Twitter
Facebook
SAINTE-MARIE-DU-MONT, France — Airmen from the 435th Contingency Response Group tugged at the silk camouflage parachute, unveiling a 12-foot bronze statue of Maj. Richard Winters, who led paratroopers from Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the D-Day landings.
They were among hundreds who gathered June 6 along a causeway to Utah Beach to honor Winters’ leadership and the memory of all those who led troops in combat during the liberation of Normandy during World War II.
“We were in the crowd and they wanted some military support. We were honored to play this small, small role,” said Tech Sgt. Brian Angell, 435th Air Ground Operations Wing, who helped unveil the memorial. “It’s important for us to keep this history alive.”
During the first week of June, U.S. Army paratroopers from the 5th Quartermaster Detachment, based at Rhine Ordnance Barracks, and a contingent of Airmen from the 86th Airlift Wing took part in several D-Day anniversary events in Normandy. Among those who attended the Winters’ monument dedication were nine World War II veterans, former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and Maj. Gen. Jim McConville, commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
The memorial, unveiled 68 years after Winters and fellow 101st Airborne Division troops jumped into Normandy to fight the Nazis and liberate France, depicts Winters running with an M-1 Garand rifle. The heroic story of Easy Company — from the D-Day landings, to fighting in Holland, Belgium and Germany — was told by historian Stephen Ambrose and became the popular television mini-series, “Band of Brothers.”
Two members of Easy Company, Herb Suerth and Al Mampre, attended the unveiling. Only 19 Easy Company members are living. Winters, who died last year at age 92, would likely be overwhelmed by the crowd that gathered to honor him, Suerth said.
“He was very humble, a simple fellow,” said Suerth, who joined Easy Company in Mourmelon, France, just before the 101st Airborne Division fought in Bastogne. “It’s a well-deserved memorial, especially for the subject of leadership — not just for Dick Winters, but for the leadership provided by young men who were practically no older than the guys they were leading into battle.”
Winters, a first lieutenant serving as Easy Company’s executive officer during the jump, took command after 1st Lt. Thomas Meehan was killed when his C-47 Sky Train was hit by German anti-aircraft guns.
“He was thrust into a position of leadership,” Suerth said. “All of us have the ability to develop our leadership skills. Some do it better than others. Dick excelled at it.”
Nearby, at Brecourt Manor, Winters led a dozen paratroopers in an attack on four enemy 105-mm howitzers firing on a Utah beach causeway. With little guidance, Winters directed his Soldiers to hit the gun from the flanks, using a trench to attack one at a time. All the guns were destroyed, eliminating a threat to troops coming ashore. For his actions, Winters earned the Distinguished Service Cross.
One of the U.S. Soldiers coming ashore that morning was Jack Port, 90, of Escondido, Calif., who landed on Utah Beach with the 4th Infantry Division and made his way inland. Port, who attended the memorial’s unveiling, stared down the causeway to where his unit, the 12th Infantry Regiment, landed. Port returned to the beach a few days after, when he was shot near Montebourg. He rejoined his unit, which liberated the port of Cherbourg, before fighting south through Normandy and later entering Paris.
“I was just a kid, only 22 years old,” Port said, drifting into silence. Like many D-Day veterans, Port wouldn’t discuss the fighting.
A cool breeze passed through the farmlands causing the American flag to flap beside the French tricolor. A World War II-era spotter plane buzzed the crowd, who listened to several speeches about how Winters embodied leadership principles, his courageous acts and his humble nature.
Winters wrote “the essential page in the story of our liberation,” said Henri Millet, mayor of Sainte-Marie-Du Mont. Winters’ actions will not be forgotten, he said.
“This monument erected here in our commune will be here to remind us,” Millet added.
Winters’ leadership and heroism helped save the lives of countless Soldiers on D-Day and throughout the war, said McConville, who has served three tours with the Screaming Eagles — currently as the division’s commanding officer.
Over the past 10 years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 101st has been one of the most deployed divisions, McConville said.
“We gather great strength from the history of the 101st Airborne Division,” McConville said. “And we have an incredible history that began here in Normandy.”
