WWII D-Day Normandy Battle for La Fiere to Operation Varsity Paratrooper Robert Warner 82nd Airborne 507th PIR Received Purple Heart & Soldier's Medal.

WWII D-Day Normandy June 6 1944: Paratrooper Robert Warner 82nd Airborne Division, All American (AA), 17th Airborne Division, 3rd Battalion, Company G, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) was there on June 6, 1944 in Sainte Mere Eglise and battle for the bridge at La Fiere France, (photo above camp in Nottingham England May 1944). PFC Robert 'Bobby' Warner made 2 combat jumps with the 507th PIR, 82nd Airborne and then the 17th Airborne Division in Western Europe during WWII, Operation Overlord Normandy on D-Day France 6/6/1944 and Operation Varsity in Rhineland Germany the last jump 3/24/1945, all under heavy machine gun fire by Nazi SS troops. Combat wounded PFC Robert 'Bobby' Warner also fought with the 82nd Airborne at the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes forest, Belgium 12/16/1944.

 

80th ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY INVASION NORMANDY JUNE 6th 1944 TURNS TIDE OF WWII BINGHAMTON PARATROOPER ROBERT WARNER AND HIS BROTHERS WERE THERE. Paratrooper Robert F. Warner of the 82nd Airborne Division, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) made 2 combat parachute drops, Normandy "Operation Neptune",  Battle of the Bulge in the Ardenes Forest and the final combat jump, Rhineland "Operation Varsity" at the Wars end on March 24th, 1945 when he was wounded in combat.

Nearly 300 elite pathfinder paratroopers, 101st & 82nd Airborne, took part in the pre-invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. 1st Lt. Hamilton piloted aircraft number 14 (sen in photo above) a C-47 plane which took off late in the evening of June 5th, 1944, carrying 'Pathfinders' from the 82nd Airborne to drop behind enemy lines in Normandy, France. Hamilton's Pathfinders made their jump at around 1:00 a.m. on June 6th. Nine planes of elite pathfinder paratroopers dropped into Normandy at about 01:33 hours followed by the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) the first element, the 1st battalion, which jumped at 02:52 hours and by 03:12 hours the entire regiment was on the ground including 507th PIR PFC Robert Warner. Pathfinders typically jumped in small sections or “sticks” of about 18 paratroopers: one dozen would assemble the beacons and lights and another six to provide security. Each pathfinder group was assigned its own landing zone to capture and mark. In Normandy June 1944, the 82nd Airborne gained its first Medal of Honor of the war, belonging to Private First Class Charles N. DeGlopper of the 325th GIR. By the time the 82 Airborne Division was relieved, in early July 1944, the 82nd Airborne Division had seen 33 days of severe combat and casualties had been heavy in Normandy. Losses included 5,245 troopers killed, wounded, or missing, for a total of 46% casualties. Major General Ridgway's post-battle report stated in part, "33 days of combat action without relief, without replacements. Every mission accomplished. No ground gained was ever relinquished". As part of the 17th Airborne, the 507th was not utilized in Operation Market Garden September 1944 and was still in England training with the new 17th Airborne division when the Battle of the Bulge began in December 1944. The 507th redeployed to France on December 25th 1944 and was used in the counter-attacks against the Germans in January and early February 1945 during the 'Battle of the Bulge' also known as the 'Ardennes Offensive'.

As soon as Robert Warner joined the US Army in April 1942, he wanted to be in the paratroops, he was a volunteer, so they sent him to Fort Benning, Ga. for parachute training. The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment was activated on July 20, 1942 at Camp Toccoa, Georgia under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George V Millett Jr. After jump-training at Fort Benning, Georgia the Regiment was sent in garrison to the Army air base of Alliance, Nebraska and became part of the 1st Airborne Brigade. On March 23, 1943, the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment must cohabit with “Troops Carriers” to Camp Alliance in Nebraska (see photo above) for a joint training. The rigor during the training is the price to pay to work the regiment with the combat.

