Modern Era Photos of Men of The 508th

Julius E. Nielsen
Co B, POW

Carlyle B. Nightingale
(Co D)

Carl D. Nilsen
(Co. E)

Thomas Northrop
served in Co. C 1/508 Airborne Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 1st platoon, 1974-79

Surprise, Mr. Bob Nobles! This one’s for you today on your 99th birthday.
   Bob and his high school sweetheart, Bette, married on Easter Sunday, April 25, 1943. Bette traveled to North Carolina to elope with Bob, who was stationed there with the United States paratroopers.
   On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Bob and his regiment, the 508th Parachute Infantry, dropped into France and fought for six days before he was captured by the Germans. He was listed as missing in action for three months.
   Bob was a POW for one year, working in the coal mines in the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia. Bob escaped and was liberated, returning home to Bette in 1945. He worked for the U.S. Postal Service in Ithaca for 32 years.
   The couple lived together in their home on Falls Street in the Fall Creek neighborhood from 1952 until the time of Bette’s passing in 2009. Together they had three children: Jimmy, Christine and John, who passed away in 2011 at age 55.
   Still living at home, Bob enjoys bowling, reading, dancing, puttering in his yard and reminiscing about the past with his family.
   Happy birthday, Bob!

The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, NY, 30 Jan 2020, Thu. Page A3]