“Following Normandy, A Company faced changes, on account of all of the wounded or killed there were not too many originals left. There were now three new platoon commanders and three new sergeants, one of them being Joe Meagher."

The Last Pillbox at Bresken And Joe Meagher’s Wound November 2, 1944

“To the North of Westcapelle we encountered a very strong position. It was a specially built pillbox, designed like a house and let’s say about thirty by forty feet. Its walls were three feet thick, and it was encircled by concertina wire ten feet high and about a yard or so deep. On top of that, a complete minefield surrounded it and there were booby traps everywhere. Worst of all, as we later discovered, we were encountering our first absolutely determined, dedicated Nazi SS officer. And he had a Gestapo officer with him (they had a tendency to rat on each other, which stiffened the backbone in each of them). This situation certainly made things a lot tougher, as it turned out. We could have skipped it, waited them out or called for artillery or Typhoons, but for some reason the Boss was given this objective. They wanted it taken out. Once again Dick Medland had a tough decision. If we tried flanking to the left or to the right, we’d need to get through the minefield and blow up or cut up the wire. That meant we’d have to expose the demolition team for too long. It takes time to cut or to explode wire, and they’d have us well covered by those belt-fed machine guns. And the wire might be bobby trapped. Nobody wanted to choose that form of suicide.” “Then somebody reported to the Boss that the wire gate, which should have closed off the roadway, was not in place. We checked with the binoculars. The road looked solid. One thing about roadways: they always had a hard surface and were not usually mined. If they were, the mines would be too obvious. This was a tarmac road with no signs of disturbance. Our artillery and mortars had already pounded the position. We had called Typhoons. No damage, or not much anyway, and no sign of surrender. So we decided once again that it would have to be a section job. And we decided to go straight at them, right down the roadway. A section from 7 Platoon was drawn up – Joe Meagher, Percy McNab, Charles Nahwegezhik, Red Simpson, Bernie Bruyere, Jack Wilson, Charlie Bloomfield and me. As soon as we hit the gate marker, 9 Platoon’s No. 8 section would jump in and follow up, ready to finish the job if we failed.” “The Boss called first for heavy shelling to drop right on the objective. I had mixed feelings about that, having seen so much fire fall a tad short – it’s supposed to fall on them not us. Anyway the nine of us got ready. We sent out the two point men with Joe on the left and Bernie on the right and the rest of us spread out. We were on both sides of the road, spaced, running fast and making ourselves as difficult targets as possible. The moment we hit the gate our artillery stopped – perfect timing. But now we had to cover open ground to get close enough to drop in our grenades, or smoke bombs, and could still have used that shelling, maybe, to keep their heads down. But, you can’t have it both ways. So, we’re all running at top speed and once again the miracle we were all praying for happened. Out from all of the slits in the strong points came white flags. They had surrendered the battle for Bresken was won.” “Our men were tired, soaking wet and cold. They’d seen steady action for a month. There’d been no sleep – just an hour here and there for a nap. Our outfit had shrunk to three very small platoons, but these riflemen had performed wonders. And as always, even in the midst of all the tension at the pillbox something funny happened. The nine of us were sitting down to catch our breath while the others took care of the prisoners. Joe Meagher, a rifleman in the Miners who had been promoted to sergeant, believed in super safety. He always wore his helmet. His slit trench was always very well covered with a strong roof. This was a very careful fellow all around. After the charge he was gasping and panting and streaming with sweat. We were all dripping with it, and to this day I do not know if it came from heat or fear. He took off his helmet to wipe away the perspiration. Just at that moment a part of a clay shingle fell from the roof and cut his head. Joe swore he’d never take his helmet off ever again. Laughter – crazy with relief. We had just finished an attack where we’d expected to lose a good part of our section and maybe the same for 9’s No. 8 section, and all we had was a minor head casualty.”

In the Rhineland, Teacups and Rum – Feb. 8, 1945

“We got word that in our advance a fifteen-hundred-weight truck had been left under water. The grapevine system reported that ten gallons of rum were still on board. The next day we went out to find the truck. Meagher, Burke, Freelen and myself did the salvage operation. The water was extremely cold. Meagher and I did the diving and brought up all ten of the gallon jugs, one by one.”

The Calcar-Udem Road Mooshof The Rhineland’s Toughest Fighting Mooshoof: A Night of Terrible Loses – Feb. 25 and 26, 1945

“We moved forward at 03:00 hours. C company and B Company were to consolidate the start line by 04:00. Then our company would move up on the right, with D Company taking the left. We were up against very well trained paratroops units. They were the best soldiers the enemy had – tough and determined. They made the SS look like rookies. No wonder the Essex Scottish had such a hard time. This battle was fought at the brigade level. Our particular job was to capture the road junction at a town called Udem. Our regimental jump off point was northwest of Keppelin. The first objective was the village of Mooshof. D Company moved up with us.” “As our A Company men moved up, we took causalities before we even got to the start line – mortars, artillery, 88’s and the Moaning Minnie’s. The darkness made a small difference because tracer bullets and the flash of artillery were lighting up the sky. Those paratroops soldiers well understood their weaponry and the principles of a fixed position in a group of buildings we would have to secure. The cost of this action would come to seventy men. It was a bitter and ferocious fight, the enemy refusing to yield an inch. We made the start on time at 4 am with 7 Platoon. They had to take a fortified farm building that contained an 88 and several machine guns. The lieutenant was D.D Chadbolt and the sergeant Joe Meagher; and the lance sergeant Harold Clyne. They had captured the building by about 6 am., but the fighting was fierce. The lieutenant was killed and Joe Meagher was wounded in the spleen, so Harold took over the platoon.”