After arriving in North Ireland on December 1943, the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division to replace the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment that had suffered heavy casualties in Italy. The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment moved to Nottingham, England in March 1944 to prepare for the European invasion (D-day). In the early hours of June 6, 1944, 82nd Airborne Division, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment soldiers who dropped behind German lines were the first arrivals in the Normandy invasion. By the end of the day, about 176,000 soldiers from the United States, Britain, Canada and France stormed ashore. After 33 days of continuous combat the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment returned to England aboard LSTs.

 

The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment 82nd Airborne "All The Way!", "Death From Above", "Eighty Deuce". In the predawn hours of June 6, 1944, Trooper Robert F. Warner and the 82nd Airborne Division parachuted into the marshes and hedgerows of the Cotentin Peninsula and into Ste.-Mère-Église behind a stretch of coastline that would forever be known as Utah Beach. Photo above somewhere in France 1944.

In the early hours of June 6, 1944, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, All American (AA) dropped into Ste.-Mère-Église, a town of 1,500 astride a road network a few miles from the invasion sector called Utah Beach. Their mission was to block German troops from attacking the American infantrymen arriving at dawn in the vanguard of the D-Day invasion. By about 4:30 a.m., the paratroopers had seized the town, and Lt. Col. Edward Krause of the 505th Parachute Infantry raised an American flag outside the town hall. 

82nd Airborne Paratrooper Army Pvt. Robert Warner, who was in his early 20s at the time, landed in Normandy (Ste.- Mere- Eglise) with the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (82nd Airborne). He had enlisted in April 1942 after graduation from the former St. Patrick Academy High School in Binghamton. A newspaper story reported him as getting injured in combat, although his injuries were not life-threatening. After D-day June 6, 1944, during the next 35 days, the 82nd Airborne Division experienced intense combat in battles at places with names such as Ste.-Mère-Église, Hill 30, and a little stone bridge at La Fière. Eight hundred yards north of the bridge, Colonel Roy Lindquist, commanding the 508th PIR, could hear the gunfire and urged his men to follow the railroad line south toward the sounds of battle. He was joined by Schwartzwalder’s company G and the 45 additional men from the 507th PIR. Lindquist and his contingent of the 508th arrived at La Fière along with Captain Arthur Stefanich’s C Company, 505th. Colonel William Ekman, the 505th’s commander, was there also, as was Captain Ben Schwartzwalder (Syracuse football coach), 82nd Airborne, G Company, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PFC Robert F. Warner). Only then did Dolan realize that he had reinforcements.

photo credit WARFARE HISTORY NETWORK see link. The mortal ferocity of the four-day battle for control of the small stone bridge over the Merderet River at La Fière in Normandy is testament to the bridge’s strategic importance in the D-Day invasion of June 1944. Without control of the La Fiere bridge and its vital causeway, American forces coming from Utah Beach would not have been able to force their way inland. Fought largely by paratroopers and glidermen from the 82nd Airborne Division, the battle to secure the bridge at La Fière is described as “probably the bloodiest small unit struggle in the experience of American arms.” Victory at La Fière cost more than 250 American lives, and yet the fateful engagement’s story is largely untold. In the early afternoon of D-Day June 6, 1944, Homer Jones led “B” Company across the La Fiere causeway to reinforce the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in establishing a bridgehead on the Cauquigny (west) side of the Merderet River marsh, but was overrun by the Germans as they attacked and secured Cauquigny.

Battle for La Fiere Bridge Normandy: 1st Lt. John Marr, photo above, joined the US Army in June 1941 with the sole intention of becoming a paratrooper, becoming one of the elite. Following his graduation from jump school, John was assigned to the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in preparation for that unit’s attachment to the 82nd Airborne for the Normandy invasion. Like many 507th paratroopers, 1st Lt. John Marr found himself far off of his intended drop zone when he landed in the middle of a swamp early on the morning of June 6. Eventually locating his commanding officer, he made his way to La Fière bridge and participated in the successful capture of the manor. Later that afternoon, 1st Lt. John Marr and his fellow G Company troopers made their way across the causeway to Cauquigny only to be forced out by oncoming German forces. 1st Lt. John Marr and his men made their way to an isolated group of paratroopers under the command of Colonel Charles Timmes. On D+2, Marr was ordered to find a way to link up with other American forces from his isolated and surrounded position. Marr and scout Norman Carter discovered a route to establish contact and get more supplies. Later that evening, Marr participated in the failed night attack on Cauquigny. Following the failed attack, he and the rest of the survivors in Timmes Orchard held their defensive positions until the battle for the causeway had been won.

