EDITO

 

Dedication:

I dedicate this website to my father, son and godfather.

I further dedicate this website to all the young U.S. Army soldiers who fought the largest and hardest battles of WW2.  Alive or deceased, killed in action or not, they shall never be forgotten!!

Who am I?

I am Xavier Van Daele, but my friends call me Xav.

I am 32 years old since 29 june.

Of course, I am fond of World War II.

I am a Drawer architect for the firm of Assar in Brussels.

 

Why the Us Airborne?

Since my childhood, I have always been interested in War World II. I watched again and again movies such as "The Longest Day", "Remagen", etc....

My dad passed me on his passion. Moreover he was a Belgian paratrooper!

Furthermore, my godfathr was born on June 6, 1964. One might think it a bit silly, but he was proud to say he was born on "D-Day".  He was a huge fan of the paratroopers. 

He would say: "These men  had the "balls" to jump behind enemy lines in the dark of the night"

Often times we would see the film The Longest Day.

Moreover, I watched "the longest day! " hundred of times with him.

After searching  the internet, I became aware that there was no website in french which featured this subject.  Certainly, there are sites of the 101st. Airborne (thanks to Bob!) and of  the 82nd Airborne, but none of the llth, 13th or 17th, nor none of the smaller airborne units.

Therefore it is my intention to rectify this by creating a website dedicated to the U.S. Airborne units.

 

Contact:

x_va@hotmail.com

 

Source:

.Books

-"Bastogne célèbre par un mot: Nuts!" Guy Franz Arend

-Magazine 39/45

-Magazine Historica

-Magazine Images de guerre

-"Band of brothers" Stephen E. Ambrose 

-"La grande Histoire de La seconde guerre Mondiale" Pierre Montagnon

-"Les Paras du D-Day" Christophe Deschodt and Laurent Rouger

-"Images de Guerre"

Marshall Cavendish

-"6Juin 1944 - Les soldats du Jour J" Jean Bouchery and Christophe Deschodt

-"Rendezvous with destiny" the history of 101st Airborne” Stars & Stripes, Paris 1944-1945.

-"All American" the history of 82nd Airborne" Stars & Stripes, Paris 1944-1945.

-"507th Parachute Infantry Regiment" Dominique François

-"508th Parachute Infantry Regiment" Dominique françois

-"The way we were: Colonel Ben Vandervoort" Michel de Trez

-"The way we were: Colonel Bob Piper" Michel de trez

-"The way we were: Cpl Forrest Guth" Michel de trez

-"No Better place to die" Robert M. Murphy translate Emile Lacroix

-"America Warrior" Michel de trez 

-"At the point of no return" Michel de trez

 

Thank You:

There are quite a lot of thanks !!

The first one goes to Dominic Biello, the webmaster of ww2-airborne. My website wouldn’t exist without him.

The links of his website shows his reference.

The other thanks goes to my good friend Cédric Evrard!

Thanks to him, the Equipement and Material parts wouldn't exist...

A Big thanks for Célia, Hélène, William, Daniel for your precious help for translation!

Thanks to Loïc and Jo for your help in the part "Hall of Honor"!

Some other thanks for:

Fabrice ( the webmaster of Croix de fer et casque d'acier better known as Falou)

Prosper (the webmaster of freebelgians)

Thomas (known as 3elbarto )

Florent

Michaël

Guillaume

Isabelle (my wife!!)

The community of my forum: US Army (Glide Pilot - HK - Demolition Man - Pathfinders - ...)Created with Front Page - Résol. 800x600 - Xavier Van Daele Webmaster 2005