75 years ago my 20 year old dad was dropped in Normandy

[MaryMagdaline]

He landed in the water and struggled to get the parachute off before he would drown or suffocate. He pulled it off, looked up, and witnessed his 21 year old lieutenant get shot in the head. My dad was next in command for his squad. Had to scamper around looking for his buddies.

His thoughts on hitting the water: “This is the stupidest thing.”

I learned that war was mostly stupid. And fought by children under the command of old men. And that far better men than my dad (according to him) were slaughtered. That the only thing that made war bearable was the Pax Americana, the Western democratic alliance, NATO, detente.

None of which could be taught to 45. As Mr. Khan told us before November 2016, 45 has sacrificed nothing; he cannot possibly understand loss.

RIP all those of 6/6/44. All 8 of Dad’s children know who you were and what you did.

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. I'm glad that he made it home

[MaryMagdaline]

2. Thank you MustLoveBeagles. My uncle told us our grandmother was crying

Families didn’t know for days and sometimes weeks. All she knew was that her son was a paratrooper and that paratroopers were getting slaughtered.

(BTW Many of the nicest people I know have Beagles💕

[Nevermypresident]

3. Thank you so much for sharing this.

[MaryMagdaline]

4. Thank you Nevermypresident

[rurallib]

5. Great post, MM

sounds like you learned the lessons of war that few ever seem to.

Glad you Dad was lucky enough to make it through.

My late FIL was one who made it through also. That was all I know because he would never speak of it.
Whether I want to or not I will spend tonite and tomorrow remembering him and his sacrifice.

[MaryMagdaline]

6. Thank you rurallib

Another sacrifice we learned about was the loss of my mother’s fiancé, her high school sweetheart. The destruction of one life meant my mother met and married my father instead of her high school sweetheart and all of us were born. His death caused a breakdown in my mother. Per my aunt, she was never the same person.

My parents never dodged the issue of war. It meant certain death to many and was almost never justified.

Thank you for remembering the dead. They deserved their lives as much as my parents did. And glad your FIL lived through it as well. Living through meant we all had a chance to be born (your spouse included).

[SallyHemmings]

7. We are the lucky ones

Thank you for sharing your story. We are lucky that your Dad shared his service history with you.

[MaryMagdaline]

23. Thank you SallyHemmings

By your name, I know that you know how necessary it is that the truth be told.

[SallyHemmings]

26. As does yours

[Aristus]

8. I'm not sure I understand the location where your father landed in France.

If he was a paratrooper, then he was dropped considerably west of Omaha Beach, even taking into account the misdrops of thousands of troops over the wrong drop zones. He would most likely have landed on the Cotentin Peninsula, closer to Utah Beach than Omaha. I've never heard that a U.S. paratrooper actually landed on the beach.

Did I read your OP wrong?

Anyway, props to your father for his contribution to the success of the invasion.

[MaryMagdaline]

10. Checking with family historian and will clarify

If I messed this up I’m out of the family. Manifest says Squadron 305 TCS. Other documents say UNIT: Co. G, 507

[Aristus]

13. Okay. Thanks.

I've studied the Normandy assault since I was a kid. My first thought is that he came down somewhere in the fields inland of Utah Beach. The Germans flooded these areas in order to drown heavily-laden paratroopers like your father. I'm glad he escaped with his life.

These flooded marshes often had tall grasses growing out of them, obscuring the surface of the waters, so were very difficult to spot by aerial reconnaissance. Some were marked as drops zones for paratroopers. And even the ones that weren't claimed a number of paratroopers' lives when they were mis-dropped over those areas.

[MaryMagdaline]

17. I am SO glad you corrected me. It would be so embarrassing to learn later that I posted

misleading information and left it there.

My brother is the youngest. Thankfully, our nephew has great interest in military history. I asked my brother to post something in the family Facebook section, so that the younger ones will have an accurate history.

[Aristus]

18. I felt like a bit of a heel doing it, though.

I didn't want you to think I was disrespecting your father.

[MaryMagdaline]

27. Not at all. He would totally approve. An exact person with the facts.

[DashOneBravo]

28. G Company, 507 Parachute Infantry Regiment

Was part of the 82nd Airborne Division during D-Day.

The 507th is now at Ft Benning and it’s the “ Home of the Airborne”. We call it jump school.

[MaryMagdaline]

30. Thanks, DashOneBravo!

[MaryMagdaline]

12. Aristus - this is the correction from my brother

In answer to my question:

"British units landed at GOLD Beach. Americans landed at Omaha and Utah Beaches. Dad jumped with the 507 Parachute Infantry Regiment as part of the 82nd Airborne Division.* The 82nd and 101st Airborne were the 2 American Airborne Divisions at Normandy. Dad landed behind I think Utah Beach in the Contentin Peninsula.** Their objective was the West Bank of the Merderet River. The river was purposefully dammed to flood all of the lowlands and channel troops up the road."