WWII Massacre at Hémevez France: The D-Day June 6, 1944 murders of seven captured American paratroopers remains a World War II war crime that has yet to be solved.The following story relates what happened to eight U.S. paratroopers of the 507th on June 6. This is the story of seven men who only lived through the opening hours of France’s liberation. What happened to them simply slipped into obscurity. This is the story of the Massacre at Hémevez. Private Robert E. Werner was a member of Headquarters Company, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the famed 82nd Airborne Division, he was 20 years old and from California. Pvt. Werner jumped into Normandy, France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, with the rest of the 507th (and my father Robert F. Warner Company G, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment 82nd Airborne Division who dropped in near St Mere Eglise) and just a few hours after Pvt Werner boots hit the ground he was captured by the Germans near the town of Hemevez. 

Three other paratroopers from Pvt Robert E. Werner's 82nd Airborne Division, 507th PIR were also captured around the same time; they were PFC Elsworth M. Heck of West Virginia, Pvt. Anthony J. Hitztaler of Wisconsin, and Pvt. Delmar C. Mc Elhaney of Arkansas all 3 from HQ & HQ Company, 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. After being marched around for about 2 hours, the 4 prisoners were brought to a place, the grove of Sauderaie where, earlier in the day June 6th, three of their fellow 507th 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers were killed, Lt Robert W. Schutt, Private John Katona and Private Robert George Watson. Stripped of their helmets and field gear, the Americans were led at gun point down a tree lined dirt road. They were then forced through a cattle gate into a field and they were never seen alive again. Werner, Heck, Hitztaler, and Mc Elhaney were all shot in the back of the head at close range by their Nazi captors. Private Robert Werner was shot in the right cheek by a bullet that produced a large exit wound in his forehead, and Private Anthony J. Hitztaler was shot in the nape of the neck. It is believed that the German’s were attempting to make it appear that these troopers were killed in action during the battle that occurred in the same area earlier that day.

 

Pvt Robert E. Werner of California, PFC Elsworth M. Heck of West Virginia, Pvt. Anthony J. Hitztaler of Wisconsin, and Pvt. Delmar C. Mc Elhaney of Arkansas all from HQ & HQ Company, 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. Later, during the evening of June 6, French civilians brought the bodies of the 7 paratroopers to a Hemevez cemetery and buried them in a hastily prepared grave. It took about 2 weeks for word of the buried paratroopers to reach the American forces that now controlled the area. An Army Graves Registration Service team was dispatched to investigate. The bodies of all 7 troopers were exhumed and given a rudimentary field autopsy before being moved to a temporary American Cemetery. World War II historian Martin K.A. Morgan wrote specifically about the massacre entitled 'Sixteen Days in June, The Massacre at Hemevez'. I'm so sorry for the relatives of Pvt. Robert E. Warner 507th PIR 82nd Airborne, he hit the ground in Normandy and within hours he and 7 others of the 507th were captured and murdered by the Nazis execution style, War Crimes that went unpunished.

In August, 1944 General Matthew Ridgway took command of the newly formed XVIII Airborne Corps which included the 17th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. The 504th PIR was now at full strength and was reassigned to the 82nd Airborne Division. Since the 17th Airborne Division was in need of another parachute regiment to full out its ranks, it was determined that the 507th PIR would be permanently assigned to it in August 1944.  “Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”- Leonardo da Vinci. The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment was activated on 20 July 1942 at Fort Benning, Georgia. In December 1943, while in the North of Ireland, the 507th was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division to replace a redeployed unit. After D-Day June 6, 1944, the 507th was permanently assigned to the 17th Airborne Division in August of 1944 as the 82nd Airborne was back to its original strength. The 507th unit had seen previous action as part of the 17th Airborne Division, the 507th engaged in the Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe Campaigns. The unit redeployed to France on 25 December 1944, and was used in the counterattacks against the Germans in January and early February 1945. The German push in what is now known as the ‘Battle of the Bulge’ had the effect of vacuuming the 507th, indeed the entire 17th Airborne Division, into the Ardennes area. For us, this was a miserably cold, high-casualty, straight infantry-type operation for which the regiment was neither organized nor equipped.” January, 1945 the Battle of Dead Man's Ridge. Robert F. Warner is a member of a very select airborne fraternity. Robert F. Warner was a 20 year old volunteer for the US Army 507th paratroopers, the 82nd Airborne ‘All-American’ Division, he survived 2 Combat Jumps during WWII in Europe from 1944 to 1945, starting with D-Day in Normandy June 6th 1944, and fought hand to hand combat in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes forest, Belgium 12/16/1944. Even among elite paratroopers, such an achievement is noteworthy. 

