He asked the chaplain if he could get over the hedge and would he mind helping to carry six boxes of ammunition Merritt assembled into a "daisy chain" over his shoulder.
"He said, 'Praise the Lord, pass me the ammunition,' " Merritt said.
By daylight they picked up another 37 paratroopers and were soon pinned down by a machine gun.
A lieutenant instructed Merritt, who was a corporal at the time, to take two men and "knock the machine gun out."
"Here's somebody who's trying to kill me, and he says it like take two men and go fill up the canteens like it was that normal," Merritt said.
Merritt took a private and a staff sergeant, with the 18-year-old private asking the others to cover him with dire, as he ran with three grenades on top of the Nazis. Merritt said the private was later given a Bronze Star, but sadly killed at the Battle of the Bulge.
--GreGen
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