General Maxwell Davenport Taylor
General Maxwell Davenport Taylor (1901-1987)
Maxwell D. Taylor was born in Keytesville, Missouri, on 26 August 1901. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1922 and was commissioned a second lieutenant. From 1923 to 1926, he served in Hawaii with the 3d Engineers. In 1925, he married Lydia Gardner Hopper. He was assigned to the 10th Field Artillery from 1926 to 1927. Promoted to first lieutenant in 1927, he studied French in Paris, and then taught French and Spanish at West Point until 1932. Taylor graduated from Field Artillery School and Command and General Staff School, in 1933 and 1935, respectively. In 1935, he was promoted to captain and studied Japanese at the American embassy in Tokyo from 1935 to 1939. Taylor graduated from the Army War College in 1940 and received a promotion to major. He served on a Hemispheric defense mission to Latin America in 1940.
Taylor then served as the commander of the 12th Field Artillery Battalion, and in the Office of the Secretary of the General Staff. In 1941, he was made a temporary lieutenant colonel, and in 1942, received temporary promotions to colonel and brigadier general. Taylor served as the chief of staff and artillery commander of the 82d Airborne Division from 1942 to 1944. In 1944, Taylor was promoted to temporary major general. Then he led the 101st Airborne Division at Normandy and across Western Europe to the defeat of Germany. He was promoted to permanent lieutenant colonel in 1945, and permanent brigadier general in 1948.
After World War II, Taylor was chief of staff of the European Command and then served as commander of U.S. Forces, Berlin, from 1949 to 1951. In 1951, Taylor became a temporary lieutenant general and permanent major general. In 1953, he was promoted to temporary general and commanded Eighth Army in the final operations of the Korean War. Taylor then commanded the United States Forces, Far East, and the Eighth Army from 1953 to 1954. In 1955, he led the United Nations Command.
General Taylor served as Chief of Staff of the Army from 30 June 1955 to 30 June 1959. He opposed U.S. dependence upon the doctrine of massive retaliation against the Soviet Bloc, urged increases in conventional forces and flexible response, and guided Army operations in Little Rock, Arkansas, Lebanon, Berlin, and Taiwan. He retired from active duty in 1959. From 1962 to 1964, he returned to active duty to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Upon retiring again, he served as ambassador to South Vietnam until 1965. Later, he was the chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1965 to 1969. Taylor died in Washington, D.C., on 19 April 1987.
General Anthony C.McAuliffe
Anthony Clement McAuliffe 
Anthony McAuliffe is best known for one word - "Nuts." This came about when he was acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge in World War 11. He was in charge of the defence of Bastogne on December 22nd 1944 when the garrison was called on by advancing German forces to surrender. His initial response was 'Aw, Nuts!' When he came to compile a written reply he could think of nothing more appropriate: 'To the German Commander: NUTS! The American Commander.' Bastogne was successfully held by the Americans and Anthony C. McAuliffe became immortalised for a single word.
Anthony Clement McAuliffe was Born in Washington, DC on July 2, 1898. He graduated from West Point in November, 1918. He was Commander of Division Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division when he parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and when he entered Holland by glider, 1944. In December, 1944, due to the absence of General Maxwell D. Taylor, he was acting Commander of the 101st Airborne Division and other attached troops during the siege of Bastogne, Belgium. It was when they became surrounded and the Germans demanded their surrender that he sent back his now-famous one-word reply "NUTS." For his actions at Bastogne he received the Distinguished Service Medal.
Anthony McAuliffe became Commander in Chief of the U.S. Army in Europe in 1955, when he was promoted to General. He retired from the Army in 1956 and died on August 11, 1975
| A TRIBUTE TO A GREAT LEADER OF THE 82nd AIRBORNE. |
General James "Jumping Jim" Gavin (1907-1990)
 The Commanding Officer of the 82nd Airborne Division that jumped in Normandy on D-Day, 1944, Major General James Gavin was raised in the Dooleyville patch outside Mt. Carmel.
"Born in 1907, James Gavin was the son of an unwed Irish immigrant. He was placed in a New York City orphanage at the age of one or two. He was eventually adopted by Martin and Mary Gavin, a Pennsylvania coal-mining family. His youth taught him the discipline and hard work that would pay dividends throughout his life. He enlisted in the US Army at age 17. Showing promise, he was selected for admittance to West Point."
"Gen. Gavin came to be known as the "jumping general" because he parachuted with combat troops during World War II. ...While a paratrooper, he led assaults on Sicily and on Salerno Bay, Italy, in 1943, reaching the rank of brigadier general, and jumped with the parachute assault section of the division on the first night of the Normandy Invasion (June 5-6, 1944). Elements of Gavin's section took the town of Sainte-Mère-Église and guarded river crossings on the flank of the Utah Beach landing area. Gavin was later made major general at age 37, the youngest major general since Gen. George Armstrong Custer. He commanded the 82nd Airborne during operations in The Netherlands and his division later fought in Germany until the German army surrendered in 1945."
From: Paratrooper: The Life of Gen. James M. Gavin (1994). |
| Joseph Beyrle ,101st Airborne 506th PIR ( + 12/12/2004) |
JOSEPH BEYRLE
 
Beyrle was the first American paratrooper to land in Normandy when he was chosen twice to deliver gold to the French resistance prior to the Allied invasion.
Jumping with his regiment on the night before D-Day, he landed on the roof of a church and was captured two days later. He escaped and then was recaptured by Nazis, who gave his dog-tag identification to a German soldier who was subsequently killed attempting to enter the American lines. Beyrle’s parents were notified of his death, and funeral services were held in Muskegon.
Later, after more escapes, captures and a brush with execution by the German Gestapo, Beyrle ended up with a Russian unit commanded by a female officer on the Eastern front. He became the only soldier to fight for both the United States and the Soviet Union during World War II.
Joseph"Joe"Beyrle passed away on December 12th 2004,nearly 6 months after the D-Day comemorations.
Sgt Eagle February 2005.
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| Your webmaster meets History |
This year in September I've met two wonderful men, WW2 Veterans , both served in Easy Company and were from Philly ...Ladies and gentlemen , meet "Wild" Bill Guarnere and Edward "Babe" Heffron.
William "Wild Bill" Guarnere :
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Bill Guarnere went to Toccoa for training as a member of the Parachute Infantry Regiment. From England he took part of the biggest military operation ever: Operation Overlord, better known as D-day. Just before his jump he accidentally took a jump jacket from his buddy John Martin. Not in the 'theater' (as shown in the TV-series) but in the mensroom he took a letter from John Martin's wife to her husband outof the pocket. She wrote: "Don't tell Bill, but his brother was killed in action in Monte Casino, Italy." It felt if he could sink through the floor. At that moment Bill said he wouldn't leave a German soldier alive.For the capture of 4 German 105 mm guns 'Wild' Bill Guarnere was awarded with the Silver Star; He was one of the 12 troopers who (under command of Dick Winters) killed 15 German Fallschirmjäger en made the other 50 men run. A group that was much larger in number then theirs.
Edward " Babe" Heffron :
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Color Pictures by Sgt Eagle
Text and BW picture With thanks to :
http://members.brabant.chello.nl/~p.vandewal/index2.htm
THE ONLY BAND OF BROTHERS ORIGINAL WEBSITE | |
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