Guarnere enlisted in the U.S. Army on 31 August 1942 and was placed in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, in the Mortar Squad of 2nd Platoon. He went through rough training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia under Captain Herbert Sobel. After training at Camp Mackall, he and the 101st went […]
Meet the Heroes
Meet our heroes and learn more about the background & history for each of them!
Meet the Heroes: US Airborne Lieutenant Ronald C. Speirs
Speirs joined the Paratroopers and was assigned to Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, at Camp Toccoa. He was later transferred to Dog Company, 2nd Battalion, and made 1st Lieutenant. After training, he headed to England to await their next mission. At Aldbourne, he married a British widow and together they had a […]
Meet the Heroes: US Airborne First Lieutenant – Lynn “Buck” Compton
In December 1943, Lynn Compton joined the Army and was assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 101st Airborne Division prior to Operation Overlord. During the company’s action at Brécourt Manor, Compton and others, under the leadership of Lieutenant Richard Winters, assaulted a German battery of four 105 mm howitzers firing […]
Meet the Heroes: US Airborne First Lieutenant – Clifford Carwood Lipton
Carwood Lipton was the jumpmaster of one of the C-47 Skytrains that the paratroopers used to jump into Normandy. Lipton dived into Normandy and was able to rendezvous with then First Lieutenant Richard Winters, Easy’s executive officer, and several other men from the 101st, and two more from the 82nd Airborne Division. They were later […]
Meet the Heroes: German Fallschirmjäger Lieutenant – Erich Lepkowski
Erich Lepkowski became famous for “Lepkowski’s Prisonbreak”, which took place on 16 August 1944. During this raid on a POW camp, Lepkowski and his men went deep into territory held by Partisans of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) and by Americans in order to rescue 130 of their fellow Fallschirmjäger troops. Lepkowski’s raid […]
Meet the Heroes: German Fallschirmjäger Oberstleutnant – Walter Koch
Walter Koch (10 September 1910 – 23 October 1943) was a highly decorated commander of the Fallschirmjäger during World War II who died in mysterious circumstances after openly criticising Adolf Hitler. Koch, who was the recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross for his actions during the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael in May […]
Meet the Heroes: German Fallschirmjäger Major – Rudolf Witzig
Rudolf Witzig entered the history books as the heroic captor of Belgium’s supposedly impregnable fortress Eben Emael in May 1940. Witzig was involved in Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete, but was injured during the fighting. After his recovery, he was sent to Tunisia where he was credited with several successful defensive actions. He ended […]
Meet the Heroes: Grigory Jefimowitsch, Codename: Rasputin
Please meet Russian Partisan Leader Grigori Jefimowitsch, Codename: Rasputin. Grigory is a purely fictional character so he doesn’t really fit the bill for our category historical heroes. He also isn’t inspired by any movie or TV show, so he’s really completely made up and never existed. Well, actually he is a bit inspired by this […]
Meet the Heroes: Lieutenant Colonel Robert G. Cole (Cole’s Charge)
On June 11, 1944 LtCol. Robert Cole with the 101st Airborne Division, had the objective to take Carentan. The young commander called in a smoke barrage right in front of the German positions and ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge. Many Americans were killed as they assaulted, but more than 100 of Cole’s […]
Meet the Heroes: British Airborne Major – John Howard
Background: Major (Reginald) John Howard DSO (8 December 1912 – 5 May 1999) was a British Army officer who led a glider-borne assault on two bridges between Bénouville and Ranville in Normandy, France on 6 June 1944 as part of the D-Day landings during the Second World War. These bridges spanned the Caen Canal and […]