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Toledo threw a parade to honor Sgt. Alex Drabik, left, on Aug. 18, 1945. His commanding officer, Maj. Gen. John W. Leonard, was on hand to greet him and his parents at the Toledo Zoo.
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Dash over Rhine bridge sealed the Nazis' defeat

toledo times

Dash over Rhine bridge sealed the Nazis' defeat

This is one of an occasional series of stories commemorating the upcoming 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Beginning today and continuing daily until VJ (Victory over Japan) Day on Aug. 15, The Blade also will publish "This Day in World War II," featuring highlights of key events in the war and on the homefront.

The dark, stone towers sit like giant sentries on the edge of the Rhine River as its muddy waters gently bend their way north through Germany. They are nearly all that is left of one of the most famous bridges in modern warfare.

If only they could remember - how 60 years ago during World War II, a young Toledo-area soldier dashed through their shadows, the first invader since the time of Napoleon to cross the river into the heart of Germany. If only they could remember Army Sgt. Alex Drabik.

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Capturing the Ludendorff bridge at Remagen on March 7, 1945, was an unexpected coup that gave Allied forces access to a wide swath of Nazi Germany, hastening the end of the war and likely saving thousands of lives.

For being the first man to cross that bridge - under heavy fire and while Germans on the other side tried desperately to destroy it - Mr. Drabik became a hero and front-page news across the country.

The shy, gangly meat cutter from Holland, Ohio, who died in a 1993 car crash on his way to an Army reunion, was feted in Paris and at home after the war. He met with presidents and received the Distinguished Service Cross, the country's second-highest military honor.

"I can remember Mr. Drabik so clearly. There ought to be a statue of him somewhere in our community," said U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), who met the former soldier in 1982. Miss Kaptur tried every year for more than a decade to get him the nation's highest commendation, the Medal of Honor.

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The requests were denied because he already had received an award for valor, she said, but she continued the efforts anyway.

"He had the most wonderful blue eyes. If those eyes couldn't guide his men across that bridge, I don't know whose could," Miss Kaptur said.

No one expected Mr. Drabik or his unit to have a chance at fame.

A modest man and the son of Polish immigrants, Mr. Drabik grew up on a Wolfinger Road farm as one of 13 brothers and sisters. He worked as a butcher at the Folger Packing Plant in Toledo before joining the Army.

By the time his company reached Remagen in 1945, he was among the oldest in the group at 34 and had shrapnel embedded in his back and head from a previous injury.

He was a squad leader for Company A in the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 9th Armored Division, commanded by a Toledoan, Maj. Gen. John W. Leonard. The battalion was ordered to head south at Remagen to link up with armored troops headed by Gen. George Patton.

Allied soldiers had been feverishly seeking a way to cross the Rhine and chase the Nazis into the heart of Germany. But at each turn, they would come up just short. As enemy forces retreated across the river, they would blow up bridges behind them and set up defensive positions.

Until Remagen.

When forces arrived there, they expected to find a bridge already destroyed. Instead, Germans still were retreating across it and preparing for demolition. Brig. Gen. William Hoge, leader of one of the commands, decided to go for the bridge, despite his orders and the evident danger it posed.

"It looked like a suicide mission, you see," said Ken Hechler, an Army historian who was within 10 miles of the bridge when Mr. Drabik made his mad dash into history. "They could see the Germans trying to blow this bridge up, and they blew a big charge in the approach to the bridge that dug a 30-foot crater so tanks couldn't cross."

One German attempt to demolish the bridge seemed to lift it off the ground before it settled back on its foundations. Allied troops decided to continue on while the enemy frantically prepared to try again. Then Sergeant Drabik actually rushed across the bridge with his squad, because he thought his platoon leader already was on the east side all alone.

"He said that they were pinned down at the bridge and they were under fire and everything. He told them that if anybody wanted to follow him, they could follow him, and he went across," said Mr. Drabik's adopted daughter, Rita Wilson of Kenton, Ohio. "He just knew that there was a job to do, and he had to do it."

