RIP Easy Co. 506th PIR BAND of Brothers

[sotx]

My granddad was a member of the 82nd Airborne. He went to Normandy being towed in a paper plane. He was with them From Sicily through the end of the war.

How cool is that. Badazz

[BrandonA]

How cool is that. Badazz

He got called back into service during Korea. He ended up being a tank commander and had his tank blown up underneath him. Right before he passed away the City of Abilene and the French Govt honored him on the Court House steps for his Service and Sacrifice. I remember that day as a college kid and he didn’t want to accept it and the 2nd I’ve ever seen him cry. The first time was my dads funeral. He never talked about the war unless he had a few to many drinks and it was the fun stories

[Jmh05]

Was your grandfather airborne?

Grandpa was leg infantry.

[Jmh05]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jmh05]

The PFC stripes are inaccurate in the shadow box. I couldn't find WWII era ones.

[BrandonA]

How cool is that. Badazz

When he got home he had lock box full of his stuff and medals from the war. My grandmother said he never opened it and told her he never wanted her to open it. She told us grandkids y’all can open it when she’s gone.

[Jmh05]

Bump for D-Day.

[Matt_C]

I had 4 uncles serve in WWII. 1 uncle was so big (6'6" about 275) the army put him in a unit with the 155mm Howitzer so he could load the shells which weighed 127 lbs apiece.

[coker737]

Hard to imagine the last survivor died a year ago in May of 2019 with SSG Albert Mampre. These guys were real heroes along with all those that served in the Great War. I sit here looking at my grandfather's Purple Heart from the Battle of the Bulge and sure miss him and many of those guys I grew up with listening to their stories.

It's hard to believe that I will be telling my kids about these men one day and will be such a distant history.

I'm posting this because I have generally kept up with the history and men and didn't realize they were all gone. I've got a letter and picture from **** Winters, which is a long story, but was always a fan of these men. I'm proud to have served myself, but what they did for me and for us is just unfathomable.

**** Winters..............Really. His First name was D I C K.

[dbaio1]

My great uncle, grand father's youngest brother was a Silver Star recipient. I remember talking with him and the stories of his units missions in Germany. I was much younger then and sure wished we had documented more of his history. Only remember one story centered around two weeks in the mountains with a small team on a mission targeting a certain SS officer.