So, you are correct. I am taking out reference to Omaha Beach.

I was thinking all these years that they dropped my father short of land since he was still in the water, but the flooding of the lowlands makes more sense.

* I think actually, my dad's group was scooped up into 82nd Airborne AFTER the loss of men on D-Day. They flew with 82nd on June 6, but I don't think they were officially part of 82nd on D-Day. He finished with 82nd Airborne. They (whoever was left of his unit) served in the Bulge and Operation Market Garden and at least one other no-name battle.

**Aristus is correct.

[Aristus]

14. Hey! I was right!

You and I posted at the same time. My surmise was correct!

[MaryMagdaline]

58. Fixing the glitches

My military history was fuzzy and I apologize. My brother wrote more about the 507th. This fixes the misinformation I previously posted. He dropped with 82nd Airborne on D-Day. It was the 17th Airborne he dropped with after D-Day. The following are my brother's words:

"The 507th / 82nd stayed on the line for 33 days in some of the most bitter, intense, and relentless combat of the entire war. Dad said that he fought alongside some the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment troops of the 82nd and held them in high regard.

I've read various sets of numbers over the years so I'll round them off here. The 507th jumped with about 2,700 paratroopers. When they were relieved from the line after 33 days, about 900 troopers were able to walk to the beaches and load out on the LSTs. The 507th was badly decimated, and its officer corps nearly annihilated in Normandy. Subsequently it was detached from the 82nd and assigned to be the veteran cadre of the newly forming 17th Airborne Division. The 507th earned a Presidential Unit Citation in Normandy. The 507th did one more combat jump with the 17th Airborne, That was Operation Varsity where they jumped into Germany near the Rohr River industrial pocket.

Dad was a parachute rigger as a Technical Sergeant. Partly because of this, and the need for combat veterans, he was able to transfer into the 508th and jump into Holland in September and later transferred to the 505th to serve with them in The Bulge. He was back with the 507th for their final combat jump in March 1945. After the war the 507th and the entire 17th Airborne Division were decommissioned. That has always saddened me that the records of these men, and their achievements, were relegated to some musty footlocker in storage somewhere. When I have spoken to veterans who served with the 82nd more recently and mention the 507th, they've never heard of it. The 325th is still around but are paratroopers now, not glider infantry. In an ARMY /NAVY football game recently, ARMY wore WWII themed football uniforms. It made my heart proud to see the 507th."

[Aristus]

59. Your mention of the glider infantry reminded me of something:

Last edited Thu Jun 6, 2019, 05:06 PM - Edit history (1)

My school bus driver when I was in seventh grade had been a glider pilot during the D-Day assault. I used to sit behind his driver's seat on the way to school and listen to him talk about his experiences. They were all about the men he knew, and not about the things they did and saw. His name was Mr. Taylor. I wish I knew his full name; maybe I could find some historical information about him.

[MaryMagdaline]

60. Just watched a video in the d-day gliders

Mind boggling. Respect to Mr. Taylor

[Aristus]

61. Yeah. Gliders troops were the redheaded stepchildren of the airborne corps.

They were not volunteers; they were essentially 'drafted' into airborne service. They didn't receive jump pay like the paratroopers, or any hazardous duty pay over and above that of ground infantry.

And the gliders they went into combat with were death traps by any measure. The obstacles the Germans placed in fields that could serve as potential drops zones tore the gliders to shreds, murdering their troops before they even got on the ground.

One glider pilot who later went on to fly helicopters in Vietnam once remarked: "Terrible idea, gliders..."

[DashOneBravo]

62. Tell your brother

It lives on. The 507th was reactivated in 1985. It’s at Ft Benning.

The Army will take a unit that has a bad ass history and will place it back on duty. So it’s carried on.

[MaryMagdaline]

66. Thank you! I will

[yardwork]

9. What a beautiful and meaningful post.

[MaryMagdaline]

24. Thank you Yardwork

[BigmanPigman]

11. Have you ever gone there (where he landed on D Day?

I am not surprised he and your mom didn't talk about it much. When I watch interviews with older vets from various wars most of them said the same thing and it didn't matter which war they fought in. The battle scars are with you for life in your memories. The one lesson they all learned is the same one your family did...."I learned that war was mostly stupid. And fought by children under the command of old men".

[MaryMagdaline]

15. I've never gone there. My best friend has a house in France, not terribly far from Normandy.

I just have not been able to schedule a time to go. I wanted very much to see the graves of US military, especially paratroopers. I also want to light a candle at Sainte-Mere-Eglise (my father was deeply Catholic), but I've just never been there.

