Koevering

The Koeveringse windmill used to be on this spot. This mill was set on fire on 25 September and completely destroyed.

A little to the east, towards the highway, a few Allied tanks were knocked out by the heavy German artillery. Seriously injured soldiers lay in no man's land around the burning tanks. When Private George Whitfield, of the 326th Airborne Medical Company, heard what was happening, he drove to the scene of his own accord. He parked his Jeep behind a burning tank and crawled over to the heavily wounded, moaning tank crew He tended to their wounds under persistent shelling and crawled back to his Jeep. Grenades were falling everywhere, and ammunition from the burning tanks exploded all around him. All the same, Whitfield managed to get to the wounded in his Jeep and take them to the field hospital in Sint-Oedenrode.

He then drove back to the tanks, risking his own life in the process. He parked his Jeep, out of sight, behind a shed. In search of more wounded, he was shot at from German positions. The farm received a direct hit, and his Jeep got buried under the rubble. He quickly cleared the debris and drove to another, badly injured tank crew. The shelling continued, but Whitfield also managed to get these men to the field hospital. Whitfield saved the lives of his comrades with this feat of heroism. Private George Whitfield was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the United States Army’s second-highest award, for his outstanding bravery.