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to extricate themselves from their gear. In the early morning
hours that followed, the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment from the
82nd began crash landing their Horsa and Waco gliders into the
surrounding fields and marshes, having been towed in from
England behind C-47s.
Uncle Joe finally managed to link up with his unit and, in the
ensuing hours, helped blow-up three bridges to prevent enemy
troops from approaching Chef du Pont. Years later, on the 20th
and 60th anniversaries of the D-Day invasion, reporters from two
newspapers sought out Uncle Joe and asked him to recount his
experiences regarding his jump at Normandy and the follow-on
combat. His accounts can be found in the June 6, 1964 issue of
West Covina CA The Daily Tribune and the June 6, 2004 issue of
The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
On July 13, 1944 after 39 days of combat, the remnants of the
508th PIR boarded two Navy LSTs and returned to England for rest
and reconstitution; only 995 “Red Devils” boarded the ships. The
508th had sustained the highest casualty rate of the six
airborne regiments employed in the D-day invasion; of its 2,056
members, 315 were KIA, 605 were WIA or injured, 285 were MIA or
captured. Of the 11,770 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne, 5,060
were casualties. The 101st Airborne sustained 3,836 casualties
out of its 14,201 members.
Back at Wollaton Park, the 508th started receiving replacements,
reequipped and trained while a leave rotation was set up. Uncle
Joe was promoted to PFC and the extra $5 a month in pay came in
handy; throughout his time in the Army, he sent most of his pay
home by allotment to Angie and his mother. He didn’t live in
poverty as he managed to supplement his meager pay via his skill
at playing craps and poker. Uncle Joe said the replacements were
eager to jump and go into combat - that irritated the veterans
who survived the D-day invasion. In early September, the new
guys got their wish when the 508th was alerted to prepare to
participate in Operation MARKET GARDEN.
On Sunday, September 17, 1944, the 82nd, 101st, British 1st
Airborne and Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade
participated in the largest airborne operation to date when they
dropped into Holland in an attempt to shorten the war by opening
a direct northern route to the heart of Germany. The 82nd was
assigned
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