Foreword

(1) Colonel Mark Alexander commanded three airborne battalions in the 82d Airborne in World War II, including my battalion, the 1st Battalion, 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment. He led from the front and will always be remembered as a man with a gun, fighting on the scene, which is the way he fought at La Fière Causeway. He became my good friend and was one of the faithful members of our World War II 505 Regimental Combat Team Association. He passed away at age 92 at his California home in 2004, attended by his loving wife Mary. His mind and memory were very keen and concise. He was a great combat officer, tough but well liked by all soldiers. Throughout his life he was the best.

Chapter One

(1) Before Normandy, all the glider infantry regiments had only two battalions. At the time of the invasion, it was decided that the glider regiments would have three battalions. For that purpose, the 401st GIR of the 101st Airborne Division was split in two. Its 2d Battalion (2/401) was attached to the 325th GIR of the 82d Airborne Division to become its 3rd Battalion (3/325). The 1st Battalion 401 was attached to the 327th GIR of the 101st Airborne Division to become its 3rd Battalion (3/327 GIR).

(2) Marcus Heim (from New York) died in 2003 and Gordon C. Pryne (from California) died in Tucson, Arizona in January 2006. Both Peterson and Bolderson survived the war, and died in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively.

Chapter Four

(1) Red Dog Dolan practiced law in Boston and was a good friend of mine during my time as a trial lawyer in Boston and Cape Cod for over 50 years. Parts of his account are from personal interviews and correspondence.

(2) This quotation comes from Captain Dolan’s seven-page letter to General Gavin, written on March 23, 1959, which highlights his seizure of the bridge with A Company. Not being an egoist, he stated only the bare essentials. In his P.S. he noted: “for the record, this bridge was held by Company A from the time of its capture on D-Day, until we were relieved.” He also noted therein that he had written the letter to General Gavin at my urging, as he had never replied to the queries of Cornelius Ryan to record his role in the Normandy Campaign.

(3) Charles Burghduff, a fellow Pathfinder and later a sergeant, was killed in action next to me during an attack on the town of Mook, Holland on September 19, 1944. Charley was a good friend, intelligent and brave, with whom I shared German parentage. (My mother’s mom and dad were immigrants from Germany via Basel, Switzerland.)

(4) Captain Schwarzwalder notably later gained prominence as the head coach of the 1959 National Championship Syracuse University football team.

(5) Ostberg was later killed in action in Holland.

Chapter Six

(1) One of the best books about the 325 GIR is Captain Wayne Pierce (Lt. Col., Ret.) Let’s Go, Professional Press: Chapel Hill, NC, 1977.

(2) After the war, Richard Johnson, John Dolan, and I were good friends; all of us were lawyers in Boston.

Chapter Seven

(1) Company A later paid Owens the most remarkable tribute that the History Officer, S.L.A. Marshall, ever heard paid to any soldier in the ETO. When the company was interviewed as a body, all hands said, “The defense was saved by Owens. It was his courage and calmness which made us stick out. He carried the load.” Owens is not a conspicuous-looking soldier. He is a man of medium size, rather reserved and considerably older than the average paratrooper. In the presence of the whole company, he said, “We stuck because our leaders stuck and we knew they were sticking. Captain (promoted) Dolan was with us all the time. Such of the younger officers Alexander kept coming up into the fight. We saw General Ridgway up there and General Gavin. We knew what we were doing and that they would give us all the help they could. That did more to give us confidence than the power of our weapons” (Quoted from S.L.A. Marshall).

(2) This account is based on personal 1959 correspondence between General Gavin and Sergeant Owens, as well as the personal accounts of actions on June 6 and 7 told by the officers and men of Company A 505 PIR as part of the official US Army history. As a participant in the battle, I can also verify Owens’ account. Lieutenant Dolan recommended a Distinguished Service Cross for Owens, but he never received it.

Chapter Eight

(1) Millett was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in Korea in 1951.

(2) General Ridgway relieved Lieutenant Colonel Carrell of command of the 3rd Battalion, 325 GIR.

