K.K. Scott: A True American Hero

Today they are mostly thought of as the parents of the “Baby Boomers,” that large group of children born after World War Two.

There was a reason so many children were born after the war.

Nearly every eligible man in America was away in that war fighting. Over ten million of them fought on two fronts in the largest military confrontation in the history of the world.

Over 400,000 Americans would die and another one million would be wounded or Missing in Action. There were an estimated 25 million military casualties on both sides with estimates ranging up to 60 million civilian deaths.

Although it has been sixty-two years since the war ended, most families in America have some memory of relatives that fought in the “Big War.”

Tom Brokaw, the noted news anchorman and writer pinned the men and women who fought World War Two as America’s, “Greatest Generation.”

They were, he said the men and women who stepped up and defended their country in one of its darkest hours.

Last week I had the opportunity to interview one of Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation,” Keith “K. K.” Scott.

Scott, 84 and his wife, Ruby along with their dogs have been living in Gadsden County for five years.

He likes to be called K.K., he told me after we introduced ourselves. It was more personable and had stuck with him for many years.

K.K. has had a remarkable life, I found out as I sat there and talked with him and Ruby.

He adopted Ruby’s three children when they married back in 1971. They all love him; she told me and there are five grandchildren as well.

I was there to talk about K.K.’s war experiences, but first I learned what happened to him after he survived combat.

That, I realized as we talked, was as much of a “veteran’s story,” as was his experiences in the war which I will share with you later in this article.

After the war, K.K. would have a stint as a North Carolina Highway patrolman and saw the body of Pretty Boy Floyd after he was shot.

He would spend 12 years as a Mecklenburg County North Carolina deputy sheriff, own several businesses, be a private eye and spend two and a half years as a construction security supervisor in Vietnam during the early years of that conflict.

K.K. retired in 1985 after 17 years with Schlakhorst Inc. a German company, he said.

Retirement was not all it was cut out to be and K.K. would decide to go back to work.

He would join Northern Hydraulics in Charlotte, North Carolina in their security organization.

This time it would be his health that would force him to make changes.

After two heart attacks, he and Ruby headed South and would eventually settle in Havana, Florida.

Born and raised in East Liverpool, Ohio, K.K.’s father would die when he was three years old. He and his siblings would be raised by their mother.

Like many young men of his era, war would start while he was in his prime.

In March of 1942, four months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War Two, K.K. then 18, decided he should join the military.

He and his brother took off to the recruiting office only to find the Marine and Navy recruiters away at lunch.

The Army recruiter had brought a “brown bag,” lunch and was at his desk when the two young men entered the office.

K.K. would be on his way to Fort Ben Harrison, Indiana, his brother was not accepted.

From this point forward, K.K.’s military career would take a number of turns that would ultimately land him, literality, in the middle of two of the allies’ largest and costliest battles of World War Two, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge.

Basic infantry training for K.K. would take place in Alexandria, Louisiana. The Army gives you a lot of choices, some good and some not so good, K.K. will tell you.

After basic training K.K. had a couple of choices to make. The Army, it seemed, was forming two Airborne divisions and needed volunteers.

Airborne did not mean that you would be flying a plane, it meant you would be jumping out of planes.

When a few volunteers were forth coming, the Army, K.K. said, made the decision much easier. You had a choice, stay in the infantry and enjoy a full pack forced 50-mile march or volunteer for airborne training.

“I didn’t want to go on that 50-mile march,” K.K. said about his motivation to jump out of perfectly good planes and joining the 82nd Airborne.

He was soon Georgia bound, Fort Benning to be exact to learn how to fall gracefully from a plane.

A tall man, K.K. said his height turned out to be a disadvantage when it came to training.

He was always the first in line, it seemed for the training exercises.

Until Airborne training, K.K. had never been any higher than the three-story buildings of his hometown. It was not long however before he was hanging precariously from a 240-foot tower dropping a small piece of toilet paper to gauge the wind.

“I was scared to death,” K.K. said about his training.

On one of the training jumps from the tower, K.K. fell wrong and landed face down gathering a mouth full of sawdust.

Jumping up to attempt to draw attention away from his poor landing, K.K. spit out the sawdust.

“Don’t spit in the sawdust,” his drill sergeant yelled at him.

That little episode cost him ten laps around the field repeating the sergeant’s words about spitting in the sawdust.

After a grueling training period on the towers, K.K. was ready for the real thing, jumping from a plane.

He would earn his Airborne Wings after five jumps, but he also had his first encounter with death.

On the second day of jumps, one man’s parachute malfunctioned. After his third jump the following day, K.K. would be one of the pallbearers at a memorial service held for the soldier.

K.K. would make 12 jumps from a plane before he actually had an opportunity to land in one.

Once his training was over, it was time to ship out.

His first sight of the Statue of Liberty, K.K. said was as his ship passed leaving New York harbor on the way to North Africa.

K.K. had been trained as a machine gunner and on the ship, he would find himself stationed as one of the transport’s gun positions. Unlike his fellow army buddies, K.K. would sleep in a hammock slung below the gun turret. It had its advantages; however, K.K. ate with the Navy crew.

Landing in Casablanca, Morocco in April of 1943 K.K. was quick to note he never found Rick’s bar. (from the Humphrey Bogart movie Casablanca).

