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“stick“or group of 21 infantry paratroopers from the 3rd
Battalion of the 508th. Their C-47 was flying with 35 other
C-47s from the 313th in multiple V formations. Operational
designator for their mission was “Boston – serial 23.” Their
group was in the middle of a stream of 354 other C-47s carrying
the 6,420 paratroopers of the 82nd into battle. Flying parallel
to them over the English Channel was a stream of 443 C-47s
hauling 6,928 paratroopers from the 101st. Visibility was good
as they flew past the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey on
their right. As they came over the beaches of the Cotentin
Peninsula below 1,000 ft., they flew into fog banks which
disrupted their formations. The Germans opened fire from
numerous 20 and 40mm anti-aircraft guns and machine guns and red
and white tracer shells came streaming up at them. The C-47
pilots banked and weaved and climbed and accelerated to avoid
the exploding flak. Many planes were hit, some shot down in
flames before they could disgorge their troops. A shell exploded
in the middle of the fuselage of Uncle Joe’s plane, killing or
wounding six paratroopers from his stick. In the ensuing melee,
some pilots dropped their sticks too early or too late, from too
high an airspeed or too high an altitude. Some sticks were
dropped over the English Channel, never to be seen again. The
paratroopers from the 82nd who jumped were scattered farther and
wider than those from the 101st. When the plane’s crew chief
came back and screamed at them to get out, Uncle Joe crawled
over the dead and wounded paratroopers and stood at the door to
jump, the next-to-last one. He discarded his reserve parachute,
figuring he wouldn’t have a chance to use it, jumping at such a
low altitude. However, his foot got caught in a snarl of static
lines from the previous jumpers and he got stuck. The last guy
behind him gave him a shove and he went out the door at 0200
hours, 1,000 ft. above the ground, laden down with over 100
pounds of battle gear – a .45 cal. Thompson sub-machine gun,
extra ammo, canteen, a 3-day supply of K-rations, spare sox and
underwear, poncho, first-aid kit, blocks of TNT strapped to his
harness, blasting caps in pouches tied to his ankles. His chute
cracked open and he said he marveled at the 4th of July display
of tracers and exploding shells on his way down, landing in an
open field near the town of Chef-du-Pont. Uninjured, he rolled
up and hid his parachute, then took cover in the hedgerow
bordering the field. Many troopers landed in shallow marshes, a
number of them drowning in 3-4 feet of water as they vainly
struggled
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