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REVIEW OF AMERICANS AT
D-DAY
by JOHN C .McMANUS
McMANUS quoted hundreds of D-Day
participants from Generals to Privates. As I read the names of ED
BOCCAFAGLI, PAUL BOUCHEREAU, JOE BRESSLER, BOB BREWER, DWAYNE BURNS,
HAROLD CANYON (aka HAROLD KILJU), RALPH DeWEESE, DAN FURLONG, TOM PORCELLA
and BUD WARNECKE, my interest increased. The comments of these 508ers were
confined primarily to training, anticipating D-Day, C-47 flight, the jump,
landing, and immediate moment after landing.
As a fighting unit on D-Day, the 508th
was completely ignored. In the battle for LaFiere Manor: after describing
how the German sharpshooter picked off a few of the 505th officers,
McMANUS concluded that a group of ;. paratroopers under the command of
507th Captain BEN , SCHWARTZWALDER surrounded the Manor, causing the
Germans to surrender.
According to McMANUS, 507th Colonel EDWIN OSTBERG and 507th
Captain ROY CREEK secured Chef-du-Pont. 508erPAUL BOUCHEREAU was quoted as
having charged the Railroad Station at Chef-du-Pont with the 507th
fighting force.
TAPS: DWAYNE BURNS of F Company passed
away August 8 from a heart attack. In an e-mail from DWAYNE's son LELAND,
LELAND said that his dad just approved the cover of a book that he and his
dad co-wrote about DWAYNE's WWII war experiences, "Jumping into the
Valley". At the time DWAYNE was in the ICU at Baylor Hospital with an
oxygen ventilator and he could not talk, but seemed pleased with the book
cover. LELAND said that everything would be at the printers within 12
hours of "my father's last jump." Condolences may be sent to LELAND BURNS,
e-mail Leland@newworldranch.net or cell phone (817) 455-2015 or write to:
LELAND BURNS, 336 S Pearson, Keller, TX (e-mail from LELAND BURNS
forwarded by BILL NATION.)
TAPS continued: EVA LEE WILLIAMSON, wife
of FRANCIS WILLIAMSON of D company, passed away August 5. EVA LEE and
FRANCIS were married for 65 years. After the Normandy jump EVA LEE was
informed that FRANCIS was MIA (Missing in Action). She did not know if her
husband was dead or alive for eight months, at which time she learned that
FRANCIS had been a prisoner of the f! Germans and was coming home. If you
wish to write to the 1 WILLIAMSON family, their address is: 631 Twilight
Tr, Richardson, i TX 75080. (ELLEN PETERS sent the sad news.)
JlM ALLARDYCE of B Company has been in a
Saginaw, Ml, hospital for most of August and was in ICU for a week. He was
out of lCU but was | still hospitalized on August25. (Reported by JIM
SMITH.)
The New 508th PIR as a part of the
4th Airborne Brigade is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq before the end of
2006, (From Fayetteville, NC newspaper clipping sent by JIM SMITH.)
1st Lieutenant ROY W. MURRAY
was killed by a German sniper 6- J June 1944. After his D-Day landing, Lt.
MURRAY joined a group of paratroopers under the command of Captain
JONATHAN ADAMS of A Company. Captain ADAMS needed blood plasma for his
wounded men, and i asked for volunteers to look for parachute equipment
bundles with blood plasma. Lt MURRAY volunteered for the mission and it
was on this mission that he was killed.
Lt MURRAY'S daughter, PAMELA
MURRAY, booked a trip to Normandy a year ago and began to search for
information about her father. PAMELA wants to express her gratitude to the
many 508ers that helped her learn about her father. ERNIE LAMSON, TOM
PORCELLA, FRANCIS LAMOUREUX, TOM SHANLEY, BILL NATION, ROCK MERRITT and
NEAL BEAVER were especially helpful.
JEAN-BAPTISTE FEUILLYE, better known
as -BOBBY", served as PAM's volunteer guide and French/English
communicator. He took her to Hill 30 and showed her the spot where her
father was probably killed and the wooded area where the German killer hid
in the trees. BOBBY took her to TOM PORCELLA's Museum, where her father's
picture with his name was displayed on the wall. At LUCIEN HASLEY's house,
she viewed the monument that HASLEY had carved on a stonewall of his
house. As a small boy HASLEY woke up during the night of June5/6,1944, and
watched paratroopers landing around his home. The wall is HASLEY's tribute
to the Airborne. PAMELA saw her dad's name carved on HASLEY's wall.
Finally PAMELA visited her father's grave. Her own words about that;
experience are: "I left flowers and many tears on his marker." Later in
Paris she met GILLIS DUCROT, who has adopted Lt MURRAY'S grave, (Original
e-mail forwarded by BILL NATION; later the editor exchanged e-mails with
Ms MURRAY.)
Note the amount of information BILL NATION has sup-:t: plied for
this column. On behalf of BILL NATION'S many ^ friends, we wish to thank
BILL for his past work as editor andf: his continuing service to the 508th
community.
ZIG BOROUGHS, Interim Editor, P. 0. Box 1131,
Pickens, SC 29671 PH: (864) 878-9523, e-mail: ralph.boroughs@att.net
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