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This Remembrance Profile was originally created by SGT Robert Briggs - Deceased
Contact Info
Date of Passing Jul 03, 2022
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Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Easy Co. 506 P.I.R. 101st Airborne
Rescue Mission
The British have lost nearly 8,000 men during the Battle of Arnhem and some of them were still, since September, isolated from the other side of the Rhine.
The Easy is charged on October 17, 1944, to repatriate to the other side of the Rhine 120 British soldiers, who hid a few kilometers west of Arnhem. These fugitives have lived isolated for a month in constant fear of being captured by the Germans. Their leader, Colonel Dobey, crossed the Rhine without being noticed by the Germans and has called he 101st Airborne U.S. to rescue them.
The plan that was organized was very complex and required signaling lights, the artillery division support and the support of several sections such as the 321st Artillery GFA which has secured the flank of G/506 RIP. American assault troops were composed of elements of the Easy, supported by Canadian engineers.
This operation is one of the most successful rescue mission of the Second World War. It avoid to nearly 120 Allied soldiers to be killed. There was not a single shot. The following elements of the Easy who participated in the operation received a "Citation Battlefield":
Lt. Frederick T. Heyliger (commanding the operation), 1st Lt Harry Welsh, 2nd Lt Edward D. Shames, Sgt Robert F. Mann, T/4 John McGrath, T/4 Charles E. Rhinehardt, Cpl. Walter S. Gordon, Cpl Francis J. Mellett, T/5 Ralph Stafford, Pfc Bradford C. Freeman, Pfc Walter L. Hendrix, Pfc Gerald L. Flurrie, Pfc Edward A. Mauser, Pfc James A. McMahon, Pfc Wayne A. Sisk, Pfc Robert E. Wynn, Pfc Siles E. Harrellson, Pvt Lester Hashey, Pvt John C. Lynch, and Pvt David R. Pierce.
Other Comments:
Wounded Jan-1944
MOS: 745
ASN:
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Normandy Campaign (1944)/Operation Overlord/D-Day Airborne Landings
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
June / 1944
Description
The American airborne landings in Normandy were the first United States combat operations during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on June 6, 1944. Around 13,100 paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne Divisions made night parachute drops early on D-Day, June 6, followed by 3,937 glider troops flown in by day. As the opening maneuver of Operation Neptune (the assault operation for Overlord) the American airborne divisions were delivered to the continent in two parachute and six glider missions.
Both divisions were part of the U.S. VII Corps and provided it support in its mission of capturing Cherbourg as soon as possible to provide the Allies with a port of supply. The specific missions of the airborne divisions were to block approaches into the vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beach, to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish crossings over the Douve River at Carentan to assist the U.S. V Corps in merging the two American beachheads.
The assault did not succeed in blocking the approaches to Utah for three days. Numerous factors played a part, most of which dealt with excessive scattering of the drops. Despite this, German forces were unable to exploit the chaos. Many German units made a tenacious defense of their strong-points, but all were systematically defeated within the week.