(3) S.L.A. Marshall, July 1944 interview of 325 GIR men who had just returned from Normandy to their camps in England.

(4) Second Lieutenant Donald B. Wason, Company G, 325 GIR, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his action.

(5) Lieutenant Colonel Gardner was killed in action on June 14. The commanding officer of the 2/325 GIR, Maj. Roscoe Roy, was killed in action on June 15.

(6) Captain Robert Rae, 507 PIR, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on June 9, 1944.

(7) In Normandy, the 325 GIR lost 270 men KIA and more than 700 WIA. The glidermen were issued jump boots (so far, they had been wearing leggings) on July 11 on Utah Beach just before to embarking for England. Previously, only parachutists were permitted to wear jump boots. As parachutist Buck Pendergast proclaimed to his friend from the 325th, Wayne Pierce, “You all deserved it!”

Chapter Nine

(1) The National Liberation Museum in Groesbeek, Holland, is a wonderful museum dedicated to the 82d Airborne. It is staffed by gracious and dedicated local citizens led by Father Thuring, pastor of Saint Antonius church of Groesbeck.

“The Hottest Single Incident”

(1) Editor’s note: Colonel Alexander’s account is taken from his excellent Thirty-Four Days in Normandy, which he wrote at the request of his son Mark. Before his death in 2008, Bob Murphy strongly expressed the wish that Colonel Alexander’s “diary notes on his life with the 82d Airborne Division” be published. The Colonel’s grandson, John Sparry, is currently editing the complete memoir of his grandfather’s World War II experiences, based on the transcription of numerous audiotapes they made together over a period of several years.

(2) Editor’s note: Colonel Alexander remained in command of the 1/505 until late on June 16, 1944, when Colonel Ekman called and ordered him to report immediately to Col. Roy E. Lindquist, commanding officer of the 508 PIR, as the regiment’s new executive officer. Colonel Alexander reports: “In a few minutes, the telephone rang again and General Ridgway confirmed the order. I said to General Ridgway that I was a 505 man—and then he said, ‘You WERE!’ So I jumped into a Jeep, left my duck dinner to Major Bill Hagen, my replacement, and reported to Colonel Lindquist.”

The Tank Attack on La Fière Causeway

(1) Marcus Heim, Lenold Peterson, John Bolderson and Gordon Pryne were all awarded the same DSC decoration for their heroic action at La Fière bridge. Not a single A Company or 1st Battalion 505 trooper withdrew from their positions. Other men not in the regiment headed for defensive positions back at the railroad bridge.

(2) Lenold Peterson and John Bolderson both died before 1993. Marcus Heim died suddenly in October 2003 after the 505 RCT Colorado Springs Reunion. Gordon Pryne died in January 2006 in Arizona.

Letter to General Gavin

(1) Editor’s note: Sections of Dolan’s letter are included above in Part I, Chapter Four, “The Battle at La Fière.” Other quotations from Dolan in that chapter derive from his interviews with Bob Murphy. The body of Dolan’s letter to General Gavin is here reproduced in its entirety. The letter is dated March 23, 1959.

(2) Editor’s note: The signature on John J. Dolan’s letter to General Gavin is here reproduced. Red Dog Dolan was a 1st lieutenant on D-Day, but was immediately promoted to captain as the A Company commander.

“Chief” Turner Turnbull

(1) Sgt. Robert Niland (D/505) was one of four brothers, three of whom were killed in action in World War II: one was KIA in the Pacific and another on Utah Beach on the D-Day landing. The movie Saving Private Ryan was made about these four brothers: when Fritz Niland (a.k.a. Private Ryan), a 101st Airborne Division paratrooper, came up to Ste. Mère-Eglise with a 101st chaplain, Father Sampson, he learned of his brother’s death on June 6. They were real band of brothers, not from Hollywood.

(2) Editor’s Note: Lieutenant Turnbull was recommended for the DSC for his action in Normandy. He received the Silver Star.