My father actually started to tell us a little of his experiences as we got older. He didn't like us to be idealistic about war. We went to see Bridge Too Far (another battle he was involved in) and he told us a bit about that. Also, when Battle of the Bulge was on TV, he pointed to the troops coming in at the END of the movie, and said "I was with those guys." Only then did I understand that that battle went on and on and was not over with when the credits ended. My parents decided to steer us away from war. On this, they were in total agreement.

[Red Mountain]

16. My takeaway

Norms and institutions put into place to honor the incredibly brave sacrifices of our soldiers and make sure they NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN are being intentionally weakened by politicians with their own self-aggrandizing wealth building agendas.

The best of us and the worst.

[MaryMagdaline]

20. You are so correct

This is my dilemma. I am so proud of my father, yet his entire life he wanted us to oppose militarism. If you want *All Quiet on the Western Front* as I did when very young, you see that the glorification of war is what makes the next war inevitable. My grandfather fought in WWI; 25 years later they got my father. **22 years or so later, they got my father's best friend, who died in Vietnam (or actually the undeclared war at that time in Cambodia, I think).

My dad gave an interview for Warner Robins TV for the 40th or 45th anniversary of D-Day. The viewers were mostly military families (Robins AFB, where my father worked as a civilian was the biggest employer in the area). When he gave the "this is the stupidest thing" comment (Ernie Pyle would be proud of this WWII curmudgeon) I wondered whether the viewers would react negatively to that. Sometimes his AF buddies would comment about my father, wondering if he were really "on our side." (only half jokingly). I did notice that the friends closest in age, many of whom served in WWII, Korea AND Vietnam, never questioned the "side" my father was on. They permitted honesty about the stupidity of war.

[pazzyanne]

19. Thank you from my Dad via me.

Dad didn't talk much about WWII, but he had plenty to say about the undeclared wars that have happened since then. His usual comment was "War is hell!" when new wars were started.

[MaryMagdaline]

21. I know your dad. I love him.

Thank you.

[sprinkleeninow]

36. These dads are brothers from different mothers.

Mine: Navy, WWII, Phillipines, ship received artillery fire, Dad in the water saying last prayer of repentance.

He made it but assisted with fatally wounded.

Came home, bit his lip, tears welled up when mom asked him to tell her anything. "War is hell!"

They were both strong Democrats and that was instilled in me.

[MaryMagdaline]

39. Peace to him.

Another brother: Andy Rooney. The 40th anniversary of D-Day, he told the story of the kid in his squad who got apples for everyone who was shot and killed. This story slays me. So.much.waste

Our fathers did want life to mean something after all the atrocities. Part of the attraction to the Democratic Party, for me, was doing something for mankind, to justify why I was born and not someone else.

[sprinkleeninow]

43. That is why I am a Democrat. It makes sense deep within my spirit.

I too feel I am here for an altruistic purpose to be fulfilled. I hold this as providential.

Our former Jewish neighbor called me 'junior'. [Endearing 'cause I'm female.😁]. She'd say of something, "Junior, that's beshert." Pre-ordained. I've carried that with me as mine.

Peace be unto all....

[MaryMagdaline]

48. Agreed. My husband was Jewish but I told everyone

we were of the same religion ... Democrat. It is a spiritual thing as you say.

[sprinkleeninow]

50. 👍 💙 😉

[CaptainTruth]

22. Bless him, & thank you for sharing.

[MaryMagdaline]

25. Thank you, CaptainTruth

[Laura PourMeADrink]

29. Wow. Have chills ..amazing story,! My dad is a WW2

Vet too, 97 years old. He was in Pacific, Navy supply ship, like around Borneo, but still has never talked about it.

Thanks to all brave soldiers. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of courage it took to go to a war zone.

[MaryMagdaline]

31. My uncle was in the Pacific

I wish we were told as much about that part of the war as the war in Europe. Blessings to your dad at 97!! A witness (and hostage) to history

[Laura PourMeADrink]

38. The funny part was that he had met my mom a while

before he got drafted and went and she thought it was serious. From the war, he sent her a photo of him in his Navy uniform, signed, " Friends Always, Joe". She still talks about that today - she's almost 94.

[MaryMagdaline]

40. Oh Lord, that would kill me! GI flippancy was a survival skill

I think. Love your parents’ story. So sweet and brutal at the same time.💕

[Laura PourMeADrink]

42. Have you been to the Vietnam memorial in DC?...that

was the most horrible, emotional experience ever.

[MaryMagdaline]

47. I've never been there. I've heard it's gut-wrenching

[Laura PourMeADrink]

49. It is. Thanks again for posting! Sure your dad is

Somewhere bragging about his daughter, the way you honored him today!

[nitpicker]

67. My father was Agent Orange'd

So he is not on The Wall.

((He almost was, as a position got overrun, but according to him a "colonel" (probably a frocked-up major) got choppers in to rescue them.))