The long-legged Ohioan sped across, running so fast that his helmet bounced off his head to the ground along the way. (Later, it would be recovered by General Hoge and returned to him, Mrs. Wilson said.)

The bridge spanned about 1,000 feet, but Mr. Hechler recalled, "He told me it seemed like five miles to run across it."

By capturing the damaged bridge, thousands of men were able to stream over the long invulnerable river, followed later by tanks and tons of supplies. By the time the wounded bridge collapsed 10 days later - killing 28 - engineers had already created a pontoon bridge and a heavy-duty treadway for Patton's tanks.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would later congratulate Mr. Drabik personally as U.S. president on the 10th anniversary of the bridge crossing, recalled the significance of its capture in his book Crusade in Europe:

"The traditional defensive barrier to the heart of Germany was pierced. The final defeat of the enemy, which we had long calculated would be accomplished in the spring and summer campaign of 1945, was suddenly, now, just around the corner."

Mr. Hechler, author of The Bridge at Remagen, said the crossing was a huge blow to German morale and a giant boost to Americans, as well as being of strategic importance.

"It probably saved between 5,000 and 10,000 lives, which otherwise would have been lost with an assault crossing against dug-in German machine guns," he said. "Drabik was clearly one of the principal heroes because he was the first soldier to set foot on the east side of the Rhine."

Mr. Hechler called it a symbol of American initiative and courage, especially because the units at the scene seized an opportunity when they saw it, rather than wait for it to be debated by higher-ups.

Even the residents of Remagen celebrate the event. The bridge towers on one side of the river have been made into a Peace Museum, which includes Mr. Drabik's story of crossing the Rhine. (This year, the official commemoration there will be on May 8 in the hopes of getting more travel-friendly weather for aging veterans.)

"They seemed to be even prouder of what happened there than we do in this country," Mr. Hechler said. "They seemed to be proud of the fact that this was key to liberating them from Hitler."

After the war, Mr. Drabik was honored in Toledo with a parade, and he was a guest of honor at numerous ceremonial events throughout the country before returning to regular life.

While the historic moment was made into a movie starring George Segal, Mr. Drabik went to work at the Medusa Portland Cement plant, married, and continued to spend time with his war buddies.

"He was a gentleman, and everybody liked him. He was very quiet," said Louis Puzo, 80, a friend from the battalion who now lives in Cortland, N.Y.

Despite his shyness, Mr. Drabik left an impression on people.

"I often think a lot about Alex," said William Turanski, 94, who helped rename the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7372 after the Remagen bridge. "He wasn't reticent about saying what he did, but he wouldn't open the subject or pound his chest or something like that."

Bud Fisher, 74, of Sylvania never knew Mr. Drabik, but that hasn't stopped him from believing that the local man is due some sort of tribute - a bridge, a street, something lasting named for him.

He became interested in the sergeant's story while collecting stories for the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.

"I guess it's because he was such an unlikely hero," Mr. Fisher said.

After interviewing about 175 local veterans, he's convinced Mr. Drabik ranks near the very top of the area's war heroes.

"The Rhine was the most formidable obstruction to American forces, so when Alex Drabik took his troops across the bridge, that allowed the Americans to pour over their forces," he said.

For many of those who served with Mr. Drabik in Germany, the bridge is the defining moment of the war.

As the 60th anniversary approaches tomorrow, they've started to think about it again more and more.

Army veteran Richard Ballou, 83, who was at Remagen with Mr. Drabik, is one of them.

He remembers the excitement of discovering the bridge, then the uneasiness about crossing it, the fear of being stranded on the other side if it should collapse.

This weekend, it will all come back, he said.

"I'll be thinking about what happened when we took it, think about the guys that were there with me."

And he'll be thinking of Alex Drabik.

Contact Ryan E. Smith at:

ryansmith@theblade.com

or 419-724-6103.

First Published March 6, 2005, 2:32 p.m.

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Toledo threw a parade to honor Sgt. Alex Drabik, left, on Aug. 18, 1945. His commanding officer, Maj. Gen. John W. Leonard, was on hand to greet him and his parents at the Toledo Zoo.  (toledo times)
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