Three of his comrades in arms will be making a special trip from the USA (two of them for the first time since the war) to participate at the ceremony and to promote a new book "Tonight We Die As Men" and it’s companion DVD "The Forgotten Battalion", at Dead Man’s Corner Museum, about their exploits in Normandy during June 1944.

Bill Galbraith, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division
Manny Barrios 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division
Ralph Bennett, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division

TONIGHT WE DIE AS MEN
THE UNTOLD STORY OF THIRD BATTALION 506 PARACHUTE
INFANTRY REGIMENT FROM TOCCOA TO D-DAY
By Ian Gardner et Roger Day

Taking their title from a brief prayer by 3rd Battalion C.O. Lt. Col. Robert Lee Wolverton (who would be killed during the early morning hours of D-Day) said shortly before boarding their C-47 "Skytrain" aircraft for the flight to Normandy, Gardner and Day have produced a highly detailed study of one battalion's harrowing first weeks fighting in France. As Ed Shames, a veteran of the 506th, writes in the Foreword, Tonight We Die As Men is "the most detailed history ever written about the battles that began the drive to free the European continent of the German armies. Many books and accounts have been written about the invasion of Normandy, but never have you read one that has been more accurate about the facts and events of this period of warfare." The battalion's D-Day objective was to land at Drop Zone "D", east of Saint-Côme-du-Mont and seize control of two small wooden bridges - one for foot traffic and the other for vehicles - over the Douve River east of Carentan. The mission was vital, for the Germans had built the bridges a few months earlier to enable them to rush reinforcements into the coastal area in the event of an Allied landing. The fierce and costly battle for these two bridges is the focus of Tonight We Die As Men. The Germans, too, knew the importance of the bridges and would not relenquish them without an all-out fight. The two British authors take the reader back to Toccoa, Georgia, and the initial training received (some would say endured) by the men of the 506th PIR, commanded by Col. Robert F. Sink, then on to airborne training at Fort Benning and Camp Mackall. They also flesh out the personalities mentioned in the book so that by the time the regiment is in England and preparing for its baptism of fire in Normandy, the reader has developed a fondness for each trooper. This personalizing of the men also serves to intensify the feeling of loss when the soldiers are killed in the savage fighting on D-Day and the month after. Of the 575 officers and men who jumped on D-Day, the unit lost 93 killed and 73 listed as missing in action. Scores more were wounded. It will be hard to find a better book about a single airborne battalion in World War II. Mason B. Webb WWII History Magazine The marchers will then step back in time to discover the Norman Bocage that was so familiar to the soldiers of 101st Airborne. The final leg of the event takes the participants, lead by tanks and a host of military vehicles - down the now famous "Purple Heart Lane" across the Douve bridges before ending in Carentan. All participants please note: US Para and airborne troops combat uniform, 101st Airborne Division is required. At 15:15 approx, members of the public can expect to see the marchers lead by their vehicle escort arriving in ‘Purple Heart Lane’ for the final leg of the event before crossing over the Douve bridges and finishing in Carentan at 16:00.