Operation Varsity (24 March 1945) was a successful airborne forces operation launched by Allied troops that took place toward the end of World War II. Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, it was the largest airborne operation in history to be conducted on a single day and in one location. The U.S. 17th Airborne Division was to capture the village of Diersfordt and clear the rest of the Diersfordter Wald of any remaining German forces. The 507th Combat Team would lead the entire XVIII Corps assault. It was to seize its objective, assist the Rhine crossings of the 15th Scottish Division, and assemble along the eastern edge of the woods when junction with the assault units was made. It would also capture a castle at Diersfordt that intelligence said was the headquarters for German units in the area. Drop time was set for 10 am on March 24. The two divisions incurred more than 2,000 casualties, but captured about 3,500 German soldiers. The story was bad on Drop Zone W, where Timmes’ 2nd and Taylor’s 507th 3rd Battalions and the 464th PFA Battalion landed in the midst of heavy fire from machine guns, mortars, and small arms that killed many 507th paratroopers in the air, at touchdown, during assembly, and while attacking German strong-points. Compared to other units in the 17th Airborne Division, the 507th Combat Team’s casualties had been light—about 150 killed and wounded. The operation was the last large-scale Allied airborne operation of World War II. On March 24, 1945 Robert F. Warner was serving as a private in Company G, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division. On that day, his unit was dropped by parachute across the Rhine river near Fluren, Germany. PFC Robert Warner 82nd Airborne was wounded during the action and received a Purple Heart medal. 

Called “the greatest American battle of the war” by Winston Churchill, the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes region of Belgium was Adolf Hitler’s last major offensive in World War II against the Western Front. Hitler’s aim was to split the Allies in their drive toward Germany. Lasting six brutal weeks, from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, the assault, was also called the Battle of the Ardennes. US Army paratrooper PFC Robert F. Warner of the 17th Airborne Division, 507 Parachute Infantry Regiment 3rd Battalion Company G was awarded the 'Soldier's Medal' for heroism on action date Jan 1st, 1945 at the risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy while serving with the 507 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division, during World War II. During the Battle of the Bulge, from the 23rd to 25th of December 1944, elements of the 17th Airborne Division were flown to the Reims area in France in spectacular night flights. The 507th PIR was awaiting departure on a small airfield in the area of Mourmelon France had secured the defense near the Maas and between Givet Nousem France. A 507th patrol discovered the men of the special force of the legendary Otto Skorzeny a Waffen SS Combat Unit. Operation Greif (English: Griffin) was a special operation commanded by Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The operation was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler, and its purpose was to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse river France before they could be destroyed. German soldiers, wearing captured British and U.S. Army uniforms and using captured Allied vehicles, were to cause confusion in the rear of the Allied lines. The 507th elements closed in at Mourmelon France after taking over the defense of the Meuse River sector from Givet to Verdun on December 25th 1944. The 17th Airborne Division 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Company G on January 2nd 1945 was sent into the area of Bastogne near Chenet and Neufchateau, Belgium. Then the 507th marched through the snow to Morhet, relieving the 28th Infantry Division on January 3rd 1945. The siege of Bastogne was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge.

