https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/06/06/a-personal-account-of-a-paratrooper-who-jumped-into-normandy-on-d-day/ Heroes worth emulation. Find them and be like them.

Operation Northern Delay: On March 26, 2003, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 1,000 paratroopers or “Sky Soldiers” from the 173rd Airborne Brigade jumped into Bashur, Iraq as part of Operation Northern Delay. Operation Northern Delay was the last large-scale combat parachute operation conducted by the U.S. military since Operation Just Cause in 1989. The operation was the first strategic brigade airdrop using C-17 aircraft in formation, integrating a conventional Army airborne brigade within the 10th Special Forces Group, and integrating an armored battalion into an airborne operation.

War History Online · Stained glass window dedicated to the 101st Airborne paratroopers in the church at Angoville-au-Plain, Manche, Normandy, France. This church, which served as an aid station during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, was tended by US Army Medics Robert Wright and Ken Moore of the 101st Airborne, treating 80 wounded soldiers, both American and German, as well as a child, with blood stains still visible on the pews. Today, two stained glass windows commemorate the bravery of the 101st Airborne Division and the American parachutists, specifically honoring the two medics from the 2nd Battalion of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (101st Airborne Division).

WWII hero, 1SG Leonard A. Funk, LAUGHED his way to earning a Medal of Honor.... One of the more darkly humorous episodes of warfare occurred on 29 January 1945, in Holzheim, Belgium. Funk and his paratroopers were assaulting the town, and he left a rearguard of 4 men, while he scouted ahead to link up with other units. Those 4 men had to guard about 80 German prisoners. Another German patrol of 10 happened by and overwhelmed the 4 Americans, freeing the prisoners and arming them. When Funk returned around the corner of a building, he was met by a German officer with an MP-40 in his stomach. The German shouted something at him, and Funk looked around. There were now about 90 Germans, about half of them armed, and 5 Americans, disarmed except for Funk. The German shouted the same thing at him again, and Funk started laughing. He claimed later that he tried to stop laughing, but the fact that the German was shouting in German touched a nerve. Funk didn’t speak German. Neither did any of the other Americans. Why would the German officer expect him to understand? His laughter and non-compliance caused some of the Germans to start laughing. Funk shrugged at them and started laughing so hard he had to bend over. He called to his men, “I don’t understand what he’s saying!” All the while, the German officer was shouting more and more angrily. Then, quick as lightning, Funk swung his Thompson submachine gun up and emptied the entire clip into the German, 30 rounds of .45 ACP. Before the other Germans could react, he had yanked the clip out and slammed another in and opened fire on all of them, screaming to his men to pick up weapons. They did so, and proceeded to gun down 20 men. The rest dropped their weapons and put their hands up. Then Funk started laughing again and said to his men, “That was the stupidest F*#!?#* thing I’ve ever seen!”

🇺🇲 WWII uncovered: 11th Airborne Division's Rod Serling, Hollywood's "Angry Young Man" Before he became the well-known creator of "The Twilight Zone," Rod Serling was a young, 5'4" paratrooper in the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division. As one of "The Angels", Rod did not meet the height requirements for the parachutes, but talked his way into the regiment anyway. While the division was on New Guinea, Jack Benny came by to perform for the Angels and Rod was able to write and perform in a small skit that was broadcast on Armed Forces Radio. It was a sign of things to come for Serling. During the Angels' campaign on Leyte in late 1944, T-4 Serling and the Suicide Squad kept busy eliminating enemy bunkers and defensive positions. While high in the island's mountains, the regiment could only be resupplied by air and one day Rod watched in horror as a heavy crate landed squarely on his good friend PVT Melvin Levy's shoulders, killing him instantly. Rod marked Melvin’s grave with a Star of David in honor of his friend’s Jewish heritage. It was the first of the war's many difficult experiences that affected, perhaps even haunted, Rod, in addition to a wound to his knee that plagued him for the rest of his life. During the Angels' campaign to liberate Luzon, Rod and the Demolitions team kept busy with the dangerous job of blasting countless grass-covered pillboxes and blockhouses, many of which were heavily defended. On one occasion, Rod found himself staring down the barrel of a Japanese rifle. Luckily one of his buddies was quicker and shot the enemy soldier. In one Manila neighborhood, Rod and the other Angels were enjoying an impromptu celebration by the newly-liberated Filipinos when the Japanese began shelling the area. Noticing a wounded Filipino woman out in the open, Rod rushed into the fire to carry her to safety, an action to earned him the Bronze Star. After the war, Rod turned to writing to "face his demons" and went on to become one of televisions most well-known, and award-winning, screenwriters, playwrights, television producers, and narrators. He also was a passionate teacher at Antioch College (Ohio) and Ithaca College (New York). Known to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day, Rod died on June 28, 1975. May we all remember these words spoken before his death: "for civilization to survive, the human race has to remain civilized". 🪂For more information on Rod's experiences in World War II, please visit 511pir.com or 11th Airborne Division Association - "Angels" #ww2uncovered #honorourveterans #ww2 #WorldWarII #worldwar2 #worldwartwo #paratrooper #paratroopers #airborne #greatestgeneration #ww2veteran #WWII #WWIIveteran #AATW #twilightzone #Airborne #rodserling #LestWeForget Original description and photo submitted by Jeremy Holm ©️ author of "When Angels Fall: From Toccoa to Tokyo: The 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II MacArthur’s Secret Weapon & Heroes of Los Baños"

Push Ball - Sport Of Kings! The most insane sanctioned violence short of combat; a most brutal game that separated the rock stars from the rock groupies. Notice the guys in the scrum on the right who are so busy fighting, they're nowhere near the ball- and the poor guy on the ground catching elbow strikes. Banned by the Army in the early 2000's, this was a staple for paratroopers for decades. I recall leaving the barracks for a match and my 1SG telling us, "Don't come back unless you've beat somebody's ass". And he was serious. It was not for the weak or faint hearted. The young man that still lives in me longs to play this again. Older me knows that I was incredibly lucky to have played this as often as I did and somehow avoid serious injury. Damn if I don't miss my tribe, though.

Born in 1921, Rice would volunteer for the Army in 1943 and head to Camp Toccoa, Georgia to become a paratrooper. Joining the 101st Airborne, and heading to England to train for Operation Overlord, eventually jumping into Normandy, securing roads and capturing Basse-Abbeville, France. He would jump again on September 17th, 1944 into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden. And then once again into the history books as part of The Battle of the Bulge where he would be shot twice by a German sniper. Rice would recover from his wounds in a hospital in Belgium and would be honorably discharged in December 1945. Returning home he taught social science and history. Had five children. And wrote his personal account of the war "Trial by Combat". He would jump as part of the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019 at Normandy, and then again into the Netherlands as part of the commemoration of Operation Market Garden. He was 97 years old. On his 100th birthday on August 15th, 2021, he celebrated by skydiving. www.wetsu.co