US Airborne and Paratrooper

= personal recollection

17th Airborne82nd Airborne101st Airborne501st Parachute Infantry517th Parachute Infantry Regiment551st Parachute Infantry Battalion

CNN: "WWII paratroopers get long awaited recognition" (Feb. 23, 2001)

Dropzone: Airborne and Paratrooper stories.

17th Airborne

Amazon. The Sky Men: A Parachute Rifle Company's Story of the Battle of the Bulge and the Jump Across the Rhine by Kirk B. Ross. Includes "the personal accounts of nearly one hundred men."

Huey C.McLain, (193d/194th Glider Infantry Regiments, 17th Airborne Division), "Dead Man's Ridge"

"My best friend was killed that morning and I never felt the same since. I saw a lot of dead bodies after that but nothing ever affected me like that first day."

82nd Airborne

Chris Christensen (82nd Airborne Division) "Battle of Grand-Halleux: 20-25 December 1944"

Chris Christensen (82nd Airborne Division). Begins with the spirit that drives so many of these anecdotal, but priceless, accounts:

"These I am sure are of no importance to the overall picture, but they are some of the things that are forever etched in my memory."

William L. Blank (82nd Airborne Division), "My Personal Account of the Battle of the Bulge." A telling detail:

"After a short distance, we came upon two German tanks which had been knocked out the night before by American tank destroyers, which were waiting around the curve in the road. The wrecked tanks were full of American rations which they had captured during the breakthrough."

"325th Glider Diary: Airborne Truck To Rescue Trapped Divisions, Halt Rundstedt In Ardennes" by Wayne Pierce.

Jack R. Isaacs (82nd Airborne Division) "Battle of Grand-Halleux, 20-25 December 1944: An account of the activities of Company "G" 505th Parachute Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division during the early stage of the 'Battle of the Bulge'"

William Meddaugh (82nd Airborne Division), "Spearhead Blunted" on fighting at Trois-Ponts.

Russ Sunbury (325th Glider Infantry Regiment) "With the 325th G.I.R."

101st Airborne

H.W.O. Kinnard (Colonel, 101st Airborne) recollection of McAuliffe's "Nuts!" response to German surrender demands, from The American Experience: Vets Remember .

101st: Unit Commanders and Personalities. Good pocket bios, with photos, by Mark Bando. Continues at bottom.

William J. "Bill" Hayes (101st Airborne Division), "The Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne" Gripping account of action in the woods near Bastogne.

"NUTS!" by Jeanne Malmgren, on Ernie Premetz's memories of McAulife's famous reply. I like how the German surrender-note plays on American sympathies:

"All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity."

"NUTS!" by René Hojris. Narrative of the event (CRIBA)

101st Airborn WWII links from the 101st Airborne Division Association website. Shock of the familiar deptartment: The Association website currently sports a big photo of boxing promoter and personality Don King. Apparently King is a big supporter of the Association.

History of the 101st Airborne Division: The Battle of the Bulge from the larger history from grunts.net.

William J. Stone (321st Glider Field Artillery Battalion, 101st Airborne Division), "The Action at Noville" from The Drop Zone.

501st Parachute Infantry

Online Book: 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment at Bastogne, Belgium (December 1944) by Gary F. Evans and Michael R. Fischer (1972). Good summary of why paratroop infantry were used, absent planes.

"The effectiveness of using parachute regiments in the role of advancing infantry in the East Bastogne Operations was clearly demonstrated. Regular infantry units had been beaten back by the German offensive, and many stragglers were withdrawing to the rear. Ewell quickly realized that it was no use to try and obtain information from these disorganized and aimless wandering soldiers. The 501st PIR, with their superior training and pride, paid little attention to these withdrawing infantrymen. They were confident that they could complete their mission."

517th Parachute Infantry Regiment

Richard Seitz (517th Parachute Infantry Regiment), "Textbook: The strategic capture of Hunnange…"

E. W. "Bill" Bolin (517th Parachute Infantry Regiment), "A Night Near Bergeval: Recollections of the night January 4-5,1945"

" It was a miracle we weren't overrun and captured. The only weapon I had all night was a trench knife."

517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team homepage. See their Battle of the Bulge links.

551st Parachute Infantry Battalion

Presidential Unit Citation for the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion, which lost over 80% of its men, including the commander. The Presidential Unit Citation is the highest honor that can be given to an Army unit.

Monument to the 551st at Fort Benning, Georgia. Monument includes statue of their mascot dog "Furlough" (also lost at the Bulge).

"However, the final blow came not from the Germans, but from the U.S. Army. On February 10th, a directive effectively disbanded the gallant battalion. The remaining few of the proud unit were unceremoniously turned over to the 82nd Airborne Division. With combat records lost and the unit deactivated, the brave 551st has nearly been forgotten in the history of the Ardennes Campaign."

"For a Battalion Lost, The Highest Honors" by Steve Vogel, Washington Post (Feb. 24, 2001), on the award of the Presidential Unit Citation.

"'Lost ' World War II Battalion Gets Presidential Unit Citation" by Shelley Davis, Stars and Stripes (March 2, 2001)

Images of two plaques in honor of the 551st.

"Dunbar To Honor War Hero, Claude Dolin" by Greg Stone, Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail (March 4, 2001). Presidential Citation alerts town to the hero in their midst.

Charles Fairlamb (551st Parachute Infantry Battalion), on a night raid on Noirefontaine, and Bulge Christmas:

"The trees, mostly pine, were beautifully covered with snow and decorated with tinsel which the Germans had been dropping to make our radar ineffective. … I don't believe that anyone could be any closer to the real Christmas than we were that day. But it made you feel kind of funny standing there worshipping God while you had a helmet on your head, a hymn book in one hand, and a rifle in the other."

"Cold Steel" by Patrick O'Donnell, grounded in interviews. An account of the 551st's desperate, bloody bayonet charge.

"As Durkee recalls: 'The Germans where caught in a hopeless situation, they didn't have a chance . The men seeing their buddies killed and wounded in the last 24 hours were not in a forgiving mood. Malmedy was also a catalyst that caused everyone to be pissed off.'

When Doves Cry. Recollections (author unclear) of the morning of January 4 and a seriously wounded soldier.