Monument John E. Tucker

Memorial Major John E. Tucker - Carentan

This memorial stone commemorates the American sappers of the 300th Engineer Combat Battalion and in particular Major John E. Tucker.
The monument was inaugurated on June 5, 2017 in Carentan, and is located near the remains of one of the bridges over the river Taute. This bridge connects the city of Carentan with Saint-Hilaire-Petitville.

The 300th Engineer Combat Battalion was responsible for building emergency bridges during the Normandy campaign.
At this place a Bailey bridge had been placed over the Taute, but to get to the bridge with the vehicles a sharp turn had to be taken, which was not easy given the daily artillery bombardments by the German defenders.
On June 20, 1944, B Company of the 300th Engineer Combat Battalion started building a new bridge. Due to the German shelling, this was no sinecure and there were several casualties among the men.

On June 27, 1944, Major John E. Tucker visited the site. At that moment the Germans opened fire again and the engineers took cover. A perhaps overconfident Major Tucker, however, walked onto the bridge to encourage the men to continue their work. According to witnesses, he even threatened court-martial for those who did not return to work. A German shell that hit nearby ripped Tucker's head off.
This shelling left 15 others injured, some of them seriously. On June 28, 1944, the new bridge was ready for use.
A memorial stone was placed next to the bridge.

Text on the plaque:
"Tucker Bridge / In honor of Major John Tucker killed while supervising construction of this bridge"
Pont Tucker / A la memoire du Major Americain John Tucker, tué ici en action le 21 juin 1944"
The new bridge served for about thirty years before being replaced.

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Source

• Text: Rudi Triki
• Photos: Rudi Triki