The 82nd moved to Oujda where intense training was conducted for the invasion of Sicily, identified as Operation Husky.

The 505th, which K.K. was assigned was commanded by Colonel James Gavin, (later WW2’s youngest General) was chosen to spearhead the assault. The 505th was reinforced with the 3rd Battalion, 504th. On 9 July 1943, Gavin’s 505th combat team conducted the first American regimental combat parachute assault in the vicinity of Gela, Sicily.

The paratroopers were widely scattered but were able to gather into small groups and harass the enemy.

K.K. would be one of those separated from his fellow paratroopers.

After the drop K.K. had gathered up two boxes of ammo and had several strands of 30 caliber machine gun bullets draped over his body. His assault rifle, a folding stock 30 caliber M-1 carbine was strapped to his shoulder as he moved away from the landing zone.

“Two Germans came running across the bridge we were crossing, firing and killing Americans, I and a fellow named Boggs bailed over the side of the bridge,” K.K. said.

He had no way to fire back at that point and luckily the drop off the bridge was broken by grape vines.

“The fighting was fierce,” he said. He would have to fight his way back to his unit.

On the evening of July 11, the remainder of the 504th parachuted into Sicily.

One incident that happened bothered KK for many years.

Passing over the American fleet, the transports carrying the remaining parts of the 504th were mistaken for enemy bombers and 23 were shot down. Eighty-one troops were killed, including the assistant division commander, Brigadier General Charles Keeran.

The 82nd continued its fighting in Sicily by leading Patton’s westward drive to Trapani and Castellmare. In five days, the Division moved 150 miles and took 23,000 prisoners.

KK and the remaining 504th, meanwhile, continued fighting in the Venafro sector of Italy until being relieved on the 27th of December.

By January of 1944, the 504th Combat Team was back in action as part of Fifth Army’s amphibious assault at Anzio during Operation Shingle. KK would spend the next four months fighting through the hills of Italy.

On the afternoon of September 14, 1944, the 82nd conducted its fourth parachute assault. (K.K.’s third) this time into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden. After landing, KK cut a small foot square piece of his parachute and stuffed it in his pocket. A memento he still has on his mantel.

The Division’s objectives were to seize bridges over the Maas and Waal Rivers and hold the high ground between Nijmegen and Groesbeek.

“Market Garden,” was the plan of British General Bernard Montgomery to cut off the German Army in Holland and cross the Rhine.

The plan was to force the surrender of Germany and hopefully end the war six months sooner than had been expected.

Market Garden failed to accomplish its final goal of securing the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem, Holland.

Market Garden, would be the largest airborne operation in history, delivering over 34,600 men of the 101st, 82nd, 1st Airborne Divisions and the Polish Brigade. 14,589 troops were landed by glider and 20,011 by parachute. Gliders also brought in 1,736 vehicles and 263 artillery pieces, 3,342 tons of ammunition and other supplies were brought in by parachute drops.

K.K. and the 504th would land and eventually capture their objective, the bridge at Nijmegen. Which the Germans retook a day later. But, not without heavy casualties. In total the British, American and Polish casualties would number over 17,000.

Ultimately however, Germany would muster nearly 90,000 troops and 600 artillery pieces to stop the advance.

The movie “A Bridge Too Far,” was based on the plan that was intended to bring a swift and quick end to the war.

The operation did have some moderate success and would later prove to be a stepping-stone to the final invasion of Germany in March of 1945.

After 56 days of combat in Holland, the 82nd was relieved on November 11 it was sent to rest camps near Rheims, France.

That rest for K.K. and his friends would be short lived.

On December 16, 1944, a German offensive broke through the American line in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium.

The now famous “Battle of Bulge,” started and the 82nd was on the move again. The reserve forces available were the 82nd and 101st.

The 82nd was alerted on the 17th and by the next evening was in Webermont, Belgium, on the northern shoulder of the bulge created by the enemy attack.

On the morning of the 19th, the 82nd took up defensive positions along the Salm River.

There, the 82nd stopped Von Runstedt’s armored offensive.

By January of 1945, the 82nd was on the offensive.

The Division moved through Belgium and the Hurtgen Forest, penetrated the Seigfried Line, and arrived at the Roer River by February.

In April 1945, the 82nd and KK conducted its last combat operation of World War II with an assault crossing of the Elbe River near Bleckede, Germany.

As the war ended, K.K. would start his life over again and head onto even more adventures.

When asked, would he have done anything different?

“No,” he commented, “not even that 50-mile forced march.”

KK saw many of his friends and fellow soldiers die during his time with the 82nd Airborne. His memories bring nightmares of seeing mangled frozen bodies even years after the experience.

“I was one of the lucky ones. So many did not make it. They were the real heroes,” he was quick to say.

At the time of this story K.K. was in the later stages of cancer. He would pass away a little over year later having fought his last battle with that dreaded disease. Over the years he talked to many civic groups and schools about his experiences. K.K. was truly part of that, “Greatest Generation.”

Memorial Day is a time to remember all of those who died protecting our country. In K.K.’s case he survived; so many of his friends and comrades did not and for the remainder of his life he never forgot them and the ultimate sacrifices they made.

Like Keith “K.K.” Scott, we should never forget what they gave up for us. He knew because he survived and had a full life and he honored their memories as we should all do on this coming Monday, Memorial Day.