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General Regimental Information

Insignia
A history of the 506th in WWII

Detailed Accounts

Cross Channel Attack
Normandy
Normandy Drop
Market Garden
In BASTOGNE
The Buldge
Utah to Cherbourg

Campaign Participation

Normandy
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace
Central Europe

Decorations

Presidential Unit Citation (Army): BASTOGNE (506th Parachute Infantry cited)

Presidential Unit Citation (Army): NORMANDY (506th Parachute Infantry cited)

French Croix de Guerre with Palm, World War II, Streamer Embroidered: NORMANDY (506th Parachute Infantry cited)

Netherlands Orange Lanyard (506th Parachute Infantry cited)

Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 with palm, Streamer embroidered BASTOGNE; cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for actions at BASTOGNE (506th Parachute Infantry cited)

Belgian Fourragere 1940 (506th Parachute infantry cited)

Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action in FRANCE AND BELGIUM (506th Parachute Infantry cited)

Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends John 15 Verse 13

Order 104

Able Company Roster (hand written)

1st Battalion Roster

Currahee's Killed in Action

WORLD WAR II INDEX BY NAME

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A Short History of the Men of Easy Company

Company E/506th (Easy) was formed on 1 July 1942 at Camp Toccoa, GA. It was the first parachute infantry regiment to complete basic training and parachute training as a unit. Easy was comprised of 132 enlisted men and eight officers, with three platoons and one headquarter section. Each platoon was subdivided into three 12-man rifle squads and one six-man mortar team. Each mortar team carried one 60 mm mortars, and each rifle squad carried a .30 caliber machine gun. Individual weapons consisted of the M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, Thompson submachine gun and Colt 1911 pistol.
Easy began its jump training at Fort Benning, GA in December 1942. The unit readily passed the all of stages of jump school with no problems. Because of the excellent physical conditioning, which resulted from the Toccoa training, they were even able to skip the first stage of jump school, which consisted of physical conditioning. Easy was the only company in the airborne to do so.

March 1943 saw Easy at Camp Mackall, NC, which was named for Private John Mackall of the 82nd airborne, who was the first American Paratrooper killed in combat in WWII. At Mackall, training intensified to a grueling pace, as preparations were being made for the inevitable invasion to come. on 10 June 1943, while at Camp Mackall, E company and the rest of the 506th officially became members of the 101st Airborne Division.

E Company landed in England aboard the troop ship Samaria on 15 September 1943. They settled in and began extensive jump and tactical training in and around Aldebourne. While in England, Easy with the 101st honed their skills in preparation for the coming invasion of Europe. EC Company moved to Uppottery at the end of May 1944. This was their marshalling area and also the area of their airfields. From this point onwards missions were rehearsed, and sand tables studied until every man from General to Private knew their entire mission forward and back. At 2300 hours on 5 June Easy rolled down the runway in their transport aircraft, formed up with the other paratrooper-laden planes and began the journey to Normandy.

On 6 June 1944 at 0110, Easy crossed the Cherbourg coast. Their formation passed through a cloudbank, which scattered the jump planes. Between this and the heavy antiaircraft fire, the drops were badly scattered with few actually landing on their designated drop zones. By morning of the 6th, Easy consisted of nine rifleman, two officers, two light machine guns, one bazooka and a 60 mm mortar. Easy was assigned the mission of taking out a battery of 105 mm Howitzers that were targeting Utah beach, four to five Km to the northeast. Eleven men assaulted and captured the entire battery and scattered their supporting infantry. The battery was being zeroed by a forward observer on Utah beach calling the shots onto the Fourth Infantry Division on the beach. By seizing the initiative the young paratroopers saved countless lives that day. From June 6 to July 10, Easy and the battalion were in continuous combat. After Carentan was taken and held despite several counterattacks by German paratroopers supported by armor, the company moved down to Utah beach for debarkation back to England on June 29th. Of the 139 who took off from the airfield at Uppottery to jump into Normandy only 74 officers and men were left to file onto the transport to return to Aldebourne. The rest of the companies of the 506th faired little better, they too had suffered roughly 50% casualties n the Normandy campaign. Upon their return to England the 506th was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their actions in Normandy.

While back in Aldebourne the Company was assigned replacements to fill the holes made by the Normandy operations. Also lost equipment was replaced and training began to get the new guys up to speed with the now "seasoned" veterans of D-Day. At least 16 different airborne operations were planned and canceled due to the speed of the Allied advance across France. Some of these were canceled while the jumpers were emplaned and preparing for another "big step off". Then the mission came down that wouldn't be scrubbed.

Field Marshal Montgomery conceived the operation known as "Market-Garden." The mane comprised of "Market" for the airborne portion and "Garden" for the ground portion. During this operation, the objectives for the 3 airborne divisions were the bridges over the major water obstacles in Holland with the Bridge over the Rhine River and into Germany being the jewel. Objectives for the 101st were the bridges over the Wilhelmina Canal at Son and the North/ South road that ran from Eindhoven to Veghel, then to the 82nd Airborne AO at Nijmegen.

