US AIRBORNE

Robert F. Sink

This unit was creates on July 20, 1942 under the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Robert F. Sink. Sink is a former member of 501st PIR. As the others order regiment “Bounding Bob” wanted to inculcate its own model of control and formation. This formation, very hard, was to thereafter serve the men on the battle fields, especially when they should go of long distance in very short period. They were involved 12 hours per days, the whole to form their endurance. This formation took place with camp Toccoa, in Georgia close to the mountains Currahee. “Currahee” means we only fight as an Indian. The soldiers immediately adopted this currency for the regiment. In addition to the drive, the men were to climb and descend daily the mountain.

They made also long walk of night to the compass. And finally, there was the course of obstacle “that only a sadistic monster liking torture could inventer”. The program of drive was hardest of all the army. With Toccoa camp, the men had also the first stage when with their qualification as a parachutist in particular the jump of a tower of 10 meters.

At the end of November 42, it 506th is sent to Fort Benning to follow its training of parachutist. The 1^er battalion went there by train, the 2^nd battalion left Toccoa to foot, then after having traversed 185km with foot, they are gotten into a train to finish the voyage to foot. 3^rd battalion left by train until Atlanta then traversed the 219km remainder with foot beating of this fact the preceding record of the world held by the Japanese army. The men had to transport all their equipment. With Fort Benning begin the second phase of the drive, in particular of the jumps of turns of 76 meters with the feeling to have a true parachute which opens. They learned how to fold their own parachute and to prepare their equipment to be released in an airborne operation. At the end of the formation, they were qualified as parachutist with obtaining their wings. Once this instruction finished, the regiment was sent with Mackall camp to follow a tactical formation, including jumps of nights the whole with the complete equipment. 506th was attached to 101st June first, 1943. A few days later, the regiment took part in army maneuvres in Tennessee. The regiment was released behind the lines "ennemies" and were to establish stoppings lorry driver and to destroy bridges and the communication systems. Then, the regiment was sent to strong Bragg until the end August 43. With strong Bragg, it y have in particular a procession to organize in front of Generals and in particular the Foreign Minister, Sir Anthony Eden.

At the end of August, it was sent to New York with Shanks camp and ready to embark direction The United Kingdom. 506th embarked on board S.S.Samaria, crossed the Atlantic to arrive at Liverpool on September 15, 1943. In England, it 506th was posted in Wiltshire with units stationed with Aldbourne, Ramsbury, Froxfield and Chilton-Foliat. In England, the unit took part in exercises such as the operation “Wadham and Rankin” for the next invasion on the continent. June 5, 44, the men are close to C-47 who will transport them in their first mission of combat.

John H. Michaelis

Taking off from Membury and Greenham, the 502nd headed toward its drop zone: DZ A near Saint-Martin-de-Varreville, where German coastal batteries composed of 122mm guns were located. A few hours before the parachute drop, a combination of clouds and German flak broke the formation of C-47s transporting the troops. The breakup of the formation was so severe that some paratroopers jumped while their planes were still over the English Channel and drowned. The 1st and 3rd battalions generally landed near DZ A, while the 2nd battalion landed in a concentrated manner on DZ C. Two sticks from Company A received the 'green light' too late and landed in the canal, drowning most of the heavily loaded men, including the company commander, Captain Richard L. Davidson. Some sticks (paratrooper groups in a C-47) landed more than 8 kilometers from their target. Unfortunately, during the jump, Colonel Moseley broke his leg and had to relinquish his command to his deputy, Colonel John H. Michaelis.

Robert G. Cole

Meanwhile, the 3rd battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Robert G. Cole, was responsible for securing the two causeways. With skill, he was able to gather his men and take the objective. When they were relieved by the troops landing on the beaches, the men were gathered and sent to take a piece of high ground called Hill 30 near La Billionnerie to block the German retreat from Carentan. To get there, they had to pass along a causeway flanked on both sides by marshes. This causeway would later be named 'Purple Heart Lane' due to the number of wounded the regiment would suffer. As if that weren't challenging enough, the causeway had four bridges, one of which, Bridge No. 2, was destroyed.

On June 10, the men of Company G, under the command of Captain Robert Clements and Lieutenant David Irwin, attacked, followed by Companies H and I. In the days that followed, they cleared both sides of the road and eliminated German resistance in the marshes on either side of the causeway.

On June 11, the men were still bogged down on the causeway, so Lieutenant Colonel Robert G. Cole, commanding the 3rd battalion, ordered his men to fix bayonets. He then led the charge, armed only with his Colt pistol. They attacked a farm held by the Germans (Ingouf Farm), which was located in a strategic position near the 4th bridge, just to the right of it. For this operation, Lieutenant Colonel Robert G. Cole was awarded the Medal of Honor. Unfortunately, he never wore it, as he was killed by a sniper in Holland.

A few days later, the Germans counterattacked to the left of the farm but were stopped by the men of the 1st battalion. On June 13, the men of the 2nd battalion joined the 506th PIR to repel an assault southwest of Carentan. This was the 502nd PIR's last battle.

On June 29, the 101st was replaced by the VIII Corps. The division was sent to Cherbourg to relieve the 4th Infantry Division. Shortly afterward, the 502nd was sent back to England to rest and regroup. In England, over the next two months, the 502nd rebuilt its ranks and trained for the next operation. They were put on alert for several missions in France, but all were canceled.

In August 1944, General Eisenhower created the first Allied airborne army, composed of Americans, British, and Poles.

At the same time, the 17th, 82nd, and 101st Airborne divisions were combined into a newly created XVIII Airborne Corps in the United States, commanded by General Matthew Ridgway. This new First Airborne Army would see its first combat in Holland in September 1944.

