TONIGHT WE DIE AS MEN

D-Day, the 3rd battalion of the 506th PIR jumped over Saint-Côme-du-Mont. Their objective was to seize and take control of two small wooden bridges crossing the Douve River east of Carentan.  The mission was vital. The Germans had built the bridges a few months earlier to enable them to rush reinforcements into the coastal area in the event of an Allied landing.
 Rare memorabilia and photographs relating to the exploits of these elite paratroopers in Normandy are presented to the public together with a new and incredible book ‘Tonight We Die As Men’. Written by Ian Gardner and Roger Day this is a highly detailed study of one battalion's harrowing first weeks fighting in France. To accompany the book and unveiled publicly for the first time is ‘The Forgotten Battalion’ - a new film in which nine surviving third battalion veterans tell their own frank and moving story from Toccoa to D-Day. To further enhance the exhibition, a living history group will be recreating camp life to commemorate the sacrifice of the young American soldiers who went on to capture Carentan.
Bill Galbraith, Manny Barrios and Ralph Bennett, all three from the 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division will be making a special trip from the USA (two of them for the first time since the war) to participate in this event and to meet with the public.

Organic airborne medical units supported both the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions during World War II. The equipment and techniques that were employed during this period are being presented in a display accompanied by a living history group recreating a medical evacuation station - commemorating the sacrifice of the young American soldiers.

Joe Beyrle is thought to be the one of only a handful of American soldiers to have served in both the United States Army and the Soviet Army in World War II. “The invasion of Normandy was on,” recalled Joe (who has since passed away). “We flew approximately 90 minutes from England before crossing the Normandy Peninsula. Flying at approximately 700 feet the formation started taking AA and ground fire. Several of our planes were hit and exploded or crashed. We got the stand-up and hook-up, red light, green light and jumped at approximately 400 feet directly over the town of Saint-Côme-du-Mont.” Under fire from a machine gun located in the church tower he landed on the church and slid feet first down it’s high-pitched roof but somehow managed to check his fall. A barn was burning some distance away at Tammerville, lighting up the area, and the Germans had now turned their fire in its direction. Alone, Joe decided to head west back down the line of flight where he hoped to locate other members of his stick. During the hours before daybreak he located and attempted to destroy a mobile generator near the center of town and using hand grenades attacked a group of Germans who were gathering nearby. Whilst trying to find a safe way out of the town he crawled through a hedgerow and stumbled into a well-defended German MG42 position and was surrounded by enemy paratroopers and taken prisoner. Faking a back injury, two of the enemy soldiers took him to an aid station in the town recently established and run by his battalion surgeon Dr Stanley Morgan (pictured in earlier photo), who had also been captured by the Germans. After a failed escape attempt he was marched to a nearby prisoner-holding area before being taken to a German underground HQ in an apple orchard south of Saint-Côme for interrogation.
 

Flying into Normandy on D-Day, twenty-two year old Manny was on Joe Beyrle’s plane and landed in a garden on the eastern edge of Saint-Côme-du-Mont. Alone and separated from the rest of the stick he spent the next three days fighting for survival until being injured by allied shellfire (ironically on his 23rd birthday). Seriously wounded by shrapnel, Manny encouraged a passing German doctor (at gunpoint) to treat him. His ordeal came to an end after being discovered by soldiers from the 101st as they pushed forward into Saint-Côme. He was evacuated back to England by hospital ship around June 10th and returned to active duty six months later at Bastogne. Manny lives in Whittier, California where he is an active member of the 101st Southern California Chapter.

As a 60mm mortar sergeant, Ralph Bennett’s job in Normandy was to provide direct fire support to 3rd platoon H Company. He was among the lucky few who landed on drop zone D and actually made it to the road bridge at Brévands. From first light on June 6th his team played a vital defensive role until the bridge was partially destroyed by an allied air attack on D +1. Ralph took part in the horrific battle of ‘bloody gully’ on June 13th when the German 6th Parachute Regiment together with the 17th SS began a fearsome but unsuccessful counter attack on Carentan. After promotion to 3rd platoon sergeant Ralph went on to win a Silver Star in Holland and played an active part in the defence of Bastogne. In 1945 he returned to the UK and married his English sweetheart June Earl. Ralph lives in Highland, Michigan with June and their five children.

Machine gunner Bill Galbraith landed on the southwestern edge of drop zone D and begrudgingly joined with the 501 for the attack on the La Barquette locks. He returned to 3/506 on the evening of 8th June only to find that they had been totally decimated. He also fought at ‘bloody gully’ on June 13th and recalls, “I don’t think there were more than 28 of us left in I Co after the battle”. While on leave after Normandy Bill met and fell in love with Anna. After being promoted and transferred to S3 (Bn Planning & Operations) Bill’s war ended in Holland when on September 18th he was seriously wounded while entering the outskirts of Eindhoven by German artillery. After spending three years in hospital Bill finally married Anna in 1948 - just after Christmas. Bill now lives in Murrieta, California with Anna and their nine children.