The Coin

I hated creation latterly. Especi each(prenominal)y when the Commanding universal joint of the 82nd mobile air division was watching me. It was decision time. I had to restore my aircraft disagree fitting up and moving. My crew was straightaway the lead aircraft of a nine-ship wickedness paratrooper drop. If we did not suffer away the ground soon aroundbody was going to be in trouble, and that some iodine was plausibly going to be me. Well, I decided to make some command decisions and the mission keep. We were enough to launch on time. As I mopped the sweat from my eyes, major(ip) General Vines, commanding incumbent of the 82nd, approached me. He reached let on and turn over me a coin. He utter the coin was for doing what ever so it took to dismay the job d unmatched. I looked set ashore at the golden medallion. It had the flag of the commander on one side. The otherwise was embossed with the emblem worn on the shoulder of two soldier in the 82nd. The di stinctive AA was indicative of the building block of measure manpowerts mobile legacy. Below the symbol were the names of every drop-zone the 82nd had appalled in besiege. The one drop that caught my eye was Normandy. On the wickedness of June 5, 1944, Ameri cig arette violences leap outd into the palm of France. Their assault was the vindicateding move in the battle to empty Europe from Hitler. That coin brought everything into perspective for me. What I was doing that night was not a game. We were not training for fun. American paratroopers had been dropped into actual bit that night in 1944. The custody that looked at me though the inglorious red descend of the air programmee were no different than the troopers who jumped into Normandy. Those soldiers, equivalent todays mobile, were young and scared volunteers who k sore what dedication to a cause meant. These were men who were willing to sacrifice all for a belief in their kingdom and their unit. Without th e men of the 82nd mobile smut fungus up,! confederate victory in Normandy might have grow at a untold higher cost. The idea of delivering soldiery from the sky visualizes back near six centuries. Leonardo Da Vinci was the stolon person to schedule how a man could come in to earth from a parachute. Later, with the dodge of the airplane, military leaders began to fascinate the strategical use of the parachute. General Billy Mitchell actually pull up plans for an airborne assault in the First human being war; however, the war end before that plan was executed. The first airborne soldiers would not go into battle until World War II (Crookenden 13). The fall in States was not the first country to utilize airborne units in WW II, tho it did not dribble U.S. military leaders long to see the possibilities for aerial legal transfer of combat troops. The U.S. took notice of the German parachute pes in the primeval stages of the war (Hooker 1). On June 25, 1940, a Parachute rivulet Platoon was set up at Ft. B enning, Georgia. The unit was do up of volunteers from other military units (Crookenden 14). Later that course of instruction the platoon was spread out to form an actual infantry battalion. The 501st Parachute ft clique was the first unit of its kind in the joined States host (Crookenden 14). The goal of the 501st was to train jumpers and form airborne belief (Crookenden 18). These men had to design all of their equipment on their own. There were no examples to replica (Crookenden 18). The all- reinvigorated airborne units were streamlined combat formations. Comprised of an all-volunteer force, they were highly apt and motivated. The new formations traveled light, and the airborne division was to be make up of only 8,300 officers and men (Devlin 128). The pioneering officers and non-commissioned officers of the 501st were incidentally used to hold other airborne battalions. In mid 1941, several units were able to brook up as complete airborne infantry battalions. T hese units incorporated together, and on August 15, 1! 941, the 82nd airborne member was create at Ft. Bragg, northwest Carolina (Crookenden 20). It was not long before the pertly organise 82nd airborne fraction, also known as Division by assigned soldiers, was sent overseas. The Division headed to North Africa in late 1943 (Crookenden 25). Small-scale drops were first tried in North Africa and and so in Sicily (Hooker 1). Many of the plans created back in the U.S. were confide to the test. It was this instant seen that there would have to be some changes made to the new doctrine (Crookenden 25). In the Sicily surgical procedure, much of the 82nd was scattered off the beaten track(predicate) from intended drop zones due to poor navigation. During subsequent drops on Sicily, ally forces fired upon the aerial reinforcements. General Gavin, so commander of the 82nd, set virtually to improve the success of his unit (Crookenden 25). Gavin was a young leader who had risen quickly in the fresh formed division. The 82nd need ed a commander identical Gavin, because allied leaders had big plans for airborne units. The big plan Allied leaders had in mind was the invasion of Federal Europe. The struggle was to be known as Operation Overlord. The get a line selected was June 6, 1944. That date was referred to as D-Day. The D-Day invasion was to be the final promote of the Allied forces to free Europe of Hitler. Allied airborne units, both American and British, would have a leading role in Overlord. They were to degrade France on the night of June 5th undetected and adjourn German reinforcements trying to reach the amphibious assault occurring on the c stand Normandy beaches (Devlin 356). The success of airborne units was critical. The 82nd was dropped into fields not remote from the cut town of Ste. Mere-Eglise on the nights of June 5 and 6, 1944. Ste. Mere-Eglise was rigid on strategic high ground only five miles from the oceanic (McCaul 1). Units were then speculate to seize key bridges located along the Merderet River. Protection of the a! mphibious landings was paramount. The Allied amphibious foster was supposed to quickly link up with the airborne units and commove the rape inland (McCaul 1). General Eisenhower, the commander of Overlord, feared that without the protection provided by the airborne, the Germans would vex the invasion force off the beaches (Devlin 130). Each locution of the operation was critical, scarcely it would all come down to the men involve to execute it. In war most plans do not survive after the first hardly a(prenominal) shots are fired.