It was a beautiful day on 17 September 1944 when Easy made their jump into Holland with 154 men. With little resistance the airborne armada placed Easy on target, where hard times lay ahead. For nearly ten days Easy fought not only for their lives but also for the lives of other paratroopers up the road from them. The company was successful in seizing their objectives and keeping the road open. However, as paratroopers typically are, they were surrounded and had limited firepower against the enemy. When they were relieved there were 132 men alive.

From 2 October to 25 November 1944 , the company held a static defensive line in Holland in an area known as "The Island." The 506th, which is Easy's parent unit, occupied a gap in the British lines that was previously held by a British division that was roughly four times the size of the regiment. Easy had only 130 men to hold a sector that was 3Km long. Of the 130, there were only 98 officers and men remaining on 25 November 1944 when the company was pulled off the line and sent to France for R&R in the French town of Mourmelon.

Lost but not forgotten, wounded began to return to the unit along with new replacements. Not fully realizing the need for their help in training the replacements, combat veterans chaffed at the field exercises, which they found boring and somewhat demeaning. During this period of R&R, division commander, General Taylor, flew to Washington DC, where he helped to reorganize the table of organization and equipment for airborne units. At the same time, the Deputy Commander, Brigadier General Gerald Higgins, was summoned to England to give lectures on Operation Market-Garden, and General Anthony McAuliffe, the 101st Artillery commander, became the acting division commander. The men of Easy Company enjoyed their weekend passes to Paris and Reims; others practiced and prepared for a Christmas Day football game against the 502nd. The prevailing attitude was that they would have the winter to train and regain their full strength and resume the offensive in the spring.

On 17 December 1944 Easy, along with the rest of the 101st, were alerted and mobilized and "truck lifted" into the vicinity of the small Belgian town of Bastogne. Hitler had struck with complete surprise in the thinly held Ardennes Forest with 2 divisions, including some of his best Waffen SS Panzer and Panzer Granadier units.

Having been in France for barely two weeks and at only 65% of their full strength, Easy moved into battle again with minimal winter clothing and scarce ammunition and supplies. The 101st established a defensive ring around the town. The 506th was in the Northeast quadrant of the ring, with Easy Company establishing defensive positions in the woods east of the Bastogne-Foy Road. Easy and the rest of the 101st were to play a pivotal role in the largest battle in the history of the United States Army.

In this area American regular infantry units, were fleeing, panicked and exhausted, to the rear of the 506th positions. Once again the Company was in the familiar situation of being short of supplies and completely surrounded. The next twelve days proved to be some of the bitterest fighting in the history of the US Army. This was one of the harshest winters in European history, and on 21 December 1944, 12 inches of snow had fallen. This cold, along with trench foot, did as much damage as the Germans, and on 22 December 1944, the Germans offered to accept the surrender of the 101st. When this offer was extended, General McAuliffe replied to the Germans with the famous morale raising, rally cry of "Nuts." Then on 26 December 1944, Patton's 3rd Army broke through to the "Battered Bastards of Bastogne."

This breakthrough offered relief and resupply to the 101st. However Easy Company was immediately placed on the offensive. Easy had come to Bastogne with 121 men, but the were numbered less than 100 on New Years Day of 1945. For the first two weeks of January 1945, Easy fought to regain ground around Bastogne. The fighting was vicious as the 506th pushed through to Bois Jacques woods and retook the towns of Foy and Noville. By the middle of January, the 506th was moved to divisional reserves its ranks were thinned to only 63 despite receiving two dozen replacements after Patton broke through on December 26th.

From 18 January to 23 February 1945 Easy was again placed into the lines, in the town of Hagenau. There they experienced the bombardments fallowed by small arms exchanges that typify urban combat.

The 506th PIR was pulled off the line on 25 February 1945 and moved to Mourmelon France. There they were able to shower, eat hot meals, and sleep in cots for the first time since 17 December 1944. While they were there, General Eisenhower personally awarded the 101st Airborne Division the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation, which was awarded for the first time in Army history to an entire division. For remaining original men who trained at Toccoa in 1942 this was their second Presidential Citation.

April 1945 found Easy Company in Germany, where they would remain until V-E Day in May 1945. During this time they had the privilege of securing Hitler's "Eagles Nest" outside of Berchtesgarden. This was Hitler's Alpine retreat, a gift to him by he Nazi Party. With the post war looming, this was the final wartime achievment for Easy Company.

When Easy Company entered the war on 6 June 1944 it began with 140 men in its ranks. By the end of the war 48 of the men who served in Easy throughout the war had lost their lives. More than 100 of the men who served in Easy had been wounded, it was said that the Purple Heart was worn not as a decoration but a badge of office.

Their battle cry was "Currahee!" which means, "Stand Alone," but not one man stood alone. As a company, the stood alone together.