D-DAY 65th
Sgt. Ralph BENNETT,
“H” Company, 506th PIR
101st Airborne Division
As a 60mm mortar sergeant, Ralph Bennett’s job in Normandy was to provide direct fire support to 3rd platoon H Company. He was among the lucky few who landed on drop zone D and actually made it to the road bridge at Brévands. From first light on June 6th his team played a vital defensive role until the bridge was partially destroyed by an allied air attack on D +1. Ralph took part in the horrific battle of ‘bloody gully’ on June 13th when the German 6th Parachute Regiment together with the 17th SS began a fearsome but unsuccessful counter attack on Carentan. After promotion to 3rd platoon sergeant Ralph went on to win a Silver Star in Holland and played an active part in the defence of Bastogne. In 1945 he returned to the UK and married his English sweetheart June Earl.
Ralph lives in Highland, Michigan with June and their four children.
BROTHERS IN ARMS MARCH V
Road to Carentan
In the footsteps of the 101st Airborne Division
The Carentan Historical Foundation in association with the D-Day Paratrooper Historical Center and the Municipalities of Carentan and Saint-Côme-du-Mont in Normandy is organizing its 5th annual march on Sunday 7th June 2009. The 18km trek follows the historic trail carved out by the 101st Airborne Division as its soldiers fought bravely to liberate the region in 1944.
This being the 65th anniversary of D-Day we are expecting more than five hundred participants to take part. The marchers who include people from the USA and Japan will be dressed in US Airborne clothing (authentic to the period) to commemorate the sacrifice of the young American paratroopers who went on to capture Carentan.
HIGHLIGHTS
Joe Beyrle is thought to be the one of only a handful of American soldiers to have served in both the United States Army and the Soviet Army in World War II...
Flying into Normandy on D-Day, twenty-two year old Manny was on Joe Beyrle’s plane and landed in a garden on the eastern edge of Saint-Côme-du-Mont...
Machine gunner Bill Galbraith landed on the southwestern edge of drop zone D and begrudgingly joined with the 501 for the attack on the La Barquette locks...
D-Day, the 3rd battalion of the 506th PIR jumped over Saint-Côme-du-Mont...
Organic airborne medical units supported the 101st Airborne Divisions during World War II...
In June 1944, The Special Motion Picture Unit operated from its base camp in Carentan - conveniently situated between Utah and Omaha beaches..