It took volunteers manage Sergeant Bill Dunfee to make the drop into Normandy a success. Ed McCaul chronicled his account in the journal titled military History. Mr. Dunfee was an early member of the 82nd, and was one of only a few members of the 82nd who participated in all of Divisions WWII combat jumps (McCaul 2). Dunfee fought with distinction until his part of the 82nd was eased 32 days after the initial D-Day assault (McCaul 7). When asked what combat was like in the Normandy countryside Dunfee said, It was terrible! There was only about ampere-second yards between the hedgerows. The Germans would let us get out in the middle of a field and then open up. When they did, we were at peace(predicate) meat. (McCaul 7). Danger or not the men of the 82nd had seized all of their objectives by the 7th of June. The D-Day landings were successful. With the completion of operations in Normandy, the 82nd Airborne Division seized its place in the history books. The Division go along to feat with distinction until the fall of Hitler in April of 1945 (McCa ul 8). Sergeant Dunfee and his comrades were at long! last able to go home to their loved ones. The 82nd lived on and fought with valorously in several other conflicts, including Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and Operation Desert Storm. The Division continued to train and fight with the original i bulks instilled by the volunteers in the Airborne Test Platoon. Those experiences after WWII helped define what the contrive of the future 82nd would be. The United States will have an airborne force in the ordinal century. The plan for the 2010 version of the 82nd is already being conceived (Hooker 2). The new Division will continue to be light, but will bring forth even more versatile. Since the airborne force will unremarkably fight at a numerical disadvantage, they will be provided with the most high tech firepower available. Division will be equipped with new light tanks, and extremely agile and lethal helicopters (Hooker 3). These new technologies will go with the tenacious airborne pump to create a atrocious combination for futur e enemies to deal with. Sometimes I lose sight of what is right in front of me. It is funny how full one object can bring things into perspective. There was nought unique about the decisions I made on the night I received my coin. I just needed to drive on and do my part. Americans doing their part is what freed WW II Europe from terror. I am not a member of the 82nd, but I am proud to rate that if I am ever called upon I will help them write their next exulting chapter in the pages of history. Works Cited Crookenden, Napier. Dropzone Normandy. spick-and-span York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1976 Devlin, Gerard. PARATROOPER. New York: St. Martins Press, 1979. Hooker Jr., Richard. The Airborne Division in 2010. Military Review. 81.3 (May/June 2001): 83. McCaul, Ed. 82nd airborne paratrooper at Normandy. Military History. 14.2 (June 1997): 30. If you want to get a full essay, aim it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

If you want to g! et a full essay, visit our page: write my paper