But in a small corner of the "three soldiers" display, there is a chained-off triangle paying tribute to those not eligible for inclusion on The Wall.

And every third Saturday in June, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund hosts a "In Memory" program remembering such veterans.

[MaryMagdaline]

70. I never knew about the 3 soldiers. Thank you

To your dad.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

71. So sorry. My cousin ended up on a team that the govt

did experiments on .
So hear the horror of it all and for your dad. Billy said they gave them all kinds of drugs as a test. He said one made the walls move.in and out ,!

[nitpicker]

68. One reference to war in the Pacific

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/pacific-strategy-1941-1944

Discusses "island hopping".

This was a series of engagements to work towards hitting Japan, instead of major landings in Europe such as North Africa, Sicily, Anzio and of course D-Day.

About 10 years after WW2, the "Victory at Sea" half-hour programs were produced, including footage from Pacific sea battles. PBS used to air them on Veteran's Day and Memorial Day.

[MaryMagdaline]

69. Good post, nitpicker

[DashOneBravo]

32. What a guy.

In the early 90’s. There was a small museum at Ft Bragg.

When you went down the hallway the first picture you saw wasn’t a picture of parades or anything like that. It was a picture of one of the jumpers at D-Day. You could see the 82nd patch and his arm was towards his head and the parachute suspension lines were draped over his arms and helmet. Where he had drowned in the marsh. You couldn’t make out the face.

It was a warning to young hooahs that it’s serious business. And don’t forget what they did.

[MaryMagdaline]

33. Chills. The drowning or getting strangled in trees was a horror

[sprinkleeninow]

34. "May Their Memory Be Eternal."

[MaryMagdaline]

35. Yes. My father's young lieutenant is the one I think of

I never got his name but there is a Lt. Devlin and Lt. Harvey on the manifest. To each ...

[abbeyco]

37. Thank you for sharing

Thank you for sharing your Fathers story. My Dad’s involvement in WWII informed the rest of his life and had him let us kids know that he would not support any of our decisions to join the military to “fight a rich man’s war” because he had already done that in WWII as well as Korea.
May the memories of all who gave their lives so selflessly on 6/6/44 live on in their families who paid a price which can never be repaid.

[MaryMagdaline]

41. Thank you abbeyco! And thanks to your dad for

Service in two wars(!!) and for telling the truth in times of peace. He has truly served mankind

[abbeyco]

44. Cheers to good, great Dads!

When I was recruited to play soccer and was interested in the Naval Academy, he never said no. However, he created and put me through a weekend ‘home bootcamp’ program. At the end, when I could barely look him in the eye, he said to me that he would never willingly surrender me to serve at the current President’s pleasure to declare war. That was 1981amd he didn’t trust that a show pony would ever care about my existence other than to fight a conceived battle for personal glory.

My Dad grieved mightily with me when I lost my fiancé in Desert Storm I. He never wanted Ray to be sent for an ‘oil’ war.

[MaryMagdaline]

45. I'm so sorry, Abbeco. A horrible loss.

[customerserviceguy]

46. Your dad is a hero

Fighting against Hitler's army, and winning the war. He is an inspiration to us all.

[cilla4progress]

51. I got to see that hallowed ground last year.

Stupid was also the word our tour guide used for war. Me too.

[MaryMagdaline]

52. That's the tour guy I want, too. Truth-teller!

[ZZenith]

53. I really appreciate your post, MaryMagdaline.

We were in Normandy several years ago and it wasn’t until I stood on Omaha Beach and La Pointe-Du-Hoc that I got a true sense of what they were up against. The Germans were so well dug in all along the coast and the Cotentin peninsula that had any part of the operation failed, the whole landing force would have been driven back into the sea. Humanity owes so much to those people who overcame their fear and did the necessary thing in 1944.

I am the son of a combat veteran of a later war, and I lament so much that my father can point to no noble reason for it.

[MaryMagdaline]

54. Blessings to your father.

The war mongers who pull the strings don’t diminish your father’s bravery. That’s his alone

[ZZenith]

55. Kindly said.

I am in your debt.

[TEB]

56. Those men saved the world

[Jarqui]

57. My grandfather, great uncle and father in law all

served and had their lives ruined by the wars. Other members of our family served but did not get their lives ruined by the wars.

There was a lot of stupidity that cost lives in those wars - as in most if not all wars.

But they fought for our freedom and without so many like them, we might be speaking German in an authoritarian regime headed by Herr Trumpf.

Our family still bears the scars of their suffering and loss while enjoying the freedom they helped to provide.

[MaryMagdaline]

64. So true, Jarqui. The history that made us is a distructive beast

[DashOneBravo]

63. 507th PIR

[link:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/507th_Parachute_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)|

[MaryMagdaline]

65. Thanks, DashOneBravo!