 Martin J, (Marty) Teahan – Private.
Served with distinction in the Hq1 Light Machine Gun Platoon from October 20, 1942 to June 23, 1944. Marty was killed in action in Normandy. A great loss to his family, country and the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Marty was an outstanding soldier, a reliable comrade, and a cherished friend. He was a distinguished member of the “Greatest of the Greatest Generation.”
Marty’s niece Elizabeth Farrell and his Hq1 WW II comrades provided information for this summary.
Martin Teahan was born December 3, 1923 in the Bronx, New York. He entered the service in the fall of 1942 at Camp Upton, Long Island, NY.
At the first opportunity, Marty volunteered for the parachute school and was sent to Camp Blanding, Florida to join the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Unknown to Marty, he was involved in an experiment to determine if it would be more efficient to train entire units at the Parachute School rather than continue training individuals and then sending them to air-borne units.
Thanks to the efforts of men like Martin Teahan, the experiment was a success -- several regiments were processed through the school in time to participate in WW II.
At Camp Upton, Martin Teahan met James (Mac) McMahon and they be-came close friends. At Camp Blanding they endured basic training and pre-airborne school physical training that included countless miles of run-ning, innumerable pushups, hand-to-hand combat, and numerous ways designed by the airborne qualified cadre to eliminate “unfit” candidates from the program.
Marty and Mac prevailed. They breezed through jump school; made the qualifying five jumps, and on February 26, 1943 pinned on the coveted parachute wings. They also earned ten day furloughs – their first days off since October 1942.
Thereafter, it was all arduous training and maneuvers before shipping overseas to Ireland, Scotland and finally Nottingham, England. | 
