It was left of Lieut. Phillip(sic) B. Larimore of 565 S. Holmes [Memphis, TN] recently to rig up an emergency ferry over a French river when fleeing Nazis attempted to slow their advance by blowing the bridge. Lumber was quickly rounded up for the project and it was operated for 10 hours before engineers completed a bridge.[1]

Germans Blasted Bridge: Memphian Rigs Up a Ferry

WITH THE THIRD DIVISION OF THE SEVENTH ARMY IN FRANCE—Blowing out of a bridge by hurrying Germans to halt the push of the 30th Regiment of the Third “Marne” Division failed even to slow up the regiment, thanks to the ingenuity of an ammunition and pioneer platoon in rigging up a ferry from an abandoned barge.

Coming upon the demolished bridge, First Lieutenant Philip B. Larimore and Pvt. Bill Birchfield of Birmingham, Ala., found the barge while seeking a ford across the broad river.

They called for T/Sgt. Albert Guyer of Porterville, Cal., who rounded up a crew to haul German lumber from a nearby rail yard.

Lt. Larimore and Sgt. Guyer directed the job of winching the barge off a sandbar and floating it into working position.

Twenty men built the ferry in less than two hours. For the next 10 hours it was in nearly continuous operation by “hand power” one way and then power of a truck’s winch the other.

Men crossed 40 at once without wetting their feet.

After the ferry had operated all night, an engineer’s bridge took over heavier traffic although Lt. Larimore said the ferry was “more than capable of taking vehicles over.”[2]

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[1] News clipping, likely from a Memphis paper, saved by my grandmother.

[2] October 3, 1944, another news clipping, likely from a Memphis paper, saved by my grandmother.

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