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Contact Info
Home Town Edgefield
Last Address Edgefield
Date of Passing Jun 26, 2003
Location of Interment Edgefield Village Cemetery - Edgefield, South Carolina
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RANGER HALL OF FAME
Senator Strom Thurmond predated the advent of the United States Army Ranger Course. On December 11, 1941, the day the United States declared war on Germany, Senator Thurmond took a leave of absence from the Judicial Bench to join the United States Army. Having been in the Reserves since 1924, he was commissioned a Lieutenant with the First Army's Eighty-second Airborne Division. On D-Day in 1944, his troop glider crash-landed behind enemy lines in France. Sustaining minor injuries, he and the other men fought for two days in isolation before they succeeded in linking up with American Forces advancing from their beachhead in Normandy. This type of mission demonstrates a classic Ranger-style operation which included infiltration of an enemy held area, and disruption of enemy lines of communication and his order of battle. Senator Thurmond later served in the Pacific. By the time he was discharged, he held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He retired from the United States Army Reserve as a Major General in 1960. In his later public service, Senator Thurmond advocated a strong National Defense including the full participation of the United States Army Reserve. He strongly supported the establishment and maintenance of an extraordinary fighting force, one that is capable of operating in all types of terrain, weather conditions, and without regard for the potential enemy hampering of the operational considerations. The idea that would later be embodied as the United States Army Rangers.
RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!!!
(Already a member of the US Army reserves, Strom Thurmond gave up his entitlement as a judge to draft deferment after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. He immediately joined the army, was employed as a captain and assigned to the 713th Military Police Battalion attached to First Army headquarters.
In 1943 Thurmond was attached to the 82nd Airborne in a civil affairs role and trained with them as glider infantry when the division moved to England. He was part of Mission Elmira, a reinforcement to the initial D-day airborne landings, when he landed by glider near St Maire Eglise later in the day of June 6. At 41, he is thought to have been the oldest person to land with the 82nd on D-Day.)
Early life and career
James Strom Thurmond was born on December 5, 1902, in Edgefield, South Carolina, the son of John William Thurmond (May 1, 1862 - June 17, 1934) and Eleanor Gertrude Strom (July 18, 1870 - January 10, 1958). He attended Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina (now Clemson University), where he was a member of ΠΚΑ, graduating in 1923 with a degree in horticulture.
He was a farmer, teacher and athletic coach until 1929, when he became Edgefield County's superintendent of education, serving until 1933. Thurmond studied law with his father and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1930. He served as the Edgefield Town and County attorney from 1930 to 1938, and joined the United States Army Reserve in 1924. In 1933 Thurmond was elected to the South Carolina Senate and represented Edgefield until he was elected to the Eleventh Circuit judgeship.
After the outbreak of World War II, Judge Thurmond resigned from the bench to serve in the U.S. Army, rising to Lieutenant Colonel. In the Battle of Normandy (June 6–August 25, 1944), he crash-landed his glider with the 82nd Airborne Division. For his military service, he received 18 decorations, medals and awards, including the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star with Valor device, Purple Heart, World War II Victory Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Belgium's Order of the Crown and France's Croix de Guerre. During 1954-55 he was president of the Reserve Officers Association. He later retired from the U.S. Army Reserves with the rank of Major General.
Governor of South Carolina (1947–1951)
States' Rights Democratic presidential candidate (1948)
Eight-term Senator from South Carolina (December 1954–April 1956 and November 1956–January 2003)
Democrat (1954–April 1956 and November 1956–September 1964)
Republican (September 1964–January 2003)
President pro tempore (1981–1987; 1995–January 3, 2001; January 20, 2001–June 6, 2001)
Set record for the longest Congressional filibuster (1957)
Set record for oldest serving member at 94 years (1997)
Set the then-record for longest cumulative tenure in the Senate at 43 years (1997), increasing to 47 years, 6 months at his retirement in January 2003, surpassed by Robert Byrd in July 2006
Became the only senator ever to serve at the age of 100
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Normandy Campaign (1944)/Operation Overlord/D-Day Beach Landings - Operation Neptune
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
June / 1944
Description The Normandy landings (codenamed Operation Neptune) were the landing operations on 6 June 1944 (termed D-Day) of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the invasion of German-occupied western Europe, led to the restoration of the French Republic, and contributed to an Allied victory in the war.
Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal, but postponing would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the invasion planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day that meant only a few days in each month were deemed suitable. Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and of developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.
The amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 British, US, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France starting at 06:30. The target 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword Beach. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions, particularly at Utah and Omaha. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of the beach clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled using specialised tanks.
The Allies failed to achieve all of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, a major objective, was not captured until 21 July. Only two of the beaches (Juno and Gold) were linked on the first day, and all five bridgeheads were not connected until 12 June. However, the operation gained a foothold that the Allies gradually expanded over the coming months. German casualties on D-Day were around 1,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead. Museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area host many visitors each year.