This bold plan, devised by British Field Marshal Montgomery, would be the first daylight airborne operation. Like the German assault on Crete, the assault carried out on September 17, 1944, combined paratroopers and gliders from the 82nd and 101st with British and Polish airborne forces for a daylight assault on Holland. The airborne troops were to seize roads, bridges, and key communication towns such as Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhem, thus cutting Holland in two and clearing a corridor for the rapid advance of British armored divisions to the German border.

The objective of the 101st was to control 16 km of road (called Hell’s Highway) stretching from north of Eindhoven to Veghel. After less than three months in England, the 502nd, still under the command of Michaelis, made its second jump. Their objective was to jump on DZ C and take a road bridge over the Dommel River at St. Oedenrode, as well as the railway and road bridges in the small town of Best. They were also tasked with securing DZ B and C for the landing of gliders. Their jump took place on September 17, 1944, at 1:15 p.m. The 1st battalion took off from Wellford aboard 45 C-47s heading for DZ B. The rest of the regiment took off from Greenham aboard 90 C-47s, also heading for DZ B. After a flawless landing, the men moved toward their objectives. The 1st battalion headed north to capture the small town of St. Oedenrode. The 3rd battalion was sent through the Zonsche Forest to the small town of Best to take the bridges. The German resistance was fierce as they approached the town of Best. The 502nd got within 100 meters of the bridge when the Germans destroyed it. The fighting around the ruins of the bridge was deadly!

One heroic act among many was that of Private Joe Mann, who, already twice wounded in the fighting, saved his comrades by throwing himself on a grenade that had landed in their foxhole. For this act of bravery, Joe Mann was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Tragically, the second to receive this distinction, Colonel Robert Cole, was killed near the Zonsche Forest by a sniper. The 3rd battalion then came under the command of Major John Stopka.

Steve Chappuis

On September 22, Lieutenant Colonel Michaelis and three members of his team were seriously wounded by an artillery shell that hit their headquarters. Command then passed to the second-in-command of the 2nd battalion, Steve Chappuis. However, tough fighting awaited in the Zonsche Forest, and the 502nd pushed forward, finally receiving help from British 30th Corps tanks. The regiment, without the 1st battalion, wiped out and captured German troops. Shortly after taking their objective, the 502nd followed the 101st, moving to the 'Island' sector southwest of Arnhem. The 502nd was kept as a reserve unit and was sent near the town of Dodewaard. Its activity was limited to patrols to detect enemy infiltration. During these actions, the paratroopers of the 502nd mainly fell victim to German mines. Finally, in December, the 502nd, along with the rest of the 101st, was pulled from the front and returned to a former garrison in Reims, France, at Camp Mourmelon. At the camp, the men rested, with training limited to physical exercises. Some Red Cross clubs were opened to entertain the troops. But this period of rest would be short-lived.

At dawn on December 16, 1944, the Germans launched a major offensive through the Ardennes Forest, meeting the defenses held by the U.S. VII Corps. Their objective was the capture of Antwerp, the only nearby port supplying the Allied troops. The 101st was quickly sent to the town of Bastogne, a strategic location for the Germans as it was a crossroads for several key roads crucial to their offensive. The 101st made the journey during the night of December 18 aboard trucks. The 101st forces obstructed the advance of Hasso von Manteuffel's 5th Panzer Army. In the days that followed, Bastogne was surrounded.

The 502nd held positions to the north and northwest of Bastogne. Unable to break through the defenses, the Germans sent probing attacks.

In the sector held by the 502nd, the attack occurred the following Christmas morning, in the Hemroulle area. Numerous German panzers broke through the lines. Simultaneously, further north, other infantry units infiltrated the defenses of the town of Champs. Two enemy panzers headed toward the 502nd’s headquarters at the Château de Rolle. Private Sky Jackson earned his Silver Star there by destroying them with a bazooka. The other panzers attempting to escape from Champs were destroyed by John Ballard, a member of Company A. He was killed on January 3, 1945.

Finally, on December 26, tanks from Patton’s 4th Armored Division of the Third Army broke the encirclement. On January 3, the 2nd battalion engaged in fierce fighting around the town of Longchamps. The Germans captured 40 prisoners from Company F.

On January 14, the 3rd battalion lost its commander once again. Lieutenant Colonel John Stopka and some of his men were advancing through a pine forest following a railway line. German panzers were advancing on the other side. Someone called for air support, and planes strafed at low altitude but too close to the Americans, resulting in the death of 30 soldiers, including the battalion commander. Command of the 3rd battalion was given to Cecil L. Simmons until the end of the war. Shortly thereafter, the objective, the town of Bourcy in Belgium, was taken. The 101st Airborne held a defensive line along the Moder River for more than a month as part of the U.S. 7th Army.

On February 23, 1945, they were relieved and sent to rest at Mourmelon, France. General Eisenhower visited them and awarded the entire division the Distinguished Unit Citation for its bravery at Bastogne.

The war approached the end, 506th was sent in the pocket of Rhur on April 2. 506th a line was due facing The Rhine in the south of Düsseldorf.

May 4, the last mission of 506th is the catch of Berchtesgaden, the Hitler’s “Eagel’s  nest”. May 8, 1945, it Colonel Sink accepted the rendering of LXXXII German Corps ordered by Lieutenant General Theodor Tolsdorf. The 506th the area occupied of Zell Am See until the end July dates to which it was returned to Joigny in France. November 30, it 506th PIR was dissolves and its some remaining members were replaced in other units.

United States :

2 Presidential Distinguished Unit Citations for operations in Normandie and Bastogne

France :

War Cross with palms for the Normandy operation

Belgium :

2 War Cross and Lanyard for the Bastogne operations

Holland :

Lanyard Oranje from the Netherlands for the operation Market Garden