This Military Service Page was created/owned by
MAJ Mark E Cooper
to remember
Cooper, Rudolph William, SGM USA(Ret).
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RUDOLPH WILLIAM COOPER, SGM , US Army retired, passed away 25 April 2008 at the VA Hospice Center in Washington , DC . Rudy was assigned to CCS, MACV-SOG. His other Special Forces Assignments included the 5th (RVN & CONUS, 7th and 10th (CONUS) Special Forces Groups and two tours with 46th Special Forces Company. Rudy was one of the few Special Forces Soldiers to have received the Combat Infantry Badge 3rd Award for Combat Service in WW II, Korea and Vietnam . Also among his many wards and decorations are the Silver Star, 10 Bronze Stars and 3 Purple Hearts. He is survived by two daughters, three grandsons, a brother and four great-grandchildren
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Sicily Campaign (1943)
From Month/Year
July / 1943
To Month/Year
August / 1943
Description (Sicily Campaign 9 July to 17 August 1943) In preparation for the invasion of Sicily the Allies captured the islands in the Sicilian strait, with aerial bombardment forcing the capitulation of Pantelleria on 11 June 1943. By that time Allied air power had begun the attack on Sicily by bombing defenses and airfields. The invasion itself got under way on the night of 9/10 July with airborne landings that were followed the next day by an amphibious assault. The enemy offered strong resistance, but the Allies had superiority in the air and soon had planes operating from Sicilian bases to support Montgomery’s Eighth Army and Patton’s Seventh.
Interdictory operations against communications in Italy and between Italy and Sicily convinced the enemy that it would be impossible to move strong reinforcements. By 17 August 1943 the Allies were in possession of the island, but they had not been able to prevent a German evacuation across the Strait of Messina.
