1st Lieutenant Nicholas Schiltz
Today we honor and remember 1Lt. Nicholas Corbin Schiltz of the 101st Airborne Division.
1Lt. Nicholas Corbin Schiltz of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd PIR, was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 20, 1919.
He attended senior high school in Greensboro, North Carolina, and traveled for a Charlotte concern before his enlistment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on June 27, 1941. Schiltz received basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, prior to going overseas in September 1943.
Lieutenant Schiltz participated in the invasion of Normandy after which he returned to England to prepare for his second combat jump in the Netherlands.
Sadly on September 18, 1944, he was killed in Operation Market Garden in St. Oedenrode at the age of 25 years old.
PFC Dan McBride of Fox Company recalled what happened that day.
"We were going through Sint-Oedenrode and passed a beautiful home that had a brick patio in the front, with flowers in the garden. There was a gate with an arch and brick walls beside it. While we were admiring the house, the Germans suddenly started to drop mortars on us. Jay Smith, who was standing next to me, and I both flattened out immediately. We must have been lying about 15 feet from each other when one of the shells came down and landed right between us.
At the exact moment it hit between us, 1LT Nicholas Schiltz went through the gate. I don't recall why Schiltz didn't seek cover, but the explosion spun him around, and he fell back on the ground. When Jay and I looked at the lieutenant, we immediately knew he was gone.
I then asked Smitty if he was hit and he said no. Smitty asked me the same thing and I also confirmed I was not hit. Neither of us was able to figure out why that shell that fell right between us did not hurt Smitty and me but killed Schiltz, who was about 30 feet from our position. The lieutenant was running when he went past the opening where we chose to look for cover. It still amazes me.”
Nicholas was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery in Son, Netherlands, Block B, Row 6, Grave 109. Later he was re-buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial Margraten at Eijsden-Margraten, Plot B, Row 7, Grave 16. Additionally, a monument marker for him can be found at Elmwood Cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina.
1st Lt. Schiltz left behind a wife, Margaret M. Schiltz and a 14-month-old son, named Nicholas C. Schiltz, Jr., his mother W. M. Schiltz, and two brothers and a sister.
1st Lt. Nicholas Schiltz was posthumously awarded with a Silver Star and a Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster. His son, Nick Schiltz Jr., who never met Nick Sr., received his father's Silver Star medal on Tuesday, August 28, 1945.
Lest we forget! 🇺🇸