops led by Major Zgorselski, part of Montgomery's army coming from the north, on August 20.

Heavy fighting continued for two days, and many Germans were killed, but many more surrendered. Neither officer knew what to do with them, but normally they established pens each holding about 1500 prisoners.

When a Polish captain brought a group of 200, Waters asked, "Where were the rest?" The Polish officer said, "We've been shooting them, but we ran out of ammunition. After all, they killed our countrymen." So Waters took the prisoners (cf Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers, p. 105).

Waters had an impressive career, serving as Gov. Earl Warren's floor manager in the California legislature, and there was some talk of his running for governor, but a former actor named Reagan ran that year. Waters finally served as a federal judge for many years.

Waters and I became good friends when his daughter Megan married our son Stan. And when Waters died, the family asked me to give the homily at the memorial mass, the only time I preached in a Roman Catholic church.

When Rosemary and I visited Chambois in 1995, we noted there is a monument to Capt. Waters in the town square, and that the town had made him an honorary citizen.

In August 2019, the town invited the whole family, including two grandchildren, for the 75th celebration of its liberation. They have long memories of the war.

Paul Pierson