D-Day in Ste. Mère-Eglise

(1) Editor’s note: The above account by Spencer F. Wurst (Colonel, USA, ret.) is excerpted from Chapter 16, “D-Day Jump: The Defense of Ste. Mère-Eglise,” in his memoir of combat with F/505, Descending from the Clouds (Casemate Publishers, 2004; paperback 2006).

The 325 Glider Infantry Regiment Attack across La Fière Causeway

(1) I always wondered what General Gavin thought about the possibility of the success of the Normandy invasion, insofar as the airborne elements were concerned, especially in view of his exploits in Sicily and my later reading of Eisenhower’s statement of advice, which Gavin did not accept as it was given to him. Also, I always wondered why General Gavin (or General Ridgway) thought crossing the causeway was possible, whereas Lieutenant Colonel Carrell (and all three were West Point trained), sacrificed his career, at the very least, because he had not the faith.

(2) I read a newspaper article after World War II, which recounted that six days before the scheduled landing in Normandy, an adviser and personal friend of Eisenhower (British General Leigh-Mallory) pleaded with him not to send paratroop and glider units on the mission because he said casualties to glider troops would be 90 percent before they ever reached the ground, and that the killed and wounded among the paratroops would be 75 percent. Four days before the invasion, Eisenhower was still undecided. However, the fate of the war seemed to hinge on the control of the causeways between the beaches and the mainland. (The Merderet causeway was one of them.) Failure would have resulted not only in great loss of life, but loss of his position and reputation. Eisenhower decided to take the risk and won. Generals Ridgway and Gavin took the risk and won. Lieutenant Colonel Carrell would not take the risk and lost.

The Fighting at Cauquigny and Le Motey

(1) This crossing was made at the hamlet of La Fière located about 850 yards to the north of La Fière Manoir, as shown on the D-Day “Bigot” map.

(2) DeGlopper’s heroic action, which led to the only Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to the 82d Airborne in Normandy, occurred across the Merderet River, not far from the Cauquigny church.

The Battle of La Fière, Seen from the Manoir

(1) In 2003, some other troopers and I visited Madame Leroux at the Ste. Mère-Eglise hospital, where she was very ill. As soon as I said the words, “La Fière Pont, la guerre deux” (La Fière bridge, World War II), she immediately became wide-awake and we spoke a few more words. She remembered, but soon passed away.

Manning the Bell Tower at Ste. Mère-Eglise

(1) Editor’s note: Jorg Köhnen-May, Rudolph May’s son, originally translated this account into English, adding the following in a letter: “I left the above text in its original form as my father wrote it down.” I have made changes in grammar and syntax for the sake of clarity and style, but respected the sense and feel of the original.

(2) Rudolph May returned many times to Ste. Mère-Eglise, where he had many friends. His signature appears in the Gold Book in the Museum there. He regretted that he and John Steele were never able to meet again, as they would have had many things to discuss. He had another reason to return to Normandy: his brother, who was a pilot, is buried in the German Cemetery at St. Désir-de-Lisieux. Rudolph May died in October 1985, in the little village of Niederzier, located between Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle, where he had lived since the end of the war.

Appendix A

(1) All 505 pathfinders received this medal for heroic (valorous) action, given their great success. All were very experienced combat veterans of the 505 PIR before they dropped into Normandy.

(1) Lenold Peterson, John Bolderson and Gordon Pryne were awarded the same DSC decoration for their heroic action at La Fière bridge. Not a single A Company or 1st Battalion 505 trooper withdrew from his position. Other men, not in our regiment, were heading for defensive positions back at the railroad bridge.

Appendix B

(1) Paratroopers tucked their pants into their jump boots, blousing them out to make “baggy pants.” Thus, non-jumpers were called “straight legs” because they of course did not do this.

Appendix C

(1) At the time this story takes place, Zane Schlemmer was a 19-year-old American paratroop sergeant with the 508 PIR. He is a good friend of mine, whom I last visited in February 2006 in Hawaii. He wanted the rabbit story and the Christmas story told.