somewhere in Europe. The program included dangerous night parachute jumps and many field exercises. 

Arnold Foster participated in all four of the 508^th PIR campaigns.

On June 6, 1944, he parachuted into Normandy, France in the van-guard of the D-Day invasion forces.

On September 17, 1944, a Sunday afternoon, Corporal Arnold Foster parachuted into a field south of Nijmegen, Holland.  That night, while attacking to seize the Nijmegen Bridge over the Waal River, Arnold was shot in the hand by a German machine gunner. 

After weeks of fighting, the 508^th PIR marched to Oss, Holland where it met trucks and rode to Sissonne, France.

Arnold liked Sissonne. He had a warm dry bed in a French Artillery Post, hot food, hot showers, and did very little training. He looked forward to a Christmas without “incoming” German artillery shells, rocket attacks, and long dangerous marches. He was in paradise but he missed Alice.

Paradise for Arnold ended on December 17, 1944. The Germans had launched a surprise attack that penetrated hundreds of miles into the al-lied area. The 508^th PIR still attached to the 82^nd Airborne Division was alerted to stop and destroy the German forces. 

On the morning of December 18, 1944, a bitter cold day, the 508^th PIR without winter clothing or equipment departed from Sissonne in trucks destined for Werbomont, Belgium.  Thereafter, the regiment fought continuously in bitter cold, sunless days, through deep snow and the densely forested Ardennes. It penetrated the Siegfried Line and destroyed its fortifications.

February 1945 found the 508^th PIR on the west shore of the Roer River. The cost was high. The 508^th PIR sustained 828 casualties – killed, wounded, or missing, 40% of these casualties were attributed to cold weather injuries. The regiment was ordered to break contact with the Germans and return to Sissonne, France. However, the comfortable quarters the 508^th PIR  had vacated in December 1944 were now occupied by a General hospital.  The regiment moved into a tent camp.

However, everyone was authorized extra rations to compensate for all the meals they had missed during the Battle of the Bulge and many men put on much needed weight.