Lest We Forget.

Texas Aggie Sgt James Japhet '43 was in I Company, 506th PIR 101st Airborne and was aboard C-47 Skytrain 42-100733 of the 96th Squadron, 440th Troop Carrier Group. The plane left Exeter, UK airbase carrying 23 individuals who were to participate in the paratroop drop mission assigned Drop Zone "D", Angoville au Plain/St Come du Mont.

After an unsuccessful pass over the designated drop field, the aircraft began to head back out over the coast. Lt. Johnston of the 3rd Battalion told the pilot to turn back. He then made his jump. In doing so, he witnessed the transport come under intense, concentrated machine gun fire from the Germans. How many of the paratroopers jumped before the C-47 crashed is uncertain.

The remains of six were eventually recovered and identified, but the other 13 men are still unaccounted for.

SGT James Japhet is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Normandy American Cemetery.

Texas Aggie MAJOR Paul J. Stach '41 KIA 6 June 1944



Major Stach was leading a mission of B-26 Marauders to Caen Road Junctions C-1 and C-2, France.
Major Stach was in the aircraft leading Box III on the afternoon en route to the target when it was hit by flak near Mezidon, France.

His B-26 Marauder was hit by at least three flak hits in bomb bay and wing, A/C moved out of formation allowing crew to bale out, went into a spin and exploded on impact. Major Stach was seen standing in the cockpit with the escape hatch open, flames streaming from it. He never made it out. Killed in Action (KIA).

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Major (Air Corps) Paul Jones Stach (ASN: 0-409775), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Pilot of a B-26 Medium Bomber in the 455th Bombardment Squadron, 323rd Bombardment Group (M), 9th Air Force, while participating in a bombing mission on 6 June 1944, against enemy targets in the European Theater of Operations. The personal courage and zealous devotion to duty displayed by Major Stach on this occasion have upheld the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 9th Air Force, and the United States Army Air Forces.

Texas Aggie MAJOR Paul J. Stach '41 is buried in the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.

On D-Day my late uncle who died in 2010, 2nd LT. Victor Lee Koenig '41 and BQ, 101 Airborne led his platoon onto Utah Beach. RIP Uncle Vic!

The fronts of those Higgins boats dropped and the entire world was changed forever.

God bless those men

Was able to convince my wife that during our 3 days in Paris, we could at least use one of them to make the trip out to Normandy next month

wangus12 said:

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Was able to convince my wife that during our 3 days in Paris, we could at least use one of them to make the trip out to Normandy next month

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Are you taking a train or do you have a rental car? as I mentioned earlier I spent almost 2 weeks in Normandy last year, so if you would like to ask about points of interest, directions, etc feel free to email me

heycoachjeff AT Gmail DOT Com

One Former Student (and Pawpaw's little brother) did not make it through that day.

He looked nothing like Simon Pegg.

I'm at the age now where a majority of professional athletes I watch are younger than me. Then, I carry that over to the fact that the average age of people landing at Normandy on this day were a decade or more younger than I am right now.

Just crazy to think about that and then think about how I was when I was that age.

This is a copy of post from last year I made but obviously perfect for here. The National D-Day Memorial is in Bedford, VA as well.

"IMHO, the sacrifice of the town of Bedford, VA sums up perfectly this greatest of generations. 35 men from a town of less than 4000 were all in the same company of the 29th Infantry Division. By fate, their company, Company A, 116th Infantry, 29th Infantry Divisin would be in the first wave at Omaha beach. 19 men would be killed before the end of June 6th and another 4 would fall before the end of the Normandy campaign. God bless them for their sacrifices."

29th Infantry Memorial Vierville Draw, Dog Green Omaha Beach

7 June 1944 2nd Lt. Clifford Patrick Garney, 40; 8th Air Corps P51 Fighter Pilot, is killed in action over Normandy.



42-106471 Lambie II / Petie

8 June 1944 LT Henry D Jackson, A&M College of Texas class of 1942 was with Company D, 22nd Infantry. He was killed in action in Normandy, France, during the 1st Battalion's attack against the German coastal battery at Crisbecq.

I've discovered through my research that in 1936-37, Clifford P Garney was a fish in Company C, Engineers, and the First SGT of that outfit was W.E. Simpson, the brother of Radcliffe Simpson.

I only know his full name and knew to look for WS Evans because he was my grandfather's little brother, and other relatives have done more research. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known who "Bill Evans" from Band of Brothers was.

At Berecourt Manor. 7 Jun 25

10 June 1944 2LT Conrad John Netting III, A&M College of Texas class of 1940, KIA in support of the Allied advance through Normandy, France.



While strafing a ground convoy on the Fert-Mac to St-Michel-des-Andaines road, his plane was hit by small arms fire. He spiraled out of control and into the nearby woods, exploding on contact. Conrad was KIA 4 days after his 26th birthday, which was June 6.

2LT Netting is buried in the Brittany American Cemetery in France, and he also has a cenotaph located in Mission Burial Park South, San Antonio.

11 June 1944, 2LT David R Hughes, JR, Texas A&M class of 1946, killed in Action when his UC-64 Norseman crashed at Gunnislake, Davenshire, England, while on a scheduled courier flight. This was an air transport group based in England with the 8th Air Force.





2LT David Reynolds Hughes Jr is buried at the White Rose Cemetery in Wills Point, TX

12 June 1944, MAJOR Warren D. Stubblefield, A&M College of Texas class of 1934, KIA while advancing towards Carentan, France with the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment (101st Airborne Division), coming from Saint-Hilaire-Petitville. Major Warren D. Stubblefield, Jr. (assistant officer of the 2nd Battalion) was the highest-ranking officer of the 327th to be killed in Normandy.



From an interview with Tommy Niland in 1998:

Major Stubblefield was an older man, a major from Texas in the National Guard. He became a kind of father figure to Tommy, an elder who would listen and offer some advice. Tommy remembered how Stubblefield had a sports car and a beautiful wife, how all the young guys dreamed they might someday be like him.

On the day before he visited the cemetery, Tommy had walked a dirt road near the French town of Carentan. There, amid swirling cattails and stone cottages that seemed to rise out of the ground, Tommy recalled how Stubblefield walked ahead in 1944, too close to a ditch. Some U.S. scouts had spotted Germans in the field. Tommy called for him to stop. Stubblefield kept going.

This was a hard story for Tommy to get out. The spray of a machine gun caught Stubblefield in the neck. Tommy crawled 30 yards in the dirt to drag back his good friend. Too late. He was goneanother white cross.



Warren. D. Stubblefield is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery.

13 June 1944, Major Ernest Benge Miller, A&M College of Texas class of 1939, KIA while advancing towards St. Lo, France with the 2nd Infantry Division, 38th Infantry Regiment.





From the book: Fighting Men of Texas



Ernest B Miller is buried at the Fairmount Cemetery in San Angelo, TX