The Soldier's Medal was established in 1926 and denotes acts of heroism in a non-combat situation. It is awarded for heroic actions on behalf of fellow soldiers or civilians. It is the highest honor a soldier can receive for an act of valor in a non-combat situation, held to be equal to or greater than the level which would have justified an award of the Distinguished Flying Cross had the act occurred in combat. Paratrooper Robert Warner of the 82nd Airborne Division and 17th Airborne Division, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), Company G, received the "American Service Medal", the "Soldier's Medal (denotes acts of heroism in a non-combat situation, it is awarded for heroic actions on behalf of fellow soldiers or civilians.)", the "507th Distinguished Unit Badge (awarded to units of the uniformed services of the United States for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941)", the "European African Middle Eastern Service Medal" and a "Purple Heart" on March 24th, 1945 at the Rhineland "Operation Varsity" Jump. A Binghamton Press article of April 13, 1945 indicated that Paratrooper Robert Warner of the 82nd Airborne Division had been overseas since December 1943 and had been in combat since the invasion of Normandy France on June 6th 1944 up till when he was wounded on March 24th 1945 in the Rhineland Germany battle, that's 10 months straight of combat that included the Battle of the Bulge.

Apparently on Jan 1st, 1945 while during a lull at the Battle of the Bulge, a soldier got too close to an open fire pit wearing the US Army full length winter coat and it caught on fire. The coat apparently had some gasoline fuel spilled on it from loading a truck and the coat exploded into a ball of flames. PFC Robert Warner knocked the soldier engulfed in flames to the ground and 'rolled him out in the snow', both men suffered burns but both survived. US Army paratrooper PFC Robert F. Warner, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division and 17th Airborne Division, 3rd Battalion, Company G was a proud veteran of the 'All American 82nd' till the day he died in Sarasota Fl on Sep 3rd, 1995 at the age of 74.

US Army Soldier's Medal: In August 2015 Alek Skarlatos a National Guardsman, one of three Americans who disarmed a gun-toting Islamist militant on a high-speed train in France, was awarded the U.S. Army’s highest non-combat medal, the 'Soldier's Medal', Army officials said on Tuesday. Specialist Alek Skarlatos, 22, charged accused gunman Ayoub el Khazzani on the train headed to Paris from Amsterdam last week, helping to wrestle away a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle, and clubbing him on the head with the larger gun, according to the Army. Skarlatos, along with his friends, portrayed themselves in the Clint Eastwood-directed movie The 15:17 to Paris, based on their autobiography, which was written with reporter Jeffrey Stern. 

Notable recipients of the 'Soldier's Medal':

*Otto Kerner Jr., US Army, was awarded the Soldier's Medal for rescuing a drowning soldier off the coast of Sicily.
*Kilma S. Lattin, US Army, and former Executive Tribal Council Member of the Pala Band of Mission Indians was awarded the Soldier's Medal for Valor for rescuing a woman engulfed in flames. He repeatedly sustained Injuries while using his body to extinguish the fire, and saved the woman’s life.
*Henry Mucci, US Army, was awarded the Soldier's Medal for rescuing a soldier in danger of drowning in 1943.
*Colin Powell, who was injured in a Vietnam War helicopter crash and rescued three comrades from the burning wreckage.
*Alek Skarlatos was awarded the Soldier's Medal after thwarting a terrorist attack on a train in France.
*Christopher Speer, a former member of the United States Army Special Forces and Delta Force. Awarded the Soldier's Medal for risking his life to save two Afghan children who were trapped in a minefield on July 21, 2002. Two weeks later he died at Ramstein Air Base from a head injury sustained from a grenade in Afghanistan.

WWII vetren Robert 'Bobby' Warner was a product of a large military family that lived at 93 Schubert St in Binghamton NY. The 1940 census had the parents Harry Warner a WWI vet, his wife Catherine (Sullivan) Warner and sister in law Mary Sullivan at the Schubert St address along with William 'Bill' Warner US Coast Guard WWII, Richard Warner, Robert 'Bobby' Warner US Army WWII, James 'Jimmy' Warner US Army WWII , Mary Ann Warner RN (a lifelong Registered Nurse) and Harry 'Hank' Warner US Navy WWII. "Band of Brothers" Bill, Bobby, Jimmy and Hank Warner during WWII were all a part of the June 6, 1944 D-Day Invasion of Normandy, RIP all.

 

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